Why am I so sore? Because I play in the Maryland Masters Lacrosse League!

I have to admit, by the time I turned 32 I had just about had it with club lacrosse. The American Lacrosse League was overcrowded with talented players. My last few years with the Canton Lacrosse Club brought little production on the field. In between getting beat on and run down by 25 year old "dudes," I was either pounding beers or trying to bribe one of the younger attackmen for some playing time. It seemed liked every year brought a tidal wave of young punks out of grad school to eat into my already limited action. So, I did what all 32 year old lacrosse players in Maryland do - drank a lot of beer and waited to turn 35 so I could play in the Maryland Masters Lacrosse League!

Think this guy will go easy on you?

Founded in 1998, The Maryland Masters Lacrosse League (MMLL) is a highly competitive adult mens lacrosse league for players ages 35 and over. Currently comprised of 26 teams, the MMLL has over 600 participants competing in its Masters (over-35) and Grand Masters (over-45) divisions. Additionally, the MMLL is proud to boast that, among its members, are three world masters championship teams: The Geezers (Manchester England 1994), Lax World (Baltimore 1998), and Team Toyota (Perth Australia 2002).

Needless to say I was certain that by entering the Masters League I would transform my game from Paul Newman into Paul Rabil just like that. I'd be unstoppable, right? I was gonna get the ball and slice through those old farts like a hot knife through butter. I was gonna Jim Brown over all of them! I still had decent legs for on older guy and my gut was under control thanks to the geniuses at Under Armour.

Needless to say my vision of becoming MMLL rookie of the year was quickly dashed when I realized that roughly 150 of my piers had the very same idea. Before I could showcase my dominance, the league had tripled in size and became highly competitive.

The talent level in the league is so robust that I require tub time after each game to bind and mend my wounds. Do you know how hard it is to get in and out of a tub at 40? I'm amazed how many big name laxers I play against every Friday night and every year more and more top guns from my generation seem to be playing. The competitiveness is there as well. This isn't a "no contact" league and everyone seems to have their pride with them each week along with a lack of total respect for the officials. Its seems like every game is a must win and every loss will set off a string of 45 emails assessing what went wrong and where we can improve. This is great for the sport of lacrosse, the Maryland lax scene, and for a generation of players that are quickly approaching their first Social Security check. I joke of course, there won't be any Social Security in 30 years! Start savin' your money boys.

This video sums it all up for most of us.



So now I'm 42, and what am I doing these days? I'm doing what all 42 year old lacrosse players do, drink a lot of Ensure and wait to turn 45 so I can play in the Maryland Grand Masters Lacrosse League!

Check out the league site and Facebook page.

Welcome To The Center Of The Lax Universe..Geographically Speaking

Alma mater so renowned

The traffic in the DC-Baltimore region is atrocious. Washington DC ranks 2nd in the nation for commuter gridlock, just falling short of LA in this auspicious category. I used to brave that I-95 corridor everyday, traveling from my palatial estate in Catonsville, MD down to my office in Chantilly, Virginia. Needless to say I was ecstatic when a friend of mine helped me land a job much closer to my home, cutting my commute to 25 minutes on a busy day. The locale of my new employer just so happens be where I grew up and attended high school. Glen Burnie, MD. Population 40,000. Latitude: 39.16 N, Longitude: 76.61 W. Basically, the center of MD, lacrosse giant of the east coast. Bring on the hate Central New York and LI.

They say you can never go home again. I never understood that phrase until I passed my old high school and slowed all 3 cylinders of my '98 C-Roll to take a long look. The school looked smaller, dirtier, and less appealing then I had remembered. They also say the more things change, the more they stay the same. A lesson I was soon to experience first hand

Arundel dominated the face-off X all afternoon

Working so close to the school I decided that I would duck out of work early one day to check out a varsity lacrosse game and see how my Alma mater was faring in the highly competitive Anne Arundel County Public School League. So picking the next beautiful day, I drove the 2.3 miles over to the school to watch my Gophers play the Arundel Wildcats. Now I knew Arundel would be very good. The Wildcats are good at most sports, not just lacrosse. I was apprehensive in choosing this game for my dramatic return to Pop Wayland Field. I walked into the stadium not expecting a victory but  remaining optimistic that my Gophers would at least give Arundel a fight.

The Gophers were getting  a steady diet of this all game

So how'd my Gophers do? Lets just say that I rolled out in the middle of the 4th quarter. Arundel Wildcats 15,  Glen Burnie Gophers 0. It could have been worse. Arundel cleared its bench in the 2nd quarter and the Gopher goalkeeper must have had 12 saves by halftime. Bless you Arundel head coach Kevin Necessary for calling off the dogs early.



How could this be? How can a high school that is roughly 20 minutes from Johns Hopkins, UMBC, Loyola, Towson, Stevenson, McDaniel, and the Lacrosse Hall of Fame be this bad? On the way home, during dinner and sitting on my couch watching South Park, I mulled this over and over. I mean this is a school with over 1800 students. There must be 15 decent lax players in there somewhere right? This is Maryland! We eat crabs, drink Natty-Boh, vote Democrat, and play lax. I was on the verge of losing sleep over this so I went online and did some research. It got even worse! Since 2007 the GBHS Varsity Lacrosse team has compiled a record of 1 Win and 38 Loses! I felt ill.

Now to be fair, back when I played we weren't much better. I believe we had 2 wins my senior year, even though we fielded five All-County players, but we never got blown out. We had seasoned players but there just weren't many of us. Like I mentioned before, we were able to find at least 15 decent players. Prior to my sophomore year we played for the A.A. County Championship. That was just before head Coach Joe Rotellini  left us and went on to coach  D3 powerhouse Salisbury. Thanks for ruining my career Rotellini!

Yeah, at this point I had seen enough

So after several hours of contemplation and about 20 minutes of trying to change the words "Glen Burnie" on my High School Diploma to read "Gilman School", it slowly started to come to me. The five reasons that their lacrosse program struggles to compete in the heart of lax country USA began to reveal themselves to me.

1. No Feeder System. The city of Glen Burnie actually contains four high schools. North County, Glen Burnie, Old Mill and Northeast (although technically in Pasadena). There is no existing little league that feeds players into Glen Burnie High School. All of the youth programs in the area feed the other schools. In contrast, there are roughly 26 little league baseball teams in the area.

