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The NCAA lacrosse champs are from ... Denver

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by jr/shotglass, May 25, 2015.

  1. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    On one hand, I like the idea of Denver winning the NCAA title today, that it helps make a great sport more visible and viable west of the Mississippi.

    On the other hand, I wish the game had been more entertaining for the casual fan -- like, either one of Saturday's semifinals. This one had next to no drama. And Maryland is making quite the habit of coming up soft in national championship games.
     
  2. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    Local boy Wes Berg wins MVP.

    A couple Canadian boys on that team.
     
  3. heyabbott

    heyabbott Well-Known Member

    Do you even lax, bro?
     
  4. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    Bill Tierney leaving Princeton for Denver was sort of like if Mike Krzyzewski had left Duke for the University of Puerto Rico because he wanted to get more kids playing basketball down there.
     
  5. Twirling Time

    Twirling Time Well-Known Member

    Lacrosse is the new soccer!
     
  6. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Yeah, but in terms of a new sport to sell to parents, lacrosse is the new soccer, playing on similar (if not the same) fields, but requiring equipment as expensive as football.

    And lacrosse is hatching as a school-age sport with the club-sport structure fully formed -- if you want to play in HS or college, you pretty much have to dive into the travel team culture by age 12.

    Lacrosse can be fun and interesting to play and watch but I don't see much reason it needs to be boosted in preference to soccer or the diamond sports (or to a lesser extent track and field).
     
  7. heyabbott

    heyabbott Well-Known Member

    As a parent who had 2 kids, daughters, play rec and club lacrosse as kids, one of which played in High School and college club for 4 years, I absolutely prefer it over soccer (biased). Most lacrosse games have between 20 and 30 goals scored combined. It is a fast paced game, its physical (both sexes) and the skills are obvious and fun to watch. Most boys can never play football, basketball is a great fun sport for pickup games at the gym, but unless you are both skilled and tall you'll never really play at anything close to an elite level. Baseball is slow, expensive and needs specialized fields. Baseball skills are the toughest to master so kids, who have alternatives, such as basketball, soccer and lacrosse can migrate to a sport where they can actually succeed more quickly, positive reinforcement works. For girls, lacrosse is a great team sport that requires both skill, quickness and toughness.

    Having done the lax club travel leagues I am constantly amazed how many 12-17 year old girls play this sport. We have gone to tournaments with 20-40 clubs with a team or 2 or 3 at each age level. There are 3000-6000 girls who show up to various tournaments between Long Island and NoVa between the end of June to the beginning of August, playing in godawful heat and humidity, without a boy in sight and play for the love of the game. Yes they are being recruited to play DI, II and III, but most know that any scholarship will be, at best 1/4 of tuition. But go to a club girls lacrosse tournament, and see thousands of girls play a physical, fast sport. Bless you Billy Jean King for making this possible

    Some of the girls are driven to play DI but most are there just to play. I have a friend whose daughter, a high school sophomore, is going to play for a big ACC school, in 3 years because of club, but can't get on the field for her HS team. There are plenty of girls who pass up DII & III recruitment to go to larger schools for the academics and social life and just play club. It was kind of fun watching the women play this year because we had seen most of the East Coast girls play since they were 13 years old.

    The boys game can be expensive for equipment, but for girls, goggles a mouth guard and a stick is all that is needed, and a good stick can last 5 years. The travel is expensive for both.
     
    exmediahack likes this.
  8. 93Devil

    93Devil Well-Known Member

  9. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    Well ... they've been D-I lacrosse for a quarter-century, but I don't know if you could call it a lacrosse hotbed that entire time. They were sort of foundering in the Great Western for a number of years before Tierney's arrival.

    The thing is that after Denver and the Air Force Academy, the next most western Division I program is at Marquette. And after you account for Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State and Detroit Mercy, you can term the other 62 D-I programs eastern seaboard schools.

    And this is bound to change down the line with the rise of high school lax in the west, particularly California.

    Computer Rating
     
  10. Jake_Taylor

    Jake_Taylor Well-Known Member

    Colorado, Colorado State and BYU all have really good club programs. I think in the relatively near future we will have 1 or 2 western conferences. Those three are prime candidates to go Division I along with any number of California schools and Arizona State.
     
  11. JC

    JC Well-Known Member

    I can't stand women's lacrosse. The rules are atrocious.

    These girls are amazing athletes, let them actually play lacrosse.
     
  12. jr/shotglass

    jr/shotglass Well-Known Member

    I could not agree more. Terrible rule adjustments.
     
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