Johns Hopkins 2020

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

There is a reason LaxFi cut off contact with Wombat in 2018. Lt the only one who has done that. Part of it is showing up here. He had a confrontation with DP years ago and can’t seem to get past it.

That has absolutely nothing to do with this. Geez. That was a comical incident that we both laughed at, even during and definitely afterwards.

[HopFan16]

Bad day for our RPI. Maryland, Delaware, and Navy all lose

[51percentcorn]

The danger of Tuesday games. Maybe most surprising is the Red Foxes of Marist pummeling Army in the Hudson Valley. Hopkins should look at these results when playing the Mt. and Delaware on Tuesdays. We were never likely going to depend on Navy this year for RPI - the loss to St.Joe's really hurts the Hens but Maryland will be fine.

[Bluejay-Fan]

For the record, I didn’t see anyone saying fire the coach. I don’t think anyone here expects to happen during the season.

The question is whether the contract will be renewed, AFTER the season.

There are far differing opinions on that.

Our informed posters know what time of day it is.

Twatwaffles on Twitter pretending to be journalists do not.

WOMBAT! What's good, fam? How are you doing? Doubt you remember me from the LaxPower days, but I'm Bluejay-Fan. I used to post on LP often (started in 2006) and would put up lots of GIFs, links to Hop related articles, long-winded posts defending Petro, and I shared your affinity for the, let's just say, aesthetically pleasing views at XFinity Live! in Philly during the 2015 Final Four run. I hope you are doing well.

Main reason I created a FanLax account today is to hopefully clear up any confusion and to take the temperature down a bit. I am one of those "Twatwaffles" (I did LOL at that one) at College Crosse (@Eri_Barrister). I started writing there in 2015. I wanted to start a Hopkins Lax page for SB Nation but the managers there respectfully declined (they didn't think there was enough of a market, they obviously never read LaxPower) and they instead suggested I join up with CC. I took over the site right before the 2016 season after the former manager stepped down and I helped to form the team that we have there now and the ones who are no longer with the site.

Indeed! I do not hold myself out to be a Wall St. Journal reporter. I'm just a lawyer/JHU alum who loves Hopkins lacrosse. The site was gonna be shut down after the former manager moved on and I didn't want to see it go, so I stepped up to take over. Most of my co-writers at the site are also part-timers, but we did have several "real" reporters like Marisa Ingemi (now a reporter with the Boston Herald), Joe Keegan (now an analyst with the PLL), and my boy Chris (now with ESPN).

If I may, respectfully, defend the site, we have broken a couple dozen stories about college hires/transfers/pro-lacrosse news (mostly Chris' doing) and a couple long-form articles that, I guess, would be considered real journalism where we either used FOIA records or court filings to unearth information that was previously unknown (links below!). No one is going to mistake us for the Washington Post, but we're proud of the stuff we have put up in the past. We certainly aren't doing it for the money, we get a nominal monthly stipend, but we love the college game, have a lot of fun on our podcast, and enjoy being in the mix.

Anyway, I saw that this little brouhaha started up a couple days ago and just wanted to clear the air. I used to run the main Twitter account solo but after Chris stepped down we decided to open it up to allow more voices to use the account. I didn't put the Tweet in question up, but I can assure you there was no malice involved. We routinely make similar jokes about Syracuse.com posters after an Orange loss. Full disclosure, I did make a similar joke on my personal account, but again, it was all in good fun.

I haven't posted since FanLax started because I've been a bit busy with my real job and helping to co-manage CC. But I loved the old LaxPower site and always enjoyed the back-and-forth banter there and the camaraderie among the posters. I know things can sometimes get heated on message boards, so I wanted put a (digital) face to a name and hopefully clear the air, as I've enjoyed the hundreds of hours I've spent reading/writing with you all in the past. I've always enjoyed your posts in particular and found you to be one of the most passionate Hop fans on the board. I will try to post here more often now that I have an account. Feel free to instant message me here if you ever wanna reach out. Shout out to the guys who started/run FanLax, you guys are doing a great job.

Anyway, this post is much too long as it is. Hopefully the boys bounce back against UNC this weekend.



Email records show Florida State is interested in adding lacrosse: https://www.collegecrosse.com/2018/7/9/ ... n-thrasher

Atlanta Blaze Owner Peter Trematerra Sued Major League Lacrosse Back In April: https://www.collegecrosse.com/2017/11/1 ... avid-gross

[51percentcorn]

Don't believe Greely had a significant injury before he arrived -maybe he had some back issues? IIRC correctly he blew out the knee the first time at the Lake Placid summer circuit before sophomore or junior year and Desko had to be the one to call Petro and tell him. I was there when he did it the second time in a horrible loss to Navy when Hopkins realistically could have been shut out (Palmer's goal in the first half was questionable and who knows what would have happened if Navy had been up 8-0).

