Yardbarker: College Lacrosse

Surfing in the Shallow End

Thu, 28 May 2009 23:28:16 -0500

DCI corps Jersey Surf is making the move this summer from Open Class to World Class. But I learned something on the Field Pass today that I didn't realize: They are still maintaining a Open-Class-esque schedule of touring only on the weekends and primarily regionally, allowing members to be home during the week. As such, they'll be at major regionals such as Murfreesboro, Atlanta, and Allentown, but they'll miss San Antonio.
What's even more interesting is the fact that despite the change in division, it's been stated that they'll maintain an essentially identical rehearsal schedule to last year's Open Class schedule. Will the same regimen that led them to excellence in in Open Class lead to success at the World Class level?

Why there won't be lacrosse in the SEC or Big XII

Tue, 26 May 2009 13:31:15 -0500

As I'm sure I've said before, I think one of the best things that could happen to the sport of lacrosse is expansion, more specifically to schools in the "Big Six"(read: BCS auto-qualifying) conferences. The Big East being in the mix by name this coming season will certainly help matters to that effect; the ACC, of course, is already there but only fields four teams. But as much as I hate to think about it, I think that the SEC and Big XII may never embrace the sport. And for my rationale, I need look no further than the world's most popular sport.

College soccer has fielded an NCAA championship for 50 years now, and several of those have been held in Big XII country. While it's not as big a sport here in the States as it is elsewhere in the world, it's still likely the fourth or fifth sport on the American sports landscape, battling with hockey and NASCAR for the spots behind football, basketball, and baseball. Youth soccer has been turning out stellar (by American standards) athletes for over a generation. It's the premier fall sport for many schools at which football is absent. And yet two of the most major conferences in the country have yet to embrace it by formally fielding teams in men's soccer. No schools in the Big XII field men's soccer teams at all, while two SEC teams--South Carolina and Kentucky--field teams which compete in Conference USA. While I draw the soccer comparison, however, I will note that lacrosse holds one advantage to advancement in these conferences that soccer does not--it doesn't take place during football season.

We know one of the big obstacles to the expansion of lacrosse is Title IX. In the case of most schools, to add men's lacrosse, they'd also have to pick up an additional women's sport, likely women's lacrosse to remain compliant. This would be a significant burden on most programs, as these would be additional expenses that likely wouldn't make revenue. Interestingly enough, if anyone could afford it, it would be the SEC and, to a lesser extent, the Big XII. But those spoils, of course, will go as much as possible back to football, the undisputed champion in the regions of the country represented by both of these conferences.

Zombie Nation

Tue, 26 May 2009 13:31:13 -0500

Zombie Nation, in recent years, has etched its place in the coffers of great sports songs. Nowadays, you're as likely to see fans whipped into a frenzy by it as We Will Rock You or Rock and Roll Pt. II. But none of these should be a substitute for the fight song, at least not on the collegiate level.
So why, then, would Syracuse not bring at least a pep band to the national championship game in one of the most important sports your school fields? I'm watching Cornell play Syracuse in the men's lacrosse national championship game. After each Cornell score, we've heard Cornell's pep band play the fight song (which sounds oddly like "Give My Regards to Broadway"). After each Syracuse score? Zombie Nation over the loudspeaker.
I've ranted about this same sort of thing before, but in this case, it's the national championship game. Several of these players will be headed to the pros after this season, where they'll get plenty of canned music. Why not let them end their college career to the sweet sounds of their own athletic bands?

Transition

Thu, 21 May 2009 15:44:27 -0500

It's one of those times of year that makes a transition in focus for me. As far as the bulk of my attention, I have four major sports seasons a year: (college) football season, (college) basketball season, (college) lacrosse season, and drum corps season. With the final four on this coming Memorial Day weekend, lacrosse is coming to a close, and unfortunately there's several weeks between that end and opening weekend for DCI. Luckily the NBA and NHL playoffs, which have each been pretty exciting up to this point, will tide me over.

The increased awareness of DCI has been due to a few things. Admittedly, one is UMBC's first round exit from the NCAA lacrosse tournament, so while I'm still following that, it's not with nearly the same fervor. The Countdown also helped whet my appetite, as has the fact that the DCI Field Pass podcast has come back for its preseason. I'm already making plans to attend a few shows and I'm toying with the idea of getting the Fan Network to keep me updated. Normally I wouldn't be too keen on paying for content, but there's just so much content and opportunity with fan network, my new laptop, paired with my big screen TV, could make for some prime viewing, and obviously, I can't catch it anywhere else except for a live show. Personally, I think DCI needs a regular TV deal, but I've talked about that already.

But I'm not ready to be done with lacrosse quite yet. Final Four's this weekend and the field looks... well, pretty much like it often has. Cornell, Duke, UVA, and Syracuse have each been in the final four at least once in that last two seasons of play, all but Cornell have advanced to the title game in that span, and UVA and Syracuse hold two of the last three and five of the last seven championships.

