LaxPower Back-Up Stick

seriously? wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 5:02 pm
Have you ever been at a Brown game when the far sidelines are loaded with students? How about the recent Penn game when what we can all guess were football players lining the railing were calling out "over-rated"to Guadet and the entire team. It is part of the game. F'bombs are unacceptable but before you call out Yale and pretend that the rest of the Ivy fans and players are saints, attend a few more games.

Mid-Lax wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 5:04 pm

Counselor wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 3:57 pm Yale is not a Final Four calibre team this season ....

Pretty harsh early assessment counselor. Last year after the Bucknell loss or after the ILT trouncing by Cornell, you could have made the same assessment. I think they have a good shot, as do almost two handful of other teams.

Counselor wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 3:57 pm ...Yale is not a Final Four calibre team this season ....

Counselor wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 3:57 pm Yale has had the rep of excessive chirping for years...surprised Shay allows it...is a discredit to the program...Yale is not a Final Four calibre team this season ....

middleAgedBear wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2019 8:09 pm Gaudet is a player I'd love, if he were on my side...

Also, why is Gaudet wearing a dog collar? Serious question.

baylax72 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 3:09 pm Well said, MD. Although I wouldn't say that chirping in a goalie's face for 5 seconds after you score a goal is appropriate on the field chirping, which made me want to turn the Yale game off on Saturday. Act like you've done it before.

MDlaxfan76 wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 12:08 pm The discussion about 'chirping' and other unsportsmanlike conduct within the Ivy League is indeed an interesting one, though certainly not an exclusively Yale issue. Not by a long shot!

But, yes, the Yale lacrosse team has had a reputation with this issue for some time, well preceding its recent success at the national level.

There's a huge amount to like about the program that Shay has built, but sportsmanship has not been, pretty darn apparently, a priority. Which means it's an opportunity for improvement, as I agree, there are other aspects of the culture which are quite good.

Anyone who thinks otherwise, I'd suggest is either not well informed or is in willful denial.
Calling it 'swagger' (I'm not referring to any specific posters) is to miss the endemic lack of sportsmanship. Swagger's not a valid excuse.

Here's my view as a former Ivy player and colored a bit by my son's perspective, which he shared with me after his recent Ivy college career:

There's lots of chatter on the field, back and forth, as guys battle both physically and emotionally to gain an edge. My son and I were both goalies and the frequent target of such chatter. Instead of letting it bother us, we gave it back and we used the intensity as motivation. I think my son handled it even more intensely than did I. He liked it, loved playing when the intensity was highest. I remember feeling the same way.

But it was between players. Not for the audience. And we left it on the field. There was mutual respect post-game. Grace in both victory and defeat. The guys who didn't handle it that way, others knew and disliked.

Anyone who took a cheap shot to truly hurt someone, and was not immediately sorry, shunned. I'm not talking about a whack to the elbow or back of the leg, I'm talking about big hits of defenseless players. This was not as big a deal in my day as we didn't really understand brain injury risks, but there's a reason why a great player Franz Wittlesberger (Hopkins) has had difficulty getting into the Hall of Fame; interestingly I hear that Rodney Rullman (UVA goalie Franz put out of a game) has written a letter of support for Franz...an act of sportsmanship and grace IMO.

Chirping to a sideline or at a coach, definitely not ok. But between players, all part of the game.

As to fans, sounds like we all agree that the expletives reflect very poorly on those hurling them, especially when they can be heard by 'kids and grandmas'. It doesn't matter whether these are students or some jerk dads, it reflects poorly upon them...and the team/school they support. It's incumbent upon their fellow fans who support that team to tell them to knock it off, and if that's not working, for the AD to step in. If they don't, they're providing tacit support for the behavior.

It's an especially poor reflection on a program when recent team alumni participate in ugly taunting. They are not just any alumni, they represent that specific program. The head coach needs to have been clear before they graduated as to what was appropriate, and post graduation he still should have an influence.

But, again, from a players' perspective, the taunts should be turned to motivation by those who are the targets. Not to lose one's cool, but to sharpen one's intensity and focus.

Back to playing ball...

seriously? wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 11:09 am MD,

"There's a huge amount to like about the program that Shay has built, but sportsmanship has not been, pretty darn apparently, a priority. Which means it's an opportunity for improvement, as I agree, there are other aspects of the culture which are quite good.

Anyone who thinks otherwise, I'd suggest is either not well informed or is in willful denial.
Calling it 'swagger' (I'm not referring to any specific posters) is to miss the endemic lack of sportsmanship. Swagger's not a valid excuse."

MD, in response to your pontificating, Shay must be doing something right because he has 50 kids on his team and Dartmouth has 35. (And that increase in talented players started before this successful run.) Let's stop blaming the weather in New Hampshire. For years it was known that the coach at Dartmouth had zero control over his team. Maybe they played "nice" on the field but off the field they were out of control. One coach quits, another comes on -- same story. If you asked the very successful women's team, they'd tell you the same thing. Whether it was partying or lack of drive, maybe both.

And can you ever write anything under 1000 words?

seriously? wrote: ↑Thu Apr 18, 2019 11:09 am MD,

"There's a huge amount to like about the program that Shay has built, but sportsmanship has not been, pretty darn apparently, a priority. Which means it's an opportunity for improvement, as I agree, there are other aspects of the culture which are quite good.

Anyone who thinks otherwise, I'd suggest is either not well informed or is in willful denial.
Calling it 'swagger' (I'm not referring to any specific posters) is to miss the endemic lack of sportsmanship. Swagger's not a valid excuse."

MD, in response to your pontificating, Shay must be doing something right because he has 50 kids on his team and Dartmouth has 35. (And that increase in talented players started before this successful run.) Let's stop blaming the weather in New Hampshire. For years it was known that the coach at Dartmouth had zero control over his team. Maybe they played "nice" on the field but off the field they were out of control. One coach quits, another comes on -- same story. If you asked the very successful women's team, they'd tell you the same thing. Whether it was partying or lack of drive, maybe both.

And can you ever write anything under 1000 words?