Johns Hopkins 2020

[51percentcorn]

Cornell Willis got a feature on the men's lacrosse social media pages. As i understand it, he's an extremely passionate fan but i'm getting the vibe from this board that he's not well liked?? Is there/are there particular reasons for this?

I guess that would be me. And to be clear - "liked" is not the issue. I don't know the man to form an opinion anywhere close to like or dislike. When I have seen him at the off tail-gate seems like a very nice engaging person. And to gain the notoriety and the access to the program (his twitter page used to have a picture of him doing a groundball drill in front of the team at practice) one would assume he has given a fair amount so for that Hopkins fans should be grateful.

But then the game starts and he becomes the world's biggest a$$hat. He is an embarrassment IMO. Today was no exception. There literally are not 100 people in the stands - especially at 10:30 AM And here he is yelling at the top of his lungs at a January scrimmage like its the Final Four. The berating of the officials is the absolute worst and it is just unpleasant to be around. He must be mid 40's, didn't go to Hopkins, doesn't have a kid on the team and he's raising his blood pressure over a scrimmage. It's absurd. I didn't behave with such idiocy when I was @ Hopkins. My worst memory of Hopkins' superfan was the Navy game @ Annapolis that Shack won in OT. It was - I think - the first game of the year and it was colder than a witches' boob so once again there were very few people in the stands. I went to the game with a very good friend of mine - a Captain in the Navy and a former Navy lacrosse player. We had to move sections because it was so bad and it was the first time I was ever embarrassed to be a Hopkins fan.

I will give him credit for one thing - extreme profanity is not the issue - just a overall level of unpleasantness

You can be the #1 fan and still act appropriately - not like a 2 year old

[DocBarrister]

Cornell Willis got a feature on the men's lacrosse social media pages. As i understand it, he's an extremely passionate fan but i'm getting the vibe from this board that he's not well liked?? Is there/are there particular reasons for this?

I guess that would be me. And to be clear - "liked" is not the issue. I don't know the man to form an opinion anywhere close to like or dislike. When I have seen him at the off tail-gate seems like a very nice engaging person. And to gain the notoriety and the access to the program (his twitter page used to have a picture of him doing a groundball drill in front of the team at practice) one would assume he has given a fair amount so for that Hopkins fans should be grateful.

But then the game starts and he becomes the world's biggest a$$hat. He is an embarrassment IMO. Today was no exception. There literally are not 100 people in the stands - especially at 10:30 AM And here he is yelling at the top of his lungs at a January scrimmage like its the Final Four. The berating of the officials is the absolute worst and it is just unpleasant to be around. He must be mid 40's, didn't go to Hopkins, doesn't have a kid on the team and he's raising his blood pressure over a scrimmage. It's absurd. I didn't behave with such idiocy when I was @ Hopkins. My worst memory of Hopkins' superfan was the Navy game @ Annapolis that Shack won in OT. It was - I think - the first game of the year and it was colder than a witches' boob so once again there were very few people in the stands. I went to the game with a very good friend of mine - a Captain in the Navy and a former Navy lacrosse player. We had to move sections because it was so bad and it was the first time I was ever embarrassed to be a Hopkins fan.

I will give him credit for one thing - extreme profanity is not the issue - just a overall level of unpleasantness

You can be the #1 fan and still act appropriately - not like a 2 year old

Someone needs to have a “chat” with the man. Sportsmanship applies to fans, too.

DocBarrister

[DMac]

Seriously, what logic is there behind switching jersey numbers in pre-season? Is HOP the only team that does this?

It's Hop, tech, any more need to be said.

Got a kick out of your report, 51, can relate. Used to go to pre season games for Cuse when you could, it's a huge pain in the asz trying to keep track of who is who and what combo of players is running in what units. You end up working too hard at trying to keep track of what's what and end up missing too much. Throw in the Lab and it's game over. Dog sitting a 6 mo old this week end. Fun dogs...some say all dogs want to be Labs and all Labs want to be black (not saying I agree with that, GSDs are the absolute best!!)

[DocBarrister]

The second scrimmage - First off let me say I became very lazy - I got tired of trying to figure out who was who and so I just watched the scrimmage more than tracked it and a lady affiliated with Richmond had the most awesome 3 year old Black Lab to play with. Because even though you might have written down Forry Smith was #33 or Calnan was #11 you couldn't remember so it just became very tedious
Anyway:
Hopkins scored 5 of the first 6 goals and "led" 5-2 after the first 15 minutes. Williams (twice), Angelus and Prouty were goal scorers - I couldn't see who scored the other - Giacalone was in goal for that quarter
Murphy and Mabbett scored to make it 7-2 and after Richmond knocked in 2 Degnon and another Blue Jay replied to make it 9-4 after 30 minutes. The
Hopkins defense was at the other end of the field so I didn't note who the goalie was - I think it might have been Darby.
Then came the Debbie downer of the afternoon for the Jays as they were outscored 7-0 and therefore "lost" 11-9. Marcille was in goal and there were tons of subs - couldn't/didn't track them all

One note - I don't think it's going to be a big deal but they had to stop play to help Concannon off the field after a very late EMO for Hopkins. He was in the middle near the crease - couldn't tell what happened exactly. They put an ice wrap on his rib cage - might have taken a butt end to the side.

