Lady bugs and lessons of sportsmanship at XC championships 

Cape Guy - You know the Capital One Bank Guy? Well, after the Sesame Street by the Sea Fred invasion 50 years ago in 1975, followed by three generations of teachers and coaches and athletes and 43 years as a community columnist, I qualify as Cape Guy. Saturday afternoon at the DIAA cross country championships at Killens Pond, amidst a statewide lady bug bloom, the Cape girls’ team, after running the Division I race, joined me under a pine tree at the bend for home to watch the Division II girls’ race. Senior Maya Yngve was my bridge to cool acceptance. We've been friends since she hit the planet running. “Do you know what they call male lady bugs?” I asked them. “They call them lady bugs. And do you know why? Because lady bugs don’t care what you call them; they just fly around together. They’re so much more advanced and tolerant than humans.” And then the Division II runners started coming by. The Cape girls cheered them on, especially their friends from Sussex Academy. Runner and high jumper Katya Geyer sped by and all the girls shouted her name,”Go, Katya!” The young athletes see sports rivalry with crystal clarity not jaded like some adults who don’t compete. Leave it to the lady bugs to lay down a life lesson.  Did you know the lady  bug is the state bug of Delaware? I once told a veterinarian that since 2023 the official state dog of Delaware is the rescue dog. I remember her reaction to this surprising factoid. “Give me a break!”

Shirt sighted - Four races and 1,500 photos, fall foliage as a backdrop, with cross country colors and designs popping from jerseys that someone picked from a catalog either yesterday or 50 years ago. The winner for me was the Archmere girls. Horizontal white stripes across a green background with the name Archmere written in faded gray trimmed in black across the front. The Norbertine Fathers own and operate the school since 1932. There’s a Biden-and-the-Pope story, but I’ll save that for later. 

Beacon to Tower - Junior Izzy Daniel of Tower Hill was crowned the Division II cross country champion. I got a text from my son Dave, Cape’s athletic administrator, who was there at the meet. “I got a picture of the Tower Hill girl who won.” “Okay, I’ve got one too,” I texted back. I wondered what he was doing and why he was texting me about it along with a photo of the two of then. Izzy went to Beacon for sixth and seventh grades, and Dave was her principal. “Just always a great kid,” Dave said. I tried to think of a Tower Hill kid who wasn’t a great kid or any other Delaware private school kid, for that matter, and I just couldn’t come up with anyone. Not saying they’re not out there, I just don’t know any. 

You don’t say - no replay - Cape hockey lost a state championship game Friday night at Rullo Stadium in double overtime on a sudden-victory goal at 1:11 off the stick of Northwestern-bound Bree Moffett. Cape had two goals waved off during the game which incensed the Cape crowd because there is no video review like in college and the crowd is offered no explanation like in college and pro football. How often does the average fan below 400 on the verbal SAT hear an announcer say, “There has to be strong incontrovertible video evidence to overturn the call on the field.” People who played the game and coached and later elected to officiate know the rules like a back side of a one-sided  flat stick. I believe if you’re going to play at a college venue, then use their replay system. And I’ll also add, like most people, any call I don’t like obviously must be wrong.  

Howard Laws - The large cross country coach at Mt. Pleasant looks like a power right guard on a run-oriented pro football team. I snuck a photo of him Saturday along the rope line and wanted to ask, “We all are somebody, but you are someone I know or should know.” I’d drop my name and expect it to mean nothing – usually a safe bet. Howard was a three-sport athlete out of Delcastle. He is in the Delaware Tack and Field Hall of Fame and Delaware Afro American Hall of Fame. He is founder of the Delaware Summer XC Series and Scrimmage for Cancer High School Cross Country Invitational. He began his coaching career as an assistant to Lou Nicoletti. A small world inhabited by large people. Howard and I are two of them. 

Snippets - I took a Thursday afternoon assignment vacation and snapped photos of the Seaford at Fred Thomas season-ending football game. Seaford steamrolled everyone on its schedule and I feared the Freds would get trucked. The game was 8-6 deep into the fourth, but ended 22-6. Cape’s three middle schools will send decent talent to the high school next season assuming day trippers don’t chase the fake rabbit to greener pastures like Sarasota greyhounds. Go on now, git!