Friday night football on Monday afternoon

Friday night on Monday afternoon - I watched Cape’s JV football team at Legends Stadium overcome a 8-6 halftime deficit to beat Dover 26-8 Oct. 17. I was impressed with sophomore quarterback Steven Huey, who threw for close to 200 yards (no official stats), which included two touchdowns, one Sh’kai Chandler and the other to Malik Aiken. The game also featured running touchdowns by James McMullin and Curtis Purnell. And Benjamin Weathersby caught a couple passes and a two-point conversion. Chandler also had an interception. Kicker Hunter Simmons pooched three kickoffs that were recovered and drilled another high and inside the 10-yard line. I would not be afraid to use any of these skilled players on Friday night. Next game, I have to focus on the linemen.  

Self scouting - Speaking of Friday night on Monday afternoon, I think all teams should be constantly scouting and evaluating their own talent, not just by ability but also by position. I did that with my track teams. We had talent search practices and everyone tried the events of the day. Mostly it was laughable, but every once in awhile there was a discovery, like Vincent “Birdman” Glover, who left baseball because he kept bailing out on the curveball. I was insistent on making him a high jumper, except he was afraid of heights. You know flying high 6 feet off the ground with your back horizontal to the track takes some confidence. And so on triple jump day, with no coaching whatsoever, Vincent came down the runway and starting to bounce like a pogo stick and landed in the pit at 44-feet-6-inches. Later that spring at the Penn Relays, he jumped 48-feet-6-inches for a state record that held for 15 years. Now that was some good coaching.

Cleveland Indians connection - Ron Shapiro, the super sports agent and author and a friend of Fredman, has a summer home in Bethany Beach. Ron is a native of Baltimore and has represented Cal Ripken and was Oprah Winfrey’s first agent. Mark Shapiro, the president of the Toronto Blue Jays, was formerly the general manager of the Cleveland Indians. He is Ron’s son. Eric Mangini, who is defensive coordinator of the 49ers and former head coach of the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets and an ESPN analyst, is Ron’s son-in-law. Mangini was a 23-year-old ball boy with the Browns for Bill Belichick when my nephew Mike played there. It goes way deeper and wider, but I’m going to stop there.

Shutting down Kareem - You won’t find it in any record book, but my older brother Tom was the only basketball player to shutout Lew Alcindor (later Kareem) on the basketball court. The year was 1958. Tom was an eighth grade 6-foot-3-inch center for Our Lady of Grace in Penndel, Pa., while Lew was a fifth-grader for St. Francis Vocational in Cornwells Heights. Alcindor’s basketball history always begins with New York’s Power Memorial High School - they won 71 in a row when he played there - but inside a scrapbook in my brother’s basement there is authentication of the shutout and Kareem knows it because we told him – another long story.   

Snippets - Taylor Gooch, former Cape all-state lacrosse player, is a redshirt freshman at Temple University. Taylor has been given full clearance to resume athletic activities a year after rupturing her achilles tendon during a fall ball practice. Time lost in high school due to injury is not reclaimed by redshirt, which seems sad at the time, although I’ve been struck by the resilience and positivity of injured high school athletes. I’m reminded of a locker room speech by basketball coach Dwight Tingle after his team was eliminated from the state tournament. “If basketball is all you have going on in your life, I feel sorry for you.” A player piped up (name withheld) “I ain’t gonna lie, it is all I got going on.” DIAA has granted an additional year of eligibility to Julian Medina, who wrestled heavyweight for the Vikings. Julian is an exception student under the administrative umbrella of the Sussex County Consortium and his Individualized Educational Program continues with athletics being a major component. And Julian, winner of the 2015 Buddy Hurlock Courageous Athlete Award, is an inspirational example of what can happen when everyone works together. Cape football (5-1) is at 0-6 Caesar Rodney Friday night. It is the Riders’ Senior Night, but not Homecoming, so traffic shouldn’t be an issue. Delmar field hockey is at Cape Saturday at 4 p.m. It should be a great game, most likely round one of a two-round fight. Go on now, git!