I have pieced together information through eavesdropping and ear-to-the-track listening skills and interception of coconut telegraph digital messages that a committee of nine will interview about five people for the position of head football coach at Cape Henlopen. I have interviewed in front of large Cape committees for the position of director of special education, twice for athletic director, supervisor of diversified education, supervisor of buildings and grounds, secretary to the athletic director, discipline dean and visiting teacher. In every case there were large committees who were never shown my resumé, which was so impressive my own wife asked for my autograph after she typed it up.
And because I am who I am I knew who was getting the job before the interviews began.
And it’s not sour grapes, because I always placed second - it was just I had become the Amazing Kreskin - the world’s foremost mentalist in sniffing out the rigged game.
Ron Shapiro, super sports agent and father-in-law of Eric Mangini who was just hired as head coach of the Cleveland Browns, told me just last Sunday that the average committee size for interviews of a head NFL coach varies between three and five people.
QUITTERS NEVER WIN - But sometimes those who stay experience quite a bit of losing. Is it ever alright for an athlete to quit a sport they can’t stand playing anymore? I mean college students drop classes all the time for various reasons from the class is too difficult to I can’t envision myself staying here and being successful. Every school year I see athletes begin a sport then, after a period of time, drop off the team to prepare for another sport. Sometimes the reasons for leaving are not laudable such as, “I’m tired of losing,” but the athlete has free will so why stay if truly miserable?
I think in high school the student athlete should forfeit the next sports season after quitting unless the coach losing the kid grants a release. And all decisions could be appealed to a committee of, say, nine people.
JUST HAVING FUN - You can’t blame Donovan McNabb for loving his life although Eagles fans often blame him when they don’t love their own. I thought it was hilarious near the end of the Giants game when Donovan went out of bounds, stopped belly to belly with a Giants coach then picked up their sideline phone and pretended he was talking on it.
“I didn’t say anything,” McNabb said. “I’ve been having a great time on this run and I got caught up a little bit. I apologized to the team and to the coaches.”
McNabb is confident when loose - that is his nature - and don’t even think about anything other than enjoying Philadelphia playing for an NFC championship. The Eagles are early three-point favorites against the Cardinals.
FLACCO JOE - Sought and found from the University of Delaware football website were these statistics on the Blue Hen career of quarterback Joe Flacco. Joe ended the 2007 season losing to Appalachian State in the national championship game 49-21 by completing 331 of 521 passes for a school-record 4,263 yards and 23 touchdowns. He also established school career records with 595 completions and 11, 300-yard passing games. He threw for more than 200 yards 13 times during the 2007 campaign. And now, after leading the Baltimore Ravens to a 13-5 record and a berth in the AFC championship game in Pittsburgh, Flacco is the same unflappable Joe. He was 11-for-22 for 161 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions in the Ravens’ upset win over the favored Tennessee Titans. Kerry Collins had 100 more yards on 20 more pass attempts but no touchdowns. National Bohemian - Natty Boh - versus Iron City for the AFC championship is as good a reason as any for a driveway tailgate party.
SNIPPETS - I saw a guy in Wawa last week with a red Mohawk and green Eagles jacket. He said he was mostly a Phillies fan, so I went on about Chris Short pitching for Lewes High School and being fourth on the list of all-time wins. This guy didn’t know Chris Short so there was no need for me to go on about Johnny Morris or Costen Shockley from Georgetown, but I figured if you’re walking and being the red-haired Mohawk Phillies guy in Sussex County, you should learn a little history.
Two unrelated lame events took place - one in Wilmington, the other in Chicago - involving shootings in parking lots after high school basketball games. Three unrelated events constitute a trend and schools may go back to afternoon games because riff-raff like vampires rarely play in the sunlight.
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