Yardbarker: TheJman

Retro/Throwback... Equipment?

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:46:09 -0500

So I found myself in a conversation about the 2010 Stick rules this weekend and it spurred a new idea in my head. Now just about all the kids that I coach would call me 'old fashion'. For example I'm a huge fan of the 'old school' style straight heads w/ wider faces and low hard mesh pockets with no whip. (If they're good enough for Mark Millon, they're good enough for me) So I got to thinking, major athletic companies like Nike, Adidas, and New Balance put out retro and throwback apparel like shoes, shirts, etc., what if some of the lacrosse companies started to do the same? Hopkins sported some classic 80's uni's this year against Duke and during the 100th meeting of Maryland/Hopkins, both teams wore throwback jersey from their respective team's last national title. So The Jman is hoping to get the ball rolling with some ideas for 'Throwback Equipment' and STX... this one's a freebie for ya. My favorite gloves off all time were the STX Pro22's. Revolutionary mesh palms, a tri-split cuff and the color schemes offered a lot of custom options. They were great!! So Kyle, if you're reading this, feel free to pass this along to the STX higher-ups. I'll be first in line to grab a pair. *The only picture I could find of them is from Ryo's cover shot on IL back in the fall of '99. Which was my first semester of college… almost a decade ago. WOW! Hey, what time is it? Anyone else want to go hit up the Early Bird at the Sizzler?

Flash and Flair

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:34:07 -0500

I have no problems with BTB's (behind the backs), underhands, one handers, etc., I think they are great to see and really jazz up the crowd. But I have always had a strict rule with the kids that I coach, they are to be practiced on your own time, NOT in a game. And if you are going to throw one in a game... it better be right on the money. Having said that, kids watch this video, if nothing more than to see John Grant Jr's BTB 'bola' and get inspired. *Special note: Back in the day 'bola' was the nickname for Gary Gait's one armed, underhanded sling shot. It's also a sling style weapon used by the Native Americans for hunting. That's your history lesson for the day. Parents... you're welcome.

Denver: Day 3/4 (Sat/Sun)

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 13:21:55 -0500

What's going on everyone? Yes, I know that this post is a week late, but things got really busy in Denver and when I got back to the real world, factor in all the other things: work, wife, dog, house, bills, etc. and the life of a grown up gets pretty hectic. But things are getting back to the normal flow and I wanted to get the wrap up of the Denver Camp posted and catch up with the Yard. Saturday: First game was at 9:15am, so we got everyone up and down stairs for a good breakfast. It was going to be a long day (4 games) and I wanted to make sure the guys would have enough energy to get through them. Loaded up on the hotel bus and rolled over the fields. Even if you get a number of good practices prior to a tournament, you never really know what the team's pre-game dynamic is going to be until you get there. For a lot of these kids, this is the first time they've been to a tournament like this, so I try to keep a closer watch on them at the start(ie: helping them run through stretches and line drills until they become self managing) and let the group identity develop itself as the games go on. We got through the morning 1-1 with a loss to a VERY ATHLETIC Chicago Select team. These kids are big and they can run. You'll definitely be seeing some of these kids names on some big time rosters in a few years. We split the afternoon, 1-1, as well; a 2 goal loss to MegaLax out of Anne Arundel Country and a hard fought win over local Arapahoe. Come day's end, Texas was being well represented with 10 players from the representative teams making All-Star selection, including Trilogy's own Sam Jones. After the games, it was back to the hotel for a quick shower and whatever food we could grab before heading out to INVESCO to watch the Outlaws/Dragons game. Big shout out to Matt Brown for putting up a very impressive 4 goals. Of course the Trilogy boys were saddened to see Hunter Lochte still sidelined by injury. Get well bro. *Colgate alum, Matt Lalli, was also very impressive, dang that kid is tall.* We cut out of the game a little early, both the wife and I were hungry and after being in the sun all day I was getting a pretty altitude headache. So we swung by TGIFridays for some take out and headed back to the hotel to get some rest. Sunday: Of course we draw the 8am game on Day 2, so we got everyone up bright and early and out onto the field to get the kinks out. As stated earlier, I like to let the pre-game routine develop naturally as the team gets a few games under their belt. By Sunday morning, out "pre-game" routine had become Logan, one of our dpoles, doing his best Ozone from "Break' in" impression walking around with his portable IPod player on his shoulder and telling Chuck Norris jokes. They'd wait until about 5 minutes before game time, get geared up and run out onto the field. Not exactly the most preferred course, but hey, whatever works right? We dropped both our Sunday games, one being to a very impressive NorCal All-star team made up predominantly of St Ignatius and Bellermine players. Very well organized and great stick skills. But despite the losses and our unorthodox warm up style, I think we played our best ball in those games. Besides, they had a good time and that's part of the reason we're here, right? The majority of the team headed back to Austin on Sunday night, so we went to dinner with the players/parents who weren't leaving until Monday and relaxed at the hotel. Now I'm 27, well over the legal age and I cut the alcohol during the season/tournaments/etc., can't hold the players to it if I don't honor it myself. But after two days in the sun, it's nice to grab a beer and a good burger. Monday: We slept in on Monday morning and check out of the hotel around 10am. We didn't have to turn in the rental car until 1:45, and with half a tank of gas that was already paid for we decided to drive around Denver. First, Highway 470 is severely lacking adequate speed limit signs. Second, Trooper Faulkner was blatantly hitting on me... right in front of the wife. High-five for only getting a warning! Third, if you ever find yourself looking for a scenic drive around Denver, take 74 through Evergreen to Golden. It's beautiful, and according to Trooper Faulkner, stop in Morrison to get the best margaritas in Denver. Caught the 3:45pm flight to Austin, met the mother-in-law whom had picked up our dog from boarding (http://dogboys.com/), back to the casa, shower and in bed. Hell, I got work in the morning. As much as these trips can take out of you, I've never gotten home and not been glad that we got to go. We're headed to Tri-State next month and I'll be posting more of our travel antics. Until then, keep your head on a swivel and I'll see you on the field. -Jman

