Skeptical Move By MLL

http://blogs.insidelacrosse.com/2008/10/22/brendan-skakandi-adding-lsms-good-for-the-mll-game/

Its kind of curious for Major League Lacrosse to add a player to the roster in not only times of national economic crisis, but after speculation that the MLL would move the Barrage franchise and possibly either the Machine or Pride franchises. Is contraction possible? It would make sense to drop a team from the league if they are suddenly allowing teams to carry an additional player.

I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled to see what happens in the next few months.

MLL Adds Player to Rosters, LSMs

Major League Lacrosse made a few rule changes today. They will allow teams to dress an additional player, which will mostl likely be a Long Stick Middie, since the MLL is allowing four on the field starting in 2009.

Maryland Doesn’t Like Pro Lax

I wanted to revisit my previous posting to fix something which lead to great criticism. Maryland does have lots of lacrosse fans, but they don’t support professional lacrosse very well. Here are my examples:

1. Baltimore Thunder

2. Washington Power

3. Baltimore Bayhawks

All three attempts to host professional teams in Baltimore didn’t go very well, with the exception of the Thunder. The NLL just outgrew the Baltimore Arena and the level that the Thunder management could provide. The Power was a joke because of their location in between Baltimore and DC, not enough fans to support a  team in growing professional league. The Bayhawks could never settle on anything. First, they thought the Gait brothers were too old (in 2001) until they toasted the Bayhawks for the first Steinfeld Cup. Then the Bayhawks used Gary as a player/coach until 2005. That ended messy and Gary stopped playing in the MLL. Now he is playing again in the National Lacrosse League for the Knighthawks and probably for a season or two in the Outdoor NLL league.

I was wrong about Maryland being general lacrosse fans. They support the Final Four everytime it comes to town, and they do a good job showing up for special events (Face-Off Classic, etc). Plus they support Hopkins, Maryland and Navy really well too. For the record, I was a resident in Maryland for six years. I Might not know everything about lacrosse in Maryland, but I have a pretty good idea. I was one of the people going to every NCAA regular season and playoff game I could. I even went to see the Bayhawks a dozen times and the Thunder once, before they moved to Pittsburgh.

Baltimore Washington Annapolis Bayhawks

The Bayhawks are on the move once again. In nine years of Major League Lacrosse the Bayhawks have played in six different “home” venues. Including Homewood Field at Hopkins, M&T Bank (Ravens) Stadium, Unitas Stadium at Towson, Georgetown, George Mason, and USNA.

The move to USNA is in place for 2009 after a successful game last season. The Bayhawks were actually doing alright at GMU, but the team wasn’t doing very well. Plus there was that fiasco with the game that ended in the third quarter in 2008. The Bayhawks will still be “located” in Washington.

Maryland has a great tradition of having great lacrosse players, but does a horrible job at being loyal lacrosse fans. Here’s to Annapolis getting some big crowds. At least its on the way to Ocean City!

Gary Gait Back in Action

http://www.lax.com/stories/2167

http://www.nllinsider.com/2008/10/15/source-gary-gait-trade-official-indoor-and-outdoor-playing-rights-to-rochester/

With the loss of John Grant Jr. the Rochester Rattlers convinced Gary Gait to suit up for them in the upcoming 2009 season. This is great for not only true lacrosse fans who can appreciate Gait’s legacy, but also for Rochester who will get a somewhat watered down version of Gait, but still one of the best lacrosse players and minds ever.

With Gary Gait playing for Rochester, he will be filling the jersey his brother Paul once wore in the 1990s, when I first started watching lacrosse. Having Gary playing again is a good reason to watch the NLL. Another reason? A possible outdoor league by the NLL in 2009.

College Lacrosse Now in Texas

http://www.laxpower.com/laxnews/news.php?story=11714

Just when I thought the poor economy would effect the growth of lacrosse in non-traditional hotbeds, Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas will be adding mens lacrosse to its athletic program in 2010. They will be playing in Division II. This should be a pretty good team right away considering all of the large cities in Texas have pretty good lacrosse leagues (Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio). Having a  varsity college program in your homestate is a good motivator in playing lacrosse in the first place.

Lacrosse Continues to Grow Despite Economy

http://blogs.insidelacrosse.com/2008/10/05/blue-jay-fall-classic/

Even though people are losing money like crazy, lacrosse continues to expand, especially in the college ranks. Lebanon Valley College in Pennsylvania announced they will be fielding mens and womens teams in 2010. This is one of the more recent additions to Division III. Other notable additions include Mt. Saint Mary College in New York, which is starting in 2011, and Otterbein College in Ohio which is starting in 2010. Division II has also added teams more recently. Chestnut Hill in Pennsylvania in 2010, Mercy College in New York in 2010, and Indiana Tech also in 2010.

Most of these new additions are in states with stable lacrosse hotbeds. There haven’t been many suprising additions to college lacrosse as there have been in the past when a college from Florida, Arizona, or Arkansas has started a team, but a least college lacrosse is still growing. I expect it to really explode once the economy is under control.