Glory days are a step ahead of really slow
Bear essentials - The 400 meters is the race where “the mythical bear” will jump you at 300 meters and claw you to the track if you go out too hard. You can easily judge fitness and decline by tracking 400-meter splits over the span of your life. I ran 62 seconds for 400 meters on a cinder track back in 1974 at a coaches decathlon, pulling more Gs than Apollo 11 on reentry. Later at Cape in 1983, I jumped into a workout with distance runners and ran 75 seconds for 400 meters, pulling more Gs than Apollo 13. But I kept getting bigger, older and slower. Now when I look at a pack of young men pack running the track feeding off each other’s speed, I miss those days when I was a step ahead of really slow.
World Masters Record - Sonja Friend-Uhl, a 1989 Cape graduate and later William and Mary graduate, ran anchor on an over-40 Masters 4-by-400 relay team that shattered the world record, clocking a time of 4:03 to break the old mark of 4:09. "I ran a 60 flat split, the fastest I've run in a long time," Sonja said. "I didn't want to let down my teammates." Fat chance of that happening, as in no chance. Sonja also ran on a world record 4-by-800 team in 2013 and owns the world masters age-group record in the indoor mile in 4:44.84, set back in 2012.
Elephant in the training room - The ESPN Sunday morning Sports Reporters were talking about the retirement of Peyton Manning when Jemele Hill said, “When you talk about Peyton Manning, you have to talk about the elephant in the room.” She was the first to get her own unintended metaphoric pun. She started to lose it, but gained composure. The men on the panel missed the association of the proposed 1996 “sexual assault/hazing misconduct accusation” at University of Tennessee by a trainer to an elephant which leads into growth hormones showing up in Peyton’s mailbox addressed to his wife. A female trainer accused Manning of placing his butt and genitals on her face while she was examining his injured foot. The pharmacist's name is Charlie Sly (not related to Family Stone Sly) and he also named Ryan Howard, Julius Peppers, Ryan Zimmerman and Mike Tyson as athletes to whom he supplied drugs. Peyton Manning is a sports icon and most purely sports writers are steering clear, preferring to discuss such inane topics as legacy and whether or not he’s a first ballot hall of famer.
Sweet Tea on TV - I was watching the SEC channel Sunday morning and they showed a clip of South Carolina beating Michigan State in the bottom of the 7th inning 8-7 on a play at the plate. The first person out of the dugout in celebration for the 17-2 Gamecocks was Tiara Duffy. The next game USC beat UConn 5-4. Tiara played right field and was 1 for 2 with three putouts in the field. She is batting .350 on the season.
Promise prevails - I spent one afternoon taking spring practice photos at Cape capturing girls' lacrosse, girls' soccer and boys' and girls' track and field. I counted eight assistants to the Zen Master at lacrosse practice (not counting myself, Agent Zero) - six of them are listed as volunteers. Track and field has Matt Lindell as head coach of the boys and George Pepper running the girls' program. Rob Perciful and Hannah Pepper will assist with the girls' program while Jay Maull and Ellis Gaulden are assistants to the boys' program. Girls' soccer returns Jay Ashby as head coach with Patrick Kilby as an assistant and Chris Myers as junior varsity coach. Gary Montalto is a drop-in volunteer. The talent level in girls' soccer has been noticeably upgraded, look for improvement on last season's 6-9 record, possibly flipping those numbers around.
Network connections - I take photos and post them from all sporting events I attend. Obviously Temple lacrosse has gotten to know me and some parents read the Cape Gazette online edition. Sports is a networked matrix in that if you remotely know someone then you tend to know some of the same people. A dad asked me if I would write a story of Temple’s 19-9 win at UMBC and I explained the danger of devoting space to my relatives, adding, "But it’s possible.”
Snippets - Looks like some good days ahead for spring sports practices. Saturday has the threat of rain. The great thing about being a meteorologist is you can change your forecast after sticking your head out the window. Maybe a “best day of the week” plan should be enacted at least for scrimmages. Cape girls' lacrosse will host Bennett (Md.) in an afternoon scrimmage Thursday, March 10, while all other sports look to be scheduled for Saturday. Bridgewater College men’s lacrosse beat visiting Wesley 11-7 March 5. Blake Mann (Cape) had four goals for the Eagles. Jack Redefer (Sussex Tech) had a goal for the Wolverines. Four Delaware players are on the Bridgewater roster, including Sean MacLeish of Caesar Rodney. I saw a dozen photographers sitting on the mat shooting the Big 12 wrestling championship bouts. I’m as good as them, except I couldn’t get back up. It would be ugly. Go on now, git!