I realize I said not long ago I wouldn't mind too terribly if Duke won the national championship. While that may still be true, they are the team I'm rooting for the least ofthe teams remaining. While a Cornell win wouldn't change the landscape of the seven teams who have one all of the NCAA Division I national championships, they at least aren't one of the four who have won each one since 1992. Following them, I'd root for Syracuse out of Big East camaraderie. And although it'd be more of the same, I'd still rather UVA take it than Duke. Old habits die hard, I guess.

To Form a More Perfect Union

Wed, 13 May 2009 08:34:17 -0500

We've known for some time now that 2010 would see a Philadelphia franchise added to the Major League Soccer palette. The team is now one step closer to being tangible: Philadelphia MLS is now the Philadelphia Union. Philadelphia's newest football team has unveiled its name and logo. While my mind first went to labor unions for the blue-collar city, it actually refers to the union that would become the United States of America. Their logo is pretty sharp, in a true soccer style with nods to colonial America and its once capital, Philadelphia.
I'm excited for the team for several reasons. One is because I'm a Philly sports fan and any addition is welcome. I'm a geek for new stadiums, so this is another one I get to check out. But what's more, this "Philadelphia" team is actually located in Chester, which by my statriotic measures, makes them as much a Delaware team as a Philadelphia team. I know being in Delaware County on the Delaware River doesn't exactly count, but the new stadium is roughly equidistant from my childhood home in Wilmington and the rest of the Philly stadiums and arenas on Broad St. What's more, it's only about 15 minutes up the road from where my parents now live in Claymont. So while I'm not a huge soccer fan, I'm excited for this team, which may win the hearts not only of the City of Brotherly Love, but of the First State as well.

It was a nice ride...

Sat, 09 May 2009 21:59:11 -0500

Megan and I headed out this afternoon to watch UMBC play--and ultimately lose to--the UNC Tar Heels in the first round of the NCAA lacrosse tournament. I've spent the season hoping we'd be Foxborough-bound and simultaneously knowing that a first-round exit was entirely possible, especially against a squad like Carolina. Still, I was glad I could make it out and support the team.
We made the drive over from Greensboro with enough time to do a bit of tailgating before heading in to the game. We were pleasantly surprised be the amount of Dawgs there--we had pretty much a whole lot that was ours and it was stacked pretty nicely in black and gold. Thanks to a generous loan from my current employer, I had a UMBC flag flying high on a 20 foot flagpole. I figured since I was tailgating a Baltimore team, the shrimp generously seasoned in Old Bay would be a nice touch, and they did not disappoint. When we made the move to the stadium, it might as well have been a Retrievers home game. As the game wore on, we probably ended up with a pretty even split, but upon arrival, black and gold dominated the stands.
Make no mistake, it was a great game; my team just happened to come out on the wrong end of it. The tale of this game was unfortunately one we've heard so many times before--faceoffs were an issue for the Retrievers, and I'm led to believe, as in all of our other games this season, that a few more draws could have been the difference between an L and a W for us. Our disciplined defense also came into play: That is to say, we may be disciplined to a fault. There was no aggression and as a a result, Billy Bitter and the Carolina attack were able to pick us apart. I hate to play the "what if" game, but what if Bobby Atwell were healthy? What if we had some more prowess at the X? And as much as we all love our first midfield, we really need someone to be able to back them up. By the end of the game, it was clear they were tired, and what should have been fast breaks to the goal instead led to pulling up to conserve energy or catch a breath.
If only I had known the plans of the other UMBC faithful, we would have planned to stick around following the game--while some folks were tailgating before the game, it looked like they were breaking out the main event after the game as we were leaving. Instead, we opted to head out and go to Rita's Water Ice--since there aren't any in our immediate area, we make it a point to hit one whenever we're elsewhere that has them.
We met a couple people who were down doing the Tobacco Road two-step--catching UMBC at UNC at 2:30, and then Navy at Duke at 7:30, a game that's wrapping up as we speak with a Duke drubbing of Navy. Anyone who was pulling for Maryland teams in both contests got themselves disappointed.
I'm going to make a comment that will shock the hell out of anyone that knows me: I would not entirely mind seeing Duke win the national championship. Yeah I said it. More specifically, I would rather see anyone win than the vaunted four (Virginia, Syracuse, Hopkins, Princeton, one of whom has won the championship for over a decade). Duke seems to be among the few teams with a chance at cracking the code, and while you'll never catch me rooting FOR Duke, I wouldn't hate to see them take it.
So the Dawgs are done, but there's still plenty of good lacrosse to be played.

We Are the Champions!

Thu, 07 May 2009 22:32:18 -0500

Not too long ago, I mentioned the Home Depot gift card giveaway the folks over at Tailgating Ideas were doing. Turns out I won! And here's the proof! They even gave the blog here a nice little plug. And he's calling me Mason because one of my internet noms de plume is Mason Dixon.

