So I’m going to Elder Nephew’s lacrosse game in a few hours.
Uhm ….. what’s lacrosse??
9 Replies to “a big sporting event”
Lacrosse will be more popular than football in the US in 10 years, because it’s the fastest growing sport for kids…
Oh, wait, that’s what they said about soccer in the mid 70s. Lacrosse will be more popular than soccer in the US in 10 years… because soccer IS A BORING SPECTATOR SPORT! (at least in the “uncultured” US)
Seriously though, FEMALE lacrosse is really beginning to get big in the Southeast, and this is a HUGE boon to college sports. Big colleges have been begging for a woman’s sport for scholarship opportunities so that they can potentially reinstate say a lacrosse team or wrestling team that they had to drop in order to comply with Title IX requirements…
Don’t EVEN get me started on Title IX. I don’t know who’s more disingenuous. The NCAA (one of the few legal monopolies in the US) or the universities both of which pretend to provide scholarships to “student-athletes” when they are merely using these young men as revenue producers (i.e. college football and basketball).
A) the national sport of Canada
B) Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown’s first sport
C) derived from ball-and stick games played by (I believe) the Iriquois indians
D) played on a slightly-bigger than football field, with two six-by-six nets, into which one tries to fling a hard rubber ball more often than the opposing side
E) all of the above. And also F – SPACEBUG CRAZY. Seriously, they use something as rock-hard as a billiard ball, only it bounces, and nobody wears leg padding, not even the goalies. I wouldn’t play the nets in lacrosse for a king’s ransom.
True story – one of the guys at my rink works in the league offices of the National Lacrosse League as a vice-president of something or other. For his sake I hope there is a future in it.
To specify… the NLL is the indoor league, and the rules are a bit different. The MLL, Major Lacrosse League, is a pro outdoor league, again with slightly different rules from college lacrosse. Common denominator – completely insane.
The game of Lacrosse was used in 1763 (French and Indian war era) during Pontiac’s uprising to wrest control of the vital Fort Michilamackinac (intersection of Lakes Michigan and Huron) from the British and return it to the French. The Indians staged the game outside the fort. The British soldiers came out to watch. The Indian women were standing around watching too, only they had weapons hidden under their blankets. When the ball “accidentally” flew over the walls of the fort, the Indians rushed after it, grabbing the weapons from the women as they went and decimating the badly outnumbered British forces.
I’ve heard it can be quite a brutal game even when not part of a war plan, although I think sportsmanship might be talked about more these days!
I roomed with a guy that played goalie at Navy. I have never seen so many perfect round bruises on a human body. We had a lacrosse team at my high school, but the district ended all lacrosse my sophomore year. They claimed it was too violent for a high school sport.
When I was in college John Hopkins was to lacrosse as Florida is today in Football. Coupling that with the fact that Maryland and Navy had great teams, and that almost every college in MD had a lacrosse team (including the all girls schools), most people assumed that Lacrosse was the state sport (Kind of like most people would have assumed that Canada’s national sport was hockey)… But, they’d be wrong, just as in Canada’s case.
The state sport of MD is… jousting. That’s right the same sport that Heath Ledger played in that medieval movie, though the MD flag DOES look like a coat of arms from that period.
BTW, besides Maryland, the other big recruiting area for college teams is Long Island.
Lacrosse will be more popular than football in the US in 10 years, because it’s the fastest growing sport for kids…
Oh, wait, that’s what they said about soccer in the mid 70s. Lacrosse will be more popular than soccer in the US in 10 years… because soccer IS A BORING SPECTATOR SPORT! (at least in the “uncultured” US)
Seriously though, FEMALE lacrosse is really beginning to get big in the Southeast, and this is a HUGE boon to college sports. Big colleges have been begging for a woman’s sport for scholarship opportunities so that they can potentially reinstate say a lacrosse team or wrestling team that they had to drop in order to comply with Title IX requirements…
Don’t EVEN get me started on Title IX. I don’t know who’s more disingenuous. The NCAA (one of the few legal monopolies in the US) or the universities both of which pretend to provide scholarships to “student-athletes” when they are merely using these young men as revenue producers (i.e. college football and basketball).
Well, that ….. answered it.
I don’t think I got you started on Title IX, JFH. Think you did that yourself.
Reading JFH’s comment I’m still not sure what lacrosse is.
We didn’t have a lacrosse team at my high school – but I do know the two big Catholic high schools in the state had big lacrosse teams.
Should be fun, Tracey, cheering Nephew on!
Lacrosse is:
A) the national sport of Canada
B) Hall of Fame running back Jim Brown’s first sport
C) derived from ball-and stick games played by (I believe) the Iriquois indians
D) played on a slightly-bigger than football field, with two six-by-six nets, into which one tries to fling a hard rubber ball more often than the opposing side
E) all of the above. And also F – SPACEBUG CRAZY. Seriously, they use something as rock-hard as a billiard ball, only it bounces, and nobody wears leg padding, not even the goalies. I wouldn’t play the nets in lacrosse for a king’s ransom.
True story – one of the guys at my rink works in the league offices of the National Lacrosse League as a vice-president of something or other. For his sake I hope there is a future in it.
To specify… the NLL is the indoor league, and the rules are a bit different. The MLL, Major Lacrosse League, is a pro outdoor league, again with slightly different rules from college lacrosse. Common denominator – completely insane.
It looks like a heck of a lot of fun to me.
NF — Yes, that’s basically what I saw last night. Working on my post about it. Spacebug crazy.
Thanks! (Sorry — your comment went into mod. because of the link.)
The game of Lacrosse was used in 1763 (French and Indian war era) during Pontiac’s uprising to wrest control of the vital Fort Michilamackinac (intersection of Lakes Michigan and Huron) from the British and return it to the French. The Indians staged the game outside the fort. The British soldiers came out to watch. The Indian women were standing around watching too, only they had weapons hidden under their blankets. When the ball “accidentally” flew over the walls of the fort, the Indians rushed after it, grabbing the weapons from the women as they went and decimating the badly outnumbered British forces.
I’ve heard it can be quite a brutal game even when not part of a war plan, although I think sportsmanship might be talked about more these days!
I roomed with a guy that played goalie at Navy. I have never seen so many perfect round bruises on a human body. We had a lacrosse team at my high school, but the district ended all lacrosse my sophomore year. They claimed it was too violent for a high school sport.
When I was in college John Hopkins was to lacrosse as Florida is today in Football. Coupling that with the fact that Maryland and Navy had great teams, and that almost every college in MD had a lacrosse team (including the all girls schools), most people assumed that Lacrosse was the state sport (Kind of like most people would have assumed that Canada’s national sport was hockey)… But, they’d be wrong, just as in Canada’s case.
The state sport of MD is… jousting. That’s right the same sport that Heath Ledger played in that medieval movie, though the MD flag DOES look like a coat of arms from that period.
BTW, besides Maryland, the other big recruiting area for college teams is Long Island.