Do you know what to do when your pocket begins to collapse?

Dan Dierdorf said of Eli Manning: “One of the nicest things you can say about a quarterback is that he has pocket awareness.” And if you’re not a quarterback, pocket awareness is not a nice thing to say about somebody.

Do you know what to do when your pocket begins to collapse? That’s right, step forward and release the ball. What about a moving pocket? Again, unless you are a quarterback, you have no business rolling with a moving pocket.

ONE HUNDRED PERCENT - Moose Johnson: “Brian Westbrook is not 100 percent but then again, no one is 100 percent.” Johnson meant that no football players in game 10 of the season are physically 100 percent, but I wondered of all the people we know who would admit to being 100 percent.

Charlie Bell, former CR track coach now the assistant at Delaware State, always responded to, “How have you been Coach?” with, “I am just great. If I were feeling any better I’d have to fold my hand and play yours.”

BLUE TOOTH - Bluetooth people talk to themselves in supermarkets and swear they’re cool. Blue Hen football fans should be talking to themselves - who else will talk to them - wondering how the storied program could put up only 53 total yards in a 31-14 loss at Richmond last Saturday while falling to 4-7 on the season.

Tubby Raymond retired as Delaware head coach after 36 seasons with a 300-119-3 record and three national titles (1971, 1972 and 1979). I firmly believe the longer a coach stays in a job with unrelenting success the less he is appreciated.

K.C. Keeler took over in 2002 and won a national championship in 2003 with Andy Hall at quarterback and reached the national championship game in 2007 with Joe Flacco at quarterback. Keeler is a good coach, no question about it. Actually, if he puts up another season like 2008 there will be lots of questions. That’s just the way it is in the business and suddenly those sunglasses at night ain’t so cool anymore.

DELOY AND DANZ - Amanda “Dewey” Deloy and Lindsay Danz, both local field hockey players from Cape and Sussex Tech, respectively, played on the pitch last Sunday as their Bloomsburg Huskies defeated the UMASS-Lowell River Hawks 6-2 to capture the Division II NCAA National Field Hockey Championship. The title was the third straight for the Huskies and the sixth in the last seven years.

It was also the 12th NCAA Division II title in school history and the 15th field hockey title overall.

“Coach Jan Hutchinson is a true NCAA coaching legend,” so says the school website and who is to argue? Hutchinson began her 31st season as a coach at Bloomsburg University this year.

As head field hockey coach she is in charge of a program that has won 15 national championships and 15 conference titles in the past 28 years, while as softball coach she is the NCAA Division II all-time leader in career wins and has made an NCAA-record 26 consecutive trips to the Division II championships. She has the most wins of any college coach in any division with 1,676 combined wins between field hockey and softball. Like we say down here in Sussex County: “Daggone, that’s pretty darn good.”

CATCH 22 - The Bay Ball Classic holiday basketball tournament 2008 minus the Bay can’t attract financial backing without sanctioning by DIAA which requires sponsorship by a member school, and can’t get sanctioning without debts cleared, so the story goes round and round like Meadowlark Lemon spinning a ball on his finger.

Cape and most other Delaware schools have cleared the Bay Ball tournament from their December schedule anticipating the unlikely occurrence of a bailout package.

SNIPPETS - Connor McDonald, freshman grappler at Lehigh, lost to Chris Albright of Pitt last weekend 6-4 as Albright scored a takedown with two seconds left in the match. Next up for Connor are home matches versus Michigan this Friday and Princeton on Sunday.

An Eagles fan writing online: “The only thing Andy Reid could fire up is his grill.” Jimmy Rollins was so right about the city being frontrunners. There are still six game left to play, win them all and your 11-5-1 so what’s the problem?

Reminder: On Saturday, Dec. 6 from 7 to 10 p.m at Crabbers Cove in Ruddertowne there is a reception to honor retired Sallies and Cape coach George Glenn. All former players and friends of coach are invited. The cost is $50 per person, but if you don‚t have the money just come to the door and talk your way through like the time on game day you came in late to school from a dentist appointment but were really deer hunting. Go to salesianum.org for further information.

Sophomore Shemik Thompson scored 12 points and dished off four assists but the Central Connecticut Blue Devils lost at Boston College 80-65 last Friday night. Shemik and the Blue Devils will play at Delaware on Wednesday, Dec. 3 with game time at 7 p.m.

Tracy Jones is a freshman on the basketball roster of the Chesapeake College Skipjacks.

Nettie Choice, former Cape player, finished her junior season as a member of the 11-17 Wesley College volleyball team. Nettie had 117 kills on the season.

Ronnie Allen, with 32 years of coaching football, basketball and lacrosse, still teaches at Polytech but has taken an assistant basketball position at Wesley College where he will work with head coach Jerry Kobasa. Ronnie started his career with Kobasa at Smyrna as an assistant basketball coach 32 years ago. Known by friends in Rehoboth as Mongo (resemblance to Alex Karas, former Lions player) where he was a member of the beach patrol for 25 years.

Rudy Thomas of Sussex Tech is currently running point for the Wolverines. Delaware State basketball lost a home basketball game to Cheyney University and now heads out on a road schedule that includes people like Dayton, Ohio State, Kentucky, West Virginia, Connecticut, Maryland and Notre Dame.

Coach Monte Ross returns for his third season as men’s basketball coach at the University of Delaware. Ross was 5-26, 14-17 his first two seasons but not only doesn’t play a Delaware State schedule but doesn’t play Delaware State. What is going on out there?