2. No Junior Varsity. No feeder system equals very little interest amongst the freshmen class in getting drubbed twice a week by kids with metal sticks. I don't believe the Gophers have had a JV for at least four years now. I know for a fact they do not have a JV this year. JV is strictly for developing skills, learning the program and preparing kids for varsity. This means that the Gophers have first year lacrosse players on their varsity squad that are probably getting playing time. At least the varsity letter will help them get chicks!

3. It's an older town. Established in 1931, it's one of the oldest towns in the county. Most of the land is developed. There are few new communities being built to attract young families to the area. Also, the median age of residents in Glen Burnie is higher than the rest of the county, meaning fewer young families are raising kids in the area. That equates to fewer youth lacrosse players. The result is no need for a local youth program.

4. Urban Flight. As citizens race to leave the steady crime rates and deterioration of the inner city, towns in the rural surroundings of Baltimore such as Glen Burnie are affected. Lets face it, outside of the MIAA Schools in Baltimore City, few inner city kids are playing lacrosse. New students transferring from the inner city schools to Glen Burnie are not playing lacrosse and not bringing in a new crop of talent to the school.

5. Income. The a median annual household income for Glen Burnie residents is almost $10,000 lower then the rest of the county. Anyone that has purchased lacrosse equipment these days knows how expensive lax can be. Clinics, camps and driving your kid 30 minutes to play for a youth league can all add up. This is also why Glen Burnie sucks at Ice Hockey. Okay, that's a really bad joke.

 And this was an away game! No sign like this anywhere for GBHS

This is all theory of course. My day job, children and my own lax career impede me from researching this topic further. I doubt there is much interest in this as well outside of the Alumni and myself, but I felt the need to write about it. Plus, Tom is nagging me for new content. I'm not trying to make excuses for the school's lack of success, I'm merely attempting to shed some light on why they struggle and why I should probably give the players a break and cut the coaches some slack. They've been dealt a tough hand and the rest of the county programs are passing aces and kings to each other under the card table.


24sevenlax.com would like to send a shout out to Arundel Wildcats "Team Mom" Lisa E. for the excellent game photos that she provided. Thank you again!

ACC LAX 411

Your 2011 ACC Tournament Champs!

First, and foremost, congratulations to the Terps for beating Duke today and capturing the ACC Tournament in the Blue Devil's back yard. Maryland showed a lot of character today, clawing their way back into a game that looked to be getting away from them. That's all I wanted in my Easter basket. You can read all about that at one of the other more legitimate lax sites though. I've got a little something different to share.

As I was watching the game today, I couldn't help but be impressed by the level of play and grabbed my laptop to check out Maryland and Duke's rosters. I was curious to see where these kids were from and what high schools they attended. While browsing the rosters, I decided I wanted to see this tabular data displayed on a map. I know, I know, great minds think alike.

I'm sure you're all aware that this blog isn't my full-time job. I get up every morning and go to work for the man. A big part of my job involves helping clients to create maps from their customer databases. It helps them to stalk you when you ignore their calls and emails. Not glamorous by any stretch, but it pays the bills, most of them anyway. It's through this grind that I've picked up on things like geocoding addresses and giving said list of addresses a spatial component. I do find maps interesting and all this smoke I'm blowing is cover for being a nerd. There, I came clean, but it's not like I own 20 sided dice or anything like that.

I took about 15 minutes and grabbed the rosters of the 4 ACC schools off their respective sites, standardized the format, and ran it through a free on-line geocoding tool. The result is what you see below. It's interesting to see where each of these teams get their players and where the bulk of them hail from, at least I think so anyway. If you're inclined to browse the map, I'm sure you can figure out the navigation without any help, but I will point out the legend at the bottom of the map where you can filter the pins by each team. Click on the gray bar at the bottom to get all the pins to re-appear.

View ACC Men's Lacrosse 2011 in a full screen map

A few observations about the make up of the teams....

• 20 states and 2 Canadian provinces are represented on the teams
• Maryland leads the way with 51 players on the rosters, followed by New York with 36, and then Pennsylvania with 13 players
• The high school with the most players represented is Gilman School (Baltimore, MD) with 6, followed by Boys' Latin  (Baltimore, MD) 5, Georgetown Prep (Bethesda, MD) 5, Loyola Blakefield (Towson, MD) 5, and the following schools with 4 players each; Calvert Hall, Chaminade, Chapel Hill, Deerfield Academy, Malvern Prep, Manhasset, and Severna Park
• Of the 51 players from Maryland high schools, only 9 went to public school. 11 went to IAC schools and 30 attended MIAA schools. 1 went to boarding school out of state.

MAPS ARE FUN! Remember that people.

A Charles Street Legend Comes Down From My Wall.

219 points / 5th in Blue Jay history

Before my mother allowed me to cover my walls with partially nude bikini models and doped up rock stars that had overdosed or choked on their own vomit, my walls were covered with lacrosse posters. You see, before Lacrosse Magazine became obsessed with expanding the sport, they captivated their younger readers. What made the magazine even more special is that with every edition, the over-sized monthly included a Brine Lacrosse poster that the reader could remove and scotch tape to his or her bedroom wall. I know, I know, scotch tape? My mother wouldn't allow me to use thumb tacks and push pins were still a few years off.

I had all the greats back then, Tom Nelson, Brian Wood, Kirk Thurston, Brad Kotz, and Glenn Miles. But front and center was my full size poster of Johns Hopkins legend Jeff Cook. It was a thing of beauty and the ultimate action shot as far as posters were concerned. Cook was about to switch hands and complete a split dodge and stick one of his several goals against some poor sap from North Carolina. On second thought that sappy defensemen may have been Kevin Haus, who really wasn't a slouch, but who cares right? I seriously doubt he's one of our 51 readers.

