I can't believe this isn't April Fool's...

http://www.hemplax.com/index.php

I would like to see a stick actually strung up with this "mesh" and hear a review of how it works.
Hemplax man, send me a stringing kit and I will review it for you and get your name out there if it is a decent product or better.

That is all.

April Fool's Day - we get it.

April Fool's Day is over. Over in the sense that few are fooled anymore because everyone is so darn clever and snarky. People still try though and sometimes it pays off. In response to the recent season cancellations and suspensions www.lacrosseallstars.com has provided us with this post to lighten the mood: http://www.lacrosseallstars.com/blog/2009/4/1/breaking-news-uc-santa-cruz-banana-slugs-forfeit-season.html

from the SuperFans' mouths

Re: Bates at Tufts

my secret source says, "Tufts 22 bates 3. $%#!ing beatdown. Probably one of the biggest margins in nescac in a long time"

I would have to agree with my source without even seeing the game... 22-3 is never pretty!

Tufts is looking like a real contender as they beat the teams they should and murder everyone else.

Priorities... get em straight or face the music!

On the field, it has been an interesting year to say the least, but there is an interesting non-playing trend afoot and it is more disturbing than anything.

Lacrosse players have always been regarded as party-animals and wild-children/men/man-children but the day has come where that behavior absolutely needs to be modified. Colleges have made that clear this year with a number of season cancellations, firings and suspensions. Now, I don't miss the days where college administrators looked the other way for athletes, especially since the preferential treatment got SO out of hand in many sports [Division 1 football and basketball in particular] but I could see how a lot of people would be surprised. The surprise comes from the change inherent in years of people looking the other way and now refusing to do so.

College lacrosse players and college athletes in general need to realize this and make a declaration about why they are at school in the first place. Is it to play sports, skip class and drink all day? My advice to you would be to drop out. Is it to get a good education, grow as an individual and play a little lax? My advice there is to keep at it because you have it nailed! I personally tried to be the latter but feel like most people regarded me as the former. So as a former meat head drunk I can honestly say I made the wrong decisions and should have focused on my academics and growth as a person much more than I did. I probably could have drank a lot less too.

Arizona State's club lacrosse team had its season cancelled. Denver just kicked 3 kids off of their D1 team [for reasons unknown at this time] Ursinus' coaching staff was fired and Curry has now cancelled the rest of their season. Some of these penalties were levied for reasons beyond just drinking but it all plays into the commitment needed to be a college athlete. Not everyone can handle the responsibility and that is becoming more clear every single day. However, don't expect the rules to bend for you because you're a jock since it looks like they are being enforced more strictly... and I believe that is a good and much needed change.

PotD - mascots and ascots.

Random thoughts on lax fashion and function

The weekend has come to a close and there is always subject matter to discuss beyond the weekend review of games.

1)Western New England College has no, I repeat, NO stickers on their helmets. I find this odd as few other teams go this route but I must say it looks good and helps keep costs down. I'm sure that is what they do it.

2)UVM and Lehigh got new helmets. Both are HUGE improvements over the ugly buckets they were wearing before. Lehigh's uniforms in general are pretty awesome when you consider the colors they have to work with: Brown, gold and white. The Gold face masks are particularly sweet.

3)CW Post has awesome uniforms. They also have some great lime green dyed stick on the squad as well as some other groundbreaking dye jobs. leave it to the LI boys to keep coming up with interesting stuff. I usually don't call people out on ridiculous behaviour and it could be said that I encourage it but one thing I do not encourage is painting your entire face to look like Lattimer from The Program. CW Post FoGo #16, I'm looking at you. shockingly poor.

4)the last point I will make is that when I look through pictures of Duke games, I see Max Quinzani [and others, but he is the most high profile] thumbing the head of their stick. It is illegal for any part of the hand to touch the plastic yet #8 gets away with it non-stop. Either the refs need to start calling this or the NCAA should remove the rule. What was the point of getting rid of draw strings when you won't call thumbing? I expect this to be resolved in typical NCAA fashion... meaning in 4-5 years.

Wednesday recap!

Here is a little midweek food for thought:

-OWU looks like the class of the NCAC this year but they just lost to Gettysburg who lost to Stevenson and Cortland last week. I'm not a huge fan of comparative scoring but this does lead me to believe that there will be outrage if 3 NCAC teams make the tourney and deserving others are left out. The NCAC is good lacrosse but clearly not a conference putting forth teams in contention for the NC. Dickinson beat Kenyon by 1 and Dickinson isn't even on most people's Centennial radar.

-Bryant has shown that they have really arrived on the D1 lax scene. They lost to Loyola this week but kept it competitive. Any time you can play a top 20 team to a 15-11 loss in your first year is a good sign. Pressler will stick around for a while and Greer only went 2g, 1a so the future looks bright for the Bulldogs.

-Albany beat Umass yesterday. The Danes are up and down this year as are the Minutemen. Umass could put together a run at the end on the back of Connolly but even with the win yesterday, I still think Albany is a year away at least.

-UVA kept rolling as they easily bested the Catamounts of Vermont. UVA is clearly a top contender but what is going on with Ryan Curtis' UVM squad and its small roster? 20-something guys won't get you wins at the Division One level. As stupid as this may sound, I believe the problems start with their mascot. Question: what is the only difference between a catamount and a cougar? Answer: the prior is the mascot for Universitas Viridis Montis, the latter is not. Now is it silly to have two names for one cat?

side note: my uncle used to skate around the rink at intermission for UVM hockey games wearing the old Cat suit. Back then he was called Charlie, now they call him Rally. The latter is a step down considering it isn't even an alliteration. Also Rally connotes that the team is already losing. Is that really the attitude you want, UVM? Both of my parents went there so I would desperately love to see them succeed.

Chapman's uniforms - SWEET.

Check out Chapman's Uniforms with the link below.. I dare you:

http://laxmagazine.com/multimedia/photos/2008-09/030209_michiganchapman_dirkdewachter

proof that horizontal stripes don't always make you look fat.

You know Lacrosse is booming when...

British soccer articles even mention the sport. Lacrosse is still a relative unknown in England compared to Rugby or even American Football yet Henry Winter decided to include a lacrosse reference to highlight the physical nature of one player's actions:

"Chelsea had known they would not have it all their own way in midfield when little Mauro Camoranesi began flying into challenges, flattening Ashley Cole and Michael Ballack in quick succession. With a short ponytail straight out of St Trinian’s, Camoranesi needed only a lacrosse stick to complete the image."

St. Trinian's is a made-up private school for girls in the UK. Evidently, they play lacrosse, are violent, spoiled and cheat like crazy. Basically, this writer is calling Camoranesi a lacrosse playing girl, which must be a compliment since in actuality, he is a soccer playing man.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/leagues/premierleague/chelsea/4807014/Chelsea-striker-Didier-Drogba-repays-Guus-Hiddinks-faith.html

MUSIC! why not?

Below you can find what I have been listening to lately. Does this have anything to do with lacrosse? Not really, unless you want to make a sweet, sweet warm-up tape and you're a risk taker. Here is the list:

Eagles of Death Metal - Cherry cola
Yelle - Je veux te voir [trust me, it is awesome]
The Ting Tings - We started nothing
The Presets - Yippiyo-ay
Le Tigre - Deceptacon
The Dandy Warhols - Minnesoter
Daft Punk - High life
Buju Banton - 6 million ways to die
Hot Chip - Over and over
Spoon - Jonathon Fisk
The Sounds - Hurt you