Forever athletes always lace them up before a competition

Cool Hand Billy - Billy Savage came to watch the Slam Dunk and not to spend 25 seconds on the court shooting four shots that, if they drop, win you a Dodge Ram from Megee Motors. But his name was called Thursday night, and like all true athletes, the first thing he did was retie his shoes. You have to make a layup, a foul shot, hit one from the top of the key and then a half-court shot. Here’s what got me - the half-court line was moved back to college distance as a piece of tape was put down. That was Fear Factor lame, changing the rules of the game. Billy made his layup - looked like a player - but rimmed a couple at the free-throw line as time expired. I did notice that many young Cape athletes came up and patted him on the shoulder and said “good job” because they knew he met the moment like a champ and that’s all any of us can do. By the way, Billy was on the 1981 Georgetown Senior League team that won the World Series championship - we all remember the sign going into town.  

Lazy liar - Forty years ago, a circle of friends were hyped and jazzed after a trip to the Electric Factory in Philly to see Vanilla Fudge. Their enthusiasm was unrelenting. Eventually one looked at me, “You ever been there?” and I nodded my head, “yes,” as did another friend who then looked at me and said, “You’ve never been there, have you?” “No,” I said. “Me either,” he answered laughing. “Isn’t it great when you lie for no reason about things that don’t matter?” I started off lying Thursday at the Slam Dunk basketball tournament when everyone and their Uncle Leroy asked me if I saw the incredible game at 9 p.m. Wednesday night between Westtown and Gray Collegiate Academy, a 70-68 thriller with 20 dunks, in which North Carolina-bound Jalek Felton scored 39 points. But most people started on me with, “I didn’t see you there. Boy, you missed the best high school game in the history of the Galaxy phone.” I admit in a gym of 2,000 people the last thing I notice is who isn’t there. I did notice that Gray Collegiate Academy got beat by 37 by St. Benedict’s the next night, and, yeah, I know they left it on the court from the night before.

All you gotta know - The motto of the Special Olympics is, “Let me win, but if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.” The Unified Special Olympics basketball game Dec. 29 between the afternoon and evening sessions of the Slam Dunk featured the MOT Tigers and the Sussex Riptide. These teams practice hard, and a lot of work goes into those two halves of basketball. The players are inspirational for sure, and we learn lessons from them, like don’t resent the successes of your opponent. An after-the-buzzer shot by MOT before the half was called good by the ref, who smiled, thinking he was doing a good thing. The Riptiders looked at him like, “What game are you watching?”

Wrap around - You can wrap things around your head, but you can’t wrap your head around anything because it’s an orb. I took photos at well over 100 road races in 2016, averaging 1,000 photos per race, and that computes to a million because we Catholic boys do math in our heads while guarding our knuckles. And I look at every photo. My motive is not profit, and I have no need for people to love and appreciate me; I do it because I like it. Can anyone wrap their head around that?  

Snippets - Delmar hockey with their very first state championship, and Woodbridge football are just two great stories that shouldn’t be compared as to which is greater. High school sports are about to get serious, as the pretenders and contenders start to shake loose from the talent sifter. Thirty bowl games are in the books, and I wonder how many people sat down and watched more than three from front to back. Gus Johnson is still my favorite play-by-play guy for football and basketball. Professional football is finally arriving at money time. The speed of the game goes to warp and some players will get left behind. If your team didn’t reach the postseason, then they don’t belong there. Teams that win are the ones whose quarterbacks don’t have to run for their lives. It’s all about the offensive line and offensive coordinator. Go on now, git!