Sons of Stanford truck the Last Blast Prediction 5K
Five Guys - We are not talking giant hamburgers here but a clique of college friends - Stanford graduates, no less - from 2001 who meet every Labor Day to see if any of them have actual jobs and if those jobs are any fun. A longitudinal study of Harvard MBAs revealed that really smart people pursue their passion first and are not primarily motivated by money. Kawaku Wordie, who played football for the Cardinals under Tyrone Willingham, works internal security for Wells Fargo. That doesn’t mean taking the money bags wherever money bags go at the end of the day. Brian Burke is a corporate lawyer - just laughs because no one knows what those guys do. Bryan Donagan and Scott Scruggs are pastors. I mentioned they could easily have gotten that done in Slaughter Neck, didn’t need Stanford. And Andy Paez said he worked for a nonprofit in San Francisco, and when I asked him, “What does that mean?” everyone just laughed. Andy was the first in his family to go to college and again I mentioned he must have been an attractive candidate to become Stanford guy and that brought more laughter. If I could go back I’d work on good grades instead of good jokes and go to Stanford so I could network a little more effectively in my life without using Facebook.
Synchronized striding - The camera lens imprints images on a Sun Disc and on the front lobe of my brain. Some images are just pleasant and a pleasure to lock into autofocus. Such was the case at the Last Blast Prediction Run as Robyn Wheat (I’m resisting all Little Rascals jokes) and her friend Lauren Blaszak from Frederick, Md., cruised to the finish line in identical outfits with hair pulled back looking like synchronized swimmers. Robyn runs a business called Funbus, which is fitness fun on wheels, while Lauren is a stay-at-home mom but has an application on file to drive the Funbus. Nice, nice people just proliferate the running scene.
Chipper - “And that would be your friend in the chipper now?” (line from “Fargo”). Phillies fans were all suddenly sent headfirst into the chipper of despondency Sept. 2 when Atlanta Braves 40-year-old, retiring-any-day Chipper Jones, batting left-handed, took Jonathan Papelbon way out of the yard for a “get off of my cloud” bottom of the ninth, game-winning three-run homer.
I always liked Chipper since I read he got his name by tagging around with his grandfather and everyone called him Chipper as in "chip off the old block." My granddaughter Katie is most like me in perceptions, attitude and language delivery, and if she would consent to my homeschooling, perhaps she could get a cool Sussex County nickname like Fred Girl or Wawa Woman.
Snippets - Seriously, I am done trying to make sense out of preseason scrimmages - don’t know who anyone is or what coaches are trying to accomplish, just know they don’t want to talk to me about it and I wouldn’t want to talk to me either although I do it all the time out loud. I watched me some Cape field hockey Aug. 30 and noticed that good teams like Cape are always driving the ball toward the goal with cat-quick athletes all over the place. The ball on the ground in Cape's end is treated like a live grenade; the defenders just can’t get rid of it quickly enough. Cape varsity volleyball opens at home at 4 p.m., Friday, Sept. 7, against Delmarva Christian.
This is a big game for both teams. The Vikings have lost to the Royals 3-0 the last two meetings. And cross country will be at the Lake Forest Invitational Saturday, Sept. 8. Dewey Beach will be teeming with freaky fitness people for the Gary Lister Bottle & Cork 10-Miler. Go online at races2run.com for registration information. Here’s a mission: Let's get some soupers in the Soup Kitchen! How about Thanksgiving as a target date? I’ll even be a server. You’re pulling my leg! No, right now I’m twisting it. Go on now, git!
