http://www.yardbarker.com/content/sport/29 Recent Yardbarker articles: Lacrosse en-us Highlights from the MLL Championship game between the Denver Outlaws and Rochester Rattlers. Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:41:08 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/314245 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/314245 In following the trend of big moves that are going on in Division 1 this summer, an undisclosed source recently confirmed to TheJman that Usain Bolt, the World's Fastest Man, will dress for D1 newcomers Bryant University during their inaugural 2009 season. Unbeknownst to much of lacrosse's 'coaching inner circle', Bryant head coach Mike Pressler has been cultivating the Jamaican born sprinter's skills over the last year; visiting his home on the island and sending him equipment for him to practice with. Bolt initially learned about Pressler and lacrosse through the news coverage of the much publicized 'Duke rape case'. He began researching the game and fell in love with its fast pace and exciting flair. Said Bolt, "Dees buoys can rally move. I be a big fan of 'ow day git up and down de field. I taught to meself, 'I'd like ta do dat', so I gave Coach P a call." With Bolt, in addition to the recent transfer of 3x All-American Zack Greer and 16 other additions to the roster, Pressler couldn't be more thrilled with his team's potential. Pressler will be looking to Greer to shoulder the offensive load and help lead the offense, and despite posting 87% on clears and out ground balling opponents 2 to 1 last year, he's confident in Bolt's ability to contribute to the team and that he'll sure up any weaknesses in those categories. "Obviously Zack is as talented as they come. He knows how to perform in big games and can help lead this young stable. Usain will unquestionably be the fastest guy on any field. We're going to give him the ball and open the gates. I think he'll be taking Matt Abbott's title as 'The Human Clear'. " Could Geoff Snider's record and reign as 'Ground Ball King' be at risk as well? This week Bolt broke Carl Lewis' 24 year old record as the last person to win Gold in both the 100m and 200m, but he upped the bar by setting new world records in both races, a feat never before accomplished by any sprinter in the history of the Olympics. Bolt ran away from the competition posting times of 9.69 secs in the 100m and 19.30 secs in the 200m, averaging a ground speed of over 23 miles per hour. At the conclusion of the games, Greer and Pressler will be focused on helping refine Bolt's stick stills in preparation for fall ball and the spring season. Both were on hand for Bolt's record breaking performances in the finals and will travel back to Jamaica to help him get moved up to his new home in Smithfield, RI. Said Bolt, "I'm rally excited bout gittin up to da US. I just showed da whirl dat I be da gratest on da track, now it's time to show dem dat I be da gratest on da field" **Side note: Ok, ok. . . so maybe he's not going to go play at Bryant. But could you imagine if he did?** Thu, 21 Aug 2008 14:01:55 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/310550 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/310550 Can across this video of Greg Vetter (Annapolis '01/WAC '05) talking about playing for SmartLink. We worked together back in the day at Party Perfect. If you don't know about the 'aqua-marine party truck' you better ask somebody! He's a great guy and a real talent on the field. *When it rains my arm still gets a little stiff from a few of the checks he gave me during Hero's '02 Glad to see he's doing good, also saw in Berger's IL Post that he recently got married. Congrats. Oh yeah ....... and Broadneck rules Anne Arundel Co.! Thu, 21 Aug 2008 08:11:58 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/310303 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/310303 What's going on? I hope you guys had a good Monday! I had a GREAT Monday back here in Baltimore. I'll fill you in on the past week or so before I get to to my excitement about the opportunity I've got this weekend. I spent last week in San Fran doing a few clinics with my boy Joey Walters and had a blast. The kids were great, worked extremely hard and actually improved in our short time with them, so it was good to see. The culture up in San Fran was completely different from anything I've ever been around, as I've never really gotten to spend much time there. For starters, I saw entirely too many dudes rocking woman's jeans and big clunky sneakers but apparently I'm behind and that's the style now. Not sure I'm ready to make that jump yet. Either way, we ended up grabbing dinner one night at this little spot and the live music was CRAZY good! They were playing the piano, little bit of bass, and Lauren Hills drummer was killing the drums. It was definitely entertaining, and ridiculous that these 3 people would just get together and rock this little 30 person maximum restaurant. It was a great start to the night for sure. We went on to the next spot and there was a hip hop show and open mic that was absolutely out of control. There was a dude on the drums, dude with the trumpet and a mic being passed around the whole place and people were just rippin' it up! I debated grabbin' the mic and getting down, but, my rap game is WACK and they would have asked me to leave. Either way, it was definitely a GREAT night of live music. The next day I actually made it over to the Yardbarker offices and got some time in the office with everyone! Thanks for having me, and I had a blast! Hopefully I'll make it back to the area soon. I spent the weekend down in Ocean City Md watching my little cousin and a bunch of my other buddies play. I stayed in a condo with my boys Benson Erwin, Joe Walters, PJ Gilbert, and my two little cousins Maxx and Mario. I got to see a bunch of my old Hopkins teammates, and got to spend a little time with my family down there as well. All in all, it was definitely a relaxing weekend. Now I'm back in Baltimore shooting and working out everyday getting ready for the playoffs this weekend! I can't wait! This is my first trip to Championship weekend and I'm fired up man. We play Denver on 3pm on Saturday afternoon, and it's going to be a tough match up, but it's definitely going to be exciting. This is what we've been working for all off season long, a chance to play on Championship weekend. Had my boy Walters string me up a new stick last week, and I'm DIGGIN it! Been shooting a lot with it, can't wait to use it in the game this weekend! That's about it for now! I'm diggin' the Put On for my City Remix with Hov, along with Jockin' Jay-Z as well. Both songs have quickly jumped to the top of my playlist. Anyway, time to go get some work done, but I'll get at you all soon. Kyle Tue, 19 Aug 2008 11:30:48 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/308884 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/308884 Only seven teams have won the men's NCAA lacrosse championship since it was first held 38 years ago. Can you name all seven schools in less than 90 seconds? You do not need to type "University" or "College" along with your answer. Tue, 19 Aug 2008 10:40:38 