THE 2019 Hopkins Lacrosse Fallout Shelter (44, we want more!)

[jhu06]

Every year there's a lot of whining about why the acc and Hopkins are the only schools on tv and the response is always "have you seen how low THOSE ratings are, what do you think towson-bucknell would get nationally"? I'm skeptical the ratings and interest will be there for this endeavor but the chernin group which is part of that league's investors went all in with Barstool sports and that has been a massive hit for them. Not really a fan of Rabil's shtick but he's been successful at whatever it has been he's tried to accomplish off the field so perhaps this can be something that helps the sport break out from beyond its youth/hs/college following.

[HopFan16]

Every year there's a lot of whining about why the acc and Hopkins are the only schools on tv and the response is always "have you seen how low THOSE ratings are, what do you think towson-bucknell would get nationally"? I'm skeptical the ratings and interest will be there for this endeavor but the chernin group which is part of that league's investors went all in with Barstool sports and that has been a massive hit for them. Not really a fan of Rabil's shtick but he's been successful at whatever it has been he's tried to accomplish off the field so perhaps this can be something that helps the sport break out from beyond its youth/hs/college following.

What shtick? Rabil is an extremely impressive representative of the university and one of the game's very best ambassadors. You should be proud to call him a fellow alum. There's no shtick. He's just passionate and wants to get more people into lacrosse. His daily routine as profiled in the Times last year probably sounds insane to some but he's totally earnest. There's no shtick with him.

If NBC didn't think that anyone would watch these games, they probably wouldn't have signed onto the deal. There's a market for live lacrosse content that is—and this is the key—produced well. The LSN experience is a disaster. People will watch if the TV-watching experience is on par with the talent/product on the field. Networks are starved to fill hours on broadcast and streaming with live sports content. Sure, these games will only do a tiny fraction of football numbers, but they don't need to do that much in order to be successful. NBC is probably happy to be able to fill time in the dog days of June-July-August with live games of a sport that's rising in popularity. What else do they have in the summer? Tour de France? There's not much competition.

[johnnyonthegunpowder]

I hear what JHU06 is saying and I feel similar. I agree 'schtick' might not be the most accurate word as Rabil seems like an authentic and committed and educated person/businessman/celebrity. However, Youtubing and Instagramming seems to create these identities that, at least, seem like performances and this is likely going to be a huge part of this new league (one selfie stick for every lacrosse stick).

Rabil's online persona is of the same genre as the whole LSN, LaxAllstars, Colin and Samir, and TLN identity. I find that programming absolutely cringe worthy, though laced with some watchable parts. More important than my own humble (and non-millennial) opinion of this aesthetic (and that's what it is), is that the youngins eat this stuff up. It's juiced, it's fast paced, it's short, it's always selling something, and it's extremely optimistic.

That being said, Curtis Dickson is playing in the league, so that balances things a lot for me.

[DocBarrister]

I wish the Rabils (Paul and Mike) well. Not sure I’m sold on the long-term viability of the tour-based model (a result of Paul’s love of professional wrestling and the UFC?), but I’m hoping the PLL puts a better lacrosse product on the field.

Think it would be great to have a “Lacrosse Bowl” where the PLL and MLL champs square off to determine the world professional lacrosse championship.

DocBarrister

[HopFan16]

Think it would be great to have a “Lacrosse Bowl” where the PLL and MLL champs square off to determine the world professional lacrosse championship.

The talent disparity would render this pointless. PLL took 90% of the best players from MLL. It would be like the D1 champion playing the D3 champion.

Opener date confirmed—Feb. 9 at Towson. Johnny Unitas Stadium has not been kind to our Jays as of late.

[ohmilax34]

Think it would be great to have a “Lacrosse Bowl” where the PLL and MLL champs square off to determine the world professional lacrosse championship.

The talent disparity would render this pointless. PLL took 90% of the best players from MLL. It would be like the D1 champion playing the D3 champion.

Opener date confirmed—Feb. 9 at Towson. Johnny Unitas Stadium has not been kind to our Jays as of late.

Wasn't that what people said about the Super Bowl befor the Jets won? Has there been a list put out of the players sticking with the MLL? Sure, the list the PLL put out is impressive, but we don't really have anything to compare it to.

