This is the third tournament review for this summer's tournaments. This is for the Sweet Laxin' tournament in Bridgewater, New Jersey. This is my second time at Sweet Laxin'.
Sweet Laxin' does most things pretty well but has a couple bumps as well.
The tournament is spread out over various locations in the area. Some folks are put off by that but it doesn't really bother me. I am fine with spreading people around. We had plenty of parking and access was good. There was a little walk to the fields but nothing out of hand. The organizers do an excellent job of having volunteers around to direct traffic.
Unfortunately, there was a field issue at our facility. One of the fields was significantly undersized. When that happens, usually the goal is moved closer to the end line and the restraining area shrinks. The organizers instead used a full-sized restraining area that was way too close to the face-off X. Play on that field had a serious problem for every faceoff.
The play format worked well. There were pools for each dvision and A & B flights for most age groups. Teams play maybe three games on Saturday and then get seeded into Sunday's semifinals followed by finals and consols. The organizers seemed to get the pools pretty much right because Sunday's games had some absolute crackers. Win or lose, teams really like having a good competitive game or two on their way out.
The concessions were adequate if unspectacular. Unfortunately grills were not allowed.
I give the tournament a B+ overall.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Jersey Shootout Tournament Review
Trying to catch up on my tournament reviews. Next up was the Jersey Shootout in Metuchen. This was my first time at this tournament.
The Jersey Shootout is definitely a mixed bag. It probably was my least favorite tournament of the year. That probably says more about the quality of the other tournaments than this one, nevertheless it's hard to give this tournament a lot of props.
The tournament was at St. Joseph's High School and the facility causes a lot of problems. Usually, a facility that is hard to get to has a lot of parking or a facility that is easy to might have a paring shortage. This facility is both: (a) hard to get to; and (b) very short on parking. Even coming from relatively short distance and leaving plenty of time we sat in quite a bit of traffic and then had to walk quite a distance through a couple neighborhoods to get to the fields. Fortunately, once we got there, the fields were flat and in pretty good shape.
The format was twenty-five minute halves in pools and then an extra game against the corresponding place team in another pool. This is where I noticed a real problem. I recognize that there is a certain amount of guesswork involved in seeding teams, but we ended up with wildly diverging team quality. One pool was pretty much stacked with good teams; the other pool had one very strong team and three weak ones. Of course the good teams beat up on each other and a dark horse team snuck through to the final on a tie-breaker. That team got destroyed in the final and the rest of the strong bracket did a number on the rest of the weaker pool. You hope by the end of the day to get a pretty even game but that wasn't happeing this time.
No grills allowed at this venue. We brought in pizza for our team and skipped the concessions.
I'll give the tournament a B- and frankly hope to skip it next year.
The Jersey Shootout is definitely a mixed bag. It probably was my least favorite tournament of the year. That probably says more about the quality of the other tournaments than this one, nevertheless it's hard to give this tournament a lot of props.
The tournament was at St. Joseph's High School and the facility causes a lot of problems. Usually, a facility that is hard to get to has a lot of parking or a facility that is easy to might have a paring shortage. This facility is both: (a) hard to get to; and (b) very short on parking. Even coming from relatively short distance and leaving plenty of time we sat in quite a bit of traffic and then had to walk quite a distance through a couple neighborhoods to get to the fields. Fortunately, once we got there, the fields were flat and in pretty good shape.
The format was twenty-five minute halves in pools and then an extra game against the corresponding place team in another pool. This is where I noticed a real problem. I recognize that there is a certain amount of guesswork involved in seeding teams, but we ended up with wildly diverging team quality. One pool was pretty much stacked with good teams; the other pool had one very strong team and three weak ones. Of course the good teams beat up on each other and a dark horse team snuck through to the final on a tie-breaker. That team got destroyed in the final and the rest of the strong bracket did a number on the rest of the weaker pool. You hope by the end of the day to get a pretty even game but that wasn't happeing this time.
No grills allowed at this venue. We brought in pizza for our team and skipped the concessions.
I'll give the tournament a B- and frankly hope to skip it next year.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Condolences to the Swezey Family
Christian Swezey, arguably the best lacrosse reporter anywhere and all-around good guy, lost his father last week. Our thoughts and prayers to his family.
Friday, August 14, 2009
No Jail Time For Hobart Player's Death
The teammates who supplied alcohol to an underage Hobart lacrosse player will not face jail time in connection with his death:
Facing up to a year in prison, two former students at a college in upstate New York were instead sentenced to community service yesterday for providing alcohol at an off-campus party where a classmate from New Jersey died.Read the rest here.
Summit resident Warren Kimber IV, 20, who had been a sophomore at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in the Finger Lakes region, drank a staggering amount of alcohol in the hours before his death on Jan. 31, an autopsy found.
Kimber's blood alcohol level was .29 percent, more than 31/2 times the legal limit to drive. He also had the painkiller oxycodone in his system. It was the combination of drugs and alcohol that killed him, a medical examiner ruled.
Bradley Hester, 22, of Cumberland, R.I., and Matthew Smalley, 23, of Woodbridge, Va., pleaded guilty in May to a misdemeanor charge of providing alcohol to a person under 21. All three students were members of the varsity lacrosse team.
Yesterday, a judge in Geneva City, N.Y., ordered Hester and Smalley to spend 50 hours educating children about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. They also must undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation and follow any recommendations issued after the assessment.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
R.I.P. Peter Kohn (Updated)
Very sad news today in the lacrosse world as we hear of the passing of Peter Kohn. Inside Lacrosse has a report here. He was a legend in lacrosse and was featured in one of the best movies ever made.
If you haven't seen Keeper of the Kohn, you should. It is outstanding.
Updates: Lacrosse Magazine starts to give him his due. More here.
More from e-lacrosse.
The official word from Middlebury.
If you haven't seen Keeper of the Kohn, you should. It is outstanding.
Updates: Lacrosse Magazine starts to give him his due. More here.
More from e-lacrosse.
The official word from Middlebury.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Lehigh Laxfest Tourney Review
We hit four tournaments this summer and unfortunately the summer has been busy enough that I haven't had a chance to post reviews. So I'm going to try to get through them soon.
First up is Lehigh Laxfest. This was my second time at this tournament.
Lehigh Laxfest does a lacrosse tournament about as well as any I have seen. We had horrendous weather this year but we can't blame that on the organizers.
The facility at Lehigh is really good. Some of the fields are a little sloped but few places have so many fields available within a short walk. Obviously, the rain didn't help the conditions of the fields at all but again that cannot be helped.
Traffic is a definite problem at Lehigh though. You will sit in some traffic on the way in and the way out. There just aren't many roads in or out of the place.
I love the play format of Lehigh Laxfest. For each division, the organizers make a bracket and your opponent is based upon the result of your games thus far. Winners play winners and losers play losers so you'll be playing a team with your same record most of the day. It seems to me that they organize the teams based upon geography so that you won't be playing a neighboring team right away. The great part about this format is that by the third game or so, you are pretty much guaranteed to be playing an appropriate opponent for your team regardless of how strong or weak you are. The last two teams at 4-0 play an extra game at the end of the day for the tournament championship but almost everyone ends up at 3-1, 2-2, or 1-3.
Game format was 20-minute halves and run by horns. Excellent format. Works fine. I have one criticism which is that they went to Braveheart for overtime. I am a big fan of Lineheart instead.
The level of play was pretty high but with the tournament format any team will end up playing appropriate teams by the afternoon.
The concessions were pretty good and varied. Since grills were allowed, we did a tailgate instead. This is a big issue for me. I seriously doubt that I ever will give a tournament a grade above a B+ unless grills are allowed.
I would give the tournament an A- overall. Adopt Lineheart next year and there is a good chance this becomes an A.
First up is Lehigh Laxfest. This was my second time at this tournament.
Lehigh Laxfest does a lacrosse tournament about as well as any I have seen. We had horrendous weather this year but we can't blame that on the organizers.
The facility at Lehigh is really good. Some of the fields are a little sloped but few places have so many fields available within a short walk. Obviously, the rain didn't help the conditions of the fields at all but again that cannot be helped.
Traffic is a definite problem at Lehigh though. You will sit in some traffic on the way in and the way out. There just aren't many roads in or out of the place.
I love the play format of Lehigh Laxfest. For each division, the organizers make a bracket and your opponent is based upon the result of your games thus far. Winners play winners and losers play losers so you'll be playing a team with your same record most of the day. It seems to me that they organize the teams based upon geography so that you won't be playing a neighboring team right away. The great part about this format is that by the third game or so, you are pretty much guaranteed to be playing an appropriate opponent for your team regardless of how strong or weak you are. The last two teams at 4-0 play an extra game at the end of the day for the tournament championship but almost everyone ends up at 3-1, 2-2, or 1-3.
Game format was 20-minute halves and run by horns. Excellent format. Works fine. I have one criticism which is that they went to Braveheart for overtime. I am a big fan of Lineheart instead.
The level of play was pretty high but with the tournament format any team will end up playing appropriate teams by the afternoon.
The concessions were pretty good and varied. Since grills were allowed, we did a tailgate instead. This is a big issue for me. I seriously doubt that I ever will give a tournament a grade above a B+ unless grills are allowed.
I would give the tournament an A- overall. Adopt Lineheart next year and there is a good chance this becomes an A.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Why We Wish Youth Lacrosse Would Adopt A Single Age Standard --- And Why It's Harder Than It Seems
It's a summertime tournament. A team from Pennsylvania is playing against a team from New Jersey. The team from New Jersey is more skilled but the team from Pennsylvania is stronger and more athletic. The team from Pennsylvania wins with a relatively comfortable margin. A few years later, when we compare where the players are being recruited, the players from the team from New Jersey have better prospects than the players from the team from Pennsylvania.
So what happened?
This was the result of different states having different systems of age classification. New Jersey teams generally use a grade-based system. Pennsylvania teams generally use an age-based system. So, just to use a simple example, if a team full of sixth graders from New Jersey plays against a U-13 team from Pennsylvania based upon a January 1 cutoff, the U-13 team will be on-average sixth months older than the team from New Jersey. Why? Because New Jersey schools generally use a summer date as their birthday cutoff for school grades. At the middle-school level, as the variable ages of puberty onset wreak havoc in competitive balance and athletic development, an average of sixth months of additional maturity is huge.
So what's the solution? Ideally, the sport would adopt a single standard cutoff date and we could run every competition on an age basis. Unfortunately, picking which date to use is a challenge that surely will upset someone somewhere. Whichever date we choose, it will divide up a grade in some school district because different districts use different cutoff dates. That means that half of kids in one grade will be playing at one level and the rest at another for their entire youth sports career. Youth soccer, for example, generally uses a July 31 cutoff date. A summer cutoff date chops up grades in school districts that use a January 1 cutoff date. Hockey tends to use a January 1 cutoff date which divides up grades in schools that use a summer birthday cutoff. These divisions can be particularly difficult when we get to high school sports. When half a grade has spent their entire athletic career playing against one level of competition and the the rest played against a different level, there can be a significant effect as the athletes adjust.
