Steve Snell was Cape’s Golden Richards in 1986

Golden Richards - Steve Snell was the Golden Richards (Cowboys, Bears, Broncos) of Cape football, catching home run balls from Eddie Brown during the 1985 and 1986 seasons. Long blond hair flowing from the back of his helmet, Steve was all glory, no gory – let someone else do the blocking and tackling. Steve was “taking it to the house” when it was still pay dirt. Steve is irascible and irrepressible, now living in Lakeland, Fla. He owns an RV dealership in Sebring, Fla. His sister is Cindi Snell Dmiterchik, married to Mike if you want to chase that ball. Steve sent a photo of himself taken by his 13-year-old daughter Zoie saying, “Just point out the long, beautiful hair and the biceps, not bad for a 52-year-old. Zoie took the photo, so I would never dream of publishing fake news.” Zoie, shown in the same Cape shirt from the 1986 season, has been a dancer since she was 5 and has placed in national competitions. She is also quite a gymnast. In the Newark at Cape football game in 1986, Eddie Brown threw a backward, one-bounce pass to flanker Dave Frederick. I can still hear the Yellowjackets defensive back say, “Oh no,” as Steve Snell ran past him and Dave threw him the ball for a touchdown. No one ever made an end-zone happy arrival like Steve; that is just his personality.     

JaMarcus Russell and Dwayne Haskins - Before anyone writes a pair of big busts (sounds wrong), realize that JaMarcus stepped up in 2005 after Katrina and took care of Fats Domino and members of his family who had been rescued from the 9th Ward in New Orleans. The Domino family were friends of the family of Russell’s girlfriend. In 2020, Dwayne Haskins, now former quarterback of the Washington Football Team, appears to be a lost soul with a personality that is just off when it comes to quarterbacking a professional football team. Russell was said to have work ethic and weight issues, a deadly combination for an athlete. He also had a codeine cough syrup problem. My friend coach Bill Collick always said, “Some people have a hard time just being normal. It makes you think it’s just not that easy.” Haskins is just toast. 

Head cases - Let’s be honest, before sports psychology was an advanced degree offered at master’s and doctorate levels, it was coaches who dealt daily with “head cases” on their team. Usually it was incredibly athletically talented individuals who had performance and consistency issues. When performance didn’t level up with immense talent, the person was called a “head case.” The aside to that analysis is that it takes great talent to be a head case; otherwise, no one really cares. Yes, that sounds harsh, but there is never much attention paid to solid citizens on a sports team who just do their best in every practice and every game. Many coaches, especially in football, will argue that you can’t build championship teams around a nucleus of head cases, but I believe that they are wrong. You have talent, you have a job in the NFL, and that trickles down to high school. Say it ain’t so, but you would be wrong.  

Snippets - Cape has won an incredible 63 state championships in its 51-year history, leading all public schools in Delaware, unless someone proves me wrong. Let them go to the DIAA website. Sallies leads everyone, with 148 state titles just on the boys’ side. Padua has won 70 state titles just on the girls’ side of the street. Saint Mark’s, a Catholic coed school, has 74 state titles. These numbers were counted by my eyeballs only once from a color-coded chart, so they may be slightly off, as opposed to outrageously off. There is a six-game spring football schedule for the Delaware Blue Hens, beginning with the Maine Black Bears at home March 6. Delaware is on the Delaware State spring schedule for a game in Dover April 10. The same game is not listed on the Blue Hens’ website. There is all kinds of fifth-year whack stuff happening in college sports. For example, if a football player on scholarship is deprived of senior year because of COVID and elects to come back for their fifth year on scholarship, then that scholarship is taken off the front end in terms of recruitment of new players. The spring schedule I don’t understand at all. Do porkers of the pandemic still make a resolution to lose weight during the new year, and by the way, if your BMI number is greater than the mileage from Lewes to Dover, then all the Five Hour Energy drinks on the rack ain’t getting you back on track; just drop the cheese dog on the counter and grab two bananas ... that’s for the person too lazy to pull them apart. Go on now, git!