Sports teams celebrate championships with excessive drinking

Best start - The 33rd annual Father's Day 5K, with 320 runners striding like sun flares away from the Boardwalk, is a photographic challenge. I've probably been at all 33 races and I never do the same thing twice. But at least I show up. Like I told Race Director Tim Bamforth, “When I don’t show up just because I’m lazy, I’m most likely staying lazy.” My great nephew Bodie Frederick was earning honor society hours. His dad Mike, Cape’s football coach, was there. My granddaughter Katie also walked by, and June 18 is my late brother Tom's birthday. I told Mike: “We live in this beautiful place and just continually run into one another.” Just doesn’t get much better.  

Huggy Bear - West Virginia men's basketball coach Bob Huggins, 69, the third winningest coach in NCAA men's basketball history, resigned after his arrest for DUI and a few months after having $1 million deducted from his salary and escaping job termination after going on Cincinnati radio and making homophobic and disparaging comments against gay people and Catholics. I often respond to the question “Are you behaving yourself?” with, “I have to, no one is left to play with at my age. My contemporary friends are on the safe side of recovery. They went too hard, too soon and too fast.” And who drives around in a company car with bags of spent beer cans then goes on radio in Pittsburgh as a homophobic Huggy Bear with a sprinkling of pope jokes? No doubt alcoholism is a bear in this case, a Huggy Bear or a huggy for your beer can.

Drunken rant - Mostly shirtless Las Vegas Golden Knights hockey players celebrated winning the Stanley Cup with a parade along the Strip and some of these young guys appeared trashed, which is a good reason not to hand them a live microphone. During the portion of the event where players were giving speeches, one of the team's Day 1 players, William Karlsson, went on a drunken rant that actually saw his microphone cut off and a woman, whom many assume was his wife, trying to pry the mic out of his hand and drag him off stage. Talk about “The Good Wife.” Just another mixed message. “Get the trophy, then get drunk.” Imagine if an NHL hockey team descended on Dewey Beach for a Saturday night celebration? Years ago there was a rule: “No rugby players allowed to wear team colors in Dewey bars.”  

Denver Nuggets parade - An NBA championship parade featured many of the players shirtless drinking using both hands with arms raised high above their faces, including the head coach. Denver is a place I’ve never been but from a distance it looks pretty cool. Sunday, June 25, is the Coors Light Denver Pride Parade that spans 14 blocks. Coach Bob Huggins as grand marshal would be a nice touch.

Homophobic chants - Mexico versus USA soccer was contested at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas June 15. The USA won 3-0. There were fights on the field (described as brawls). Homophobic chanting from Mexican fans caused the game to be cut short. The Mexican Football Federation was fined on nine occasions during the qualification for the 2018 World Cup. A dual citizenship friend of mine suggested it’s not about homophobia, it's about being stupid and getting under the other team's skin. The term is puto; the target is the other team's goaltender. 

Snippets - Open field hockey happens on Tuesday nights and Lewes Lax on Thursdays, both at 6 p.m. at Champions Stadium. Football has non-contact practices at 7:30 p.m. Monday nights at Champions Stadium. The Phillies have climbed to four games over .500 and next have the Braves and Mets at home. It may be a good time to go catch a game. We local muppets have all enjoyed following the stellar career of Jake Gelof at Virginia and now look forward to seeing where he gets taken in the upcoming MLB Draft. I have watched college tournaments through lacrosse, baseball and softball and I keep hearing “portal” stories. It must be disheartening for coaches to lose athletes they recruited who then decided to bail for a better deal. I spoke with an athlete who put his name in the portal, and in mid-season his team proceeded to just ignore him. The portal calculation is a gamble that some other school might be interested in your talents. In high school, it's called school choice. Go on now, git!