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/308837 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/308837 What's up Barker's? Hope everyone is staying cool! Texas is having the hottest summer in 80 years right now; we've had 48 days of 100+ degree weather so far. It's like a freak'in oven down here. Anyway, I have to apologize for the lateness of this entry. We have been working on finishing a 'not by choice' bathroom remodel project at the house, so that has consumed most of my free time. But we're on the last lap, just a few things to take care of and we'll be finished. So last month was the Tri-State National Summer Lacrosse Festival @ Mercer County Park in Princeton Junction. We took two Trilogy Texas teams: Black (rising juniors) and Blue (rising sophomores), and headed off for the East Coast. As always, craziness ensues. Day 1: Friday We were on the 9:40am flight to Philly, so we didn't have to be at the airport prior to sunrise, which was nice. Another nice surprise was that Mrs. Jman's cousin, 'Talia' and her family were on the same flight. Her husband 'MK's' family live in the Philly area and they take a weeklong trip up to visit every summer. Now this is the first time I'd flown Southwest in a long time and I wasn't up to speed on the new 'early check in' process and we didn't check in until we arrived at the airport. This put us in boarding group Z99, literally the second to last people to get on the plane and we ended up sitting across the aisle from each other but in different rows! We arrived in Philly, got the rental car and headed out. Mrs. Jman has a great aunt who lives in Audubon, so we stopped there to visit before jumping on 295 North. *Side note: Mrs. Jman was amused at the fact that in fewer than 15 mins of driving we were in a whole different state. She also enjoys pointing out the fact that Texas is 26.7 times bigger than Maryland Almost all of the players came up to NJ on Thursday and had spent the day visiting Princeton or other nearby colleges, and the Tri-State tourney required every team to play 1 game on Friday night, so we met up with the team at Mercer Park. We were classified as Junior B division and our first game was an 8-1 win against 'HELAX, Howard County Elite Lacrosse. The games are only 35 mins long, no halftime, which really plays to our strength as a transition/up-tempo team. We moved the ball well and really hit the ground running. Now not everyone agrees, but I love Friendly's. I remember going there as a kid and yes maybe it really is just a glorified Denny's but whatever. They don't have them in Texas so I only go there one time a year when I am back east. So I'd been jazzed up about going to eat at Friendly's for weeks prior to this trip(even the kids I took there last year during the Summer Sizzle were pumped) and it had already been agreed that we would go there Friday night after the game. So Mrs. Jman, I and some of the players/parents head out. *Side note: Mrs. Jman has never been to Friendly's. She knows only my enthusiasm for it and what she has seen of the menu online. She is excited about it, not as much as I am, but excited none the less. So we get to the Friendly's and the service is HORRIBLE. The waitress forgot orders, drinks, didn't check on us AND she never even brought Mrs. Jman's ice cream. So I sent one of the kids to see what the holdup is and SHE'S IN A CORNER TEXTING ON HER PHONE! I'm getting angry just thinking about. So to Gabby @ the Lawrenceville Friendly's, here's a 'tip' for you (b/c we sure didn't leave one for you) DON'T TEXT MESSAGE ON YOUR PHONE WHEN YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE WAITING ON CUSTOMERS! I don't' care if we are the last table of the night. Total damper on the trip, I was ready to fly home that very minute. Afterwards, I took some of the players back to their hotels, and Mrs. Jman and I got checked into ours, showered and into bed sans delicious Friendly's ice cream treats. Day 2: Saturday Our first game wasn't until noon so we were happy to sleep in before getting up for breakfast. My parents were driving up from Annapolis that morning, so Mrs. Jman waited at the hotel to meet them and I headed over to the fields. We played to 4-0 with wins over NJ Titans (7-0), Chesapeake Rock (8-2), Bucks Select (12-2) and Blue Devils (4-1). We played a great up-tempo style and scored a lot of hustle goals in transition and off broken plays. I think we got a little worn down by the end of the day and that contributed to some struggles in the last game. My parents, Mrs. Jman and I stayed at the Wyndham Hotel/Conference Center, so rather than go out for dinner, which would have been practically impossible anyway; we ordered To-Go from PF Chang's (Mrs. Jman and my mom's favorite restaurant) and found a quiet place on the Conference side of the hotel to eat and we spent the night talking and having a good time. When you only see your parents one or two times a year, it's really nice to be able to relax and spend some quality time with them. Day 3: Sunday So any normal person would say being 5-0 going into the tourney playoffs is a good thing. Well not so much for us because 80% of the team was scheduled to fly back to Texas on the 6:25pm flight out of Philly. That meant that we'd have to be at the airport around 4:30 to get through security and get our bags checked, which meant we'd have to leave for Philly at 3:30. With the division schedule that was set, even if we won the first game, we'd have to bow out in order to make our flights. We petitioned the tournament to move us up to the A division based on this fact and our record and thankfully they agreed. We won our first game against top seeded Next Level, won the second against Tri-State Orange, and fell to eventual champions Chesapeake Rock in the semi-finals. I was really proud of the boys! Even my mom, a born and raised Texan, addressed the team to tell them how proud she was of all of them and they should be proud of themselves for showing how much Texas lacrosse has grown. *Side note: While we never drew the big crowds of D1 coaches, I am proud to say that I saw Hopkins assistant Bobby Benson catching some of our semi-final game against the Rock. I would like to think he had heard about 'those Texas boys' and wanted to see what the fuss was all about. We got the rental car loaded up, said our good-bye's to Mom and Pop (of course Mom cried) and headed back to Philly. By the way, the new model Ford Taurus is really nice, much better than the car we normally end up getting stuck with, the "PT Loser", or as many of us refer to it "The official car of Trilogy Lacrosse". Why Ryan and Rob rent those things all the time I'll never know. We had no problems getting the rental car dropped off, got the bags checked and even the security line was moving pretty fast, so obviously something is bound to go wrong. So a 3 hour weather delay later we're on the plane, and after an hour waiting on the tarmac, we're headed home. Now you have to remember that we didn't get to shower or get cleaned up between leaving Mercer Park for the airport, so we still have that 'tournament funk' on us while we're waiting on the concourse and sitting on the plane. Yeah, not so fresh! I will say that it was by far one of the smoothest flights I've ever been on so despite getting back to Austin 4 hours later than planned we were in good spirits. Both Mrs. Jman and I took off of work Monday to recoup and spend some time with the dog. One of Mrs. Jman's friends stayed at our house while we were in NJ so we wouldn't have to board him. A big 'Thank you' to KMuz, we really appreciate it you taking care of our boy. So this marks the end of the lacrosse season for the year. I'm looking forward to having more free time to spend with Mrs. Jman and the dog, as well as being able to help more around the house. I know Mrs. Jman is looking forward to it as well. Be sure to check back regularly as I will still be posting to the yard, the start of the college football season will soon be upon us and fall ball shortly after that. Best of luck to all our athletes in Beijing! Go USA! Enjoy the rest of the summer and I'll see you on the field. Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:47:42 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/304529 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/304529 Hey guys, what's been up in the yard? I hope the summer has been treating all of you very well, as it has me. It is been a whirlwind summer, and hopefully the best is yet to come! I know it has been a while, but I have been so busy doing lacrosse that I have fallen behind in keeping everyone up to date. I hope to get you all caught up in this post!! First off, both leagues I am playing in are going as planned. In Brampton, in the OLA, we won first overall with a 14-3-1 record giving us Brooklyn in the semi final round. We just finished that series last Friday, and will now play the winner of the Peterborough/St. Regis series, likely starting Thursday. Peterborough are winning 3-1 and chances are we will see them in the OLA final….That will be a beauty to say the least. I fully plan on keeping you all posted as that series progresses. Keep up to date if you'd like at www.majorserieslacrosse.net. In the MLL, we finished in first overall as well with a 19-15 win over Chicago last night. That regular season rapped up with that game, and we now move on to the final four being played in Boston on the weekend of August 23/24. We are slated to play the 4 seed Philly in the first semi final at 12pm EST. We have been hot as of late, winning our last 5 games of the season, while amassing an obscene about of offense. We are shaping up strong at the most important time of the year, so I hope for good things that final weekend in Boston. In the other semi final, Denver will play L.A., both should be great games and for scores you can stay tuned on www.pointstreak.com, for live up to date scores. On a personal note, in Rochester I got moved from midfield to attack five games ago and have been loving every minute of it. I think my game is more suited to playing attack and I have loved the challenge!! In between trying to play as much lax as possible, I also rapped up an extremely busy camp schedule this summer. I spent three weeks with Casey Powell Lacrosse camps in Connecticut, and Cazenovia N.Y. and loved working with all the kids there. I also helped out in Danville, California with Peter Worstell's Be the Best Camp as well as with the Rochester Rattlers camp at the beginning of July. We also just finished the first ever Hybrid lacrosse camp for both field and box in Edmonton, Alberta. Myself and Brodie Merrill ran that camp through Power lacrosse and it went extremely well. It was great to see some old faces as well as many new ones on my journey across N. America helping spread the good word of lacrosse. Next season, I hope to be involved with some new ventures in the California area, and I will let you know when and where those are as soon as I have some confirmation. It has been a busy summer making a living playing lacrosse, and now it is time to work at my game and be the best I can be to help my two teams try and win some championships. Wish me luck, I will keep you all posted. Cheers, Colin Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:53:34 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/304062 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/304062 What's going on? I hope all is well and you've gotten off to a great start of the week! I'm not a huge fan of Monday's, but I'm making the most of it! I've got to get packed up, as I'm going to hop on the road for a bit to end out the summer. I need to pick up Joe Walters from the airport in a few hours, and pretty much spend the rest of the day running errands and working out. Shouldn't be too bad of a day! Then I'm heading to San Fran tomorrow. Well, the weekend went exactly the opposite of what we were hoping. As a team we felt it was important to come in to our final regular season game, play well, and build some momentum heading into the playoffs in two weeks. Unfortunately, we came out a little flat, and San Fran went up by 4 or 5 heading into half time. Every team in this league is packed with talented players, so if your not bringing it for 60 minutes straight, your bound to go down by a few goals at some point. We weren't able to recover from a huge second quarter they put on us. Personally, I wanted to go into the game, shoot it well and get up and down the field and make plays for my team. I was extremely disappointed in my shooting, shot the thing terribly! Got to give credit to Vallone (San Fran goalie), as he made some great saves for them. I felt good out there for sure, in terms of getting up and down the field and playing defense. It's time to work as hard as possible the next two weeks and prepare for the playoffs in Boston on August 23rd. We've got Denver, and it's going to be an exciting and intense game. I can't wait. It's going to be a pretty busy few weeks, but it's all good. Tomorrow I'm heading to San Fran for a few days with Joey to do a few STX clinics. Then Thursday, I'm heading back east to watch my cousin play in the Ocean City lacrosse tournament in MD. My two little cousins Maxx and Mario are like my little brothers, so anytime I get to spend with those cats I take it. Benson Erwin, Joe Walters, Maxx, Mario and I have a place down there for a few days, so it'll be fun. The following week, I'm going to stay in Baltimore with my family and work out hard to prepare myself for the playoffs that weekend. So it's a busy few weeks, but it'll be fun for sure, so I've got no complaints. I was laying around yesterday, turned to HBO and the movie Anger Management (Adam Sandler) was on. I had forgotten how funny that movie is! I'm not sure that movie got the credit it deserved, I definitely don't remember it being as funny as I thought it was yesterday. The part in the car when those two cats were singing had me in tears. Been checking out the Olympics at all? Catch Phelps whilin' out last night? He was fired up, and it was definitely good to see. Haven't seen him show that type of emotion before. That's about all I've got for now, but I'll catch up with you all in a few days, Kyle Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:45:51 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/304035 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/304035 We have a very unique