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People in Sports

Anonymous letters never stay that way

Grand Mom Rose could coach Duke or Syracuse
February 4, 2014

Our town - The Cape basketball girls lost at Caesar Rodney Jan. 31, 75-23, and you shouldn’t need a calculator to know that’s a 52-point loss with the clock running in the second half. The Vikings have lost four in a row; the closest game was a 30-point loss, and all four total losing by 153. I am writing this certainly not to embarrass the players, many of whom are proven athletes in other sports, but to crystalize the numbers.

Here’s the fight this old sportswriter wants to pick. You want to write an anonymous letter about coaches who operate in public, then I want to publish it. If you are an administrator or school board person who wants a change, I want to see a reason and a clue that you have some idea what you are talking about and don’t have an axe to grind, because in sports there are more axes ground to a sharp edge than in the blacksmith shop on Third Street. Now I’m done!

No clue - I was growing weary of lifelong C student Dick Vitale describing the Carrier Dome during the Duke and Syracuse game last Saturday night and hearing about Hall of Fame coaches Jim Boeheim and Mike Krzyzewski, both of whom could use a charisma transplant. The game was described as an "instant classic” by The Post Standard newspaper of central New York. Can we all please just stop? How about, "It was a great game; did you see it?” And I’m wondering if someone came to you at the beginning of the season and said, “This is your team (Duke or Syracuse). Coach them up and see you in the postseason.” You know what?  Grand Mom Rose could “coach up” that talent. The smartest basketball team I’ve seen all year at any level is the Saint Elizabeth girls. What point am I making? Stop all the hyperbole; it's five-on-five basketball played by freakishly talented and large athletes. It’s nearly impossible not to be successful.

Sink and swim - Cape’s undefeated boys' and girls' swim teams will host Saint Mark’s Tuesday, Feb. 4, most of them competing below the water line contested by athletes in rubber caps you can barely recognize. The Saint Mark’s girls are undefeated while the Spartans boys have lost two. There are no common opponents; it's just generally assumed that upstate is just “so much better,” and that assumption will hold in place until some Sussex side squad shoots a hole in it like a water cannon through a Zodiac. Saint Mark’s handled Cape easily the last time they swam in 2011, but this time should be close.

Snippets - The twin Capes Beacon and Mariner will play each other in basketball at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 5, at Cape with the girls playing first. The Henlopen Conference Indoor Track Championships featuring seven schools come Wednesday, Feb. 5, at the Worcester County Recreation Center. Title IX deals with leveling up women to men, usually in sports offerings and monies spent. The Federal Office of Civil Rights is charged with investigating complaints. But what if the complaints come from men who claim civil rights and due process were denied because of too much money spent on women’s sports? It’s like affirmative action countersuits that have gotten traction in the courts. Stay tuned, I’m tracking a story, and it's not about Cape.

Cape middle school champions from the Henlopen Conference wrestling championship held Feb. 1 include Anthony Caruso, 82 pounds; Gabe Jaquet, 94; and Chris Handlin, 155. Four former Cape girls are on Division I lacrosse rosters this spring including Meg Bartley, Virginia Tech; Anna Frederick, Temple; Alec Perry, High Point; and Sara Young, University of Pennsylvania. Feb. 5 is signing day; not sure what it all means anymore, but it’s a contractual commitment by both the college and the athlete for the athlete to attend that school and play a particular sport for some type of financial compensation. There are 500 schools that participate in this program, both D1 and D2 but no D3. Here is the website for more information: http://www.varsityedge.com/nei/varsity.nsf/main/national+letter+of+intent.

I was surprised and slightly stunned at last Friday night’s basketball game when I was presented with a plaque by Sports on Delmarva for Commitment and Superior Efforts Promoting Student Athletics. People stood and clapped and I saw diversity and history looking back at me and felt good about myself until a I saw a photo and thought, "Who’s that fat old white guy?”

Go on now, git!

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