[johnnyonthegunpowder]

I love the idea of a Lacrosse Super Bowl. I'm curious about what the product on the field is actually going to be. One of the problems with MLL is that it was very boring. Beyond growing a fan base, that needs to be solved. The more lacrosse gets compared to WWE, UFC, Xgames, the less optimistic I am about a quality product on the field. Rabil seems to always have something cooking, so I'm sure he's thought of this (smaller field?). I was impressed with a recent interview of his I saw and he seems to have certainly left no stone unturned.

Box lacrosse, on the hand, seems to have no problem growing right now. I was one of those hot bed purists who never took box seriously, but the proliferation of Canadian players in the NCAA very, very slowly piqued my interest. Now, I watch it quite a bit when I'm jonesing for some lax.

It's an interesting question, what makes a sport interesting? A rubric seems helpful for that. The snowboard half pipe= surprisingly boring. Cross Country skiing= surprisingly thrilling.
NCAA lacrosse= The best sport ever created. MLL= surprisingly boring.

[Typical Lax Dad]

I love the idea of a Lacrosse Super Bowl. I'm curious about what the product on the field is actually going to be. One of the problems with MLL is that it was very boring. Beyond growing a fan base, that needs to be solved. The more lacrosse gets compared to WWE, UFC, Xgames, the less optimistic I am about a quality product on the field. Rabil seems to always have something cooking, so I'm sure he's thought of this (smaller field?). I was impressed with a recent interview of his I saw and he seems to have certainly left no stone unturned.

Box lacrosse, on the hand, seems to have no problem growing right now. I was one of those hot bed purists who never took box seriously, but the proliferation of Canadian players in the NCAA very, very slowly piqued my interest. Now, I watch it quite a bit when I'm jonesing for some lax.

It's an interesting question, what makes a sport interesting? A rubric seems helpful for that. The snowboard half pipe= surprisingly boring. Cross Country skiing= surprisingly thrilling.
NCAA lacrosse= The best sport ever created. MLL= surprisingly boring.

On thing I will say about the MLL is that the teams suffer from a sameness in style of play. The shot clock limits what you can do and there ins't the day to day coaching that goes into college lacrosse. The level of play and the skill is miles above college though. NBA basketball looks boring compared to college basketball for some of the same reasons but the level of play is ridiculously higher.

[dense]

I love the idea of a Lacrosse Super Bowl. I'm curious about what the product on the field is actually going to be. One of the problems with MLL is that it was very boring. Beyond growing a fan base, that needs to be solved. The more lacrosse gets compared to WWE, UFC, Xgames, the less optimistic I am about a quality product on the field. Rabil seems to always have something cooking, so I'm sure he's thought of this (smaller field?). I was impressed with a recent interview of his I saw and he seems to have certainly left no stone unturned.

Box lacrosse, on the hand, seems to have no problem growing right now. I was one of those hot bed purists who never took box seriously, but the proliferation of Canadian players in the NCAA very, very slowly piqued my interest. Now, I watch it quite a bit when I'm jonesing for some lax.

It's an interesting question, what makes a sport interesting? A rubric seems helpful for that. The snowboard half pipe= surprisingly boring. Cross Country skiing= surprisingly thrilling.
NCAA lacrosse= The best sport ever created. MLL= surprisingly boring.

On thing I will say about the MLL is that the teams suffer from a sameness in style of play. The shot clock limits what you can do and there ins't the day to day coaching that goes into college lacrosse. The level of play and the skill is miles above college though. NBA basketball looks boring compared to college basketball for some of the same reasons but the level of play is ridiculously higher.

Prefer to watch college football, hoops and lacrosse any day of the week vs their professional counterparts (baseball is my exception). Contrasts in approaches makes college games more interesting ,maybe its simply more enjoyable to me watching amateurs rather than many overpaid pros with attitudes .Shot clock has worked fairly well so far in the lax scrimmages Ive seen but expect the same same to get old as team personalities fade.

[Typical Lax Dad]

I love the idea of a Lacrosse Super Bowl. I'm curious about what the product on the field is actually going to be. One of the problems with MLL is that it was very boring. Beyond growing a fan base, that needs to be solved. The more lacrosse gets compared to WWE, UFC, Xgames, the less optimistic I am about a quality product on the field. Rabil seems to always have something cooking, so I'm sure he's thought of this (smaller field?). I was impressed with a recent interview of his I saw and he seems to have certainly left no stone unturned.