To the extent that lacrosse uses an age cutoff, it usually is January 1. States like New Jersey of course simply reject the use of January 1 and adopt a grade-based system rather than having a date imposed by "outsiders" goof up the formation of their teams. Of course, if we adopt July 31, one would expect the areas in which January 1 is the typical school cutoff to reject the new age-based system as well.
As expected given what I have discussed here, I do not have a simple solution. If we are going to adopt a single date as a cutoff, I imagine that July 31 will be more appropriate in the short run because most of the lacrosse hotbed states probably use a summer date as their school grade cutoff. In the long run, however, the expansion of lacrosse will hit more states that use a January 1 cutoff and programs in those states might not appreciate the arbitrary decision from whatever handful of states that enacted the decision before lacrosse became a truly national sport.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts and what date your schools systems use wherever you live.
So what happened?
This was the result of different states having different systems of age classification. New Jersey teams generally use a grade-based system. Pennsylvania teams generally use an age-based system. So, just to use a simple example, if a team full of sixth graders from New Jersey plays against a U-13 team from Pennsylvania based upon a January 1 cutoff, the U-13 team will be on-average sixth months older than the team from New Jersey. Why? Because New Jersey schools generally use a summer date as their birthday cutoff for school grades. At the middle-school level, as the variable ages of puberty onset wreak havoc in competitive balance and athletic development, an average of sixth months of additional maturity is huge.
So what's the solution? Ideally, the sport would adopt a single standard cutoff date and we could run every competition on an age basis. Unfortunately, picking which date to use is a challenge that surely will upset someone somewhere. Whichever date we choose, it will divide up a grade in some school district because different districts use different cutoff dates. That means that half of kids in one grade will be playing at one level and the rest at another for their entire youth sports career. Youth soccer, for example, generally uses a July 31 cutoff date. A summer cutoff date chops up grades in school districts that use a January 1 cutoff date. Hockey tends to use a January 1 cutoff date which divides up grades in schools that use a summer birthday cutoff. These divisions can be particularly difficult when we get to high school sports. When half a grade has spent their entire athletic career playing against one level of competition and the the rest played against a different level, there can be a significant effect as the athletes adjust.
To the extent that lacrosse uses an age cutoff, it usually is January 1. States like New Jersey of course simply reject the use of January 1 and adopt a grade-based system rather than having a date imposed by "outsiders" goof up the formation of their teams. Of course, if we adopt July 31, one would expect the areas in which January 1 is the typical school cutoff to reject the new age-based system as well.
As expected given what I have discussed here, I do not have a simple solution. If we are going to adopt a single date as a cutoff, I imagine that July 31 will be more appropriate in the short run because most of the lacrosse hotbed states probably use a summer date as their school grade cutoff. In the long run, however, the expansion of lacrosse will hit more states that use a January 1 cutoff and programs in those states might not appreciate the arbitrary decision from whatever handful of states that enacted the decision before lacrosse became a truly national sport.
I would be interested to hear your thoughts and what date your schools systems use wherever you live.
Monday, June 8, 2009
The Many Upshots of Tierney to Denver
By now, most readers of this blog will have heard that Bill Tierney is leaving Princeton to head to the University of Denver. Let's discuss the some of many points surrounding this move.
First, why Coach Tierney left. No one with the sophistication of Bill Tierney makes a move like this for a single reason. We can start with the rumored 250,000 reasons and just put those aside for the moment. Tierney has family in that area and might be able to hire his son, Trevor, as an assistant. Coach Tierney is also 57 years old and if he ever wanted to make a move like this, there are not many years left to do so.
Let's stick on that age issue for a moment as well. Does anyone know what these numbers represent in Ivy League lacrosse: 39, 40, 41? Those are the approximate ages of Jeff Tambroni, John Tillman and Lars Tiffany. Bill Tierney found himself competing directly against three GenX coaches on the rise in his own conference. And if he looked around lacrosse Tierney would find lots of other coaches on the other side of 50 -- Pietromala, Breschi, Cassese, Toomey, Fedorjaka, Myers and Marr just to name a few. I have litle doubt that Bill Tierney was confident in his ability to compete against coaches a generation his junior. But he also probably recognized that his margin for error was decreasing with so many talented younger coaches emerging on the scene.
Going to Denver was a game-changing move. We can debate the various tribal differences between the eastern lacrosse schools, but they are virtually cookie-cutter copies when compared to Denver. Tierney now gets to engage in the college lacrosse equivalent of asymmetrical warfare at Denver. Rather than chasing the same guys from some exit off I-95, I-90 or the LIE, Tierney will be digging for the players from the rest of the lacrosse universe as an icon in the sport. It will make for a different challenge for a person who likes them.
Second, what does this mean for Princeton? Simply put, rarely does an icon move from a program and his successor finds the same level of success. The passing of the torch from Simmons to Desko is one of the few instances I can name. Either it takes the new coach a few years to get the program up to speed or it takes the program a few coaches to find the right fit. Fortunately, whoever takes over at Princeton will inherit a team that is absolutely stacked. Unfortunately, for lots of underclassmen, Princeton just went from a very known and familiar program to an unknown one.
Third, what does this mean for the rest of college lacrosse? I would focus on a couple of things. For one, Tierney's mere presence out west jump-starts the expansion and growth of the sport outside the hotbeds. There is also the inevitable reshuffling of the coaching deck. Someone will get the Dartmouth and Princeton jobs and leave two positions open that must be filled. As always, there will be a ripple effect as coaches move around.
Lastly, this should be a reminder to everyone in all college sports that any coach can decide he or she sees a greener pasture somewhere. With luck you will have the same coaches from the time that you arrive at a school until you leave, but the odds are against it.
First, why Coach Tierney left. No one with the sophistication of Bill Tierney makes a move like this for a single reason. We can start with the rumored 250,000 reasons and just put those aside for the moment. Tierney has family in that area and might be able to hire his son, Trevor, as an assistant. Coach Tierney is also 57 years old and if he ever wanted to make a move like this, there are not many years left to do so.
Let's stick on that age issue for a moment as well. Does anyone know what these numbers represent in Ivy League lacrosse: 39, 40, 41? Those are the approximate ages of Jeff Tambroni, John Tillman and Lars Tiffany. Bill Tierney found himself competing directly against three GenX coaches on the rise in his own conference. And if he looked around lacrosse Tierney would find lots of other coaches on the other side of 50 -- Pietromala, Breschi, Cassese, Toomey, Fedorjaka, Myers and Marr just to name a few. I have litle doubt that Bill Tierney was confident in his ability to compete against coaches a generation his junior. But he also probably recognized that his margin for error was decreasing with so many talented younger coaches emerging on the scene.
Going to Denver was a game-changing move. We can debate the various tribal differences between the eastern lacrosse schools, but they are virtually cookie-cutter copies when compared to Denver. Tierney now gets to engage in the college lacrosse equivalent of asymmetrical warfare at Denver. Rather than chasing the same guys from some exit off I-95, I-90 or the LIE, Tierney will be digging for the players from the rest of the lacrosse universe as an icon in the sport. It will make for a different challenge for a person who likes them.
Second, what does this mean for Princeton? Simply put, rarely does an icon move from a program and his successor finds the same level of success. The passing of the torch from Simmons to Desko is one of the few instances I can name. Either it takes the new coach a few years to get the program up to speed or it takes the program a few coaches to find the right fit. Fortunately, whoever takes over at Princeton will inherit a team that is absolutely stacked. Unfortunately, for lots of underclassmen, Princeton just went from a very known and familiar program to an unknown one.
Third, what does this mean for the rest of college lacrosse? I would focus on a couple of things. For one, Tierney's mere presence out west jump-starts the expansion and growth of the sport outside the hotbeds. There is also the inevitable reshuffling of the coaching deck. Someone will get the Dartmouth and Princeton jobs and leave two positions open that must be filled. As always, there will be a ripple effect as coaches move around.
Lastly, this should be a reminder to everyone in all college sports that any coach can decide he or she sees a greener pasture somewhere. With luck you will have the same coaches from the time that you arrive at a school until you leave, but the odds are against it.
Why I Love This Part Of The Season
Leaves are on the trees, sandals are on the feet. Class, group and state champions are being crowned. The spring lacrosse season is ending. Everyone gets to take a little mental break and assess where we are.
For the teams that achieved their goals, congratulations. There is nothing like the feeling of setting out to accomplish something, working hard at it, and achieving it. In lacrosse, that often means an equipment garage sale on the field at the end of a game. Smiles abound on sweaty faces as friends and family beam at the accomplishment. When you achieve these things, they stay with you for all time. No one can take your accomplishments away; years from now you still can look back at the day that you won your town the race.
For those who fell short of their goals, congratulations as well. I heard an expression once that failure is just a form of feedback. I know in my life I have learned a lot more from the things that didn't go as I would hoped than I have from the outright successes. Constant success is mostly a sign of not setting goals high enough. Now is a chance to look back and think about what went wrong. Did we not have enough talent? Did we use our talent poorly? Did we not work hard enough? Did we not gel as a team? Which parts of our game let us down?
In lacrosse, the end of the spring season just means that there is another couple months to play. We toss aside our school/town gear, grab our summer club gear, and apply sunscreen. I was able to check out a couple introductory meetings for summer teams recently. The players and parents meeting their new coaches and teammates is like the beginning of a second act in a play. It feels like a new beginning, but it's usually more like a mulligan in golf. Most players didn't have the spring that they wanted and hope to redeem themselves a bit in the summer. Those folks are hungry and ready for a new start. We won't forget what happened before but we might be able to focus on what we can fix this time.
I am hitting a few tournaments this summer and will post reviews afterward. If you happen to go to a tournament and want to send me some feedback, feel free. I enjoy hearing from readers and maybe we can do some guests spots.
For the teams that achieved their goals, congratulations. There is nothing like the feeling of setting out to accomplish something, working hard at it, and achieving it. In lacrosse, that often means an equipment garage sale on the field at the end of a game. Smiles abound on sweaty faces as friends and family beam at the accomplishment. When you achieve these things, they stay with you for all time. No one can take your accomplishments away; years from now you still can look back at the day that you won your town the race.
For those who fell short of their goals, congratulations as well. I heard an expression once that failure is just a form of feedback. I know in my life I have learned a lot more from the things that didn't go as I would hoped than I have from the outright successes. Constant success is mostly a sign of not setting goals high enough. Now is a chance to look back and think about what went wrong. Did we not have enough talent? Did we use our talent poorly? Did we not work hard enough? Did we not gel as a team? Which parts of our game let us down?