Keep your eyes up

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:38:41 -0500

Let this be a lesson to all you spectators out there. The only safe person at a game is the ball carrier. Everyone else is fair game. During a Hero's summer league game some years ago, a woman was standing behind a goal with her back to the field... worst part was that she was holding a baby. Someone pulled a shot over the cage... SMACK! Right in the back. Luckily some guy was swift enough to grab the baby out of her hands before the collapsed and dropped the kid. Gotta keep your head on a swivel.

Denver: Day 2 Friday

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 00:16:05 -0500

So after a good nights rest, got up this morning around 815am. We got packed and went to meet up with some parents/players that had also arrived last night for breakfast. We ended up at the Egg Shell, again, as no one else had been there and I'm totally that guy who finds what he likes and just sticks with it. I had the potato pancakes and the wife had the Florentine omelette, no complaints here. Being that Denver is like 100 yards from the sun, we went back to the Sports Authority and bought pop up tents for the players to use during the tournament. Yes we're from Texas and yes it's really hot there, but this is a completely different environment and anything that we can do to help is worth it. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the hotel checking in with the rest of the players/parents who flew in this morning. DU had a team clinic at the Dick's Sporting Goods Park. The facility is great. A mix of turf and natural grass fields, lights all around and a fantastic view. A number of the college coaches who are here to scouting spent time working with the players and it gave the teams the chance to scope out the competition. I met a number of the college coaches and even got a photo with Jake Reed, who's here with his son and the Baltimore Crabs. I also ran into John Svec, Loyola '01. He graduated from Broadneck and our parents have been friends for years, his sister and her husband even lived next door to my parents for a while. He spent the last few years coaching under Scott Marr at Albany but has recently made the move to Hobart. After the clinic we all travelled back to the hotel, cleaned up and grabbed a light dinner. We had a team meeting at 9am to pass out jerseys and go over the schedule for tomorrow. Four games with the first at 915am. One last glass of water and it's time for bed. Get some rest, got a lot of lacrosse tomorrow. I'll see you on the field.