Cook bagged 6 goals vs UNC in 1981

While on stage this past weekend blazing threw the second verse of " Manic Depression" with the über talented rock band Jason and The Butchers, I caught a glimpse of the half time report during the Hopkins-Maryland game on the big screen. The caption read "Jeff Cook dies at age 50". Bummer! Not only did I struggle to remember the next few lines of that Hendrix classic (that I happen to be completely shredding by the way), I slowly began to drift down the ever-calming seas of nostalgia. I don't hear much about the players from the 80s that inspired me to pick up the fastest game on two feet, except when their kids are playing or they pass away. I try not to forget them and if you have read any of my other posts on this blog then you've heard me mention a few of the greats. Anytime another lacrosse website or Facebook page offers up a "who is the greatest" poll, I always make sure to mention someone from the generation that took lacrosse into the modern age. In fact, I did that this morning. Someone asked who the greatest defensemen to ever pay the game was and I was shocked that I was the only person to answer Dave Pietramala. John Detomasso and Pat McCabe were nowhere to be found either. All of the other players mentioned were modern day players. I think Joel White from Syracuse received 15 votes. This is probably because 40 year old men don't dominate the lax scene on Facebook which in retrospect is probably a good thing. Now give me a second so I can change my vote to Ryan Flanagan.

Was color film available prior to 1982?

I won't go into all of Jeff Cook's impressive statistical accomplishments. You can find them all over the interweb, plus I try to avoid numbers and all things math related whenever possible. I do know that in the early 80's Cook was the complete player/superhero. He was a 3 time All-American, a 1986 Hall of Fame inductee, a US World Team member and he still ranks as one of Johns Hopkins all time point leaders. Not bad for a guy that played with a SAM. At the time of his death the cause could not be determined and quite frankly I'm not interested in finding out what it was. As far as I'm concerned I'm still that 12 year old kid with that poster on my wall, and the only thing that could have killed Jeff Cook is his own awesomeness.

What Can Brown Do For You?

The post title wrote itself

Mother nature decided to give the hippies in the Baltimore/DC metro area a beautiful day to enjoy smoking trees on 4/20. Oh, it was also a fantastic day to skip out of work early and catch a premier high school lacrosse game. Under Armour's #20 Georgetown Prep took the bus trip down down the road to #22 Landon's palatial campus for the IAC rivalry that never disappoints.

The atmosphere is exactly what I expected out of these two schools. The "Beat Prep" shirts were out in full force as were the respective student bodies. There's no love lost between these two schools and they get after it on the field almost as hard as the fans get after each other with their upper crust repartee.

Braveheart-style charge from the Landon faithful!

The Landon student body made an appearance about 2 minutes before game time as they threw fireworks and charged down the hill to the field taunting the Prep players as they ran past with daggers such as, "you suck" and "your mom drives a 3 series". Uncalled for if you ask me, but it only served to light a fire under the Prep squad.

Georgetown Prep donned their royal blue threads for this one, and they got right down to business scoring the first two goals of the game and inciting their fans in the process. Landon answered those goals and went into the half with a 3-2 lead. That was pretty much it for Prep. Landon went on to score 5 in the third to put the game out of reach.

Gribbon getting decked...trust me.

A couple of observations from someone not overly familiar with these teams. Penn State bound Bobby Gribbon is the real deal. The kid is an athlete and can get up and down the field. I think he finished with 2 goals, but credit Landon's poles for holding him to two. When he did manage to beat his guy, Landon did a great job of sliding with body. Gribbon seemingly spent half the day picking himself up off the turf. He's a tough nut though as he continued to take it right into the teeth of the defense.

Face-offs...Landon had Gribbon's number today. I'm not sure what kind of face-off guy he is normally, but not only did Landon's middies beat him, but they got in his head. If Gribbon wasn't called for at least 3 procedure calls at the face-off X, I'll eat my non-flat brim hat.

Alex Joyce

Goal keeping. Landon's goalie, junior Alex Joyce, looked like an all star today. One of the parents said he's committed to Georgetown and it looks like the Hoyas have a good one coming their way. However, Georgetown Prep and Landon's defense made it easy on him. Prep was forced into a lot of low percentage shots or no shot at all thanks to some stingy and physical defense and some lethargic offense. Prep couldn't find anyone open all day and had trouble beating their defenders. Prep's attack looked intimidated and deferred to their middies who just weren't getting it done. Credit Landon's d-middies and poles for that.

Landon was very opportunistic, patient, and efficient. They never looked to be dominating the game, but they made their possessions count without any stand outs from my perspective. #2 (Patrick Keena, I think) played a solid game and led the way despite not forcing the action. Landon took care of the ball and their sticks were as solid as you've come to expect out of this program. It's funny. With the proliferation of MCLA videos posted in various corners of the internet, I feel a renewed sense of appreciation for the lacrosse played in this area. By comparison, these kids make some of the college club squads look like over-hyped middle school teams. I guess that surprises only me.

Lastly, I was shocked to see that Georgetown Prep has a Petro-like figure stalking their sideline. I know Coach Giblin caught my attention when he ripped one of his guys a new a-hole for stepping out of the box on a flag down play-on scenario. I heard several of the Landon players' parents comment in disbelief as well. This was when the game was still a game too. He might be the nicest guy in the world and the greatest thing since sliced bread, but he gets my douche of the week award for not having any more tact than that...or at the very least, situational awareness.

Tons of pics on Facebook.

New Product Review - Lock Laces

I like to think that I know some successful people. Several of my childhood friends went on to become teachers, lawyers, and even surgeons. In speaking with them through the years I'm sure at some point we have all agreed that we wanted to invent something cool, patent it, market it, sell it, and then sit back and watch the cash start rolling in. I have a short list of inventions written down at my desk at work and since I am still sitting at that desk everyday, it's quite obvious that none of these ideas have amounted to anything lucrative. I was sure that my idea for a toilet paper book would make me millions. You know, you read the book on the toilet and then you use the paper from that same book to....well you get the idea. What I just recently discovered through the magic of Facebook is that I know a guy that actually did it. He invented something cool, patented it, marketed it, sold it and although I don't think he's banked his first million yet, he is at the very least enjoying the ride.