portable LAX net, unlike anything you have seen. Full size, Light yet durable Take a look. www.thebownet.net/lax.php then call if you would like to Review / Test / Beat on or be on an advisory board. Call Jack Lucas Triad Sport Group The Bownet LAX Thousand Oaks, California 805-310-1650 Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:22:54 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302716 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302716 What's good? I apologize for the delay in writing, it's definitely been a busy 11 days or so! I hope all is well and I've definitely got a lot of updates for you. For starters, we beat San Fran last weekend, so we clinched a playoff spot! I couldn't be more excited about the opportunity to head into the post season and have a shot and winning this thing. In my three years in the league with Jersey we were never even close to being in the playoffs, so this is definitely new and exciting for me. We've got our final regular season game this weekend, the following weekend off, and then the very next weekend (23-24), we head to Boston for the playoffs! If you've got some free time, you'll have to check out the games on ESPN and ESPN 2, but I'll update you on that a little closer to the date. The Nike Elite Lacrosse camps last week were the best camps I've ever had the opportunity to be a part of. We had most of the top players from all around the country all on one field working out and competing against each other. We had 4 different locations, and our best talent in my opinion was at Hofstra. Connor English (UVA commit) and Matt White (UVA commit) were two of the better high school players I've ever seen. It was definitely a successful tour and there's no doubt in my mind that the Nike Elite Lacrosse Camp will become the premier camp for our country's top high school lacrosse players to attend. I watched the movie Untraceable last night, anyone ever seen it? It's a pretty dark movie, not too sure I liked it too much. Fired up for the olympics to start tomorrow? I know I am, been waiting for awhile for those to start. I've been digging all of the different promotional commercials that they've been running for the past month or so. I'm pretty fired up because I finally stopped being lazy, went to the store and grabbed a new PSP charger! I left mine in Italy about 4 months ago and I haven't had my PSP to play with on flights since then simply because I kept putting off going to get a new charger! Lazy, I know but I got it back, so hopefully flying will be a little less boring now. Anybody watch that new show Buzzin' on MTV? Those two cats are hilarious and pretty talented as well. Not even going to try and front, I had no idea who they were before the show. And to be honest, I probably wouldn't have even known they had a show, but it comes on after Run's House and you know I get down with Run's House! The new season has been GREAT! Catch it last night? If not, check out how Diggy handles himself in a few meetings. Pretty impressive for a 13 year old. I'm definitely excited to see what this cat comes up with for his clothing line. If it's hot I'll have to make sure to hook up my younger cousins with some of it! That's it for the most part. Just hanging around California this week catching up with everything, or at least trying to. We play our game down in Orange County this weekend which should be exciting. We normally play at the Home Depot Center (Carson), but we're playing in OC at a new venue, as I think we're considering moving down there next year! We'll see how it goes. Well, time to get out and get things going for the day, but I'll get at you soon. Have a great rest of the week, KH Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:04:25 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302476 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/302476 interesting, they have the club sports listed to. I like this site already. So Unlv Lacrosse is officially getting ready for our first season of D1 in the WCLL and with great power comes great resposibility, as such our jerseys next year will look like spiderman. No kidding, but seriously we are hard at work to host two tournaments, and with the addition of new coaching, and a great freshman crop we are looking to have our first season a respectable and productive one. thats it for now, i guess ill use this, but no one will read it, i still think its cool that its here. Tue, 29 Jul 2008 01:44:38 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297304 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297304 What's going on everybody? I hope you guys got off to a good start of the week. My Monday has been pretty crazy and I've got all kinds of stuff to talk about! I'll rewind for a minute and fill you guys in about the weekend first. At our last home game of the season last Saturday, we were able to beat Philly 13-9, which was a HUGE win for our team. We had a very average first half, and were able to pick it up in the second half and grab a W. Jarboe did his thing in goal man, and it was incredible to watch. Watching a goalie get hot is definitely one of the best things to watch in our sport (as long as he's on your team, had a bad experience with a goalie getting hot on the other team in the National Championship game my Sophomore year...). Mickey was seeing everything, and when he's playing like that, it gives the rest of our team so much confidence. Everyone on our team flew around in the second half, and while we made a few mistakes, we definitely played our hardest half of the year. We've got an even bigger game against San Fran this weekend, and I can't wait. Sunday, Greg Bice, Anthony Kelly, Brett Hughes and I hopped on a plane back east to head to Syracuse to run the first ever Nike Elite Lacrosse Camp on Monday. Unfortunately, we had to circle in the air for 2 hours, then ran out of gas and had to stop in Harrisburg before landing for our connection in Philly. I was tempted to be a little annoyed by the stop, but I guess it's better we stopped to get gas, the alternative definitely wouldn't have been that sweet. After a 10 hour trip (that should have been 5 hour trip), we got to Syracuse, had a meeting to prepare for the camp, got some rest, and knocked the camp out of the park today at Syracuse. The kids worked extremely hard, coaching staff was energetic, and it was definitely the best camp I've had the opportunity to be a part of. Having the opportunity to be trained by some of the top trainers around (Doug and Chris Gizzi (Zoneready.net), Jay Dyer(insidelacrosse.com)) and be coached by some of the top players around (Stephen Brooks, Brett Hughes, Anthony Kelly, Greg Bice, etc) is something I was never exposed to as a player. What an incredible opportunity for these players. While there were ton's of talented dudes there, the kid I think has got crazy potential is a kid named Austin Wright. Keep your eyes out for him. Few quick thoughts from the past few days... Anyone watch the USA basketball team play Canada on Friday? I know it was a few days ago, and they've played another game since then, but those cats are looking kinda smooth, and I think we're back.... If you get a chance, pick up the last ESPN the