Mike Lefflbine, Mike Dunster, James Utton, and Camryn Ferrara.
Good choices, all. Let me tell you - not only does the player need to be a quality leader to be a captain; they also need solid families because of the amount of responsibilities placed on everyone. I know the Lefflbines and Dunsters, and met Camryn Ferrara's mother tonight. I'm not sure I've met the Utton's yet, but I think these are all good families.
They're replacing two extremely hard-working groups in the DeVico's and Riscica's, people that I've grown so close too. Nancy and Rich Riscica (and Dana too!), and Connie and Jeff DeVico (and Julia and Jenna) are the best. They helped organize another fantastic Cardinal football banquet tonight at the Old Greenwich Civic Center.
Most touching was co-captain Ricky Riscica's words about Steven Bawol, a former Cardinal who died in a car crash a year ago. I should also mention that our once, and forever colleague Nick Angotto was a close friend of Steven's. Suzy Bawol, Steven's mom, was sitting just a few seats away and was deeply moved by Ricky's words. I think the whole room was.
In the interest of honesty, I didn't know Steven, but got to know his mom pretty well this year and was blown away by what a first-rate lady she is. As a dad, I can't even imagine, nor do I want to.
Of selfish interest to me was the really nice pictures of the seniors, taken by Avery Belicka. The picture of co-captain Jeff "Cuz" DeVico was with me, as I was interviewing him. I was pleased to see that, and would love a copy.
You can yell and scream about 8-3, no threepeat, and so on, but I liked this team, and enjoyed calling their games. I'm proud of the relationships I forged in this 2008 season - one that made me closer to the Cardinal family than ever before.
So here's to 2009, and congratulations to the outgoing Cardinals, the various award winners, and to the incoming captains. Is it August yet?
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