In lacrosse, the end of the spring season just means that there is another couple months to play. We toss aside our school/town gear, grab our summer club gear, and apply sunscreen. I was able to check out a couple introductory meetings for summer teams recently. The players and parents meeting their new coaches and teammates is like the beginning of a second act in a play. It feels like a new beginning, but it's usually more like a mulligan in golf. Most players didn't have the spring that they wanted and hope to redeem themselves a bit in the summer. Those folks are hungry and ready for a new start. We won't forget what happened before but we might be able to focus on what we can fix this time.
I am hitting a few tournaments this summer and will post reviews afterward. If you happen to go to a tournament and want to send me some feedback, feel free. I enjoy hearing from readers and maybe we can do some guests spots.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Diversity in Lacrosse -- The Road To Be More Traveled
This is an article last week in the Times Herald-Record, a newspaper from New York's Hudson Valley, talking about diversity in lacrosse. The article correctly observed that lacrosse is not as diverse as anyone would like but was casual about some of the facts that it cited. I thought about writing a post about some of my complaints about the article but I decided against it. Instead it might be better to talk about diversity in lacrosse and also in sports generally.
Here is a story from my daughter's high school English class: Her English teacher was trying make a point about the lack of diversity in many sports. The teacher started talking about how "You never see black athletes playing [insert sport here]." The teacher started with hockey but a couple hockey players in the class started rattling off names like Anson Carter, Mike Grier, and Ray Emery. She then tried with swimming but a swimmer in the class started rattling off names like Cullen Jones, Anthony Earvin, and Maritza Correia. She then went with lacrosse and the lacrosse players started talking about Kyle Harrison, John Christmas, Will Barrow and the Brattons. It wasn't that long ago that very few names would roll off the tongue when asked to name non-white athletes in those sports.
As late as the 1990 World Cup, the U.S. Men's soccer team had one or two non-white starters. These days, we start twice that many at least. Here is how we looked in 2006 before one of our World Cup games. Progress on these fronts occurring; it rarely comes as quickly as we like but it comes nevertheless.
I agree with the perspective in the article that iconic figures in the sport are unlikely to affect diversity in a sport in a lasting way. Of course, everyone wants to be able to look up and relate to the best players in a sport. But there are so many ways in which to emulate a great athlete that are beyond ethnicity. We already have a number of prominent African-American lacrosse players and have for maybe a decade now. Frankly I am unconvinced that making the sport marginally more diverse at the upper levels of the sport really attracts much diversity. After all, when a school-age kid is learning how to pick up a ground ball on a cold day in March, what does he care whether a couple of famous brothers who have a similar hue to their skin color do the same at the University of Virginia?
That young kid does care, however, whether his friends play the sport and whether his coaches are supporting his effort to learn the game. In my experience, kids like playing the sports that their friends play and where they get positive reinforcement from the adults in charge. As the parent of a lacrosse player, I have seen the full spectrum of coaching abilities from the phenomenal to the pitiful. And I know that were it not for a few encouraging words at the beginning of this journey from a head coach to a young guy living with me, the journey would have ended the same month that it started. The most we can do to promote diversity in the sport is to view every kid -- regardless of his size, strength, speed, family income, intelligence level, toughness, religion, ethnicity or God knows whatever else -- as a potential lacrosse player and future ambassador for the sport. If we continue to grow the game, it will grow in all directions and we all will better for it.
Here is a story from my daughter's high school English class: Her English teacher was trying make a point about the lack of diversity in many sports. The teacher started talking about how "You never see black athletes playing [insert sport here]." The teacher started with hockey but a couple hockey players in the class started rattling off names like Anson Carter, Mike Grier, and Ray Emery. She then tried with swimming but a swimmer in the class started rattling off names like Cullen Jones, Anthony Earvin, and Maritza Correia. She then went with lacrosse and the lacrosse players started talking about Kyle Harrison, John Christmas, Will Barrow and the Brattons. It wasn't that long ago that very few names would roll off the tongue when asked to name non-white athletes in those sports.
As late as the 1990 World Cup, the U.S. Men's soccer team had one or two non-white starters. These days, we start twice that many at least. Here is how we looked in 2006 before one of our World Cup games. Progress on these fronts occurring; it rarely comes as quickly as we like but it comes nevertheless.I agree with the perspective in the article that iconic figures in the sport are unlikely to affect diversity in a sport in a lasting way. Of course, everyone wants to be able to look up and relate to the best players in a sport. But there are so many ways in which to emulate a great athlete that are beyond ethnicity. We already have a number of prominent African-American lacrosse players and have for maybe a decade now. Frankly I am unconvinced that making the sport marginally more diverse at the upper levels of the sport really attracts much diversity. After all, when a school-age kid is learning how to pick up a ground ball on a cold day in March, what does he care whether a couple of famous brothers who have a similar hue to their skin color do the same at the University of Virginia?
That young kid does care, however, whether his friends play the sport and whether his coaches are supporting his effort to learn the game. In my experience, kids like playing the sports that their friends play and where they get positive reinforcement from the adults in charge. As the parent of a lacrosse player, I have seen the full spectrum of coaching abilities from the phenomenal to the pitiful. And I know that were it not for a few encouraging words at the beginning of this journey from a head coach to a young guy living with me, the journey would have ended the same month that it started. The most we can do to promote diversity in the sport is to view every kid -- regardless of his size, strength, speed, family income, intelligence level, toughness, religion, ethnicity or God knows whatever else -- as a potential lacrosse player and future ambassador for the sport. If we continue to grow the game, it will grow in all directions and we all will better for it.
Friday, May 29, 2009
YB: Why there won't be lacrosse in the SEC or Big XII
This is an interesting little read from Yardbarker. YB notes that the Big XII and SEC have yet to embrace soccer and therefore probably are unlikely to embrace lacrosse anytime soon. It reminded me of a passage in a book I read, How Soccer Explains the Word by Franklin Foer. In his discussion of soccer in the United States, Foer uses soccer to illustrate one of the cultural divisions here:
Soccer is, for a lack of a better term, a "foreign" sport. It was born and raised abroad. Its emigration to the United States came after it was the world's most popular sport. Its most-accomplished stars all speak with accents from faraway lands. Many of its customs, such as diving or feigning injury, are beneath contempt in our culture. Soccer is, in this country, largely a strange and an effete importation.
Lacrosse, however, could not be more American. We inherited the game from the original inhabitants of this land and developed it on these shores. Much like football, lacrosse has developed with different variations in Canada and the United States but the development is North American, not global. We are exporting the game as we did with basketball, a game invented by a Canadian and that reached maturity here before exportation. Lacrosse players wear helmets like football players, carry sticks like hockey players, use the footwork of basketball players, and have the eye-hand coordination of baseball players. Although the game has its odd rules and customs, lacrosse does not seem foreign to a casual American observer. The voices of the high priests of the sport, be they from Maryland, New York, Canada or wherever else, cannot be mistaken for those from the heartland, but also are clearly from this continent. Immigrants are not better at lacrosse than the natives unless you happen to be an immigrant from a place like Long Island. Lacrosse is a quintessentially American game
This is not to say that we should expect schools in the Big XII and SEC to pick up lacrosse anytime soon. Many schools are facing Title IX burdens and picking up limited revenue sports is not a priority for most institutions. A lack of desire for sports that will be a drain on an athletic department's coffers is doubtless a prominent reason. But we should not expect that lacrosse will face all of the same obstacles that soccer has in this country.
That said, lacrosse should look to follow the growth model of soccer for inclusion in Division I schools. We do not need major football powers to embrace lacrosse in order for the sport to be legitimate. We simply need more Division I schools to be fully funded programs. Whether those schools play football as well is immaterial to lacrosse's growth. Any school that plays Division I soccer is likely to have facilities suitable for lacrosse. Thus the sport will grow as opportunities arise for people to play it at a high level regardless of whether those opportunities occur at sports that also play big-time football.
Pundits have employed many devices to sum up America's cultural divisions. During the 1980s, they talked about the "culture war" -- the battle over textbooks, abortion, prayer in school, affirmative action, and funding of the arts. This war pitted conservative defenders of tradition and morality against liberal defenders of modernity and pluralism. More recently this debate has been described as the split between "red and blue America" -- the two colors used to distinguish partisan preference in maps charting presidential election voting. But another explanatory device has yet to penetrate political science departments and the national desks of newspapers. There is exists an important cleavage between the parts of the country that have adopted soccer as its pastime and the places that haven't. And this distinction lays bare an underrated source of American cultural cleavage: globalization.As a huge soccer fan and a huge lacrosse fan who has spent almost his entire life in blue states, I do not carry the cultural barriers that prevent people from embracing an unfamiliar sport. There is, however, an important distinction to be made between soccer and lacrosse.
Soccer is, for a lack of a better term, a "foreign" sport. It was born and raised abroad. Its emigration to the United States came after it was the world's most popular sport. Its most-accomplished stars all speak with accents from faraway lands. Many of its customs, such as diving or feigning injury, are beneath contempt in our culture. Soccer is, in this country, largely a strange and an effete importation.
Lacrosse, however, could not be more American. We inherited the game from the original inhabitants of this land and developed it on these shores. Much like football, lacrosse has developed with different variations in Canada and the United States but the development is North American, not global. We are exporting the game as we did with basketball, a game invented by a Canadian and that reached maturity here before exportation. Lacrosse players wear helmets like football players, carry sticks like hockey players, use the footwork of basketball players, and have the eye-hand coordination of baseball players. Although the game has its odd rules and customs, lacrosse does not seem foreign to a casual American observer. The voices of the high priests of the sport, be they from Maryland, New York, Canada or wherever else, cannot be mistaken for those from the heartland, but also are clearly from this continent. Immigrants are not better at lacrosse than the natives unless you happen to be an immigrant from a place like Long Island. Lacrosse is a quintessentially American game
This is not to say that we should expect schools in the Big XII and SEC to pick up lacrosse anytime soon. Many schools are facing Title IX burdens and picking up limited revenue sports is not a priority for most institutions. A lack of desire for sports that will be a drain on an athletic department's coffers is doubtless a prominent reason. But we should not expect that lacrosse will face all of the same obstacles that soccer has in this country.
That said, lacrosse should look to follow the growth model of soccer for inclusion in Division I schools. We do not need major football powers to embrace lacrosse in order for the sport to be legitimate. We simply need more Division I schools to be fully funded programs. Whether those schools play football as well is immaterial to lacrosse's growth. Any school that plays Division I soccer is likely to have facilities suitable for lacrosse. Thus the sport will grow as opportunities arise for people to play it at a high level regardless of whether those opportunities occur at sports that also play big-time football.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Should the Goal Have Counted? I Don't Think So
Probably everyone who reads this blog saw the end of the national championship game today. With four seconds left to go in the game and Syracuse trailing 9-8, Syracuse attackman Kenny Nims caught a deflected pass and jumped in the air as he threw the ball into the net. He ended up landing in the crease. The goal counted and Syracuse ended up winning in overtime.