Box lacrosse, on the hand, seems to have no problem growing right now. I was one of those hot bed purists who never took box seriously, but the proliferation of Canadian players in the NCAA very, very slowly piqued my interest. Now, I watch it quite a bit when I'm jonesing for some lax.

It's an interesting question, what makes a sport interesting? A rubric seems helpful for that. The snowboard half pipe= surprisingly boring. Cross Country skiing= surprisingly thrilling.
NCAA lacrosse= The best sport ever created. MLL= surprisingly boring.

On thing I will say about the MLL is that the teams suffer from a sameness in style of play. The shot clock limits what you can do and there ins't the day to day coaching that goes into college lacrosse. The level of play and the skill is miles above college though. NBA basketball looks boring compared to college basketball for some of the same reasons but the level of play is ridiculously higher.

Prefer to watch college football, hoops and lacrosse any day of the week vs their professional counterparts (baseball is my exception). Contrasts in approaches makes college games more interesting ,maybe its simply more enjoyable to me watching amateurs rather than many overpaid pros with attitudes .Shot clock has worked fairly well so far in the lax scrimmages Ive seen but expect the same same to get old as team personalities fade.

I watch both pro and college and like them both.....other than pro baseball. I will watch college but not pro baseball. Shot clock time is ok and shouldn't force a style of play on all teams unless the rules makers start to shorten the clock.

[DMac]

johnnyonthegunpowder wrote
Box lacrosse, on the hand, seems to have no problem growing right now. I was one of those hot bed purists who never took box seriously, but the proliferation of Canadian players in the NCAA very, very slowly piqued my interest. Now, I watch it quite a bit when I'm jonesing for some lax.

Always felt pretty much the same about box until I watched a lot of it during the World Games held at the Onondaga Res. It's not hard to understand why those Canadian box boys display the style and skills they have when you watch a bit of box. Super good game, a little different skill set required but sure transferable to the field game. Go down to the arena and watch the little guys play every once in awhile, pretty easy to see why the Gaits, Maracheks, Thompsons, Staats, etc, bring to the game what they do. Those kids grow up playing box, develops the skills we see from them. Across the board we need to get our kids playing more box, IMO.

[MDlaxfan76]

I love the idea of a Lacrosse Super Bowl. I'm curious about what the product on the field is actually going to be. One of the problems with MLL is that it was very boring. Beyond growing a fan base, that needs to be solved. The more lacrosse gets compared to WWE, UFC, Xgames, the less optimistic I am about a quality product on the field. Rabil seems to always have something cooking, so I'm sure he's thought of this (smaller field?). I was impressed with a recent interview of his I saw and he seems to have certainly left no stone unturned.

Box lacrosse, on the hand, seems to have no problem growing right now. I was one of those hot bed purists who never took box seriously, but the proliferation of Canadian players in the NCAA very, very slowly piqued my interest. Now, I watch it quite a bit when I'm jonesing for some lax.

It's an interesting question, what makes a sport interesting? A rubric seems helpful for that. The snowboard half pipe= surprisingly boring. Cross Country skiing= surprisingly thrilling.
NCAA lacrosse= The best sport ever created. MLL= surprisingly boring.

On thing I will say about the MLL is that the teams suffer from a sameness in style of play. The shot clock limits what you can do and there ins't the day to day coaching that goes into college lacrosse. The level of play and the skill is miles above college though. NBA basketball looks boring compared to college basketball for some of the same reasons but the level of play is ridiculously higher.

I think this is correct. I'd amplify that the current pro lax game isn't being played with anything remotely like the dedication/time commitments of the college athletes. Most players have full-time jobs and practices are minimal in comparison. So, yes, the coaching aspects are significantly greater, but so, too, I think is the intensity of effort and our natural reaction to that effort by the players.

On the pro basketball comparison, I think what we see is a reflection of way, way too many games, with the result typically being that only the waning parts of the game are played at high intensity, if game is still in question. In contrast, the playoffs tend to be played at high intensity throughout as the stakes are much higher for the players. So tend to be way more entertaining.

