I’m 10 imploded buildings older than anyone I know

Buildings do not have human characteristics. They are devoid of flesh and blood. They do not have brains and do not store memories. More buildings of my past are down than up, but I’m not crying about it. I’m at least 10 imploded-and-blown-up buildings older than anyone I know. The high school where I starred and got smacked around by Franciscan priests is down; Cape 2, where I taught for 30 years, is now a parking lot. Connie Mack Stadium, Veterans Stadium, JFK Stadium, Temple Stadium, South Hall and the Spectrum are all gone but only ever really existed the times I was inside them. The real historic Philadelphia sports places are the Civic Center, the Palestra and Franklin Field. But memories live inside heads, not buildings, so why not go down to Duke and level Cameron Hall and build a real basketball arena? That’s different because it is a shrine and will never come down.

Girlie man - I knew that a girls’ basketball is smaller than a boys’ and weighs less, especially when it needs air. How about you? I can’t swear to it but I think coach Tommy Rushin, along with Poochie Hazzard, who directs the girls’ team at Cape, along with Will Edwards and Katie “Teacher of the Year” Delcampo tossed me a ball at practice last Tuesday night and invited me to take a three-pointer. I think it was a trick ball. Now they all know I used to be a player and my thing was shooting. Here’s my question to myself after I left the gym: Would you rather throw up four air balls or hair balls? Excuse me, something’s caught in my throat. I shot four shots and all were way short, like under the net short. I’m not weak - quite the contrary. I’ve just lost all sense of touch. And to add insult to ignominy, I hurt my right knee without ever leaving the floor.

No idea - I am older and I think wiser, which is why when asked to analyze a sporting event or to prognosticate on a team’s season I just shrug and say, “I don’t know,” because I know I don’t. I took a waiver on the Cape versus Sussex Tech field hockey game considering it too close to call, and I think I was right. I recently watched the Cape basketball team scrimmage two teams through 12 quarters, and I can tell you I have no idea what kind of season they will have. A disaster would be to drop below .500 like last year when the team was 9-11, so I could see them winning four more games which would get them to 13-7. But I’m not willing to sell them short - just too many good athletes - so maybe 15-5.

Shutout to shoutout - Cape senior student athlete Andrew Scrutchfield plays soccer, basketball and lacrosse, all three with great athleticism and intelligence. Last Tuesday night at Wesley College there were two Blue versus White all-star soccer games involving four teams, each with two goalies, and without an electronic aid I’m going to say that makes eight goalies. Know where this is going? Andrew had nine shutouts out of the 15 games he played and gave up only eight goals the entire season. What does a brother have to do to make the all-star game? It’s an outrage! Okay, genocide in Darfur is an outrage, but my boy Scrutch got hosed and it’s not like anyone goes to those games anyway but nine shutouts say he is arguably Cape’s best goalie until someone out there proves different.

Pigeon-toed - I’ll never forget the day I shot my first pigeon. I was about 35 years old and dropped him from the ridge of my house roof with a scoped pellet rifle that shot one at a time. My health and the condition of my house were at odds with a pigeon colony that kept growing. I tried throwing the cat at them but I was quickly running out of cats. Let’s transition to deer hunting. I don’t hunt but I don’t want my friends or me to share the roadway with deer because people get seriously hurt and worse. So the herd must be thinned; that is pretty obvious. Nautical by Nature Capt. Mike Chercio, a mariner and teacher at Cape, took his 8-year-old son Michael hunting last week. The third-grader at Rehoboth dropped a button buck deer on his first shot and according to Dad this multigenerational Sussex County boy on his mother’s side was “walking on air” - believe it or not.

Snippets - Bloomsburg University field hockey is back in the semifinals of the NCAA Division 2 tournament. Local girls Amanda Deloy and Lindsay Danz are players on the Bloomsburg team. Bloomsburg will be making its ninth straight NCAA semifinal appearance and has won four consecutive national championships and seven of the last eight titles.

The Huskies are attempting to become the first field hockey team to ever win five straight NCAA titles. The Huskies beat East Stroudsburg 5-2 in the opening round. Danz of Rehoboth and Sussex Tech had a goal - Holla!