Fifteen middle school hockey teams play hard all day

We don’t play day - I knocked about the field hockey middle school play day Sept. 17 at Cape, and my first observation was, “These girls don’t play around.” There are no “little girls” between the lines. They play fiercely and carry sticks and run fearlessly into a circle of players surrounding a ball, risking concussion or an orange ball between the eyes. I come from a generation when young women were denied access - Title IX enacted in 1972 fixed that - and now we have unleashed the beast behind the beauty. And those of you still eating breakfast pizzas and getting on the 3 o’clock bus need to buy into fitness, it just makes life more. There were 15 A teams, and seven of those brought B teams. Each team got four 20-minute games. Cape varsity sets up the tournament, does the officiating, runs the concession stand and makes the hoagies. Actually Capriotti's makes the hoagies, the girls just throw them through the windows.

Slicing it thin - Accolades used to be for looking backward, and no matter what elite group you were selected to - athletics, academics or a combination of both - you knew a more elite group was forming that didn’t include you. You know, you can flash your Food Lion MVP card, but if everyone else has one, what’s the point? Status is slippery and cool for a fleeting moment but you still have to run the hamster wheel along the habitrail to happiness. College athletic conferences now pick preseason all-conference players and a player of the year. I may be crazy, but sounds like an honor I’d like to get before quitting just to prove a point. Grandma Rose: “Don’t look for a pat on the head unless you’re willing to keep chasing the ball.”

Bronze bust - Pop Warner coached Temple football from 1933-38. I was inside the Temple football complex in North Philly Sept. 16 for a lacrosse banquet. I meandered from the banquet room and took photo of old helmets and photos and a bronze bust of Glenn Scobey Warner, known locally as Pop “how come my kid ain’t playing” Warner. I know there are playing issues because I’ve read about them on Facebook, but I don’t know the accuracy of any positions. I’d just say if a Pop Warner player in uniform never gets off the bench for any game, let alone consecutive games, somebody has lost their mind. That’s why Little League baseball has rules to protect the two innings, one at bat player from never getting off the bench.

Connors is cool - I never taught with Cape’s Mike Connors but I’ve seen him in action enough to know he is a student-oriented teacher/coach/friend who has the students’ respect and holds them accountable. He reminds me of the coach Glenn saying, “Discipline is what you do for somebody, not to somebody.” I snapped his family portrait after the Ronald McDonald 5K Sept. 17, faces sweaty with split rail fence and great marsh behind. It was painless and the Connors clan was gone to middle school field hockey. Beats some drugstore with a backdrop and everyone flashing an unnatural smile.

Donnie Brasco - “Forget about it!” Cape football’s 41-0 loss at Oakdale Sept. 16 had two things going for it. The field was 148 miles away through Baltimore beltway traffic, so most fans, including the band, stayed home and the halftime score 41-0 matched the final score with Oakdale taking the equivalent of a knee for an entire half. Forget about it! Cape girls’ lacrosse has won eight consecutive state championships, and during that run they have crossed the bridge and gotten their brains beaten in and came back to Delaware saying, “Well, that was interesting,” and refocused on the mission at hand, beating the rest of the teams on the schedule.

Snippets - Forget football, most other college sports teams practice at the break of dawn then players go to class during the day, later there is weight training, followed by studying. No one is arguing the day starts too early for these young, athletic and smart people. The problem with high school schedules is the day is filled with unrelenting sameness with four-minute breaks in between sit downs. Go now, sit!