My job in life is to pay attention

Three of the four divisional series in baseball were sweeps - only the Phillies and Rockies are providing any drama and, speaking as a Phillies fan, who needs it? The next round is the NLCS and ALCS but can’t we just go back to “Pennant Fever.” Speaking of which, is there a pennant anywhere on a wall inside your house and, if so, what does it say?

I have a New Hampshire pennant I lifted from Cape guidance office when Ricky Santos was the quarterback for the Wildcats. I promised to bring it back, but New Hampshire is 5-0 so for now I am keeping it.

EXCITABLE BOY - I look at Delaware quarterback Pat Devlin during pregame and during the game and his body language looks like laid-back confidence, sort of like Brett Favre rolling to his right in a Wrangler commercial. I can’t help but wonder if Delaware is backyard football to Devlin when compared to taking snaps for Penn State wearing a vanilla yogurt uniform in front of 85,000.

But I am finally a believer after watching the Devil in Devlin carve up favored UMass last Saturday night going 19-for-26 for 284 yards and four touchdowns hitting seven different receivers. And those receivers are all playmakers, so now I’m agreeing with coach K.C. Keeler that he does have a good football team. Remember Delaware lost to top-ranked Richmond by having a short field goal blocked on the game’s final play.

HALF BAKED - My job in life is paying attention and I’m mostly pretty good at it but I’ve been known to switch around the names of siblings and have 27-year-old athletes still playing high school sports or even making them Athletes of the Week in place of a brother creating one happy and one unhappy brother. Once I had a Cape athlete listed as deceased, which was a surprise to her mother as the young woman was sitting at the breakfast table across from her. Fortunately Mom just shrugged it off, but then the phone started to ring.

Another time I “blasted” a Dover football coach for being rude to me at a basketball game and, you guessed it, the guy wasn’t at the game.

Last Friday I messed up information for the bake sale for 2004 Cape graduate Will Leonard. Here is part of a copy and pasted email: “The bake sale date is the 17th of October, but it is not housed at Milton Food Lion. The bake sale is at Walmart in Rehoboth and the donations for the baking goods are coming from Milton Food Lion.

Also, we are not raising the money for the hand controls, which, yes, cost $1,400, but instead the bake sale is to raise money for a conversion van which cost somewhere between $18,000 to $21,000. The purpose for the conversion van is because Will’s disability is getting worse, and we (his extended family) want him to be able to drive in comfort and with ease so he can continue to go to school and go back to volunteering.

He was happiest when he volunteered and he misses that. Fredman, I do appreciate the article, but not one bit of information we provided you is correct, other than his schooling facts.”

SNIPPETS - Steve Spence, the Cape lacrosse goalie for two straight state championships, has passed the Delaware bar exam and is now enjoying his clerkship with Judge Vaughn up in Dover.

The undefeated Beacon football team defeated previously unbeaten Phillis Wheatley 46-12 as quarterback Todd Keen threw for 175 yards while Tyrek Burton rushed for 150 and scored three touchdowns. Thomas Ott scored a touchdown to go along with 15 tackles. Other defensive highlights include: Justin Lopez, seven tackles, two TDs and three, two-point conversions; Matt Kane, five tackles and a two-point conversion; Luke Benson, 10 tackles and a fumble recovery; Aaron Dennis, two fumble recoveries; and Hunter Daily, four tackles and one fumble recovery.

The team is coached by Chuck Melton, Gilbert Maull is the offensive coordinator, Harry Hudson is the defensive coordinator and Dan Massina who coaches the special teams.

The 17th-ranked University of Maryland women’s soccer team, with Lydia Hastings of Rehoboth in the starting midfield, defeated No. 6 Virginia Tech last Sunday night at home 3-1.

The victory gives the Terps a 10-2-1 record in 2009, marking the first time Maryland has reached the double-digit win plateau since 2003.