Doctors Outside Borders drove me to the Apple trash can icon

I’ll take the credit and you can roll with the debit.  In the March 22 Cape Gazette, there were five nice Cape girls' lacrosse pictures, all credited to me - but none of my action shots actually made the page. Kevin Bristowe and Pete Coveleski, Doctors Outside Borders, bumped my shots to the Apple trash icon, and I was cool with that as I executed the order. I explained what happened to Kevin and Pete, but they seemed totally uninterested, like I might as well have been telling them that my knee hurt. Standing on the sidelines at Episcopal Academy the same day, I was struck that it was kind of coolly coincidental that Kevin had attended nearby Villanova; Pete had gone to Swarthmore; and I had been a football coach at the Mitchell School, where I turned emotionally disturbed teenagers into face-painted-at-Earl-Scheib-out-of-control-warriors who would run up the score on their grandmothers in a backyard game of croquet. “Go get your ball, Mom Mom, it just rolled into Cornanna Cobb’s Creek."

Hospitality pass - The people at Episcopal Academy were nice, and I did see a Windstar and Kia in the parking lot - you all ain’t so bad - but hospitality was from the Philly Phantoms book of social etiquette. Cape Henlopen is not a name that rolls off the tongue along the Main Line of Philadelphia. Nearby Villanova is called the Notre Dame of the East; this is upscale real estate and trust me, there is no resident in the area code named Peanut, Poochie or Pluck. But what struck me was the lack or curiosity before and after the game. The Cape team doctored up turkey sandwiches after the game outside the team bus. No one came over to socialize or schmooze. If the trip had been reversed, Cape would have been feeding their girls Kick n' Chicken and Grotto pizza and establishing text contacts and inviting them to the beach for the summer.

MacDade Boulevard - It was long ago when I first showed up at Cape. I had Wendy Doucette as a student. I always called Wendy “MacDade” because she was from up around Collingdale and MacDade Boulevard. Last Tuesday, stuck in a nightmare traffic jam trying to get back to the beach, I was dumped onto MacDade Boulevard and tried to make the most out of the cultural experience as I rolled around Widener and the badlands of Chester looking for the I-95 South “dump off ramp.” Back in 1977, a Cape track bus was trucking down the same street and some little white shot put girl said, "Coach Fred, my grandmother lives around here.” I responded, ”What’s her name?” I then made some crack like, ”I know her, when did she get out of jail?” The girl got defensive:  "Last week, but she was innocent and since when do you need a license to run a bingo parlor in your row house?” I snapped a picture of a pink house that reminded me of "Music from Big Pink"  and The Band song “I Shall Be Released.” I saw my light come shining from the west down to the east,  please release me back to the beach.

Snippets - Senior second baseman for Sussex Tech Kelsey Doherty singled, doubled, and tripled in the Ravens' 21-0 rout of Seaford on opening day, March 22. Kelsey gave way to a pinch hitter and did not get a chance to hit for the cycle. Kelsey was first team all-state as a junior at second base. Her mother, Linda, was an all-state athlete in field hockey and softball out of Concord High School. Daddy Dave is Cape’s new baseball coach, who enjoyed watching his team beat Woodbridge on opening day. Captains for Cape’s boys' lacrosse team chosen by the players are seniors James Cook, Matt Millman and Andrew Scrutchfield. Like my friend trainer Dave Kergaard, I spent 13 years at Gold’s Gym in Rehoboth and now will move to the new Club Fitness facility in the Rehoboth Mall. Working out is about staying after it, and it is never too late to invest in yourself because if you're not strong and fit, not much good is going to happen except by fortuitous, random happenstance. I hope the NFL cancels the season because they have all grown tiresome, recently talking endlessly about moving the kickoff up five yards. How about that Libya? We may have to resort to fantasy geopolitical games, drafting countries, rebel groups, despots and dictators, pirates and Taliban - who knows, Americans may finally learn who the players are. Go on now, git!