My topic last week had a more serious tone and was probably too verbose for a first effort. This week's topic will be on the lighter side, and since I am prepping for our first game Wednesday, will be shorter and less researched.
Growing up in Upstate, NY, the game is played a certain way. I'm most definitely a field game purist. I love a beautiful goal off of a "1 more" pass in transition. I love aggressive on-ball defense. I love a good slide and recovery. I admire classic 2-way middies that play both ways and can run the field. And above all, I admire great stick skills in both hands. That is the way I believe the game is meant to be played. It's what I am passionate about. And I understand that some people favor the box game, or Sixes, or whatever. At the end of the day for a young player, whatever keeps a stick in their hand, and stokes their fire to get out and practice their craft is fine with me. But a part of me just doesn't like the way our sport is packaged at its highest level.
Lacrosse these days seems to be the sport without an "identity." Football has the "tough guy" stigma in America. Hockey seems to be the sport for tough guys in the winter. Baseball is revered as "America's Pastime," and will always sit high on that pedestal. Basketball seems to be our nation's "soccer." Very skill oriented and doesn't take a wealthy, elite background to master it. All it takes is a ball and a net. What is Lacrosse? Where does it fit in?
Now growing up, Lacrosse had the mantra of being the "Fastest Game on Two Feet." Very intriguing unofficial slogan. Definitely piqued my interest, as I'm sure it did for many others. The game has gone through many facelifts, to keep that mantra (I remember playing in college with no Shot Clock or stall warning). As specialization was on the rise, the game slowed down. I never saw this as a hindrance, by the way. Again, as a field game purist, and a former defenseman, I can appreciate strategy. International rules allow for long offensive possessions, and after watching the world lacrosse championships last year, though admittedly a much slower version of the game, I didn't find it any less exciting just because the goal total was less. But I digress. The Lacrosse powers that be, felt the game need some juice. Enter the shot clock era. All fine and good. I never thought I would like the idea of a shot clock for our sport (When they adopted the shot clock in basketball in 1954 they thought it would be chaos), but now after coaching in the shot clock era for the last 5ish years, I think the college game is in a great place. Sometimes its not the worst thing to borrow concepts from other sports.
But that wasn't enough for some reason. It just couldn't be. At the game's professional level, we couldn't leave well enough alone. Why are we deliberately packaging a product that so blatantly panders to other more "mainstream" sports in America? If you ever watch a PLL game, look closely and you'll notice a few things. The PLL has a 52 shot clock and a two-point arc. Look familiar to you? In addition to basketball, we've also "borrowed" some traits from hockey. You'll notice it's not "man up" anymore but a "power play." What else can we get away with ripping off? Have you noticed the walk out onto the field side by side with the opponents and often times kids? Kinda looks like European soccer in the premier league. Even the cut and style of the jerseys resemble more of a soccer fit than a traditional lacrosse uniform. Even the names all have "LC" at the end, which is a nod to soccer, referring to their squad as a "club" rather than a "team." Hey, you haven't mentioned football yet? Oh yea, let's see. Well, there's challenge flags and video replay now. Also, the mic'd up helmets, though not used for quite the same thing, have been a staple in professional football for decades. It's almost shameless at this point.
I'm not saying all these things are inherently bad, or even bad for the game necessarily. I am in favor of video replay. I think we all should be after seeing how Penn State lost to Duke last year in the national semi's. I play with a shot clock in college, so no qualms there. Maybe "powerplay" is just more inclusive language than "man up/man down." That's not a bad thing. The walk out with kids is probably a good thing as well, I'm very pro "kids getting a chance to meet their heroes" kind of thing. What about LC's and 2-poin arcs? I can take em or leave em. So what's the big deal?
I understand lacrosse is such an amazing sport because of the skills needed to play it. You have to be able to run, shoot, pass, catch, hit, defend, etc. It's an amalgam of other field sports (as PLL co-founder Paul Rabil loves to continuously point out). I think any fan of the game, or anyone who has ever watched a game in its entirety can figure that out. But the reason I fell in love with the sport when I was a kid was because of how different it was. There are many "goal" sports, but lacrosse was different. I loved the things about the game that made it unique. But if we continue to package this sport to a mainstream audience using all these other "generic sports" references, we lose our uniqueness, we lose our identity. And if I have to hear "they are going into their 10-man ride, it's the lacrosse equivalent of a full-court press" one more time, I'm going to lose my mind. It's like what we were all told when we were kids, "just be yourself."