Unleash the Dawgs

Thu, 07 May 2009 21:45:23 -0500

This weekend, I get to head over to Chapel Hill and see UMBC take on the UNC Tar Heels in the first round NCAA lacrosse tournament. All indications are that it should be a good matchup: While UNC is the better team in the rankings, I'm convinced that when firing on all cylinders, UMBC can play with anyone. It's just a matter of which UMBC team shows up--the one that laid waste to most of the back half of their schedule, or the one that fell to Hartford. The coaching matchup could be telling as well: Zimmerman and Breschi faced off the past few years in a few ways: as UMBC took on Breschi's previous Ohio State squad on the field, and even in competition for the job Breschi now holds.
I'm hoping to break a streak with this game. So far, alma maters of mine are 0-3 in the postseason in North Carolina since I've lived here. USF lost in the Meineke Car Care Bowl to NC State back in 2005, UMBC lost in the first round of the 2008 NCAA basketball tournament to Georgetown, and USF was embarrassed by Wake Forest in the Elite Eight of the NCAA soccer tournament in 2008. Throw in 2007 when I saw UMBC lacrosse in Annapolis fall to Delaware, and my postseason record is pretty abysmal. But damned if I'm letting history keep me away from seeing my team. Expect to see me out early, flying the UMBC flag high and grilling up something with a buncha Old Bay. If I can get someone to bring me down some Natty Boh, I'll definitely get down Baltimore style in Chapel Hill.

Welcome to Chillsville

Tue, 05 May 2009 16:57:59 -0500

So at some point this winter, no doubt obsessed with the prospect of an impending grill season, I signed up for online updates from Johnsonville Brats. As such, I got word via e-mail of their ____ville competition, where they invite you to come up with your own ____ville, pairing a picture of yours with a picture of the product and a slogan. Various prizes are being awarded.

My first instinct was to nerd it up and do something drum corps related (which I kind of did and may still do more seriously) since I've been known to tailgate at DCI events. I went with a picture from tailgating at DCI World Championships, but a more generic message/slogan. Check it out and vote for me!

Gut Check Time

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 23:10:05 -0500

I watched (and by "watched" I mean "kept an eye on game tracker updates) the UMBC-Binghamton game tonight... talk about cardiac canines. We pulled it off after two overtimes, but the Bearcats were close to freeing up a good deal of the coming weekends for me. As the cards continue to fall, chances at an at-large bid get slimmer and slimmer--Villanova just beat Hofstra to guarantee the CAA will be a 2-bid league.
I just watched Chapman vs. Michigan--which I just learned is a reairing--in club lacrosse. After I got over the fact that it was club lacrosse (admittedly, I've got a strong bias towards NCAA DI) and that they had the ESPNU 3rd string in on the game (though Kyle Harrison brought something to the booth), it was enjoyable and something I otherwise wouldn't have caught.

Irony or Justice?

Sat, 25 Apr 2009 14:58:05 -0500

I've mentioned before how Notre Dame lacrosse is incredible underrated--they've ended the regular season at a perfect 13-0 and yet they'll be hard pressed to sniff a top-4 seed in the NCAA tournament without a lot falling their way. I feel for them, because despite a weaker schedule (and in lacrosse a "weaker schedule" isn't like a Mountain West slate vs. an SEC slate, for instance, defeating everyone who was put in front of you is worthy of some consideration.
I'm reminded, however, of how perennially Notre Dame football has been overrated. In the comments on Inside Lacrosse, there's been a good deal of complaining from the Notre Dame faithful. Someone, no doubt tired of the complaints, made a comment of me in the vein of "talk to me when you start giving back all of those undeserved BCS bowls."
To further add to the irony, most of the pro-Notre Dame folks make their case by disparaging Hopkins and their 4-losses. Hopkins, of course, is an independent with an incredible history who often gets the benefit of the doubt. Sound familiar?
There's a lot that could change in these last two weeks before the NCAA tournament. UMBC just beat Vermont soundly, 18-5, to secure the America East regular season championship and a #1 seed and home field for the conference tournament. We need to win it for a sure shot at the tournament, though we still have an outside shot at it should we fall in the AE championship game. It hurts, however, that our strongest win keeps getting weaker, as the Terps ended their season yesterday in the first round of the ACC Tournament of Redundancy Tournament. It puts me in an interesting place. If UMBC wins the AE, I want to see upsets in other conference tournaments and late-season action so some of the smaller leagues get multiple bids. A side effect of this could be keeping the Terps out of the tournament. This isn't a slight at them, but I would like to see less than all four ACC teams make the tournament, and they seem the most likely to draw the short straw. If, however, UMBC should miss out on the AE AQ, I want chalk from all the other conferences to open up as many shots at an at-large as possible. I guess we'll just have to see how this next week or so shapes up...

