Monday, January 13, 2003

HAMMERTIME

I just got back from the Lacrosse Coaches Convention (lacrosse trade show as well) in Baltimore. It was rippin’ for Rock-it Pocket. Thanks to my ace assistants Nelson and Davis, we sold over 100 heads with RP’s in only about 10 hours of "up", or selling time. This pleases me as I sometimes ponder the possibility that we will some day be caught up and bled dry in the current web of mesh pocket popularity. It is good to know that there are still those out there who really want to get to know their pocket well, and in shall we say a little more traditional way.

There were about 3300 (mostly coaches) attending in a hotel convention area that was probably designed for about half that many. Oh, the humanity. The vendor area seemed at times like I imagine a New Delhi flea market might be.

Sixteen years ago (my first convention) there were seemingly about 10 of us hanging around, putting golf balls on the vast expanse of open carpet with the new STX putters. There were not 500 coaches there the whole weekend. We were wondering what would ever become of this tiny little sport that was only REALLY played in two areas of the US, Maryland and upstate New York. The biggest claims to fame for lacrosse then were that Jim Brown had played at Syracuse, and that lacrosse somehow at one point had become the national sport of Canada (must have been hangover day in the Canadian Parliament that day, eh?). Leif Elsmo and I used to joke that you could probably "buy" the entire sport for about 200K. That was B.W.T., Before Warrior Time. My have things changed.

YOO HOO

Back east they have Yoo Hoo in every store. It’s almost enough to make me move, but then I’d have to give up my green chile cheeseburgers.

My commentary on being at conventions in general is that they are great and all, but it’s a bit like being sequestered, and the cheapest thing you can buy is Gummy Bears, and they are like $5 for one little box, and I can’t eat them anyway (teeth). You have to keep cash folded in your side pockets because it is too hard to take out the wallet every second to tip someone.

The first night we got in late and went out for someyhing to eat near the hotel. Supposedly there are 200 restaurants in the inner Baltimore harbor. Surely a few would still be open. We ended up at Mo’s Seafood as the best alternative to freezing our asses off for one more second. Cool, some good Maryland seafood sounded great anyway. Mo’s is open until 2:00 a.m., which was good since it was moving that way quickly. Then, before I realized what was happening, I’m eating oysters that cost like $5 each in an atmosphere that was more early American "Crack House" than dining experience. We three "snacked" for $118. No alcohol was ordered or served. They added the gratuity in for our table of 3. I was too frightened to do anything but just eat, pay and quietly leave. We had originally just wanted some diner food like fries with gravy and a milk shake. Oh well.

BALANCE IS GOOD or YOU’VE COME A LONG WAY BABY!

The women’s convention was added to the event this year, and the fairer gender was finally well represented. After all the years of looking at nothing but men, it was all good for me. In the past guys would occasionally have a girl friend, wife, or female assistant along, but it always seemed to be pretty much bad form to bring a lady along with you unless you found her in either the bar or in the yellow pages. .Women and girls were everywhere now.

A woman was no longer an isolated novelty at this convention that everyone would stop and gawk at. Now, there was a wide variety of women and girls for the men to gawk at anytime. It all seemed more normal and natural that way.

Vendors specific to women’s lacrosse were there as well, making the number of vendors the largest ever in an area smaller than we have been in for years. The women’s game is probably the fastest growing part of the sport right now. I personally thought it was all great. I do think the clinics lose a little with this throng of coaches that go now. There are many who want to go back to the old way (boys club). I hope it stays "co-ed" because it so obviously benefits the game and sport as a whole. Women were there, doing and learning, just like and with the men. I do wish the clinics could somehow be more intimate like they used to be.

"WHEN I THINK BACK ON ALL THE CRAP I LEARNED IN HIGH SCHOOL,
IT’S A WONDER I CAN THINK AT ALL" Paul Simon

The teaching clinics overflowed people out the doors. These are not tiny rooms. They had several clinics gong on at the same time, forcing coaches to choose one topic or speaker over another. I just fly in and out anyway, a minute here and a minute there, looking for someone who inspires me the way Bill Tierney does. I couldn’t find him, and the great Princeton coach wasn’t speaking this year.

There is much talk about and teaching of individual technique at these clinics. I know this is key for so many of the coaches who attend, but it isn’t my top priority. I learn most technique from watching good players play. I want more to hear about systems of play and how or why or when they are used. When I think about systems I am also thinking more about defense. Right or wrong I have this theory that offense can and will take care of itself when you dictate the pace of the game defensively, and feed the ball to your offense with montonous regularity.

I hunted the presentation circuit, but could not seem to find exactly what I wanted to hear about or see in the clinics this time. Maybe that is because I don’t know where we, CSU, are right now, and didn’t really know what I was looking for. I want to focus on where we are exactly as a team and that is all. I am not looking for new stuff. I want to get to know this Ram team as it is going to be. I want them (CSU players) to get back here to school so I can see what that is, and where they/we are. Are they ready or just ready to get ready? I prefer the former by far.

Other than Extra Man Offense I am not really thinking of one part of the game more than the other. I just want to get going. I know what fundamentals I most want to work on when we get started next week. I've had "where to start" in my mind for a while. The question is if we are anywhere close to being ready for that.

COME DANCE WITH ME or WELCOME TO THE MOSH PIT

The recruiting roundtable Friday night was absolutely rocking (it almost made me wish I knew how to do that. Wait, no, no it didn’t.) The great hall was lined with coaches and representatives from colleges and universities. High school coaches were elbow to elbow on the dance floor, chesting information and wisdom to carry home and impart to their college bound players in order to help them make informed decisions about going to college. This is a good thing for the kids to be sure, but if sound can be claustrophobic, then the recruiting talk was beginning to close in around me. I tried to show no fear as I was creeping around sliding CSU brochures in here and there, on this table and that bulletin board. Then, later I would check back, and every time it would be gone, and I would put another, and then off I would slither through the bulging crowd. I am "Stealth"! I am the Johnny Appleseed of recruiting.

OH SAY CAN YOU SEE

I learned (re-learned perhaps?) that the Star Spangled Banner was indeed written in Baltimore.

I actually thought it was great having the event in Baltimore, Mecca, as it were for the lacrosse religion. Mecca used to mean holy place. Now, who knows. Perhaps I will end up on some bad guy list for simply using the word Mecca in "print".

Next year we are back in Philadelphia again.

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