Photos on the fly at Sandhill Fields cross country meet

I love the flower girls - It was Senior Day for Cape cross country at Sandhill Fields in Georgetown, but no one hipped me to the happening; I was the photos-on-the-fly guy. Coach Rob Perciful gave me leftover flowers and said, “Give these to your wife or partner, however you’re rolling these days.” A mom stuck in traffic arrived late. I gave her the flowers and captured an awesome photo of Nadia Nuebling and her daughter Mia. “I love the flower girls. I don't know just why, they simply caught my eye.” Senior days bring sadness to me. It seems kids who just got to high school are so quickly gone, like a cross country race where the finish line is a vanishing point on the horizon.      

Housed by a mouse - “First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is.” - Donovan. I taught Problems of Democracy in high school pre- and post-internet. I remember telling students, “Law pertaining to internet sites and emails is being written on the fly. You can be sent home during a snowstorm and point and click your way into prison and community disgrace. You can flap off in a public chatroom about your coach and be thrown off the team because of it. It’s a federal crime to open someone’s mail, but with emails there is no expectation of privacy.” Enough, “teacher guy,” what about Chuckie, that coach Jon Gruden who resigned as head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders because 10 years ago the man’s got Michelin Tires jokes. He’s got queer jokes. Gruden was John Rocker on the subway etched in digital permanence. The First Amendment protects most speech that is not libelous or defamatory. Chuckie was not fired; he just walked away. But most anyone can be fired without just cause, rather just because. If you ever argue, “I know my rights,” there's a good chance you’ve watched too many Perry Mason, Matlock and Law & Order reruns. Employers will cut loose a public liability quicker than you can say “Chuck E. Cheese.”  

Low fives - I’ll be covering my first football game of the season Friday night, as Caesar Rodney (0-6) visits Cape (0-5) in a battle of perplexing and mysterious football teams. I know Riders head coach Dan Candeloro, a great guy with a solid staff playing a brutal schedule. I’ve known Cape coach J.D. Maull since he was a 5-year-old dribbling a basketball down Fourth Street in Lewes thinking he was Jason Kidd. And I personally know most of his staff forever on this endless highway of fall football games. I wish only good things could happen for both teams, but this is no 4-H picnic, it's a football game.  

Social media - “Everybody plays the fool sometime. There’s no exception to the rule. Listen, baby, it may be factual, may be cruel. I ain’t  lyin’, everybody plays the fool.” - The Main Ingredient. I watched the cellphone video of coach Urban Meyer sitting with his back to the jive-dive Ohio bar when a young dancing woman backed up without beeping for a little bump and run. Meyer couldn't swivel. He was locked in, but, dude, you are famous and too many pro players on your winless team don’t like you, so you are about to do a slow dance toward early retirement. Famous people do some dumb stuff, just like the rest of us.  

Flora and fauna - Sesame Street by the Sea in the Cape Region is a running and biking mecca for tourists, and locals who act like tourists. You know them. Always out and about, but no one knows what they do for a livelihood. Cape Henlopen’s home cross country course is now at Sandhill Fields, a sports complex in Georgetown. Back on the east side of Route 1, we are busy protecting the flora and fauna, snacking at Old World Breads and playing Frank Perdue versus a Prius in a crosswalk game of chicken.  

Snippets - A cool connection: Cape’s Jakob Hayes is working out with pole vaulter Sam Young, who recently graduated from the University of Virginia where he was an ACC champion at 5.38 meters, which means nothing to an American until you convert it to 17-feet-6-inches. Sam is home for a while before heading off to graduate school. The University of Delaware Club Field Hockey team beat Temple in North Philly Wednesday night 3-2. The Blue Hens are 5-0 on the season. Cape’s Katie Frederick and Jackie Cannon are on the team. That’s why they get a dash of Freddogg hype. Go on now, git!