Info and Eye-Candy

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:25:00 -0500

It's no secret that Inside Lacrosse has made some big moves over the past year. One of which is a huge jump in the amount of time they got on ESPN. And in following suit, IL.tv brings us Kelly Berger, lacrosse's Erin Andrews. Now don't get it twisted, she's not just another pretty face. The JMU grad was an All-American, CAA Player of the Year, MVP of the North/South game and a Tewaaraton Finalist. So she knows the game and she's got the resume to back it up. And yes, captain obvious, she's easy on the eyes. But slow your roll before making any "ungentlemanly" comments, she's also the little sis of Long Island Midfielder and MLL All Star Stephen Berger. So something tells me she knows how to hold her own with guys. It's not that I don't enjoy Quint's plaid shirt and polka dot tie mix or Terry Foy's "Uh.. Um... Uh..." fests, but change is good for the soul and IL seems to be headed in the right direction. Perhaps in the near future, we'll see Kelly and Jon Brand reviving Toyota Lacrosse Weekly. This has been The Jman reporting live and now back to you in the studio... *You can see Kelly on IL.tv http://tv.insidelacrosse.com/index.cfm?video=921 http://tv.insidelacrosse.com/index.cfm?video=911

Denver: Day 1 Thursday

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:55:47 -0500

The wife and I have never been to Denver so we decided to go up a day early so we could see the town before the rest of the players/parents got in. Up at 4:14am, out the door at 5 and we were on the first Denver flight out of Austin at 6:35am. Big shout out to my mother in law for driving us to the airport at such an ungodly hour, and with the travel and time change, arrived safely around 8am Denver time. The Denver Airport is probably the nicest airport I've ever been in, really easy to get around and the bus/tram system is pretty slick. We picked up the rental car, a cream white "PT Loser" and headed into town. The mountain scenery is amazing and I swear that I already feel healthier breathing the clean air. So far no issues with the altitude, but of course I'm not playing this weekend. We had a prep camp this week for the team and stressed the important of preparing for this weekend. Very few of the kids have ever been to Denver let alone played in this kind of environment. Time will tell who was listening. Per a friends recommendation, we stopped at The Egg Shell in Cherry Creek for a late breakfast (be sure to try the Granola French Toast) before heading over to the University of Denver to see the campus. We met up with two friends, Matt Brown and Bart Sullivan, at the DU Lacrosse Camp. They gave us a tour of the athletic facilities and introduced us to Coach Munro. We also go to meet some of the other Denver local coaches who'll have their teams at the tournament this weekend, Regis Jesuit, Cherry Creek, Kend-Denver. If you check out the lastest Inside Lacrosse, there's and article discussing the growth of lacrosse in the west. After talking with these coaches, it's easy to see why. The DU Athletic Dept. is top notch! The Ritchie Center houses their ice rink, basketball court and olympic size swim center. Brownie also explained their plan to expand the center and build a new soccer facility to mirror their already impressive lacrosse stadium. The school campus is incredible, the flora/fawna and the mountain view are like nothing I've ever seen. After our visit, I needed to buy a new pair of running shoes as well as a few other odds and ends, so we headed out for some quick shopping. We stopped in the gigantic Sports Authority store in Cherry Creek, holy crap is it massive. I must say, after seeing all the ads they've plastered in Inside Lacrosse... looks like the same old third rate lacrosse section as before. But that's just me thinking out loud. We grabbed some snacks and an Orange Julius and headed out. We drove around Denver a little more and finally settled down for a well deserved nap around 4pm. We grabbed dinner in and are getting rested up for all the on goings this weekend. Tomorrow is going to be a long day as the players/parents are coming in at all hours of the day and DU has some pre tournament clinic stuff planned for the players and coaches. I'm going to get another glass of water down (gotta stay hydrated) and get a shower. Check back then and I'll see you on the field.

