Eight state titles for Brown, Woodruff and Broadhurst
Brown lights it up - Senior Jordan Brown, coming off team state championships in field hockey and lacrosse, never saw Cape lose to a Delaware team in either sport while winning eight state titles, four on each side. She started in lacrosse all four years. And so when the all-state teams were announced and Jordan wasn’t on first or second team, it had to be a bit of a body blow for the 100-goal scorer. But you would never know it by her smile or the high school all-star game Wednesday night at Polytech where Jordan led the White team to a 24-23 victory by scoring 5 goals and 2 assists. J-Dogg holds a Cape pedigree - her dad was a Vikings quarterback. She came into the game with a smile on her face and left the same way. She’s on her way to West Chester to join the Golden Rams Clan where her dad also played quarterback.
Workout for what? - There is an axiom in education, Teach for Transfer, meaning don’t bother force teaching and grading a class on material that has absolutely no relevance or application in the real world. I could expand that to Workout for What, begging the question, “What is the transfer value of relentless fitness unless there is an application piece to the profile?” I know in sports not all people work hard and don’t work to the same intensity. Any good coach will tell you that. If the people with the most talent also worked the hardest, the rest of us wouldn’t have a chance. Sports, from playing to coaching to being an athletic director or sportswriter/photographer, offers the opportunity to outwork most others who simply and quite frankly have no clue what it’s like to work hard. They just want to ride in a golf cart.
Women’s World Cup - “American sportswriter, stay away from me.” Forget about it, wrong song. It would be fashionably popular to talk down Women’’s World Cup Soccer, from the paucity of scoring to limited scoring chances to the sparse crowds in “How’s it going, eh” Canadian territory . Except I like it (he likes it!). I’d rather watch any game than the NBA finals played by moderately athletic tall people who make bad decisions all night long. The soccer athletes are exquisite and fit and play with nationalist pride. I like it (he likes it!) (Richard Carey is in my head). USA plays Sweden Friday - that’s right, Swedish girls (he likes it!) who are coached by Pia Sundhage who was U.S. head coach from 2008 to 2011. Drama and color and best of all, no LeBron James.
A happening campus - Traditionally, if not historically, high school campuses were dead calm in the summertime, too hot and bright to attract outside activities. The new Cape Henlopen High School configuration is teeming every early evening and most days with young athletes from all the sports not to mention the young college crowd once a week, men and women, playing lacrosse. I wonder if any age-appropriate undercover agents are part of the game just to figure out out where the parties are later that night.
Girls’ soccer gets kicked around - High school girls’ soccer should be a spring sport, and the fact that it is not is indicative of no clout behind the 50/50 balls. Blame it on field hockey and lacrosse; it’s still perplexing why a sport played in the fall at the college level and in most states stays a spring sport in Delaware. It’s killing the soccer/lacrosse athlete, which is a complementary combination.
Snippets - I am sorry but I’m not Calendar Guy, although I do like the song “Calendar Girl,” it’s kind of catchy. Too many camps; I was never good at getting those dates into my column because a column is not a calendar. And mostly for summer baseball and softball, I wait for the tournaments to start then follow town teams. But column stuff needs to be pretty specific and of general interest to thousands of people. It’s tricky; maybe I should retire - wait, I am retired! Cape is still trying to wire up coaching vacancies with teaching jobs; in the old days (my days) it just got done. But today there are too many checks and balances, not to mention administrators reluctant to take risks. Speaking of out of balance, it’s time for me to wobble away. Go on now, git!
