Blob tag - I have often exclaimed while walking through my day, "I knew I should have stayed home.” Grandma Rose took two quarters from her change purse and walked me down Lehigh Avenue in 1954 to see "Creature from the Black Lagoon." There was a long line. The story line was about an amphibious humanoid gill-man discovered in the Amazon basin. The next horror film to hit the theater was "The Blob" in 1958. The price had jumped to 68 cents. A mysterious creature from another planet, resembling a giant blob of jelly, lands on earth. The people of a nearby small town refuse to listen to some teenagers who have witnessed the blob's destructive power. In the meantime, the blob just keeps on getting bigger. Every fat kid for the next 70 years was nicknamed, “The Blob.” I walked from my childhood of aliens and monsters onto the Legends Stadium turf last Tuesday to take photos of young girls at hockey camp. They were joyously skipping about with locked arms, many stopping to get a picture taken. I asked rising senior camp instructor Angeline McCarthy, "What are they doing?” “Blob tag,” she said. I went to AI on my phone for an explanation: “Blob tag is a tag game – chasing and fleeing – that has players join together to form blobs once they’re tagged. When blobs get too big, they break off to form smaller blobs. The game continues until all players have been caught and have formed blobs.” I must admit, it kind of looked like fun. 

Lateral lineman - Pop Pop Billy Gibbs, Cape Class of 1985, may have been the greatest all-purpose wideout and return man in the history of Cape football, perhaps challenged by Larry Miller. Billy was at field hockey camp last week delivering granddaughter Oakland to camp then hanging for the duration with his almost 2-year-old grandson Kaycen. So many of the great high school running backs don’t possess extraordinary top-end speed but have great vision and are elusive. I wondered, "Are there elusive linemen with great vision and lateral speed?” Timmy Gray and Larry Oliver, both nose tackles, dominated side to side along the line of scrimmage. Lateral linemen on the offensive side are lethal, but it's hard to sell an athlete with that skill set on the merits of being a pulling guard. During the 2014 fall season, under coach Bill Collick, the Cape football team started five Afro-American linemen along the offensive line of scrimmage. That should not be notable, but it is unusual. Young members of the Linemen for Life Club and all stellar individuals include Tyre Maull, Julius Tyler, Devin Miller, Brandon Nixon and Shamar Moore.

Silence is expertise - I have coached events and skills I cannot do and have sat silently listening to people seeking my advice who believe I am not only old but  also wise, like a salted potato chip. The secret is to listen and learn, and advise others to proceed prudently, like a small boat through a dark inlet. I recently was asked how to purchase a pole for a novice pole vaulter for a granddaughter whose grandfather I coached. Poles are rated by weight and length, and athletes grow out of them. There are many sports – baseball, lacrosse and hockey – where you buy your own sticks and gloves, and activities like band where you buy your own tuba. Poles are often rented or shared between schools. Back in my track coaching days, 1975-85, I bought a few poles from catalogs, but I was later advised, “We can’t spend $1,000 on a single athlete who may later quit or get fat, perhaps both.”   

Tower of Power - A freshly painted Cape blue water tower accented by the Cape logo overlooks Champions Stadium. A pretty awesome homefield venue. Some local muppet will soon be nicknamed "Hydrostatic Head," a Sussex County predestination.

Snippets - I used to joke, “I’d like to see someone doing community service who wasn’t sentenced by a court of law or stocking up volunteer hours for a service club.” I learn new stuff every day. It keeps me young and jaded. How about you use volunteer hours and apply them to three service organizations at the same time? Is that cool and who cares anyway? Simple things can quickly be made complicated. The 43rd annual Dam Mill 5K is Sunday morning in Millsboro starting at Cupola Park. The Dam Mill has its own hall of fame. Not sure if I lost my plaque or if I ever got one. Go on now, git!