Magazine, there were two articles in there I liked. The article on Freddy Adu was a good one and really gives insight to who he really is (kids been in the spotlight since he was 12). There's another great article on Ryan Sheckler, which gives insight into this cats crazy life (been in the spotlight since he was 6). I enjoyed both articles, definitely helped pass some time on the plane. Grab Time as well and check out the top 100 olympians that will make an impact on August 8th. Anyone see Stepbrothers yet? I'm hoping to catch that sometime in the next few days. I'll be on the road until I head back to San Fran for my game on Saturday afternoon. Tomorrow we're at Hofstra for the NELC, then UVA on Thursday, Hopkins Friday, and then right to the airport to head to San Fran. We're in a pretty ridiculous bus right now driving to Hofstra with reclining chairs, tv's and wireless internet, so I'm not complaining! Anyway, have a great night and I'll get at you in a day or so! KH Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:31:57 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297094 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/297094 At the youth, collegiate, and professional levels, it's clear that the sport of lacrosse has expanded beyond its normal comfort zone in the mid-Atlantic and northeastern United States. Lacrosse is booming at the youth and high school levels nationwide. Major League Lacrosse formalized the Western Conference in 2006. Three GWLL teams made the NCAA tournament this past year. Jacksonville U. is adding a D-I team in the coming years. With all these stars aligning, I did some playing commissioner with a mythical expansion of MLL. Actually, I put this together almost a year ago, before such occurrences as the Philadelphia [sic] Barrage's home-away-from-home season revealed a) potential expansion target cities and b) the harsh reality that they are likely goners from the City of Brotherly Love. I'll address that in the post. But for now. My quite-generous expansion (to 16 teams) and explanations behind the teams I've added. Northern Conference • Boston Cannons • Chicago Machine • Long Island Lizards • Rochester Rattlers Southern Conference • Carolina Crosshairs* • Dallas Barons* • Virginia Militia* • Washington Bayhawks Eastern Conference • Cincinnati Copperheads* • Delaware Riders* • New Jersey Pride • Philadelphia Barrage Western Conference • Denver Outlaws • Los Angeles Riptide • San Francisco Dragons • St. Louis Archers* So my expansion teams: -Carolina Crosshairs: Why Carolina: OK, so a little is because I'm a shameless homer, but it's a spot that MLL has identified, playing a game this year in Cary. The collegiate success of UNC and Duke only adds to the appeal in the area. Why the Crosshairs: Carolina's got a rich military history, ranging from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars to Camp Lejeune and Fort Bragg. Plus the US Marines are a sponsor of MLL. -Dallas Barons: Why Dallas: Another location identified by MLL, who played a gamein Texas Stadium this year. Why the Barons:The obvious tie-in is oil barons, but it works from a nobility standpoint as well. -Virginia Militia: Why Virginia: Specifically Richmond, where my mythical team resides. It's far enough from the Bayhawks in Washington, a growing lacrosse-rich zone, and not far removed from UVA. That said, MLL's match in VA Beach makes the Hampton Roads area an option as well. Why the Militia: A similar military tradition, specifically with militia organization. -Cincinnati Copperheads: Why Cincinnati: Lacrosse is growing in Ohio in general, and a franchise in Cincy could capitalize not only on the home state, but also on Kentucky, which features D-I Bellarmine in the college ranks. Why the Copperheads: Historically, copperheads were northern--including just over the Ohio River--anti-war symathizers to the confederate cause. More appropriately howerver, a copperhead is a bad-ass venomous snake indigenous to the Eastern United States. -Delaware Riders: Why Delaware: I told you I'm a homer! But statriotic motives aside, Delaware is a lacrosse-heavy zone in a state that doesn't currently have any major league teams of its own. Further, with the Bayhawks moving to DC, those in northeastern Maryland were left without a team to call their own--home games in UD's Delaware Stadium could serve this population as well. And with the Barrage on their way out, this team could be the mid-Atlantic's golden boy. In addition to naming the First State, Delaware could double as a reference to the Delaware Valley. Why the Riders: Commemorating Caesar Rodney's famous ride from Dover to Philadelphia to cast the deciding vote that would lead Delaware to vote for American Independence in July of 1776. -St. Louis Archers Why St. Louis: It's a major midwestern metropolis, and another one of the spots identified by MLL. Why the Archers: C'mon. St. Louis. The Arch. Admit it. You love it. As I mentioned, Philly leaving gums up the works a bit with the teams I have slated. No matter--let's bring in the Portland Rippers, repping Rip City, for the northwestern crowd. It'll shake up the division a little, but that can be fixed. Besides. It's all in good fun. Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:38:30 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294077 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/294077 What's good everybody? I hope you all had great weekends. My past 4 days or so have been pretty hectic. Last Thursday, I flew to Denver to play in the All Star game which was a lot of fun as I got to see a lot of my old college teammates and go to play in front of a pretty big crowd. We (West Team) were able to jump out to a pretty big lead and held on to it for the entire game. I think the final score was 31-15, so it was definitely nice to get a W. The past few All Star games I've played in, I didn't take any pictures, so this time, I made sure to bring my camera and get lots of pictures of the experience so one day I'll be able to look back and show my kids! I got some pretty good ones I think, I'll make sure to post a few to get your opinion. All in all, the all star experience was a good one, and Kevin Leveille of the Chicago Machine may very well be the best and most creative player I've ever had the opportunity to watch. After the All Star game, it was off to Chicago to play in a HUGE game on Sunday. We came out playing extremely hard ad got up to an 8-1 lead in the first half, and went into half time at 10-5. Unfortunately, we ended up taking an L in the end 16-13. I'm not sure what happened exactly. Offensively, we struggled to get it going in the second half. I'm extremely disappointed in myself as I needed to be A LOT more aggressive and get things going for my team and I wasn't able to. We've got 3 game left and we need to play our best lacrosse and try and pick up a few wins here and see what happens. It's just frustrating because we definitely should have had a W yesterday in Chicago, but they outplayed us in the second half. That's about it for the most part, I'm back in L.A. which I couldn't be happier about. A full week to work out, shoot, sleep in my own bed and get mentally prepared for our biggest game of