It's official--I don't get it.

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 00:49:41 -0500

I'm just going to have to come to terms with the fact that I don't understand college lacrosse's media poll. Maybe it's because I spend too much time trying to equate it to basketball or football, or maybe I apply silly things like earth logic, but it seems beyond me.

You may remember that roughly this time last week I was bitching my fool head off because UMBC beat a ranked team and yet fell two spots, from #6 to #8. This week, UMBC gets defeated by an unranked, one win team. It' the proverbial triple threat, it's a loss, it's late in the season, and it's to a weak opponent. Surely the pollsters will take us to the woodshed. So I take a look at the rankings, and what happened?

We fell two spots.

Because, apparently, a win over a top-20 team is about on par with a loss to one win team.

Yeah, I don't get it either.

It's all my fault.

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:05:34 -0500

Logic clearly dictates that my overconfidence in my team has absolutely nothing to do with this Saturday's loss to the Hartford Hawks, but that doesn't mean I don't feel the slightest bit guilty. In my mind and probably in my words, I had UMBC penciled in as the America East champ, finishing the rest of the season undefeated and waiting to see if we earned a seed on Selection Sunday in a few weeks. Surely, after vanquishing the America East's other threat, Albany, last week, this was a done deal. Apparently no one told that to Hartford.

Yesterday's loss changes the landscape significantly. A win would have sewn up the #1 seed and home-field advantage for the Retrievers in the America East tourney. Had we won this game and next week's vs. Vermont, there's a good chance that even with a loss in the AE tourney, we could head to the NCAAs as an at-large. Running the table would have given a reasonable argument for a seed and a home game in the NCAA tournament. Now all wishes of a seed are distant memory and it will likely take an America East championship and the accompanying auto-qualifier to even make the tournament. The Retrievers also missed an important opportunity to jockey for position: Hofstra, who leapfrogged the Dawgs last week, lost to UNC, and their quality win, Princeton, also dropped one to conference foe Cornell. With a win, UMBC could have made a leap forward.

Hartford played like stars after having been abysmal for so long. I'm reminded of 2005 when Army football, coming off of a 0-for-season, snapped their losing streak by defeating Cincinnati and turned around the next week to ruin USF's homecoming. Similarly, Hartford got on the board last week with a win vs. Presbyterian and then took the Dawgs to the woodshed this past week, and while it didn't ruin a homecoming, there was certainly plenty at stake.

UMBC now has the opportunity to clench home field for the AE tourney on national television as they take on Vermont in ESPNU's lacrosse game of the week this Saturday. If they should prevail, the Dawgs will host the America East tournament the following week. While it looks like a seed's out of the question, I'd love to see UMBC clench an advantageous matchup for the tournament. Or, selfishly, a match at UNC or Duke.

How many chances do you get?

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:31:53 -0500

I've ranted before about the trouble with MASN. The reader's digest version is: MASN is the only station that carries O's and Nats games. Most of NC (including my part) is O's and Nats' territory. We don't get MASN. This, combined with blackouts, means there's no way to watch either team.

Well, MASN's attempted to take Time Warner cable to task for this. Time Warner lost. Three times. And they are still trying to continue to appeal, further delaying what all previous levels would lead me to believe is inevitable. I remember being excited back in October or so, thinking we'd have MASN in time for basketball season. Then came January, where I figured surely we'd have it in time for lacrosse. Now baseball's season's back around and guess what? Still no MASN.

I had vitriol prepared for Time Warner because of the broadband metering bull they tried to pull. They since have called off the dogs on that one, but don't think I've forgotten about MASN, Time Waner.

No Respect at all

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 00:46:26 -0500

What follows is actually not the post I intended to write. What I wanted to talk about I may or may not get to in this post, but in my quest for facts for the originally intended post, I came across a fact too noteworthy to ignore: UMBC has fallen in the media poll from #6 to #8. This is after a convincing win over a ranked conference foe in the Albany Great Danes. This, of course, is a travesty and a miscarriage of justice.

OK, to be fair, we weren't exactly dropped, merely leapfrogged. Our point total actually went up from the previous week. The trouble lies in the two teams that leapfrogged us. The issue began with Duke (doesn't it always?) The Blue Devils defeated then #1 UVA. As remiss as I typically am to give them any credit, I've got to hand it to them--they've got UVA's number and have for some time now. The Blue Devils were one of the teams that jumped us. The other team who overtook us is a little harder to follow. With the Wahoos falling, Princeton stepped up to fill the void at #1. The Tigers have one blemish on their record: A defeat at the hands of the Hofstra Pride. It was that Pride squad who overtook the Retrievers, even though their victory this week was a one goal defeat of a Towson squad we beat handily.

