Legacy is just a Subaru; meet me at the tailgate

Tailgating - A metabolic frolic where pregame meal meets happy hour before a football game. Some fans look rabid heading into games, but that is just the whipped cream from the Jell-O shooters they sucked down. I never drank at tailgates because I was always working, and there was always chili made by a guy who kept bragging about his recipe. I never ate any pregame chili  because I didn't want to suffer Montezuma’s Revenge on the sidelines during the game. Dan Cook and I covered a lot of Delaware games during the coach K.C. Keeler era. Perhaps I should cover his first game as the head coach of Temple?  

Legacy is just a Subaru - Weird dynamics play out at prestigious universities that reject over 90% of applicants but keep the application fees, which total millions of dollars. Imagine clearing $5 million a year by shattering the dreams of highly qualified academics without giving them a reason. Those bumping the ceiling of the class rotunda may be waitlisted, which is like flying standby to destination anywhere. Legacy admits – Poppy was an All-American and lifelong mega donor – are no longer allowed, too much like a caste system of class. And affirmative action is no longer allowed, except for people who are 6-foot-10. I read and dissect college sports rosters, which reveal tons of information about the emphasis of athletics and academics on university campuses. Bet your bottom dollar that legacy students and genetically gifted athletic students are admitted on a sliding scale, otherwise known as preferential treatment. “Is inequality inevitable?” is a topic that has been debated in the American Journal of Sociology for the last 80 years. It’s a good thing no one reads it. Christmas lights don’t work unless they’re hooked up. Stay networked and go for the hook-ups. It’s as American as apple pie from Old World Breads. 

Geico Commercial - You’ve seen it where the football player leaves the game because his life goal is to sell insurance to people. The dad says, “You’re giving up on your dreams, James," and the kid (who looks about 30) says, “It’s your dream, dad; selling insurance is mine.” That commercial is effective because the best minds in advertising are housed on Madison Avenue and they understand the skinny of sports families. I’m seeing tons of athletes chasing dreams. It’s often not the dreams of their parents, as they’re pursuing their own path. Parents are mostly smart and just get out of the way. And then there are the athletes who snap to the elite level in a sport with no family legacy, and as soon as everyone gets excited, the athlete gives it up to try something different. 

Still the Same - Run the race at your own pace and rest assured that inside your riptide of friends heading out to the gulf stream of warm feelings are a few who find you annoying or don’t like your style, or were offended by something you said or wrote a decade earlier. But the most comforting and reassuring moments when bumping into old friends is finding that they are still the same person, and that is a good thing because sometimes that is not the case. I wrote the above reflecting on 42 years as a community columnist. I couldn’t change if I wanted to, which I don’t.  

Snippets - I used to make fun of the fight song “Hail to the Redskins,” which rhythmically sounded a lot like “Fly Eagles Fly,” except without the closing spelling bee – E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles! You need a chart or wax board, forget the cellphone, to keep up with the college bowls and championship subdivisions. Does anyone remember the difference between long division, short division and subdivisions? In 2022, I was inducted into the Delaware Sports Hall of Fame. I was the last of nine speakers. I stepped to the podium and said, “In the interest of time, I’d like to not thank anyone.” The Saltwater Sesame Street people laughed; the rest of the big room not so much. Not to sound pollyanna, but we are all gifts to each other. So take your gift and go on now, git!