Sound the sick puppy alarm when in doubt
Happy Valley - Joe Paterno was Penn State's athletic director in 1980. He hired Rene Portland to coach the women's basketball team. Portland resigned under pressure in 2007 when Tim Curley was athletic director as a result of a lawsuit filed in 2006 by a former player, Jen Harris, who claimed Portland (with 600 career victories) openly discriminated against players she believed to be lesbians. Harris is not a lesbian - not that it matters - but the coach believed her to be one and relentlessly dogged the young woman, who eventually transferred from Penn State. In 1999, Jerry Sandusky abruptly resigned but hung around the locker room showers for the next 10 years teaching personal hygiene to prepubescent poor boys. In 2011, Tim Curley and Joe Paterno were both fired for not sounding the sick puppy alarm on Sandusky and putting his name out over the police scanner. Strange goings-on for a long time inside that athletic program.
Sandusky smart? - Jerry Sandusky's lawyer Joe Amendola said Dec. 13, “Everybody thinks Jerry Sandusky is smart because he was the defensive coordinator of Penn State, but he’s not; he’s not smart." Jim Rome wrote on his website that if Sandusky was smart, he'd tell Amendola to shut his mouth. By the way, Jerry Sandusky was a four-year 4.0 student who graduated first in his class. And I agree, the guy comes across as clueless.
What a great guy - I became friends with Bill and Marge Degnan, parents of my friend Bill Degnan, after Bill died suddenly from myocarditis Jan. 10, 1996, at the age of 43. Bill Degnan the father died Dec. 16 at the age of 83. He and Marge had just celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in October. Bill is survived by his wife and three daughters - Kathleen Leonard, Patricia Chamberlain and Rose Enright.
All of us who were friends of Bill said the same thing of his dad: “What a great guy.” Bill was a Red Sox and Patriots fan. In lieu of flowers, send donations in Bill's memory to The Down Syndrome Society of RI, 99 Bald Hill Road, Cranston, RI 02920.
Larry Miller - Larry was on the sidelines Sunday morning watching the flag football championship. Larry is one of the most relaxed personalities I know. Back in 2002, his senior season, Larry scored five touchdowns against Seaford by returning a punt and a kickoff, catching a touchdown pass, running one from scrimmage and returning an interception. During basketball season, he hit a three-point buzzer shot to beat Sussex Tech and turn the Little Big House rubber floor into an instant carnival. Larry was also a state champion in the long jump his junior year. But you'll never pull that information out of him because Larry won't talk about himself. He... did I ever tell you about the time I? ...oh never mind.
Fazio girls - Gabrielle Fazio, a junior, and her sister Leslie, a freshman, are tall girls from the Cape Region who went to Eagle's Nest and now play basketball for Sussex Tech. I saw them after the Friday night game at Cape. I'm not sure if they have any idea who I am. I just asked them after the game, “Aren't you girls Bill Lofland's granddaughters?” They smiled. I said, “I didn't see him here.” “Oh, he was here, all right," they said. ”He was over there talking - and talking.” Bill owned the Mobil Station next to the slip-and-slide car wash coming into Lewes. Bill was Chris Short's catcher back in the glory days of Lewes High - caught with a sponge inside his mitt - I'm pretty sure he dived into the ocean and caught it himself.
Snippets - The Cape baseball boosters are hosting a College Showcase Day from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., Thursday , Dec. 29, at the Lewes School gym on Savannah Road in Lewes. The showcase is free, but preregistration is required. Call coach Dave Doherty at 302-236-9268 to register or to get additional information. Information can also be snagged on the Cape Gazette website; just click on sports briefs.
Lauren DiNatale, a former Miss Lewes Little League (honor never gets trumped), completed the Arizona Ironman Triathlon last November in a time of 13:45. “Not bad for a 38-year-old mother of two kids,” so said her sister Jana Wilcoxson, who also wrote, "I flew to Phoenix to watch the race; it was a very awesome day. Very long day. I ate Tex Mex and drank beer while she ran, swam, biked and ran from sunup to sundown. It was a grueling day on both of us.”
Talked to an old Lewes athlete on Sunday who gave me a name of a woman and asked if I knew her. I asked why and he said, “She is my ex-stepmother-in-law.” Never heard that one before.
Go on now, git!
