Share: 

Sports is a visual handoff to a history of colorful stories

March 19, 2021

Visual handoff - In the fall of 1978, Jay Maull quarterbacked a Cape football team coached by Jim Alderman that reached the state championship game, losing to Saint Mark's 20-6. The following spring, Jay was running track, and I was his coach. He took a left-handed visual handoff on the third leg of the 4-by-200 at the Dover Relays in a blistering fast-seeded heat. We had the lead and my heart was pumping. The baton flew from Jay's hand onto the infield grass and a spot at the top of the podium went with it. On the bus afterward, the guys were sharing all kinds of stories, just happy to be in the world. I stepped onto the bus, stood next to bus driver Harry Moore and screamed out, “Quiet! If something funny happened out there on that track I must have missed it!” Then I said, “Jay Maull, come up here!" There was silence because coach Fred is the funny guy you didn't want to make mad. Jay came up and I said, "Hold out your left hand." He did and I reached from behind my back and produced a can of stickum and sprayed it all over his hand. Everyone cracked up and busted on Jay all the way home and into infinity. That was only 44 years ago. All stories are alive at track practice. I don't know what story Jay is telling the track guys up in the bleachers in this photo, but it seems to involve his left hand.

Worried man - “It takes a worried man to sing a worried song. I'm worried now, but I won’t be worried long.” - The Carter Family. I’m worried that faltering and floundering sports programs that are slotted on the Cape schedule of healthy programs and teams will wreck the enthusiasm of developing players who practice every day with the JV team only to face a schedule that is lame and missing games. Numbers of JV games on the schedule by sports include: boys’ lacrosse seven, girls’ lacrosse 10, girls’ soccer 13, softball 10 and baseball 17. That doesn’t seem too bad until you cross-reference schedules and realize that some of your opponents have gaps in the JV schedule and don’t show healthy roster numbers to be able to run varsity and JV schedules for an entire season. We shall see how it plays out.

The NIT - Back in the 1960s when the NCAA basketball tournament was 32 teams, the NIT, with all games at Madison Square Garden, was just 12. It was like spring break starting with St. Patrick’s Day in Manhattan. Anyone who remembers being there must have missed the party. It was later expanded to 14, then to 16. Since then, the parity pool has been diluted and we are all sold on how wonderful postseason basketball has become, but there is no way this nation produced 68 quality men’s teams for the NCAA with another 16 left for the NIT. That adds up to more than 1,000 players twerking in the postseason. I’m still trying to figure out the difference between regulating and percolating coming from the intersection where the Slop met the Watusi. 

The hamster wheel - I’ll be running the hamster wheel on the Habitrail to nowhere starting Monday, March 22, when Sussex Tech track visits Cape. I’ll be somewhere most days of the seven-day week, but I’m poised to throttle back for fewer appearances. I’ve learned from Darby Dog that when the sun is shining through the storm door window, it’s best to just lie down on the Iranian magic carpet. But seriously, the spring sports schedule is stacked and stocked with games, and that doesn’t even include travel ball. 

Snippets - I had a friend on West Chester State campus during the late 1960s, Paul Tillman, who was a two-time college All-American wrestler 157/167, placing third twice at NCAA finals. West Chester was a great wrestling school, but then the sport was dropped as a victim of Title IX equalization efforts by the Office for Civil Rights. Kani Kane, recently a running back at the University of Delaware, is the head track coach for boys’ and girls’ teams at Sussex Tech. Duke and Kentucky will both miss March Madness. This is the first time both have missed since 1976, when Indiana went wire to wire. This tournament is set up for Gonzaga. Just remember the one-and-done superstar era is now ... you still here? Every player you see on the court is academically eligible or a college graduate. Go on now, git to class!

Subscribe to the CapeGazette.com Daily Newsletter