Calnan might play a significant role on D this season. Glad to hear our 6-footer middies got some playing time. There is size, speed, and athleticism on this roster. Just need more playing time.

Thanks again, majoritymaize.

DocBarrister

[OCanada]

DMAC. Feel confident none of my dogs ever wanted to be a lab let alone a black lab. Great dogs tho

[Sagittarius A*]

The second scrimmage - First off let me say I became very lazy - I got tired of trying to figure out who was who and so I just watched the scrimmage more than tracked it and a lady affiliated with Richmond had the most awesome 3 year old Black Lab to play with. Because even though you might have written down Forry Smith was #33 or Calnan was #11 you couldn't remember so it just became very tedious
Anyway:
Hopkins scored 5 of the first 6 goals and "led" 5-2 after the first 15 minutes. Williams (twice), Angelus and Prouty were goal scorers - I couldn't see who scored the other - Giacalone was in goal for that quarter
Murphy and Mabbett scored to make it 7-2 and after Richmond knocked in 2 Degnon and another Blue Jay replied to make it 9-4 after 30 minutes. The
Hopkins defense was at the other end of the field so I didn't note who the goalie was - I think it might have been Darby.
Then came the Debbie downer of the afternoon for the Jays as they were outscored 7-0 and therefore "lost" 11-9. Marcille was in goal and there were tons of subs - couldn't/didn't track them all

One note - I don't think it's going to be a big deal but they had to stop play to help Concannon off the field after a very late EMO for Hopkins. He was in the middle near the crease - couldn't tell what happened exactly. They put an ice wrap on his rib cage - might have taken a butt end to the side.

Thanks for the great reports 51!
It's encouraging to see Zinn, Degnon, and Mabbett all get PT and contribute.
I realize this is a premature question based on a small data set, but if you had to hazard a guess on who starts in goal in two weeks, who would it be?

[DMac]

Mine either, OC, a GSD don't wanna be no stinkin Lab!!
This guy'll tell you that though, watched one when he's training a chocolate, yellow and black.
He becomes a pain in the asz pretty quickly. Labs are definitely good dogs. Catchers and fetchers, very high on my list of musts for a dog...nice disposition too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbrlM_QbDpY

[HopFan16]

Is HOP the only team that does this?

Lots of teams. Maryland does it too.

With the enormous caveat that it's still January and the Jays will see more prolific offenses in the regular season...it sounds like the starting defense fared pretty well in both scrimmages.

Seeing Zinn's name a bunch is music to my ears, but also like to see Degnon and Mabbett in the mix—going to be hard to continue calling that group the "munchkin middies" if all those guys are involved.

[51percentcorn]

If today was a significant piece of the goalie evaluation - I am not sure what you learned. Except for the 7-0 final quarter the opposition scored 8 goals in 5 quarters - close to 1.5 GAA- pretty good but there weren't alot of saves. Marquette had a lot of turnovers. Hopkins did well at the face-off dot - controlled the pace of play for alot of the time. Therefore, since Darby started the first scrimmage - was the incumbent last year - and did nothing to hurt his cause - I would lean there I guess

[johnnyonthegunpowder]

So Cornel Willis has no connection to Hopkins at all?

[Typical Lax Dad]

Is HOP the only team that does this?

Lots of teams. Maryland does it too.

With the enormous caveat that it's still January and the Jays will see more prolific offenses in the regular season...it sounds like the starting defense fared pretty well in both scrimmages.

Seeing Zinn's name a bunch is music to my ears, but also like to see Degnon and Mabbett in the mix—going to be hard to continue calling that group the "munchkin middies" if all those guys are involved.

Zinn is a good player. Like I mention to you last year. In a few season, you will forget about his freshman season. The adjustments to college midfield isn’t easy and Zinn’s probably received more coaching in one year at Hopkins than his 4 years of high school. A slow transition is good for him in the long run.

[wgdsr]

Cornell Willis got a feature on the men's lacrosse social media pages. As i understand it, he's an extremely passionate fan but i'm getting the vibe from this board that he's not well liked?? Is there/are there particular reasons for this?

