Restless sleep grips nation following tragedy in Newtown
Bad formula - A weird and withdrawn 20-year-old adult child, Adam Lanza, who couldn’t punch his way out of a wet paper bag, living with a generous and gregarious divorced mom whose hobby was owning weaponry and lots of ammo for target shooting, was a formula for disaster Dec. 14 in Newtown, Conn., at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Dressed in black fatigues and military vest - a target shooting uniform - Lanza went totally off and killed 26 people at the school, including 20 children, after shooting his mother in the head four times. The weekend sports schedule of games continued, but an entire nation developed sleep disorders because of the horror brought to a place of innocence and promise. No one flinched across this country during moments of silence. NFL and NBA players were on the verge of tears. Sports are an ingrained good in our culture, the major venue of coming together to cheer and enjoy the competition but also to talk and visit with friends and fellow Americans who are doing the same thing. I am surprised that some other adult hadn’t stepped inside that house in Newtown for tea and scones and said, “Seriously, guns and ammo, black fatigues and military vest for a nervous and clinically paranoid and withdrawn no-eye-contact skinny guy who needs constant supervision? What could possibly go wrong?"
Dumpster Dewey - I don’t get and don’t care where the Rusty Rudder ends and Ruddertowne begins and who owns what. I just know the place looks like the set of a Mad Max movie. I was down there Sunday night for the Cape football banquet at the Rudder. Opulence allows arrogance, but it’s obvious that a perfectly good parking lot was replaced by something that looks like Kmart Condos. I have no financial stake in any of it, just struck me as sad. Thank god for Delaware’s Coastal Zone Act or else we’d all be looking at a Wild Mouse Monorail instead of the ocean.
The Y are the good guys - I remember when there was no Rehoboth YMCA, and John Van Dyke got it started. I remember a fitness room above the Peter Rabbit health food store. I remember the fundraiser for the pool and guest speaker Artie Donovan at the Baycenter offending everyone. And now, thanks to a favorable lease of an unneeded Cape building, the Y thrives by offering programs to kids of all ages up to AARP card-packing workout maniacs. Cape Henlopen School District's cooperation with the Y - akin to most favored nation status in a treaty - is necessary; that includes fields and buildings. “We” need the sense of community more than the money. The Cape Crusaders are still getting squeezed, and just last week two soccer girls told me they had to scale a fence to kick a ball around and got busted. Kids these days have no respect for hourly rates. What are we doing besides losing our minds and renting out Sussex county souls?
Great niece - Tetra Shockley, daughter of Vanessa Miller Jackson, graduated from “This was the best and most complete game we have played since I’ve been here," said second-year coach Steven Re. “Everyone that came into the game did what we asked of them. Tech is a good team, bigger than you think they are, quick and relentless. The next time we play them it will be a different game. “
Tyreik Burton had it going on in the first half, connecting for 18 points including a pair from way downtown as the Vikings led at the half 38-26.
Cape started a big lineup with Andrew Grau and David Kwan and T.T. Hazzard joining Warren and Burton on the floor, but mixed and matched guards Tony Floyd and Gekwan Pritchett and all-purpose defensive energizer E.J. Fountain gave the Vikings several different looks.
Hazzard, a long and lanky and totally unafraid senior, went straight to the basket in the furious final minutes, scoring on three straight drives, the last giving Cape a 65-48 cushion.
“I just had to come out for my team; I knew we needed that extra energy, so I just brung it," Hazzard said.
“It starts for us at practice," Re said after the game. “If you see guys on the court, they have earned the right to be there. It starts with full buying in and full intensity.“
Burton led Cape with 23 followed by Jon Warren 14 and Tony Floyd 9.
The Ravens were led in points by Robert Larkin 19, Charles Hopkins 15 and Duane Hopkins 10.
