Delaware hockey championships outdraw NCAA Final
Family and friends as fans - The recent DIAA state championship field hockey tournament featured a semifinal doubleheader at the University of Delaware’s Rullo Stadium Nov. 19 and a final Nov. 21. Total paid attendance for the two days of hockey was 1,621. The announced attendance for the NCAA field hockey championship at the University of Michigan Nov. 22 won by Syracuse 4-2 over North Carolina was 862. A team like Cape, in the sports of field hockey and girls' lacrosse, produces great athletes who play in front of more fans, most of whom know their names, than they will ever play in front of in college. Many Cape hockey alumni were at the Saturday championship game, including recent graduates Allie Yeager, Kat Judge, Caroline Judge, Tiara Duffy, Amanda Atkinson, Anna Frederick, Karissa Lemaire, Jordan Brown and Lexi Woodruff. And there were players from a generation ago who had daughters on the team like Terry Gooch, whose team lost in the final in 1982 to Tower Hill. “My years at Cape were the best ever,” said Allie Yeager, now a sophomore at Winthrop University playing lacrosse. “I know nothing in my sports life will ever top that.” Ask any college athlete and they will tell you that a familiar face at one of their games just lights up their life. The attendance for the University of Delaware's NCAA game at Virginia Nov. 14 was 336.
Formula 1 sports writing - I pretty much stopped interviewing coaches who lose a game to Cape a few years ago to spare them the experience of my compassionate softball questions when underneath it all I’m happy they lost. And if they win, well, then I’m unhappy, so why go looking for an experience that can only further annoy me? I’m good at off-the-record stuff - ”trust me, coach, I won’t talk” - but mostly, although the coaches and athletes are the ones blamed for saying nothing interesting, it’s the questions that are awful. I hate the new “talk about” interview technique, like “Coach, it was tied and then it wasn’t, you just got dominated. Talk about that!” A long time ago in 1984 at Caesar Rodney, Cape won a football game when Jeff Lawton broke loose for a touchdown on a 21 sweep. Coach John Coveleski invited people back to his house afterward and after I interviewed him in the end zone he invited me too. “It wouldn’t be right, coach, I’m just too happy you lost ... I mean happy that Cape won.” I went anyway and it was cool because 30 years ago we could all get along and every football play wasn’t a morality play or culture clash of class.
Running Mecca - Many runners - thousands even - will make the December pilgrimage to seaside Sussex because of all the foot races on the flyways and byways on the trails through our sensitive ecosystem. The Gabby Gobble 5K Nov. 27, Pumpkin Pie 5K Nov. 28, Turkey Trot 5K Nov. 29, Rehoboth full and half marathon Dec. 5, Snowball 5K Dec. 13 and Race into New Year Dec. 31. I’ll take about 10,000 photos for all those combined races, which is easier than actually running in them. I ran the Lewes Seashore Marathon in 1977 wearing white Cape shorts with a gold stripe, a green Del Tech Roadrunners shirt and a black ski cap. My wife said I looked like a Dannon Yogurt truck.
Coach Bobby Bowden - Coach Bobby Bowden on Jameis Winston. “You just can’t make junior high decisions in the pros like he did when he was in college. Jameis is still 12 years old.” But “the kid” plays football with joyfulness and leadership, and he is a winner on the field - off the field not so much. Winston threw five touchdown passes to five different receivers and was 19-29 for 246 yards in a 45-17 win at Philadelphia. And Doug Martin rushed for 235 yards. He was a 2012 first-round pick out of Boise State. Martin ran track in high school - 1.3 seconds for 100 meters - which wouldn’t get him on the four-by-100 relay team at Cape. The Eagles are now officially awful.
Snippets - The Woodbridge Blue Raiders upset Delaware Military Academy in the Division II football tournament and will play St. George’s, coached by J.D. Maull of Lewes Saturday, Nov. 28. Woodbridge, with a new school and facilities, is doing the job of keeping the athletic talent home, and just watch out for the team in basketball over the next four years. Congrats to Indian River for winning the the Division II soccer state title. Cape was so close, but credit to Sallies for another state soccer crown.
