Jimmy Gill, the crafty lefty, now associate athletic director at Rutgers

Living the Dream - Jimmy Gill, the crafty lefty from Cape baseball who was also a basketball guard, is currently an associate athletic director of communications for Rutgers University football. Jimmy had been in the sports information department at Rutgers since 2013. Jimmy graduated from Cape in 2006. He was coached by Ben Evick, then played baseball at Swarthmore. Dwight Tingle was Jimmy’s Cape basketball coach. I contacted him by email after the Scarlet Knights came back to beat Michigan State last Saturday 27-24. Rutgers is now 5-2 overall, 5-0 at home and 2-2 in the Big Ten. They play at 2-4 Indiana Saturday, Oct. 21. 

Sara the Singer - Sara Freih sang the national anthem before the Ashley Furio 5K Oct. 14. Standing in the parking lot, she soft rocked the Crooked Hammock, putting tears into the eyes of the patriotic. I asked her beforehand, “What’s your high school?” And she reluctantly revealed Worcester Prep, figuring I never heard of it, just like she most likely never heard of me. I then did a medley of Fighting Mallards stories, and I found out that she plays volleyball for the Mallards. Tim Bamforth has already signed her up for the Dec. 2 Rehoboth Beach Seashore Marathon. 

Blackboard Jungle - A 1955 film starring Sidney Poitier and Glenn Ford. Dumb stuff! Last Sunday, I walked into and got trapped inside my own joke. Tim Bamforth, who sometimes comically mispronounces names, handed out the male masters winner award in the Darby Dash 5K to John Blackboard. Now I’m not an autocorrector, but I said laughing, it's John Blackburn, not John Blackboard. Tim laughed too, but later he said to me, “His name is John Blackford, which is what I said. Only you heard Blackboard, and who is John Blackburn?” I drove out of the park feebly trying to rip open the Wawa packaging protecting a Boston Creme Pie, screaming, “John Blackboard!” By the way, blackboard is an anachronism. The younger people today with no audio deficiencies never heard of a blackboard.  

Babygirl - Tanya Karaman is a delivery room nurse at Bayhealth in Dover. She works those four daylong shifts, and there are more babies born than a little bit. Tanya is an avid runner, as opposed to a reluctant runner who puts in the training miles. Last Sunday morning, Tanya won the female masters title at the Darby Dash 5K, earning a custom award made by Half Stockley. She gave me her award, saying, “Darby was your dog; you should have this.” Just a nice Sunday morning moment. Better than the sign of peace. Rather, it’s a symbol of friendship.

Chase Field - The Diamondbacks play in a retractable-roof stadium that seats 48,500, and includes 69 luxury boxes and six party boxes. The irony is that the Diamondbacks are a relatively young franchise with an older fan base, but getting younger. Older folks get lost in the Twittersphere and miss the game before they pop back out. Older Phillies fans (like me) don’t go to playoff games because “we” ain’t standing for nine innings in a city where luxury boxes mean corrugated cardboard.

Homecoming - Cape is 4-10 over the last 14 Homecoming games and is set to host winless Caesar Rodney on Friday night. The Riders are 1-25 over the last three seasons and are coming to Cape to blow up their dreams while sinking their floats and extracting the enthusiasm from Miss Spirit. Caesar Rodney has had a huge advantage over Cape the last 50 years. The Riders were 0-11 in 2021, with their closest game a 14-7 loss at Cape. I have always told Cape football players, “You have not earned the right to pencil in anyone as a win.” The usual response, “What’s a pencil?”   

Snippets - I was checking collegiate wrestling rosters (need a hobby) for wrestlers I know who know me back. I found Luke Bender (Cape) at Franklin & Marshall; Andrew Schaen (Cape) at Ursinus; Corey Messick (Milford) at Roanoke; Dalton Deevey (Cape) at Centenary; Jack Thode (Milford) at Centenary; Gabe Giampietro (Smyrna) at Drexel; Jackson Dean (Caesar Rodney) at Penn; and JT Davis (Smyrna) at Lehigh. Robert Mitchell (Cape and North Carolina Central) has signed a letter of intent to play with the Vegas Vipers of the XFL. Rod Woodson is the head coach of the Vipers. Base annual salary for an XFL player is $59,000 per season. Longtime Lake Forest football coach Jim Fleming died suddenly too soon Oct. 18. Coach Jim and I talked along the fence at Champions Stadium Sept. 28 at the Milford at Cape field hockey game. Jim’s daughter Andrea McPike is the Milford coach. I don't think I ever knew Delaware when Jim wasn't a part of it. He had the knack of looking at me and laughing like he knew I was at least as "coach wacky" as him. I am saddened that he is suddenly gone. But not really, because I don't lose friends; I always know where they are – behind the eyes of the people who loved them. Go on now, git!