Regardless of the numbers, the fact remains: UMBC is hot right now. Consider this: Four lacrosse teams lay claim to all of the Division I national championships since 1992: Hopkins, Syracuse, UVA, and Princeton. Our only two defeats this year came at the hands of current #1 Princeton and Hopkins. For that matter, all of our losses in well over a year have come to one of those four elite squads, adding UVA to end last season and Hopkins last season, our last loss before rattling off an 11 game win streak.

This leads me to the question at hand (and the original topic for this post): Can UMBC attempt a run at a national championship? I hesitate to speak it for fear of jinxing it, but it's been whispered (and louder) in two separate blogs I read, and truthfully, at least the possibility of making it to Foxborough for the Final Four has danced in my head quite a bit. Let's look at a few things:In addition to the aforementioned performance, UMBC has been convincingly winning games it should win: The last four games were 15-7, 13-4, 14-4, and 14-8 over Albany, Binghamton, Towson, and Stony Brook, respectively. Three of those were taking care of business in-conference; one (Albany) was ranked with another (Towson) receiving votes.

One of the best predictors of potential future success is how we get treated by the tournament committee. The biggest imperative is becoming one of the eight seeded teams in the tournament, securing a first round home game. Last year we were snubbed for such a spot and were rewarded with a trip to #2 UVA for our troubles. The committee will take a look at our body of work, which includes a number of quality wins and the aforementioned "good losses" to Princeton and Hopkins. What should also be considered, however, is the fact that the team that played in those two losses isn't the same team the Retrievers are fielding now. Faceoffs were extremely hard to come by in those days, and it seems we have shored things up at the X in games since.

Should UMBC emerge victorious from the first round, the second round game will likely go to a neutral site at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis. Win that, and it's off to Foxborough. The reality is this: Barring epic collapse, we will make the tournament. Once we're in the tournament, 4 wins means a national championship. And I'm convinced that these Dawgs can play with anyone.

Should we make it up to Foxborough, though, I'm inclined to wonder: Will our fans make a decent showing? I was pleased with how we turned out last year for the NCAA tournament in Raleigh. Still, that was several hundred for the most popular tournament in college--and probably all--sports. We'll likely be up against teams who will bring several thousand. And the Final Four isn't until after school is out for the summer, so there may not be the reliable contingent ready to hop a bus, save for the few mighty die-hards.

Luckily, one thing I don't have to worry about: When we debate attendance over on the USF boards, at least in football, it's a topic that has a direct effect on whether or not our team will be invited to future bowl games and the caliber of those games. The only thing that will get us in or keep us out of competition in this one is the merit of the team itself, and that's a group I'm certainly ready to put my faith in.

Four Play

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 16:25:57 -0500

At risk of being excommunicated from the state, I actually didn't say anything regarding the basketball Final Four. I started a post back on Saturday that I ended up running away from; I was killing time waiting for a UNCG club lacrosse game (which was ultimately canceled) and when I got the news of the cancellation, I rushed home to see USF win the WNIT! GO BULLS!!

While certainly any prognostications on the Final Four are moot now, congratulations to the Tar Heels. They beat everyone like a rented mule and allowed all of the sportscasters who dared pick them at the beginning of the year look smart.

The women's Final Four championship game featured two Big East teams, meaning it was a foregone conclusion that Big East teams would win the NCAA and the WNIT. UConn took it to notch a perfect record.

Interesting fact: the biggest rivalry in women's college hoops contains the same names as the biggest rivalry in cheese steak: Pat's and Geno's.

In intercollegiate chess, UMBC defeated archrival UT-Dallas to win the Final Four. And yes, I'm damn proud to be a nerd school alum, thankyouverymuch.

There are two other foursomes that peak my interest this weekend. Washington DC will host the Frozen Four, the final four of collegiate hockey. While I've never attended a school with varsity hockey, the concept intrigues me and it's something I could see myself getting into. As a lacrosse fan, I always feel as though it gets a ton of press as compared to college lacrosse. I don't know if there's any truth to that, or if it's merely perception. But a few reasons why that may be the case, if indeed it is:

Frozen Four is a damn catchy name.
It comes on the heels of the Final Four, so people are still in a bit of a heightened state.
Hockey has a professional league with some history and a substantial following (sorry, MLL).

That said, one thing I was expecting might be an answer didn't ring true. I thought it may be the case that more Big 6 conference schools fielded hockey teams than lacrosse teams. When I went to the numbers to find out if this is correct, I found that a comparable number compete in both across the board. I've misplaced the piece of paper where I was keeping tally, but I believe each sport had 11 teams from the Big 6 conferences, plus Notre Dame, Army, and Navy. The Big XII, SEC, and Pac-10 didn't have teams in either sport. There was also a similar number from division I schools who play FBS football.

The other fabulous foursome of this weekend is the Smartlink Day of Rivals, featuring Army vs. Navy and Johns Hopkins vs. Maryland. I'm loyal to none of the teams there and really just want to see some good lacrosse played, but I could make a case for each.

