GOOD HYDRATIONS - Scholastic grapplers must certify a weight during the preseason, then they can’t go below that, although they can eat their way up a couple of classes. And wrestlers must certify at a weight without going below a certain level of body fat and hydration.
The goal, I guess, is to be as lean as the law allows while staying moist like a butterball turkey. Hey, are we going to cook these people or allow them to suck weight and maintain strength? I don’t see any coaches with calipers pinching the arms of fat people who are busy dipping sausage on stick into pancake syrup.
ROBIN ADAIR - Tower Hill won the state title 3-0 over Brandywine last Saturday, and think how strange the Bulldogs must feel having walked off a field twice in four days on the short end of a score. The Hillers finished the season 20-0 and a Robin Adair-coached Tower Hill team won for the ninth time in 12 state final appearances.
And if you know Robin like I have for the last 25 years, you know that she holds her athletes accountable for playing a high intensity and precise game and that she requires dedication and commitment to excellence and an appreciation of the school’s rich hockey tradition. Most importantly, if you know Robin you understand it is not about her. When the trophy is hoisted Robin is more comfortable stepping back and out of the picture.
JOHN ROCA - John Roca was a student two years ago in the last class I taught capping my nonremarkable 35-year teaching career. I was deeply saddened by John’s sudden passing due to a pedestrian accident just like everyone who got to know him for more than five minutes. I loved the kid.
My wife, Susan, who retired last school year, also taught John in her last class. Last spring I gave Susan a journal John did for me his sophomore year on his medical mission trip to Nicaragua - I kept it for two years - and said, “Give this back to John Roca.”
She turned and smiled, “Isn’t he just the greatest kid?”
Last Friday I delivered a Cape Gazette to my friends, Cape cafeteria workers Debbie Adder and Eileen Volk. They were still upset about the passing of John Roca
“How did you guys know John Roca?” I asked them.
“We say hello to all the students and try to make a connection,” they said. “You would be surprised what we learn. John was just the nicest person, always with a smile and something nice to say.”
And that is a simple truth that John was a major player in the lives of so many and I’m sure he had no idea that he influenced hundreds by the warmness and friendliness of his personality. The Power of Nice was a special gift John unwrapped for us every second of his life.
PLAY WITH THE BUNNY – “Make sure if you guys play with the bunny that you're gentle with her, OK?”
All right, bye - I love you.”
Did I need to overhear this phone conversation in the Philadelphia Eagles press box last Sunday? No wonder our males are going soft and the Dolphins can’t win a game. This would be me on the phone as a young father.
“I said put your mother on and, by the way, don’t touch the freaking rabbit. It is more than a fat rodent, it is a pachyderm.”
I had a white pet rabbit back in grade school, his name was Shadow and he lived in a rabbit house inside the garage. I loved my rabbit and thought he was so cool. One day I came home from my daily nun slap around and Shadow’s remains had been scattered about by King the German sheppard who lived next door. I got a brick and went into King’s yard bent on evil intent, but his owner “June The Balloon,” yelled from the window over her kitchen sink.
“I’m sorry King ate your rabbit but he can’t help who he is and if you throw that brick at him you had better miss or you’ll find out who I am.”
I honestly would have bricked King’s Rin-Tin-Tin skull anyway, not being afraid of a helium housewife elbow deep in detergent water, but I just could never hurt an animal.
SNIPPETS - The Delaware football team, which lost its last two games of the season, doesn’t deserve a first round home game in the NCAA playoffs. They get the Delaware State game this Friday because they can hold 16,000 more fans than Delaware State and the nation gets the game because ESPN thinks it’s a cool story. But really, this is a local state of Delaware story which is being turned into a bit of a national circus with an insinuation that Delaware hasn’t played Delaware State over the last 80 years for racial reasons. That is ridiculous. The Hens had no hesitation playing Georgia Southern a matchup that generated some great football games. I think for years Delaware did not trust the program at Delaware State and therefore decided not to schedule the game assuming that Delaware State was always there waiting to be scheduled which they most certainly weren’t. I don’t know if Delaware State can play with Delaware, but they’re at least as good as that Villanova team that beat Delaware last week.
Seven State championships have been awarded in Delaware this fall and all have been won by private schools. The semifinals in football Divisions I and II is this weekend.
