Primetime Cape cousins - Ella Rishko and Mikey Frederick are first cousins. They were the male and female Cape Athletes of the Year in 2022. Mikey went on to play lacrosse four years at Mercer University, scoring more than 100 career points and leading the team in 2026. Ella played lacrosse two years at Virginia Tech before transferring to Delaware where she lit it up, becoming the first Blue Hen to score 50 goals in a single season (2026) since 1994. Sister Lulu is also on the Delaware team, and she is no joke either. Both Ella and Mikey played in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., last weekend and were eliminated by the host Dolphins, but “Freds on a Plane” made the emptiness more bearable, I assume, speaking for myself. Back at Champions Stadium May 2, I stopped Mairead Rishko, who was leaving the field towing the water bucket on a cart, to congratulate her on a four-goal performance against a good Ocean City team in a 13-8 win. I told her Jacksonville and Delaware were tied at 2-2 and she said, “Yeah, I know.” “How do you know?” I asked. “Coach Lindsey told me.” I dropped a Fredism on her, “Does anyone know what others in their orbit don’t know already?” To paraphrase poet T.S. Eliot from his 1925 poem, “This is the way careers end, not with a bang, but a whimper.” Or to quote coach Brian Donahue, “What was that all about?”  

Kamikaze Dolphins - American Intelligence reported that Iran was considering strapping mines onto the head of dolphins to attack American naval vessels involved in the blockade. The next day, my life was all about dolphins, as the Jacksonville Dolphins eliminated the Delaware women and the Mercer men from the ASUN lacrosse tournament. And Saturday morning, sighting in my camera for focus, I took a photo of a mural on the back of the Beacon Hotel swimming pool house, which has dolphins. I asked AI about suicide dolphins and it changed it to kamikaze dolphins as if Iranians switch from Farsi to Japanese when it comes to strapping an exploding helmet onto Flipper’s head. Porpoises and dolphins are different. The one thing about porpoises is that they avoid boats, so there goes kamikaze basic training. There is a street in Philadelphia called Dauphin that runs through Fishtown. Let's just leave it at that.   

Peak of mediocrity - Back in the early ’80s, I ran Philadelphia’s Board Street 10-Miler in 80 minutes. I hit the nine-mile mark fantasizing about a Chocolate Junior. But the big story on Action News, I came up next to broadcaster Marc Howard and said to him, “I will never stop telling people that at least I beat Marc Howard.” Howard is now 89 years old and living in Center City. If he reads this, I expect him to find me and claim he beat me. The race finished inside JFK Stadium where the 1983 Sixers celebrated the NBA Championship in front of 100,000 fans. Julius Irving walked to the microphone and said one word, “Yo!” I know Chase Utley in 2008 stepped to the mic at the Vet and said “World f****** champions.”  

Undercard - The Cape JV soccer team is 10-0 and hasn’t been scored upon all season while scoring 32 goals. Caesar Rodney is 9-0. The Riders are also unscored upon while scoring 65 goals. The term crush and run comes to mind. The game Tuesday begins at 5 p.m. at Legends Stadium. In varsity action, Cape at 4-5-1 hosts Caesar Rodney at 8-1-1 at 6:30 p.m. It is being billed as One Love Night. I don't know what that means, but after asking AI, I think it's a soccer gesture of solidarity in support of unification of all people. 

Snippets - Local runner Martin Rodriguez was one of 33,950 runners who ran the Broad Street 10-Miler May 3. The race is one way, point to point, all downhill. Times are recorded at each mile. I’d say it’s a logistical nightmare, but with subways, buses and plenty of parking at the South Philly sports complex and the ingenuity of runners, it’s all possible. Martin ran 1:01:17; his last mile was 5:47. He beat teenager Ian Drake of Newark by seven seconds. Ian won the recent Coastal Delaware Half-Marathon. Neil Cummings, a great-grandfather, a hearty-looking somebody who ran the Seashore Classic 5K, later told me, “I’m 90 years old.” I responded, “You look great.” Neil added, “Actually, I’m only 74.” I said, “Change the great to good.” Go on now, git!