Gatorade Player of the Year banners hang in the Big House

Gatorade Player of the Year - I took a photo of some new Gatorade Player of the Year banners against a wall in the Cape Big House gym, and some people went a little off about it. The award started in 1985 to recognize the nation's most elite high school student-athletes; there are 12 sports recognized: football, volleyball, boys’ and girls’ cross country, boys’ and girls’ basketball, boys’ and girls’ soccer, baseball, softball, and boys’ and girls’ track and field. In Delaware, most sports select a state Player of the Year through state committees or a coaches’ vote. Who cares? Lots of people care. This is the way of the sports world. Gatorade was invented in 1965. When I played sports in Philly, it was the Frank’s Black Cherry Wishniak Player of the Year.

Don’t make no sense - The Sussex Central girls’ basketball team made the state finals in 1995 under coach Charlie Hudson and lost to Ursuline 50-41. The Golden Knights were led by Markisha Wise, Jen Coursey and Sarah Hudson. The Golden Knights boys’ team, coached by Jerry Peden, was in the finals in 1988, losing to Wilmington High 46-39. I can name the starting five off the top of my head: Robert Ruffin, Tim Slade, Don Polk, Johnny Gibbs and Doug Reed. All that stuff rolls around inside my Carrier Dome like a smooth outdoor ball dropping through a chain net on an urban playground. And because I've been paying attention to the sports results business for a long time, I noticed that the Sussex Central girls’ team of 2023 is 0-4 with losses to Middletown 50-7, Dover 69-3, Delmarva Christian 57-14 and Smyrna 63-5. That is a 52-point losing margin on average per loss, so when I heard the scheduled Dec. 21 game at Cape was postponed, I thought, “Mercy, mercy me, things ain’t what they used to be.” (Marvin Gaye).

Try it diet - The Linemen for Life tribe understands dieting as it relates to morphology and body mass index. We know it's not about the diet you're on, but more about the diet you're off. When we go to the doctor, we won’t weigh in wearing sneakers or boots, and we prefer to be weighed in by a person who is two standard deviations beyond ideal weight. I’ve spotted a syndrome I call anorexic old guys. These jokers make Willie Nelson look fat. Butterball turkey lightly basted is the look gramps is going for. Grandkids don't want to ride on no weatherman Al Roker-looking somebody. Diet and nutrition are perhaps the major components to competitive fitness for athletes. Someone once laughed at me when I said, “I’ve approached each day of my life like an athlete because no one can stop you from aspiring to that ideal except yourself, and if you keep laughing, I may double-clutch into low gear and truck you into a drainage ditch or what you homeowners call a culvert.” 

Beat down - Early College School on the campus of Delaware State University beat Sussex Academy in boys’ basketball 88-15. Using traditional or new math, an abacus or a calculator, that qualifies as a 73-point blowout loss. The fourth-quarter score was 25-7, which tells you when the game was over, it still had air in it. 

Tired of the media - Professional athletes and coaches are tired of talking to the media, tired of standing at the podium facing down innocuous questions from journalists who tapped out at the JV level of high school sports. But what they are really tired of are the fans who pay their salaries. You don’t see members of the media painting their faces or acting all apoplectic at games. I’ve sometimes said to a prima donna athlete or self-important coach, “People want to know your feelings about this game, which is why I ask the question, but personally I really don’t care.” 

Snippets - Who is Matthew Stafford’s backup quarterback with the Los Angeles Rams? Would you believe Carson Wentz? Remember when Wentz signed a four-year, $128 million contract with the Eagles with a $16 million bonus? Wentz was just signed by the Rams as a backup and is due $732,000 for the rest of  the season, which as a clipboard-carrying backup quarterback makes Carson a cheap date. Joel Embiid makes an annual salary of $53 million for the Philadelphia 76ers. Tyrese Maxey makes $4.3 million per season, according to Spotrac. Happy holidays to all my colleagues who don’t know me, from journalists to jingoists to the posters and roasters of social media. This world was made for you and me. Go on now, git!