Future Lacrosse Topics:

Like anyone I have a few unanswered questions about my sport of choice. Those being.

1. Why is lacrosse a predominately east coast sport?
2. Why is lacrosse equipment so much more expensive than other sports?
3. What efforts are going in to making lacrosse more accessible to other regions?
4. Why isn't professional lacrosse as big as other pro sports?
5. Why is College lacrosse more popular than the pros?

Billion Dollar Ball 2/3

So yesterday, me and my fellow classmates met with author Gilbert Gaul. While meeting with him, we discussed his book "Billion Dollar Ball". He went in depth about just why he made this book, and the interesting things he encountered while writing and researching the topic. He told us about the hardships he had to go through just for one interview, also what he's seen at some of the big football schools  he's been to. For example, he went on about a story of when he visited Oregon as we all know Oregon is one of the biggest football schools in the nation. When he arrived he told us, its hard to miss seeing a Nike swoosh on the campus. From the pavement, buildings, trash cans Nike is branded nearly everywhere on the campus. Next, what I found interesting was the matter of what these  big name programs do to keep their Student-Athletes academically eligible. If you are a student you have to pass your classes in order to remain in school. With that being said all of the universities athletes are also students. Many may know the workload in college is tremendous, so just how are all these athletes remaining eligible? Well for one, if you are a top football player, or  basketball player your most likely majoring in something less demanding like Sociology, or Agricultural Leadership.
Now the average person has no idea what Agricultural Leadership even is or what you can do with a degree in that. But the reason behind these athletes choices of their majors is because these majors are far less demanding. There are minimal math and English requirements for these majors and far less course work to maintain. To provide even more aid for the athletes already easy course work, a lot of these big schools have Academic Support Centers. These are multi million dollar buildings to help the athletes learn and complete their work. If you ask me it sounds like a big study hall. These buildings contain every learning tool anyone can imagine, high end computers, tutors, lounges. But here's the catch. Only student-athletes are allowed to use these facilities if you are not an athlete you are prohibited. Oregon paid 72 million dollars for their Academic Support Center, other schools are more than willing to pay high prices as well. So this little article is just a few things I was able to take away from Mr. Gaul and his book.

Billion Dollar Ball 1/3

On Thursday May 5th,2016, Author Gil Gaul will be visiting my school to talk about one of his bestselling novels. "Billion Dollar Ball" is one of his novels that focuses on college sports and the revenue that is made from the player's as well as coaches performances. With this being said while Mr. Gaul is in attendance we will have many questions to fire upon him as to just why he wrote this book.
1. What motivated you to exploit Colleges and Universities for this behavior?
2.Did you ever imagine the book would blow up to be this big?
3.Who decides the coaches salary at a university and why is it acceptable for them to be paid that much?

CPLAX Elite Mission Statement:

Many sports organizations have gone away from what the sport  is really about. Here at CPLAX we value the game and take pride in teaching it correctly. It is always good to get a head start in sports as one can get behind in very little time. This league will benefit players from 5 all the way to 17.  Fundamentals are key to a players success in any sport. The staff we acquired at CPLAX implement the fundamentals of the game into every player early on. Sure we all want to score goals and land big hits, but in order to do so you have to know the basics. It is imperative for every player no matter position to have the ability to catch, throw, and carry the ball. Without these three vital skills a young lacrosse player is dead in the water.

More importantly knowledge of the game and team chemistry is also very much needed. Each player that joins the CPLAX league will have a complete understanding of the game and know how to play every position. Too many players these days confine themselves to one specific position selling themselves short of their true potential. I've noticed from my own experience on my high school team players saying they are Attack, meaning they don't play defense, or players saying they are a D-Pole so they don't need to know how to catch and throw. This is a major problem in the game. At a moment's notice a players job can be changed in game. If a player is injured, someone will have to replace that players position and if that player doesn't know his/her job the team is in a world of trouble. With each level of the league the competitive nature will be set higher. Early on competitiveness isn't what we are asking. As an organization we hope the young kids have a will to learn and love the game of lacrosse the right way. Though as players age and get their bearings on the game the atmosphere will be changed to a winning atmosphere. As an organization we believe that we are the first step to breeding Elite lacrosse players. With that being said the parents of these players also have to be involved. Missed practices are not tolerated, one cannot miss or skip practice and expect to be thrown on the field without consequence. Every missed practice is a consequence that will be solved in practice with character building conditioning. If you want to be on the field for this organization you must commit yourself to it and give your all on and off the field. A player must have a good team mindset and not focus solely on the one on one game. W's don't come from one persons efforts they come from the whole team working together. Our goal is to breed hungry athletes ready to learn and devour opponents. Let's Eat!

