A sigh and a pause to remember Cape runner Danielle Guerin

Logan’s Run - I was snapping photos during Saturday’s Blue-Gold All-Star 5K when Brian Logan, 68, of Milton ran into my focus field. I read the message on his shirt, “Run for Danielle,” and knew it was for departed Cape runner Danielle Guerin, who died in a car accident in the fall of her junior year of high school. Her brother Kris was a Cape runner, and he had posted on Facebook the day before that Friday, June 6, would have been Danielle's 32nd birthday. It’s always good to remember absent friends, thanks to Brian Logan.

Hey, Mr. Trampoline Man - Graduating from high school is like being dropped onto a trampoline from a Chorman crop duster. You are thrust back, onward and upward in a random uncharted direction and hopefully will land on your feet, not your head or shoulder - not to mention backside - but who am I kidding?  Grand Mom Rose: “It’s not notable if you graduate from high school, only notable if you don’t.”  I am stunned every year at certain students who never applied themselves in school who get all into the graduation ceremony and celebration along with their families. What is that all about? I think families look back at 12 years and know all it took to get their precious child to the point where they may move out of the house and go do some adult things. And I say if you really like diplomas, then go get some more. Make that priority No. 1, because even if you're unemployed, if you have three master's degrees, you can feel good about yourself.

Twizzle sticks - A bunch of years and beers ago, a lacrosse daddy twizzling his college Division III short stick dropped a Greene Turtle reference on me - “Billy was on Danny’s Greene Turtle team in middle school.” I put the clamps on him. “Don’t ever say Greene Turtle around me again. I got your Greene Turtle! And get rid of that stick - what in tarnation is that all about?’ “Tarnation?” "Never mind, it’s an old expression. I just feel like I’m going to throw a ram if I hear Greene Turtle one more time."  My wife and I motored to Ocean City’s Northside Park last Saturday for a girls' lacrosse extravaganza the likes of which is incomprehensible unless absorbed in person. I was there to watch the Eastern Shore Lacrosse Club 2018 team coached by my son Dave and Steve Judge (not my son) because my granddaughter Katie is on the team, along with Annie Judge and lots of other players I know. I started to take photos of parents carrying sticks and also stupid dogs in a crowded park of people.  One puppy pit bull went into submissive posture under a full-grown Georgia Bulldog that started licking her belly, and I called a technical foul on the people who looked at me as I said, “The behavior speaks for itself, and you should know the standard lacrosse dog is a Retriever (UMBC), maybe a Greyhound (Loyola) or possibly Great Dane (Albany). They all laughed, which was good, because I deserved to be smacked. Eastern Shore got "house waxed" by the Yellow Jackets  from Long Island. The Yellow Jackets' goalie was under the watchful eye of Tripod Digital Dad, who also transcribed her every move in a looseleaf binder. I asked the guy afterward if he considered himself an over-the-top parent, and he said, “Goalie is the toughest position on the field, and how big is that lens on your shoulder?”

Sports choice - I don’t know how often a student choices in or out of a district for reasons other than sports. I’m sure it happens, but not as often as for sports reasons. And some choices require you to pay money; that is the best way to get exclusivity in lieu of entrance exams that also serve to cull the herd. Look what happened to Blue Hen Conference sports upstate. The all-inclusive diversified public schools are mostly weak in athletics with notable exceptions like Charter and St. Georges Tech, and there are many non-public choices, which is great. Just don’t make the public pay for them.

Let’s play two - An athlete wanting to play a chosen sport in college is better served by playing two in high school, so most of the literature says. The three distinctly different sports athletes are rare, like Justin Lopez and Thomas Ott, who played football, wrestled and played lacrosse at high levels.  Beacon Academy is sending a lot of girls to Cape who were actually four-sport athletes: field hockey, basketball, track and Atlantic Lacrosse with some on four straight undefeated teams. The first decision these girls will make in high school is what to play and what sports to drop. The primary motivators are fun and friends.

Snippets - Here's an all-call to summer teams that win tournaments: Please send me a team picture close and in focus with everyone looking into the camera’ and first and last name of all players and age group. Club and community team information is specialized and can be confusing. And never send a flier or chart. Go on now, git!