Should the goal have counted? It's the Gary Gait Rule.
Here is the rule. Rule 4, Section 9(m) states that a goal does not count: "If an attacking player deliberately leaves his feet by jumping or diving and his momentum carries him into the crease area, regardless of whether he lands in the crease before or after the ball enters the goal."
Cornell might have a legitimate complaint.
Should the goal have counted? It's the Gary Gait Rule.
Here is the rule. Rule 4, Section 9(m) states that a goal does not count: "If an attacking player deliberately leaves his feet by jumping or diving and his momentum carries him into the crease area, regardless of whether he lands in the crease before or after the ball enters the goal."
Cornell might have a legitimate complaint.
Why Does CBS College Sports Sabotage Its Own Broadcasts?
So I was at a barbecue yesterday afternoon and missed the Division II final. Fortunately, I was awake this morning and thought I might catch the replay on CBS College Sports during breakfast. A few minutes into the broadcast, the crawl along the bottom announced the result of the game I just started watching! "Well, that saved me a couple hours I guess." *Click* Off went the TV. I mowed the lawn early and watched some soccer later instead of the lacrosse game. Why does CBS College Sports have so much trouble keeping quiet about the result of a game when they are broadcasting it on delay? The network made the same mistake during the UNC-Notre Dame game a few months ago.
Friday, May 22, 2009
All-American Lists Are Out
LaxPower has all of them here.
I wish they included specialist middies as well. I would be fine with 3 attack, 3 offensive middies, 1 SSM, 1 LSM, 3 close D and a GK per team. I would like to know whom people think are the best defensive middies, not just the best scorers. Not everyone likes the specialization of lacrosse but it's silly to deny that specialization exists.
I wish they included specialist middies as well. I would be fine with 3 attack, 3 offensive middies, 1 SSM, 1 LSM, 3 close D and a GK per team. I would like to know whom people think are the best defensive middies, not just the best scorers. Not everyone likes the specialization of lacrosse but it's silly to deny that specialization exists.
IL: 2009 Final Four Trip With Duke
I really enjoy Peyton Williams' work. He combines his photography with descriptions of the experience of being there. Here is a nice installment from his trip to Foxborough with Duke this weekend.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
More on the Delbarton Suspensions
I still have not seen anything from the mainstream media on the Delbarton suspensions from last week. But another source has repeated a version of the story that resembles what I heard:
For those of you who don’t know, 24 players (9 out of 11 starters) were suspended from the team after a party was thrown with underage drinking when the Green Wave defeated archrival Mountain Lakes on Tuesday. It’s unknown whether or not the suspensions will be continued for the rest of the week, I’d love to know if anybody has this information. The three of us who do the rankings are aware that this severely hurts the cohesiveness of this team, especially considering the prestigious Tournament of Champions will be taking place in the upcoming weeks.Delbarton played again on Monday. Here is the box score. It appears to me that more than a couple starters played in the game. People can decide for themselves whether the punishment was appropriate.
Wall Street Journal on Lacrosse's Growth
Did you know that lacrosse is growing at an amazing rate? OK, if you read this blog you probably did. Well the Wall Street Journal discusses that today. Here is a snippet:
These days the sport is showing serious growth. Participation in high school lacrosse has about doubled this decade, to a total of 143,946 boys and girls playing on high school lacrosse teams in the 2007-08 school year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, which tracks participation by sport. In 2000-01, there were 74,225 high school lacrosse players.One point worth noting from the article. The article mentions college scholarships as a lure for the sport. If you are playing lacrosse with the hope of getting a scholarship, it is best to be realistic about your chances. There are very limited opportunities to get an athletic scholarship in lacrosse and most of those opportunities are partial scholarships. Better to play because you enjoy the sport rather than in hopes of going to college for free.
And the fervor goes beyond high schools. A 2007 survey by the National Sporting Goods Association found an estimated 1.2 million Americans over age 7 had played lacrosse within the previous year -- an increase of 40% since 1999.
A Great Point About Thumbing the Ball
This post at lacrosseallstars.com shows five pictures of Duke players, looks like Max Quizani and Brad Ross, with their top hand up near the head of the stick and possibly thumbing the ball. This is illegal but almost never gets called.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Incident at Delbarton?
Is anyone going to report on this? Are we going to leave it to the blogosphere to uncover?
Fact: Delbarton beat Mountain Lakes 12-11 in the finals of the Morris County Tournament. Great game, dramatic finish, props to both sides.
Rumor: The Delbarton team let the victory go to their heads and celebrated in a manner that resulted in a big chunk of the team being suspended.
Fact: Four days after the Mountain Lakes game, Delbarton lost to Chaminade by a score of 13-2. Here is the game story. It speaks for itself.
I cannot find anything in the mainstream media about this. Some sentence about some number of players being suspended for some vague reason would be sufficient. Please let me know if anyone finds something to that effect. Or feel free to email me or comment about any details you discover.
Fact: Delbarton beat Mountain Lakes 12-11 in the finals of the Morris County Tournament. Great game, dramatic finish, props to both sides.
Rumor: The Delbarton team let the victory go to their heads and celebrated in a manner that resulted in a big chunk of the team being suspended.
Fact: Four days after the Mountain Lakes game, Delbarton lost to Chaminade by a score of 13-2. Here is the game story. It speaks for itself.
I cannot find anything in the mainstream media about this. Some sentence about some number of players being suspended for some vague reason would be sufficient. Please let me know if anyone finds something to that effect. Or feel free to email me or comment about any details you discover.
No Maryland, My Maryland
Well this certainly would not have been the ideal year for Baltimore to host the final weekend. No Maryland team will be playing at Foxborough. Division I has two New Yorks, a Virginia and a North Carolina, Division II has two New Yorks, Division III has a Pennsylvania and a New York. By by reckoning, this is the first time since 2001 that no Maryland team will play on the the final weekend.
Why Goalie Evaluation Is Tricky
This comment about Adam Ghitelman's performance this weekend reminded me of an issue that comes up a lot in my lacrosse experience. Because I am the parent of lacrosse goalie, I often get questions about different goalies and how good they are. For example, I might be at a tournament and people will ask me about a goalie on an opposing team. Usually the question comes in the form of a comparison to a known goalie: "Is that kid better than [insert reference to other goalie here]?" I have learned to preface my comments with something to the effect of, "I didn't see him for enough to be able to judge fairly..." because you never know whether the goalie in question is having a particularly good or a particularly bad game for him.
Since we started with Adam Ghitelman, I'll use him as an example. I have had the opportunity of seeing Adam Ghitelman a couple times live and a bunch of times on TV. I remember the first time I saw him live because of the near hypothermia. Virginia was playing at Princeton on a really cold, rainy day last year. It hapened to be the first regular-season lacrosse game on ESPN. Goaliedude and I were particularly interested in the goalies that day because Princeton's goalie, Alex Hewitt, is a friend of a friend, and Adam Ghitelman was the heralded freshman starting for Virginia. Neither one played particularly well that day and, even though Virginia won the game and he made some big saves, Ghitelman looked out of his depth at times. It was not too many weeks thereafter that Bud Petit took over the starting role from Ghitelman. Had I relied upon my impression of Ghitelman that day, I would not necessarily have expected what came next. Ghitelman of course led the USA to a gold medal in U-19 world championship last summer and has played much better this year. When he is on his game, Ghitelman can be electrifying and exciting; there also have been times when he looked pretty ordinary. Every goalie, no matter how good, goes through some tough stretches.
I see this kind of thing on a regular basis. A particular goalie's performance can ebb and flow over the course of a season or longer. A guy who isn't really an elite level goalie might have a good game and stop everything in sight. A guy whom we probably will watch on TV one day sometimes can't stop a beach ball. And even the rates of consistency vary with goalies. There are some who are pretty solid if unspectacular and there are others that run hot and cold. That is why you want to look at as big a body of work as possible when evaluating a goalkeeper.
I'll leave the point with another goalie story: A very strong team on which Goaliedude was playing had a game against another good club team a while back. This other club team happens to have one of the best goalies around. He is a very steady performer who does not make many spectacular saves but rarely gives up a soft goal. Well, he couldn't make the game because he had a scheduling conflict and so his backup had to fill in. Not surprisingly, the backup isn't quite the goalie that the starter is but happens to run more hot and cold. Of course the backup had the game of his life, made saves the starter never would have made, and his team won the game in overtime. It's a funny game sometimes.
Since we started with Adam Ghitelman, I'll use him as an example. I have had the opportunity of seeing Adam Ghitelman a couple times live and a bunch of times on TV. I remember the first time I saw him live because of the near hypothermia. Virginia was playing at Princeton on a really cold, rainy day last year. It hapened to be the first regular-season lacrosse game on ESPN. Goaliedude and I were particularly interested in the goalies that day because Princeton's goalie, Alex Hewitt, is a friend of a friend, and Adam Ghitelman was the heralded freshman starting for Virginia. Neither one played particularly well that day and, even though Virginia won the game and he made some big saves, Ghitelman looked out of his depth at times. It was not too many weeks thereafter that Bud Petit took over the starting role from Ghitelman. Had I relied upon my impression of Ghitelman that day, I would not necessarily have expected what came next. Ghitelman of course led the USA to a gold medal in U-19 world championship last summer and has played much better this year. When he is on his game, Ghitelman can be electrifying and exciting; there also have been times when he looked pretty ordinary. Every goalie, no matter how good, goes through some tough stretches.
I see this kind of thing on a regular basis. A particular goalie's performance can ebb and flow over the course of a season or longer. A guy who isn't really an elite level goalie might have a good game and stop everything in sight. A guy whom we probably will watch on TV one day sometimes can't stop a beach ball. And even the rates of consistency vary with goalies. There are some who are pretty solid if unspectacular and there are others that run hot and cold. That is why you want to look at as big a body of work as possible when evaluating a goalkeeper.
I'll leave the point with another goalie story: A very strong team on which Goaliedude was playing had a game against another good club team a while back. This other club team happens to have one of the best goalies around. He is a very steady performer who does not make many spectacular saves but rarely gives up a soft goal. Well, he couldn't make the game because he had a scheduling conflict and so his backup had to fill in. Not surprisingly, the backup isn't quite the goalie that the starter is but happens to run more hot and cold. Of course the backup had the game of his life, made saves the starter never would have made, and his team won the game in overtime. It's a funny game sometimes.
Hopewell Valley Tournament Review
We did the Hopewell Valley Tournament near Princeton this past weekend. This was my first time at this tournament.
We had game schedules on Monday before the tournament. Again, it's nice to have the schedule well in advance.