I guess that would be me. And to be clear - "liked" is not the issue. I don't know the man to form an opinion anywhere close to like or dislike. When I have seen him at the off tail-gate seems like a very nice engaging person. And to gain the notoriety and the access to the program (his twitter page used to have a picture of him doing a groundball drill in front of the team at practice) one would assume he has given a fair amount so for that Hopkins fans should be grateful.

But then the game starts and he becomes the world's biggest a$$hat. He is an embarrassment IMO. Today was no exception. There literally are not 100 people in the stands - especially at 10:30 AM And here he is yelling at the top of his lungs at a January scrimmage like its the Final Four. The berating of the officials is the absolute worst and it is just unpleasant to be around. He must be mid 40's, didn't go to Hopkins, doesn't have a kid on the team and he's raising his blood pressure over a scrimmage. It's absurd. I didn't behave with such idiocy when I was @ Hopkins. My worst memory of Hopkins' superfan was the Navy game @ Annapolis that Shack won in OT. It was - I think - the first game of the year and it was colder than a witches' boob so once again there were very few people in the stands. I went to the game with a very good friend of mine - a Captain in the Navy and a former Navy lacrosse player. We had to move sections because it was so bad and it was the first time I was ever embarrassed to be a Hopkins fan.

I will give him credit for one thing - extreme profanity is not the issue - just a overall level of unpleasantness

You can be the #1 fan and still act appropriately - not like a 2 year old

which poster on fanlax do you think he is?

[Hoponboard]

So Cornel Willis has no connection to Hopkins at all?

It’s like you becoming the #1 fan for Stetson baseball. It feels kind of random.

Willis relishes and feeds off the attention he gets for his uncritical fandom.

On the one hand, it’s kind of neat to see his devotion to Hopkins lacrosse—-given that he has no connection to the school. On the other, it is weird to hear Carc always bringing him up in a broadcast as if he represents Hopkins lacrosse.

[OCanada]

wgdsr - agreed. There hop fans with far deeper connections who have given far more to the program and are better behaved

[OCanada]

Catching and fetching isn’t part of my criteria. When I got my first I rolled out a ball for her to chase.

Me: Get it
She: whatchu talking about Willis,
Me: Got it

[johnnyonthegunpowder]

So Cornel Willis has no connection to Hopkins at all?

It’s like you becoming the #1 fan for Stetson baseball. It feels kind of random.

Willis relishes and feeds off the attention he gets for his uncritical fandom.

On the one hand, it’s kind of neat to see his devotion to Hopkins lacrosse—-given that he has no connection to the school. On the other, it is weird to hear Carc always bringing him up in a broadcast as if he represents Hopkins lacrosse.

Yeah, I never would've guessed. I thought he was some old school alumi with a serious connection to the program the way Quint and company talked about him. That he's just a fan who has managed to become known by the ESPN commentators on a first name basis is pretty remarkable.

[flalax22]

https://twitter.com/jhumenslacrosse/sta ... 55809?s=21

It may help those that are critical of Cornell Willis to know the back story. I’ve never met the man but his passion seems to be appreciated by most.

[51percentcorn]

I am sorry - You can have any backstory you want and you can be as passionate as you want - you don't have to act like that. I am not in his section - Section 7 (I believe) if you want to get close to the magic or avoid - but I can tell you there are very few in 8 and 9 that "appreciate" his passion. You want to jump up when Hopkins scores yell your head off, roll your fists, count goals, Yell We Want More - have at it - I'm not asking anyone to sit there like it's D level. You don't have to scream when you're the only one screaming - maybe that should be a clue - you don't have to berate the refs constantly - telling them they "suck", that they are "abominations" and complain about every single call - and oh by the way - often wrong. Yesterday, and once again did I mention this was a scrimmage and there were probably more rats and rodents in the infested mess than people - a Marquette middie went to push a Hopkins ball carrier to one direction - his gloves slipped up the shaft of the Hopkins player stick and rode up into the chin of the Hopkins player for a split second - a no call at the D 1 level EVERY single time. I think it was - funny enough - Marc Dixon that made the correct assessment. We had to hear about it at ear splitting decibel levels for what seemed an eternity. The fury in his "passion" is just completely inappropriate for the moment. You literally are concerned he's going to pop a blood vessel and the game hasn't even started. He needs to align himself with UFC or become a soccer hooligan or something.

[ColumbiaBlueBlack]

Seriously, what logic is there behind switching jersey numbers in pre-season? Is HOP the only team that does this?

In at least one year past it was the players themselves who decided to switch numbers. It was, in any event, hard to make out the light blue numbers against the grey background on a gray day.

[OCanada]

It was indeed a dreary day. At least twice I know about players took the initiative. Maybe they made it a tradition