School sports season begins with national anthem

Rights and reactions - We all have the right to sit and wear a hat and maybe eat a sandwich while the national anthem is being played. It’s actually better to sit as a form of political protest than to demonstrate a slovenly, lackadaisical, who-cares-anyway, lazy act of disinterest. Enter 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick into the national discourse of rights and reactions. The happiest person in the country right now is Ryan “the exaggerator”  Lochte who just got knocked out of the center ring. Ryan lost millions in endorsement monies and Colin will also lose big time, most likely over the rest of his lifetime.  John Carlos and Tommy Smith from the 1968 Olympics and Vince Mathews and Wayne Collett from the 1972 Olympics in Germany are shining examples. Most Americans just don’t give the athlete a waiver with what they see as disrespect for the country and those who fought for her freedoms. But this is in progress and may play out differently.

Korean culture - A fiercely proud South Korean Little League team lost a World Series championship baseball game 2-1 to the United States. The boys bowed to their own fans and then to the fans from New York. That is respect. A lot different from the conversation here at home of a professional athlete sitting during the playing of his country's national anthem. Notice also the team from New York after winning the World Series championship quickly gathered their composure and lined up for the handshake. That is also a moment of learned respect for your opponent who just lost the game. No need to bury them inside your celebration.  

Teachable moments - I have stood for more national anthems over more years across all the sports than anyone I personally know. Historically, but not recently, high school basketball crowds were the worst for young men not removing hats, some sitting and many just talking through the anthems. I noticed and found it embarrassing. There is political protest and then there is just lack of respect. Laurel High took a stand, made an announcement “show respect or get escorted from the gym” and they followed up on it.   

Sharing play days - The Cape volleyball team had a break Saturday morning after playing two games at their own play day, so they took a field trip to Champions Stadium to support the field hockey team. Young head coach Tyler Coupe assisted by his mom Pam Coupe knows how to build team unity, weaving it into the larger fabric of the sports quilt. And coincidently, if not amazingly, Cape hockey is coached by Kate Windett Austin who is assisted by her mom Debbie Windett.  The Cape football staff has two father-son combinations with Bill and Billy Collick and John and Johnny Parker. Cape soccer head coach Pat Kilby’s dad is the head coach at Indian River and Pat also has Gary Montalto on his staff, one of the all-time winningest coaches in the United States. 

Snippets - Tess Bernheimer, a freshman, started in her first collegiate game for the Drexel Dragons, who lost the home game to Richmond 4-1. Kate Walker, a starting freshman field hockey player for Michigan by way of Mt. Pleasant High School, was in the lineup as the Wolverines upset top-ranked North Carolina 1-0 in the season opener, then lost their next game 2-0 to Wake Forest. Michigan assistant coach Ryan Langford is married to Maren Ford of Lewes, daughter of Jim and Teresa. Most Division III athletic team rosters are still showing rosters from 2015. Sammy Mohr, No. 23, a junior, and Jason Wiberg, No. 89, a freshman, both former Cape players, have played their way from the depths of no-number new guys into the program for Delaware Valley College. Cape baseball has three college verbally committed athletes just entering their junior seasons – Zack Gelof, Virginia; Austin Elliott, North Carolina; and David Erickson, Liberty University. And they all pitch, so the pressure is on coach Ben Evick to bring home a state title. I heard a rousing live singing of the national anthem on the Boardwalk Sunday morning prior to a 5K race. I saw people with hands on their hearts and other people sitting on benches with arms folded and wearing hats. No one cared that they sat and that they were white because no one knows who they were. Anonymity is liberating. Go on now, git!