Anonymity by the Sea is a First Amendment right

Here comes the judge - Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh ran the Dewey Beach Patrol 5K Aug. 24. The 54-year-old Georgetown Prep and Yale graduate posted a respectable time of 24:27 to make the podium as third in his 50-54 age group. Kavanaugh outkicked Ginger Shaud, 22, to the finish line by four seconds. The judge is an avid runner, competing in numerous 5Ks and 10Ks. He ran the Boston Marathon in 2010 and 2015. I don’t even recognize people I know when they pass my camera, so I’m glad I didn’t recognize Justice Kavanaugh. He deserves anonymity; blending with the crowd is a First Amendment right. I am glad here on Sesame Street by the Sea that all muppets are equally famous and the running community is universally welcoming, even considering me a member. Kavanaugh would have been second in the 9-and-under category behind 6-year-old Landon Bratz, who ran 23:43. 

Cape track flashback - The Cape girls’ track team under coach George Pepper won Division I state titles in 2011 and 2012. That program adds to the staggering number of 21 state titles since 2009, also including 11 for girls’ lacrosse and seven for field hockey. Rebecca Pepper, Hannah Pepper and Ali Coning were blue-chip athletes from the teams of that era. “We just decided to get together and run a 10K,” Rebecca said at the Dewey Beach Patrol 5K and 10K. “None of us trained. I have an injured foot, but it just seemed like a fun idea.” Rebecca coaches middle school field hockey at Milford. Hannah coaches at Mariner Middle. And Ali is off to Boston for graduate school. The girls did not listen to Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” during the 10K, with Ali running 53:14, Hannah 54:09 and Rececca 56:28. 

Flyaway Blue Jay - Rising Cape senior Anna Stancofski has verbally committed to play field hockey at Johns Hopkins University, and, most importantly, they have reciprocated that commitment. Verbal commitments are not worth the paper they are not written on. Basically, reputable colleges give their word and other reputable colleges stop recruiting that athlete. However, the athlete can opt out because there is no binding contract. Anna has been on five state championship Cape teams, including two for field hockey and three for lacrosse. There are two more up for grabs her senior season. A steady, strong and tenacious player, she’s at her best on game days. Anna may flash you a smile after the game once victory is secured. 

We have contact - I always thought growling and gorged with testosterone males who enjoyed collisions on the football field were acting out and overriding the basic human instinct of self-preservation. All those collisions really hurt; you can feel the pain. It’s nature’s way of saying, stop what you’re doing or you’ll be taking a walker on the wild side before you reach 30 years of age. Inside the culture of NFL football, players know “one more year” played now comes off the back end later in terms of quality of life. And so Andrew Luck, a 29-year-old Stanford graduate with a degree in architectural design, is getting out while he still has escapability. People are saying players aren’t as tough as they used to be. Go tell Jim Brown, who also retired at 29. Many veteran NFL players come across as antisocial because they are trapped in a system that beats them up for too much money which they don’t have the courage to walk away from. 

Snippets - Cape senior football and basketball player Jo Jo Kirby has moved away to somewhere near the Washington Beltway. Astronomically, this is the season of the autumnal tides. There are also lots of ebbs and flows with athletes moving out and some others moving in. Sam Jones, a rising Cape junior, is now at Sussex Central. Cape’s Maci Long has made the field hockey team at Salisbury University. Many Phillies fans have nicknamed Gabe Kapler as Manager Moonbeam. The first fan backlash against analytics and statcast will very likely cost Kapler his job. Destiny is beyond one’s control, all philosophy majors know that, so don’t even bother with the overshift, just play life straight up. Lynn Richardson, longtime field hockey and lacrosse coach at Polytech, is now the assistant field hockey coach at Beacon Middle School for Kay Miller, who was an assistant to Nicole Hughes when Cape won a state title in 2011. Anna Frederick has moved over from Beacon B team to a volunteer assistant at Cape High. “I came for the B game!” Go on now, git!