Well-coached players don’t do dumb stuff

Don’t do dumb stuff - Forty years ago, I wrote that the Cape boys’ lacrosse team was the best- and hardest-coached team at the high school. Every practice was game day, and if a player slacked or repeatedly made the same boneheaded mistakes in practice, they were unlikely to see the field on game day. I’d amend that in 2025, staying away from the words best and greatest because each team is its own entity, and I personally don’t ascribe to GOAT culture, preferring the good-is-good and great-is-great model of appreciation and evaluation. But I know this about Cape boys moving up to play college lacrosse: They don’t do dumb stuff when it comes to the fundamentals of the game because it has been coached out of them over four years playing for the Cape program.   

Hall of Hushed Tones - The only night an athlete gets to talk openly and publicly with a voice being amplified is the night of the induction banquet. After that, it’s a plaque on the mantel, unless it's also a refrigerator magnet. Spencer Steele was an attacker who played on the 1995 Cape team that lost in the finals to Salesianum 12-6. Spencer is in the Fairfield University Athletics Hall of Fame and a member of the All-40-Year Team for the Stags. His years playing were 1997-2000. Posted on the school website: “The all-time leading goal scorer in Fairfield history with 147 tallies, Spencer Steele also handed out 63 assists in his career to rank third all-time with 210 points as a Stag. He shares the single-season points record with 75 points in 1999, including a program-best 48 goals. Steele scored 38 or more goals in each of his three years as a MAAC competitor, also topping 50 points in each campaign. Fairfield's first-ever Major League Lacrosse draft pick (in the 2001 MLL Inaugural Draft), Steele was the 1999 MAAC Player of the Year, and two-time All-New England First-Team honoree and MVP of the 1999 ECAC Tournament.” Spencer is a quietly confident personality type who has been on several Cape coaching staffs. 

Uncle Fredman won’t let go - Former Cape football coach Mike Frederick, a University of Virginia player who also played for the Browns, Ravens and Titans, was the defensive MVP in the 1994 Poulan/Weed Eater Independence Bowl won by UVA over the TCU Horned Frogs 20-10. “Seems like yesterday but that was long ago.” – Bob Seger.

Rate Bowl connection - The Minnesota Golden Gophers beat the New Mexico Lobos 20-17 Dec. 26, the legacy running through Salesianum and Vincent Marcozzi Sr. (Class of 1959) and Vincent Marcozzi Jr., a heavyweight state champ from the Class of 1984. Marcozzi Sr. played for Minnesota, including in the 1960 Rose Bowl, while the son wrestled for New Mexico. After the Minnesota victory, the father presented the son with his 1960 Rose Bowl watch. This story hit my desktop via Mike Gallagher, a former Sallies player who also coached at Cape. Mike closed a long story with, “Fredman, if you could generate some ink in your perfect prose, that would be awesome. I wrote what I know firsthand and ChatGPT’d it.” Maybe I should work for Google or Giggle because my intelligence is nothing if not artificial. 

Mahogany memory - Basketball coach John Clark told point guard John Kerr to call out a color when I was being overplayed in the corner, signaling that I should cut to the basket. John came over half-court, the gym was packed with partisans from Egan and Judge, and he yelled "Mahogany!" It was too funny not to laugh. Clark took Kerr out of the game, looked into his freckled face topped by red hair and yelled, "Mahogany? What are you, a comedian?" Catholics and comedians go together like forever. I think I learned that in religion class.

Snippets - As I close in on 43 years of writing this People in Sports column, there is a chance I’m guilty of repeating myself. There’s also a good chance the people who’ve heard stories before don’t remember them. I learned from my Cape students over 30 years that you can tell a good story as many times as you want – if they can lie on the floor while listening to it. Many New Year's Days I faced 300 souls about to plunge into a 38-degree ocean. I would give a safety speech – “Don’t dive, beware shallow bottoms, no offense” – realizing if they didn’t have a few hex bolts loose, they wouldn't be there. Porpoise without purpose – the younger, the dumber, all diving. A few older dudes just swim around sounding like Placido Domingo singing falsetto. Go on now, git!