Coach Tracey Griesbaum’s lifetime achievement is staying in the eternal present

Lifetime channel - Former head coach at the University of Iowa, Tracey Griesbaum is this year’s NFHCA’s Lifetime Achievement Award honoree. Coach Tracey volunteers at Cape and the players just love her. "Tracey makes everyone feel they are doing great, but if they work even harder they can be awesome," Lina Frederick told me on a ride to Milford. Tracey isn't a “look back at my career” personality type; she is moving forward in the moment of the eternal present helping kids through hockey. Tracey is pictured walking off the field with Atia Sabbagh, a freshman can't-miss prospect, a "total evolution" shining star in the beginning of her journey through the eternal present. 

Get 50! - Fifty years ago in the hallways of Cape, “Get 50” was synonymous with “Get somewhere!” Coach Dwight Tingle “got 50” Friday night at the football scrimmage in Easton, achieving the milestone of 50 years of age. His wife Katie had T-shirts made. There was a little jousting and joshing from fellow coaches but mostly congratulations,  and of course from my vantage point Dwight is still a puppy. I've known him as a solid coach for 20 years. I just wish after my carpal tunnel surgery he’d stop crushing my hand when saying hello.

Lost in shuffle - The best coaches know all the face cards in the deck of players and of course jokers are always wild, and every team has a couple to lighten up the seriousness of life lessons and character building. Jameson Tingle, freshman, and Mikey Thompson, sophomore, are Cape’s quarterbacks and both can play. “Each had a good scrimmage at Easton throwing the football,” said coach Mike Frederick. “You need two quarterbacks  to have a successful season. There’s a lot of reps over a 10- to 12-game season. Anyone who thinks you don’t need two quarterbacks must be drinking seawater.” Coach Frederick paused. “My first terrible city kid beach reference.” Quarterback Gus Musika, a senior, quarterbacked the JV team last Friday though three scrimmages. He is also the team’s long snapper. Guys like Gus are the bungee cords that hold teams together.    

Stoners and sprinters - Marijuana for medicinal usage helps people, as proven by the medical community. I’m not  a fan of recreationally toked-up teens and certainly not athletes. I believe chronic usage robs youthful people of the gift of spontaneity, plus, not only do many think they are cool without earning it, but may think I’m cool without deserving it. I walked out of a small class of post-lunch stoners in Philly in 1973 because they were laughing at everything I said, including loss of lives from tsunamis and avalanches. Sha‘Carri Richardson, 23, won the 100-meter world championship in Budapest last week,  running 10.65.  Remember she was pulled from the Tokyo Olympics for a positive marijuana (THC) test after the Olympic trials. Richardson is an extroverted, flamboyant personality type, and one of the fastest and most gifted women sprinters in the world. I can go back 40 years both as a sportswriter and a coach and tell you I have refused to cover teams with “stoned on game day” players or allow track athletes to compete while stoned. How can you tell? If you don’t know, you don’t know. 

Broadcasters in the bleachers - I’m the fool who cares if the Phillies win. I’m locked in on every pitch. On Tuesday night with the Phillies trailing 3-2, the Phanatic was dressing the broadcast team as Star Wars characters, and just as Tom McCarthy was wearing a Princess Leia wig that covered half his bald head, Bryce Harper got picked off at first. He didn’t even attempt to dive back. I switched off the game asking myself, “What are you watching, ‘Pee-Wee's Playhouse?’” Where is Phillies third baseman Willie “Puddin’ Head” Jones (1947-1959)? Jones died at 58 years old but not before becoming “Puddin’ Pop Pop.” 

Snippets - Two members of the A team are now on the Cape Henlopen varsity volleyball team: Sisters Amalia and Amara Fruchtman, a freshman and a sophomore. There is one freshman on the Cape varsity soccer roster of 24, Seth Benjamin, and only one sophomore, Quinton Eisenmann. Cape has a JV team of 23 and freshman team of 18. Cape field hockey has a total of 50 players including 24 varsity and 26 JV players. Josh Hackney, Cape class of 2011, a DSU grad and member of DSP, has been hired as the school resource officer at Mariner Middle School. Josh is an assistant basketball coach at Cape Henlopen High School. Josh is just a great guy, Cape was smart to snag him. Go on now, git!