Savannah Bananas run trophy to Lewes Beach for a bay swim

Savannah Bananas - I made a joke about the podium being purchased from the Laurel Flea Market before speaking to the upper room at Irish Eyes along the canal at the 2025 celebration banquet for the Cape girls’ lacrosse team having won the program's 15th state championship since 2009. The theme of my riff was 55 years and 72 Cape state titles in five minutes. I started with the spring of 2025, when self-contained five teams with no crossover athletes had legitimate shots to win state titles. Baseball won its third, while girls’ lacrosse won No. 15. Boys’ track lost the Division I title to Middletown by two points. Boys’ lacrosse led Sallies at halftime 8-4 before falling 12-9. And softball had an undefeated regular season that included a win over state champion Caravel. I quickly traveled back to 1976. A boys’ spring track team I coached to a state title with about 50 athletes wore tattered gold cotton sweats as they ran the trophy down Savannah Road on a Monday afternoon. They circled Third Street then looped to Second Street, chanting “state champs.” We arrived at a crowded Lewes Beach, stripped down to shorts and charged into the frigid bay. We were young and we were beautiful. A laughing Chico Beckett drying off said to me, “Coach Fred, these people around here have never seen this many Black people go in the water at one time.” 

History hovers - Sports history hovers inside the heads of the athletes who lived the memories in real time. The retelling always involves exaggerations and embellishments, especially in Seaside Sussex where spinning yarns is held in high regard. I often thought there should be a hall of fame for sports stories that did not actually happen.

Bullet train - Some sports nicknames are too good to only be held by one person. I remember Kyle Mansfield was nicknamed "Bullet" because he was “faster than a speeding bullet.”  Another 1978 vintage would-be sprinter was nicknamed “Bullet” because of the shape of his head, plus he was the alleged fastest human in the halls – mostly during classes. I brought him out to the track one afternoon for a $20 winner-take-all 100-meter dash. The track team was already 6-0 and would win a state title before school was out. The Bullet from Belltown blew away the field like a gas-powered leaf blower. I gave him the $20 and told everyone to go back to class, except Bullet could go play catch and release with the hall monitors. “Ain't nobody coming out for your dumb old track team,” he said. “You guys are undefeated. If I come out and you lose, then you blame it on me.” 

What the world needs - The Zen Master PJ Kesmodel retired as head coach of Cape girls’ lacrosse on his 73rd  birthday in 2016 after winning his eighth consecutive state title. I told him, “Stay two more years because 75 and 10 straight titles sounds more interesting than 73 and eight.” PJ said, “The world doesn’t need a 75-year-old girls’ lacrosse coach.” I responded, ”The world doesn’t need a 70-year-old sportswriter either, but it’s not about what the world needs, it's more about what I need.” And nine years later, I’m not only still out here, but they also keep inviting me to pick up the hot mic.  

Snippets - Selfies are the spontaneous stuff. It's what’s happening, everyone in the photo melding together. The selfie captures images of raw and authentic emotions. My overkill Nikon 850 with motor drive sat on a table as I just watched the selfie show at the girls’ lacrosse banquet. A Sussex County selfie is called a “my own damn self” photo or “they took it their own selves” group shot. I did get Ally Diehl, the team MVP and Delaware Player of the Year, and Cora Conway, the JV MVP. Go on now, git!