Symbolic speech - The Coastal Delaware Running Festival produces a sea of T-shirts with message varieties like human ad boats. One might expect the streets to be flooded with political messages, yet there are close to none. I saw one message on a runner all weekend that read Free Palestine, and the guy wearing  it ran his marathon in 6 hours, 15 minutes. Ben Behm, 25, from Birdsboro, Pa., won the overall marathon title in 2:36:33. Elizabeth Hauger 38, from Linwood, N.J., was the overall women's winner in 3:08:46. Ian Drake, 16, from Newark won the half-marathon in 1:17:2. Sofia LoVuolo, 23, from Marshfield, Mass., was fastest female in the half-marathon in 1:28:59. Local Martin Rodriguez, 44, was overall masters champion in the half-marathon with a time of 1:25:06, and finished the 5K in 18:56. Andrey Zhuravlev, 15, from Kennett Square, Pa., won the 5K in 17:08. 

Faces in places - Started my long weekend in Stevensville, Md., at Kent Island High School photographing Cape JV and varsity girls’ lacrosse games. I used to joke that I’m the sports person who knows most people who don’t know him back, but the script has flipped now – more people know me while I sometimes struggle to place them in the muppet matrix from a quarter-century in the rear-view mirror. It’s odd when someone says with great enthusiasm, “It’s so good to see you; it's great you’re still out here doing what you do.” (Whatever that is.) I did run into Scott Steele, Cape High class of 1998, a member of Cape’s first state championship boys’ lacrosse team in 1998. Scott has three daughters in the Kent Island school system, the oldest (on the injured list for the Cape game) on her way to High Point University. The next two days were spent taking photos of 5,000 runners. Many people I know; most I don’t. Some shout my name, but my facial recognition program scans their face and comes up blank.   

Magic Mikey and Mikaylah Sunrise - Mikey Frederick, a Cape kid playing for the Mercer Bears in Macon, Ga., had a home game at 11 a.m. Saturday versus Bellarmine University. Mercer won 18-17 Mikey had a hat trick, his fifth of the season. Visiting Winthrop played the Mercer women at 2 p.m. and lost. I asked Mikey to find Winthrop goalie Mikaylah Lindsay after the game for a Cape kids rocking D1 lacrosse in the Deep South photo. Mikaylah had been inspired to be a goalie by Izzy Cryne of Cape, who had been a goalie at Mercer. Freshman Anderson Smith (Cape) at St. Leo’s in Florida scored four goals in a 15 -12 win  over Emory Riddle. Anderson’s brothers Braddock and Channing are on the Cape boys’ roster, as are his cousins Pierce Conway and Grant Conway. Sister Delaney Smith is part of the Cape girls’ program.   

Extra year - A new NCAA proposed model would allow athletes to compete for five full seasons, replacing the current system that limits players to four seasons within a five-year window. If adopted, it could begin in fall 2026, affecting current seniors – do I stay or do I go – and high school seniors who compete for positions and playing time. Most athletes I have talked to are ready to vamanos after four years of a college sport.  

Snippets - Zack Gelof is back in the bigs with Oakland after starting the season in Triple-A. Jake Gelof is in Double-A with Tulsa in the Dodgers system. Luke Johnson, a pitcher in the Nationals system, is with Single-A Fredericksburg. Jase Mitchell is in extended spring training with the Astros and should be in Single-A in a couple of weeks, according to his high school coach Ben Evick. The Phillies are below the waterline 15 games into the season, but at least the Mets are trolling the bottom right along with them. Go on now, git!