Halfway House of Hope: A sports showcase of promise and potential 

Halfway house - The Fred Thomas gym is artistically cool, cozy and comfortable, but it doesn’t expand well to accommodate big crowds. Mariner versus Fred Thomas basketball Jan. 21 was standing room only. Mariner had the advantage with partisan alumni as this is only the second year for Fred Thomas. The Freds won the girls’ game 35-17 followed by the Fred Thomas boys outlasting Mariner 44-39. Fred Thomas eighth-graders were recognized before their last home game. Maybe Halfway House of Hope is a better name, as young people of potential and promise are not afraid to represent and put it all on display before journeying on to be Cape teammates. 

Blanket coverage - Would you put a baby in a basket covered with a blanket in the front yard just to get some fresh air for like two hours if it were 20 degrees outside? How about grandpa on a bench with a blanket? I’ve been both the baby guy and the old guy. I've had symptoms of hypothermia and heat stroke, usually related to watching or playing sports. This Saturday, it’s going to be 20 degrees outside. I'll be wearing a hoody inside the house or a onesie with feet. Great Marsh Madness affects many middle-aged duckers who think they’re labradoodles. Too dumb to hydrate has plagued the males in my family for generations, and I’m told alcohol actually dehydrates a person on a cold day. Exercise some common sense, but don’t exercise, and best to do it inside and ride the stationary bike to destination anywhere.   

African safari - Buffy Jackewicz Neace, Cape field hockey ’99, lives in Rwanda with her husband and their four kids. It’s an Army thing. Buffy recently posted some safari photos – it’s a sport – which sent me down the Rhino Road of my Philly childhood memories. Full-figured women who peaked in the 1940s were often compared to rhinos, and the expression, “Freak you and the rhino you rode in on,” was commonly heard on the street corner during games of buck-buck. “Stand back, Aunt Franny’s getting ready to charge the potato salad,” was also rowhouse humor. I posed an online question, “Are rhinos stupid?” – head slope is no joke – and was chastised by AI for postulating such a supposition. Red-billed and yellow-billed oxpeckers ride rhinos consuming parasites and cleaning wounds. Many philosophers have argued the grand design theory of the universe versus "stuff just happens.” I had never heard of oxpeckers over decades of rhino jokes.    

Cignetti of the Serengeti - Curt Cignetti culled the herd at James Madison, bringing 13 players with him to Indiana in 2024. This is not a Balance of Nature commercial. Curt’s captures helped change the ecosystem of college football, and it's harsher than Mother Nature herself, and she has no conscience. Decimate then celebrate – such a feel-good American sports story. Throw in Mark Cuban – or throw him out – and the donor class is pretty much running college football. Down low, the coaches continue to sell “We make them better people, which makes them better players,” which must be true in many cases because I hear it all the time. But loyalty is out the window like a stray cat who snuck in the back door. When portal players and NIL monies roll into a program, most one-star performers are given duplicate roster numbers – the first sign that your bright future just hit the dimmer switch.    

Snippets - Boys’ basketball along Route 9 – Cape Henlopen at 10-2, Sussex Tech at 1-10 and Sussex Academy at 1-9. Cape wrestling won at Polytech Jan. 21, 57-23. Winning by pin were Nolan Wright at 103, Austin Guerrieri at 126, Grayson Davis at 150, Nick Walker at 157, Carson Tuer at 165, Yusuf Smith at 175 and Javier Morales at 285. Cape will host Caesar Rodney Friday, Jan. 23. The Riders are coming off a 49-21 win over Milford. CR has also beaten Smyrna 34-32. The Riders lost to Salesianum 47-26. The University of Illinois has a recreation, sport and tourism major, which is necessary because college to professional teams across all the sports are always traveling from “hell to half of Georgia,” to coin an anachronistic expression. Backlit linemen walking into the Georgetown DMV Jan. 21 were former Cape players Ryan Betins and DJ Schultz. I recognized their shadows first until their faces came into focus. Both are students at Delaware. If you fill your bathtub up with water prior to some hyped-up storm and later actually drink it, you may be a whack factor of 8 on a 10-point scale. Speaking of scales, how is your New Year's resolution to lose weight going? Nutter Butter flags are flying at Lloyd’s Market on Savannah Road. Go on now, git!