Two sports in the same season was old-school Cape

Six-sport athletes - Randy Johnson, Cape Class of 1977, lived on School Lane off Savannah Road in Lewes. In his senior year of high school, he earned six varsity letters by playing soccer in the fall while also kicking for the football team, wrestling and pole vaulting for the track team in winter, and playing baseball and pole vaulting for the track team in the spring. In the winter of ‘77, Randy won the indoor state title in the pole vault on a Thursday night and the 132-pound state wrestling title on a Saturday night. Cape High at that time had fewer than 800 students in grades 10 through 12. Now, in 2024, Cape has more than 2,000 students in grades 9 through 12, but most multitalented athletes like Randy are constrained from competing in two sports in the same season, not because of a district policy; rather because at the coaching level, coaches don’t like split focus, which is why the Magnavox picture-in-picture feature on your garage TV went away. Bobby Bonds was Southern California High School Athlete of the Year when he long jumped 25-feet-3-inches while also playing baseball. He is Barry’s father and still the only player in MLB history to steal 400 bases and hit 300 home runs. I’m a believer that cross-talented, extraordinary athletes should be permitted to do two sports at the same time. 

Underpaid overperformers - High school coaches are basically underpaid overperformers based on the time they spend and skills they bring to the table as teachers and mentors. Most would be surprised to learn that some coaches make more than others based on years of experience, and that some staff have more paid assistants than others. Many fans like their coaches underpaid the way they like steak undercooked. Following the logic, if you lose, at least we ain’t overpaying you to do it. Professional athletes are mostly all overpaid compared to the person who has to warm up the car before they roll down the driveway. Ben Simmons, traded from the 76ers to the Nets, is a 27-year-old, 6-foot-10 head case who is rarely able to perform, and he makes $35.45 million per year. He has nerve impingement in his back. Simmons sat out the entire 2021-22 season due to back injury and mental health concerns. Steven A. Smith will tell you all about it as he makes $12 million per year. Pat McAfee of ESPN just signed a five-year, $80 million contract. Jim Rome of CBS Sports, whose program has transitioned to just strange, earns $30 million per year, although that number is contested by people who actually care what other people make.

Snippets - Fifty-five Cape football athletes showed up for the first day of weight training, and to use a beach metaphor, they are riding the wave of last season’s success. I am tracking about 100 college athletes with a downstate Delaware connection. I am surfing the web all the time just to see how people are doing. And not just Cape kids, which is a question I am often asked. Asmscholarships.com states, “Roughly 2% of high school athletes are awarded some form of athletics scholarship to compete in college.” There is a 12.6% chance of earning a scholarship in lacrosse, 11.5 % for baseball and 7.1% for football. A field hockey player has a 10% chance of earning a scholarship. Wrestling and basketball are listed as the hardest sports to earn a scholarship. According to apnews.com, the Big Ten is in the first year of a seven-year television contract worth $1 billion per year. Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh earns about $10 million per year in salary including bonuses. Hank D’Ambrogi, the 2022 Delaware Lacrosse Player of the Year, went to Fairfield University then entered the protocol during the season last spring and is now on the roster at the University of Delaware. Hank is listed as a sophomore and is wearing No. 34. Delaware was 13-5 last season under coach Ben Deluca, who has a six-year mark of 56-29. Academics is a bigger game than athletics in high school and many students are playing it hard, taking honors and Advanced Placement classes, while others don’t even know there is a game afoot. Look up heterogeneous versus homogeneous grouping and realize they are not talking about flavors of milk. Go on now, git!