Memory Lane: Sports history may just roll up your driveway
Roll deep - Elijah Shockley-Taylor, a junior on the Cape football team, sat in a white Toyota Sienna van at the top of my hairpin driveway of sports memories. Coach Jack Fred was giving him a ride home from practice. I came out of garage door No. 3 like a retired coach on “Let’s Make A Deal.” I asked, “Elijah, who are you to Thaddeus Shockey?” “He’s my pop-pop.” “No way,” I said. “Did he tell you about the time he sang at senior services and made the lunch ladies cry?” “Oh, you’re talking about my uncle Thaddeus.” And so we did the family tree thing. It was logical Stephan Shockely was also his uncle while his mother is Tabitha, or as I called her in high school “Tabby Cat.” Jack asked Elijah, “Do you know who Fredman is?” “Yes, he’s the guy who takes pictures.”
YAC versus YAK versus yakety-yak - A football category YAC means yards after catch. Pundits who yakety-yak for a living will tell you all about the relevance of YAC as opposed to the receiver who goes down to the ground at the first threat of an impending collision. There is the domestic yak, and there are about 12 million on the planet. Here’s a Wikipedia nugget: “The dried dung of the yak is the only obtainable fuel on the treeless Tibetan plateau.” Talking smack or talking yak, all pundits from politics to sports yakety-yak too much.
Up and away - I worked the sidelines with my camera at University of Delaware football for 10 years. I always worked on the visitor’s side. I wanted to see the looks on the players' faces when they came into one of the best venues in all of Double-A football. I was interested in sideline management, watching the offensive play caller under pressure. I would go to the visitor's side at Cape games but everyone knows I’m a Viking homie, and they would rightly squib kick me back across the field. I’m a Phillies fan going back to Connie Mack. On television, if I have the option, I always watch the other team’s broadcasts. The Phillies broadcast booth is the most booster biased in all of baseball, and it makes me uncomfortable, maybe because I don’t want to care that much, at least out loud.
Subdivision - Want to put a room filled with football fans to sleep? Just say, “We are leaving the subdivision level and moving up to the bowl division.” The Delaware Blue Hens opened the season Aug. 29, hosting Bryant. Are they the Gumbels? This is Delaware’s last year in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision, formerly known as 1AA. Next year, Delaware becomes a member of Conference USA in the Football Bowl Subdivision. “When something large or complex is split into smaller parts, you call each part a subdivision.” Whatever. The bigger question is, who is traveling on the Thursday of Labor Day weekend to watch Delaware host Bryant?
Singular focus - “The team that wants it more will win this game.” I’m not sure if that's an axiom or a cliché, but I’m pretty sure it’s never true. And singular focus is not what you want from the young athlete who lives in your house. You want them to have a broad perspective, a sense of balance and confidence. Sports psychology has been a major leading to a profession for 25 years. I asked the question, “Have you ever met one?” I know a couple, and honestly, they are among the most whack people I've met in the sports solar system.
Empty backfields - Bring back the straight T full-house backfield of the Bud Wilkinson era at Oklahoma. Bud had a record of 145-29-4 and won three national titles. I remember watching Jacksonville at Baltimore in 1995 with quarterback Mark Brunell at quarterback. The Jags ran lots of empty backfield sets. We are a nation of defensive coordinators, so I thought, “What would I do? What would Lawrence do?” I am edge rushing, red dogging, corner and safety blitzing. I'm getting the quarterback on the ground with every snap. It should work, but it's just as likely you will get burned. Execution beats schematics all day long.
Snippets - The Salisbury University men’s cross country team features runners Declan Burke (Indian River), Joe DeGregory (Cape Henlopen), Justin Friscia (Sussex Academy) and Brett Parker (Sussex Academy). The University of Delaware women’s cross country team includes Katie Kuhlman (Cape) and Brynn Crandell (Indian River). Years ago, a Cape student in class told me I was funny and shouldn't be working for chump teacher money. I lied and told him Cape had to pay me a $400K bonus just to sign. The response of the entire class was, “Let's not get crazy; you’re not that funny.” Do athletes with big contracts who underperform earn their money or should they donate it back? All Phillies fans are whispering “Taijuan Walker,” who has a four-year, $72 million contract. Go on now, git!