Eric somehow looks way younger the me

Meet Eric Jackson, owner and creator of Lock Laces, a locking elastic twist on shoe laces. That's right, shoe laces. No wait, let me rephrase that, friggin shoe laces! How can you improve on shoe laces, right? You pull them through the holes, pull them tight and then tie them. Done, get on with your life. Wrong again, he's actually improved on this age old product that dates back to 3500 BC. Let me tell you more about Eric. He and I go way back, like 2nd grade way back. Gerald Ford was President at the time. I think I've made my point. Eric is the President, CEO, and founder of Street Smart LLC. Eric started Street Smart in March of 1999 to bring his new invention to the competitive sports apparel market. Eric manages the daily operations of the company and drives the marketing, sales, and product awareness campaigns. Eric was granted a patent for his invention in February of 2000. He was featured in the May, 1999 edition of the Baltimore Business Journal. In 2002 he appeared in Inventor’s Digest and in October of 2003 he received the Micro Enterprise Council of Maryland’s “Micro Business Person of the Year” award. Lock Laces has also been featured on QVC and is a National Sponsor of The Special Olympics Healthy Athlete/Fit Feet Program.

Laces...locked

Okay, so this sounds like a lot of work to me now. When does he get to sit back and watch the cash roll in?

Now that you know a little more about the creative sort of people that I grew up around, I'm sure you have more questions about why I turned out they way I did. Some other time, please. It's time to lace these things up and put them to the test. Now I'm not talking about testing these out at some lame track event or wimpy triathlon. I'm talking about the highly competitive and brutally challenging world of over 35 club lacrosse!

To keep my friendship induced bias for Eric's product in check I made sure that I used a controlled scientific method for testing. I wore a set of Lock Laces on my right cleat and good ole' fashioned cotton laces on my left cleat. My first impression was that the locking device that allows you to avoid numerous knots wouldn't be strong enough to hold the laces in place and they would loosen during the game. That hypothesis proved incorrect. The lock held firm for 2 hours of running and the shoe never became loose at all. Another early impression was that the Lock Laces were much more forgiving on the top of my foot then the tight cotton laces. The Lock Laces flexed as I ran while retaining their snugness even at the extreme speeds that I can generate while driving to the goal. The cotton laces went from cutting off the blood in my veins in the first quarter to being some what loose by the end of the first half. The cotton laces actually burst into flames in the 3rd quarter as I chased down a defensemen during a ride. Luckily, some of Anne Arundel County's finest firefighters were there to extinguish the flames. The Lock Laces never caught fire even when I was hitting Steve Austin like speeds. I gotta admit it, by the end of the game I was totally digging the Lock Laces and I quickly changed out my left cleat to a set of Lock Laces after the game.

So I'm giving Lock Laces a thumbs up and a symbolic high five to my former classmate for improving a product that seemingly didn't need to be improved upon. Hopefully Eric will remember me and this glowing review of his product when he makes it to the top. Yes, I'm a suck up and don't forget the free schwag for the Blarney Lacrosse Club either my friend.

Around 5 bucks a pair and they come in some cool colors to boot my friends. Check out the Lock Laces site and Facebook page if you get the chance.

It was 20 Years Ago Today.....

When the phrase, "seems like yesterday" is used in the same sentence as "20 years ago" and all you can do is nod in the affirmative, you know you're officially old enough to be cast in a Dockers commercial. Be that as it may, 1991 was an especially memorable year for this guy and for many in the 410, as the kids call it now. And not just because Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch topped the Billboard charts.

Rob Shek

I'm going to gloss over the fact that I was a junior in high school and we happened to win the MD State Championship that spring of '91. No, as much as you'd probably like to hear about that, I'm focusing on the NCAA Tournament and Towson State's (not Towson University) improbable run to the National Championship game. That's right, just one year removed from Loyola's chippy title game appearance with Syracuse, TSU matched up with North Carolina in the finals. While they didn't win the game, their tourney run and final game was as impressive as Carolina's undefeated season.

That the Tigers had success in the tournament wasn't a big surprise to most in the Baltimore area. The Baltimore Sun ranked them 5th in their pre-season poll (UNC was ranked 6th). They returned 8 starters and their top 9 scorers. Guys like Lindsey Dixon, Rob Shek, Steve Kisslinger, John Blatchley, and Tony Millon headlined this talented group. They were also motivated after being left out of the tournament in 1990 despite their 11-2 record.

'91 wasn't all puppy dogs and ice cream though. Two of Towson's top players, Lindsey Dixon and Glenn Smith, started the first two games of the season on the sidelines serving a suspension for playing in the Choice Visa Lacrosse Classic fall ball event at UMBC while they were ineligible for one reason or another. During the course of the season, Towson racked up 3 losses. They did enough to get the last at-large bid though.

After squeaking into the tourney, they surprised many on their way to the title game. Unseeded Towson State, led by Carl Runk, dispatched UVA, Princeton, and Maryland before falling to UNC in the Carrier Dome. By the way, did you know Runk played football at the University of Arizona and then coached lacrosse there until he was hired by Towson. This was just after the Great Depression, so I'll excuse you for overlooking these nuggets. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Check out WMAR of Baltimore's retrospective on the '91 Tigers.



This tourney had a couple of interesting side stories besides Towson's run. Michigan State and Rutgers also appeared in the tournament that year. That's right, the Spartans had a D1 lax program not so long ago. They were beaten soundly by Syracuse 28-7 in the '91 tourney. Michigan State folded its program just a few years later to become compliant with the dreaded Title IX. They were followed shortly thereafter by Butler University who also disbanded their D1 program in the name of gender equity.

From deep in the archive

The site of the Championships, in case you can't tell from the video, was the Carrier Dome in Syracuse. Attendance sucked, even for that time. Only 8300 fans, most of them undoubtedly from Upstate New York, opted to spend their Memorial Day Weekend in Syracuse. Compare that to over 19,000 fans at Rutgers in '90 and 13,000 fans at U Penn in '92

Towson State defeated a Princeton team that year that featured a 1st year starter on defense named David Morrow. Wikipedia Legend has it that he broke or bent 25 sticks that year and spent time in his father's metal tubing shop that summer working on developing a titanium shaft. He was successful and the following year, his titanium long pole made its debut in the NCAA tournament. He scored 2 goals that game and decided that he had a winner on his hands, or in his hands as the case may be. Morrow named his company for the mascot of his high school, Brother Rice. Warrior was officially on the lacrosse scene.