Army/Navy: On the one hand, I'm a shameless homer, so having attended school in Maryland and visited Baltimore and points south all throughout my childhood, I've seen the "GO NAVY BEAT ARMY" tankers and such docked for as long as I can remember. In addition to being a battle between two service academies, it's a battle between two lacrosse hotbeds--Maryland and New York. So I'm more inclined to say MARYLAND WHAT!! On the flip side however, my younger cousin (who, ironically enough, is from Maryland) is currently in his second year at the United States Military Academy at West Point, so I might have to ride with the Black Knights. If recent history is any indication however, that might not do so much good.

Hopkins/Maryland: I've got reason to pick for and against each of these schools. On the one hand, for me, public will win the public vs. private stance for me everytime. Advantage Maryland. But Baltimore metro vs. DC metro? B-more. Advantage Hopkins. Maryland wins my favor for being the blue collar to Hopkins' blue bloods. It's a push as to whether Maryland being our system mate and "big brother" works for them or against them. I've got friends who are alums of both, so that comes out in the wash as well. And I certainly wouldn't mind seeing either team fall on their face.

But UMBC beat Maryland and lost to Hopkins. A Maryland win is a zero-sum, rock-paper-scissors outsome, as it will mean UMBC beat Maryland beat Hopkins beat UMBC. A Hopkins win, however, would secure their dominance in this here threesome. A loss would hand Hopkins a losing record, which the hater in me can get behind. See, currently at .500, the Blue Jays are currently #9 in both polls. I've ranted about Hopkins' perpetual overratedness before here, but essentially, they are the Notre Dame Football of college lacrosse. They're juggernauts (ok, ND once was), they're independent, command their own contract, and the sun rises and sets from their asses. By corrollary, they are often overrated. Now I don't hate Notre Dame and I don't have Hopkins, nor do I hate the media or fans who often cling to their loins. I give them their due. But that said, it doesn't hurt to see them taken down a peg evey now and again either. So at the risk of alienating one of the few people who might actually be reading this (whatup Katie?), go Terps.

And finally, UMBC plays Albany up in Albany this weekend for the presumptive home court advantage in the America East tournament. It won't be easy. In fact, it'll be a dog fight. Literally. Here's to the dawgs in the black and gold getting back on the road with their heads held high.

Middie U. at Midseason

Thu, 26 Mar 2009 21:26:39 -0500

While I haven't ever said it aloud or even put it in print, I sometimes mentally refer to my alma mater as Middie U. Not unlike Penn State's famed position-based moniker, I tend to think that UMBC's midfield--especially the first line of Wimer, Hopmann, and Poillon--is at the top of their craft. It seems the folks at Inside Lacrosse agree.

After putting Terry Kimener in the first round of the MLL draft last year, the Retrievers quickly reloaded, picking up transfer Peet Poillon from The Ohio State and seeing no drop off in production. With all due respect to our attack, our first midfield is the big show in town, and the guys behind them aren't half bad either.

It's midseason now, and the Dawgs have the America East conference slate and beltway rival Towson remaining on the schedule. We should enter all of the remaining games the season favored, but far be it for me to look games we "should" win in the mouth, especially in conference. I'm a USF football fan; I know better. Still, if we can make our way through the rest of the schedule and finish with just two losses, a feat that will likely include two wins over conferencemate Albany, there could be gold at the end of the rainbow: If IL's Bracketology is to be believed, the Dawgs could be headed to their first ever seed in the NCAA tournament, earning a home game in the first round. I'm not counting my chickens yet, but I sure am hopeful.

Dawg Days of Near Spring

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 23:12:42 -0500

So if my activity here hasn't been enough testament to the fact, today was a big day for the Dawgs in both basketball and lacrosse. Let's start with the good news:

University of Maryland's Best Campus traveled to the University of Maryland's Rough Draft to battle in the state's official team sport. I'm not gonna lie, I was just a little trepidatious about this matchup. For one, the turtles wouldn't be happy facing the prospect of losing to little brother for the third year in a row, so I thought surely they'd bring it. For another, they were the #5 team in the country and much early talk spoke of the road to Foxborough running through College Park.

I had a few other fears that didn't pan out. Tales of Terrapin size were greatly exaggerated. I though surely Will Yeatman and the rest of the Terps attack would consume us with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his arse. With all the talk of their team size, I was expecting a size differential not unlike the NCAA tourney last year when UMBC matched up with Georgetown, but that's not what we were dealing with at all.

I ranted before about our team's black helmets, and I'll go on record again saying I'm not a big fan, though I like them a bit better on our away yellows than our home whites. This is the first UMBC game I've actually gotten to see on TV, but that combined with the pictures I've seen from the season leads me to believe they're here to stay. This wasn't the only new look for the Retrievers, however. In a move reminiscent of USF pulling veteran kicker Delbert Alvarado in favor of freshman Maikon Bonani, putting Justin Radebaugh in at the face-off X seemed to be just what the doctor ordered for our biggest weakness. He took 50% from the X, which is a good deal better than the 9 for 41 we had in the previous two contests, both losses. The prowess at the faceoff position was certainly a key factor to the third consecutive victory over the boys from College Park.

