Gifted bacon and melon balls make me a one-armed photog

Kitchen guy - I was waiting for runners to return to the finish line at Saturday morning’s Outlet Liquors 5K on Dickinson Avenue next to the Rusty Rudder in Dewey Beach. A tall kitchen guy looking young enough to be a former student (that goes up to 60) showed up with a plate of food prominently displaying bacon, melon balls, peach slices and a croissant. He said, “Here you go, Fredman,” and set it down on my green barstool. I never eat when I’m running a camera and felt a little self-conscious stuffing folded strips of fat bacon into my mouth while focusing on runners. I was later told it was Peter McMahon, father of lacrosse player Brody. Peter looks like an aeronautical engineer, but like all muppets in the matrix at Sesame Street by the Sea, he has multiple talents. 

Play days and scrimmages - The cat is way out of the bag pertaining to the worthlessness of NFL preseason football games. Using the trickle-down ergonomics of sports theory, I’m thinking high school preseason scrimmages and play days are falling into the same trap. There’s no score kept, yet everyone knows what the score is, and with social media, alumni and family across the country will soon know who beat whom. It doesn’t matter that a powerhouse team might be running the roster to get a live look at their personnel.  

Outgunned can’t get it done - Zach Horstmyer coached football at Cape with JD Maull and stayed through the first transition year with Mike Frederick. Zach is hardworking, smart and good with the players. He’s loyal to the program and was a major loss to Cape when he decided to take the head coaching position at Early College, a charter school on the campus of Delaware State University. Zach resigned last week from his coaching and teaching job at Early College. It was like playing pinochle with a poker deck, just not enough face cards. I’d like to see Zach back on the Cape sidelines. He's the high-energy guy, a football man, and you can’t have enough of them. 

Dorm dropping - The tradition of dropping a college freshman off at a dormitory goes back at least 60 years, in my case when I took a duffle bag out of the trunk of my mother’s Nova on North Broad Street at the Temple University campus on a dark Sunday night in front of 11-story Johnson Hall. Dot-Dash (her nickname) grew up at 5th and Lehigh. She looked up and said, “You don’t belong here,” and she was gone. We are all seeing the new dorm room photos, and I honestly don’t know what to make of any of it. Living at home and driving your own car to Del Tech and snuggling with your schnauzer every night seems like a smart alternative to separation angst. 

“Dumb stuff I’ve heard” - That’s the title of a sports book I may write, with a foreword titled “The Dumb Stuff I’ve Said.” It can get quickly weird, especially when things are taken out of context. I heard Little League coaches on ESPN last week quoting scripture or making it up. My favorite: “It is already written; we just have to go out and do it.” It’s all a version of “I believe we will win.” I think I would tell a coach, “These kids wear batting helmets to protect them from you getting inside their heads.” 

Snippets - Ray Thomas, the grandson of the late Fred Thomas of Lewes, is an NCAA soccer official living in North Carolina. On Thursday, he worked the Temple at Wake Forest game. Ray texted afterward that Temple was bad, which might have meant good. I had to go to the website. Wake won the game 4-0, outshooting the Owls 38-2 with a 14-1 advantage in corners. Quinn Nutter a first team all state defensive lacrosse player last season at Sussex Academy has enrolled at Cape for her senior season. Quinn has committed to the University of Tampa for lacrosse where she will join Cape graduate Carrie  Clausius.  Cape hockey has eight former players in Division I programs, sharing the roster with a total of 51 international players: Hannah Maney at Iowa with nine international players, Grace Wiggins at Richmond with seven international players, Reagan Ciabattoni at Duke with eight, Sam Connors at Appalachian State with eight, Mackinzie Brown at William and Mary with two, Addison Basil at Ohio University with eight, Noelle Sabbagh at University of Delaware with six, and Sommer Dorman at Lock Haven University with four. The late Harry Caray was the voice of the Cubs. His son Skip, grandson Chip and great-grandson Chris are all in the business. That is a pretty amazing legacy. Cape football will open the season Thursday, Aug. 29, at Red Lion Christian, game time 7 p.m. Post-game Labor Day southbound traffic is a potential nightmare – best to win so you just don’t care. Go on now, git!