I don’t want to slight anyone in the process of shouting out the names of others, but as my grandmother said, “Every day is a new opportunity to offend someone who can’t take it.” A bus trip was quickly organized last Wednesday night for AVID students and other loyal Cape basketball fans to go see Shemik Thompson and his Central Connecticut State Blue Devils defeat the University of Delaware 67-61.
Coach Ed Waples came to the press table and we kicked it for our own halftime show titled “Chat it up Cape.” There was also Robin Savage, Tylisha Jones, Jeff Evans, Dwight Tingle, Tim Hall and Brian Curtis. I also spotted Ron Scrutchfield, Rob Meed, the entire Pederson family, Lenny Nelson and Chuck Epifanio and several Delaware/Cape students who came to the game to cheer for Shemik – plus, it beats the library. Sports people throw that term family around like an unwanted kitten, but at Cape it’s a real thing. Coach Howie Dickenman, at the helm for 13 years at Central Connecticut told me after the game, “I appreciate you and all Shemik’s friends coming up for the game. I know it means a lot to him.”
EXTENDED FAMILY - Michael Alden Hopkins is a freshman at Enloe High School in Raleigh, N. C., where he is an outstanding baseball player and, by his own admission, a member of the drum line. Last Saturday he ran the Run for the Rose 5K in the 25 25-minute range and was surprised to find himself being interviewed.
“We interview relatives on my beat,” I told Michael. “You bear a general resemblance to Burli Hopkins, former Cape football and lacrosse player.”
In fact, former Cape school board member Walter Hopkins is one of 10 siblings and Michael is the son of his brother, Brinton Hopkins, a Cape graduate now a professor of animal science at North Carolina State University.
UNCLE PLAX - Plaxico Burress was named after his uncle and you just know that Plexiglass, a synthetic, acrylic see-through plastic glass which came to market developed by Rohm and Haas Company in 1933, is part of this story. Perhaps Uncle Plax got caught under one of those plexiglass cubes so retro popular today.
Here is my vision: I see the Eagles beating the distracted Giants on Sunday then the Browns on Monday night improving to 8-5-1 on the season. The Cowboys lose two straight, one on the road at Pittsburgh then home against the Giants falling to 8-6. The Redskins lose to the Ravens then beat the Bengals falling to 8-6. And that leaves the Eagles with a game at Washington and final home game versus Dallas. Suddenly that tie is a half point in the pocket - perhaps your mind read half pint - which leads back into a Plaxico joke. If the Eagles beat the Giants on Sunday I have two words of caution for Cowboy and Redskin fans: be afraid!
SNIPPETS – Don’t forget that registration for the Atlantic Lacrosse outdoor winter league is Dec. 13 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Nassau Fire Station or, if you only speak Sussex - Far Station.
The plan for spring high school lacrosse at Cape is for Jack Lingo to assume the head coaching duties while Mark D’Ambrogi falls back to an assistant’s position so he can spend more time - here it comes - with his children.
Saturday, Dec. 6, from 7-10 p.m at Crabber’s Cove in Ruddertowne is the reception to honor coach George Glenn and it costs $50 at the door. Cape-connected people need to show up for this so it’s not dominated by Salesianum alumni. And the rumor that coach Glenn will be the next football coach at Cape has no legs - just little feet. The pool of applicants for that job has yet to come into focus. I will not be making a recommendation because any recommendations involving me, or my preferences, always sentence the selection to a solid runner-up position.
Sunday, Dec. 7 is a rather ominous day to cannonball into the ocean, but a skeleton crew of Lewes Bears will plunge on Sunday at 1 p.m. inside the Cape Henlopen State Park in front of the bathhouse. The November jump featured Connie Millie, Tom Gusmer, Bruce Egolf and Greg Mack. I once plunged with enough surgical staples to magnetize myself toward the north, but my bad hip may keep me grounded as I refuse to be pogo man on the way out.
Henlopen basketball begins Friday night. Cape boys are at Dover while the girls host Dover, last year’s conference champions. Delmarva Christian, a member of the Diamond State Conference, is coached by the highly respected Mark Engel. In three preseason scrimmages the team allegedly ran Sussex Tech, Sussex Central and Delmar clear out of the Really Big House gym in Georgetown. The Royals have 6-foot-9 transfer from Massachusetts Mike Lapointe, point guard Mark Engel, Derrick Elzey and Justin Hawkes, a 6-foot-4 player. The Royals play coach Ralph Bayko’s St. Thomas More squad on the road Monday, Dec. 8, which is the Catholic Holy Day of the Immaculate Conception, although Steeler fan Bayko surely thinks it’s the Franco Harris Immaculate Reception on Dec. 23, 1972 - a 40-yard tipped pass, game- winning touchdown that eliminated a John Madden-coached Oakland team from the playoffs. Jump it up and let’s play some basketball!