Connor Reed was definitely the player you were thinking of. I still feel he was a player that could have been utilized more. People rip him to a degree for not "finishing" - I think if you look at the stats from 14 and 15 you see where Hopkins wanted the shots to come from - Connor only took 79 shots those two years. His shooting percentage wasn't off the charts but it wasn't horror show awful either - probably averaged about 23/24% - especially for someone who was likely told - if you dodge the alley and shoot we either better be seeing the goalie turn around and rake or Wells taking the ball in from the end line. In contrast - Brown took over 300 shots those two years and Cattoni took about 170. Connor understood what his job was.

[Typical Lax Dad]

Don't believe Greely had a significant injury before he arrived -maybe he had some back issues? IIRC correctly he blew out the knee the first time at the Lake Placid summer circuit before sophomore or junior year and Desko had to be the one to call Petro and tell him. I was there when he did it the second time in a horrible loss to Navy when Hopkins realistically could have been shut out (Palmer's goal in the first half was questionable and who knows what would have happened if Navy had been up 8-0).

Connor Reed was definitely the player you were thinking of. I still feel he was a player that could have been utilized more. People rip him to a degree for not "finishing" - I think if you look at the stats from 14 and 15 you see where Hopkins wanted the shots to come from - Connor only took 79 shots those two years. His shooting percentage wasn't off the charts but it wasn't horror show awful either - probably averaged about 23/24% - especially for someone who was likely told - if you dodge the alley and shoot we either better be seeing the goalie turn around and rake or Wells taking the ball in from the end line. In contrast - Brown took over 300 shots those two years and Cattoni took about 170. Connor understood what his job was.

I always liked him. Injury was just unfortunate. I sure he is doing well.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

For the record, I didn’t see anyone saying fire the coach. I don’t think anyone here expects to happen during the season.

The question is whether the contract will be renewed, AFTER the season.

There are far differing opinions on that.

Our informed posters know what time of day it is.

Twatwaffles on Twitter pretending to be journalists do not.

WOMBAT! What's good, fam? How are you doing? Doubt you remember me from the LaxPower days, but I'm Bluejay-Fan. I used to post on LP often (started in 2006) and would put up lots of GIFs, links to Hop related articles, long-winded posts defending Petro, and I shared your affinity for the, let's just say, aesthetically pleasing views at XFinity Live! in Philly during the 2015 Final Four run. I hope you are doing well.

Main reason I created a FanLax account today is to hopefully clear up any confusion and to take the temperature down a bit. I am one of those "Twatwaffles" (I did LOL at that one) at College Crosse (@Eri_Barrister). I started writing there in 2015. I wanted to start a Hopkins Lax page for SB Nation but the managers there respectfully declined (they didn't think there was enough of a market, they obviously never read LaxPower) and they instead suggested I join up with CC. I took over the site right before the 2016 season after the former manager stepped down and I helped to form the team that we have there now and the ones who are no longer with the site.

Indeed! I do not hold myself out to be a Wall St. Journal reporter. I'm just a lawyer/JHU alum who loves Hopkins lacrosse. The site was gonna be shut down after the former manager moved on and I didn't want to see it go, so I stepped up to take over. Most of my co-writers at the site are also part-timers, but we did have several "real" reporters like Marisa Ingemi (now a reporter with the Boston Herald), Joe Keegan (now an analyst with the PLL), and my boy Chris (now with ESPN).

If I may, respectfully, defend the site, we have broken a couple dozen stories about college hires/transfers/pro-lacrosse news (mostly Chris' doing) and a couple long-form articles that, I guess, would be considered real journalism where we either used FOIA records or court filings to unearth information that was previously unknown (links below!). No one is going to mistake us for the Washington Post, but we're proud of the stuff we have put up in the past. We certainly aren't doing it for the money, we get a nominal monthly stipend, but we love the college game, have a lot of fun on our podcast, and enjoy being in the mix.

Anyway, I saw that this little brouhaha started up a couple days ago and just wanted to clear the air. I used to run the main Twitter account solo but after Chris stepped down we decided to open it up to allow more voices to use the account. I didn't put the Tweet in question up, but I can assure you there was no malice involved. We routinely make similar jokes about Syracuse.com posters after an Orange loss. Full disclosure, I did make a similar joke on my personal account, but again, it was all in good fun.

