Pups and pop-pops are ready for banner year in 2026

Just some kid - One-mile walkers and 5K runners mesh at the end of their endeavors. This little guy saw the banner for the Hair of the Dog 5K winner and decided, “I always wanted to be a banner buster,” and in spite of pleas, “Not for you!” he seized the moment. I hope he got a stuffed puppy trophy. And he can’t have my precious “puppy for payment” trophy.   

The Muppet Matrix - The local sports muppets I cover take weekend sojourns to places I’ve never been and couldn’t find without an accented British female voice directing me at full volume from the Google Maps feature on my phone. Cape track took a few girls to Staten Island, N.Y., last weekend to compete in the 11th annual Ocean Breeze Freedom Games. There were 54 teams competing against each other and against a standard. This is an elite competition at a venue where an athlete can lay down a personal best and still get smoked. By the way, I’ve never been to Staten Island. I was on Long Island once in 1965 when Temple played at Hofstra, and I was amazed our hotel was oceanfront. I am a Philly guy who thought he was in Wildwood. Results from Ocean Breeze are accessible at demilesplit.com. Mostly the site doesn’t require a password, but if it does, you are sunk like a lifeboat in Barnegat Bay. Cape results from the meet with races color-coded were: Cape placed 35th out of 54 teams in the Varsity Red Division. Coach Martin Rodriguez summations and highlights – Mallory Kauffman was the top performer, as she placed third overall and came home with a medal in shot put with a toss of 36-feet-5-inches. Maile Godwin ran a personal best in the 1,000-meter run, breaking the unofficial school record that Katie Kuhlman had broken three years ago, with a time of 3:13.8. Natalie Schneider ran 6:03.82 in the 1,600 meters, a new personal best for her. Bridgett Cole ran 6:11.10, which is also a new best for her. Lauren Marchetti ran a 46.30 new personal best in the 300 meters. Lili McCann ran 49.29 for a new personal best in the 300 meters. Cape is scheduled to host an outdoor polar bear meet Tuesday, Jan. 6. Then, Saturday, Jan. 10, Cape will compete at the Virginia Beach High School Relays at the Virginia Beach Sports Center. 

Irvin S. Naylor Duals - Cape competed at an 18-team stacked tournament hosted by McDonogh School Jan. 2-3 in Maryland. Coach Chris Mattioni synopsis: “It was a challenging event that featured 18 teams from eight states. There were a few nationally ranked teams, and all the schools were private schools except Cape and St. Georges Tech. Cape competed well and finished second in their pool. We defeated Archbishop Curley 41-30, Landon School 53-27, John Carroll 75-4 and St. Paul’s School 81-0. We lost to Green Farms Academy from Connecticut. Grayson Davis was the only Cape wrestler to win against Green Farms. Since we finished second in our pool, we qualified for the Gold Pool for the final four matches. The Gold Pool consisted of nationally ranked high school programs, including Faith Christian Academy, Northfield Mount Herman, New York Military Academy, Green Farms, St. Paul VI and Cape. We competed well and never backed down, but some of the wrestlers at the tournament were just very good. There were several nationally ranked individuals, Beast and Ironman placers and some Fargo placers. We beat Northfield Mount Herman 45-36, lost to St. Paul VI 42-34, lost to Faith Christian 59-12 and lost to New York Military 61-15. It was a great experience for our wrestlers to see how they measure up against some of the best teams in the country. It will help us improve as we move into the dual-meet schedule in Delaware. We came out of the tournament a little banged up, but hopefully guys are able to get better soon.”  

March Madness - Oddly enough, with the transfer portal and NIL monies, many top-of-the-line football and basketball players show little loyalty to universities and programs that first took a chance on them. The World Baseball Classic is the flip side of that, where the world's best baseball players are elected to perform for their country of origin. The Phillies’ Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber are on the USA roster, while teammates Jose Alvarado and Jesus Luzardo will play for Venezuela. Harrison Bader and Garrett Stubbs are on the Israeli roster. This bit of March Madness is at least as entertaining as the NCAA basketball tournament. Many rosters are incomplete, which may threaten certain venues, and, yes, it does sound like a security nightmare. 

Seattle - My father Tom and his young wife Dot, both military World War II, were stationed in Seattle. My brother Tom was born there. I sometimes hear the city calling my name. I understand somewhere outside the city is a sign, “Enjoy your visit, don’t forget to leave.” Over 1 million soldiers passed through Seattle’s Fort Lawton during WWII, a point of embarkation for the Pacific. When the Seahawks play, I root for them. Locally, power lifter Broc Townsend has always been a Seattle Seahawks fan. It makes little sense to me, like JD Maull and the Buffalo Bills. I'd like to see those two teams meet in the Super Bowl, but without consulting DraftKings. What are the odds?  

Snippets - After two weeks of not knowing the day of the week, we now return to regularly scheduled sports programming. Forget “Just Another Manic Monday," how about “Middle School Monday?” That's my fun day. I spent two frozen hours two days in a row on the boards in Rehoboth and Bethany waiting for runners to complete 5Ks. It  may have been cold, but at least I wasn’t moving. Go on now, git!