Deals with a deity for sports outcomes are just plain silly

Deal with the deity - Here’s my deal, Lord – if you can deliver a win in this championship game, I will return to mass for a month of Sundays. I whispered a deal like that into the boiled hot dog summer breeze at Dover in 2010, and Cape went on to beat Saint Mark’s 12-7. Anna Fred, a freshman, had two goals. I knew, of course, there was no celestial connection between a lacrosse game and what went on inside my head. And no, I didn’t go to mass Sunday, but I’m sure many Saint Mark’s grandparents showed up and may have dropped money in the first and second collection baskets. Relax, serious people, I'm just being silly here. I want to win each game as badly as I did in 1964 when Bishop Egan lost to Cardinal Dougherty in the Catholic League Championship basketball game at the Palestra.    

Malcolm Kerr - He was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon. He became president of American University of Beirut and was killed by a gunman in 1984. His parents had taught at that university for 40 years. Malcolm was Steve Kerr's father; those teachers were his grandparents. Steve Kerr was on five NBA championship teams with the Bulls and has coached the Warriors to three NBA titles. He’s a real guy and a good guy. At a press conference the same day children were gunned down inside an elementary school, Steve Kerr was in no mood to talk basketball. He went off, saying enough is enough, speaking about universal background checks as a requirement for gun ownership. The light shines bright and many people run down their respective rabbit holes. This issue is seemingly simple, yet intricately complicated. Gun ownership by a person prohibited – and there are lots of them – is a crime. Trap versus skeet shooting at clay pigeons. I get that there are sports and hunting seasons as well, but if I were working the counter at a gun shop and some sketchy dude wanted to buy an assault rifle, I wouldn’t ask him, “How much ammo would you like?”

Dwayne Haskins - Sad stories can always get sadder, as in the case of Dwayne Haskins, who was two times over the limit drunk and on painkillers when he ran out of gas and walked down a Florida highway early in the morning; he was hit by a truck and killed. Money and fame offer no immunity from bad judgments. Stone-cold sobriety should be sold as an alternative lifestyle with the emphasis on the word life. 

Old Yeller - I don’t have a voice for yelling, so as a coach I never yelled at my team or at a player, but I would suggest yelling by a coach has little to do with instruction or motivation. I’ve been yelled at by some good coaches, but to me, it was a sign that they were out of control, not me. I’ve heard yelling rattle pipes in the room, making them scream like sopranos in a hot tub. I’ve never read where some great philosopher said, “Some people just need to be yelled at; it's the only way you get their attention.”

Superfluous like the rest of us - Does anyone need 1,000 photos of a lacrosse game or road race when everyone and their grandmother takes photos and videos? The answer is, “I need to do it.” I find it fun doing things I don't necessarily have to do since I’ve become the targeted demographic for LeafFilter commercials.

Snippets - The NCAA Super Regional softball tournaments begin this weekend, as well as the NCAA lacrosse championships. College baseball regionals begin Friday, June 3. If you have a smart TV, you are halfway home. The other half comes from you being smart enough to find the games and watch two at a time. What ever happened to Magnavox and picture-in-picture? The 29th annual Masser 5-Miler is at 7:30 a.m., Sunday, May 29, at Cape Henlopen High School. I have been at them all and run none; who else can say that? Well, besides Tim Bamforth. Go on now, git!