Choose words carefully and speak sparingly
Poppa, don't preach - I have reached tribal elder status in my life, which requires the wisdom to choose words carefully and to speak sparingly. Part of being the guy I am now is realizing that most of what I intend to say or write can be thrown out of the boat and into the deep drink because even when I'm right, most people don't want my spin on sports; they just want me to make them laugh or mention their grandchild or make someone they know Athlete of the Week. Disclaimers are always followed by, “Having said all that, here's what I really think.” I want to talk briefly about coaches who put the fate of a player in the hands of a captain or teammates. It is absolutely never a good idea. It is an abdication of adult responsibility and shows a lack of leadership by the coach or teacher. I've seen it used two ways. One is having a team vote a rule-breaker back on the team because, after all, it is their team. This is a way for a coach to salvage a talent who slammed the door behind them by violating team rules made by the coach. The other - which is much worse - is to have captains and/or team members vote a kid off the team for some breach of behavior that is detrimental to team chemistry. That is so shaky, because the coach steps off and sets up his athletes for a lifetime of bad feelings. Imagine telling a young athlete, ”You're off the team only because your friends don't want you on it anymore. Don't look at me; they did it, because, after all, it is their team.”
Loyalty and honesty - I know that a football coaching staff is the best of all sports and usually has the most people to mesh into a unit of teaching based on a leadership model. The No. 1 trait discussed in the first meeting is staff loyalty. An assistant who talks in public about the head coach, a coordinator or - much worse - an athlete ("I don't know why the kid starts; I am personally baffled") is rocking the insubordination card. If I were the head coach, I'd fire the assistant in about five seconds. And standing on the moral high ground is a lonely place; that's why there are no houses up there.
Happy hour - The happiest hour of each day is the non-hung-over first hour after awakening; many learn the hard way that sobriety is the greatest high going, and it's free. Speaking of sports, team captains must lead by example, and that doesn't mean being a cheerleader in front of the pregame stretch line; it means being a person committed to excellence and holding all team members accountable. Captains don't tell on people; rather, they tell people, “You want to be on this team, you had better straighten up.”
Cape on the cliff - The Cape boys' basketball team lost at Tatnall Feb. 11, 50-43. The boys are now 10-8 on the season and host Sussex Tech on Valentine's Day, Tuesday, Feb. 14. There will be no love on that court. Tech is 10-7. Cape is at Milford, 9-8, Thursday, Feb. 16. Whichever one of those three teams wins out makes the tournament. A team that loses out will stay home. A Cape split would make it 11-9 with a good chance for the tournament. I have a strategy on how Cape can win both its games, but I'm not allowed to talk and I don't go to any practices. OK, take four players who can't score 20 points combined but they do have 20 total fouls to give. I'm hounding somebody!
Snippets - Lance Fargo, the perfect name for running in Sunday's frigid conditions, drafted off 9-year-old Blake Hundley at the mile mark in last Sunday's Valentine's Cold Cold Heart 5K at Cape Henlopen State Park. Lance, 45, ran 20:54 while Blake got home in 22:05. Lance knows he's a marked man as Blake has him in his sights. Back in my running days, it was Logan Short, 8 years old at the time, who kept trying to trip me following the racing strategy given to him by his father, the great outdoorsman, Ralph Short. In 1963, my football teammates voted me team MVP. Coach came down to basketball practice, handed me some ragged trophy and said, “You don't deserve this, but it wasn't my call.” I have a Food Lion MVP card I don't deserve either, but it doesn't stop me from using it. Go on now, git!
