The aberration

[OCanada]

I dont know about now but not very long ago it was difficult to get competent officials for all games. First not everyone wants to be an official and ex players are no different. Frustrating for everyone. Officiating has slowly gotten more uniform but has a ways to go. There used to be wide variations among regions of the country

[Drcthru]

When was the last time you watched a game, '47? It's come a looooooooooooooong way, baby. I once shared your sentiments (only for about 50 yrs or so), but it's a whole different game with today's sticks and rule changes. The girls run more (mlaxers couldn't keep up with them if they were to play a game against them using their sticks and playing by their rules) pass more, and play much more of a finesse and team game. It's not the same game you remember, believe me.

I keep track of attempts vs drops when watching games. Lots of drops when the defender attempts to dislodge the ball. Doesn't show as a cto b/c team that had possession maintains it. Risk reward..... We see what we want to see, sometimes.

The etymology of rules, if that's the appropriate word. Jim Brown famously chested the ball. Dont believe an actual rule, written, was put into place until the Loyola run of the 90's.
Cross checking. When was it added to the rule book? Why? Why is it NOT enforced today? Why?

Not to be pedantic. You raised the question. Etymology is the study of word origins. You probably should have said "etiology" or, better, "evolution".

[laxpert]

Cross Checking is still in there but its enforcement is subjective to say the least

Rule 5
Cross-Check SECTION 11� A player may not check his opponent with his crosse in a crosscheck position — that is, check him with that part of the handle of his crosse that is between his hands, either by thrusting it away from his body or by holding it extended from his body�

[Cheeseandcrackers]

When I read the cross checking rule, it's clear to me that as long as one of the defenders gloves is touching the offensive player it's not cross checking. Your hands have to be really far apart to not get a glove on the guy. This is why almost all of the cross checks you see called are when the stick contacts the neck and/or head.

[viho]

On the Cross Check discussion and state of the sticks in general...

Add the cross check to the list of skills brought from the box game to the field. The first time I saw Yale's Chris Fake I thought he was an incredible hack (although physically gifted). Last night, PSU's Brian Townsend put on a cross check clinic. So, full blown, vicious cross checks are now apparently totally legal unless you get up around the head or hit another player too hard so the ref needs to pick some type of foul to make the call.

Now to my point: you have bigger and bigger offensive players with bags that you cannot get the ball to come out. Furthermore, these offensive players now try to run over their defensive counter parts without worry of the ball being dislodged (dropping head and shoulder). I've come to the conclusion that all the Def players have left is to slash and cross check.

So, Chris/Brian if you're reading, keep doing what you're doing.

Related - IMO the game pace has picked up but it is due to a change in possession. That is not the same as the up and down/ uneven breaks we saw in the 80's & 90's that resulted from caused turnovers (take away check's). There was a generation of guys mccabe, beardsley, petro, kisslinger, klausner, breschi that could change the game from the defensive end of the field. The game is worse off without players like them.

Please, rethink the sticks.

[runrussellrun]

On the Cross Check discussion and state of the sticks in general...

Add the cross check to the list of skills brought from the box game to the field. The first time I saw Yale's Chris Fake I thought he was an incredible hack (although physically gifted). Last night, PSU's Brian Townsend put on a cross check clinic. So, full blown, vicious cross checks are now apparently totally legal unless you get up around the head or hit another player too hard so the ref needs to pick some type of foul to make the call.

Now to my point: you have bigger and bigger offensive players with bags that you cannot get the ball to come out. Furthermore, these offensive players now try to run over their defensive counter parts without worry of the ball being dislodged (dropping head and shoulder). I've come to the conclusion that all the Def players have left is to slash and cross check.

So, Chris/Brian if you're reading, keep doing what you're doing.

Related - IMO the game pace has picked up but it is due to a change in possession. That is not the same as the up and down/ uneven breaks we saw in the 80's & 90's that resulted from caused turnovers (take away check's). There was a generation of guys mccabe, beardsley, petro, kisslinger, klausner, breschi that could change the game from the defensive end of the field. The game is worse off without players like them.

Please, rethink the sticks.

If you watched the PSU-Maryland game, you witness a simple poke check that dislodged the ball when Maryland was making the game close. Second half. recorded the game but haven't done the stats yet. In the first quarter, the announcers (who did a nice job) called a Maryland turnover "sloppy", a pass that went out of bounds. Not what I saw. I say a Nitme Lion defended throw a nice poke check into the arm of the Terp player that had the ball, disrupting the throwing motion and making the catch UN catchable. To me, this counts as a CTO.....doubt it was counted as one.

In short, the game has plenty of CTO's, considering the attempts of actually trying to take the ball away. Trailing attackman on a ride often dislodge the ball when it's near the center line......risk reward.