Poppy Kevin Smith is running while Joe is biding his time

Poppy is running, but is Joe? - Little Poppy Kevin Smith had a 30-year career working for Joe Biden. Barack Obama knows Poppy as Kevin. Kevin was networked like a three-pronged 220-volt plug, but he tripped that breaker and escaped to the roads, and he hasn’t looked back. Is it possible that a man who spent his life in politics doesn’t want to talk issues; he just wants to run and hang with his wife Jeanie and grandkids? I’ve asked Kevin about those in the world of politics and why they choose to run, and he just smiles and says, “Those people are just wired differently.” Road runners are wired differently as well, elective misery I call it, followed by a sense of fulfillment and maybe a beer or boiled hot dog.

Rim shot - “I don’t want to work; I want to bang on the drum all day.” - Todd Rundgren. Last week, after an in-depth sit-down with 12-year-old three-sport Athlete of the Week Miles Godwin, I asked him, “Well, is there anything else I should know about you, like a passion or hobby, like maybe you play the drums or something?” Miles said, “I do play the drums,” so I chased that ball and he admitted his favorite group was Metallica. I replied, “Those guys are bangers from way back, some may say old guys.” “They are not that old,” Miles said. “Maybe 50s?” (Lead songwriter James Hetfield is 55.) My favorite Metallica album was “Master of Puppets,” or was that the Jim Henson biography? I’m just trying to stay a relevant elephant. 

Sanford and sons and daughters - Go north on Route 52 past Tower Hill while listening to the B-52s, a new wave, post-punk band, singing “Love Shack,” and eventually you will pass the Sanford School on your left. Just keep driving, because you can’t afford the yearly tuition of $28K, or to live in a place no one can spell or pronounce correctly, Hockessin. The Warriors won both the girls’ and boys’ basketball state championships this past weekend, which is way cool. I just want to “biography” both rosters and understand the real cost of going there. In Delaware sports, you go to war with your demographic, and there will always be someone crying “unfair” after you win a championship; just make sure the rest of the state is crying like Roy Orbison.   

Barnesville Bavarian 10-miler - Long ago and far away, over the mountain leading to Mahanoy City, there used to be a summer 10-mile race which began at noon. It was brutal, it was germanic, and that was the point, to push hard and party harder. Chugging a stein of beer while dehydrated is just stupid fun. St. Patrick’s Day is coming, and here come the Clancy Brothers and the Chieftains and a bunch of Protestant posers at local bars looking for any excuse to get drunk. My wife, Susie Murphy Thomas, broke the German bloodline in the Frederick family, so now I’m surrounded by grandchildren with Irish blood. But like I wrote in Anna’s high school graduation booklet in 2013, “When the ball drops, rock German genes!”  

Diet Tribe - March 14 is my birthday and the yearly wellness physical that I show up for every three years with my buddy Dr. Jeff Heckert. “Let my people go” is a line from a spiritual called “Go Down Moses,” so I figured I’d let myself go and skip the spiritual stuff. I’ve been on a diet of restraint since before Christmas, my own creation. I’ve discovered, “It’s not about the diet you’re on, it’s more about the diet you’re off.” Seriously, who needs to give up orange Gatorade and crunchy Klondike bars? A few years back after an office visit, I was handed my chart and told, “Will you please just take that over to the window.” I looked down and inside the jacket cover and next to General Appearance was written, “Overweight.” I looked at all the nurses and receptionists along with schedulers and insurance claim unravelers and thought, “Let Mr. Overweight unravel like a webbed belt, and everyone will be heading into counseling.”

Mike ain’t right - Big Mike Donovan may be comfortable in his own skin, but I’m not sure I’m at ease with a 6-foot-8, long-haired former Marine walking the main street of Milton in a dress or kilt, whatever it’s called. The Lucky Leprechaun 5K on Sunday in Milton was more entertaining than Mass, where that Lent thing is still going on. Six hundred Irish Eyes were smiling on 300 runners, discounting a glass eye or two.

Snippets - Eddy Shoop (Cape and Dewey Beach), a sophomore playing women’s lacrosse for the Florida Gators, was injured the first part of the season. Eddy has scored a goal in each of the last two games including a goal and an assist in the Gators’ 16-15 win over High Point. The Garnet of Swarthmore College (28-3) advanced to the semifinal round of the NCAA D3 men’s basketball tournament. They will play Christopher Newport in Fort Wayne, Ind., on Friday, March 15. The Phillies’ home opener is Thursday, March 28, versus Atlanta. Let’s play 162! Go on now, git!