the season this Saturday against Philly. Anyone catch the ESPY's? I wanted to watch pretty badly, but instead sat on a flight from chicago with a baby screaming behind me for 3 hours straight, it was awesome... Going to see the new Batman tonight! Can't wait for that and I'm sure I'll have a lot to say about it in the next few days. Check out my man Chazz Woodson jumping over these two kids! I took the picture from kind of far away, but it actually turned out ok! Have a GREAT Monday and I'll get at you all after I see Batman tomorrow. Kyle Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:46:33 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293222 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/293222 The Ohio State Buckeyes already broke the regular season and on-campus records this past year by pairing a lacrosse game with their spring football game; How big could the attendance be when the opponent is Notre Dame, a name Buckeyes fans know from the gridiron? Fri, 18 Jul 2008 14:00:41 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292274 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/292274 Inside Lacrosse is launching another day of rivalry matches, tentatively titled "Day of Rivals", which will pit Army against Navy, and then Johns Hopkins vs. Maryland. The Face Off Classic will still be held, and next year's installment will feature a double-header of Duke vs. Maryland and Johns Hopkins vs. Princeton. Hopkins and Maryland definitely get a lot of exposure from these events, which is great for them, but I'm bummed to not see Syracuse in the mix... Wondering if there were scheduling difficulties, or if the 'Cuse was just tapped out, or if travel costs were prohibitive, or...? If I were Hopkins or Maryland, I might be concerned about the instensity of these match ups and the potential of limping out of two major double headers with injuries, or going 0-2 in some major media spotlight. Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:25:14 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291666 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291666 What's good everyone? Just giving you guys a heads up, the MLL All Star game comes on live on ESPN 2 tonight at 8PM in Denver(10PM back east and 7PM out west)! Check out the game if you've got some free time! I wish I had a bit more time to write more, but we've got all kinds of stuff to do today and I've got to squeeze in some time to get by one of my favorite shoe stores. I'll get at you al after the game, KH Thu, 17 Jul 2008 10:31:29 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291634 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/291634 So I found myself in a conversation about the 2010 Stick rules this weekend and it spurred a new idea in my head. Now just about all the kids that I coach would call me 'old fashion'. For example I'm a huge fan of the 'old school' style straight heads w/ wider faces and low hard mesh pockets with no whip. (If they're good enough for Mark Millon, they're good enough for me) So I got to thinking, major athletic companies like Nike, Adidas, and New Balance put out retro and throwback apparel like shoes, shirts, etc., what if some of the lacrosse companies started to do the same? Hopkins sported some classic 80's uni's this year against Duke and during the 100th meeting of Maryland/Hopkins, both teams wore throwback jersey from their respective team's last national title. So The Jman is hoping to get the ball rolling with some ideas for 'Throwback Equipment' and STX... this one's a freebie for ya. My favorite gloves off all time were the STX Pro22's. Revolutionary mesh palms, a tri-split cuff and the color schemes offered a lot of custom options. They were great!! So Kyle, if you're reading this, feel free to pass this along to the STX higher-ups. I'll be first in line to grab a pair. *The only picture I could find of them is from Ryo's cover shot on IL back in the fall of '99. Which was my first semester of college… almost a decade ago. WOW! Hey, what time is it? Anyone else want to go hit up the Early Bird at the Sizzler? Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:46:09 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290723 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290723 What's good? I hope everyone had a great weekend! Well, we had a GREAT weekend back in L.A.! We were able to play as well as we've played all year and picked up a HUGE W against Denver on Saturday 16-6. I think there were two reasons that we were able to win. Offensively, we had balance. We had huge games from all of our rookies, Kevin, Kevin and Mike, and got great production from Downing (as usual) and Chazz as well. Everyone was involved in the offense. No one cares who gets credit on this team, and when you've got offensive players who are ALL unselfish, your going to generate a lot of opportunities and that's exactly what happened on Saturday. Secondly, I thought we played as hard as we've played all year. Diving after ground balls, diving to get a trail check, riding the ball back numerous times, and staying on doubles and putting the ball on the ground. Our team definitely feeds off of our goalie play and defense. Those guys are fun to watch man when they get going. DJ, Bice, Brett and Mickey set the tone for our team,and when we see them fired up, flying all over the field it makes everyone else play harder. Either way, it was definitely a big win for us, but it's time to forget about that and move on to Chicago this weekend. They're a tough team, so it'll be another big game, but that's why we play right? Other then that, I don't have too much else going on! Run N' Gun camps are over for the summer! It was a VERY successful tour and we want to thank everyone for coming out and support us! We had great kids, a great staff and it was definitely me and Joey's best summer tour yet. We're looking forward to picking our locations for the winter and announcing them in the next few weeks! I'll definitely keep you all updated there. I was fortunate enough to make the All Star tam, so make sure if you've got some free time on Thursday night, check out ESPN 2 and watch the game! It's not often we get to be live on ESPN 2, so it's definitely an exciting event for our sport. Anybody else ridiculously excited for Batman to come out this weekend? I'm fired up for sure. Not exactly sure how I'm going to make time to see if with the All Star game in Denver Thursday, then flying to Chicago Friday morning for our game for the weekend, but I'll make sure cause it's going to be hot! Anybody picked up the new iphone? Thoughts? Thinking about checking that puppy out today. Just heard Entourage is starting back up on September 7th, so I'm all kinds of fired up. I feel like I've been waiting for that show to start back up forever! Anyway, time to get some stuff done, but I'll get at you all soon. KH Mon, 14 Jul 2008 09:08:51 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290122 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/290122 First off this was my first MLL game I've sat through most of the other ones I either missed or just watched the highlights but I digress it was a close game in the begining the Outlaws