Why not piggyback on energy of youth?

Adults over 30 are mostly resistant to change especially when it’s driven by those too young and deficit-deprived to foresee consequences and who couldn’t care less anyway. The question I’m pondering is, “Does working with kids and coaching them actually help in a real physical and biological sense to keep a person young?” Most studies that no one reads indicate that yes, adults who reach down a generation or two for purposes of instruction, motivation or simply helping a kid benefit by better health and sharper mental acuity. Anyone with a major focus on himself or herself is bound for disappointment, because we all break down rather quickly, so why not piggyback off the zeal and zest for life of a younger generation? I spoke with Bryan Mack and Alex Albanese, who were watching their buddies Scott Brozey and Brock Schaeffer play lacrosse last Sunday for Del Tech. They asked “How’s Miz Fred?” and wanted to know if she missed teaching. I rocked my riff about the major benefit package of being a public school teacher - meeting so many young people from the community who remain your friends forever. “But we asked how your wife was doing.” “What?”

BUSTA BRACKET - I am a professional watcher of games and therefore should not participate in any online pools because when I’m in 32nd place in a pool of 50 players after four days and 48 games I look – what’s the word I’m searching for – ah yes, stupid! My daughter-in-law Liza had all 16 games on day one and in my D.J. Hughes “rigged but I don’t know how” pool are Heather Jester and Karen McIlvaine, each with 40 correct picks. My number is 35 but I’m one of the few to have UConn winning the tournament.

VILLANOVA 1971 - If you watched Villanova take apart UCLA last Saturday, you also saw the 1971 team that lost in the final to UCLA. Coach Jack Kraft was there, and I also noticed Chris Ford, who went on to play for the Celtics and later coached them. Every Big Five basketball fan in Philly not from Villanova hated Ford, and in a regular season game against St. Joe’s, as the Wildcats took the floor, a giant “unauthorized” banner was run around the Palestra with a caricature of Ford that read “Chris Ford Takes it in the Ear.” And then a thousand wieners were thrown onto the court. Where have all those crazy kids gone? Howard Porter of Villanova, 6-foot-8, was tournament MVP and scored 25 points in the final game. Porter was found unconscious in an alley in Minneapolis and died May 27, 2007, from his injuries. And a further note: His tournament MVP was returned because it was discovered he had signed a pro contract during the tournament.

KOMLO KILLED - Jeff Komlo, who as a quarterback set 11 school records while playing at Delaware in 1978 and threw for 12 touchdowns in the NFL, was killed in a car accident in Greece last week at the age of 52. Komlo was a fugitive from justice having bolted on two DUI charges and was suspected of setting a pair of his own houses on fire. I don’t know what impairs the mental judgment of a man who appeared to have it all, but the consistent abuse of any substance that alters body and brain chemistry can make a moron out of anyone. I have read no kind words for Komlo; he is just gone. It is a sad story.

HOUSE OF WAX - Coaches in suits, the jacket still buttoned, with their little wax boards instructing incredible athletes - “Here’s what we’re going to do” - as if any of them is listening to a single word spoken. Basketball at crunch time is all about improvisation. There is no script to follow other than telling the big people to get underneath the basket. And I think the penalty for fouling to stop the clock should be 10 shots and possession because too many games are ruined. And in the final two minutes, no one gets a timeout.

ROLLOVER MINUTES! If I see that strident rollover-minute hag on one more television commercial, I’m going to scream, and I don’t even know the point! Last Sunday, with three basketball games being decided in the final three minutes, Greg Gumble sent it to commercial and no doubt ate a $5 foot-long sub during the seven commercials that played until he came back. I think the coverage has been lame, just too many interruptions.

SNIPPETS - High school sports begin for real this week with a full slate of games on Tuesday, March 24.

Spring is the season for rescheduling, so bookmark viewmyschedule.com then type the name of your school in the window to keep current. Cape’s new baseball coach, Joe Roberts, has constructed a web site – or somebody did – for following the Cape baseball team this spring. The address is chhsvikingsbaseball.com. Don’t blink, learn to link. If fruits and vegetables build up the body’s immune system, does that mean antibodies hate lettuce? Slather and lather up a hoagie a day, and you’ll be immune to everything.