I haven't posted since FanLax started because I've been a bit busy with my real job and helping to co-manage CC. But I loved the old LaxPower site and always enjoyed the back-and-forth banter there and the camaraderie among the posters. I know things can sometimes get heated on message boards, so I wanted put a (digital) face to a name and hopefully clear the air, as I've enjoyed the hundreds of hours I've spent reading/writing with you all in the past. I've always enjoyed your posts in particular and found you to be one of the most passionate Hop fans on the board. I will try to post here more often now that I have an account. Feel free to instant message me here if you ever wanna reach out. Shout out to the guys who started/run FanLax, you guys are doing a great job.

Anyway, this post is much too long as it is. Hopefully the boys bounce back against UNC this weekend.



Email records show Florida State is interested in adding lacrosse: https://www.collegecrosse.com/2018/7/9/ ... n-thrasher

Atlanta Blaze Owner Peter Trematerra Sued Major League Lacrosse Back In April: https://www.collegecrosse.com/2017/11/1 ... avid-gross

Welcome aboard and glad to see you here. I do remember you.

Most people know I’m easy to get along with, to sit down and break bread with and have a beer, and that I even pick up tabs or at least a round.

And most people know that what I do here is mainly meant for fun. That’s the first priority. And yeah, I did poke back at those memes that 16 is so worried about and where they were coming from. I figured if delivered and understood, anyone on the receiving end of my twatwaffle barb should be, maybe, aghast I what I wrote, but also laugh at it too. Glad you took it that way.

And you bastards are now on the receiving end of “any publicity is good publicity.” I want a commission from you!

I do have a couple of other priorities here too.
Another is the free flow of ideas, which leads me to thoroughly object to obsessive, excessive moderation.

Similarly, when any poster starts aiming to stifle discussion, I don’t care who it is, I object to it. My sharp comments are based on principle. Again free flow of ideas.

A fourth priority is prognostication. I try to read the tea leaves. And state opinion. I also happen to care about the program, and will state opinions here just like anyone else has a right to do.

Fifth, I make a sharp distinction between opinion/editorializing and actual fact-based journalism. We don’t have enough of the latter. Keep up the good work to that end.

Just remember: Twitter is a cesspool, and be careful with it. It’s caused people to lose their jobs.

I’ve got one thing to add, which is directed at some ugliness earlier today when one person surprisingly brought up LaxFi. My door is always open, there are always two sides to a story, let’s grab a beer.

But anyone calling up the name of LaxFi to attack me is a real low life ankle biter. Despite whatever you think you know, the spirit of LaxFi was to cultivate the in real life personal relationships. The message board is just a domain. Real life is what matters. Using his very name to attack someone in my opinion is using his name in vain, and represents the exact opposite of what he was all about.

W

[HopFan16]

https://pressboxonline.com/2020/02/18/j ... an-season/

“I worked on every part of my game,” Epstein said when asked about what he had focused on this offseason. “That’s the only answer to that. I worked on my left hand, right hand, shooting on the run, step-down shooting. I tried to get stronger in the weight room. I wanted to get faster. Agility. Every piece of your game, you have to be constantly trying to improve.”

“I think 8-8 is a failure,” he said. “First-round loss is a failure. Our goal is a national championship every year, a Big Ten championship every year. We fell a goal short in the Big Ten championship and we fell very short of a national championship. So, the goal here is to be national champions when it’s all said and done.”

This piece may have been written before the injury...no mention of it.

[DocBarrister]

Bad day for our RPI. Maryland, Delaware, and Navy all lose

Maryland lost.

Good day.

Full stop.

End of discussion.

DocBarrister

[Homer]

I know reading can be difficult for some so I will spell it out for you. Thought this was pretty clear but I guess not: What they consider a joke specifically is the idea of the same group of curmudgeons taking to the internet to anonymously demand their coach be fired after every loss, like clockwork. The problem is not "everybody"—it is a clear vocal minority.

Oh, I see. You were thinking of posts like these:

Give the staff their papers before they even get back on the bus

Imagine still supporting this staff. Couldn't be me

It has to stop. You want to talk recruiting problems, well, imagine being a high school kid watching this game on TV. Which program do you want to go play for? Permanent damage to the legacy of the program is being done here. You can't just keep going on and on forever and expect it to get better without making any changes.

That was after (and during) the first Penn State game. I dunno. Maybe an old geezer hacked your phone?

[Bluejay-Fan]

Welcome aboard and glad to see you here. I do remember you ... Just remember: Twitter is a cesspool, and be careful with it. It’s caused people to lose their jobs.