1991 was Towson University's current head coach Tony Seaman's first year at the helm of Johns Hopkins after a successful stint at UPenn. It was also the first year for Dave Klarmann as the head coach at UNC. Willie Scroggs departed the year prior and left the cupboard full as the saying goes.

All four Final 4 goalies were juco transfers. Maryland's Steve Kavovit transferred from Herkimer CC. The other three, TSU's Richard Betcher, UNC's Andy Piazza, and Syracuse's Jerry DeLorenzo all attended Nassau CC.

Hope you enjoyed this trip down memory lane.

UVA Leaderless and Luther Campbell to the Rescue

"I graduated from UVA,  it's not exactly a charm school".

Who said this line? Well if you're a major film nerd like me you'll know that Clarice Starling uttered that phrase in Jonathan Demme's Academy Award winning thriller "The Silence of The Lambs". But today, those words could have come from any number of recent UVA lacrosse grads. Yes it seems that the 2011 UVA Lacrosse Campaign has struck ice and is sinking fast.

When I published my picks for the 24sevenlax.com preseason poll I had UVA as my preseason #1 team. Lets face it, they returned several big-time offensive weapons, some talented young guns and one of the nation's best goalies. I picked them ahead of Syracuse for two more reasons. 1) Being from Baltimore, I must hate Syracuse (it says this on my birth certificate and driver's license) and 2) I envisioned the UVA players rallying from the tragic events that took place last year to bring home the National Title in the name of their fallen classmate. 'What a wonderful and inspiring story that would be' I thought. Unless you've been sleeping under a rock you are probably well aware of the horrific murder of UVA lacrosse player Yeardley Love and the subsequent arrest of UVA middie George Huguely. I mean, this was going to be the season that movies are made of right? Right?

Does Blarney Lax need any middies?

 Wrong. The problems started quietly in the fall when top recruit and devil's spawn, Howie Long Jr. was placed on academic suspension and removed from the lacrosse team. Long made national headlines when he chose to play lacrosse instead of football like his old man. Then the first game of the season saw 3rd Team All-American goalkeeper Adam Ghitelman suspended for team policy violations. Game three against a nationally ranked Stony Brook squad saw the suspension of Rhamel and Shamel Bratton for the same reasons, team policy violations. And now Shamel Bratton has been suspended indefinitely after suspiciously not dressing for the game against Maryland in which the Cavaliers took a sizable a-whipping. Once again the suspension was for the same reason, team policy violations. I cant imagine what's in these team policies that makes it impossible for the senior class to stay out of trouble. We weren't allowed to drink on the bus ride to away games in junior college. That was the extent of our team policies. Oh and something about maintaining a certain grade point average and not murdering anyone. Those three seem fair enough. UVA's policies must rival Sharia law.

Look, I won't pretend for a second to know what these college lacrosse players must deal with or the pressures that they are under all season. But that's because I can't seem to catch a pass coming at me faster then 20 miles an hour and my Catonsville Community College credits won't transfer to UVA. So these kids are under a lot of pressure both academically and on the field, I get it. But these three are starters, All-Americans and seniors! Shamel Bratton was probably a Tewaarton Trophy candidate. Sadly, not anymore.

In spite of all the tomfoolery at hand, Virginia is still ranked in the top ten, and at 7-3 are still in the hunt for an NCAA playoff bid. If Head Coach Dom Starsia can keep his first attack unit from knocking over a liquor store, they still have a legitimate shot to win it all. I don't think anyone named Steele is likely to break team policies do you?

Possible UVA Lax Team chaperons?

So I'm not ready to count them out nor am I looking for 2 Live Crew to hang out on their sideline a la "The U" anytime soon. However, they are certainly heading in the wrong direction and someone will have to take a leadership role on and off the field to get this team back on track. But then again, maybe a few verses of "My Seven Bizzos" is just what they need.

Three games, top teams, big venue, Jersey swamps and lots of empty seats

You got beef? Fitting for the New Jersey Classic

This weekend will bring us yet another triple-header lacrosse showcase as the New Meadowlands Stadium located in luxurious East Rutherford, New Jersey will play host to the 3rd Annual Konica Minolta Big City Classic. With the likes of Johns Hopkins, Duke, North Carolina and Syracuse on the ticket, the all-day experience is sure to showcase plenty of great lacrosse action and lots of empty seats. That's right, empty seats. This is a sore subject for me since I am usually a glass-is-half-full kinda guy when it comes to promoting my favorite past-time, lacrosse. But there is something about college lacrosse being played in NFL stadiums that leaves me feeling a bit cynical.

It's like when Harry Callahan says to Lieutenant Briggs at the end of Magnum Force, "A man's got to know his limitations". The same could be said for lacrosse. Know the limits of your product and realize the extent of your fan base. Does the NCAA expect to fill the Meadowlands or M&T Bank Stadium for any of these non-championship events? Lets just stick with the numbers for a the moment. Last year's Minolta Classic sold 25,742 tickets. I'll admit that's amazing for three college lacrosse games, but that stadium holds 82,000 people. Based on the calculator that Microsoft so graciously included on my machine, that means that 70% of the stadium was empty. On ESPN, where most of us will see these games, the attendance looks even lower due to the enormity of these venues and the massive blocks of empty colored seats. It literally looks like a few thousand people turned out for these games. I think that makes us (the lax community) look like small frogs in a big pond.

The 2010 crowd was deemed a success.

There is also something special about being on a college campus to watch an athletic event that you don't get at a neutral professional site. You might not get this, especially if you actually went to college. This is probably because I never made it past JUCO and I like to fantasize that I am a student as I walk from my dented Corolla to the stadium box office to beg for the student discount since I have mysteriously lost my college ID.

Look, I'm all for the expansion of the sport of lacrosse but what I'm not in favor of is rushing it's growth or trying to shove it down peoples' throats. The growth of lacrosse will happen naturally, I assure you. It has to, its just too good of a product. There may come a time when stadiums of this size are necessary to provide seating for 80,00 paying lacrosse fans but I don't think we are quite there yet. I say let's leave the NFL stadiums for who they were intended for, the NFL, Gwar and monster truck shows.

