Pop Tart and the Mad Stork from Cape’s Class of 1999

Pop Tarts Bowl - Played Dec. 28 in Orlando, Fla., and won by Kansas State 28-19 over N.C. State. Back in the fall of 1998, I received a lesson analysis in my teacher's mailbox from Principal Ron Burrows and headed to class, deciding to read it to students live. I knew I would get housed and receive the dreaded designation “Needs Improvement.”  While reading aloud, this sentence settled into the stagnant still classroom air: “Student Ryan Whibley was eating a Pop Tart, which is against school rules, and the teacher said nothing.” I said, “Whibley, I’m a dad with four kids trying to support my family, and it's all going to be brought down by a Pop Tart.” The other students jumped on Whibs: “Man, why you gotta be messin’ with Fredman’s job? What if they get rid of him and hire a real teacher, all boring and stuff?” A few years later, I was getting my hip X-rayed and the technician said, “You’re Fredman, aren’t you?” “Yes, I am. Who are you?” She said, “I'm Pop Tart’s aunt.” Now, that's classic muppet memorabilia. 

Muppet bashing - Starting a social media thread or joining one whose theme is taking down a local seaside muppet comes with consequences. More people don’t like it than pile on in agreement. I call it blame-by-name disorder. It reminds me of the country lyric, “Lord, it’s hard to be humble when you're perfect in every way.” I have survived being a columnist for 42 years. I’ve run the race and survived laying down the written and spoken word. I’ve gone stupid a few times and had some outraged and appalled locals who camp on the moral high ground calling for my Fred head. The flip side of humor is hostility. I get that, but launching personal put-downs of coaches or athletes (my beat) is a bad look and mostly always unjustified.   

We are family - The school sports year is always interrupted by Christmas and Easter breaks – vacations from the rigors of the routine school day. Athletes on teams who split the scene to take family vacations is an alien concept in my gene pool but it doesn't mean it's a bad idea. Head coaches have rules in place that supersede any district policies. “I’m going off with my travel ball team” is another example of a vacation from the school team, and again each head coach has rules in place to handle such conflicts. 

Escalation - Sussex Central wrestles at Cape Wednesday, Jan. 5, with JV bouts beginning at 5 p.m. and varsity matches scheduled for 6:30. Wrestling is a sport that escalates the showdown moments, starting in December with the Beast of the East tournament and culminating in late February into early March with conference tournaments, state duals and the individual state meet, where 14 weight-class state champions are crowned. Head-to-head dual meets are taken seriously in Delaware with no bigger collision than Sussex Central versus Cape. The Golden Knights have more hammers in the toolbox this year, but Cape is pretty solid over 14 weight classes. Tabulating the last 10 years, Sussex Central holds a 6-4 advantage over Cape. In the 2022-23 season, both Central and Cape lost to eventual state champion Salesianum in the state duals after having beaten Sallies in regular season dual meets. 

Snippets - Cape baseball was 16-6 last season, losing to Delaware Military Academy 10-4 in the semifinals. Cape returns a strong team – five seniors graduated – with a stacked roster for 2024. Folding in a wave of talented freshmen, serious competition for roster spots will exist. Brad Marks, the No. 1 pitcher at Saint Mark’s last season as a sophomore, has transferred into Cape as a junior. Cape girls’ lacrosse will burst from the box this spring when they face Broadneck, Queen Anne’s, Kent Island and Marriotts Ridge over the first four games. The Cape lacrosse girls will be hunting for state title No. 14. The Cape boys’ lacrosse team was 16-4 last season, losing to Salesianum in the championship game 13-10. Cape graduated 14 seniors but returns 19 varsity players and 35 off a JV roster that compiled a 10-1 record in 2023. Cape football coach Mike Frederick was the defensive MVP in the 1994 Poulan/Weed Eater Independence Bowl won by the University of Virginia over the TCU Horned Frogs 20-10. According to 247Sports, at least 378 players from the 82 participating teams opted out of playing in bowl games this year. Another thousand have entered the transfer portal just before last Monday's deadline. Go on now, git!