Hear about the dairy farmer who milked the clock?

Equalization Title IX - A civil rights law passed in 1972 prohibits sex discrimination in any school that receives federal money. My understanding as it pertains to sports (it’s not just sports) is that money and facilities must be at least equal for women's programs as they are for the men’s. The NCAA basketball committee had come under a focused fire for not having first-class weight training facilities for the women’s tournament to match the men’s. And that is true as far as it goes, but we’re talking about a basketball tournament, lose one and go home. This is not an Olympic training center. We are coming on 50 years since Title IX became law, and issues and complaints continue to pop up regarding equalization and fair treatment. There is a flip argument that has been raging in the American Journal of Sociology for over 60 years, “Is inequality inevitable?” You can’t legislate equality; that is obviously true, and it remains a contested issue.

Triple B - Bowling for Bichons at Blockhouse - My wife Susan was going to the store, so I offered to hoist Darby Dog into the 4Runner so he could satisfy his truck-riding lust. “I’m going to take a walk around Blockhouse Pond,” she said. “I guess he could come along.” “No, he can’t,” I said. “He loves to bowl over small dogs because of the idiot instinct, and it could get ugly.” Grandson Davey used to like wrestling younger people from lighter weight classes who were standing close to the mat and had no idea the cement mixer was about to churn them into Sakrete.    

Going down Plantation Road - The head basketball coach at Creighton University, Greg McDermott, was suspended for a game by the university for making racially insensitive comments. Following a loss to Xavier, McDermott said, “Guys, we gotta stick together. We need both feet in. I need everybody to stay on the plantation. I can’t have anybody leave the plantation.” The deeper South is still filled with gated communities that use the word plantation in the title. I don’t want to get into what the word plantation means to locals besides an alternative road to Rehoboth when Route 1 is crowded.   

Funny Philly street names - I borrowed these from a compilation appearing in City Life newspaper written by Dan McQuade. Mole Street, Shuck Street, Shackamaxon Street, Passyunk Avenue, Custer Street, Skidoo Street and Narcissus Road. There is no Plantation Road in Philly. 

Milking the clock - I watched enough NCAA basketball over three days to know there is no brilliance of coaching or player decision-making when it comes down to the final minutes of an undecided ballgame. But taking time off the clock on multiple possessions while preserving a lead mostly blows up in your face as crazy talented players from the other team go desperation mode and playground mentality, and start raining down three-pointers from the third row of the bleachers or banking in runners from weird angles while jumping off the wrong foot. I was surprised to learn I was in the No. 1 position in one of my online pools until I realized the pool was inactive and I was the only one playing.

Kicking the real - Great weather for late March greets the start of spring sports games that actually count and where scores are kept. The good teams will play at a championship level right out of the box, and if you do that, you win more than you lose, with a chance to win the last game of the season. There are some sleepers out there across the array of sports, but I can’t tell you who they are for fear of waking them up.

Chime Time - Clocks and socks: Cape cross country coach Matt Lindell and I both have Westminster chime clocks. Matt was awarded his while being named Delaware Cross Country Men’s Coach of the Year for leading the Cape boys to the Division I title last fall, while coach Fred bought his wind-up model at Brian Gustafson’s Clock Shop on Federal Street in Milton. My clock is so old it aged into a grandfather's clock and increased in value. Matt just found out about his honor last week after a state title won Dec. 5, 2020. Cape runners also had Lindell Socks screened during the season. 

Snippets - Cape boys’ lacrosse will play at the Gilman School in Baltimore on Friday afternoon, and Susan and I are going and have been cleared for landing. A full-field pass to no one in particular to eat up the clock is called a “Gilman” in men’s lacrosse. Cape girls have an offensive set I call “The Meg” (Bartley), where the feeder stands behind the net and rejects all cutters who can’t catch and finish. The worst thing about being in Baltimore on a Friday afternoon is trying to get back to the beach on Friday night. Go on now, git!