Standards that slide are more fun than rigid rules of inflexibility
We talkin’ Praxis, man - I never did figure out tests and measurements of other human beings, and I believe we are the only species that does that to each other. There’s a “teacher test” called the Praxis that has served to disqualify many good teachers over the years, sending them off into alternative but better money-making careers. And there was no flexibility, if you missed passing by a point, you just fail, when in reality you mostly passed by 69 points, just failed by one point. Temple University is one school that had thrown aside the SAT as a requirement for admission but it remains a requirement for free academic money and there is no flexibility; you meet the benchmarks or you don’t, same rules for every student. Computer formulas used to seed postseason tournaments work the same way; they are inherently flawed. It's just hard to compare South River to Sanford in field hockey based on records. The system is considered the most fair because self-serving human judgement is removed from the process.
Old yellers - The downside of sports is sometimes outside the lines and in the bleachers. Adults who yell at officials or criticize players on their own team - except their own kids - and the worst, the parents who only see their own kids like the game revolves around them and they yell at the kid throughout the game. Young athletes are competitively tough beyond their years, many filled with talents that will only get better, but I find an overly exuberant parent, what some may call completely nuts, takes the joy out of the process for the athlete who is out there playing the game.
Writing books - We are all being played by celebrities, from sports to politics and entertainment, and many of these already rich and famous self-indulgent people are writing books about themselves without ever sitting down to a keyboard. “Like I said in my book” as they sit on a couch making the talk show rounds knowing it’s easy money, so why not go for it? The best was years ago when Charles Barkley claimed he was misquoted in his own autobiography. These books are mostly compilations of spoken words crafted by professional writers looking for ways to make money because they have talent but no celebrity.
Selling your soul - Peyton Manning is the prostitute of pitchmen. That dude will sell anything, and he is funny in a goofy guy type of way, but where’s his personal pride? Richard Sherman and Stephen A. Smith, two stalwart Afro-American “sports celebrities,” are selling beef jerky to black people. That is just wrong, shows no social responsibility, pitching salted animal fat to a population that suffers disproportionately from dietary diseases. And enough already of that European model in a football jersey selling Viagra to the women of dysfunctional men who are on the couch watching the Red Zone Channel with pieces of popcorn inside their Eagles shirts.
I’m a cross country guy - I knew the Cape cross country girls bolstered by a few junior varsity field hockey players had a chance to pull a major upset and win the Sussex County Championships Nov. 3, but it was an approach/approach conflict, either Cape at Delmar field hockey or cross country county championships at Sussex Tech - can’t do both.
Two granddaughters on the hockey team made the decision easier; I’m sure all grandparents lucky enough to still be in the game understand. Cape’s times and places in the top 15 were: 2. Sarah Dziak, 20:40; 3. Grace Brokaw, 21:40; 4. Darby Klopp, 21:23; 5. Zoe Callard ,21:38.13. Amanda Sponaugle, 22:21; 15. Yesenia Ramirez Montano, 22.44.
Snippets - Sometime in the middle of the first half of the Cape versus Indian River soccer game at Milford, Drew Mulcahy sent home an exquisite backward shot off the top of his head, but a trailing official ruled offsides and maybe it was, the key word is ”maybe." If he let it go, the result would be different, but score a couple of goals and the result is also different.
Duke should have known better than to kick off into 11 crazy athletes up three points on the final play of the game. And so much for a nine-minute replay analysis.
College athletes who receive scholarship monies can have their stipend cancelled forever if the are convicted of an alcohol-related offense or academic dishonesty. Just points to ponder next time you slip on your “Protect This House” Under Armour shirt. I had a fake ID back in 1965 when I was at Temple. The funny part was I was black and so were the bars and no one cared. Go on now, git!
