Cat Stevens ‘Looking for a Hard Headed Woman’ - not coaches
Relatives of the week - The Salisbury University women’s lacrosse team defeated the Franklin and Marshall Diplomats 11-6 May 18 at Seagull Stadium to advance to the national semifinals of the Division III tournament. Shannon Carta, granddaughter of Mike and Ellen Carta of Lewes, had four goals and an assist for the Gulls while Grace Saliba, daughter of Carl Saliba and granddaughter of Dr. Anis Saliba of Lewes, had a goal and an assist for Frankiln and Marhsall.
Hard-headed women - The Cape girls' track team was seven events into the May 17 state track meet and hadn’t scored in any event. The Vikings finished with only 20 points, good for 10th place. Most of the girls who were freshmen on the state championship team did not hang with the program through their senior season. A taste of success did not leave some athletes hungry for more. Hard-headedness is usually associated with the boys' side of track and field, as management of personalities and harnessing their talent in the springtime can be a bigger challenge than teaching an athlete how to triple jump. Every good coach can talk about athletic talent they just couldn’t capture and keep focused over a four-year career.
Cape baseball slides home - The Cape baseball team slid into home in a cloud of dust May 17, losing to Saint Mark’s 13-6 and closing out the season on a seven-game losing streak. Mystifying beyond analyzing is the way I see it; perhaps in was in the cards like jokers in a sealed deck just waiting to get loose and pushed aside. I will say that of all the boys' scholastic sports, baseball is the toughest place to make a living, because everyone can play a little hardball. The junior varsity season was 10-4 with a game remaining, and Beacon Academy just closed out the season undefeated, so no one is throwing in the towel, but a whisk broom to dust off the plate is a good idea.
Is the fix in? You know those people who think professional sports are fixed to create fan interest and make more money for the league? That is, of course, ridiculous until a crooked referee or point-shaving player with a gambling addiction shows up. I watched the Indiana Pacers "take the heat” in game one of the Eastern Conference finals and thought two things: Please spare us from thinking Indiana is relevant to the national conversation, and will the Heat win in six games or seven?
MLB Network - I inquired as to the cable and cloud cost of having everyone's baseball game in my pocket…sounds wrong…but that $200 luxury can be better spent on a new hose bib - and anyway I like the Orioles' and Nationals' broadcasting crews and both teams are in contention. The Phillies remain a painful viewing experience in every way from baseball on the field to commentaries from the press box.
Recline of the empire - I’m a sports reporter, so I don’t carry a chair to work. I figure if the people I cover and photograph are in motion, the least I can do is stand and pay attention. Many of my age contemporaries are perched in the spring-loaded lounger waiting for instruction from the tower of power - usually their wives' "We'’re out of dog food," before quickly returning for the next assignment. During last Saturday’s state track meet I saw turn and zone judges and high jump judges all chaired up and not offering me any respite and a few old coaches who sat under the official finish line canopy and didn’t move for the next seven hours. I’ll stand at the finish line of a 5K for an hour; then I’m moving like Oil Can Boyd to the bullpen.
Snippets - I have blood in the game with Cape girls' lacrosse; I’m wearing my Temple shirt and going into the battle with an athlete’s mentality, not like some nervous grandfather - no one needs that guy. The Cape girls play Ursuline at 7 p.m., Tuesday, May 20. The survivor plays the winner of Charter at Archmere Thursday, May 22. Lorin Donovan is a freshman starting defender for the Auks. Lorin is the daughter of Keith and Lisa Millman Donovan. Pat Donovan is the grandmom - all Lewes knows her - at all games, and I am strongly rooting for her team to place second. That was a joke. I would never wish anything but the best for the Donovan and Millman clans and I won’t pray, causing God to look sideways with, "What do you want me to do, throw a girls' lacrosse game your way?” Go on now, git!