The facility wasn't bad but wasn't great either. The fields were full size and unsodded natural grass. The grass definitely could have been cut a little shorter and the quality of the fields varied significantly. Some of the fields were sloped more than I would have liked. There is a little break in between the two sets of fields but it was a very short walk. Parking was a little tight so some people had to walk a bit to get to the fields. Traffic was an issue getting in and out of the tournament as well.
I did not care for the play format. There was a 25-minute first half, 5-minute halftime, and then a 20-minute second half. I mean, uneven halves? Who ever head of such a thing? No teams seemed to need the full ten minutes to warm up and some games were actually starting ahead of schedule. So we often ended up with something like a 28-minute first half and a 20-minute second half. Two twenty-five minute halves would have worked fine.
People who go to tournaments will recognize the use of air-horn signals to keep the games going on time. There often is a two-minute warning with little horn blasts and then a longer horn to end the half or game. Whoever was on horn duty at this tournament struggled with the concept. We often didn't get a two-minute warning and then the end-of-game blasts were often too short. There were some issues at the end of game when thee ref didn't know that the horn was the final horn.
The tournament format was just jamboree. So every team got four games and there was no playoff.
Officiating was an issue, I'm afraid. I don't know where tournaments get their officials but it baffles me how some tournaments seem to get competent officials and others do not. I recognize that officiating isn't easy but we had an official who thought that a ball that touches the goal line is a goal. And he wasn't even the worst ref we had!
The level of play was pretty high. There definitely were a few strong teams there.
The concessions were pretty good. The dining services from Princeton handled concessions so there was plenty of food available.
I would give the tournament a B- overall.
We had game schedules on Monday before the tournament. Again, it's nice to have the schedule well in advance.
The facility wasn't bad but wasn't great either. The fields were full size and unsodded natural grass. The grass definitely could have been cut a little shorter and the quality of the fields varied significantly. Some of the fields were sloped more than I would have liked. There is a little break in between the two sets of fields but it was a very short walk. Parking was a little tight so some people had to walk a bit to get to the fields. Traffic was an issue getting in and out of the tournament as well.
I did not care for the play format. There was a 25-minute first half, 5-minute halftime, and then a 20-minute second half. I mean, uneven halves? Who ever head of such a thing? No teams seemed to need the full ten minutes to warm up and some games were actually starting ahead of schedule. So we often ended up with something like a 28-minute first half and a 20-minute second half. Two twenty-five minute halves would have worked fine.
People who go to tournaments will recognize the use of air-horn signals to keep the games going on time. There often is a two-minute warning with little horn blasts and then a longer horn to end the half or game. Whoever was on horn duty at this tournament struggled with the concept. We often didn't get a two-minute warning and then the end-of-game blasts were often too short. There were some issues at the end of game when thee ref didn't know that the horn was the final horn.
The tournament format was just jamboree. So every team got four games and there was no playoff.
Officiating was an issue, I'm afraid. I don't know where tournaments get their officials but it baffles me how some tournaments seem to get competent officials and others do not. I recognize that officiating isn't easy but we had an official who thought that a ball that touches the goal line is a goal. And he wasn't even the worst ref we had!
The level of play was pretty high. There definitely were a few strong teams there.
The concessions were pretty good. The dining services from Princeton handled concessions so there was plenty of food available.
I would give the tournament a B- overall.
Friday, May 15, 2009
My Problem With In-Town Leagues
Our town is one of the many that has struggled with the issue of how to provide a good youth lacrosse experience to players of wildly different abilities. On the one hand we want everyone who wants to play lacrosse to have an opportunity at meaningful and enjoyable playing time. On the other hand, we want our best players to be able to play at a high level as often as they can. And for better or for worse, we have a healthy number of players in our town who are candidates for big-time lacrosse.
Our basic alternatives are to have: (1) every player be on a travel team; (2) every player be on an in-town team; or (3) players be on some combination of both. We have been trying this year to have every player on an in-town team and leave it up to the player whether he wants to be on a travel team as well. How the best players respond to playing in-town games has been an ongoing problem.
We made leagues with two grades each, so grades 7 and 8 play together and grades 5 and 6 play together. We divided up the teams such they are roughly equal. That means that on each team there are 4-5 guys who are really strong players who also happen to be at least a year and often two years older than some of the weaker players. The good older players routinely have to make the decision of what to do when facing a younger, weaker player. The nicer guys try to make an effective play without completely wiping out the younger one. Some of the less nice guys let their inner-bully take the lead. Neither alternative is really good for anyone.
That the relatively good players figure out that they should match up against each other comes with a price. The strong players have to make a decision of how hard to play against someone who is normally a friend and teammate from the travel team. When two strong players get into a disagreement over a play, that moment can carry over into school the next day and subsequent practices. Right now, some of our better players are at loggerheads over a cheap shot that one took during an in-town game. Without condoning the dirty play, it would be better for everyone if the perpetrator and victim had a year or so to cool off instead of having to see one other a few times a week. One player commented to another parent that the in-town games simply "aren't worth the bruises."
Just based upon what I have seen, I think that it would be better if the players could direct their intensity outwards rather than inwards. If the players can play with full effort all the time and not worry about hurt bodies or feelings, that is probably ideal.
Our basic alternatives are to have: (1) every player be on a travel team; (2) every player be on an in-town team; or (3) players be on some combination of both. We have been trying this year to have every player on an in-town team and leave it up to the player whether he wants to be on a travel team as well. How the best players respond to playing in-town games has been an ongoing problem.
We made leagues with two grades each, so grades 7 and 8 play together and grades 5 and 6 play together. We divided up the teams such they are roughly equal. That means that on each team there are 4-5 guys who are really strong players who also happen to be at least a year and often two years older than some of the weaker players. The good older players routinely have to make the decision of what to do when facing a younger, weaker player. The nicer guys try to make an effective play without completely wiping out the younger one. Some of the less nice guys let their inner-bully take the lead. Neither alternative is really good for anyone.
That the relatively good players figure out that they should match up against each other comes with a price. The strong players have to make a decision of how hard to play against someone who is normally a friend and teammate from the travel team. When two strong players get into a disagreement over a play, that moment can carry over into school the next day and subsequent practices. Right now, some of our better players are at loggerheads over a cheap shot that one took during an in-town game. Without condoning the dirty play, it would be better for everyone if the perpetrator and victim had a year or so to cool off instead of having to see one other a few times a week. One player commented to another parent that the in-town games simply "aren't worth the bruises."
Just based upon what I have seen, I think that it would be better if the players could direct their intensity outwards rather than inwards. If the players can play with full effort all the time and not worry about hurt bodies or feelings, that is probably ideal.
More Gambling Fun, NCAA Odds
IL posted the NCAA odds from Wynn Casino again. Again, I'll state that I am not a big gambler but enjoy looking at odds and spreads for amusement purposes.
I'll also add a point about odds. The oddsmakers aren't trying to predict the outcome of the game; they are trying to balance the money on each side. So if a spread seems high or low, that is a function of the collective wisdom of the crowd and not the bias of the oddsmaker.
Some teams will tend to affect the odds because they have a lot of fans who like to bet on their team. Some folks like to bet with their hearts rather than their heads. Notre Dame in football has the reputation of being a crowd favorite and therefore sometimes gets spreads that might be a little optimistic. If there is going to be a bias in lacrosse odds, it is likely to be in favor of Hopkins because Hopkins has more fans than the other teams. Keep that in mind as you look at the odds.
I thought the spreads were mostly good:
Syracuse -3 ½ vs. Maryland
Princeton PK vs. Cornell
Johns Hopkins PK vs. Virginia
Duke -1 ½ vs. North Carolina
John Jiloty didn't like Hopkins as a pick 'em against Virginia. Hopkins might have as many fans in Annapolis as the other teams combined and don't be surprised if the Duke and Carolina fans root for Hopkins against their ACC rivals. That might help lighten some Blue Jay legs. And see above about Hopkins fans betting enough to affect the odds.
The national championship odds were interesting:
Virginia 3/1
Duke 7/2
Syracuse 4/1
Cornell 9/2
Johns Hopkins 5/1
Princeton 6/1
Maryland 7/1
North Carolina 8/1
Jiloty makes the point about Vegas loving Hopkins. Well, Hopkins has a lot of fans and they might be skewing the odds a bit.
I'll make a completely different point looking at the championship odds. The seedings in the tournament are nearly meaningless. Virginia as the #1 seed now has to play Hopkins a few crab shacks from Baltimore. Duke, as the #3 seed plays the weakest team left in the field. Would you rather be in Virginia's spot or Duke's spot on Sunday?
I'll also add a point about odds. The oddsmakers aren't trying to predict the outcome of the game; they are trying to balance the money on each side. So if a spread seems high or low, that is a function of the collective wisdom of the crowd and not the bias of the oddsmaker.
Some teams will tend to affect the odds because they have a lot of fans who like to bet on their team. Some folks like to bet with their hearts rather than their heads. Notre Dame in football has the reputation of being a crowd favorite and therefore sometimes gets spreads that might be a little optimistic. If there is going to be a bias in lacrosse odds, it is likely to be in favor of Hopkins because Hopkins has more fans than the other teams. Keep that in mind as you look at the odds.
I thought the spreads were mostly good:
Syracuse -3 ½ vs. Maryland
Princeton PK vs. Cornell
Johns Hopkins PK vs. Virginia
Duke -1 ½ vs. North Carolina
John Jiloty didn't like Hopkins as a pick 'em against Virginia. Hopkins might have as many fans in Annapolis as the other teams combined and don't be surprised if the Duke and Carolina fans root for Hopkins against their ACC rivals. That might help lighten some Blue Jay legs. And see above about Hopkins fans betting enough to affect the odds.
The national championship odds were interesting:
Virginia 3/1
Duke 7/2
Syracuse 4/1
Cornell 9/2
Johns Hopkins 5/1
Princeton 6/1
Maryland 7/1
North Carolina 8/1
Jiloty makes the point about Vegas loving Hopkins. Well, Hopkins has a lot of fans and they might be skewing the odds a bit.
I'll make a completely different point looking at the championship odds. The seedings in the tournament are nearly meaningless. Virginia as the #1 seed now has to play Hopkins a few crab shacks from Baltimore. Duke, as the #3 seed plays the weakest team left in the field. Would you rather be in Virginia's spot or Duke's spot on Sunday?
Thursday, May 14, 2009
More Details on Death of Hobart Lacrosse Player Kimber
Hobart lacrosse player Warren "Kim" Kimber was found dead at a house near the Hobart campus in January. WHEC in Rochester reports here that the cause of death was a combination of alcohol and oxycodone, a depressant. Kimber's blood alcohol level was .29 at the time of his death, insufficient to kill him alone according to the story. WHEC also reports here that two of Kimber's teammates, Matthew Smalley and Bradley Hester, have pleaded guilty to "unlawfully dealing a child in the first degree" in connection with Kimber's death.
