Titles and awards can easily get lost in the phragmites

Wrestlers and runners - The sports of wrestling, cross country and spring track have similar championship formats, beginning with conferences. The Henlopen Conference recognizes a dual-meet champion in each sport, which is separate from the conference meet champion. And once those titles are in the books, it's off to the state championships and further permutations like Division I and II. Wrestling recognizes a state champion based on a season-ending dual-meet tournament for each division. The season-ending tournament of individuals in wrestling is sometimes used to determine the team state champion, most recently in the 2020 pandemic season, where Cape and Caravel were state champions. Like a foul ball at the Lewes Little League park, it's easy to get lost in the phragmites sifting through the championships as they pertain to divisions and configurations for each sport.  

Humbled at home - The Cape boys have a good lacrosse team, yet Tuesday night, they were humbled in their own house, losing to Salesianum 18-4. The loss by 14 goals is the widest margin of defeat in the modern era, going back to 2009 when websites4sports started keeping accurate scores of all games played. Lacrosse is volatile, like mercury on formica; matchups and momentum shifts can make good teams look bad. And yet there is no coach of a good team who believes that an easy win in game one guarantees a victory in a rematch. Paraphrasing Doc Holliday in “Tombstone,” “It’s not about revenge; it's a reckoning.” The Cape boys must now get back to work to find out who they are and what it’s all about. The hardcore athletes believe, “We ain’t goin out like that.” A sidebar to the sandbars: Salesianum never publishes individual goals and assists for their games. The reason (hearsay) is because it's like handing a scouting report to opponents. Coach Bob Healy is a good guy, a gracious guy and a great coach. Last season, I mentioned I was Mikey Frederick’s grandfather. Healy knew all about Mikey and was very complimentary. I guess he read the scouting reports in the Cape Gazette every week. 

Learn from losses - The Cape girls’ lacrosse team lost at Queen Anne’s 15-4 and Bishop Ireton 18-9 back in 2015, then went on to win the Delaware state championship. I can tell you that all 24 athletes on that roster went on to graduate from college. I remember after the loss at Ireton, a sideline boombox started bumping danceable tunes, and the players were dancing together and some ate sandwiches while making new friends. Imagine if that had happened Tuesday night after the Sallies game. Even John Lennon couldn't imagine that.  

The White Mamba - The late Kobe Bryant dubbed Diana Taurasi “The White Mamba” for her play and incredible resumé in college and the WNBA. Taurasi, now 41, is entering her 20th season of professional basketball, playing for the Phoenix Mercury. I’m not Instagramps, so I’m having a hard time following the slick website of the WNBA. Scores, standings, box scores and attendance figures are all I’m interested in. I just want to see if the hype and the happening merge together. Taurasi’s teammate, Brittney Griner, fractured her toe and is out indefinitely. 

Peak performance - College athletic eligibility, factoring in redshirts and the COVID year, always ends abruptly; then it's time to play life’s long game. It’s more of a stark stop for women in sports than men because there are fewer opportunities to continue avoiding the reality of a real job when there are no more games to play. Even adult recreational leagues are more a male cultural social club. But let's let that lie; no need to rock my social sports psychologist alter ego.

Breakdowns - I think we all look at athletes playing sports from youth leagues to the pros as if they are all indestructible gumbies made of flexible rubber. I’ve been seeing a rash of injuries, from fractured toes to tweaked hamstrings, strained obliques and stretched medial collateral ligaments to generalized complaints – “I’m telling you my back hurts.” Imagine being a catcher with knee tendonitis. “My crouching dragon is dragging.” Harper with a headache out of the lineup is not surprising. Try spending your life in a dugout of young men with more languages and linguistic styles and accents than a “We Are the World” concert. 

Snippets - One Cape class period 25 years ago, I brought in a bin of trophies and plaques for an annoying lesson of “Let’s talk about me for a while.” The class was Sports Information and Media Relations. After about 15 minutes, the students developed a critical hostility. “This trophy is missing an arm,” “The letters on this plaque have oxidized – you can’t even read them,” “You were an MVP on a grammar school basketball team, so what happened?” Finally, a student figured it out. "Fredman, we love you and all that, but this is a joke, right?” “Yes, indeed,” I said. “One hundred percent! Put them back in my Rubbermaid bin of personal memories for me to cherish the next time I spend a night in the garage.” This is awards season, and they are so special, but mostly to the person who receives them. It’s a remembrance that for one frozen moment in time you were honored for simply being you. Go on now, git!