Let me take a moment to tell you how I took in both of today's games. I went to Buffalo Wild Wings in High Point, which was the plan for the lacrosse game before I even knew we were finals for basketball. This morning, I did the Stride 'n' Ride walk for the Muscular Dystrophy Assocation, and I headed off to B-Dubs after that. During the time the two games overlapped (B-ball started at 11, while lax started at noon) I was watching both games, playing trivia, and eating. It was a glorious sensory overload. Towards the end of that time, however, after the basketball game was over and I was still watching lacrosse, it was getting increasingly hard to keep a screen on the lax game. As I've mentioned before, college basketball is a religion in North Carolina, and with Carolina about to play, it was clearly blasphemy to worship a false idol like lacrosse. Luckily our waitress was looking out for us and I was able to keep it on one of the small TVs near us. And you know those commercials for B-Dubs where an entire restaurant full of people are going crazy for a televised game? That was definitely this place as Carolina was playing. I didn't stick around long enough to see the abject disappointment when they lost, though.

On to the basketball game that mattered to me. I had heard tell of the passionate fans at Binghamton, but I must say, they are who we thought they were--the whiteout was impressive, and the crowd looked extremely in it, even with no sound. Obviously, I wish I could have heard, if for no other reason than the Down and Dirty Dawg Band, but there's no doubt in my mind they represented well. And I think I saw a close-up of my bass drum head once before they headed to a commercial break. I've got the game on DVR; I'll have to go back and look.

I was all geared up for a Dawgs win, but I do have to admit we were on borrowed time. We had emerged from a 6 seed and were playing #1. But that didn't scare me, and I was ready for us to go in there and repre-damn-sent. We trailed all game and showed some intensity late, but the Bearcats were too much for us. Congrats, and represent the AE in the tourney. And of course, I'm a proud Dawg as always. GO BIG DAWGS!!

Hard Hat Zone

Sat, 07 Mar 2009 19:55:30 -0500

So perhaps it's my birthright as a USF alum to have an opinion on helmets (you can find several threads on The Bullspen that will support this claim) but I felt compelled to sound off on UMBC's lacrosse lids. This was brought on by the fact that I've never seen us in black helmets before. I'm still not sure how exactly I feel about them, but I do know that they certainly fall behind our gold lids.

Back when the choices I knew about were between our golds and the white helmet, The gold was my favorite--in our home whites, the white on white with black shorts is a little too monochromatic, which I think is the same way I feel about the black helmets. That said, I could see either as a change-of-pace helmet, like the white helmet USF football unveiled at the bowl game this past year, or being used in a white-out or black out situation (with white shorts or black jerseys, respectively.)

We now interrupt this episode of Project Runway to bring you your regularly scheduled sports/marching post...

Case of the X

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 22:11:47 -0500

In a game that very well may have been lost at the faceoff X, UMBC lost at home to Johns Hopkins after going 7-26 in faceoffs. the 14-11 loss puts the Dawgs at 0-7 all-time vs. the Jays. I'm not entirely sure whether I should be dejected at the loss or encouraged that despite the horrible showing at the X, the game was as close as it was.

In my last post, I mentioned the murderer's row that was this week vs. Hopkins and Princeton. Clearly that was me being shortsighted--in the next couple weeks we face the above, followed by at the #6 Terps and at home vs. #17 Ohio State. Remember what I said about the good teams not losing twice in a row? Hopefully we make it out of this week proving we are that good team.

No Better Time to Be a Terp

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 13:51:14 -0500

It was a good weekend to be a Terp fan. The Lady Terps won the ACC, the men's and women's lacrosse teams beat Duke, and the men's basketball team kept their tournament hopes alive by holding on and beating NC State. The men are back to .500 in the ACC with two games left to play before the ACC tourney.

Run Down Hero Highway

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:51:03 -0500

Yardbarker Readers: Join us at the Run Down Hero Highway this Sunday November 16th, to help the soldiers that protect our freedom and to honor all those who have fought for our country. Last Veterans Day, 450 runners gathered to honor a fallen friend and raise $50,000 for the Lead The Way Fund. This year will be bigger and better! We started this run a year ago to remember Jimmy Regan - a true hero was killed in Iraq in 2007. We had the honor of playing lacrosse with Jimmy at Duke. While th...

Memorial Day Plans? In November?

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:04:57 -0500

Interesting note: When I first began this blog, I had no idea it would become largely lacrosse based.

