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Saturday, February 26, 2005

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Almost Hockey On Carpet

I watched the National Lacrosse League All-Star Game this afternoon. It's not hockey, but I enjoyed it quite a bit - especially at the end. They had the league commissioner on at halftime talking about expansion. If they had a team in Seattle, I'd go.

One of the things I liked about Lacrosse is that the players all have to have day jobs. Average NLL salary is apparently around $12,000. Apparently, many of the player's teach for their "day jobs" which impressed my wife immensely. She mentioned that this is how all sports leagues should be. I couldn't agree more.

When I lived in LA, I used to play hockey in the amateur league. I haven't played since I moved up due to a variety of reasons - including cost and distance to rink. But there's an indoor facility where they play lacrosse in Redmond, less than four miles from campus. They also play inline hockey and indoor soccer too.

Posted By Harry Pierson at 4:56 PM Pacific Standard Time

Comments [1]

Other | Sports

Monday, February 28, 2005 9:57:27 AM (Pacific Standard Time, UTC-08:00)

With the NHL talks dead, there's been renewed interest in our local lacrosse team, the Toronto Rock (cheesy name, but a good time), with the last game I attended a couple of weeks ago drawing in over 16,000 fans to the Air Canada Centre.

I agree with all your points, and add some other observations:

1) Unlike hockey, the background rock music does not stop once the puck is in play; it's played non-stop.

2) Unlike hockey, players are rotated on and off the pitch continuously -- it's rather amazing to watch the orchestration these guys go through.

3) Unlike hockey, the players RUN the length of the pitch several times during play, no coasting, drifting or what have you.

4) Unlike hockey, which is now becoming pansy-fied, lacrosse is full contact with slashing and checking. Oh, and they wear minimal protective gear -- helmet, some pads and gloves. That's it.

In short, if you want to see a real man's game, see lacrosse. It kicks! :D

Chris Chapman

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