Trying to track the madness of the NCAA tournament

An older and quite proper-looking airplane passenger who looks like her name would be Penelope gazes out the window onto the tarmac as the belly-bearing baggage brigade groans loudly spelling out the message “Bags Fly Free!” I think I get it and speaking on behalf of the woman, “Why I gotta be a bag?”

That commercial for Southwest Airlines and several others like send the game into overtime and, “Who would you save, me or Buster” were shown repeatedly by CBS as I was trying to track the madness of the NCAA basketball tournament. The coverage was annoying, lame and commercial laden. I never saw Cornell, and when the Kansas Jayhawk head was on the block with 3:28 remaining the game, I was forced to watch another which broke for eight commercials. When basketball returned it still showed 3:28 left in the Kansas game, which I’m sure was a manipulation of reality. Eight hundred cable channels, so why am I watching endless stupid commercials instead of the games I want to see?

DON’T KNOW DIDDLY - I have been told by hundreds of specialized sports savants over the course of my writing career that I don’t know “diddly squat” about their particular sport, as if the subtleties, intricacies and fat rulebooks make understanding a particular game beyond my comprehension. I watched women’s high school lacrosse teams at the highest levels of accomplishment get after each other Saturday in scrimmage games officiated by two veterans from Baltimore. And to me lacrosse became lacrosse, like why is “letting them play” ever a bad idea in any sport? I see the women’s game moving closer toward the men’s with few of those stupid free position shots awarded and maybe someday, in my dreams, the games will be exactly the same - full contact - and we stop treating ripped and fit athletic women like prissy little girls.

HEAD KNOCKER - Matt Millman, veteran athlete of Cape football and lacrosse, is the number one UPS, collect on delivery, full-contact maniac in a Cape uniform. This spring the marauding and menacing midfielder is under his own personal restrictions to protect his cranium and its contents.

“One more concussion and my playing days are over,” Millman said in response to the question, “What’s the latest news on your head?”  

Matt added, “That will not affect the way I play - I like to hit.”

Matt is the grandson of the late Denny Reardon, who you know is somewhere inside that helmet lining up collisions.

FLAG FOOTBALL - I am serious when I say I admire young men who get up early on a Sunday morning not hung over - head or belt - and go play a little YMCA flag football. I watched a touchdown strike from Hurricane quarterback Jon Howard to Cody White versus Fine Line and maybe I was the only person who appreciated that Howard led Cape to a pair of Henlopen Conference championships and that Cody White, a basketball player at Sussex Tech, would have been an absolute beast of a wide receiver because he is tough and can catch the ball. Young guns Stephen Hixon and Laquan Hazzard are also players for the Hurricanes. I’m not saying watching flag football is better than church. I’m just saying for some it is church - at least the sermons are better.

SNIPPETS - Scholastic spring sports start playing for real this week. Cape baseball and softball host Woodbridge Tuesday, March 23. A marquee matchup in boys lacrosse goes off at 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 24, at Legends Stadium as Cape Henlopen hosts a Sussex Tech team that has size and experience and has never beaten Cape in lacrosse. This is not just another play them one at a time regular season game. Get your corn dogs ready!

Go on now, git!