PURE SPORTSMANSHIP - Quinten McLeod of Dover beat Brycen Davis of Cape decisively in the open 100 meters, but Davis battled back to hold on to second. Later in the meet, with Dover and Cape athletes reaching way down for every place and point, Davis upset McLeod in the open 200 meters as both athletes ran identical times of 22.7. I caught a natural photo of McLeod congratulating Davis after the race. I was there on Saturday through five hours of boys’ and girls’ competition.
There were so many races where the winner was sorted out from second at the finish line, and yet I didn’t see a single flare-up against officials or athletes showing off to show up others.
One thing mostly missing at track meets is actual hovering parents who are conspiracy theorists when it comes to officials and referees of anything. Track is the purest of sports and I find the athletes to be enjoyable, interesting and supportive of each other.
KRAUSS AND KEEVAN - John Keevan is a rock-solid coach, a blue collar pipe fitter or boilermaker from New Jersey, and the last time he saw air under his shoes he was holding them in his hands. But from Cape to Sussex Tech with Delmarva Christian in between, Keevan has coached so many good pole vaulters, including Nick Lemon, Matt and Justin Savini and Brandon Krauss.
Krauss, riding a new 15-3 pole and gripping at the 15-foot mark seemingly shattered the state record at the Henlopen Conference track championship last Saturday with a leap of 15 feet - a full foot and a half better than his personal best. But a re-measure had the jump an inch less or three - who cares - and because the standards don’t meet the level with the ground fancy sliding requirement the jump cannot be a record. Krauss has two more chances at Polytech at this weekend’s state championships and at the Meet of Champions at Caravel the following Tuesday.
“Brandon’s father is gravely ill and couldn’t be here today to watch him jump,” Keevan said.
“I did this for my dad,” Krauss said. “He was with me on every jump.”
STARS ON STARS - Athletes are hijacking the legitimate sports media, which is obvious listening to commentators who are grammatically challenged, but now some have resorted to insider interviewing and personally I find it nauseating. Stephon Marbury sits down with Kobe Bryant and next thing I know they are so cool together. Instead of the usual surly attitude athletes reserve for media, Kobe is saying things like, “Sure I shop. I know how to shop. And I pump gas too.”
And later Adam Sandler is interviewed and talks about how his no-talent self distrusts the media because he is always being misquoted. I switch to Garfield in high definition because I don’t know who plays the cat. I just hope it’s not a comedian because I know lots of people who can talk like a cat, in fact, if one person can we all can.
NO, THAT’S FUNNY - Last week I received a scribbled on top of one of my columns commentary with the return address of Congressman Mike Castle’s office in Washington but postmarked Wilmington telling me to stay away from politics because I wasn’t good at it. I am, of course, real good at it, so good that I don’t really believe that a United States congressman and former governor about to run for re-election would lean back in his chair and decide to insult and awaken me creating an instant adversary for no constructive reason.
Therefore, I concluded some low level, sub-20K per annum political aid stuck in an office in Wilmington grew annoyed when I took the word Hemisphere and wrote “Half A Brain” would be a good description of American Foreign Policy, which is not a political statement but a joke made not funny by its accuracy. And don’t yawl be writing on my column anymore!
HENLOPEN SOCCER CLUB – Please read this so soccer enthusiast and landscaper Jay Ashby doesn’t defoliate my excuse for a lawn. There will be try out for soccer select teams, both boys and girls, for teams U10, U12 and U14 on the dates listed below. Athletes should come ready to play, including shin guards if that is their preference. Tryouts for U10 boys will be noon Saturday, May 19 and 1 p.m. for U12. Other try out dates are: U10 boys June 2 at 12 p.m.; U12 boys June 16 at 10 a.m.; U14 boys on June 16 at 1 p.m.; U10 girls June 3 at 1 p.m and June 9 at 10 a.m.; U12 girls June 2 and June 10 at 10 a.m. and U14 girls at June 7 and June 14 at 6 p.m. Go to the website henlopensoccerclub.org for more information.
SNIPPETS - Ophra Winfrey was the graduation speaker for Howard and Tony Snow at Catholic University and they both received honorary doctorates which are the best kind. I spoke at SCI Boot Camp graduation a few years ago and got a boot camp T-shirt - I just don’t know where to wear it.
I only know him as Jesuit Johnny. He is one of my causal friends at Gold’s Gym. Last week I started up a conversation about that microscopic deep woods menace know as chiggers and how only pharmacists know the prevalence because no one ever admits, “I got chiggers. Sorry I seem so distracted and please pardon the inappropriate and embarrassing scratching.”
John told me “I had them once and a person told me to try clear nail polish. I was desperate but it didn’t work. He said I wasn’t supposed to put it on my nails.”
Athletes are not more important than other students - they are just the people I know. Last Saturday, back by popular “no one else wanted to do it,” I announced the prom couples and tried not to turn it into a sports banquet, but that’s mostly what I know. Man, have you ever tried reading six hundred names including all nationalities from around the world written in cursive light blue felt marker under dim lights. No wonder I sounded stupid.
Yes, that’s it! Go on now, git!
