Athletes Unlimited Summer ‘24

[DMac]

Bosco 9-7, final. Couple of big goals from Scane and Coykendall (highlight reel BTB) down the stretch.
Izzy having no trouble adjusting to pro lax. Really good game.

Second game is on Bally Sports?
WTH is that, never heard of it and
it's not available in my area. Not
happy about that but I guess I'll
be alright.

[Lax101]

Nope.

I’m told Smith and Wolak on short list of players with big jobs after jobs right after college.

[Lax101]

Nope.

I’m told Smith and Wolak on short list of players with big jobs right after college.

[Lax832s]

Nope.

I’m told Smith and Wolak on short list of players with big jobs after jobs right after college.

so is belle likely done with lacrosse forever?

[LaxDadMax]

Nope.

I’m told Smith and Wolak on short list of players with big jobs after jobs right after college.

so is belle likely done with lacrosse forever?

Yes. She just started training at arguably the hardest e they level job in finance to obtain. Analyst at Blackstone, the most famous hedge fund in the world

[DMac]

Game on!!
Hall opens the scoring with a real nice from the hip lefty laser.

5-2 Bosco over Glynn at the half.
Really good lacrosse.
Nope, Scane having no trouble adjusting to the pro game,
Coykendall either (super good player) and I see absolutely
no me-ism on the field.



7-4 Bosco, end of 3.
Bosco 8-7, final.
Nice comeback by Glynn, they get the
40 points for quarters 3 and four.

Next one's on Bally.....sucks!!

[uncfan1013]

Team Captains:

McCool
Read
Moreno
Apuzzo

Would love to see new winners, gets very boring watching Moreno & Apuzzo always be the winners

[DMac]

Not seeing it so boring with the Apuzzo part.. GKs are a tough call points wise the way I see it. Too much comes to them, they don't have to go out and get involved in order to earn points like an Apuzzo or any other non-GK. Yup, they have to make the save but they don't have to go out and chase points. Apuzzo's doggedness and competitiveness (along with skills and athleticism)
lands her high on the leader board consistently, hence captain. I'm okay with that, it's earned weekly. Don't feel the same about the GKs.

[Seacoaster(1)]

Not seeing it so boring with the Apuzzo part.. GKs are a tough call points wise the way I see it. Too much comes to them, they don't have to go out and get involved in order to earn points like an Apuzzo or any other non-GK. Yup, they have to make the save but they don't have to go out and chase points. Apuzzo's doggedness and competitiveness (along with skills and athleticism)
lands her high on the leader board consistently, hence captain. I'm okay with that, it's earned weekly. Don't feel the same about the GKs.

+1.

[DMac]

Game day...am sure the boss will let you off a little early to catch the opening draw.
https://www.espn.com/espnplus/schedule/ ... ff267f1b72

[DMac]

Moreno-Read tied at 4, end of one.
Charlotte carrying the load for Moreno,
has all four points (1 two pointer).

[DMac]

Today's games are on Bally Sports, this might help you find it.
I thought I couldn't get them but I do get MSG.

US Audience: The game will be available on the following Bally Sports Regional Networks:

Bally Sports Detroit Extra
Bally Sports Florida
Bally Sports Great Lakes
Bally Sports Midwest
Bally Sports North
Bally Sports Ohio*
Bally Sports South
Bally Sports Southwest Extra
Bally Sports West
Bally Sports Wisconsin
Bally Sports App
Bally Sports+
Marquee Sports Network
MSG Network
*Bally Sports Ohio airing on delay at 7:30 p.m. ET

[DMac]

Team GSD 12-9 over Team Read.
Tight game, good game, really good
lacrosse players.

[DMac]

If you're not watching the McCool-Moreno game you're really missing some top notch, and really pretty lacrosse. These girls' level of play is just off the charts. K. Wood goes the length of the field (pretty much) and takes it to the cage and puts it past the GK. Have always thought she should take it to the cage more.
Kent with a goal. 1-1, end of 1.

[DMac]

GSD 14-10 over Moreno.
Didn't realize Apuzzo and Geiersbach grew up down the street from each other.
Pretty darn cool both now playing together on the same team in the pros. Couple
of mighty talented girls on that street.

[Can Opener]

