We are all cousins; the connections transcend time and place

Mormon melding - I have no clue as to the foundations of the Mormon religion or how it relates to Salt Lake City, but I share the belief that we are all cousins. Someone along the Saturday afternoon fence at Champions Stadium when the University of Delaware women’s lacrosse team was playing SUNY in a friendly match, someone mentioned UCLA playing Penn State at Beaver Stadium in Happy Valley. I responded, “Gary Beban, Bruins quarterback in 1967, he led UCLA to a 17-15 win.” I knew that because I was in State College that weekend visiting my girlfriend Susie, who I would later marry, and celebrating the birth of first niece Michelle. Beban is the same age as me. He won the Heisman Trophy but you can’t sell a 78-year-old Gary Beban along the rails of women's lacrosse. Under Friday night lights at Cape’s Homecoming, it is a cauldron of melding muppets with most connected over time, but no one gives up a name, they make you guess. Large interconnected Black families in the Cape district call me Uncle Fred. After the game, I spoke with Navin Duffy and Jayden Dukes, awarding them Fredman Facebook Players of the Game honors. I said, “It is nice meeting you guys. Let's just say I know all your people,” and they shook their heads up and down and we moved on. First niece Michelle drove down from State College for the game to support her younger brother, coach Mike Frederick.  

Todd Rundgren (1982) - “I don’t wanna work, I just want to bang on the drum all day.” About 15 hours from a Friday night Homecoming game at Legends Stadium to a college women's lacrosse game at Champions Stadium – and throw in a MS bike ride rest station featuring canopies and music – and I was inspired to ask out loud, “Doesn’t anyone work all up in here?” My job – if you can call it that – is to take photos and write about people at play. Here at Sesame Street by the Sea, playing is always preferred over actual working; after all, it is the birthplace of Punkin’ Chunkin’. There are more people wearing bibs while biking and running than a snack time at a nursery school.  

Recruiting tool - A large interactive crowd of fans was on hand Saturday afternoon to watch a fall ball friendly between Division I women's lacrosse teams Delaware and SUNY Binghamton. The Blue Hens’ roster included former Cape players Ella Rishko, a junior, and her sister Lulu, a freshman. Fans cheered when either player touched the ball because that's the way locals roll. I waved off the suggestion that Delaware was playing at Cape as a recruiting tool or to create interest in the sport of lacrosse. I said, “They just want to play in front of a big crowd then hit the Boardwalk and maybe the beach.” Peep this! SUNY hosted Cornell last spring on Staff Appreciation Day and 107 fans showed up. Delaware hosted UMBC in front of 238 fans. Both teams played at Temple and lost; the Delaware game attracted 132 fans, while SUNY at Temple was 124. The crowd at Champions Stadium was large and loud and all about cheering on the Blue Hens ... or maybe it was the Rishko girls.   

Implications and ramifications - Sussex Academy (7-1) is at Cape Henlopen (9-0) Tuesday, Oct. 8. It’s a featured game on the schedule with no lingering ramifications for the winners or losers. The teams are in different divisions in the Henlopen Conference and DIAA state tournament. Cape is likely to be Northern Division champions and they still have to face Delmar in the regular season and most likely again in the Henlopen Conference Championship. Sussex Academy begins a tough week playing at Cape, then hosting Lake Forest Thursday, Oct. 10, before a Saturday game at unbeaten Newark Charter. Caitlyn Hardy is the first-year head coach for the Seahawks who relaxes during the day working as a patient care tech at the Beebe emergency room. Caitlyn is an extraordinarily nice person who played goalie for Cape before graduating in 2011. 

Snippets - Kathryn Wyshock, a Cape kid on the 2024 state championship lacrosse roster, is a freshman at the University of Alabama. She was in Tuscaloosa last weekend to see the Crimson Tide beat No. 1 Georgia 41-34 in front of 100,077 fans. Lexi Nowakowski is a Cape field hockey and lacrosse player who is now a freshman at Vanderbilt. Lexi got to see Vandy upset Alabama 40-35. Attendance was just under 30,000. Vandy has the smallest Stadium in the SEC, but another 50,000 will claim to have been there. Cincinnati Bengals punter and holder Ryan Rehkow looked like Lucy holding for Charlie Brown – couldn't get the ball down – on the would-be winning kick in overtime. The ball sailed wide left and the Ravens prevailed 41-38. No game comes down to a single play, but sometimes that is the only play the fans remember. It is tough out there. Go on now, git!