On the box question, get rid of the stupid fighting stuff ala old school hockey, and I quite agree that it's a fun game to watch and a good way to hone skills. I encouraged my son and his buddies in HS to play a brand of indoor, box style during the winter, but with full size goals. I 'coached' their senior year team that won the championship, with most of the other MIAA schools participating. A lot of future college stars in that arena. (by 'coached', I mean I brought the balls and stood in the box with them; I let the boys run the team otherwise). Really helped them develop skill sets, and for my son in the net, equipped him for the barrage of shots he was to face later in college against the likes of Lyle Thompson and Dylan Molloy. He credits that experience with why he played best when the action was most intense and shots most plentiful. May have been other factors too, but it certainly gave him the opportunity to learn to be resilient and focus on 'next shot'.

Heartily recommend kids getting exposure to some form of box. At first, though, its just big kid running past little kids. Once they all get some proficiency, it's much better.

[OCanada]

I had a few intense um discussions with various individuals about the MLL back at the start. My position at the time has pretty much played out as I thought it would. There were problems everywhere. I mention it because there were flaws from the start. Many of them have been mentioned here or other places. I am not familiar with Rabil’s proposal. I will say people I know believe he is very level handed and talented.

I grew up and went to HS on the Canadian border. We played Canadian schools for the most part in hockey, BB and football. Hockey and Box are culturally very intertwined from my time. Heck there were fights on the international Bridge. They would kivk our butts in hockey. We would kick their butts in hoops. FB was very competive.

Historically box players have taken some time to adjust to the field game. That has been minimized by the cross fertilization.

When Canada won worlds Dave Huntley observes American attackmen were p*****s and predicted the win

[51percentcorn]

Heartily recommend kids getting exposure to some form of box.

There are no words

[Typical Lax Dad]

I love the idea of a Lacrosse Super Bowl. I'm curious about what the product on the field is actually going to be. One of the problems with MLL is that it was very boring. Beyond growing a fan base, that needs to be solved. The more lacrosse gets compared to WWE, UFC, Xgames, the less optimistic I am about a quality product on the field. Rabil seems to always have something cooking, so I'm sure he's thought of this (smaller field?). I was impressed with a recent interview of his I saw and he seems to have certainly left no stone unturned.

Box lacrosse, on the hand, seems to have no problem growing right now. I was one of those hot bed purists who never took box seriously, but the proliferation of Canadian players in the NCAA very, very slowly piqued my interest. Now, I watch it quite a bit when I'm jonesing for some lax.

It's an interesting question, what makes a sport interesting? A rubric seems helpful for that. The snowboard half pipe= surprisingly boring. Cross Country skiing= surprisingly thrilling.
NCAA lacrosse= The best sport ever created. MLL= surprisingly boring.

On thing I will say about the MLL is that the teams suffer from a sameness in style of play. The shot clock limits what you can do and there ins't the day to day coaching that goes into college lacrosse. The level of play and the skill is miles above college though. NBA basketball looks boring compared to college basketball for some of the same reasons but the level of play is ridiculously higher.

I think this is correct. I'd amplify that the current pro lax game isn't being played with anything remotely like the dedication/time commitments of the college athletes. Most players have full-time jobs and practices are minimal in comparison. So, yes, the coaching aspects are significantly greater, but so, too, I think is the intensity of effort and our natural reaction to that effort by the players.

On the pro basketball comparison, I think what we see is a reflection of way, way too many games, with the result typically being that only the waning parts of the game are played at high intensity, if game is still in question. In contrast, the playoffs tend to be played at high intensity throughout as the stakes are much higher for the players. So tend to be way more entertaining.

On the box question, get rid of the stupid fighting stuff ala old school hockey, and I quite agree that it's a fun game to watch and a good way to hone skills. I encouraged my son and his buddies in HS to play a brand of indoor, box style during the winter, but with full size goals. I 'coached' their senior year team that won the championship, with most of the other MIAA schools participating. A lot of future college stars in that arena. (by 'coached', I mean I brought the balls and stood in the box with them; I let the boys run the team otherwise). Really helped them develop skill sets, and for my son in the net, equipped him for the barrage of shots he was to face later in college against the likes of Lyle Thompson and Dylan Molloy. He credits that experience with why he played best when the action was most intense and shots most plentiful. May have been other factors too, but it certainly gave him the opportunity to learn to be resilient and focus on 'next shot'.

Heartily recommend kids getting exposure to some form of box. At first, though, its just big kid running past little kids. Once they all get some proficiency, it's much better.

There is far less fighting now.

