Talk about real athletes: driving, diving and disarming

Skydivers and race car drivers - Discussions about who is an athlete and who is not lead back to people standing still having a discussion, which requires no athleticism whatsoever. This week the Athletes of the Week section features Jesse Moore, skydiver, and Staci Warrington, race car driver. Jesse has been a surfer and lacrosse player and picked up skydiving because mostly along the Delaware coast there is no surf to speak of, sometimes just enough for the ho-dads to loosen the bungee cords strangling their vintage boards on the top of their Subaru Outbacks. Jesse has his own rig and equipment totaling about seven grand, jumps into his 2000 Tundra on a Saturday morning and takes himself to Skydive Delmarva, and for a $25 lift ticket gets to free-fly through the air doing more tricks than a migratory Canadian honker who has yet to master the art of flying upside down. Staci is a young woman and legend of the race tracks, and anyone who thinks race car driving doesn't require athleticism needs to take himself back out to the driving range, then just look left and right and talk to me about athleticism. I love niche athletes like Jesse and Staci - just so much fun to do your sport without some jughead coach talking to you about life lessons.

Play around - Years ago at a family reunion on my wife's side up in the Pennsylvania coal region, another married guy named Alan asked me, “Dave, you want to go play around?” Many jokes came to the front of my mind but I held them back, simply saying what all people say after clearly hearing something very out of the ordinary. “What?” Alan, an avid golfer whose son went to Florida on a scholarship, started talking 18 holes and I responded, “I don't really play beyond miniature.” Alan assured me that just because I was an athlete I'd be in the upper 30 percent of golfers on the course because most of them were absolutely terrible. I sat by the first tee box on a bench and soaked it all in. The guys I saw were absolutely awful, dribbling tee shots off into a mountainous course. I played it cool; my main concern was not striking out. Alan complimented me on not trying to kill the ball so most of my shots were straight but short. I joke, but golf is a great sport to work on focus, concentration, decision making, leaving the absurd behind and going to the next shot.

Route clearance - Say "root clearance" to me and I'm thinking dentist and my least favorite words to hear while laying back in a chair: ”Let me numb you up.” Randall Allen of Milton, who is in the U.S Army, returned from Afghanistan last December where his mission was route clearance, otherwise known as disarming roadside bombs. Randall is now stationed in Fort Bragg, N.C. Randall was the ROTC high school guy and a firefighter, graduating from Cape in 2008. Is this guy an athlete? Courageous and fit, fighting fires and disarming bombs - trust me, scores are kept and the consequences are real. Randall's mom Mary Lou is a former student of mine and shared with me the story of her son. In Mom's words: “Randall was chosen to be one of the heroes to stitch the flag in Southport, N.C., on July 4th. We traveled to N.C. and were able to be there and share in this wonderful honor with him. We were also given the opportunity to stitch the flag as well. I couldn't be more proud and overjoyed with what Randall has done...his dedication to his country is something that continues to amaze me...I thank God every day to be blessed with such a wonderful son.” That's it, I'm toast; no wonder I was such a pushover as a teacher.

Snippets - This Phillies team may falter and fade and not win the World Series, but every game they play is a treat if you are a fan. No doubt the Braves are the second-best team in the National League and on the other side the Yankees and Red Sox look to be the class of the field. Those annoying San Francisco Giants may not even make the playoffs. If you have NFL preseason tickets, don't try to sell them. Give them to some kids and deduct from your taxes. And remember, school coaches, the better your team, the more sideline experts who want to coach them. Go on now, git!