Bad Hair Day practice just part of P.J.’s traditions
Bad Hair Day - Like all traditions with Cape girls' lacrosse coach P.J. Kesmodel, it goes back decades. Hard work and fun while blending depth of analysis and preparation and the talent to teach it are his calling cards. After beating visiting Smyrna 15-0 in JV and 20-2 in varsity April 8, Kesmodel sent the team home with little commentary, "Don’t forget tomorrow is our Bad Hair Day practice." I think it used to be Wild Hair, but in deference and reference to Daddy Warbucks Drexel and his Bad Hair Day business in Rehoboth, the name was changed. The players arrived under drizzly conditions at 9 a.m. They looked amazingly and creatively ridiculous but were more serious than silly. After a series of photos, it was 12 full field runs, sprinting between the restraining lines. Coach P.J. made a brief yet serious speech to the cadre of silly-haired athletes, pointing out that some of them were dogging it and needed to pick it up. I’ve never heard a girls-to-women speech covering sports the way I’ve heard boys-to-men but I do know when the lacrosse boys play for a title, repping the mullet and mohawk look, that Bad Hair Day was a player in the process.
Cluttered cranium - I watched an interview with golfer Jordan Spieth about his mental approach on the way to winning the Masters championship in 2015. I was surprised to hear him talk about working hard to unclutter his mind, to stop thinking about it between rounds and to think of anything else that was not golf related. “When I won, I could finally take a deep breath and enjoy everything that had happened,” Spieth said. Intrusive obsessive thoughts about the game have driven many a coach and athlete to the sidelines or to another profession. It’s only great fun if you can compartmentalize and keep it all in perspective. I guess there is something to be said for one day being pretty much like every other one, but it sure sounds like a flat life on a round planet. Ask Spieth if he controlled his own destiny leading by five strokes entering the back nine of Sunday's final round of Masters. Destiny is what happens to us, we do not control it. Perhaps like Grandmom Rose says, "It all comes down to random acts of weirdness."
A good loss - The saying goes, “There’s no such thing as a good loss or a moral victory," but I disagree. A championship effort that doesn’t result in a win is a sign that you have a championship-caliber team, and when given the chance to play for all the marbles you just may be the winner. Cape baseball lost at Caravel April 8 2-1, with the top-ranked Bucs pushing across the winning run in their final at bat. That game showed me that Cape has the talent to get back to Frawley Stadium and make another run at that elusive state title. Think about something else in between games, perhaps the prom.
Enduring friendship - South America writers call it magical realism, a way of keeping all persons alive in the present who are physically in the past. I do it with my ageless and timeless Grandmom Rose. Joe "Chico" Barranco finished the Oy Vey 5K then set up two chairs on the front lawn at the Jewish Community Center. "One for your legs?" I asked Chico. "No, the other one is for Tommy [Coveleski]," he said, killing me softly. I had to notice and ask Chico, otherwise he wouldn’t have said anything other than appearing to talk to himself. No, that’s a buddy.
Snippets - Kassidy Gallow from Greenwood, who played softball at Delaware Tech in Georgetown, is a junior on the University of Tennessee softball roster. The Vols play in the SEC and are 30-10 on the season, ranked 16th in the country. Kassidy hit .389 and scored 15 runs for Del Tech in 2014. She is one of Emil and Karen Gallo's seven children. Tiara Duffy is hitting .250 and has appeared in 25 games for the 30-9 South Carolina Gamecocks. Congrats to Polytech lacrosse player Jamie Trabaudo for scoring goal No. 200 and Presley Conaty of Archmere for hitting the 100-goal plateau. Both athletes are locally connected through many friends, so they get a Fredman column name drop to hang on their refrigerator. Diaz Nardo is playing third base for the Delaware Blue Hens, who are 20-11. Ozzie is batting .273 with five home runs. Delaware softball is 24-13 and has one Delaware player on the roster, junior Carolyn Szymanski, a pitcher out of Caravel. Go on now, git!