[PeteStreet]

For me personally, the MLL seemed to make no effort to make content available online, and certainly didn't have a good TV product. Whenever a recruit or Hop player has some highlights or full game available, how do most of us here view/share the content? We watch it on YouTube. The MLL had virtually nothing available on YouTube. It is almost impossible to immerse oneself in the MLL as a fan when this is the case. I understand posting games/highlights on YouTube doesn't directly bring in money, but it would be ridiculous to think it wouldn't help with immersion and get fans excited about watching their favorite team/player. I'm not driving all the way to Annapolis (closest MLL stadium) to watch a team that I have no ability to follow throughout a season, at least on a minimal basis through YouTube highlights or something.

Also, the MLL team websites look like complete trash. If you told me they were designed by a Middle Schooler, I would believe you.

Starting the MLL season before college seniors graduated was one of the worst ideas ever. It just felt like a casual summer rec league at that point when new guys started filtering in as they finished their last college game.

I don't agree with incorporating box elements into college/MLL just to try and match success. I've played some box, so I'm not completely unfamiliar with it. I get that it can be fun to play and builds skills. Heck, baseball can be fun to play. But from a spectator standpoint, I find it not as fun to watch and bordering ridiculous. The goals are tiny. Why? I don't care if it makes it harder to score, it looks like a little miniature cutesy version of outdoor lacrosse. And the goalies' pads are completely ridiculous. They look like intergalactic, uncool transformers about to compete in an uncool gladiator match. Are the balls made of explosive rubber and filled with shrapnel? Is the idea to make it harder to score? Again, that is not an interesting way to make it harder to score. Field lacrosse doesn't need to be "sped up". It was fine and interesting to watch before the flawed referee-initiated shot clock, it was fine before the current shot clock, and it was fine before everyone tried to change the way the game was played. If people can sit through a MLB game without falling asleep, and keep the sport flourishing, then field lacrosse should do just fine for spectators without all these unnecessary changes. Guess that concludes my grumpy rant

[BlueJaySince1947]

Yep...it was perfect as it was.
Shot clock of any type is ridiculous..." speed the game up " for today's couch potato TeeVee fans. Earlier season start every year and ridiculous starting times for games says it all as to who's in charge now. Lacrosse on February 9...!!! Absolutely nuts.
bang1

[admin]

The FanLax Forum follows the rules of Men's NCAA Lacrosse. This is where you can find more details about the FanLax Rules.

Game continues while the ref mentions to Wombat, "Watch the taunting." No Flag. Just a warning. Incident #6.

[WOMBAT, Mod Emeritus]

The FanLax Forum follows the rules of Men's NCAA Lacrosse. This is where you can find more details about the FanLax Rules.

Game continues while the ref mentions to Wombat, "Watch the taunting." No Flag. Just a warning. Incident #6.

This is awesome! We have a Penalty Box!!!

And, isn’t it ironic that the great former editor requested an edit?

That’s rich.

Any news of whether laf can at least bring the 20 year archive back online?

That’s the biggest disaster. Poof. Far worse than College Lacrosse USA being bought by Street and Smith’s and then getting wiped out from the Internet.

Pretty sure Dan backed everything up in its entirety. But will it ever see the light of day?

Guess that depends on laf’s negotiations with Active.

Or whether Active will start suing everyone in sight.

It’s a sad day when someone says call, regarding contingency plans, and you send a note, and get a response to the effect of NO, NOT YOU.

Petty and uncivil. But at least he’s retired and finally has more free time after yeoman-like work.

Yet, the former editor keeps editing by proxy.

LMAO.

Anyway, Matt, I hope you can keep this site running with a very low level of effort, and don’t let it eat 20 years of your life away and make you bitter.

I think you should stiffarm most editing requests. Give an inch, they’ll take a mile.

W

[admin]

The FanLax Forum follows the rules of Men's NCAA Lacrosse. This is where you can find more details about the FanLax Rules.

Flag. 1 Minute (2 Day) Unsportsmanlike Taunting Penalty for Wombat. Incident #6.

Wombat, you can still watch the game (read the posts within the FanLax Forum) but you'll only be able to post within the Penalty Box. i.e. I'm posting a reply to your post in the Penalty Box so you'll be able to reply to it on the sideline.

Also, Wombat, for what it's worth, you're officially the first person to serve a penalty at FanLax. Kudos.