Lacrosse Mag: Virginia Toughens Faceoff Presence with Gaudet
A nice read from Lacrosse Magazine about former Dartmouth player Chad Gaudet, now Virginia's primary faceoff man:
Wielding a long pole when he approaches the faceoff, you could say Virginia's Chad Gaudet gives the Cavaliers a slightly unique look at the position.Read the rest here.
And after helping orchestrate an 18-6 obliteration of Villanova in the first round of the NCAA tournament with a 14-for-17 performance, it's quickly becoming apparent that this oddity has given UVA the edge it so highly sought.
The Cavliers struggled on faceoffs last year (.499 percentage), and they were a rather blatant cause of UVA's demise in the 2008 NCAA semifinals against Syracuse. But with the addition of fifth-year senior and ex-Dartmouth player Gaudet (.559, 165-for-295), they've upped that to .555 this season. What's more, Gaudet has claimed a gaudy 68 percent of his faceoffs in games in which UVA has put up at least 16 goals -- including 21-for-32 in a 16-15 thriller over Johns Hopkins on March 21.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
From IL, a Couple Names for the Denver Job
Christian Swezey reports that "Syracuse assistant Lelan Rogers and Duke assistant Chris Gabrielli are among those being considered for the opening at Denver."
Denver is an interesting job because the coaches have to recruit without easy access to a local hotbed. With with 16-18 states and provinces represented, a Denver lacrosse roster is as geographically diverse as you will see in the sport. That means a lot of time in the air and a very tough recruiting budget. You do get a two-hour time break though if you want to call a recruit on the East Coast late at night. Denver is a good job for a coach who is willing to work with some odd challenges.
Speaking of odd challenges, obviously the other big job out there is Dartmouth. I have not heard any names for that one yet. Dartmouth has its own challenges as well. First, Dartmouth as an Ivy League school has practice limitations and no athletic scholarships. Second, Dartmouth is kind of late coming to the Ivy League party. Princeton, Cornell, Brown and Harvard right now are all at least a few years ahead of Dartmouth in program-building. That will make the competition tight as the Ivy League fights for its 3-4 playoff spots. Third, Dartmouth has its own academic calendar which forces students to be away from campus during the fall of their junior year. Fourth, although to a lesser extent, Dartmouth's geography makes recruiting lacrosse more difficult than for the rest of the Ivy League. Every other Ivy League school is closer to prime recruiting areas than Dartmouth is. So it will be interesting to see how the Dartmouth situation ends up.
Denver is an interesting job because the coaches have to recruit without easy access to a local hotbed. With with 16-18 states and provinces represented, a Denver lacrosse roster is as geographically diverse as you will see in the sport. That means a lot of time in the air and a very tough recruiting budget. You do get a two-hour time break though if you want to call a recruit on the East Coast late at night. Denver is a good job for a coach who is willing to work with some odd challenges.
Speaking of odd challenges, obviously the other big job out there is Dartmouth. I have not heard any names for that one yet. Dartmouth has its own challenges as well. First, Dartmouth as an Ivy League school has practice limitations and no athletic scholarships. Second, Dartmouth is kind of late coming to the Ivy League party. Princeton, Cornell, Brown and Harvard right now are all at least a few years ahead of Dartmouth in program-building. That will make the competition tight as the Ivy League fights for its 3-4 playoff spots. Third, Dartmouth has its own academic calendar which forces students to be away from campus during the fall of their junior year. Fourth, although to a lesser extent, Dartmouth's geography makes recruiting lacrosse more difficult than for the rest of the Ivy League. Every other Ivy League school is closer to prime recruiting areas than Dartmouth is. So it will be interesting to see how the Dartmouth situation ends up.
A Huge High School Game in New Jersey Last Night
Delbarton beat Mountain Lakes 12-11 in the finals of the Morris County Tournament last night. These are the #1 and #3 teams in the state according to the LaxPower rankings. Story from NJ.com here. I can't count up the number of times that Delbarton and Mountain Lakes have faced each in recent years or the number of college commits between the two teams. And of course they might face one other again in the state playoffs.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
MLL TV Schedule
With only a handful of college games left this season, the MLL will help fill the void of lacrosse TV viewing for the summer. First game is next Thursday at 11:30 PM EDT on ESPN2. Set your DVRs. Full schedule is here.
Combination Lacrosse Tournament and Road Race?
So Laxgoaliemom is one of the administrators of our local lacrosse club. We're heading to the Hopewell Valley tournament in Princeton this weekend and LGM sent around an email with the schedule and details. One parent saw on the email that a team from Haven, Pennsylvania is on our schedule. The parent sent an email to LGM and asked, "Does that mean we're driving to Haven to play them?"
I hope it was a joke.
I hope it was a joke.
MLL Rosters Are Out
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
Here is a great shot from Peyton Williams, photographer from North Carolina:
Of course, shortly after this shot the sun went down on Navy rather than Duke. Ironic opportunity missed.
Peyton has a very cool blog full of lacrosse photos that I highly recommend. You can find it here.
Of course, shortly after this shot the sun went down on Navy rather than Duke. Ironic opportunity missed.Peyton has a very cool blog full of lacrosse photos that I highly recommend. You can find it here.
Monday, May 11, 2009
An Odd Comment From Dave Cottle After The ND Game
I found this two different places, but Dave Cottle talked more than I would have expected about the scouting against Notre Dame. From the Baltimore Sun's Faceoff blog:
I remember once in college an opponent accidentally left their scouting report in the locker room. Most of it was useless stuff we already new, but there were a couple tendencies that the opposing coach had pointed out on paper. Our coach made some mental notes and used the information later to our advantage. What's the moral of the story? Other than, "He looked really good on film," keep your scouting comments private. Nothing good comes from going public with any of it.
Five of [Maryland's] goals occurred on shots between the left and right wings, mainly staying in the center of the field -- a tactic that was designed, according to Cottle.Here is the same piece from Lacrosse Mag:
"We felt like this goalie was outstanding down the alleys," he said of Rodgers. "We had to shoot from the middle of the hash marks and in to be effective. You can say you want to shoot from those areas, but it’s hard to get to those areas. But we felt like we could get it inside a little bit."
Meanwhile, the Terrapins unlocked the key to Notre Dame goalie Scott Rodgers. Coach Dave Cottle said the "behemoth" is the best goalie they have seen on film all season. But the coaches believed the Terps might have success shooting from one area on the field.Scott Rodgers is a senior but I believe I have heard that he has another year of eligibility remaining. Talking publicly about your offensive aproach against a goalie that you might face next year makes no sense that I can see.
"You can't shoot down the alleys," he said, but the coaching staff thought there might be an opening from the middle to the right. Five of the Terps' goals came from that side.
I remember once in college an opponent accidentally left their scouting report in the locker room. Most of it was useless stuff we already new, but there were a couple tendencies that the opposing coach had pointed out on paper. Our coach made some mental notes and used the information later to our advantage. What's the moral of the story? Other than, "He looked really good on film," keep your scouting comments private. Nothing good comes from going public with any of it.
The New Toy That ESPN Lacrosse Broadcasts Need
ESPNU did a good job this weekend with its broadcasts. In particular, the lax fans' main pet peeve -- showing a closeup of the goalie after he makes a big save rather than the clear/ride -- seems to have disappeared. If ESPN really has cured its directors of that habit, it is quite an accomplishment.
Which bring me to my suggestion: CBS College Sports not only shows us the clear/ride following a save, they use a little inset box in the corner to show a replay of the save from the end-zone angle. Hey ESPNU, can you get one of those too?
Which bring me to my suggestion: CBS College Sports not only shows us the clear/ride following a save, they use a little inset box in the corner to show a replay of the save from the end-zone angle. Hey ESPNU, can you get one of those too?
Should The Selection Committee Take A Bow?
It looks like the NCAA Selection Committee got this one pretty much right. The home team won seven out of the eight games this weekend and the lower seeds tended to have the tougher games. The top four seeds, Virginia, Syracuse, Duke and Princeton, all won in relative comfort. The bottom four had relatively close games including one upset. No team, with the possible exception of Notre Dame, looked like it didn't deserve its seeding. So the first round went well from the perspective of the Selection Committee.
Now it's time for the criticism: With the first round going as expected, we have three rematches in the quarterfinals, two of which is in conference, and one of which is the third game in the series. Cornell and Princeton played a few weeks back, Virginia and Hopkins played a classic back in March, and this is the third time around for Duke-Carolina. Had we given Cornell the #6 seed, we would have Duke-Cornell and Princeton-Carolina. We all would have preferred to see the new match-ups rather than the series of do-overs we'll see next. Of course, we also would have had the remote but horrific possibility of an all-ACC show in Foxborough.
How much did geography play in this? Will three teams from the Northeast playing at Hofstra and four from south of the Mason-Dixon Line at Annapolis sell more tickets than if we mixed the teams up? Probably. Will the travel costs be lower than if we mixed the teams up? Definitely. Will the Selection Committee admit to that level of cost consciousness? Doubtful.
Now it's time for the criticism: With the first round going as expected, we have three rematches in the quarterfinals, two of which is in conference, and one of which is the third game in the series. Cornell and Princeton played a few weeks back, Virginia and Hopkins played a classic back in March, and this is the third time around for Duke-Carolina. Had we given Cornell the #6 seed, we would have Duke-Cornell and Princeton-Carolina. We all would have preferred to see the new match-ups rather than the series of do-overs we'll see next. Of course, we also would have had the remote but horrific possibility of an all-ACC show in Foxborough.
How much did geography play in this? Will three teams from the Northeast playing at Hofstra and four from south of the Mason-Dixon Line at Annapolis sell more tickets than if we mixed the teams up? Probably. Will the travel costs be lower than if we mixed the teams up? Definitely. Will the Selection Committee admit to that level of cost consciousness? Doubtful.
Friday, May 8, 2009
A Couple Good IL Scouting Podcasts
Terry Foy had scouting discussions with Justin Redd and Dan Kallaugher about the upcoming games this weekend. Both podcasts are excellent and worth a listen if you have time. Maybe 25 minutes each.
Gambling! Now we're having fun!
I'm not a big gambler myself but I love odds, percentages and chances. IL has a great post this morning about the NCAA Tournament odds from Wynn Casino in Vegas. Seriously, I had no idea that people bet on lacrosse but gambling certainly won't decrease the popularity of the sport.
John Jiloty has some comments about the odds and reflects a common misunderstanding about how odds occur. Casinos set a line and move it according to how people are betting. So if you think a line is too high or too low, it isn't the casino that is wrong, it is the wisdom of the crowd.