My sources tell me (and by "sources," I mean "insidelacrosse.com") that four stadiums have submitted bids to host the 2010-2012 (I don't know if they get all three years or a portion thereof) NCAA Lacrosse Championships: M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, The Meadowlands outside New York, Gillette Stadium, and Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium in Denver. Put another way, you've got two stadiums in close proximity to lacrosse hotbeds, a third that hosted this past year and will again in 2009, and a city that seems to be the Western answer to all things lacrosse, putting up record numbers in the pro franchises and all in all making a helluva showing. Let's look at the choices:

Baltimore is the easy answer. Arguably the capital of lacrosse, M&T Bank Stadium's location also provides easy access and plenty to do. But with all the quality lacrosse taking place there already, not the least of which is the Konica Minolta Face-Off Classic and the Day of Rivals, might Baltimore get a little... stale?

The Meadowlands seems a promising choice. The new Giants/Jets Stadium will be ready in time for the 2011 and 2012 installments of the NCAA Championships, and it's a prime location geographically. In fact, it's actually surprising that Final Four weekend has not been held there before.

Gillette will have just had the previous two years before this stretch begins, and from what I've heard, the first year of that wasn't all that great.

Denver is an interesting proposition. As I mentioned, the area has recently been lacrosse-mad, showing the MLL's Outlaws much love specifically. As far as being deserving, the city and the stadium most certainly are. Logistics are the only pitfall--all but two Division I lacrosse teams are east of the Mississippi (though the two to the west--Air Force and Denver--are both in Colorado), as are a critical mass of lacrosse fans. Still, it could make an excellent step for expansion of the sport overall, and I'd be willing to give out west a try.

Personally, I would have loved to have seen a slightly more gradual shift--a team outside of the traditional hotbed zones but not clear across the country. Charlotte comes to mind (for purely selfish reasons, I admit) as do Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, or Nashville.

In other news, Eagles fan, Delawarean and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden was at the Linc for last night's Giants-Eagles game. When he was shown in his luxury box on the jumbotron, he was booed mightily by the Philadelphia crowd. Since his opponent Sarah Palin got the same treatment weeks ago by the Flyers fans, I think it's safe to say it's not political... Philly fans just like to boo.

I wrote not long ago about how basketball is the sport that I follow that I'm least likely to keep up with in the off-season. While that may be true, the season is here! I've been doing work in basketball related programming here at UNCG, but I'm certianly keeping a watchful eye on my America East Champion UMBC Retrievers, and I remain hopeful for USF in Heath's 2nd year. More than anything, the good ol' state of North Carolina is aglow with the buzz that only comes with college hoops around here.

SU Men's Lax name captains for upcoming season

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 21:45:31 -0500

As I am looking around on syracuse.com I found this small tid bit from Dave Rahme, who covers the Syracuse lacrosse team. As the lax team is finishing up their fall practices, culminating with a three way scrimmage at Stony Brook on Saturday.

Final Four Weekend

Thu, 22 May 2008 16:00:47 -0500

Only four teams remain, and this weekend in Foxborough--and on ESPN2--promises to be a big one.

NC Central Graduates Duke Accuser

Wed, 21 May 2008 09:10:48 -0500

North Carolina Central University gave Crystal Mangum, the Duke lacrosse accuser, a degree in "police psychology" this past semester. Irony aside, it kind of violates most moral codes. And university specific conduct codes.

Methods to the May-hem

Fri, 09 May 2008 10:24:37 -0500

So on the eve of the NCAA Lacrosse Tournament, before the first face off, before any of my told-you-sos can be rendered invalid and any of my out-in-left-field thoughts can be disproven, I wanted to take a moment to weigh in on what I feel are the injustices of this year's tournament field.

Retrievers best Catamounts, leave conference regular season unscathed

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 13:49:46 -0500

The UMBC Retrievers defeated the Vermont Catamounts 8-6 to raise the winning streak to 9 and remain undefeated in conference play. Last week, the Retrievers seized the regular season championship and with it, the right to host the AE conference tournament this coming week. If UMBC wins the conference tournament as projected, I fail to see how they can be denied one of the 8 seeded spots in the NCAA tournament.

Duke lacrosse captures ACC regular-season crown with blowout win

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 03:11:29 -0500

Visiting Duke blew out Virginia on Saturday, 19-9, to capture their third ACC regular-season title in four years. The second-ranked Blue Devils scored 10 straight goals against the No.3 Cavaliers to end the game. Max Quinzani led Duke with a career-high seven goals. He is now leading the nation with 43 goals. Before Saturday's disaster, Virginia had won eight straight games against Duke at home. I think it's safe to say the Blue Devils got a little payback.

Bad week for Duke

Fri, 22 Feb 2008 13:10:25 -0500

First it was basketball losses to Wake Forest and Miami. Now it's a monster lawsuit from the 2006 men's lacrosse team, which is gang-suing Duke, the Duke Medical System, and most everyone employed by the City of Durham. It's a bad week at Duke. I reviewed the complaint and provide guidance to understanding what the non-accused lacrosse players are suing over.