Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing
I’m not here to name names. It’s not about pointing fingers. Someone has to talk about this. Guys and ladies – there is something wrong. With the teams, with the type of lacrosse that I am watching and there is DEFINITELY something wrong with the players. How do I know this? Well, I talk to these guys. (Occasionally) I email these guys (too much). I provoke these guys (endlessly).
Most importantly, I watch them play. A lot. I’ve watched the games on my DVR probably a dozen times since they aired. At first I just put them on in the background while I was working on columns, but as I began to watch them more intently and I started to notice things.
Who celebrates with whom? Who goes to cage whenever they get the ball? Who shoots the ball whenever they touch it? Who NEVER cops to a bad slide with the “my bad” chest pat? Who throws their arms up and blames their D when a soft shot goes in? Who freaks out when someone bones a great pass with a piss-poor bid?
It’s not one or two guys on each team that does those things. It’s “basically” all of them. Yes, “basically” if I said “all” there would be a huge uproar and I’d have to print some sort of BS apology that I don’t mean. Oh, you don’t believe me?
Do me a favour. Next time you watch a game, turn the sound off and try to mentally block out the numbers and names on the jerseys. Tell me what you see. Tell me I’m wrong in applying my 12 years of coaching, 20 years of playing and 6 years of pro analysis. You’re still not convinced. So I’ll go over some team stats for you since going over individual stats will get me at the very least crucified and at the worst have me writing crappy, unedited, incoherent blogs for e-lacrosse.
We’re at a good point right now where we can gauge the pace of each team and compare it to last year by using multiplication. It’s not super accurate, but based on the data I have available to me, it’s what we’ve got.
There are two teams that are going to finish under 30% in man up. Boston and Chicago. Both of these teams have some of the best attack units ever assembled. I would go so far as to say that Boston’s attack line is better than the Bayhawks legendary 2005 set up of gritty Gait, feisty Marecheck and frisky guitarist. How can you finish last in the league in man-up with Rabil bombing from the outside and Boyle feeding everyone else? You can blame this on the 4th pole all you want, but really, is that the problem? Man-up success is built on passing and good shots, not getting past another pole.
Let’s look at another big stat in lacrosse: ground balls. Denver is on pace to finish last in ground balls again, but they’re going to beat their total by 150 GB’s! I thought the pole was supposed to help with groundballs by causing turnovers. Guess not. They’re not the only team struggling with picking up the pill, as two other teams, Washington and Chicago are also on pace to get under 300 ground balls this season. Less than 25 GB’s a game at this level is unacceptable.
There are two teams (Denver and Toronto) with a shooting percentage of over 30% in the league. Last year there were five. So with all the talent of ten teams squished into six, no one can find the net with three out of every ten shots? Is everyone doing behind the back shots or something? Dude’s shooting with their off hand just for kicks?
So let me get this straight – we have the best lacrosse players in the world playing against each other and nearly EVERY stat is on pace to finish down or almost the same as last year? It’s not the long pole people. Seriously, it’s not. The only thing the long pole has changed so far is the frequency of LP fast breaks and the number of hissy fits thrown by middies after they get their lunch money taken when they drive to net. Are the ground balls down because the play is so fluid and awesome that GB’s are going to finish at record lows? Are the shot percentages SO BAD because the goalies are SO GOOD? No. (I concede that the goalie stats are actually better this year, though – but that supports the shooting percentage drop.) I refuse to believe that this is going to happen.
So what’s the problem?
Soren Kierkegaard once wrote: “If a man in truth wills the good then he must be willing to suffer all for the good.” I won’t lie, Kierkegaard was talking about god and stuff, but his theory applies to almost anything that needs faith or work. Basically if you want something bad enough you must sacrifice to achieve it. What the hell am I talking about? The better question is how does it apply to every team in the league?
Since the retraction, each team has been stuffed with All-Americans like a fat mans pockets at a one-trip buffet. The problem is when you have all these different cuts of choice meat to choose from you forget to throw some potatoes or veggies on the plate. Shooters, finishers, takeaway checkers, stonewall goalies – these are the players that put the sexy into the game. Every single team in the MLL has those players. The trick is to get those players to work with each other to a common goal. That goal is to win. For that to happen players must sacrifice the one thing that they hold most dear.
Their ego.
You know why I didn’t name any names in the piece? Because none of the so-called greatest players in the world can take the unbridled disparagement that I am capable of unleashing upon them. They know they’re not playing well. Deep down, they know. Legends and messiahs are folding like chairs at sixth grade musicals ALL over the place. Look it up. There are guys with shooting percentages under 20% that made the All-Star team last year. Aside from the top two scorers this season, no one is on pace to finish equal to or greater than the rest of the top ten scorers from last season.
The problem with having six All-Star teams is that every guy on every team is out to prove that they’re the best of the best every time they’re on the field. Now that’s great in theory, but in practical application there’s just no way that you can do that every game. Not in this league. Not in lacrosse.
You need a guy who will play tough short stick D. You need a guy who will go for the body so someone else can pick up the GB. You need a guy who will retaliate after a teammate gets crushed on an early slide. You need a guy who will clear the ball and get his ass off the field. You need a pole that will stay home on every clear. You need a guy that always looks for the extra pass. You need a guy who will settle the offense.
Where are these guys? Those are the guys I want to see. Those are the guys every team needs. Those are the guys I respect. I’m not impressed by your top corner almost snipe anymore. I’m not wowed by your doorstep split save on a ball that goes wide. I ‘m not overcome by your helicopter check that lands on air.
Show me that you remember how to pass. Show me that you care about more than your highlight reel. Show me that you want to win.
You’ve got eight games left.
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