Time to name Cape’s wrestling room ‘Matty Dome’ to honor coach of 30 years

Rastling room - Wrestling rooms across America have a dens-to-dungeons quality with the aroma of rag barrel that has taken decades to ripen. There is no flow and no pattern to the decorum; it is a factory to failure. The athletes leave with nothing left to give. They are spent like cryptocurrency. Cape’s wrestling room would send an ordered mind into a conniption of uneasiness. I was there two weeks ago and noticed for the first time the shoes of state champions hanging from the rafters. Coach Shane Jenson said to me, “Those red and black ones belonged to your grandson Mikey.” There are 28 individual state championship plaques on the wall. All in all, it's not just another plaque on the wall; for the wrestler, it is the ultimate tribute, a legacy to the effort left behind. Cape’s wrestling room is screaming out for a name, and it should be specific to honor Chris Mattioni, who has been rolling around the room for 30 years. Dedicate the room and lag bolt a sign “Matty Dome” to the block wall. Everyone who is a part of the Cape wrestling culture knows what’s up. 

Layered loss of weight - Three high schools ago in the winter of 1975-76, I encountered a state champion Cape wrestler out for a weight loss run. He was layered with rags pulled from a barrel. The theory is that the more cotton worn, the more moisture that is wicked away from the body and more weight lost. I stopped him and carefully crafted my words knowing a hungry wrestler can go from placid to rabid in a Sussex Country minute, which is slower than a New York minute by 90 seconds. I know durags and saw plenty of them on North Broad Street, but this was the first time I saw jockey shorts on someone’s head. They were over the toboggan on his noggin. I had boxer rebellion jokes and fruit of the loom references. Mostly, he looked at me like, “Yea, you funny but I’m going to let you live.” Underwear to Under Armour, it’s not a stretch.  

Timeout - What is the saturation index of college basketball in your household after four days watching 64 teams trimmed to 16? Did you take a timeout to watch the NCAA wrestling finals on Saturday night? The roundball refs for the most part let them play, showing off the athleticism of the players, but the final minutes of close games were excruciatingly slow with unused timeouts being called to discuss strategies interspersed with fouls to give and fouling shooters in the backcourt while they're still on the ground to prevent game-tying three-pointers. And where did all these 7-foot guys come from? Is there any evolutionary advantage to resembling a giant praying mantis? 

Gable television - Gable Stevenson, the untouchable heavyweight from Minnesota, suffered a takedown to Captain America, Wyatt Hendrickson of Oklahoma State, in the closing seconds of their match, and the wrestling crowd at the Wells Fargo Center went ballistic. Gable went to walk off the mat and a security guy shadowed him in case Gable started taking down everyone in his path just as a release of displaced aggression. Psychologists call it implosion therapy, confronting all your worst fears in a single happening, therefore “nothing left to fear but fear itself.” The reaction on social media was mixed from those praising Wyatt wrapped in a flag saluting President Trump to those who thought the young man overplayed his saluting hand and should have toned it down. I’ve seen the relentlessly successful Cape field hockey and girls’ lacrosse teams suffer rare defeats to Delaware teams and watched those teams snap, crackle and pop like Rice Krispies in a bowl of whole milk. Coaches know to pull their team back before the laws of unintended consequences take the field. 

Snippets - This is the week when school sports start playing games that count. Gone are scrimmages and play days and the dreaded preseason all-star teams and top-ranked players’ lists. Nick Campbell (Cape ‘22) is in his third year playing outfield for Penn State University Beaver campus. Nick is batting .265 with a .479 on-base percentage. Speaking of Seaside muppets, Nick’s grandfather is Jay Buckets, formerly known as Chum Buckets from his fish cleaning days at Fisherman’s Wharf. Nick’s mom is Beth, a former student of mine. Hank D’Ambrogi (Cape ‘22) had four goals and one assist as the University of Delaware men's lacrosse team beat Hampton 18-3 to improve to 5-3 on the season. Hank has six goals and three assists on the season. Ella Rishko (Cape ‘22) leads the 5-5 Delaware women’s team in goals with 22. Both Hank (Fairfield) and Ella (Virginia Tech) popped from the portal to land at Delaware. Fairfield is currently 9-0, while Virginia Tech is 7-5. Spencer Steele (Cape ‘95) was inducted into the Fairfield Sports Hall of Fame in 2007 for men’s lacrosse. Go on now, git!