Okay, so I must admit that this is more of a rant then a blog, so go ahead and let me know what all 476 of you think. Oh wait, that's my reader count from my other blog about wedding cakes. But seriously, I am interested in your opinion on this. Does this help the sport of lacrosse grow or does it simply give all of us a feeling of legitimacy because we get to play our little sport where the big boys play?

Highlight Tape Dos and Don'ts

First off, is it still called a highlight tape? Tapes have long since gone the way of the pegged Bugle Boy jeans. I question whether the kids putting these highlight packages together have ever owned a tape themselves. But just as sporting a pair of Bugle Boys to school today would be considered a fashion faux pas, there are a number of highlight "tape" faux pas that seem to consistently creep into these YouTube videos. Like Asian stink bugs, they're not hurting anybody but they're irritating nonetheless.

To what extent these videos play into the recruiting process probably depends a lot on where you play, what blue chip camps you've attended, and what club you're affiliated with. If you're on the proverbial bubble of the recruitment radar, a nice highlight package may be just what the doctor ordered. Just make sure that your doctor, or video editor as the case may be, didn't get a mail order M.D.

Let's review what's right with these tapes and diagnose what ails the first unfortunate highlight tape that YouTube served up. Ladies and gentlemen, Ryan Walker.



1) Do be sure to include actual highlights. Now this may seem obvious, but in the excitement of scouring your Itunes library for the latest Kanye West jump-off, this can easily be overlooked. Don't fall victim to this, all too common, mistake. Highlights are supposed to elicit some kind of sublime emotional response. Throwing your quick stick EMO goal and open net scores in a video compilation because they are the only ones on your resume does not a highlight reel make.

2) Do focus on your attributes. A nice power cradle and a flourescent visor on your CPX probably doesn't cut it. You gotta bring a little something more to the table. Maybe a nice goal or two if you're offensive minded and a few take aways if you're a defenseman. Whatever your best attributes are, sell them. If you're not a scorer, then show us your feeding skills. There's a market for guys who can find the open man. 4.47 forty time...check. Buck forty-five...not so much. Missing the cage (consistently)...not so much.

3) Your attributes deserve your focus and so does your camera lens. While you're at it, throw a little zoom into the mix. Do try to borrow a decent video camera to capture some footage. Seriously, some of these things look like they were recorded with a Blackberry in the hands of a 7 year old child. Again, this may seem obvious, but I defy you to peruse the highlight packages on YouTube and tell me I'm wrong to address this.

4) Be sure to actually appear in your highlights. Say what? Yeah, that's right. From a coaches perspective, if a tree falls in the woods and he's not there, it didn't score a goal. Just like at 2:35 when a goal was scored by the mystery player off camera. Could have been Gaddifi for all we know. How about at 2:52 when the turf was prominently highlighted, but our player wasn't. I think our editor fell asleep at the switch. Maybe that speaks to the excitement level of our case study.

I fully understand that we don't all have access to our very own Stevie Janowski to cut money highlight reels, but the bottom line is that it's not that difficult and I've laid out what some I consider to be a pretty comprehensive outline for success. If you still have questions, I recommend watching the video below and using it as a template.

Get some wood! The return of the wooden lacrosse stick?

Somewhere between your electric bill and your auto insurance payment. That's what you can expect to pay for a top-of-the-line titanium lacrosse shaft these days (and that's for a short stick). It's really hard to believe. I know that metal is a commodity and therefore the pricing can fluctuate depending on whatever economic wave we happen to be riding but since there aren't any land wars taking place in the Middle East over enriched aluminum fields I cant really explain why these sticks are so pricey. Its probably because they have to fork out big bucks to some marketing genius to come up with ominous sounding names for their shafts like the "Krypto Element", the "Swizzbeat" and wait for it....the "Wonder Boy". My apologies to Roy Hobbs for that one. Well, having the lives of several helpless little humans to take care of keeps me from coughing up that kinda dough for anything that doesn't have blinking lights or can't keep my drinks cold.

Enter Phil Czarnecki and Mike Ruka, creators and owners of Blue Magic Lacrosse. These two Winona State University students have reached back in time from a rented house on their Minnesota campus to bring us a new and improved version of the wooden shafts that so many of us used back in high school. No, that's not a typo - I said wooden shafts! If I remember correctly 7 of the 10 starters on my high school team used wooden shafts screwed to plastic heads. Johns Hopkins All-American and personal hero of mine, Brian Wood had a wooden shaft attached his STX-SAM and I have the posters to prove it. Cue the violins and fetch me my pudding and geriatric medication now please.

Blue Magic Lacrosse started in August of 2010 when these high school friends began to discuss what all college juniors begin to discuss - how to make money! Phil, who plays for the Winona U. club team has been playing lacrosse since his freshmen year. Mike is the craftsman, forging the shafts out of sheer will (Red Oak and Pine actually) and the carpentry skills he was taught since childhood. Plus, I believe his dad has the ultimate set of tools. Together they offer wooden shafts at a fraction of the cost for what you might pay for even a used titanium shaft these days.

The shafts are made right in their garage and can usually be completed in about 30 minutes. According to co-founder Mike Rika, making a wooden lacrosse shaft is much easier to make then most players would expect.  I made nun-chucks out of a broom handle when I was twelve and they turned out pretty well but don't expect me to open an on-line Martial Arts store anytime soon. I'll leave the carpentry work to the skilled professionals.

Where's Blarney Green?

In just a few months of operation, Blue Magic Lacrosse is already approaching its 100th custom shaft and they've shipped  to customers as far away as Poland. The stick can be dyed in various colors and are extremely affordable, with an attack stick costing $20 and a defensive pole running around $45. Other reviews online have confirmed that the Blue Magic shafts are much lighter then the wooden shafts of old (such as the Crooked Arrow, remember that tree trunk?) but still offer that heavy check feel and a slight natural flex when you really let er' rip. Players with hard shots will have to confirm that as I am not physically capable.

So, can wooden shafts make a comeback in the highly competitive lacrosse equipment market of 2011? Two fired up college students from Minnesota think so. Check out their site, email them or hit 'em up on Facebook. They're excited to tell you about their product. For me, I have a few broom handles down in my basement and hack saw to attend to.

Email Blue Magic Lacrosse or find them on Facebook.