were just pounded the shots past Vallone then goin into the second half Matt Lalli wizzes one past Jesse Schwartzman then it opens up this onslaught of unexpected goals and I'm sittin home think "what is goin on!?" They had them beat but in the end it was all up to and I quote "The Outlaws have to play 14 seconds of keep away" and thats what they did with a little bit of rough and tough stuff at the end between Brendan Mundorf and Eric Martin but The Outlaws came out on top 10 - 9... Fri, 11 Jul 2008 12:55:26 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289155 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/289155 Nick Myers will be the new head coach of men's lacrosse at Ohio State University. Myers has been an assistant coach at Ohio State and at Butler, and he is said to have been Joe Breschi's desired successor. Inside Lacrosse reports that Colgate's Jim Nagle, Dartmouth coach Bill Wilson, and Navy assistant coach Stan Ross were interviewed for the position. Truth be told, I'm as interested to see who might be "on the market" as I am in who was selected for the Buckeyes' head lax coach position. Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:57:01 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/288915 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/288915 What's good?! I know it's been a little while since my last blog, and I apologize! As usual, been bouncing around all over the place! Our camp in Rochester ended well, and I flew right to Chicago for my game on Sunday! We're continuing to improve every time we step on the field which is exactly what we need to be doing. We were able to grab a tough W over a good Chicago team 18-16. They've got some of the best players in the league on that team, they are definitely fun to watch. With Brooks, both Leveille's, and more, they are a dangerous team. So it was good to be able to go in there, play well and get a W. We've actually got to play then next week as well, so that should be another tough game! We just had our biggest Run N' Gun camp of the summer the past 3 days in Holland Michigan! The kids in Michigan are so excited and eager to learn about this sport, it definitely makes camp a lot of fun to be a part of. We had a GREAT staff with Joe Cinosky (MD/New Jersey Pride), Jeremy Blevins (UMBC Goalie), Dan Groot (MD Middie), Shamel Bratton (UVA Middie), Maxx Davis (UMBC Middie) and Evan Kay (UMBC and STX). We had the camp at Hope College and had an absolute blast. The facility was great, the kids worked hard, the counselors worked hard, and it was a great end to our best summer of camps yet. We're going to start planning some new locations for next summer and this winter, so if you've got any idea for a good location, let us know! It's nice to be back in LA, that's for sure. I slept in my own bed last night which was incredible! Been awhile since I've been able to do that. We've got a HUGE game against Denver this Saturday in L.A., so we're fired up to try and get our first win against those guys this year. They are playing well, so it's going to be difficult, but I'm excited for the challenge. It'll be nice to see my best friend Benson Erwin as well. That's about it for me, nothing else too exciting going on. I saw WANTED, which was entertaining, but not a great movie which I wasn't too thrilled about. Can't wait for the new Batman to come out in a week or so, now that's going to be off the chains! I couldn't sleep on my flight home yesterday, so I started thinking, what's the worst movie you've ever seen and why? I definitely came up with a list of a few that were terrible! Oh yeah, any good new music? My ipod is getting kind of wack...let me know! Well, time for me to get up and get some errands done, but I'll check in again before the day is over. KH Thu, 10 Jul 2008 10:33:08 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/288516 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/288516 Major League Lacrosse has been trying to get lacrosse at the professional level across the nation for everyone to watch and become a fan of the game. Currently with ten teams (six Eastern, four Western), the league wants the sport to spread everywhere so that every kid has a chance in getting interested in playing the game and having fun. The league is focused on adding cities in the west to balance out the number of teams between the conferences. Cities such as Portland, San Diego, Seattle, St. Louis, Cincinnati and Salt Lake City are in process of building a stadium for the franchise to play in. I have ideas of more places to build a franchise in the United States. If we get the expansion teams, then there would be nine teams in the West and seven in the East (16 total). The league would have to find two more teams in the east to balance out the teams again. I think the best places are Raleigh, North Carolina and Detroit or somewhere else in Michigan. Lacrosse is huge or is getting huge in these two places. MLL should also try to change the rule book and make it as similar as possible as the college rulebook. Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:52:23 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/288346 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/288346 Major League Lacrosse has announced the 2008 All-Star teams. See who will be headed to the Mile High City! Mon, 07 Jul 2008 10:38:02 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/286512 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/286512 John Desko not only coached the Syracuse Orange lacrosse team to the national title, he helped the team complete an amazing turn-around in the process, rebounding from a miserable 5-8 in 2007 to a 16-2 record in 2008. The Coach of the Year honors aren't all, though: Desko and the Orange lax team recently visited the White House to celebrate their victory, and just a week later it was announced that Desko will also be inducted into the Greater Syracuse Hall of Fame in October. Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:17:24 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285667 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285667 What's good everybody? It's been another crazy week of camps for me, Joey and the Run N' Gun Staff, but I'm not complaining. I actually really enjoy our Rochester camp because we have it at a great indoor facility that has a full field. The kids don't get as hot, we don't lose balls, and everyone seems to have a lot more fun, so I've got no complaints. Tomorrow will be out last day of camp here for the summer, so we're going to blow it out and end it the right way. Last weekend we had a HUGE win over Rochester. We played easily our best game of the year on both sides of the ball. For the first time all year long we were able to put it ALL together. Had GREAT goalie play, the defense played solid, and offensively we shared the ball and put points up. I think we're finally starting to get comfortable with each other and really trust each other on the field, and we're starting to have some success. But, last weekend is over and now our sites are set on Chicago this Sunday. They've got some momentum right now after a solid win over Denver and they've got some of the most talented players