Make sports history sharable, get your own column

Crooked numbers - Life moves on, we put up numbers, they track us like mission control. When you move into the fourth quarter and say the numbers out loud, people either clap or back up. My work life centers around teenage athletes. I tell stories and many look back at me like I’m from Pluto. But Sunday, I was checking out of the Staples store with my new computer power cord. The cashier greeted me, “How ya doin?” I said, “Great, how ya doin? And where in Philadelphia did you live?” “How do you know I’m from Philly?” She went to Southern High and told me her husband went to Roxborough. I told her that in back-to-back years, the City of Philadelphia Championship football game ended in a tie. Southern tied West Catholic 20-20, then the next year, Roxborough tied my team, Bishop Egan, 16-16. “What year did your husband graduate?” I asked. “1980,” she responded. “What year was that tie game?” I said, “1963.” She looked at me like I was Pluto from Disney World, saying, “I was just a little girl then, not even in school.” There was no sense in telling her George Gambone of Southern stopped Bob Mahan (Notre Dame bound) of West Catholic at the goal line to preserve the tie, or the following year, I went helmet to helmet with George Katzenbach of Roxborough who later starred at Kentucky. Why is it that most personal history is not shareable unless you have your own column?

Hopping Hopkins - “Amy, what you gonna do, I'm here at six miles just to wait for you.” Anyone who can disappear a herd of cattle can make short work of me. I was a blue chair guy on the green trail Saturday morning off the Herring Point parking lot waiting at the six-mile mark for Sea Witch half-marathon runners. I knew Amy Hopkins was in the mix, and I had to wait to capture her in the wild before driving to the finish line. Amy leaped into my life. She popped from the painting like a heron taking flight. Amy was an all-state field hockey player in 1994 for coach Ruth Skoglund. A herring and a heron walk into a sandbar. 

Tethered to a talker - Ian Fleming is a 53-year-old blind runner. Sunday at the Sea Witch 5K, he ran 26:42 tethered to 53-year-old UPS driver Chris Stanley. Stanley is like a sports radio guy, super enthusiastic. He knows all about the Orioles and the Ravens and the University of Maryland, but he’ll also get jazzed over Phillies and Eagles if you want to go down that road. Ian is from England and I’m curious to know if Chris Stanley can talk soccer. 

Hijinx - Jim Nance and Tony Romo were coming out of their Skechers Sunday at the Linc, lauding everything about the Eagles, which only served to disrespect the Steelers. The final was 35-13, but for a while the 2-6 Steelers were giving Philly all they wanted. Pro players are susceptible to overconfidence. Just witness some of the childish behaviors in every game you watch, almost never by linemen, but always showing off at showtime for skilled guys. Don’t take your helmet off, it’s a penalty, but if your bell gets rung, the medical staff will take it off for you then hide it. Big people playing a silly game.

Snippets - Crazy week in Cape sports as volleyball hosts Dover in the opening round of the volleyball tournament Thursday. The winner heads to Archmere Saturday. Field hockey plays Delmar Saturday at 11 a.m at Lake Forest for the Henlopen Conference Championship. Soccer will play Indian River Saturday at noon for the Henlopen Conference Championship. The Henlopen Conference Cross Country Championships are Saturday beginning at 2 p.m. at Killens Pond State Park. I know a lot of sports stuff and sometimes I make stuff up. A shout-out to my friend, Dale Dunning, the sixth man on the 1996 state finals basketball team. Just don’t mention Pleasantville from the Slam Dunk tournament that December. Go on now, git!