Gambling is a Vice

Warrior Vice X up for grabs

Be the first person to pick the winners of all of the following games correctly and I'll send you this ugly, but brand new, fluorescent orange Warrior Vice X head sitting in the corner of my room. To win, you must 1) "like" the site in the "Find us on Facebook" box to the right  2) comment below with the winners of all of these games before 12PM Eastern Time and 3) include your Facebook name in your comment. Good luck.

Air Force at Denver
Albany at Bucknell
Bryant at Stony Brook

Colgate at Navy
Georgetown at Duke
Harvard at Dartmouth
Lafayette at Army
Lehigh at Holy Cross
North Carolina at Maryland
Penn at Cornell
Saint Joseph's at Penn State
Syracuse at Villanova
Towson at Delaware
Virginia at Johns Hopkins
Yale at Princeton

Trailblazers, Ducks, Beavers, Hazelnut, and the other Portland

"chs_lacrosse"

???? I’m talking about Oregon! While Oregon may not be as happening as its neighboring states, it’s second fiddle to none when it comes to talented stringers.

Our second featured stringer, in what we aren’t sure will ever be a series, is Minhazur Sarker of Corvallis, Oregon. Long Island, Upstate New York, Baltimore, and…. Oregon. Right? Just where you’d expect to find someone who can string just about anything you’ve ever seen and some that you’ve probably never seen.

Minhazur, or chs_lacrosse, as he’s known on The Lacrosse Forums (TLF) is somewhat of an idol to the aspiring next generation of stringers. Not surprising, given the fact that his sticks look like works of art. Kids these days can just dispense with the junk in the Smithsonian’s collection and focus on what’s important, a nicely strung spoon.

Grunk

So who is Minhazur and where’d he learn his trade? chs_lacrosse honed his skills while attending, wait for it, wait for it….Corvallis High School (CHS). He’s currently an honors student at Oregon State majoring in microbiology with an eye toward becoming a doctor. Not your typical lax bro, for sure. Turns out it was an unfortunate incident where aspiring doctor turned patient after an ACL tear (been there) that kicked off his stringing business.

In what would have been Minhazur’s first full season (’06-’07) of lax, he tore his knee up and wound up missing the balance of that year and the following year, his junior season at Corvallis. It was during this hiatus from the field that he learned to string and dye sticks. He managed to come back for his senior year and bounced from attack to midfield where CHS utilized his 6’1”, 210 lb. frame as a FOGO.

Heat

While injured, Minhazur learned the ropes, or strings as the case may be, on TLF. After fiddling with his sticks, posting a couple of pictures, and receiving comments & criticism, he developed his craft with the help of some of the notable members of the Stick Doctor’s Lounge such as “the next one” and “Sir Lax-a-lot” and guys such as Max McCool. You know, the ones with totally awesome internet handles.

That he picked up stringing and excelled at it is hardly a surprise to those that know him. Minhazur was an accomplished artist at Corvallis. He dabbled in ceramics in high school and by the time he graduated was one of the best artists to ever walk out its doors. With a flair for the arts and lacrosse, stringing and dyeing were just a natural progression; an outlet for his creativity.

Pita

What started as a local gig stringing sticks for the fine folks of Corvallis expanded to members of TLF and beyond. This outlet now takes the form of a part time business. Minhazur started Stylin’ Lacrosse as a gateway for his customers. There he offers mesh, traditionals, pitas, heats, turtles, grunks, big words, and various other pockets I’ve never heard of, but they sure do look cool. You can shoot him a message on his facebook page and work out the pricing on the exact pocket or dye you’re looking for. There’s also plenty of eye candy over there if you just want to browse and see what the kids are using these days.

"Basic" Traditional

In the busy months, Minhazur will string 20 plus sticks. Customs make up about a third of his business. He doesn’t shy away from the request for a Paul Rabil or Steele Stanwick replica that has a bag like a goalie stick but throws like a girl’s stick. He can make almost any reasonable request a reality. Go check out his page and let him make a baller out of you or have him throw together something for your coach to hang on his wall. Like they say in Oregon at the Nike HQ, Just Do It!

4 Leather Grunk

Did Hopkins Get Robbed?

Say what you will about JHU's slow-down offense, stall tactics, etc., but should they have won the game? Was Wharton's goal good? Would that have been called at Homewood Field? You be the judge, but enjoy the commercial first.

Video from ESPNU's Site....http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6238238

CSI-style breakdown. Did he dive on his own? Click to animate.

It's plays like this that make me long for the days of Doug Knight and Michael Watson launching themselves into the crease. Remember the "Bring Back the Dive" t-shirts? Was it that long ago? Anyway, two things are clear. Wharton was assisted into the crease on what would have been the game winner and Maryland fans could care less.

Got a problem with Petro and his boring team? Go watch wrestling.

I'm enjoying the outrage that is being posted all over the internets this evening regarding the lack of a shot clock in college lacrosse. Apparently several dozen people in a certain area of up-state New York were unsatisfied with the measly nine goals that were scored during the Johns Hopkins-Syracuse game (SU prevailed 5-4 in double OT). Immediately following Stephen Keogh's goal at the 3:45 mark of the second overtime, the web became a buzz with angry lax fans lobbing hail size balls of hate at Johns Hopkins coach Dave Petriamala for his conservative offensive game plan which kept the scoring low and the game close.

I guess there are certain facts about these two teams that slipped the minds of these lax fans while the game was being played. For one, Syracuse is the number one team in the country and entered the game undefeated at 5-0. The Orangemen were also enjoying home field advantage inside the Carrier Dome, where they have only lost a few times since the dome was constructed in 1789. (Sorry, but that place is a dump). Johns Hopkins on the other hand entered this contest ranked #13 (or #9, depending on which poll you choose) and although they held a record of 5-1, they had yet to play a top ten team. In addition to their weak schedule, 8 of the Blue Jays starting 10 players are sophomores or freshman.

