Losing composure is endearing, reflecting the wisdom of age
Losing my composure - Wisdom is born of age and experience, sometimes with a focus so clear it is overwhelming. So I’m bopping along, emceeing yet another state championship banquet Sunday night at the Virden Center, when I’m charged with introducing the new Tough Cookie Award in memory of Barbara Dougherty. Barbara called me her “silver friend” after I once told her "New friends are silver and old friends are gold.” I brought her to the Cape field hockey team, she adopted my name for her, "One Tough Cookie,” through her cancer treatments and it was four years of magic and meaning for Cookie and the Cape players. I’m at the microphone and become paralyzed with emotion; I tell people, “I can’t do this!” I hear laughter; they think I’m joking. And I say, “If this were a black church people would come to my rescue, shouting from their seats, “it’s OK, Fredman, you got this! Praise Jesus. We are with you.” But at a white church, you are on your own, it’s like, “You got yourself in, you get yourself out.” Eric Gooch and Fred Harvey standing in the back just laughed as did most people. And then Sarah Dougherty announced Lizzie Frederick as the recipient and I had no input and no idea, but Lizzie is poised and unflappable unless you go after her French fries. She handled it, and I turned the program over to the senior girls for their silly gifts to one another. I emceed the 1995 state championship banquet at the Baycenter. All the senior girls wrote personal messages to parents which were read out loud. Everyone was crying, but not me, I had no wisdom 20 years ago.
Natural-born talent - Alissa Haith, a CR junior point guard, is a player to admire (24 points and a bunch of assists) so I wanted to talk to her after Friday night’s game. "No one ever asked to talk to me before," she said, and when I took her picture, it was the same. I told her "Get used to it, you are a great player." What struck me was her game and the fact she is just so natural, but no older brothers on the playground, no AAU, she just comes out and plays. "She is having her best year in school," said her coach Bill Victory. "I am very proud of her." As for me, the more sports I watch, the more I realize I have no handle on what I'm processing, That's why I often ask a coach, "Tell me what I just saw because I'm sure your version is different from mine even though I may like mine better."
Fast and afraid - Madi Smith, Cape senior basketball player, missed the last two seasons with catastrophic injuries to the same knee that required surgery. Madi is a basketball girl for sure, and she is just a great kid who has been a good soldier during her rehabilitation, reaching out and helping others. In each of the first two games of her senior season she has scored 17 points. We the fans cross our fingers or perhaps fold our hands and pray that she stays healthy. The fast break layup in traffic off a hardwood floor requires total body coordination and cooperation. Loose balls send players diving with no regard for the life and limbs of others. Keep it up, Madi Dog, a seriously good player who deserves one great season.
Competitive toughness - I was the gorilla in the mist, the hominid inside the humidor of the Sussex Y pool. I was watching Cape swim against Sussex Tech, intrigued by a Cape girls' team that has won 41 straight meets. These athletes are so tough, but mostly swimming is just not a spectator sport except for family members. It's more amazing that Cape doesn’t have its own pool; imagine a hockey or lacrosse team that had to share a community field just to practice.
Snippets - Eagles, Giants and Redskins are still in contention for a playoff home game with three games left to play. “The playoffs start now.” Real fans understand that sometimes success comes when you least expect it. Caughnery Freese of Dover, 9 years old, ran 22:11 at the Snowball 5K Dec. 13, that's 7:08 mile pace. Even more frightening, he looked like he knew what he was doing. He is a Seashore Strider who placed in the top 15 at Nationals in Kentucky three weeks ago. It was my idea to start the Kenny's Korner Friday column for basketball and also my idea to spell Korner with a K and to spell it Reidel instead of Riedel, as Kenny wanted to join the elite of Fredman misspelled names in case there’s a banquet some day. Go on now, git!
