Want to know what I write down? It’s a trade secret

The indoor sports season is more upon me than upon us as no nonrelated person goes to more games at more levels than I do, but it’s okay; it’s just what I do. I am always stunned once high school basketball begins by the “hack attack”: the reach-around, clobber-the-shooter defenses which are mostly learned at the junior varsity level. And if you are from the old school and want to see plays run, if you like to see a guard pull the ball out and say “set it up,” then you had better watch ESPN classics because modern basketball up through the collegiate level is “get it and go,” or what Julius Erving called “fire and fall back.” Covering wrestling on the road when both teams have full junior varsity squads - now there’s a challenge for a sports writer. I do take notes; want to know what I write down? It’s a trade secret so I can’t tell you beyond the fact that it wouldn’t help you write a story; it only gives me one foot in reality. The Cape girls basketball team opens at home Friday, Dec. 3, against Dover at 7:15 while the boys open their season Saturday, Dec. 4, in the new Little Big House hosting the Sanford Warriors at 6 p.m. The wrestling team opens Wednesday, Dec. 8, at Dover. Swimming, both boys and girls, will host Indian River Tuesday, Dec. 7, at the Sussex Family YMCA in Rehoboth. The indoor track teams compete at the University of Delaware Field House and the Worcester County Recreation Center in Snow Hill, Md.

Shadow puppets
Back in 1975, in the classroom days of 16-millimeter film and hanging white screens, I watched in amazement at what appeared to be a shadow monkey sitting in a tree, peeling a banana, then eating it a bite at a time. I turned and looked into the class and there was Chico Beckett smiling, who said, “Sorry, I’ll put my monkey away,” and I added that to my list of sentences you never expected to hear - like the time student John Gardoski asked, “Can I go to the art room to wax my mouse?” and I said, “Absolutely, because you’re not doing it here.” I am afraid not only of mirrors - we all know they lie - but of my own shadow; I even once had a girl in class point to it as we did a Friday class “walk and talk” and scream, “Yaw come here and look at Fredman’s shadow!” and all those boney high school jet fighters marveled at what appeared to be the Goodyear blimp filming a football game. It’s tough out there. Join a gym, get a personal trainer, eat protein bars, lean yourself out, see if you can pass the shadow test and try the monkey peeling a banana trick.

Elbow to kneecap
Yes, sure I’ll admit to watching 14 football games over four days and most of the time being bored out of my skull, but at least I was in a comfortable recliner to catch the weight of my greasy head. One more not-so-instant replay and one more analyst telling me that in order for the call on the field to be overturned there must be incontrovertible and indisputable video evidence, and I will drop kick the cat and pooch kick the dog. Even rocket scientists are screaming, “Nothing is indisputable in life except those tedious replays ascertaining if a player’s body part touched the ground before the ball popped out!” Yes, it does sound painful, embarrassing and inappropriate.

Snippets
Dave Doherty is the new head baseball coach at Cape, approved by the school board the last time they met. “We approved who?” Dave is a retired teacher, actually coached football at Cape back in 1989 and has been around baseball forever. He is also a retired principal, worked in Dover and Red Clay, understands kids and knows baseball. And most importantly, he knows most of the baseball parents already and I know it shouldn’t matter but it does help. There are five games left to play in the NFL regular season. It looks possible the Eagles could win the division but host a wild card team, either Green Bay or New Orleans, neither a bargain. The loser of next Sunday’s Steelers at Ravens game drops to wild card level with four left to play. I’ll be watching Delaware play Lehigh on Saturday. My prediction is Delaware goes to the national title game and a caravan of buses pulls out of Kmart parking lots heading for Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas. The place sits about 22,000 and is pretty cool, but if you have stopped drinking don’t go to this game, because Pizza Hut Park and Blue Hen football will have your subconscious just screaming for a beer or 10.