Throw A-Rod out of baseball or let Pete Rose into the hall

Andrew Williams, a 32-year-old fit and sober young man, lives in Lewes and teaches and coaches at Del Tech in Dover. He was strolling through downtown Dewey Beach last Saturday morning, and I took his picture, introduced myself and congratulated him for his courage in wearing a Michael Vick shirt in the middle of the “Paws for the Cause” race to raise awareness and funds for the Georgetown SPCA.

Andrew had no idea what I was talking about as he was just some guy wearing a Forgive Vick shirt looking for a cup of coffee. Four dogs tethered to three women were getting in butt-biting range so Andrew moved on. There is no way you can explain getting torn up by a vicious Airedale.

ROSE IS A ROSE - I haven’t thought much about baseball player Pete Rose other than wonder why he is looking so soft for a player that was so tough, and there is always that bad haircut. But all cheap shots aside, players like Mike Schmidt have been “chatting it up” about dropping the lifetime baseball ban on Rose and allowing him into the Hall of Fame. I’m not sure Pete wants to be inducted as he has made a career setting up for autographs a mile from Cooperstown.

My new position is “Pete goes in” as does anyone else with the numbers to support induction. If baseball doesn’t have the guts to throw them out while they are making money for the sport, then why keep them out of the Hall of Fame after retirement? The sport is tainted, and few people care but wait until some juicer like Alex Rodriguez hits a home run to win a World Series game. Throw him out or let Pete in the Hall of Fame.

TRACK VERSUS FIELD - The World Track and Field Championships were such a treat for track fans as we didn’t have to suffer through cut-away coverage of swimming, gymnastics and volleyball. I don’t think a single Caucasian male or female from any above-the-equator country won a gold medal on the track, which only proves one thing - or maybe more than one - but I’ll leave those conclusions to the social anthropologists who don’t double as sportswriters. The field is a different story, and what is up with big women throwing the hammer? How scary a sight is that? And there was lots of talk about sex testing and determination, which I discovered is really more technical than I care to contemplate. So I use the American standard: what it says you are on your driver’s license.

THE PLAX VERDICT - If I were still teaching I would pose the question “Who are you more afraid of - the 6-foot-6 Super Bowl wideout carrying a concealed loaded pistol in his long-legged pocket or some joker exercising his Second Amendment right to strap an automatic weapon to his back and attend a town meeting? The punishment for one versus the right to carry for the other sends a seriously conflicting message to young people. Heck, I’m confused, like during deer season if some camo-clad guy with a smoking dead deer in the back of his pickup comes in to buy a bagel while holding a shotgun, I am out. Ever notice how so many people who are afraid of losing their right to bear arms are also paranoid? Doesn’t seem like a good combination.

SNIPPETS - The Cape field hockey team sent its newly created junior varsity squad to the Seaford Play Day 22 varsity team invitational last Saturday. The junior varsity defeated Newark of Maryland 3-0 as Anna Frederick scored all three goals. Cape followed that with scoreless ties against Silver Spring and Dover, then lost to Laurel 1-0. Cape defeated Campus Community 1-0 behind a goal from Kristin Dabrowski. Cape then tied Seaford at zero before losing to Delmar 2-0. The Maryland Terrapin women’s soccer team with sophomore Lydia Hastings of Rehoboth, a starting striker, defeated Army 3-0 and Fordham 2-1 last weekend to begin the season 2-0, the team’s best start since 2002. The Terrapins will host the Seton Hall Pirates on Friday at 7 p.m. Hertford Gibbs, a starting linebacker of the Cape 1979 state championship team, was watching the Cape scrimmage on Saturday. Gibbs, along with linebackers Nolan Hazzard and Vincent Daniels and nose guard Tim Gray, was just impossible to run against. I can comprehend how weak-hitting Eric Bruntlett ended the game versus the Mets last Sunday with an unassisted triple play but what I’ve never understood is why he is on the team in the first place with his .150 batting average and hands of stone. And how do they know that it was only the second unassisted triple play in major league baseball history that ended a game, the other being in 1920? You should see the savants of statistics that inhabit press boxes. They are some scary people. Anyway my life never adds up. Have you ever thought of tripping an in-line skater with your cane? Guess that’s just me?