Harry K Foundation feeds hungry kids of Delaware

Harry K Foundation and hungry kids - I’ve seen high school kids miss lunch due to an emergency schedule shift, and by half-past flying saucers, they were coming unglued. Real hunger exists for some Sussex County and Delaware school-aged children, and the Harry K Foundation does a great job finding them and making sure no one comes to school hungry or is eating only once a day. If someone would ask me, “Who exactly are you?” I’d answer, “Just some guy,” and just maybe I am who I appear to be. Politicians, at times, get typecast as playing to the crowd, but honestly all the men in this lead photo are the guys I thought they were from the first time I met them – good guys with a commitment to community. It happens, people who reach out to help and serve others. Hey, can I get a bottle of water over here? 

Courage under fire - I go back to all the struggles of the 1960s. I was young urban guy, and since then I have paid attention. I always looked at Martin Luther King Jr. and admired his courage – his name was called and he answered the bell. He literally ran point, a humble and religious man; he was in his 30s walking down the street every day into a sea of hatred. Who wants to do that? I know I don’t. A half-century later, LeBron James is humbly running point on the black athletes’ right to have a voice. He ran point on the Cavaliers team because no one else wanted to do it. I admire his courage, because allowing the bright lights to focus on your right to have an opinion is self-spotlighting, and who wants the wackos in the wild to turn their focus on you? I know I don’t. I am not that courageous.

Emeritus Man - I am sports editor emeritus, which means like gramps with bad eyes on a sunny day, I’ve earned the right to pick my spots. The Cape Gazette sports page philosophy has always been to deliver good local journalism with passion and enthusiasm, and now with Nick Roth at the controls that continues to happen. We have hammered Little League coverage from softball to hardball this summer, mostly Dan Cook out there because he’s younger than I, and I can’t eat any more corrugated fries served in a cardboard boat. I can tell you that I never worried about who else wasn’t at a game or whether a team worked so hard they deserved blanket coverage. Sports is elective and it is a game. I don’t remember who first compared it to work, no doubt someone without a job.

The Apostle - Cape football coach JD Maull is a disciple of his high school coach George Glenn. Maull is a “We don’t rep it, we don’t run it” kind of coach, and his offensive linemen will be expected to drive defenders off the line of scrimmage not once, but the entire game. I watched his St. George’s teams drive the ball – they were relentless. Seaford Hall of Fame coach Ron Dickerson once told me, “We scored late against Sallies to take the lead, and then coach Glenn unleashed the ‘Salesianum Death March.’ I think he had us right where he wanted us.” One last thing, coach Maull will throw the ball when it’s in the game plan and not when he hears it from the boosters section, “Throw the damn football!” I wonder if my blue chair is going to clash with the new red track. 

Strafing the stars - The telecast of Sunday’s 2008 World Series reunion and Wall of Fame players at Citizens Bank Park, I found disappointing. There weren’t enough closeups. The older the player, the more interested I am to see how they are getting along. Steve Carlton, now 74 years old, the original Kung Fu fitness trainee, allowed himself the luxury of putting on weight. And Jayson Werth, a little heavier, seemed so happy to be back home that the fans felt bad for booing him the last seven years when he was with the Nationals. 

Snippets - I don’t like a format of double-elimination losers’ bracket survivor having to beat the winners’ bracket winner twice. That’s just too egalitarian. Make it a one-game championship or a best of three championship series. It’s just too hard to get back. Still no head coaches for Mariner and Beacon middle school field hockey. Maybe I’ll apply: “Block it up! Whack and attack! Sticks down. Lift it! Tip it! Cross it! Take it right! Make her go left!” That’s it, that’s all I know. Go on now, git!