At least try to fool someone that the moment is one to savor

WOMEN ALL-STATERS - I scanned a list of All-State players for girls basketball, which begins in 1982. I have listed Cape and other related players if I deemed them of local interest and, as always, I’ll be the judge of that.

Donna Temple, Indian River, 1982; Pam Cannon, Sussex Central, and Juanita Dorsey, Indian River, 1983; Lisa Jefferson, Cape, and Juanita Dorsey, Indian River, 1984; Monnie Norwood, Sussex Central, Zelda Sheppard, Cape, and Val Whiting, Sanford, 1987; Zelda Sheppard, Cape, Dana Moore, Indian River, and Val Whiting, Sanford, 1988; Val Whiting, Sanford, Debra Hagans, Indian River, 1989; Chaundra White, Cape, 1990; Markisha Wise, Sussex Central, 1993, 1994 and 1995; Katie DelCampo, Cape, 1995, 1996 and 1997; Wilma Coursey, Cape, 1996; Maggie Widdoes, Cape, 1997; Tiffany Johnson, Indian River, 1998; Toni Jones, Cape, 2002; Toni Jones, Sussex Tech, 2003; Brittany Reed, Cape 2004; and Tia Felton, Cape 2006.

MEN NOT MENTIONED - The last list of mens All-State for basketball stopped when I partied like it was 1999.

Here are some late-1990s players I missed and new millennium All-Staters: Brian Mifflin, Sussex Central, 1991; Antonin Hopkins, Sussex Central, 1992; Dwight Young, Cape and Donnie Hall, Cape, 1995; Terry Hazzard, Cape, 1996; Bobby Leggins, Cape, 1997; Ronson Burton, Cape, 1998; Darrell Davis, Cape, 1999; Julius Hazzard and Darrell Davis, Cape, 2000; Brandon Hudson, Sussex Tech, and Mike Wright, Dover, 2003; and Shemik Thompson, Cape, 2007.

CHICKEN ALL-STATERS - Merrill Reese, the voice of Eagles radio, was the toastmaster at last Sunday night’s 59th annual Delaware Sportswriters and Broadcasters banquet. Held at the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington, the highlight of the banquet is always the introduction of the All-State teams from fall sports.

Merrill got up in the middle of the dinner said something about “go right on eating” and started to introduce kids who walked to the corner of the room to pick up a plaque. In quick succession, the field hockey team was “Chase Centered” by the volleyball team as the herding and corralling continued. After literally minutes, the high school portion of the program was “decks cleared” before big dinner plates were replaced by little dessert ones. I’m all for quick banquets on a Sunday night, but at least try to fool somebody that the moment is one to savor - and I’m not talking chicken.

ELEVATOR BUTTONS - Al Golden is the Temple University football coach, but he doesn’t scare me like George Markris, a former NCAA heavyweight boxing champion, did when I started for the Owls in 1965. But trust me, no one want to hear about that. Al Golden did his three minutes and bolt speech last Sunday night at the sportswriters banquet mentioning that Merrill Resse and Sonny Hill had been friends longer than he’d been alive, and I quickly figured that I played for the Owls before Golden was born, but I didn’t leave the University of Virginia to take the Temple job either, did I? Golden mentioned that friends were like elevator buttons: you push some they bring you up, you push others and they take you down. My question was “And what happens when friends push your button?”

SO CUTE AND SO SWEET - Carrie Lingo, the Delaware Athlete of the Year, told me a story on the way to the DSBA banquet Sunday night. It was a story about her and two teammates from the U.S. National Team working with a high school team one afternoon.

“The backup goalie had Down’s syndrome,” Carrie said. “She didn’t have her equipment on right and she was so sweet and we all just fell in love with her. After the practice she looked at us and said, ‘You know something, I hate field hockey, and I need a cigarette.’ And later she sent me a letter thanking me and it was just so cute and so sweet.”

When Carrie was introduced at the banquet she stepped to the podium with that smile that lights up the biggest of rooms and in a soft voice said, “Thank you so much.” And her sister Maggie, sitting next to me, just laughed, because that is the quintessential Carrie, herself so cute and so sweet.

SNIPPETS - I had the honor of introducing Robin Adair last Sunday night at the DSBA banquet as the Delaware Coach of the Year. I scripted Robin’s 26-year journey since her 1982 senior year at Cape. I slowed the pace down, revealed myself as Sportswriter Man, not Fredman.

I didn’t need to talk of life lessons learned through sports. Robin’s story is its own inspiration. Down here “below the ditch” we all get to bounce off each other every day and develop connections that last forever.

Sussex County friends do become family and every day it’s like a reunion that never ends.