Umpire Tom Disharoon is ripped and fit with a tight strike zone

Umpire Tom Disharoon is a ripped, fit, in-charge umpire, and he don't play. He was all over the 10-inning 6-5 game between Cape versus Dover with barely a drink of water, and if you don't want to get squeezed, then try throwing strikes. I told Eric Gooch: "If it ain't a strike, then you ain't getting the call.” Alan Quillen from Seaford, a runner and longtime Little League ump, said of Tom, “I'll bet you nobody gives him much of a hard time. He's a tough hombre.” Getting in Tom’s face would be like making fun of GI Joe because of his uniform. There were 24 total walks in the game, including 16 issued by Cape pitchers, who also hit two batters. A bang-bang play at the plate in the top of the ninth with two outs, and Tommy D was eating the dust, all over it, waited, then gave the out sign, which Cape catcher Zach Savage gave right back to him. That game will always be a part of Cape baseball legacy and lore, and Tom Disharoon will always be part of the story.

Blinded me with science - Weather satellites bring the latest predictive tools of science to all the slow learners of the planet. Everybody is a weather app meteorologist, but I just jump up and down and shelter in place while scratching myself like a confused primate in “2001: A Space Odyssey.” Going old school, Philly weatherman Jim O’Brien – there were weather bad guys and good guys – so where the bad guy is pummeling your car with a deluge of rain while your windshield wipers keep the beat to Eddie Rabbitt’s “Drivin My Life Away,” you know there’s no “good guy” waiting for you in Wilmington and no umpire ready to yell “play ball!” Those calls are always a no-win, forced-decision situation. My job isn’t to make them; I’m more of a second guesser who is three rungs below second checker at Lloyd’s IGA. Monday morning I write a column on deadline before the Monday evening state championship game. I’m the irrelevant elephant in the room who never forgets the last time he got wet in the wild.

Snippets - The Eastern Shore Lacrosse Club Pirates – a league for girls – had seven teams in action last weekend. The league was founded by Harlan Eagle in 2008 and joined by P.J. Kesmodel, who handed off the commissioner duties to my son Dave in 2016. The youngest group is the 2025-26 team, while the 2019 team is rising seniors. Just scanning the high school age rosters, there are players from Cape, Saints Peter and Paul, Cambridge-South Dorchester, Sussex Academy, Padua, Caesar Rodney, Smyrna, North Caroline, Dover, Stephen Decatur and Kennett High School (Pa.). These teams play in tournaments in the summer and fall. The Beach Blast, featuring 110 teams, returns to Cape June 22-24. DE Turf hosts The Surge tournament July 13-15. It was surround sound in the sunroom at Dave and Linda Robinson’s house June 1 in Lewes. Running counterclockwise were coaches John Coveleski, Herky Billings, Jeff Savage, Brian Donahue and Fredman talking about himself in the third person. The twist of fate is that Dave wanted us there to let us know his health was failing and he wanted us all to know what we have meant to him over the last too many years to count and to thank us. Dave Robinson rolls deep and easy with the Alpha dogs of sports, but he’s at an entirely different level of spirituality. Coaches cry sometimes, but we never believe the clock is winding down on us all as we play overtime and extra time, making one more memory and story to tell. Go on now, git!