Appreciate the kind words, Wombat, and the warm welcome. It is great to be back. Hahaha, your point about Twitter might be the truest words you ever wrote.

Looking forward to a fun season.

[Peter Brown]

Welcome aboard and glad to see you here. I do remember you ... Just remember: Twitter is a cesspool, and be careful with it. It’s caused people to lose their jobs.

Appreciate the kind words, Wombat, and the warm welcome. It is great to be back. Hahaha, your point about Twitter might be the truest words you ever wrote.

Looking forward to a fun season.

For those of us newer to online lax forums, these code words and code discussions about old lacrosse forums is like heavily accented Greek. I don't have a gd clue what you guys are saying.

Just beat UNC this weekend. Thanks.

(ps: I think WOMBAT is hilarious)

[HopFan16]

Oh, I see. You were thinking of posts like these:

Fair enough, shouldn't have said that (and have since stopped) but the difference is I'm here after every game, happy to talk about all the good stuff after wins, etc. There is a very specific type of poster however who is not interested in talking about anything except the team's failures. They parachute in after a loss but are MIA whenever the team performs well. Where is that person after the two Maryland wins? Where is that person after nearly taking it to Penn State the second time? Or when we have the best freshman in team history? If you think the team should move on from the coaching staff, fine—all opinions are valid and we're all free to share them, no one is trying to stop you. Clearly I have had my doubts at times, and quite frankly still do. Criticizing the coaches is almost a rite of passage for fans of any team, IMO. But saying only that, as often as they do, without one iota of discussion about anything else, shows where their priorities are. And I'm not sure it's actually in supporting the team. There's a view that they want the coaches gone so badly precisely because they love the team so much and "want to see it thriving" but I don't buy that for a second. Maybe others do.

As an alum, I am always going to root for the Jays and be thrilled when they win no matter who the coach is. You get the feeling that isn't necessarily the case with some others. In any case, as Wombat said, at this point no decision is going to be made until this season is over. So calling for heads NOW, in February, seems especially pointless and rather manic.

[houndace1]

Bad day for our RPI. Maryland, Delaware, and Navy all lose

can someone explain how this works? I know that there are terms such as "quality wins" "quality loses" and "bad losses" that comprise the interpretation of RPI, but i wonder how Team A's RPI/or even SOS gets affected when Team A's opponents lose in other games?

Also, i have heard the notion that you hope a team who beat you, keeps winning so that your team's RPI is still okay... how?

(for example, Petro in the 2016 post game press conference stated that he hopes Loyola keeps winning so that Hopkins's RPI will be in a decent shape)

[DALaxDad]

RPI is comprised of a team's winning percentage (25%), its opponents' winning percentage (50%), and the winning percentage of those opponents' opponents (25%). The worse the record of your opponents, the worse 50% of what contributes to your RPI.

[houndace1]

RPI is comprised of a team's winning percentage (25%), its opponents' winning percentage (50%), and the winning percentage of those opponents' opponents (25%). The worse the record of your opponents, the worse 50% of what contributes to your RPI.

so.. essentially what you want is for your team to keep winning, as well as your team's opponents to keep winning.

Example lets say Hop went 12-0 this season, and maryland goes 13-0 before The Rivalry. Both teams RPI would be very high due to these factors?

[stupefied]

Been a supporter of Petro but found his latest post game remarks disturbing. Coach is responsible for mental preparation.

[nrthcrosslax]

Bad day for our RPI. Maryland, Delaware, and Navy all lose

can someone explain how this works? I know that there are terms such as "quality wins" "quality loses" and "bad losses" that comprise the interpretation of RPI, but i wonder how Team A's RPI/or even SOS gets affected when Team A's opponents lose in other games?

Also, i have heard the notion that you hope a team who beat you, keeps winning so that your team's RPI is still okay... how?

(for example, Petro in the 2016 post game press conference stated that he hopes Loyola keeps winning so that Hopkins's RPI will be in a decent shape)

Beat everyone. If you can't do that, hope the teams you lose to are good teams. Don't lose to bad teams. Win enough, none of it matters.

[nrthcrosslax]

When was the last time Hopkins won a big game while wearing black jerseys?

[HopFan16]

When was the last time Hopkins won a big game while wearing black jerseys?

Was thinking the same thing. Maybe the overtime win at Penn State in 2016, if that qualifies as a big game (probably wouldn't have made the Big Ten tournament without it). The Jays tend to perform much better on the road in the blue jerseys. They should have burned the black unis after the debacle at Maryland in 2017.