Anyway, here were the national championship odds from January:
How about this one:
John Jiloty has some comments about the odds and reflects a common misunderstanding about how odds occur. Casinos set a line and move it according to how people are betting. So if you think a line is too high or too low, it isn't the casino that is wrong, it is the wisdom of the crowd.
Anyway, here were the national championship odds from January:
Good CallsNote that Maryland is at Notre Dame this weekend. Ouch.
Virginia: 3/1
Syracuse: 4/1
Good Bets
Duke: 7/1
Princeton 12/1
Notre Dame: 20/1
Hofstra: 30/1
Too Much Faith In January
Maryland: 5/1
Georgetown: 12/1
Denver: 35/1
How about this one:
Duke -4 ½ vs. NavyI lost count at the number of times I heard about a possible Navy upset. Not so many people putting money on them though.
Another one that could be close or could be a blowout. I picked Navy in the Staff Picks but wouldn’t throw money down on this one.
OK, Quint, which is it?
I enjoy listening to Quint Kessenich and think he does a good job, but he's talking out of both sides of his mouth a bit this week about Notre Dame. Here is what he said today about Notre Dame's defense and goalkeeping:
The Irish have the nation’s stingiest defense, allowing 6.13 goals against per game. They pack it in defensively, protecting the middle of the field. Scott Rodgers fills up the net, his goals against average is a measly 6.08 and he has made 66% of the saves. Maryland will get their 10-12-yard step-down shots and must rip the corners if they’re going to advance.But in this podcast on Wednesday, he said:
"Notre Dame's numbers are so off-base because of the quality of the schedule they played. Their goalie, Scott Rodgers, saved 66%, allows 6.08 goals a game. Let me tell you, if I played against that schedule, I'd like to think that I would be higher than 66%, no offense to Scott. I'm not sure that this Notre Dame team's legit."If the numbers are without value, Quint, why are you citing them to show how good Notre Dame's defense is? Of course, if I had to guess, Quint is being more honest when he is speaking off the cuff on a podcast than when he is writing in a blog.
IL's Ten Top Stories for the Weekend
Cute little list. I agree with #1 the most. The guys with the butterfly nets will be a huge factor and there are lots of good ones to watch this weekend.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Denver's Jamie Munro Resigns
From LaxPower:
University of Denver men's lacrosse head coach Jamie Munro has resigned after 11 seasons, Vice Chancellor for Athletics and Recreation and Ritchie Center Operations Peg Bradley-Doppes announced today.Read the whole article here.
Munro has been reassigned at DU and will work with Bradley-Doppes and the senior staff on special projects until June 30. A national search for Munro's replacement will begin immediately.
Keith Stegs' Take on His Three Top Games
Keith Stegs previews Brown-Johns Hopkins, Maryland-ND, and Navy-Duke here. He picks an upset too.
EMO for Youth Lacrosse
Coach B has a great lacrosse blog but doesn't get much time to write. His latest effort is a fairly simple EMO strategy for young laxers that he explains here. A snippet:
1. Put your best player at X with the ball. Notice I said player not attack.
2. Put a lefty shooter bottom left, a righty shooter bottom right.
3. Put your "cannon" top center.
4. If you are blessed with another lefty stick him top left and place another decent righty top right.
5. The crease guy should have great hands and a quick release.
You are now basically 5 on 5 topside with your ace at X.
Most middle school man down units are a 2-3 or a box and one. They don't rotate well at this age, slide late, communicate poorly, and rarely recover.
Drive your man from X and try to beat the slide. Accomplish that and you've got a marker.
If the slide comes adjacent, feed a wide open shooter in the slot. If the slide comes from the crease, feed a wide open quick stick on the doorstep. If the D recovers to the crease from the top Hit any one of the topside guys , especially the top center, and feed for a blast from him.
Paul Carcaterra on the NCAA Tournament Field
The Baltimore Sun's lacrosse blog caught up with CBS lacrosse analyst Paul Carcaterra. His take on the toughest path to Foxborough:
Personally, I’d rather be a second-seeded Syracuse than a No. 1 Virginia. That first-round game against Villanova, they should win, but it’s not going to be a total joke like some of those others that No. 1 seeds have played in the past. At the end of the day, they should win that game pretty comfortably, but look at who they’re staring at as a potential quarterfinal matchup? Johns Hopkins. That’s a team that’s been to the national championship three times in the past four years. They’re battle-tested, they’ve shown that they can play with Virginia when they lost by one goal. Virginia’s a team that has struggled in the last few weeks. Maybe they put it together and show that they deserve to be a [No.] 1 seed, but I wouldn’t want Hopkins in the quarterfinals.Read the whole article here.
Lacrosse Mag: Hopkins Doing Well in One-Goal Games (Again)
Now here's a shocker. Hopkins is winning one-goal games:
Brown beware -- Johns Hopkins is winning those one-goal games again.Read the rest of the article here.The hazardous road to the fourth quarter and overtime may be filled with occasional lapses, but Blue Jays coach Dave Pietramala has seen a maturation in the latter stages with this year's tested 9-4 group.
"I don't know if we're playing perfect lacrosse -- I don't think we are by any sense of the word -- but we've grown enough and guys have been able now to step up," he said. "They've kind of learned how to win that one-goal game, and that overtime game, and that's been interesting to see."
Lacrosse Mag: Loyola Reconsiders Schedule in Light of Snub
Loyola's conference is changing next year and the Greyhounds were left out of the tournament this year for...being from Maryland and losing to good teams? So Coach Toomey is saying what a lot of folks are talking about this week:
"I don't want to sound like a guy on the outside crying, but I'm just a little confused, as I think a lot of coaches are," says Loyola head coach Charley Toomey. "We're all trying to figure out what the committee wants."They wonder which teams they should schedule next year if they want to make the tournament as an at-large. Read the rest of the article here.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
The Princess Bracket
It's probably not what you think, but Keith Stegs has introduced his take on the NCAA Tournament bracket by channeling a scene from the Princess Bride:
I can picture the selection committee sitting around a stone table talking to each other:The rest of it is worth a read too.
“Virginia beat the most top 10 teams, but they lost to Duke twice, so we CLEARLY can not choose UVA”.
“Duke however has lost to two lowly teams, so we clearly can not choose Duke”.
“Cuse is rated #1 by the coaches, but lost to UVA and Princeton, so we clearly can not choose Cuse”.
Of course the reporters and pundits would have to interject with “Come on…you’re just stalling now aren’t you?”
To which the committee continues unfazed, “Notre Dame is undefeated, but only beat one top 10 team, so we clearly can not choose Notre Dame.”
Pressed for time, the committee tries to distract those trying to follow, “We pick……Oh look what’s that over there? (throws dart at names on a wall)……UVA!”
Will Yeatman Not Talking This Week (Updated)
In one of the interesting stories this week, Will Yeatman will be taking on his former team as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish continue with their Ewing Theory season. Maryland announced in a written statement that Yeatman would not be available for comment this week. But the Baltimore Sun's Faceoff Blog repeated some comments from back in February:
Update: Notre Dame is willing to comment. From Lacrosse Magazine:
"It was a very difficult situation mainly because when you’re at a college for 2½ years, you make so many bonds with so many great people and it’s hard to leave them," Yeatman said. "People have criticized me for saying this, but I was very unhappy, and I live my life to be a happy person. And I feel like if I’m unhappy, then there’s something wrong. I felt like at this time in my life, I needed a change, and I’m really happy I made the change to come to Maryland.And Maryland Coach Dave Cottle had some comments as well:
"I could have stayed at Notre Dame," he said a little later. "[But] I needed a fresh start in my life because I was pretty unhappy. I left a lot of people at Notre Dame that I generally do love, and it was hard for me to do that. But so far, I’ve been very happy that I made the change."
"I think it is going to be a weird, unusual feeling. I think the thing to remember is that Will Yeatman cares a great deal about the Notre Dame friends that he has made over the years that he was there. He just happens to play for a different team, and he’s going over to play a lacrosse game. When the game is over, he’s got his friends from Notre Dame and he’s got his friends from Maryland. It’s probably going to be a very eerie feeling for him, but on the same end, he hasn’t stopped communicating with or caring about those guys. He’s just got a new set of friends, too. This game is not going to be about Will. It’s going to be about Maryland and Notre Dame. Both teams are going to prepare hard and play hard and we’ll see who wins."I remember back in February when various pundits were talking about how much the Yeatman transfer would help Maryland and how Maryland would contend for their first national championship in decades. Pretty ironic that Notre Dame just finished an undefeated regular season and Maryland was lucky to get into the tournament at all.
Update: Notre Dame is willing to comment. From Lacrosse Magazine:
"When he first left, everyone was a little pissed off," said McDermott, who was Yeatman's roommate. "[But] if anything, it helped our team. It brought us together and made us realize we're a good team with or without Will."
McDermott said he hasn't been in touch with his old roommate since the matchup was announced, and once they get on the field, there probably won't be any trash-talking.
"It will be interesting seeing him in a different color," he said. "During any game, I don't talk to the attackman. I don't think I'll talk to him during the game, that's just how I am."
Mark Dixon on the NCAA Tournament Field
The Baltimore Sun's Faceoff Blog caught up with Mark Dixon to get his thoughts on the tournament field. I thought this part was interesting:
Does Loyola deserve to be in? Yes. Do they deserve to be in more than Brown and Maryland? Some people might say maybe, but I don’t think anybody’s screaming bloody murder that Brown and Maryland are the two teams selected and Loyola wasn’t. I think people feel bad for Loyola and would have liked to see them play for the reasons I stated, but I don’t think it’s an egregious omission. I think it speaks more to a need for a more established criteria. Is it strength of schedule? Is it RPI? Is it quality wins? It can’t be what is seemingly arbitrary. In 2006, Harvard got in based on SOS and RPI, and Georgetown was left out last year due to SOS and RPI. So I think there needs to be a hard and fast criteria, two or three benchmarks. It can’t be a sliding scale.Dixon also comments on who has the tougher and easier draws. The whole article is available here.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Tewaaraton Finalists Announced
The Tewaaraton Finalists were announced today. From LaxPower.com:
Abbott, Matt - Syracuse
Crotty, Ned - Duke
Glading, Danny - Virginia
Greer, Zack - Bryant
Seibald, Max - Cornell
It's a good list and represents the kind of season we have had. They are all great players but none of them is the kind of dominant player that a Mike Leveille, Paul Rabil, or Matt Danowski was last year. And of course that's the way the season has gone. Last year maybe 3-4 teams had a realistic shot at winning it all. This time it's probably 6-7. It's a deeper field all around.
Abbott, Matt - Syracuse
Crotty, Ned - Duke
Glading, Danny - Virginia
Greer, Zack - Bryant
Seibald, Max - Cornell
It's a good list and represents the kind of season we have had. They are all great players but none of them is the kind of dominant player that a Mike Leveille, Paul Rabil, or Matt Danowski was last year. And of course that's the way the season has gone. Last year maybe 3-4 teams had a realistic shot at winning it all. This time it's probably 6-7. It's a deeper field all around.
