There are no birthday breaks or cupcakes at Cape football practice

Birthday 52 - Tuesday was the B-52 birthday celebration of Cape coach Mike Frederick, but out at football practice, there was no birthday song, no cupcakes and no downtime except for water breaks as the air temp was over 90, while the actual temperature inside a football helmet is directly correlated to the size of the fathead squished inside it. I knew it was Mike’s birthday, but I’m already enough of a distraction walking from drill to drill with a big old camera without leading a bunch of baritones in the dreaded “Happy Birthday” song. Football is my comfort zone; it’s like the macaroni and cheese of high school sports. But coaches are a focused group, and I’m the last person to mess with some airtight practice plan. It would be different if it were a teacher in-service day. I don’t want to write a preview – too tedious. Let me just say: big and experienced offensive line with the return of quarterback Jameson Tingle plus a strong backup in Mikey Thompson and a stable of skilled people to cover the loss of running back Maurki James. The loss of linebacker Brenn Scott on defense is also a challenge for replacment, but there are Cape athletes under helmets ready to rock a tough schedule.

Gold medal muppets - The last two American gold medals in the 1,500 meters were fueled and forged by muppets from Sesame Street by the Sea. Cole Hocker was a surprise winner Aug. 6, using a cleared inside line to outkick the favorites and win the gold. On Nov. 19, 2011, racing at the National Youth Championships in West Virginia, Hocker, 10 years old, placed fifth behind Seashore Striders runner 9-year-old Blake Hundley, 11:40 to 11:47, about 6:16 pace for the distance. Matt Centrowitz, 34, won Olympic gold in the 1,500 meters in 2016 in Rio. He was a track star at Broadneck in Maryland. When Matt was 9, he ran the JJ 5K in Rehoboth and placed second to Evan Mock in the U9 division. 

Upside of daddy ball - The term daddy ball was not created to be a positive description. It usually means an overzealous coach dad who knocks down hurdles for his own kid while bestowing preferential treatment upon them at the expense of others. I’ve never heard anyone use the term mommy ball, but sometimes booster mommy or team mommy. Way back about 2009 at Cape, a couple of freshman football hopefuls asked me at an August cookout that closed the preseason: “Fredman, what's up with the burger daddies? You know burger daddy kid gets a spot.”  Twenty years ago, I wrote a piece about kids who went through high school without their dad who had passed away. I concluded daddy ball is better than no-daddy ball. The talking-noise-on-Friday-night daddy who is otherwise a no-count contributor is the worst. Half of all families are reconfigurations, and those kids often benefit by having twice as many people who love and support them. Let’s not get started on granddaddy ball. 

Maurki James - I don’t play the GOAT game, but I will kick the can down the road and say Maurki James was safely one of Cape’s top five all-time running backs, coupled with being a great teammate and stellar student. Maurki is in camp with the Division I Old Dominion Monarchs and this info is on his bio page: High school: As a senior, had 278 carries for 1,821 yards and 23 touchdowns … totaled 3,398 yards and 42 touchdowns in his career … also caught 26 passes for 358 yards and four scores … helped lead Cape Henlopen to a berth in the state championship game … rushed for 191 yards and five touchdowns in the semifinal win over Sussex Central. Maurki may just as likely be a college linebacker. 

Snippets - The opposite of walk-ons going out for a college sports team are the walkabouts, those student-first athletes who prefer to play club or something even less organized, like pickup games or what I call flare-up competitions, where you play without a ball until somebody who owns one shows up. Trent Kauffman, a rising Cape senior and soccer player since he was 5 years old, has been practicing kicking a football, and he sounds pretty good. The best way to evaluate a kicker is to listen for the thud when he strikes the football. Both soccer coach Patrick Kilby and football’s Mike Frederick have left the decision to Trent whether he wants to do both sports or just one. Brenn Scott is a freshman on the West Chester Golden Rams football roster. He’s listed as a 6-foot-2, 230-pound linebacker. Caitlyn Hardy is the new head coach of field hockey at Sussex Academy. Caitlyn was the goalie on the 2010 Cape team that entered the semifinals with a record of 17-0 but lost to Sussex Tech 1-0 on a goal by Maxine Fluharty with five seconds left to play. The Ravens of coach Nancy Tribbitt went on to win the state championship with a 3-1 victory over Tower Hill. Go on now, git!