in the league. We've got to focus on coming out, playing our game, and playing as hard as we possibly can on EVERY SINGLE PLAY. We're a work in progress, but it's coming together. I'd say there have definitely been a few high lights of my trip in Rochester so far. For starters, a few days ago, I woke up from a nap after camp and walked down stairs to what everyone else was up to. I walked down to see Maxx Davis killing the guitar, Mike Gvozden (with shades on) killing the base guitar, Matt Casey in a full sweat on the drums and Brett Hughes singing as loud as he possibly could with his shirt off playing Rock Band. Strangely enough, they weren't half bad. Maxx is actually pretty ridiculous (and it annoys me) at the guitar and I'm not sure there are many people that are willing to get as into the singing portion as Brett is. So outside of Mike's wack shades, they actually form a pretty good band. It was definitely entertaining. I tried to record it, and of course, my battery died half way through the first song. Typical. Now, the most entertaining part of the trip so far has DEFINITELY been Mike Gvozdn's performance at dinner last night. Walters took us to a wing spot last night that his Rattlers team is having a wing tasting (or something like that) and they had a karaoke there. Now, I'm not completely sold on Karaoke because I feel like there's no right way to do it. If you get up there and you absolutely kill it and have a great voice and get into it, people are like, why are you trying so hard and taking it so seriously? But if you get up there and are absolutely terrible, people are quick to hate and laugh (which isn't a bad thing). So I've never been a huge fan, but I'll definitely kick back and watch, that's for sure. Anyway, about 45 minutes into dinner, Mike Gvozden decides he needs to hop up on the mic and sing the Backstreets Boys, I Want It That Way. So, I start processing the whole thing. I've known Mike for a few years now, and I'd consider him one of my good friends, and I realized, I've never heard this cat sing before. So I was very curious as to what his voice sounded like, cause his confidence was out of control. I looked across the table at Maxx (whose heard Mike sing playing Rock Band) who was literally in tears laughing saying it was an awful idea. Either way, about a half an hour after putting his name down, that cat was on the Mic doing the WORST rendition of the song EVER. But, what made it great is how confident he was with his awful voice and more importantly that he couldn't have cared less what everyone else in the place thought! For some strange reason everyone was feeling it and singing it with him! For me, it was the hardest I've laughed in a few years. You know that laughter where you can't control it, and then you start coughing a bit and your stomach hurts? Well, that's what was going on. We made a very quick exit immediately after his performance. That's about all I got for now. I've got to go run some errands and get ready to start packing my stuff up to head to Baltimore on Friday! Yes! been awhile since I been back to Bmore and I can't wait! Have a great rest of the week! KH Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:37:57 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285276 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/285276 so we finished up our last game on the 9th and i scored my first ever high school goal. we are a jv team and we were playing a varsity team so we got crushed but it was awsome havin all our fans yellin my name. i scored alot in youth but there were about a quarter of the fans so that was a huge highlight. summer football workouts are tough. you have to lift for at least an hour at 8, go out and do nonstop running at 9, and then i have the honor of riding my bike home. what a blast! jk. go hop!!! Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:20:22 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284866 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284866 The Buffalo Bandits donned mohawk haircuts to go to war with the Portland Lumberjax for the NLL title game which didn't go Orange until it came down to the wire Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:34:03 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284358 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/284358 What's good YB? I hope you guys are doing well! I'm sitting in the Phoenix airport with with Joey and Maxx waiting to take the red eye back east to Rochester for our game this weekend. As I said in my blog earlier this week, we spent the week in AZ doing our third camp of the summer and it was easily the hottest camp I've EVER been a part of! Everyday it was over 105 easily! The kids were great though, never complained and gave amazing effort every night, which is all we could ask for. We're playing Rochester in Rochester this week and this is a HUGE game for our team for sure. We're sitting at 2-3 right now and we definitely need to build some momentum heading into the second half of the season. We get Jesse Hubbard back this weekend (missed last weekend for his wedding), which is huge for us. He's one of our leaders and guy that can completely change a game, so it's nice to get him back. We've to come out and fly around Saturday night, and I think we will. I'm excited and it's going to be a great atmosphere in Roch. Apparently there's a pretty big tournament going on there all day, so I'm sue the attendance of the game will reflect the amount of people in town for the tourney. Not too much else is new with me. Got some hot shoes and picked up a few hot t's in AZ, but that's it. I get to go home to my parents house in Baltimore on July 4th, so I'm pumped up about that! Haven't seen the fam in a few weeks, nor have I been in Baltimore for a good 2 months, so it'll be nice to get back for sure. Anyone catch the European futbol games today? I was all fired up to watch, and fell asleep and miss the whole thing, typical. But I did catch the highlights. Well, time to board this plane, but I'll check in after the game and let you all know how it goes. Have a GREAT Friday and a GREAT weekend, and I'll talk to you soon. KH Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:52:57 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/282837 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/282837 I have no problems with BTB's (behind the backs), underhands, one handers, etc., I think they are great to see and really jazz up the crowd. But I have always had a strict rule with the kids that I coach, they are to be practiced on your own time, NOT in a game. And if you are going to throw one in a game... it better be right on the money. Having said that, kids watch this video, if nothing more than to see John Grant Jr's BTB 'bola' and get inspired. *Special note: Back in the day 'bola' was the nickname for Gary Gait's one armed, underhanded sling shot. It's also a sling style weapon used by the Native Americans for hunting. That's your history lesson for the day. Parents... you're welcome. Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:34:07 -0500 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/282014 http://www.yardbarker.com/author/article/282014