A busman’s holiday taking my camera to a middle school wrestling match

Rastling relatives - I am the grandfather of Mikey, who was a wrestler for Cape, and I’ve been covering other families’ wrestlers for 45 years. And so it is only logical that on a frigid Thursday afternoon with nothing better to do, I would pack up my camera and blue chair and head out for a middle school wrestling match featuring Beacon at Fred Thomas. The quaint, brand-new gym with little history was overflowing with relatives of wrestlers. Each team had all 16 weight classes filled, and there were exhibition matchers. Fred Thomas had wrestled at Beacon earlier in the season, winning 47-42. The rematch produced a different outcome, as Beacon roared back from an 18-0 deficit to win 54-34. Most late-afternoon middle school wrestling fans are related to someone wearing head gear. Chip Wilt and Chris Pleasanton coach The Freds, while Sean Sheehan, Richard Bosnic and Luke Mtchell coach the Beacon squad. The next day, Beacon lost to Smyrna 51-35. Earlier this season, Smyrna lost to Milford 51-42. The Steve Stewart Middle School Wrestling Classic is Saturday, Feb. 1, in Milford.  I’ve been on lockdown for that event, but you know you're out of shape when you can’t sit in one place too long.   

Home field - The Eagles lost in the NFC Championship game at home to the Tampa Bay Bucs 27-10 in 2003, the last game played at Veterans Stadium, and to the Carolina Panthers 14-3 in 2004, the first year at Lincoln Financial Field, a home win away from the Super Bowl. Eagles fans on site were devastated. I was in the press box for both games representing Cape Gazette. Dan Cook was the photographer on the field. I had told Dan to keep your eyes down on the way to the car. Look like your dog just got run over by a Septa bus because some despondent fans, realizing they are no longer happy sun’s up drunks, have transitioned into hungover zombies who just want to punch somebody in the face. I remember at the Vet avoiding the death trap press elevator and circled from 700 level down a series of merging ramps like a Schuylkill Expressway for pedestrians. Ron Jaworski was next to me. The Polish Rifle is always happy and chatty. Fans spotted him. “Hey, Jaws, we need you out there. We ain't never gonna win anything with McNabb at quarterback.” Another fan interjected, “Jaws never won anything either because he sucks!” Jaworski threw for 179 touchdowns and ran for 16 in his 17-year Eagles career, but on the exit ramp at Veterans Stadium in 2003, he was just another Eagles quarterback “who sucks.” If you like cosmic connectability, Jayden Daniels wears No. 5 because he is a fan of Donovan McNabb. 

Meathead - My freshman year of high school, the first day of the first class, a burnt-out teacher said to me, “Turn around, Meathead.” Later, Archie Bunker referred to his son-in-law Rob as Meathead. Two weeks ago on sports program “The Herd” hosted by Colin Cowherd, Colin was talking about the impact of good coaching in the NFL and there flashed a sideline image of Eagles’ coach Nick Sirianni and Cowherd said, “Meathead!” Eagles are in the conference championship game Sunday welcoming the strangely named Commanders, coached by Dan Quinn, a Salisbury graduate who gets nothing but love from national media. But Nicky from Mount Union is Meathead and, like a wet lab who tosses his head violently, it's a hard label to shake.   

FredMeathead - I left wrestling Saturday into the dark night looking like a “Bandito Bandelero” with a bag strapped across my chest, a blue chair in my right hand and heavy camera on a pole over my right shoulder. I was wearing what fellow photographer Eric Gooch calls “a badge,” but “I don’t need no stickin’ badge” for Cape events. The camera broke loose from the pole and bounced first to the pavement and then under my 4Runner. I was grateful my name wasn’t Nikon. I knew two things: first, that my expanded homeowners insurance would run me around like Derrick Henry in a Jake from State Farm commercial; and second, I wasn’t going belly down under a 4Runner getting stuck then later answering the question, “So what were you doing under there?” “There is fiction in the space between you and reality.” – Tracy Chapman.

Snippets - Results from the Henlopen Conference Indoor Track Championship results will be in Tim Bamforth’s running column in the Friday edition of the Cape Gazette. Cape won the boys’ meet, while the Cape girls were second behind Smyrna. Sussex Academy girls were third, one point behind Cape. The Cape boys’ basketball team (6-3) will host Dover (7-3) Friday night. This game is a chance for Cape to prove they belong in the upper echelon because Dover, the defending state champion, is no joke. Go on now, git!