Rabid fans of field hockey rock different versions of same game
Postgame analysis - Hundreds of people can watch the same game, then rock a totally different analysis of what they saw. Personally I prefer the “What was that all about?” explanation of shared reality. Cape at Delmar field hockey attracts as big a crowd as any game on the Division I college level. The fans are way more partisan and rabid in a mad dog kind of way. My affection for Cape is more latent because I’m a professional photojournalist and try to be objective and not a big fat ugly cheerleader with spinal stenosis. But a day after a Cape 2-1 overtime win at Delmar, the younger Cats were in town to play Beacon, and so I was there because I have granddaughters on the Beacon team and high school team, so sometimes my job is chasing my family around the countryside. I overheard a Delmar dad talking about how Delmar dominated Cape in the varsity game and it went on and on how Cape double-teamed their star Booter Ellis, which I know they didn’t. I’m not wading into any field hockey arguments; I just know if Delmar reaches the final game for the third year in a row, there is a good chance Cape will be the team they will face.
Devil in the details - The Tampa Bay Rays dropped the Devil Ray moniker like a hot potato a few years back because a bunch on bonefish thought devil was satanic. I never understood that there are several devils: Satan, Lucifer and Beelzebub; three devils who agree never to show up at the same place at the same time? The Rays are a good baseball team, good enough to win the World Series from a wild card position. They open a five-game series in Boston on Friday afternoon that is only one reason to skip the high school homecoming parade coming up Savannah Road. The city of Tampa doesn’t support this team during the season. The median age in the city of Tampa is 35 with income 34K, which is 10K below the national average. The city itself has half as many people as Delaware. I thought Tampa was mostly old people from Michigan, so I have no idea who lives there, but it seems a shame to waste a good baseball team on a city that doesn’t appreciate it.
Wet and wild - Ten years ago I saw my buddy Rowland Truitt at 7 a.m. riding a lawn tractor down the street in the pouring rain while wearing an empty 30-pack Old Milwaukee box of beer on his head for protection. This was about protection, not celebrating a brand. Rowland was heading to his mason boss man Stevie's house and Stevie didn’t pick him up for work; otherwise, he’d be a chauffeur and not a brick mason. Last Sunday at the Dogfish Dash I saw all kinds of people cleverly and creatively dressed to impress in various Dogfish cutouts celebrating their favorite brand of Dogfish beer. I guarantee you none of them were on their way to work on a riding mower they had found by the curb on Big Trash Day in Lewes.
Cape volleyball - The Cape volleyball team improved to 7-1 with road wins at Red Lion Christian Academy and Woodbridge and were at Delmar Thursday, Oct. 3, before hosting unbeaten Polytech Tuesday, Oct. 8, and Sussex Tech 5-3, Thursday, Oct. 10. The Cape varsity is paced by Cameron Wick, Cailey Thornburg, Mallory McDonald, Michele Bahtiarian, Megan Hart, Kristin Perkinson, Isabelle Marsico, Sarah Tappan, Alison Palmer, Kira Vitella, Claudia Ratner and Megan Grahne. Cape’s players look like volleyball girls, and most also play another sport.
Snippets - Solomon Cox, a senior cross country basketball and track athlete, comes from generations of nicknamed relatives - his Aunt Pie babysat our newborn twins Tom and Jack in 1976 until she refused, claiming the house was haunted. Solomon has the greatest nickname - “Yum Yum” - don’t know why but it seems to fit. This homecoming Friday night football game as you sit in the stands and hear people complaining, “Why are we playing Bullis?” it's because you didn’t want to play Salesianum, and Seaford and Washington High didn’t want to see another homecoming halftime show. Coaches Janet Nowakowski, Carolyn Ivins and Ruth Sponaugle Skoglund will be honored before the game with induction into the Coaches Ring of Honor. They are the first women to be so recognized. The honor is long overdue for sure. Plaques with photos and inscription will be permanently placed on the field house façade someplace for maximum impact; that requires an impact wrench, I suppose. Delaware football goes north and wrestles the 4-1 Black Bears of Maine on Saturday afternoon. Maine is a good team. Beating them inside their own den would be a statement. I’m not looking for it to happen. Go on now, git!
