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.