I love women's lacrosse, but I have to say that this is a very hard format to love. If I were commissioner, I would make the following simple changes:
* Put all games on ESPN+. It is a simple platform for viewers and seems to have a very low hurdle for getting a game up on there. It is much better than Bally and makes finding replays of the games easier. This is particularly important as you try to grow a following in the early years of the league. I am not sure of the financial implications, but often low-viewership content has to pay ESPN2 or ESPNU to carry their games. I would spend this money instead on driving traffic to ESPN+.
* Move the games around the country. If BC can get nearly 6,000 fans for a March regular season game against UNC, it would seem like a smart place to host a weekend. The weather is better in Boston, Syracuse and Long Island than it is in Maryland in July and August. Most of the venues would be driving distance apart, so no big expense there. It is easy to come up with a billet system to keep hotel costs down. Even if hotels are used, it wouldn't be much more expensive than the Maryland venue.
* Allow athletes to return home during the week so they can have a "real job" if they wish.
* Assign players to a set team, not this confusing floating roster stuff. With a relatively small talent pool, maybe there could be a mini redraft midway through the season (with a certain # of protected players) to avoid lopsided rosters. I would not associate the teams with a city, but just a team name.
* Scrap the confusing points system that no one seems to understand and rewards some anti-team behavior.
* Improve social media presence. A top player like Charlotte North gets 10X the number of likes on her posts than AU gets on their posts. There should be a way for AU to draft off the players' and their college teams' Instagram following.
* Perhaps make the stakes for winning the league championship a little different and interesting. Just spitballing, but maybe the winning team members get some cash payments, but also some NIL money to distribute to their college alma mater. I.e., if 20% of the winning team is from UNC, they would get 20% of the NIL prize purse to steer to Carolina. AU would be the NIL sponsor of those UNC undergrads, thereby increasing awareness of the league at that level.

[GratefulRed]

I love women's lacrosse, but I have to say that this is a very hard format to love. If I were commissioner, I would make the following simple changes:
* Put all games on ESPN+. It is a simple platform for viewers and seems to have a very low hurdle for getting a game up on there. It is much better than Bally and makes finding replays of the games easier. This is particularly important as you try to grow a following in the early years of the league. I am not sure of the financial implications, but often low-viewership content has to pay ESPN2 or ESPNU to carry their games. I would spend this money instead on driving traffic to ESPN+.
* Move the games around the country. If BC can get nearly 6,000 fans for a March regular season game against UNC, it would seem like a smart place to host a weekend. The weather is better in Boston, Syracuse and Long Island than it is in Maryland in July and August. Most of the venues would be driving distance apart, so no big expense there. It is easy to come up with a billet system to keep hotel costs down. Even if hotels are used, it wouldn't be much more expensive than the Maryland venue.
* Allow athletes to return home during the week so they can have a "real job" if they wish.
* Assign players to a set team, not this confusing floating roster stuff. With a relatively small talent pool, maybe there could be a mini redraft midway through the season (with a certain # of protected players) to avoid lopsided rosters. I would not associate the teams with a city, but just a team name.
* Scrap the confusing points system that no one seems to understand and rewards some anti-team behavior.
* Improve social media presence. A top player like Charlotte North gets 10X the number of likes on her posts than AU gets on their posts. There should be a way for AU to draft off the players' and their college teams' Instagram following.
* Perhaps make the stakes for winning the league championship a little different and interesting. Just spitballing, but maybe the winning team members get some cash payments, but also some NIL money to distribute to their college alma mater. I.e., if 20% of the winning team is from UNC, they would get 20% of the NIL prize purse to steer to Carolina. AU would be the NIL sponsor of those UNC undergrads, thereby increasing awareness of the league at that level.

Lots of common sense on display here!

[Relax77]

Would love to see the ratings from when the AU started to now. I don’t know anyone watching it where as a few years ago everyone around my daughter’s team were. I’m assuming this can be just an age thing. When they are 14 they are watching. 17 they’re at the beach surfing.

[forthelaxofit]

On top of all the other challenges the league faces in trying to gain traction, when you ask about ratings the timing this summer couldn't be worse. Being up against the Olympics fighting for viewers can’t be good for them.

I tried to give it a shot and watched a pre-Olympic week one game on demand on ESPN+. I am only 1 viewer but couldn’t agree with Can Opener more on some of this. The point system is tough to swallow. In a 40 minute game, the word “point” must have been used on average more than once a minute. They also kept throwing up a “total point” leaderboard during the game that would show current point standings on the left hand of screen which included people not in the current game – very annoying. And maybe I am just too old, but don’t want to have my phone out looking at the website trying to figure out who is on what team. The changing team rosters keeps you from developing a loyalty to a team and at that point it is like watching on NBA or NHL All Star game where you are more interested in a player or players than the team itself. I wish them luck, but I fall into the "one and done" category.

[LaxDadMax]

On top of all the other challenges the league faces in trying to gain traction, when you ask about ratings the timing this summer couldn't be worse. Being up against the Olympics fighting for viewers can’t be good for them.

I tried to give it a shot and watched a pre-Olympic week one game on demand on ESPN+. I am only 1 viewer but couldn’t agree with Can Opener more on some of this. The point system is tough to swallow. In a 40 minute game, the word “point” must have been used on average more than once a minute. They also kept throwing up a “total point” leaderboard during the game that would show current point standings on the left hand of screen which included people not in the current game – very annoying. And maybe I am just too old, but don’t want to have my phone out looking at the website trying to figure out who is on what team. The changing team rosters keeps you from developing a loyalty to a team and at that point it is like watching on NBA or NHL All Star game where you are more interested in a player or players than the team itself. I wish them luck, but I fall into the "one and done" category.

The format is a turnoff to my daughters as well.

AU softball just announced a new format which traditional teams and scoring for 2025 along with a 6-8 city "tour". Hopefully lacrosse follows suit.

https://www.espn.com/college-sports/sto ... start-2025