Basketball season is about to begin, which can only mean that Tony Hazzard is about to bust out his wardrobe, but only for the big games. Tony is a loyal supporter of Cape or Sussex Tech - it depends on who is having the better season.
QUICKLY COCKY - The Milford Buccaneers are in the state football tournament for the first time since 1974. Friday, Nov. 21, they host the undefeated Quakers of Wilmington Friends coached by Bob Tattersall who has been at the helm for the last 41 years. Milford is the program - not to resurrect ghosts - that lost 40 games in a row, so a state tournament on the new turf on a Friday night would put all those goblins to bed.
Public school football players just never seem to take Quaker schools seriously, but trust me, Friends has already found patterns and weaknesses. And remember, Milford is the team that looked past Cape and got hosed, then Cape looked past Sussex Tech and got waxed in their own garage. Laurel hosts Caravel Saturday, Nov. 22, in the other Division II semifinal.
KNIGHT RIDERS - Sussex Central will host William Penn at 7:30, Saturday, Nov. 22, in the semifinal round of the Division I state football tournament while Caesar Rodney hosts St. Mark’s on Friday night, Nov. 21.
Name the team that has never won a state football title?
Georgetown will turn out for this tournament and even your Tom-Tom won’t be able to find the new field on Patriots Way on a dark night so leave early or bring a guide. This semifinal features four teams all of whom are capable of winning the title and past matchups count for nothing. William Penn kids are blue-collar tough located within driving distance to all those private schools, but they stay public and bring an attitude. It is time for Sussex to step up and snap!
SIX PACMAN - Banned for life again, Adam Jones is back with the Cowboys which puts the entire squad under his influence. I think Jones is a much better player on the street than on the field. And if you think young men who learned the values of hard work and high character through sports don’t get jaded when guys come off alcohol and drug suspensions to take their jobs you would be wrong.
I am a liberal accommodating enabler and all about second chances, but when street punks cheapen the game that is where I get off the bus.
FIRE THE COACH - Respected and veteran Philadelphia football writers came out after the Eagles overtime tie to the Bengal’s suggesting that Andy Reid be terminated and Donovan McNabb be shipped to a new city with a copy of rules for overtime in his back pocket. Pressure Andy in a news conference and he gets more reserved, the voice is softer and he actually starts to look fatter.
I can sense that this is his pre-strike posture because under the spotlight in a room filled with media wonks who never played or coached everyone knows what is better for your football team. The old lineman is holding back because if he ever did come loose the room would be come loose the room would be filled with a big pile of bodies and BlackBerrys and Andy’s parting words, “Time’s yours.”
DISCIPLINE - “Discipline is what you do for somebody, not to somebody.”
I first heard those words from coach George Glenn and it is a great model of leadership whether you are running a football team or a school. And I would add that good discipline inside any organization or institution is an art, and the basic foundation is a blend of respect for authority and fear of real consequences.
The first third of my career teaching and coaching at Cape, the building was run by Mike Mock and Warren Schneller. The numerical population was the same and the “bad actors” of today couldn’t make it down a crowded hallway back in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s because old school was rugged, not the poser posse of the new millennium.
All the sports teams were successful and coaches were in the building and in the community. I joke now that the discipline manual says “Mutual of Omaha” on the front with chapter one titled “Catch and Release.” What am I saying? We keep throwing paid power and more specialists at the same population which reminds me of a famous quote by board member years ago who, after listening to a presentation about a new discipline policy, said, “That’s all well and good, but what about the dirtbags?”
Good question: What about them?
SNIPPETS - Sophomore Maxine Fluharty of Sussex Tech and senior Chelsea Reed of Cape Henlopen have been selected to the All-State field hockey first team. Kaci Coveleski was named to the second team. Kara Voss is first team All-Fredman. If I got to pick only 11 Kara is on my team, no question about it.
David Mesquita, a Cape Henlopen senior, was selected to the second team for All-State soccer. David, by the way, is out for basketball at Cape which is good news for fans who just love Skeet’s Steve Nash game.
How has your shotgun season been going? I am hearing fewer blasts than in the past so it should be interesting when the final harvest numbers come in. I know the state park deer hang out in the human habitat section until the shooting stops. I saw a doe and fawn earlier this week, but they’re not as cute if they ain’t scared.
And stripers are biting in the surf - just bring a different weapon, please. Like Grandmom Rose said when she caught my fist inside a day-old turkey carcass, “Go on now, git!”
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Sports Editor Emeritus
Email Fredman at fredman@capegazette.com