A Couple Interviews with the Chair of the NCAA Selection Committee
Tim Pavlechko chairs the selection committee for the NCAA lacrosse championship and I found a couple interviews with him since the selections came out. Here is a print interview with the Baltimore Sun talking primarily about the selection of Brown over Loyola:
Here is a podcast interview with Jon Brand of Inside Lacrosse.
The clincher was that the Bears had wins against two tournament teams in Cornell and Massachusetts, while Loyola did not.
"Loyola played a very strong schedule. They had a great year," Pavlechko said. "But they had some losses. They lost to a common opponent – UMass – with Brown. There are some of those other quality wins as you mentioned. There was a quality win [against Cornell] that wasn’t on Loyola’s resume. I’m not saying that’s the ultimate thing. It was the total breadth of work, scope of the season, and all the selection tools of trying to differentiate teams for that last slot."
Here is a podcast interview with Jon Brand of Inside Lacrosse.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Thunderbolt Tournament Review
We did the Thunderbolt Tournament, hosted by Lightning Lacrosse, this past weekend. This was my first time at the tournament and I would say on balance they do a good job.
We had game schedules well in advance. For some reason lacrosse tournaments can be very casual about telling people when they are going to play and frankly it drives me nuts. Wasn't a problem this time.
The facility is pretty good. The fields were in good shape, all grass that was once sod. The fields are a little spread out as there are two groups of fields that you have to walk between but that wasn't too rough. Maybe 8 minutes to walk from the edge of one set of fields to the other. There was enough parking although not necessarily a lot of parking exactly where you would want it.
The fields were shortened and narrowed a bit. The fields were maybe ten yards shorter and ten yards narrower. I like that because it's a little easier on the players when they're playing four games in a day and the spectators can get a little closer to the action.
The play format was 20-minute running-time halves, four guaranteed games. I thought the format was fine. Any shorter and there is a chance of a team just getting a lucky goal or two and winning. Any longer and the good teams have too much time to kill in the blowouts. They used the air horns to make the tournament run on time.
The tournament format was a couple of pools and then the winner of each pool plays the winner of the other pool, second place plays second place, etc. This worked out pretty well but there were some potential issues. First, it's hard to get the pools roughly even. At some grade levels, the pools were quite uneven; those last games should be pretty close but there definitely were some blowouts. Second, if you have a six-team pool and are playing three games, you have to schedule carefully so that teams get enough games either against each other or common opponents to make the results reflect the different abilities.
A real complaint: Goal differential was one of the tie-breakers. Please don't do this! If a good team faces a weak team in the first or second round, the good team has to try to win that game by as much as possible. It makes for bad sportsmanship. Either limit the total goal differential factor to something like 7-8 per game or use goals allowed as the tiebreaker. OK, the backup goalie on the good teams don't like the goals allowed tiebreaker because it means less playing time for them. But better to have a handful of bitter goalies than a whole team of kids feeling bad because they lost a game by 20 goals.
For whatever it's worth, I wouldn't say that the level of play was too terribly high. I think the Jersey Jam gets a slightly more competitive set of teams.
I did not eat at the concessions since we brought food but they seemed fine.
There was a nice little awards ceremony for the top three teams in each age bracket. Each player got a gold, silver or bronze medal and then the photographer arranged a commemorative picture for each team.
Anyway, I'll give this one a B+.
We had game schedules well in advance. For some reason lacrosse tournaments can be very casual about telling people when they are going to play and frankly it drives me nuts. Wasn't a problem this time.
The facility is pretty good. The fields were in good shape, all grass that was once sod. The fields are a little spread out as there are two groups of fields that you have to walk between but that wasn't too rough. Maybe 8 minutes to walk from the edge of one set of fields to the other. There was enough parking although not necessarily a lot of parking exactly where you would want it.
The fields were shortened and narrowed a bit. The fields were maybe ten yards shorter and ten yards narrower. I like that because it's a little easier on the players when they're playing four games in a day and the spectators can get a little closer to the action.
The play format was 20-minute running-time halves, four guaranteed games. I thought the format was fine. Any shorter and there is a chance of a team just getting a lucky goal or two and winning. Any longer and the good teams have too much time to kill in the blowouts. They used the air horns to make the tournament run on time.
The tournament format was a couple of pools and then the winner of each pool plays the winner of the other pool, second place plays second place, etc. This worked out pretty well but there were some potential issues. First, it's hard to get the pools roughly even. At some grade levels, the pools were quite uneven; those last games should be pretty close but there definitely were some blowouts. Second, if you have a six-team pool and are playing three games, you have to schedule carefully so that teams get enough games either against each other or common opponents to make the results reflect the different abilities.
A real complaint: Goal differential was one of the tie-breakers. Please don't do this! If a good team faces a weak team in the first or second round, the good team has to try to win that game by as much as possible. It makes for bad sportsmanship. Either limit the total goal differential factor to something like 7-8 per game or use goals allowed as the tiebreaker. OK, the backup goalie on the good teams don't like the goals allowed tiebreaker because it means less playing time for them. But better to have a handful of bitter goalies than a whole team of kids feeling bad because they lost a game by 20 goals.
For whatever it's worth, I wouldn't say that the level of play was too terribly high. I think the Jersey Jam gets a slightly more competitive set of teams.
I did not eat at the concessions since we brought food but they seemed fine.
There was a nice little awards ceremony for the top three teams in each age bracket. Each player got a gold, silver or bronze medal and then the photographer arranged a commemorative picture for each team.
Anyway, I'll give this one a B+.
Thoughts on the NCAA bracket
The bracket is available here from Inside Lacrosse in a nice pdf version. We usually keep a copy on our fridge during the tournament.
I thought that the committee did a good job here. Coach Toomey and the Loyola Greyhounds might feel understandably deprived but someone always is disappointed by these kinds of processes. Although I doubt it is part of the selection criteria, if Loyola had made the tournament instead of Brown, there would have been a matchup problem. Hopkins is #8 facing Brown and we wouldn't want to see Loyola at Hopkins two weeks in a row. We could have sent Loyola to #7 Notre Dame but that would have sent Maryland to Hopkins. Ugh. We could have sent Loyola to #6 Carolina but that would have sent UMBC to Hopkins. Not much better. We could have sent Hofstra to Hopkins and Loyola to #5 Cornell but that would have taken Hopkins out of the Annapolis region with Navy not even playing in two weeks unless they win at Duke. So that would have meant Loyola at #4 Princeton and UMass at Hopkins. That would have been a heck of a reward for the Tigers. Ultimately, as a fan I have no complaints about how this ended up.
Has anyone remarked on the subtext of a possible goalie brothers redux? When Hopkins played Hofstra earlier in the year, the Gvozden brothers ended up facing each other unexpectedly. If Michael Gvozden had to leave the game for any reason, guess who might be in the crease -- this guy. Happens to be the younger brother of Jordan Burke, the All-American goalie at Brown.
I thought that the committee did a good job here. Coach Toomey and the Loyola Greyhounds might feel understandably deprived but someone always is disappointed by these kinds of processes. Although I doubt it is part of the selection criteria, if Loyola had made the tournament instead of Brown, there would have been a matchup problem. Hopkins is #8 facing Brown and we wouldn't want to see Loyola at Hopkins two weeks in a row. We could have sent Loyola to #7 Notre Dame but that would have sent Maryland to Hopkins. Ugh. We could have sent Loyola to #6 Carolina but that would have sent UMBC to Hopkins. Not much better. We could have sent Hofstra to Hopkins and Loyola to #5 Cornell but that would have taken Hopkins out of the Annapolis region with Navy not even playing in two weeks unless they win at Duke. So that would have meant Loyola at #4 Princeton and UMass at Hopkins. That would have been a heck of a reward for the Tigers. Ultimately, as a fan I have no complaints about how this ended up.
Has anyone remarked on the subtext of a possible goalie brothers redux? When Hopkins played Hofstra earlier in the year, the Gvozden brothers ended up facing each other unexpectedly. If Michael Gvozden had to leave the game for any reason, guess who might be in the crease -- this guy. Happens to be the younger brother of Jordan Burke, the All-American goalie at Brown.
Faceoff Evolution and Specialization
I was talking to Mike, the dad of one of my son's teammates this weekend. Mike was a pretty good college player back in the day. His older son is a senior in high school and younger son is a middie on my son's team. Both boys take a decent number of faceoffs so I asked Mike whether he took faceoffs too.
Mike said he was a faceoff guy as well but that the techniques had changed completely over the years. He reminded me that years ago the ref used to place the ball in between the heads of the two sticks. Now of course the ref puts the ball on the line and the players place their sticks down themselves. It turns out that the rule change completely changed the techniques that the faceoff guys use so he can't even give his sons any useful tips.
Mike also thought that the faceoff guys (aka FOGO for Face Off, Get Off) are so important to the game that the specialization is hurting the sport. He noted that a good FOGO is so hugely important that it affects the game too much. (And this is a former faceoff guy and dad to a couple younger ones talking!) He wondered whether the sport might be better off going to a standing start more like what the women use. We also could just have a ref bounce or roll the ball in for that matter.
I happen to like the specialization of lacrosse. I like that people like defensive middies, goalies and FOGOs have such an impact on the game that it takes a lot of players to make a good team. If some kid can get himself a little extra playing time in high school or college money because he is a great faceoff guy or LSM or whatever, I'm OK with that.
Mike said he was a faceoff guy as well but that the techniques had changed completely over the years. He reminded me that years ago the ref used to place the ball in between the heads of the two sticks. Now of course the ref puts the ball on the line and the players place their sticks down themselves. It turns out that the rule change completely changed the techniques that the faceoff guys use so he can't even give his sons any useful tips.
Mike also thought that the faceoff guys (aka FOGO for Face Off, Get Off) are so important to the game that the specialization is hurting the sport. He noted that a good FOGO is so hugely important that it affects the game too much. (And this is a former faceoff guy and dad to a couple younger ones talking!) He wondered whether the sport might be better off going to a standing start more like what the women use. We also could just have a ref bounce or roll the ball in for that matter.
I happen to like the specialization of lacrosse. I like that people like defensive middies, goalies and FOGOs have such an impact on the game that it takes a lot of players to make a good team. If some kid can get himself a little extra playing time in high school or college money because he is a great faceoff guy or LSM or whatever, I'm OK with that.
An introduction
This is the blog I should have started a while ago. We started this journey a few years back when my son took up lacrosse and soon thereafter it became one of the dominant forces in our lives. Between the regular spring season, the summer tournament season, camps, winter indoor, and watching on TV, lacrosse takes up a huge chunk of our time and energy. So I figured I might as well share some of the things I have been seeing and learning along the way.
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