I'm sure there are good, well-thought-out reasons for doing what they are doing in the PLL. I'm sure most of those reasons have to do with money, and markets, and audiences, etc. I won't sit here and pretend that I have to first clue how to build a professional sports league. But I choose to believe that if you are unique and special, and not trying to be like every other, more recognized sports in this country, people will come to you. They'll want to watch lacrosse when it's not football season. They'll want a break from baseball games in the summer. We gotta start giving the casual sports fan more credit, instead of shamelessly pandering to an audience that we don't trust enough to believe what they are witnessing is a good product worth watching all on its own. But that's another problem with our sport. In a desperate attempt to try and grab more spotlight from "the big 4," we have given the audience we so crave too many options. If you are a person and you've never watched lacrosse before, you might turn on your TV and see an early season Division I game on ESPN+. You decide you like what you saw so much that you searched lacrosse on your smart TV and clicked on another game, but this time it is a National Indoor League game. That would look quite different. The next time you click on PLL super sixes. Then the next time could be the world games with international rules, or a PLL game, or the Olympics. If I am a sport desperate for some attention and trying to grow a fan base, how am I supposed to explain this massive identity crisis. People will have no clue what they are supposed to be watching. What is the real version? What is the best version? Will the real lacrosse please stand up?
And again, I know it seems like I'm just picking on the game at this point. I understand that every sport has different rules. College Basketball has halves and NBA has quarters. There are multiple professional football leagues and different versions of the game with different sets of rules, like arena football. Every game has different international rules as well. The difference is that these sports have had established professional leagues for a very long time, and other versions spawned from that. Lacrosse has had a pro field league for a shade over 2 decades and to say it is "established" would be a stretch. And for the record, I am pro sixes in the Olympics. I wasn't at first but reps from the FIL explained at our coaches convention that sixes will be used internationally because it will be easier for other developing nations to field a roster and compete, which I am a proponent of. But in my heart, I will always be a stubborn field-game purist. I really don't care for the box game, though I know it has its place (NLL has actually been around since 1986 making it Lacrosse's oldest pro league), and though I support sixes for Olympic growth, I don't think it's as good.
At the end of the day, I genuinely support the efforts of the PLL. I know guys that played professionally for years and saw how hard they worked, and how seriously they took being a professional athlete. My wife and I went to some games in the Twin Cities a couple years ago and had a great time. I think they will continue to grow and expand, and as a proponent of growth for the game, I think they are a huge driving factor. But I just hope we continue to be us, and not try to be like something else. And I do worry. Especially when discussing getting rid of the faceoff, we'd be more like basketball than ever. As a purist, that is one part of the game that is so unique compared to other sports. I know speed is king, but I really don't think the faceoff takes away from that. When I watch college football, and a team runs tempo in the 2-minute offense, no one cares that it takes 40 seconds to kick the extra point. Speed will be there; pace of play is in between the lines. If high scoring is what the game wants, then leave middies on and push the tempo. If you have an elite faceoff guy, you will manufacture more shots, and score more goals. It's as simple as that. So, I hope the PLL will continue to figure out who they are and where they fit in among the other pro leagues in America. Hopefully, they can do enough to grab the attention of the casual sports guy/gal sitting on the couch, surfing for something to watch. But no matter what the PLL does, how they market themselves, even with the best players in the world, they still won't be the best version of the sport. That distinction goes to NCAA Division I college Lacrosse, played on Memorial Day Weekend.
KASEY BURST
The HC at the University of Dubuque, Kasey brings all things college lacrosse to your inbox.
Couldn't agree more! The PLL is trying to invent something they think will engage more casual fans but it risks loosing the current fan base in doing so. They also need to look at their off-field vision as it feels like they are trying to cater to lax bros in their 20's& 30's just wanting to party while also panning the stands for young fans. It all feels very disjointed and scattered.