Stream of Consciouslax

KASEY BURST

Like everything in life there are peaks and valleys, ebbs and flows, highs and lows. It seems like now is a low point in the calendar year for the sport of lacrosse. Summer recruiting has ended. College lacrosse is months away. Even autumn recruiting and college fall ball is still weeks away. Sure, the PLL is still going, but it has taken a backseat to the Olympic games. There isn’t really much to talk about. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I am searching for inspiration. My brain searches for a new and unique topic to fill this week’s blog, as I do each week, but there just doesn’t seem to be that much to write about at the moment. Maybe this time next year, I will be well versed on the league’s playoff scenario, a regular PLL correspondent. But alas, it’s hard to compete with an event that only happens once every four years. I even had to take my attention away from the Olympic games for an hour just so I didn’t forget to watch the season finale of “House of the Dragon,” on Max. Yes, I am a Game of Thrones fan/junkie/nerd. And yes I am sad that my show is over after only 8 weeks, instead of 10, and I will have nothing more to watch for the next 2ish years until the next season airs.

Speaking of the PLL, I heard that the waterdogs got eliminated from playoff contention. I guess I have some feelings about that, but I suppose I should keep them to myself. I think about coaches like Nick Saban, Chip Kelly, and Urban Meyer. They were all undoubtedly outstanding college football coaches, but couldn’t quite figure out how to have the same level of success coaching professional NFL pros. That’s putting it mildly, they struggled in the pros. I wonder if the same could be said about the sport of lacrosse. I wonder if a coach like Bill Tierney has the same issue as the aforementioned, coaching grown professionals as opposed to teens more in need of discipline. Or is it just his first year and we should give him a break? I know that’s probably more than he would give himself. Not saying I could do any better. It is an interesting thought, is all. I think some leadership styles translate to coaching professionals better and others translate more to college age athletes. It’s not a slight. I don’t think it’s any different than saying some coaches make better head coaches and others make better assistant coaches. Will find out with Jim Harbaugh’s second attempt in the NFL this year to see if there is anything to this theory, or if it is all hooey. I know it’s easy to sit here and criticize from the recliner. I like to give coaches at least 4 years in college and 3 years in the pros as the ole ‘benefit of the doubt’ grace period to see what they can do. I was told by a mentor that there are two types of coaches. There are reapers, and there are builders. Builders can take programs from being new, or unsuccessful and build them up. Reapers are coaches that come into a good program, and add to their continuing success. It’s probably easier to be a reaper, but it’s always more rewarding to be a builder, in my opinion.

What else is there to talk about. Let’s, see…..not much. By the way, if there is a topic that anyone wants be to tackle, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment. I know I don’t get a lot of comments, which is fine. It could be anything from X’s and O’s, to recruiting, to coaching, etc. I would love to know what others are interested in reading about.

Ok, still killing time here. Let’s see, tick tock, tick tock. We had a prospect day on campus the other day. We had 48 student athletes on our campus this past Friday. It was a blast. Little muggy outside for a lacrosse camp, but I thought the attitudes and the talent was great. It was fun to have my assistants coach, while I hung in the press box and scouted. I, of course coached a couple drills to show the group the type of practice we run. But it was fun to watch the guys play. We had mostly rising juniors and seniors, but a couple younger guys. We even had a 2028 playing with the big dogs. I think my favorite part of the event was watching him score a goal in the scrimmage portion. He reminded me of myself when I was a kid. I was always the little kid that wanted to play with the older guys. I didn’t care if I got pushed around. I was always competitive and sometimes a little too intense for guys my own age, as I was often reminded by my friends. Some of the kids on my block growing up didn’t share the same enthusiasm for rough housing and tackling games like ‘kill the carrier’ as I did I guess. I enjoyed the challenge of playing with kids that were physically bigger and stronger and trying my best to hang with them. I think there is a lot to learn from playing up a level from time to time. And I definitely believe that is how you ultimately get better and keep improving.

I guess I can close with the Olympic games. I know I touched on this last week, as that was what my last article was mainly about. I wonder what the Olympics will honestly do for the sport of Lacrosse. Obviously, I am just as excited as the next person to see lacrosse sixes played in the Olympics in LA in 2028. But I wonder what impact it will have, and what Lacrosse’s Olympic legacy look like. I don’t think it’s that crazy to say that it will be another medal to add to the total count for the US (if not the gold, then definitely the silver), so it wouldn’t really advance an underserved or underseen nation the way other Olympic sports do. And how much of an audience will it really attract? I know that’s what we all want at the end of the day. That is the slogan anyway, to put the sport of Lacrosse back on the world stage. I think I even said that exact phrase in last week’s blog. And it is true that that is the goal for international competition. But it will it have the desired effect? I hate to sound like a pessimist, but I think it’s a fair point. I am the most casual of sports fans, outside of lacrosse and the NFL for the most part. The odds of me watching sports like water polo, handball, badminton, and beach volleyball in its entirety between now and the next Olympics are very slim. And I like these sports! I enjoy watching track and field, and rugby, and field hockey. But my bandwidth as a consumer revolves around my main priorities, my family, my daughter, my job, and my main interests. It’s hard to cram in more interests, especially those that are seldom seen and far less showcased. So I wonder if that will be the same fate for lacrosse. How many people will be exposed to it? Undoubtedly millions more. And how many of them will become more avid followers of the game as a result of that exposure? That I couldn’t say. But either way, it’s better to be in the show than to be backstage, in my opinion.

As a quick post script, I do think it will be cool to have Lacrosse to be at the Olympics. The best players in the world, and dozens of countries represented on the field for the sport we all love. It will be an experience to see all the story lines, and regardless of fandom or anything like that, how many people will be touched in some way by our game. I was watching the women’s singles badminton semi-finals today, because I actually used to play a lot of badminton in grad school, and admire seeing the sport played at an elite level. The Spanish competitor, Carolina Marin was rolling in the semi-finals. She dominated the first game, and was cruising in the second game looking poise for a fate with a gold medal match. About half way through the second game up by 5 points, she lands awkwardly, clearing tearing her ACL. She tries to continue to play, but after conceding 2 more points, she succumbs to the pain and has no choice but to forfeit. Seeing someone break down like that was beyond tragic. Not only did she have the most agonizing moment in her sports career, and perhaps her life, in front of thousands in attendance but undoubtedly millions more watching at home, me included. Just as a human being, that would be so hard to handle the idea of that taking place. I was tearing up in my chair along with everyone in the arena. That type of moment, though so tragic, is at the same time defining in so many other ways. I think of the competitor form China, and how she must’ve felt. She was getting her butt kicked one minute, and the next is finding herself playing in gold medal match. She was as concerned as the rest of the venue. You could tell she, like any true competitor, did not want to advance in that way. It was a cruel and unbearably emotional occurrence that transcended sports and competition, but resonated with anyone who witnessed it. If I at home felt so much sympathy with someone I have no allegiance towards in a sport that I have passing interest in, then maybe someone could feel something on the same level in 2028. Maybe a moment on the lacrosse field, whether good or bad, could transcend sports, culture, language, and bias for someone, somewhere. I think that’s what the Olympics does. I think there will be so many great stories for lacrosse in LA and if one of those stories touches or impacts just one person sitting at home on the couch, then that could be the best thing our sport does in 2028.

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KASEY BURST
The HC at the University of Dubuque, Kasey brings all things college lacrosse to your inbox.

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