Genetic predisposition for excellence in sports? - Stake your claim

Logomotion three-balls - Change the haircut, put on multiple pairs of floppy socks, change the TV screen to black-and-white, and Caitlin Clark has the same game as Pistol Pete Maravich from 54 years ago. Maravich played at LSU, and his dad Press Maravich was his coach. Pete scored 3,667 points in three years, no freshman eligibility, and no three-point line. Another striking similarity is that they both dominate the zone from the logo to the foul circle. Pistol and Caitlin will launch from deep, and if a defender comes out there, they are gone like a wisp of stale air. Both players drop more dimes than a stool pigeon in a prison yard. Another comparison is the loosey-goosey, unafraid style of attack. Maravich averaged 44.2 points a game over three years, 1967-70.  Pete Maravich died in 1988 at age 40 from a heart attack while playing pickup basketball. There is plenty to read online about Pistol Pete. I just noticed that Clark and Maravich have strikingly similar styles of play.   

Velcroing muppets - I really have to stop connecting community muppets. I don't know if it's a compulsion or some yet-to-be defined syndrome. I recently ran into Jackson Ostroski; I think he was the bouncer at the funeral home. I said to him, “Jackson – the 2018 pinch hit versus Billy Cunningham’s Appoquinimink team to lead off the eighth inning, resulting in a 6-5 win, sending Cape to Frawley Stadium where they beat Dover 6-5 in the semis and Caravel 5-3 for Cape’s first state championship.” It was Bill Lofland's funeral, so baseball talk was called for, because Bill was Chris Short’s catcher and the Cape field is named after Chris Short. I saw Alfred Mitchell walking around at 92 looking spry. I told his son, “I remember back in the day, your dad had a hound dog named Hambone.” He said, ”There have been a lot of hound dogs named Hambone.” I saw another person and said to Susan, “I can go deep on this one, like eight siblings and mom deep,” but the woman looked right at me with no hint of recognition, so I let her be. At Wawa it was Jerry Maull, Cape class of 1972. I dazzled him with my sports memory skills and he left saying, “Take care, Fred, and keep doing what you do.” 

Not prepared - It has been proven over many years and sports that Cape has prepared athletes to play at the next level. But what they haven’t prepared them for is losing, because if you are next-level good in high school, you almost always come from a winning program. My personal experience is that athletes on losing teams don’t feel as good about themselves, as if somehow they are a contributing factor to losing games. It can get complicated quickly.  

Tuma Time - “I just dropped in to see what condition my predisposition was in.” I always peruse road race results looking for family patterns; if there are fast young siblings, usually somewhere in the results is a fast parent or two and possibly a grandparent who is an age-group winner. On Saturday at the Bunny Palooza 5K in Bethany Beach, Nathan Tuma, 46, from Greensboro, N.C., ran 19:28. His son Nathan, 10, ran 20:34, while 12-year-old daughter Alexandra Tuma ran 22:16. I’m sure the Tuma family didn’t travel to Bethany Beach for Easter weekend because of the Palooza race, but a vacation destination where there are actually fitness activities that everyone can do beats lying around feeling gross and morose.  

Maiden voyage - Women in sports sometimes get married, and half the time they may change their last name. Some do a complete makeover and change their first name as well. I am respectful of all that but often stick with the maiden name if that’s the person I first covered. On Saturday morning, I ran into Sweet T, aka Tiara Duffy, on Garfield Parkway in Bethany Beach. What’s the chance of us two cats enjoying a chance collision? Tiara, 28, now has a master’s in public health and is currently in nursing school getting an RN to round out her resume. By the way, her name is Tiara Collins, and she ran 30:26 for the 5K, using her home run trot the entire way. 

Snippets - Baseball fans are in full-focus mode just six games into the regular season with 156 left to play. No bigger story than Bryce Harper hitting three home runs, including a grand slam on homer No. 3 as the Phillies beat the Reds 9-4.  According to phillysportsnetwork.com, the three-homer game was the first since Bamboo Brad Miller in 2021 and first at The Bank since Jayson Werth in 2008. Werth currently resides in Arlington, Va., with his wife Kelley and their four children. Because Rehoboth Beach is the nation's summer capital, you have a chance of running into Jayson or Joe (Biden) on a Boardwalk bench. I once by happenstance sat next to Ravens head coach Brian Billick under the gazebo on Wilmington Avenue. I decided he deserved not to be recognized. Several people walked by who waved because they knew me. None of them said, “Is that Brian Billick sitting next to you? A few asked, “What’s in the bucket?” Go on now, git!