Failing with intelligence takes lots of negative energy
Too cool for school - A celebrated high school athlete has to work at failing off a team in just about all high schools including gold-starred and Best Western. And that’s because schools are filled with employees who believe in being a bridge over troubled waters. I’ve given many students breaks they didn’t deserve, saying, “There are plenty of people here willing to help you screw up your life, but I’m not one of them, so don’t drag me into it.” Cape will face St. George’s in this December’s Slam Dunk tournament. The Hawks eliminated Cape last March in the semifinals of the 2014 DIAA tournament 64-55. The Hawks' Lamar Hamrick, a sophomore, had 23 points. In the finals against Sallies he scored 19. In other tournament games, Hamrick scored 39 versus Sanford, 31 versus Sussex Tech and 21 versus Charter. And this his junior year, he is currently academically ineligible (allegedly approaching certainty) and I know that because if the best basketball player in the state drops off the team, we all know it’s the price of notoriety. These situations are almost never a result of “kid can’t do the work” but mostly “won’t do work or make up work or stay after school for help.”
Champion or chump - I’ve always thought of myself as a champion of young people. Back when I was Cape’s head track coach I often rescued athletes from the depths of academic ineptitude, promising the teacher, “They are better in school if they spend after school with me. I will help you gain leverage with them and make sure they do the work.” I was telling an English teacher all about that in the back of her classroom - she was my wife so I had a shot - then looked at the kid. The entire class was looking at me. I said, "Arthur, I will not care about you more than you care about yourself. Do you understand?” The entire class of kids began shaking their heads from side to side. “What?” I asked them. “You will so, Fredman, and everyone knows it. So go ahead, but he will break your heart, not to mention several hurdles.” Some teachers considered me a chump, and some students saw me as a pushover, but I had to be who I am. I caught more breaks in my life than a Meineke mechanic.
Sitting on a better story - I’ve been a storytelling athlete my entire life, so now when I interview people I restrain myself from adding my own story (because it’s not a conversation) which is usually better than the one I’m listening to. The best coach interviews come from the smart and candid ones who trust me. Yep, that can’t be a very high number.
Snippets - Andrew Merlo is now a senior guard at McDaniel College coming off the bench and getting between 25 and 30 minutes a game. Trey Mitchell, 149 pounds, a junior out of Caesar Rodney, and Alvontae Drummond, a 141- pound sophomore, are front-line varsity wrestlers at McDaniel.
There are eight teams left in the Division III NCAA football tournament. Wesley plays Hobart at noon, Saturday, Dec. 6, at home. A Wolverines win would advance the team into the semis to most likely face Mount Union. Widener plays Linfield and if they win, will most like face Wisconsin Whitewater in the semifinals. The championship game will be played Friday, Dec. 19, in Salem, Va.
In the FCS tournament that moved into the second round, Sam Houston, coached by former Delaware coach KC Keeler, is at Jackson State. Villanova is in the Sam Houston bracket. Coastal Carolina, coached by Joe Moglia with George Glenn as director of football operations, will host Richmond Saturday, Dec. 6. Many of these games are on the ESPN network of stations. Moglia, a former head coach of the Omaha Nighthawks who interned a season at Nebraska, is one of the rumored candidates for the vacant Nebraska job.
The Rehoboth marathon set for Saturday, Dec. 6, may miss the rain - it’s a tight window - and that would be great news for my camera. There are roughly 1,400 registered for the half marathon and another 1,200 for the full marathon. That’s lots of people with disposable income to spend on leisure self-improving fitness. Most marathoners have college degrees; it's called dissociation, meaning having something to think about other than torturing yourself. I ran the Lewes Marathon in 1977 dressed in white Cape track shorts, a green Del Tech Roadrunners shirt and a blue skullcap. My wife said I looked like a Dannon Yogurt truck. Want to hear all about it? You don’t. Go on now, git!
