Who were those masked men in the urban jungle?

Who were those masked men? Coach Brian Donahue and I were a couple of Sussex Squirrels on Walnut Street Oct. 26 looking for Room 1401 inside Jefferson Hospital visiting our friend Dave Robinson, who sustained a serious spinal injury in a bike accident Oct. 21. Downtown city life is a “you figure it out” ecological niche, from the complexity of parking ticket validation to deciding which elevated footbridge leads to the wing of the hospital housing your friend. It is like an adventure “Ramar of the Urban Jungle.” Brian and I were issued cheesy IDs, rode an elevator up to No. 14 and stepped off into the “still no help zone.” There was the pass through biological vacuum zone - doors open close behind you - then another set open and close, we follow numbers, we look like fish out of water or wet tuna on the town dock, a pair of false albacore, one in cargo shorts. We find the room - the rules say “put on a surgical mask,” so we do. We walk in looking like hitmen from a Pulp Fiction movie. The bed is empty, but looks lived in. Brian starts looking around inside the bathroom and checking a locked door. We sit in chairs and wait - too long - it is the right room in the wrong building. Back through the vacuum packed hazmat zone, where we meet a drywaller just to add more weird to the journey. Football guys across a footbridge like a scenic overlook, we find Dave in 1401 on the fourth floor. His room is bright and airy. Dave looked beaten up, facial abrasions from his fall, a neck collar, the bed cranked up. We are friends, we had him captive, told him our masked men adventure. Dave’s eyes brightened, “You laughing, Dave?” A young doc came in and checked him down one side and up the other. We just stood there like family because “We are family” in a Sly Stone way. Upon leaving, I said to Dave, “Let’s look at the good news. You are alive, your spinal cord is swollen and bruised, but not severed. You must hang your CR-Cape hat on hope.” Dave is a man of deep faith and it is transferable. He will power through. We all have to believe that.  

Homecoming game - The irony of Homecoming is a week-long celebration of festivities and float building by people who haven’t left home and have no intention of coming back once jettisoned from high school into the “keep it real” world. Hallways are decorated by class and kids run for all kinds of titles. Honest to Betsy, I once broke up a stairwell fight between two Miss Congeniality hopefuls after one accused the other of drawing a mustache and glasses on her posterized face. But, hey, what about the Friday night game? “They are a good football team,” coach Bill Collick said of the 4-3 Caravel Buccaneers. Cape’s signature win was a 16-14 victory over Sussex Central, while Caravel beat Saint Mark’s 7-0. Playoff implications are in play for Cape. This October game for the 6-1 Vikings in all about November.

Snippets - Nov. 2 at Cape is the annual fall classic featuring Mariner versus Beacon in field hockey at Champions Stadium, while the soccer teams battle it out in Legends Stadium. This game always attracts a big crowd, a glimpse into the future of the programs. Al Green’s “Stay Together” is the theme going in across all the sports but for a variety of family reasons some kids choose a destination station other than Cape.

The upcoming bracketing for the field hockey state tournament will be crucial on the path to a championship. If I’m an upstate team like Padua or Tower Hill, I want Cape, Delmar and Milford in the opposite bracket. Let them slug it out, chances of beating two out of three are slim.

Joseph Delgado a Caesar Rodney sophomore, is a nice kid and super smart athletic football player. All he did in 9-6 junior varsity win at Cape was catch a touchdown pass, knock down a ticketed touchdown pass to Curtis Purnell coming over from his safety position and kick the winning field goal from 36 yards out. It was CR's first football win of the year, varsity and junior varsity combined. "We have a lot of really good players, and we'll turn it around," Delgado said, adding he wasn't nervous about the kick because “it wasn't that far.” See you at the game Friday night. Fredman not far from the flotilla. Go on now, git!