Trilogy Summer Select

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:50:07 -0500

What's up, Barkers? The Jman has been off the radar for a while. Per my last post, my laptop crashed so I couldn't finish my picks for the NCAA's (which I would have only posted 50% on anyways), but luckily I have AppleCare and I'm back up and running. So the exhaustive heat and the lightened morning traffic help to signal the start of the Texas summer. The last two summers I've been fortunate enough to work with Trilogy Lacrosse (www.trilogylacrosse.com) coaching a high school select team out of Austin. It's a great program that helps players from Central Texas get exposure to top rated competition and the college recruiting process by traveling to select tournaments closer to the more traditional lacrosse hotbeds. Last year we took a 10 day trip and went to the Summer Sizzle in Baltimore, which was great for me because I got to see the family, and East Coast Lacrosse Wars. This year we'll be taking two long weekend trips, the first to Denver for the DU Lacrosse Team Camp and the second to New Jersey for the Tri-State Lacrosse tourney. I'll be reporting in on our happenings, both on and off the field, so check back regularly to see how we're doing.

Reaching the next level . . .

Tue, 27 May 2008 13:13:20 -0500

As a youth coach and working with a lot of young players through the Trilogy program, I'm often asked, "What can I do to be a great player?" and "How do I get better?" Obviously there are your standard responses that you get from the games top players: Hit the wall everyday. Always have your stick in your hand. Watch as much lacrosse as you can. But there is more to it than that. A dark secret that the games best have kept hidden from the mainstream for years in hopes of maintaining their grip on the game. I think that it's only right that I share this secret with the lacrosse community. Risking my own life and the safety of my family, I think the world needs to know what so many Maryland and New York greats have understood since they first began to dominate the game. It is the only way to truly help spread the growth of lacrosse across this great nation. If you truly want to be great and reach the top of the lacrosse ranks, you must . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grow a "wicked nice" handlebar mustache. Rock on Dan Hardy! Oh and congrats to Syracuse for a stellar season

Craptastic Friday

Fri, 16 May 2008 20:19:31 -0500

So theJman was filming a new video for the Quarterfinals and my computer has failed. Going to have to take it to the Apple store to have the harddrive pulled off. So right now I'm sitting in a FedEx Kinkos in Round Rock typing this out and since I'm paying by the minute I'm going to make it quick. Duke - 8pts Syracuse - 6pts Navy - 4pts Maryland - 2pts I'll update more when I can. Sorry everyone See you on the field -Jman

NCAA 2008 Tournament Round 1 - Sunday

Sun, 11 May 2008 15:20:18 -0500

So TheJman is sitting at 4 for 4 at the end of the first day. Hoping to keep the momentum going into Day 2

NCAA 2008 Tournament Round 1 - Saturday

Sat, 10 May 2008 07:27:59 -0500

Don't call it a comeback. I know it's been a while since I've posted but things have been pretty hectic around here and TheJman had to handle the business because the business isn't going to handle itself. Since I've missed the last two Weekly Picke 'Ems, TheJman has stepped up his game and brings the picks to you live and direct. Let's do this . . .

Rangers lead the way

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 12:02:04 -0500

Because 'Freedom' isn't free. God bless all those who have given the greatest sacrifice and those who put themselves in harms way to protect our way of life. Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend - John 15:13 To learn more about Sergeant James J. Regan: http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jjregan.htm

Weekly Pick 'Em

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:12:17 -0500

So this is going to be about as quick as it gets. The wife and I just got back from the Round Rock Express game, where the Express won in the 9th inning on a walk off . . . walk. That has to be one of the worst feelings knowing that you just gave the opposing team a free win. Kind like that Memphis kid who missed three free throws in a row a few years ago in the NCAA tourney. I won't lie, I'm beat. It's been a really long day and I have to be up really early tomorrow morning to go work a youth lacrosse clinic at UT. So here are the picks, sans fluff and follow up. Navy over Army Georgetown over Loyola Maryland over Hopkins Duke over Virginia North Carolina over Ohio State Princeton over Harvard UMBC over Albany *I honestly think that UMBC can win but was willing to go to the grave with Albany until I saw that Terry had officially jumped shipped. Fingers crossed. So here's hoping for a rebound week. I'll post more later, but right now I'm gonna grab some ZZZ's. See you on the field. -Jman

Mid Season: Top 10 Goals

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:58:09 -0500

Some great goals posted by the boys at Inside Lacrosse. I must say though that I don't necessarily agree with the order. I think the top 3 should be: 1. #4 2. #1 3. #2 Enjoy