Friday, June 22, 2007

SEX, LIES AND VIDEO TAPE

After a time to reflect I feel pretty remorseful for some of the things I wrote in my last journal entry the other day.  It is clear to me now that some of what I wrote was totally out of line.  It is my intention to, in some small way, try to make things right again. 

The following is just the start of me driveling on about a subject I knew nothing about in my June 17:

BEGINNING OF QUOTES starts now:

ONE MORE RANT

I wasn't feeling great yesterday, so I didn't go to the Denver Outlaws vs. Rochester Rattlers professional MLL game in Denver last night.  The final score was 27-26 in overtime.  No offense to a pretty great game, but I take exception to this score and this kind of game.  I am a lacrosse purist in many ways, yet I love the MLL field and its lines, too, including the 2-point arc and shot.  I love outdoor lacrosse far more than the box game.  It is so weird that the box game (Mammoth) way outdraws the Outlaws and the outdoor game here in Denver, but they did have 8000 at Mile High last night.

So, I didn't see the game, but I choose to shoot my mouth off anyway.  First of all this is way too many goals for what the Lacrosse Gods had in mind, at least that is in my opinion.  This was a track meet with face-offs.  Face-offs are supposed to mean something in a game where you actually have the ball in your stick and in possession.  The game doesn't need to be broken up into 60+ face-offs, or one per minute.  That takes the titanic struggle element away from that beautiful part of the game.  Also, if it is tied after 52 goals are scored in a sixty-minute game, how can you settle it in sudden death fashion?  Why not just flip a coin, or give it to the guy who won more face-offs.

END OF QUOTES

The ranting didn't stop there either.

UPON FURTHER (SOME) REVIEW

I watched most of the second half and overtime of the above mentioned game between the Rochester Rattlers and the Denver Outlaws as I rode on my eternally stationary bike while traveling onward to nowhere today.  ESPN 2 was kind enough to put the replay on, and Alex informed me when it would be on.  I hope you got me, Mr. Nielsen (ratings).  Oh man, what a game.

A lot of the elements inside the game were spectacular. From the crowd to the fierceness of the sport to the finality that was and is outcome, this one was a jewel. I should have taped it. Maybe I know where I can get one, though.

SEE HOW WRONG YOU CAN BE

I had said also in my last entry that this kind of "track meet" style of lacrosse could not possibly be compelling.  Well, I'm 'hear' to tell me that this game was about as "compelling" as anything I've ever seen.   I was thrilled and excited watching it in a way that, even though I knew how the game had ended, it made me feel almost like I did not, and at the very least, I couldn't wait to see HOW it transpired, because I didn't have all those facts or anything.

I AM A CHEAP DATE

In spite of the sixty-something face-offs, each one still seemed urgent and important.  The goalies didn't suck, not even close, but they didn't make many saves either, so there is room for argument on that one.  The pace that came to the game off of the face-offs was amazing, up and down, quick whistles, and goals were coming within seconds of the draws.

MOMENTUM IS BUT A TEMPTRESS

The game had drama, too, like one team up three, and then all of a sudden they would be down two after a flurry from their rival which was ball movement/attacking the cage stuff that would spin the collective heads of many defenses to be sure.  God, this game is breathtakingly beautiful when you play together, all as one.

POLL ME

I still say, by the way, bring in the fourth long pole to the MLL.  So, anyway the game got to the point, and this was after all the ebbs and lightning fast flows, where Denver led by two, 26-24 with less than one minute to go and they had the ball in the Rattler end, or was that the end of the Rattler? This death trap situation for the Rattlers could pretty much only be overcome by miracle were it not for the two-point arc.  Even so, the moment made a Rochester victory in Denver a seemingly 'long shot' at best.

AND DOWN THE STRETCH THEY COME!

Josh Simms had the ball for the Outlaws, and who or what team wouldn't want this athletic Princeton grad in the prime of life to have the ball and make your choices for you at the end of the big game, although I thought he had been out with a collar bone break and that he would be gone for some time, but there he was.  Am I getting senile?  Don't answer that, because the answer might be worse than a simple affirmative.

In this critical game moment, and from somewhere out of the corner of the TV screen stalked one #17 in visiting white, Brody Merrill, and he is always a charasmatic presence with his sword-like long pole that he uses to strip pretty much anyone on the planet that he chooses to of the precious ball. That ball, by the way, seems so hard to knock out of so many pocket racket set ups these days, but long pole 'surgeons' seem to be able to dislodge much better than the 'whackers' from what I see. 

CARPE DIEM

You could almost feel the simultaneousness of Brody's power and Simm's hesitation, and the prey was dead meat.  Yes, there are no LSM (Long stick Middies) in the professional MLL, but that is basically what Brody Merrill was doing and the position he was playing at that moment, and this one has plenty of that star power.  He is not just a defensive stud with a pole, he is a star who can take over the game in more ways than almost any one position player can. In my opinion this guy and guys like Mark Plonkey (CSU 2003), and even a Matt Reiss (CSU 2006, converted attackman) arer so much fun to watch and to have on the team. 

WEB OF DECEIT

In trouble, Simms was also somewhat cornered by now, and he tried to quickly pass the ball but it was too late. Brody beat him to the passing lane, the ball went to the ground and quick as you please Merrill had it on the end of his long pole and Rochester in the form of #17 was seeking justice and headed hell-bent toward the Outlaw goal.

By the way, these #17 types never come out for another attacker with a short stick (almost) in these times and critical situations either. This means that even though WE have the ball on offense the extra long pole stays on the field no matter what, as armed guard or goal scorer, or anything in between that might be needed by TEAM.

GRANT ME THE ARC - behind it is the holy grail

Rochester didn't take a time-out.  What they did was get ball to John Grant, the Canadian Cannon, in a place where he could do the desperately needed damage, and that means behind the two-point arc. They got the ball to him in a very organized fashion and he was all set up to let her rip when he got it.  The way the Rattlers did it was off of a pick and roll/kick back out basketball kind of thing, and 87 miles an hour later the game was tied at 26 and overtime would be the only available answer to this game.

Trevor Tierney, the Denvor Goalie almost had time to pick up the flight of the ball on that critical shot, but he was screened for just a fraction of an instant and he ultimately could do nothing more than just SEE the two-point ball go right past his mid section and into the net.

I hate to sound like a "Monday morning Coach", but I can only hope that I would be tuned in enough to shut off a John Grant in that kind of situation.  I don't want to let that horse of a man beat me, but at the same time and at that level it is mostly a choose-your-poison proposition anyway when it comes to defending individual players that have the ability to put a team on their back and beat you.

PUT 'EM UP, PARDNER!

In finality I would say that the overtime was plenty 'epic' enough as well.  A coin toss would never have done, as I had so cynically suggested. Overtime was the fitting end to this Western tale.

Both teams had chances in the extra time, and it took a perfectly played series of passes to break down and hang the Outlaw defense for that eventual game-deciding score, and it was a goal that did the game justice by the efficiency of, yes, that's right, The Execution. 

What a heartbreaker!  What a way to win.  I think the Rattlers stole the win, but the Outlaws were awesome, too.  They by no means "lost" it.  It was what it was, but what a game it was and I am poorer for not having been there live last Saturday night.

UNCONFLICTED

So when I am wrong, I am wrong. Maybe I shouldn't shoot off my mouth so much.............. Ah, Hell, what fun would that be?

Well, I'm certainly glad we cleared all that up.

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