Family and friends surround the culture of sports

Arm bars - Two young girls, arms locked, skipped past my camera during Saturday’s Cape at Central wrestling match. They ducked as they traversed my sightline. They are both wrestlers themselves, little sisters of wrestlers, and just the best of friends. Saylor Guerierri is sister to Cape’s Austin, and Cambria Armstrong is sister to John Anthony Rovillard of Sussex Central. “Let the children's laughter remind us who we used to be.” - Whitney Houston, “Greatest Love of All.”

Flagg football - Cooper Flagg, a 6-foot-9, 18-year-old freshman guard for the Duke University men’s basketball team, is projected to be the No. 1 pick in the next NBA Draft. That is, if he decides to come out – we’re still talking college – after getting a 4.0 the first semester at one of the most prestigious universities in the country. Flagg is making $4 million a year (NIL money) as a college student, so why sign for mega millions to play in the league of tattoos and artistic haircuts? Everyone does not have their price. If you love living here at Sesame Street by the Sea, you are close to family, and all your friends are here. Plus, with all this water, we don’t need a swimming pool. Why would you ever move? Can you be bought out to move out? If I were Cooper, I’d plant my flag in the ground and stay at Duke. 

Media Fredpop - I have been an unrelenting sports and society columnist for 43 uninterrupted years, and since the burgeoning world of social media, I’ve been all over it except for Instagram and X. Taking photos and writing anecdotes and observations is what I do, and I trust my family to keep me under control. I’m easy to control: “Do not post” or “Don’t say anything,” so I don’t. And when people believe a version of a story that only circles the truth, I don’t help them stick the landing. 

Halls of Fame - Let’s admit that there are far too many sports halls of fame, yet new ones are springing up all the time. Should there be a minimum age for an athlete to be nominated followed by induction? How about you're 27 and in a hall of fame? You just shot the moon. What’s left?  

Shared reality - “I’ve looked at sports from both sides now, from up and down, and still somehow it’s sports illusions I recall; I really don’t know sports at all.” Eagles fans have a full two weeks to entertain referee conspiracy theories about how Patrick Mahomes receives special protections from officials, often referring to Patrick as “the boy in the bubble.” You know Jalen Carter is coming for Patrick and his snot bubble self. The Eagles hung 55 on the Commanders, yet quarterback Jalen Hurts gets little respect. He certainly isn’t perceived as being a top 10 NFL quarterback. Throw on a Commanders or Chiefs jersey on a weekday afternoon and walk around the grocery stores shopping for discounted eggs, and you can count on some sober Eagles fans messing with you. Can you imagine walking in and out of the Linc for the NFC Championship game in a Commanders jersey? The parking lot is not a hostel (shared living space), but the atmosphere is hostile. Actually, if you can ignore directed rude insults, it's not threatening in any way.   

Jersey Mike’s - Susan and I met with Mike Frederick three weeks ago at our kitchen table over Jersey Mike’s subs discussing Mike's future as the Cape Henlopen football coach. We mostly followed rule No. 1 in consulting and counseling, which is, “Shut up and listen.” Then last Friday, Mike called me at 8 a.m. to say coach Frederick had resigned. It wasn’t Mike Frederick who called, but Mike Betins aka Lumpy, a former student of mine, and father of Ryan and Tyler. Mike Betins is a double amputee below the knee and the toughest human whose call I would answer at 8 a.m. I told Mike B I hadn’t talked to Mike F in three weeks, joking, “I have my ear to the track in a town where the train don’t run.” Cape Gazette’s Aaron Mushrush wrote the story about Mike Fred’s departure; it’s not something an uncle writes. I’m way too entangled, like the 1956 Alfred Hitchcock film, “The Man Who Knew Too Much.” Later that Friday afternoon, I got a text from the Vikings’ sixth-grade football ball boy James Frederick: “We have a game against Millsboro today if you want to come and take pictures.” And later there I was, wheels up, parked on a snow hill, walking into a packed house. Big wheels kept on turning, rolling on the River Cape. Go on now, git!