Cape community will comfort, care because they are part of us

A spring weekend lived to the fullest: sports and youth, hope and resiliency, and absolutely brilliantly beautiful weather. Hovering above all the beauty of friends and family connecting in healthy team activities was the horror story of Cape football coach Tom Ott, a 39-year old father of four who sits in jail on multiple charges of serious sexual offenses. An unexplainable aberration and deviation from normal behavior to absolute sickness allegedly transpired, and friends in close go on with their lives. They are shaken but not derailed, finding comfort in one another. I quote Grand Mom Rose: “Just because you can’t trust everyone doesn’t mean you can’t trust anyone.” The Ott family stayed in plain view over the weekend, kids playing Atlantic Lacrosse, supporting the Run for Autism. They were hugged by friends who held on and cried - no words were necessary. I was over in Baltimore watching the Cape girls play lacrosse last Saturday. Afterward, the team went to the Inner Harbor and walked around. The day was like being inside a watercolor; it couldn’t have been more beautiful. There was live outdoor music and ships firing cannons but mostly it was about friendship. I saw my granddaughter Anna walk by with her Cape family. I was so happy for her and I knew that 35 years earlier I had made the right decision leaving Philly and come to Cape. The Cape community of connected peoples will comfort and care for the family because they are a part of us. Everyone reach into the circle, hands upon hands, and say the word, “Family”!

TALK IS CHEAP! - Talk is cheap but friends are for keeps. Tom Ott was my friend for the last eight years, not a knock-around social friend, but because of teaching and sports writing I was in pretty close and certainly friends with his best of friends. We are all knocked over; never saw a wobble to indicate an underlying deviancy in his personality. I’d like to see his brain scanned, his body chemistry analyzed, just to see if he sank into a mental illness so dark that none of us who knew him socially took notice. Is there ever a time in life when you completely turn your back on a friend and is this one of them? Something is just way wrong here and I’m not looking for an excuse but an explanation.

CAPE FOOTBALL - Cape’s next head football coach will be an experienced leader of proven success and unquestionable integrity and I would go so far as to say his staff must be the same, no baggage whatsoever. I’ve always thought athletes should belong to a Varsity Club and hold each other to the highest of standards and perhaps coaches need a Coaches Club. If you can’t represent and role model the highest standards of what it means to be an athlete and a member of a team, then don’t coach!

CULTURE CLASH - Early Sunday morning on the road to Irish Eyes in Lewes, 500 runners and their entourages were annoying, that is, in the way of the pickup-driving Boat Yard Brigade who looked less than thrilled by the inconvenience because after all, running isn’t a real sport, not like fishing.

SNIPPETS - Last Friday, April 9, Mary Washington beat visiting Wesley College in women’s lacrosse 19-2 but who’s keeping score? After the game Washington freshman Leigh Ann Redefer and Wesley senior Brooke Bennett, both Cape kids and friends, posed for a photo. Mary Washington, ranked No. 19 in the country, will host No. 1 and undefeated Salisbury Wednesday, April 14. “Brooke is just the best person and great player. We will really miss her next year,” said her coach, Debbie Windett. Grand Mom Rose once said to me, “How can I miss you if you won’t go away?” “What’s that supposed to mean, Grand Mom?” "Go on now, git!"