That vibration in my pocket better not be your mom on the phone
Get in the hole! Perhaps the lamest of all sports fans is the guy who screams "get in the hole" at a golf ball after it has been struck by a club. The lameness is trumped on a 12-foot tournament clinching putt, like last Sunday when Shane Lowry of Ireland won the Bridgestone Invitational, a part of the World Golf Championship. He won by two shots over Bubba Watson. I’d say Lowry is “no athlete,” not like some track guys I coached who could snap over a high hurdle in the gym then dunk their own hat two-handed behind the head all the while chewing gum. In golf, “It don’t mean a thing if you ain’t got that swing.” You know what would happen if a basketball fan screamed “Get in the hole” after someone shot a free throw? Someone would point at him, then shake their head “no” and that would be the end of that.
Mommy emails - Coaches call them “mommy emails,” but they can come from any family member trying to influence a coach on playing time issues or otherwise negotiate special allowances for a precious child athlete. Sometimes the email seems innocuous, but like a sophisticated commercial there is a message embedded, “Play my child because they are just so awesome.” This nationwide digital phenomena - text messages also - had become so wearisome to coaches up through college that some schools have developed policies. “If my pocket starts to vibrate it better not be your mother.”
ESPN3 - ESPN brought multiple cameras to the Pyle Center in Roxana for the Senior League and Big League Softball World Series with the semifinals and finals on computer streaming or Apple TV Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Actually, the best vantage point for watching the game was staying home. Saturday, traffic was "Nightmare on Route 1" with Freddie Krueger directing traffic at Five Points. It’s great exposure to play on national television, but worse news to get beat whether rocked or leaving the winning runs on base. I honestly don’t comprehend what any of it means when you say “world stage" or "World Series,” I just get state champ and next level. The top four college softball teams for 2015 were Florida, LSU, Auburn and Michigan. Division III top teams were Emory, Moravian, Salisbury and Christopher Newport. Delaware was ranked 150 in the country with a record of 30-23. Delaware State with a record of 21-23 was ranked 248 in the country. South Carolina, where Cape’s Tiara Duffy played her freshman year, finished the season 38-22 and was ranked 32.
Snippets - The Cape Henlopen School District hired at least four young women teacher/coaches over the summer, all under 30, who coach various sports from basketball to field hockey and lacrosse. And anyone who thinks there is some athletic conspiracy to hire coaches doesn’t understand the Cape school board. The only politics at play were to hire the best teacher/person and not surprising sometimes those people also played sports and want a career as a teacher/coach. It’s all a good thing.Dr. Mike Kelly - Yep, same guy - has been hired to teach language arts at Beacon Middle School, which I sometimes call Beacon Academy because I know it annoys people. Mike is a lifelong volleyball player - yes, he can still play - and he has agreed to coach the Beacon volleyball team. Mike is a “loyal guy” and never once has said a single thing to anyone, family or friend, to degrade Cape in any way. He is popular with colleagues and will do a great job being back in the classroom with students.
Shout out to Milford soccer guy Ed Evans, married to former student Veronica Kenney, for a great job teaching soccer skills to youth boys and girls. My grandkids Lina and Will played - every kid got a ball - and as Meredith Fred said, "All the players got ice pops, and me and James got them too even though we’re not players because our sister and brother played.” Now that is smart coaching.
There is movement of athletes in the summer, most involves ninth-graders “coming home,” but many older students as well which requires a DIAA hearing and waiver for immediate eligibility. Saturday, Aug. 15 begins practices for fall sports. Vacation is over. Time to get busy being busy. Stay smart and safe and support teammates; they are your friends who will last a lifetime. Go on now, git!
