Past game stories live in the eternal present of athletes

Bar tales - I learned the importance of remembering high school sports stories from my mentor Dick Dougherty – talk about Barstool Sports – at Tony Marek’s bar in Hulmeville, Pa., where I sat and drank Little Richard shooters, aka Tutti Fruttis, as an underage companion of my Irish friend. Doc, the Bucks County Courier Times sports editor, could flashback 25 years. He knew everyone’s history at the bar and told me, “It’s our job to remember and write about the biggest moments in their lives.” I became that guy, so last Friday when Cape football won at Saint Mark’s 22-17, I had more lines in the water than the entire fleet at the Ocean City White Marlin Open. I figured there have been about 550 Cape football games played over 55 years, and there's at least one person walking the planet who remembers at least one of every game played, but possibly I remember the most players cumulatively, including the ones before I arrived in town in 1975, because players talk and I pay attention. Cape beat Saint Mark’s in the semifinals of the 1979 state tournament before defeating Caesar Rodney in the finals. That was the only win over the Spartans. The Vikings lost to Saint Mark’s in the 1978 state finals with Jay Maull at quarterback. I can go at least five games deep on contests lost to the Spartans in the final minutes of the game. Cape (4-1) will play at Sussex Central (3-2) Friday night. Going back 15 seasons to 2008, the Golden Knights have a 13-2 win advantage. There are some fun Cape/Central football stories from this rivalry going back 55 years. The composite Cape/Central person knows them all. Play at Central – coaches call it The Castle – and you get a good dose of the culture that has made Central football so tough for so many years.  

Topper and Grasshopper - Phillies manager Rob Thomson seems muy simpatico with rookie Orion Kerkering. Fans are struggling to find out what is the deal with the trust Thomson has put in this intriguing 22-year-old who started the season in single-A ball. Thomson was nicknamed Topper by Yankees manager Joe Torre because he could always top a story just told by someone else. That explanation seems far-fetched as Thompson is reserved and not a great post-game interview. “Topper” was also a popular situational fantasy comedy series in the 1950s. Rabid Philly fans vacillate among nicknames, calling Thomson Skipper, Topper, Rob or Idiot, depending on his latest managerial move. 

Dewey Goes Pink 5K - The 5K portion of the run/walk recorded 1,750 finishers – 1,108 females and 642 males. Juan Pablo Gelmi, 20, was the overall winner in 16:09. Becca Johnson, 29, was overall women's winner in 18:57. Joey Andrisani won the male masters in 17:00. Alise Reynolds, 52, won the female masters in 21:38. The top 100 runners ran a sub-eight-minute-mile pace, and 1,287 athletes ran a 10-minute pace or slower. I don’t work in that sea of pink; it gives me delirium tremens. An oddity for me in the expanded race results is the number of runners who list Lewes, Rehoboth, Dewey or Milton as hometowns, yet I’ve never heard of these muppets. Could mean I have left my own loop.  

Snippets - The 49ers and Eagles, both 5-0, are the only remaining undefeated teams in the NFL and the best two teams. They will play each other Sunday, Dec. 3, at the Linc. Atlanta baseball fans call home games of playoff baseball Choptober; in Philly it’s Red October. It’s nice for the rocking fans, but I don’t believe players are fazed much by any of it. Forward all Orioles fan mail to the Baltimore aquarium because they have gone into the tank. They’re down 0-2 after losing both home games, but I still would not count them out. Cape soccer (6-1) will host Sussex Academy (7-1) Tuesday, Oct. 10, at Legends Stadium. Cape just knocked Milford from the unbeaten ranks with a 4-0 victory. Cardin Benjamin, also a track guy, scored all four goals. Cape volleyball hung its 2023 state championship banner last week. Remember the Little Big House when heavy felt banners hung from the rafters like Boston Garden? I am old-school row house Philly, two blocks from Connie Mack and before that Shibe Park. My uncle Frankie was at the park every day, even when the A’s and Phillies were out of town. He was such a fixture he was given a nickname, "Ballpark Frankie," and they later named a hot dog after him. Like all childhood memories, mine may be embellished with relish. Go on now, git!