SQUEAKER - Nancy Steen Tribbitt is solid gold Cape, having played field hockey for coach Carolyn Ivins back in the early 1970s while running point guard for the 1974 Cape team that won the first state title in girls basketball. And so it was a natural that Coach Ivins and several local Cape fans with an appreciation of history and sportsmanship came over to congratulate Nancy after her Sussex Tech squad defeated Cape 1-0 last Wednesday afternoon. Another Cape alumna, coach Robin Adair, has won numerous state titles at Tower Hill and Robin is back in the quarterfinals again this season as the Hillers beat Red Lion 5-0 to start the tournament.
SURGING SUSSEX - Sussex Tech is no less an academic institution, put alongside Cape, than Georgia Tech is to Georgia or Virginia Tech is to Virginia. I have made all the Sheet Metal Crimping, Barbering, Cosmetology, Ornamental Horticulture and Culinary Arts jokes allowable in a sports column over the last 25 years, but the real facts are that the Ravens have it together on the academic/athletic front.
Sussex Tech has always had the most supportive faculty of their students who play sports - more teachers at games than any other school - and now the sports programs themselves are all solidly successful.
Last spring the Ravens won the state softball title and this fall there’s a football team with a chance to finish 7-3 and make the state tournament. Soccer made the state tournament and went down in an overtime shootout to Indian River. Field hockey is now in the quarterfinals of the state tournament, and the cross country teams swept the Sussex County championships - both boys and girls.
The entire idea behind competitive choices in education is to make every school better. I’m down with that and when I look out at a Sussex Tech athlete I don’t start counting, “Cape kid, Cape kid, Cape kid.” I just see “Raven, Raven, Raven.”
BEST FOOTBALL FANS - No way, it’s not the Eagles on the road or at home and Redskin fans are almost afraid to come out because of what coming out means in their town - not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Dallas was America’s team, and for a time South America’s team, but let’s face it, the Steelers have more fans in more places than Sprint has towers. And they will wear their jerseys and paint their faces and talk in that Western Pa. accent and nobody messes with them because they don’t mind fighting or getting hit. They all think they’re a cross between Jack Lambert and Mean Joe Green.
LOSING BATTLE - Back in the fall of 1987 I was defensive coordinator of the Cape football team. My son, Dave, was the quarterback, and on the second play against Smyrna, a bootleg play got blown up by a large, flaccid fat guy who went mattress palace smothering Dave, then got up dancing like he just ignited his match light hibachi.
“Hey, 78, why don’t you retreat back to the special ed room you escaped from you freaking uncooked biscuit dough boy, water tower baptized, jelly rolled, freaking high pulse rate,” I yelled.
Coach Schroeder stepped in front of me. “Fred, you can’t say those things!”
“I know. I’m just using a little psychological warfare,” I calmly replied.
Cape will battle at Smyrna Friday night on the field with no track so fans can almost get a seat on the bench, which should remind them of their playing days. It is a battle of 3-6 teams. The Eagles have lost four in a row while Cape is coming off a win against Dover, but after checking out scores I’d say that Smyrna ain’t no joke! They can play some defense, so the Vikings need to focus to take care of business. The only thing worse than losing the opener is losing the last game or running into some big jughead with a rattail wearing an undersized number 78 jersey at the concession stand.
Two years ago, with beasts Mitch Witman and Casey Fagan in the backfield, Cape lost at Smyrna 6-0 when the game was interrupted by a power outage.
SPORTS UNFILTERED - You can have a brains and a liberal arts education with advanced degrees with no marketability and still be a sports fan because sports is escapism, not reality. So don’t say “we” when you’re standing in the doughnut shop in your Troy Palomino Steelers shirt you bought at Wal-Mart for half price because the name is misspelled.
Dennis Miller is back on television on Tuesday nights and his program is cutting edge for smart people who hate sports but keep watching it because they’re addicted to anything that’s not politics or daytime talk shows. You can catch Dennis on channel 35 on Tuesdays. My favorite Miller line from “Monday Night Football” was when the camera went close-up on a player’s scarred knee and Miller said, “He’s been scoped more times than a redneck abducted by aliens.”
SNIPPETS - The Cape Takedown Club will once again sponsor a youth wrestling club this winter. Practices will be held on Monday and Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the auditorium at the Ninth Grade Campus. Practices begin on Monday, Nov. 26. The program is run by the Cape Henlopen High School wrestling staff and high school wrestlers. The cost of the program is $75; fee waivers are available. Anyone who joins will receive the benefits of a USA Wrestling membership, a T-shirt and entry into the Cape Wrestling Winter Classic Tournament on Sunday, Dec. 16. For more information, call coach Chris Mattioni at 302-249-6457, or email cmattioni@cape.k12.de.us.
I am a member of the referred pain down one side of the body club because of nerve impingement on lumbar 5 and a mild case of spine spondylosis, but I don’t care and can still do toe raises with 300 pounds of iron or woman on my back - just kidding, they’re too hard to get off - the weights I mean.
Last Sunday night in the Eagles press box I greeted two friends who walked just like me. I diagnosed them without the $1,200 MRI - you could say I now have “spine-dar.”
