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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.