Listen, guys, we’re also teaching you how to be better people

My favorite photo - I know nothing about photography, but I do take a lot of pictures and once stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. My favorite photo from 2017 was at a lacrosse camp in Rehoboth. Young lads were listening to another “boys to men” speech as Kyle Morgan used his stick to prop himself up. Kyle is an entertaining kid. I remember speaking with him and thinking, “This kid is hilarious.” 

Blimp Cam - I took a photo from the pressbox at Lincoln Financial Field prior to an Eagles game in 2012, and I now see a solution to the kneeling controversy of 2017. Just unfurl a flag so big all the players are underneath it and you have to kneel to find breathing space. I understand the message, but unfortunately most football fans miss messages all day long, like why Levitra advertises on an inflated tunnel with a big old winged helmet at the end that the players run out of as explosions and laser lights flash around the rim of the stadium. What is that all about? 

Recovery phase - I talked to Brandon Smith of Dewey Beer Company, a former Lehigh soccer player who ran the Rehoboth Marathon. He and his wife Holly (who was the first woman in 3:01) are in a five-week recovery phase, sometimes known as tapering. “You can’t do all the training, then run a marathon, and then stop,” Brandon said. That seems sensible and sound. When I ran in 1978, I recovered in a recliner with a quart of peach ice cream between my legs, which is sensible, but I’m not sure how beneficial.

Triple R - The Triple R training regimen for a half marathon was Rudder on Friday, rest on Saturday, race on Sunday. Local Randy Johnson did that some years back and ran 1:36 at the Caesar Rodney Half, beating every training person who rode to the race in the same minivan.

Out of balance - Some people suffer from an addiction to fitness, which is often seen as either a good thing or not as bad as other things. There appear to be more whack jobs in gyms and fitness barns and warehouses, but that’s only because the people are contained and easily observed. And a sidebar: Just how big a water bottle does anyone need to carry around? Obsession leading to an addiction to anything is almost never good. It’s all a question of balance, because real life makes no allowances for perfectionists.

Jump Street - There are options in life and you are free to jump in or, for that matter, jump off. I’m a streak setter, but not an Irish Setter. I’ve written this column since 1982 without ever missing one. I once walked 100 miles per month for five straight years, and I was the lead Lewes Polar Bear since 1982. The walking and polar bearing  stopped for the deep-seated psychological reason that I didn’t want to do them anymore. Someday I’ll do the same with writing, “I’m done! What was that all about?” Maybe for a New Year’s resolution more people should consider a course correction and pursue something new, even if it means doing less of what others think you’re good at. Anthropologists call a dramatic shift in personality a mazeway resynthesis. Interject that at a party, and listeners will take off and fly sorties over the onion dip.     

Snippets - Will I spend the three days of the Slam Dunk tournament Dec. 27-29 inside the Cape gym making sure I don’t miss anything, or go get some highbrow culture in Philly or Baltimore? Kyle Lux (Sussex Tech-Del Tech) has signed to play baseball with McPherson College in Kansas. Kyle was offered a baseball and academic scholarship and will be transferring in fall 2018, and majoring in health and physical education. McPherson College competes in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference and plays against colleges and universities in Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas. I’m writing this column on Thursday for the Tuesday paper, so I don’t know how the Eagles did at home on Christmas. I hope they went full-bore rhinoceros on the Raiders. Real Philly people love the Rhino we rode in on. Go on now, git!