Wasabi and Westminster talked up at Race for the Paws
Wazzup Wasabi - The Wazzup Bud Lite commercials first aired in 1999. The routine was created by childhood friends who later became Temple students. There was later a parody of the original called Wassabi. Check YouTube, these spots were absolutely hilarious, and I’ll be the judge of that. I was working the bend at the three-mile mark of the Race for the Paws Aug. 2, when Dewey local Tom Fitzpatrick and his dog, a Sheltie named Beau, slowly walked by me in search of free beer. Tom and Beau ironically both look like hard-to-adopt senior rescue dogs. Cindy Redefer, having run the race, showed up with a bottle of water for me because she is nice like that. Beau Dog thought it was for him and started to bark. I told Beau to back the bark down, this wasn’t the Westminster Dog Show where handlers give out treats. The bend in the road then turned on itself when Tom told me his brother, David, was a dog breeder and had won Best in Show twice at Westminster, the last time in 2021 with a Pekinese named Wasabi (Bourbon the Whippet came in second) and before that in 2012. Turns out that was all true, and I had made a Westminster joke on a Dewey street to Beau and Tom, the only guys who could take it to another level.
Breaking the banner - Thomas Metkus, 44, ran through the finish of the Watermel Run 5K in 17:17 Aug. 3. He then picked up the pace until his watch read 5K. Tom confirmed as much after his victory. He is from Lutherville/Timonium outside Baltimore and admitted he didn’t run cross country or do track in college, as his sport was ultimate Frisbee. “I was kind of a hippie-type person,” he said. When I told him I had covered the Frisbee Spring Eastern Championships in 1996 at Cape Henlopen State Park and made a player who reminded me of Michael Irvin an Athlete of the Week, we became simpatico because I’m kind of a ’60s hippie from when hippies were fat. Note: Coach Jim Alderman gave me a hard time about making a Frisbee player an Athlete of the Week, so I calmed him down by making his jumping horse Carbonada an Athlete of the Week, leading with the line, “Why the long face, Carbonada?” Metkus is marathon training and hopes to break three hours this fall.
Throwing gas - Baseball’s computerized stat retrieval system was geeked up years before Statcast, Google Cloud, and AI showed up. The Phillies’ newly acquired reliever Johan Duran threw a 103.3 mph fastball Sunday night against the Tigers, setting a new Citizens Bank Park record. One pitch later, he threw 102.5 to strike out Riley Greene, the fastest game-ending strikeout by a Phillies pitcher since the pitch-tracking era began in 2008 (Yahoo Sports). Johan's nickname is the Durantula. He is 27 years old and from the Dominican Republic. Durantula was able to keep his No. 59, which Phillies manager Rob Thomson freely gave up, switching to No. 49 in honor of Yankees star Ron Guidry.
Senior League World Series - The girls play at Roxana every summer, begging the question, “Of all the venues on the planet, why Roxana in Sussex County, Del.?” The Senior League World Series for boys held in Easley, S.C., was denied travel visas for the Latin American team from Venezuela because of a partial travel ban. “The Venezuelan team is the latest example of the sports world colliding with the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration and foreign visitors” (USA Today). The United States is set to host the 2026 World Cup, and currently World Cup-qualifying games are taking place around the world. Note: More than 400 players in MLB history were born in Venezuela, with only Luis Aparicio in the Baseball Hall of Fame, according to MLB.com.
Snippets - Good skinny or bad skinny? Good skinny is tied to fitness and a healthy lifestyle, and yet it can go too far because of forward momentum and positive reinforcement. No one says, “Pump the brakes already.” Bad skinny can be illness or drug addiction, and that has a different look. Best to keep comments to yourself unless you’re a close, trusted friend or personal trainer. Coach Bill Belechik grew up in Annapolis, Md., one of the cradles of lacrosse. Bill was once asked, “What is the difference between football and lacrosse?” In a deadpan delivery he said, “That's easy, lacrosse is fun.” Fall sports are about to start. I always thought the expression “have fun out there” opened up the possibility that you might not. Go on now, git!