The way I see this, coach Petriamala had very few choices. Slowing the game down and not allowing the uber talented Orangemen to dictate the tempo in their home stadium seems like head coaching 101 to me. But you see this is 2011, and we live in the world of "entertain me with lots of action regardless of its purpose or I'll go elsewhere" kind of fans. One fan actually stated that he was so overcome with boredom that he turned the game off to watch college wrestling on another network. College wrestling instead of a prime time, nationaly televised contest between lacrosse's two most storied programs (and its a tie game late in the forth quarter)? Go ahead buddy, by all means change that channel. You are obviously not a lacrosse fan. I'd gather that you aren't much of a sports fan either. You probabaly turned the dial to "Minute to Win It" or some other mediocare prime time game show that has plenty of lights and flashy hosts that can stilumate the minimal synnapses in your tiny brain.

Coach Petro. Didn't want to shoot from x or outside the box.

You see friends, unlike basketball, where at 90% of the time someone is within shooting range, lacrosse is played on a large field, and unlike basketball there is always one defensive player unobtrusively guarding the goal. That means that working for a quality shot in lacrosse can take time, especially against a superior opponent. In basketball a shot taken to avoid a clock violation has a decent chance of going in, or at the very least can be rebounded by another offensive player. A shot taken in lacrosse to avoid this same violation will most likely be caught by the goalie and will equate to an unforced turnover.

Dude, you're in range, shoot it!

Forcing shots in lacrosse does nothing but artificially hasten a sport that is already designed to be fast. Don't agree? Then I would suggest that you check out the next MLL game that you can find. Go watch a few quarters of that mess and then let me know the offensive game plan of either team. And please don't try to compare NCAA Lacrosse with this pro league either. The MLL is basically an 8 team all-star league (wait, the league shrunk to 6 teams while I was writing this, Newport News ans Punxsutawney have folded).The offensive players on the pro teams can create offense on their own with very little coaching or game planning. Go tell the head coach at Holy Cross to implement that strategy the next time they play Virginia. I'm sure it will work out well for them.

Want to speed up the NCAA game? Eliminate the horn. Make all substitutions on the fly. Still not fast enough for ya? Eliminate the long pole middie. Still not fast enough? Go watch college wrestling. There, I just fixed lacrosse for all of you SU fans. Now go score 32 goals on Hobart and enjoy your teams success.

24 Seven Lax's Product of the Week

I haven't come across a single review of this product while desperately trying to reach the end of the internet, so I thought I'd introduce you to the The Net Return Lacrosse Rebounder Net. Yeah, you read that right. The Net Return Lacrosse Rebounder Net. Marketing genius right there.

What's that you say? Have I ever used one myself? Umm, no. This blog doesn't let little details like that get in its way. First, take a peek at the promotional video I found on YouTube.

Paul Rabil and Kyle Harrison were unavailable on production day

Pretty neat, huh? For only $395 + $39 shipping, this bad boy can be yours. Seems reasonable to me. Why shell out that much for an official high school goal with net and about 100 brand spanking new balls when you can be the first guy on your block to own the The Net Return Lacrosse Rebounder Net.

Let's look at all the features of The Net Return Lacrosse Rebounder Net, shall we. First, after a shot or pass, The Net Return Lacrosse Rebounder Net automatically returns the ball to the athlete. If you're playing on matted down turf, the athlete need only run to within 8 feet of the The Net Return Lacrosse Rebounder Net to retrieve his or her ball. This is saving the athlete countless seconds of practice time and perhaps as many as three full strides. If you happen to be playing on grass, cut that return distance in half and look at it as added conditioning for the player. The Net Return Lacrosse Rebounder Net also sports a strike zone so the athlete can hone in on exactly where not to shoot. Hector the Rejector is somewhere crying into his beer.

Well, unless I missed something, that'll do it for the features of The Net Return Lacrosse Rebounder Net. To up your division I stock, hop in the gym for some one handed military press, power clean some stuffed pillow cases, and hit the wall The Net Return Lacrosse Rebounder Net. I fully expect that this product will be prominently featured in Maverik's next commercial.



Wait....what's this?!?!

So the NLL is turning 25. Who knew?

So, I just read somewhere that the National Lacrosse League will soon embark on its silver anniversary season. Congrats to the league and their fan base, wherever they may be. As a native Baltimoreian and a resident of one of the meccas of the lacrosse world, I can honestly say I had no idea this milestone was about to be be achieved. The NLL, which was founded in 1987 as the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League, maintains the majority of  its following these days far from the traditional field game and more in the land of Labbats Blue and Terrance and Phillipe.

I recall attending the very first game of the Eagle League way back in 1987. At that time it was the Baltimore Thunder and the Washington Wave playing at the old Washington Capitol Center. I was a strapping sixteen year old with dreams of lacrosse glory and I have to admit at that time indoor lacrosse was really cool and exciting. Lacrosse was hard to come by those days if you didn't live near a college campus. Lets face it, there was one lacrosse game on TV every year and that was usually broadcast on tape delay at 3:00 in the morning. Any new outlet for lacrosse, even a violent indoor version, was a step in the right direction in terms of expanding the sport. Television commercials for the Eagle League glorified the violence and promoted the object of the game as to "not only win, but survive". Worked for me. Guys with lax sticks on TV clubbing each other? I could get into that.

Rick Sowell in the early days of the Baltimore Thunder

As the field game progressed and innovations in equipment made everyone a Stan Cockerton (if you are under 40 you will have no idea who I am talking about) the NLL was pushed off onto more and more cities with a spirited fan base (aka thirst for violence) and less admiration for the beauty of the field game. Indoor teams that had to compete with the growing outdoor market were relocated to new cities where lax was more of a novelty. Of course, most of the league now resides in Canada where the indoor game was created in 1931. I guess you can go home after all and I say good for the league and good for the Canadians. They are a good fit for one another. It gives hockey fans something to cheer about during the 3 month NHL off-season.

Unfortunately, I lost total interest in indoor lacrosse probably around 1989, when (ironically) a young Canadian chap decided that he could dunk a lacrosse ball from behind the goal. That was it for indoor as far as I, and most of the country was concerned. Field lacrosse had its Michael Jordan and the outdoor game would never be the same. At some point shortly after wards, all of the NLL teams moved out of the Baltimore -DC market for good, without anyone even noticing.

The NLL as it looks today

So lets all raise an ice cold Elsinore to the NLL for keeping it gong for so long without a TV deal (VS Network doesn't count) or much of an American patronage. Any lacrosse league that can last for so long deserves as much.