Prediction Run 5K closes out Seashore Striders Summer Series

Last Blast Prediction Run - No watches or Swatches were allowed Sept. 2 at the 33rd Last Blast Prediction Run 5K at Grove Park. The overall fastest 5K runner was David Teklits of Philly in a time of 19:20.47. The fastest female was Eve Hoffman of Washington, D.C., in 20:59. The closest predictors were Karen Levin (0.29 off predicted time) and Doug Tootell (0.74 off). The event is always held on Labor Day weekend and closes out the Seashore Striders Summer Series. Summer-long age-group awards are handed out based on running five 5Ks and one five-mile race. 

Deion’s destiny - Every columnist in America is writing about the Colorado Buffaloes and Coach Prime after their entertaining 45-42 win at TCU in a game where they took the field as 20-point dogs. But only here in Sussex County is Deion Sanders connected to Punkin Chunkin’, going back 28 years to an appearance of the Under Pressure machine on “The Late Show with David Letterman.” The Renaissance Rednecks were off Broadway (a side street) next to the Ed Sullivan Theater. Deion Sanders was a guest that night. It was lightly raining and the chunkers were told he was going to come out and catch some sling-shotted footballs. They were also told John the Blacksmith would be invited on the program to talk to Letterman. Neither happened. In fact, Letterman came off as a spoiled “If it ain’t about me, then I ain’t about it” only child. Letterman referred to the chunkers as “some guys in the street,” never gave Sussex County credit, so his ratings dipped by double-digit decimal points because no one in Sussex Country watched his highbrow-ain’t-funny schtick in the first place. As an aside, a yellow cab was parked in the street, the trunk was popped, and the chunkers were charged with seeing if they could drop a gourd into it. An inquisitive homeless person came around the corner as an NYPD cop shouted into his walkie-talkie, "Hold up, we have a hobo problem!” Closing the loop, it was announced this week the World Championships of Punkin Chunkin’ are moving to Oklahoma along Route 66, a long drive to get your kicks. 

Too many timeouts - In college football, teams get three timeouts per half, each lasting about 90 seconds. There is also halftime and flipping the field at the quarter. We fans are told by pundits of the western world that timeouts should be used judiciously and saved for the final moments of the game when teams may really need them. Let's be honest: Half the time football players are on the field, they are stationary. I believe the game-day crew of football officials should also be limited to the number of flags that can be thrown in a given game. By the way, I don’t have solutions to these aggravations. I just know a great game has generally slowed down, and officials have more power than Tommy Tuberville in the U.S. Senate.    

Color analyst - There were so many televised college games over the Labor Day weekend. Each one has an analyst commentating between plays. I wonder if in real life many people prefer to look at their phones rather than listening to a prattling person standing in front of them, then what's the chance of listening to an analyst while watching your garage TV? A commentator on the Buffalo at Wisconsin game said of Buffalo, “This offensive coordinator has a long history and has coached great quarterbacks up the wazoo.” I’ve also heard it said that a given team has talent “out the wazoo.” Yes, it’s slang and just sounds wrong, but evidently not as wrong as other examples I could give that would get me iced like a mango snow cone. 

Taking plays off - Stellar athletes in football are often pressed into action to play both sides of the football, so if you lose a player to injury, you’re actually losing two. I noticed while watching a digital replay of the Red Lion versus Cape football game that all players from both teams were playing hard every play. Back a generation ago, many two-way players took plays off, which hurt them when colleges got ahold of the game film. Today, players post highlight reels set to music. 

Snippets - Duke field hockey upset Maryland 2-1 Sept. 2, then lost to Northwestern 3-2 Sept. 3. Alia Marshall (Cape) scored a goal for the Wildcats. The Phillies secured a much-needed win on their Sept. 3 getaway day in Milwaukee. Twenty-eight games remain in the regular season. Josie Hollamon (Delmar) scored her first collegiate goal in overtime to lead Maryland to a 1-0 win over Boston College. Kate McPike, a swimmer and 2002 Cape graduate, graduated from Princeton, then earned a master’s from Columbia. Kate McPike Feldman is now an academic advisor at the University of Colorado. The 10th Run, White and Blue 5K at Delaware Tech in Georgetown starts at 6 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 7. It’s always a great community turnout. Zack Gelof of Rehoboth, starting at second base for the Oakland Athletics, was named Rookie of the Month in the American League. Go on now, git!