Some dude named Steve Green at a West Coast powerlifting meet suffered what experts of the sport of powerlifting called an increasingly common injury. Green broke both bones in one of his lower arms while wearing a bench shirt and trying to lift 725 pounds.
There is nothing common about any of the elements in this story. And the question raised was, “Is there advance warning that this type of injury is imminent for some lifters?”
Years ago I injured both shoulders after a violent overhead explosion trying to protect myself from a diving dragon fly. Hand someone 725 pounds and there is a better than average chance something is going to get broken.
NEVERMORE RAVENS - Sussex Tech football coach Bill Collick has a nice nucleus coming back from a 7-3 season, but not as strong as expected after veteran two-way starter Shawn Hopkins, wideout and defensive back, returned to Sussex Central, while two-way end Jake Mitchell, who is from Laurel, has choiced to Indian River.
Major ninth-grade football and basketball talent William Lewis of Mariner has also reconsidered and will attend Cape Henlopen. The Ravens also lost basketball point guard Jeffone Hill, who transferred to Caesar Rodney.
KLITSCHKO VS. THOMPSON - The fight between the heavyweight champion of the world Vladimir Klitschko and No. 1 contender Tony Thompson from Washington, D.C. will be telecast live from Hamburg, Germany by HBO Saturday, July 12. Check your digital guide for exact starting time. Local John Knarr of Elite Physical Therapy is “Vladdy Boy’s” personal trainer and will be ringside for the fight.
WOOD BAT LEAGUE - Tyler Townsend from Cape Henlopen and Florida International is playing for the Winchester Royals in a college wood bat summer league. Here are some Tyler statistics: Last week for 11 at-bats Townsend had seven hits, one double, three home runs, four RBIs and 17 total bases to give him a batting average of .636. Townsend’s on-base percentage was .667, and he had a stolen base. Out of the seven hits last week, Townsend earned a 1.545 slugging percentage. In the league this season, the sophomore ranked first in batting average, first in slugging percentage, second in on-base percentage, and tied for first in home runs and first in total bases. For the season, Townsend leads his team in batting average with .387, runs scored with 18, total bases with 53, slugging percentage with .707 and on-base percentage with .489.
I am in agreement with a lot of people who have watched Tyler’s career that he has a great chance to make it to the big show. Winchester plays in the Valley Baseball League nestled between the Blue Ridge and Allegany Mountains in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. The Royals are 16-13 on the season and play a total of 44 games.
JOGGERNAUT - Lisa Veneziano and Jay Owens have been married for 24 years. They are from Michigan and vacation in Ocean City every summer and run a race or two in Delaware if available. Both are in their early 40s as master runners and neither ran in college. Last weekend both won their masters division races at both the Beach Paper 5K and Jimmy’s Grill 5K.
In Dewey each set a course record. They have run 30 marathons between them. Lisa owns a PR of 2:50 in Las Vegas in 2000. The next year she won the Bay Shore Marathon in Traverse City, Mich. with a 2:51. Since the birth of two children, Lisa has a 2:57 in 2003 at the Flying Pig in Cincinnati, which she won; she also won the Detroit Marathon in 2:54.
“One of the most notable accomplishments was when I was the 13th American woman in Boston in 2:53,” Lisa said.
Husband Jay owns a 2:58 marathon PR, preferring the speed of shorter races where he has a better chance of beating his wife. Jay, 46, ran a 17:52 at Jimmy’s Grill while Lisa ran 18:18.
If you know a masters married couple who can deal with these runners I’d like to know about it.
TEMPLE A MAJOR PLAYER - My wife and I did a bit of a Philly driving tour last Wednesday afternoon going south down Broad Street and I was struck by all those Temple flags hanging in front of buildings for miles and miles. The urban college experience is the best - just so much to do and to fear it keeps you walking on your toes.
We did venture off-road ghetto to my old spawning grounds, which included streets like Huntington, Sergeant, Firth and Hemberger Street where my grandparents lived. My GPS talking Tom Tom tuned to a computer-generated British woman - an inflatable with a voice - kept trying to get me back on course for home but I was home.
“Turn left, go three hundred yards and turn right. Get out!”
I would like to know the percent of ghetto dwellers who are homeowners, and make no mistake, I was close to the ghost of Connie Mack Stadium and in the Major League field of broken dreams and bottles and strewn trash and hardcore unemployables. We had lunch in South Philly at Chickie & Pete’s on Packer Avenue near the sports complex and sampled the crab fries, which are stupidly decadent like the food I grew up on. I asked the waitress about local rowhouse prices because I’d love to live at the beach and have a rowhouse in South Philly and walk to the stadium. Try about 250K for an old one and there are some new houses going up for about 400K.
Trust me, there are no crimes of random violence on revitalized South Philly streets. When it occurs it is definitely planned.
SNIPPETS - Major Little League action begins Friday, July 11. Call a relative for an exact schedule and when they pass the plastic bucket drop in some paper money because otherwise that thing gets loud and heavy.
I spoke with Tampa Bay Bucs left tackle Luke Petitgout last week at Gold’s Gym. Luke is entering his 10th year in the NFL and is coming off serious surgeries on his right knee and back - the old lumbar 4 and 5 trick. Luke said he may be held out of the first two weeks of training camp and possibly be shifted to right tackle, which would put less strain on his right knee, and if you are asking why, please turn to the garden column.
Say, is that a pocket gopher in you compost heap?
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Sports Editor Emeritus
Email Fredman at fredman@capegazette.com
