If a player goes rogue, teammates should bring him back

Last Saturday’s soccer play day at Kirkwood Aug. 21 ended with a Viking civil war as Cape and St. Elizabeth got after each other way outside the bounds of acceptable sportsmanlike behavior. Not nicely done, soccer dudes. The Cape Vikings haven’t even had a chance to hang their newly awarded sportsmanship banner - adults too busy holding back soccer selected players energized by a chance to use their hands inside the lines. One aspect of the “based on a presented packet” sportsmanship award is that schools have in place procedures and policies to deal with behavior breakdowns when they occur rather than tossing it back to DIAA to lay down penalties. I think if a player goes rogue, it’s up to the teammates to bring him back to the sidelines. If players join in under some spontaneous instinct to protect and defend a teammate, they respond immediately when coaches tell them to get back to the bench. Any player who must be wrestled by a coach or parent from the suddenly pugilistic pitch gets reviewed by coach and athletic director, and if there is a history of this behavior, the athlete should be gone before he or she contaminates others.

Stinger - “Stinger” is a soft sign signifying temporary nerve damage. I had my first when I was a 14-year-old freshman football player after tackling some hairy-legged senior fullback in the A gap, dropping him and me in his tracks. I could hear coaches exclaiming “great hit” but it felt like bees buzzing down the right side of my neck and arm. All accolades aside, I was a smart guy - at least a clever wise guy - and started walking off the field. Coach Dick Bedesem yelled, “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I was getting as far away from those jar-headed football people as possible because I knew they wanted me to stick my head into the churning kneecaps of more bottom-heavy, low to the ground running backs built like half tracks. “Man is a rational animal,” I said. “This sport is irrational, a threat to life and limb and continued ambulation aboard two feet.” They called me back like I was some house cat. What was that all about?

Fire the hitting coach! – Wait - the Phillies already fired Milt Thompson; now they should ship out Greg Gross. How does an entire team go into a group hitting slump? The is the mystery of team psychology and ask any coach at any level, “Have you ever seen your entire team not show up for an important game or not meet the moment up and down the roster?” If they are honest they will say “yes,” and if they are perceptive realize they are powerless to do anything about it. I called it the Neptune Factor: you are talking to your team before a game and they are looking back at you like they are alien visitors from the planet Neptune. Neptune - Roman god of the sea - is also a town is New Jersey, also another planet. But seriously, players in a funk need to be given a seat on the bench, because often so-called lesser players meet the moment, which is what sports and life are really all about. Can you meet the moment without prescription medication?

Snippets - Kaci Coveleski, a freshman at Northeastern University, is on the field hockey roster. Max Coveleski is a junior quarterback candidate at Moravian University, coached the last 22 years by Scott Dapp, best known locally as John Coveleski’s stand partner while a member of the Rehoboth Beach Patrol. Zach Wood, former Cape standout, is a red-shirt sophomore at West Chester and moved up the depth chart last spring and is expected to see prime-time playing time this fall. West Chester opens the season at Delaware Thursday, Sept. 2, in a game in which the Golden Rams have everything to gain, especially appearance money.

Both bands are just the best, and I’m still licking my wounds after begging for a D in a West Chester music appreciation class.

When I misidentified an oboe as a trombone in class, all the music majors - called soups at that time - stifled giggles and I just said, “Freaking horn; once you heard one, you heard them all.”

I have a degree in anthropology from West Chester - that is funny - a master’s from Delaware, three sons who graduated from Delaware, but for this game I am a West Chester guy.

I will never forget coming out of Jake’s Bar at 2 p.m., then dropping to one knee shielding my eyes from the sun like Bela Lugosi at the end of a Dracula movie. Sean Hopkins, former player at Sussex Central and Sussex Tech, is a freshman on the Wesley College football roster.

Carlos Marin-Landa and Tony Mendez, Cape, and Evan Lee, Sussex Tech, are on the soccer team at Delaware Tech Terry Campus.

Two-time state champion Ryan Dixon is the head coach. Jorge Young, former football and basketball star at Woodbridge and top academic student, is a sophomore tight end at Morgan State.

This Sunday, Aug. 29, ESPN will telecast the high school football game between visiting Our Lady of Good Counsel from Olney, Md., and St. Xavier High School of Cincinnati, Ohio. Game time is 3 p.m. John Yore, former Cape principal, is of course the new principal at Good Counsel and is being flown to the game and put up at the Marriott Hotel at ESPN’s expense. How do you like those apples? Good Counsel will next play Gillman at Towson University at 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 18. Gillman is coached by Biff Poggi, who, along with former Colts linebacker Joe Ehrmann, is a subject in the book “Seasons of Life” by Jeffrey Marx. Joe is an ordained minister; he mentored then later performed the marriage ceremony of my nephew Mike when he played for the Ravens.

Here is a quote from Erhmann spoken to the Gillman players at the end of each practice: “What is our job as coaches?” “To love us,” the boys yell back in unison. “What is your job?” Joe shoots back. “To love each other,” the boys respond. Here’s my job: