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People In Sports

Sappy sincerity: Biden needs to dial it down on Delle Donne

March 29, 2013

CeCe Cicone - The senior Ursuline lacrosse goalie, a four-year starter, was an all-state performer last season as a junior. She is a flat out determined and delightful competitor who stays focused, and if her bell gets rung, she goes on to the next challenge. In four years versus Cape she has faced 121 shots and has about 50 real deal saves. I remember four years ago at Ursuline - her freshman year - Cape’s Meg Bartley, a 5-foot-10 basketball player, came clear and clean in on Cicone, trying to dump a goal over her head. CeCe was up the ladder and stuffed the shot. Bartley smiled in sportsmanlike fashion, like “good get.” The game versus Cape March 26 saw Allie Yeager in on goal in the first minute. Yeager, a tall and strong player, went for the high hard one up and over Cicone, but CeCe calmly caught the ball and cleared it up the field. Cape’s Bobby Redefer, whose daughter Leigh Ann was the goalie on Cape’s 2009 state championship team, does the announcing for Cape home games. Afterward, she said, “As the mother of a goalie, I just love that Ursuline kid Cicone. She is good and fun to watch.”

Sappy sincerity - Joe Biden - enough said - but his way-too-long, old-fashioned love song about Elena Delle Donne on ESPN had me begging, “I get it, Joe, now please be quiet; I have no idea if anything you’re saying is remotely true or if you're making it up as you go." And the game announcers needed some self-analysis, because if I heard the name Delle Donne one more time I was going to scream obscenities into stale air. “Just let the girl play, and everybody shut up!” If you get a chance to watch the Notre Dame women play, check out how camera guy follows point guard Skylar Diggins all over the court. She is a great player - that’s true - plus cute, so the camera guy loses his mind and no one bothers to tell him, ”Hey, dude, at least try to fool somebody.”

Hey, Nommy! - Remember "Cheers," the show about a Boston bar and the character Norm, pronounced “Nommy” by the postman Cliffy? Last Wednesday morning I was doing my closest-available-apparatus workout and noticed a man I’ve noticed before in a wheelchair working out. I often ask people “What the heck are you doing in that chair?” and they almost always tell me. I saw the guy bless himself - a Catholic thing mostly seen before foul shots - before making the move from the chair to a seated press machine. I inserted myself into the guy’s life, asking him, ”Want some help getting back into the chair?” His name is Norm; he is 51, from Maine and Massachusetts, a former ripped, fit athletic guy who has been plagued by multiple sclerosis since 1995. My dad had MS, so I had credibility. Norm and I talked for 20 minutes. I freely passed on my admiration for his decision to battle back. He is one tough dude. I told him my name and he said, “Tell me again next time I see you, because I’m sure I’ll forget.”

Magical realist - I used to be Catholic; now I’m a magical realist. I talk to people who are no longer on the planet, ask them for guidance and influence or a stop of a free position shot to save a girls' lacrosse game. In Catholic high school, the team was blessed before each game by team proctor Father Andre, who had an accent somewhere between the Swedish chef on "The Muppet Show" and a yodeler from the Alps warning an Austrian village that Hannibal was coming. I always made a cross in each palm, my version of spiritual mojo. In 1965, a couple Temple linemen wearing size 9 helmets tried to recruit me to the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I told them, “I’m not Christian; I’m Catholic. You guys are way too friendly in a menacing sort of way especially on the field with your big block heads and Popeye forearms.” Next Sunday, April 7, at Pastor Bill Hopkins' Groome United Methodist Church in Lewes with notable members and former Lewes High Christian athletes Dave Robinson and Charles Sheppard in attendance, Randy Chambers will be guest speaker at both the 9 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. services. Chambers is the DelMarVa Fellowship of Christian Athletes director. Since its inception, the Fellowship of Christian Athletes has been challenging coaches and athletes to use the powerful medium of athletics to impact the world for Jesus Christ. FCA is the largest Christian sports organization in America. All are welcome - Christians, Catholics and magical realists. Randy is a good person who has worked with the Cape football and basketball teams. Show up and bring your young athletic person with you. What can it hurt?  Afterward you can hit Dorman’s Doughnuts or Surf Bagel; just remember to say grace before and to give thanks afterward, and if you’re a real athlete you don’t need a napkin - use your shirt.

Snippets - The Good Friday Kite Festival or Iron Mike DeStasio Golf Tournament at Baywood Greens are just two things you can do Friday. Peeps in the house on Sunday - just stay in you own basket! Go on now, git!

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