Female Reporters:

Ever since female reporters stepped into the sports media world there has been controversy. Many claim that females should not be reporters for male sports. Or the argument that women don't know enough about the sport to report on it or even now officiate. In my own personal opinion, those that view female reporters and officials this way are just plain sexist. Many women indulge in sports just like their male counterparts. So there is no reason why they cannot pursue a career in sports reporting. With this being said their are many well-renown women sports reporters. For example Doris Burke, Carolyn Manno, Rebecca Harlow these are just a few of the top female reporters. Women Sports Reporters are just as good as men in most cases, and should be respected in the same manner.

Prominent Reporter: Armen Keteyian

As many know, there are countless sports reporters around the world. All of them, waiting for their big break into the media. A prominent reporter is Armen Keteyian or 60 minutes series lead correspondent. Anything with significance in sports Keteyian has covered. For example, Keteyian was the man to interview former Duke Lacrosse coach after the Sexual Assault scandal. Keteyian was the first man on the story and was able to get inside details about the incident. He is a well rounded sports reporter as he has worked for CBS, CBS Sports, HBO, and now 60 minutes one of the most watched television programs. No wonder why he was the man to be first on the job.

Twitter Fingers

On Monday, March 7,2016 my school CHS had an assembly. This assembly was mainly focused on social media and had a few examples of how athletes have been effected by their tweets. One athlete in particular was Yuri Wright All-American corner back out of Don Bosco Prep in New Jersey. He was one of the most heavily recruited defensive backs in the nation. Michigan was the first college to offer Wright a scholarship to continue his football career. Though it all fell down when Yuri Wright posted various tweets that would derail his recruitment by these big name schools. After his tweets leaked the offer from Michigan was revoked and he faced a hard time trying to clear his name. Despite this he is now playing for University of Colorado.

Similar to this, many know Curt Schilling's daughter also experienced some twitter harassment. After Curt Schilling tweeted at his daughter congratulating her on her soon to be softball start some vulgar tweets began popping up after. In response to this Curt Schilling responded to these tweets saying he has many friends in Special Forces. With this being said Curt Schilling and his forces were able to locate all who were involved to resolve the issue.

Tennessee Footbal Scandal "Butch Jones"

In the news recently, has been the Tennessee Football Team Scandal. University of Tennessee's Head football coach Butch Jones accused one of his wide receivers of betraying the team as the player helped a woman who said she was raped by two other players. A Title IX lawsuit has been filed by six women who also attend the University and are claiming they've been raped or sexually assaulted with no disciplinary action taken upon the suspects.

With this being said Butch Jones called the player who helped the victim a "traitor" to the team. Butch Jones at that moment felt that the player betrayed the teams values. Though later, he took  back that statement. Many feel that Butch Jones should be fired for his actions. I am one of them, Tennessee should get rid of everyone and anyone who is making a bad example of the University.
The football program should start fresh with a new coach.

The Hunting Ground Movie Review:

Recently in class, we watched and analyzed the movie The Hunting Ground. If you haven't seen it, this movie was about the college environment and sexual assault within this environment. In my personal opinion I think this movie was very good and informative. It provides the viewer with a statistic that almost every college or University fails to provide for its new students. That statistic is known as sexual assault on college campuses and of that how are they perpetrators disciplined. With saying this most aren't disciplined as we see. The New York Times referred to this movie as "a blunt instrument of a movie". As it talks about what no one wants to experience or talk about. It is straight to the point and that may caution some viewers as the New York Times strongly recommends parents watch this video even though it is rated PG-13.

Slate.com recognizes the movie as an influential piece of film as it provides knowledge of what goes on at a college campus and possibly how to avoid these situations. The movie acknowledges that while searching for a good college home that is the last thing you would like to know about the school.

Sexual Assault in Lacrosse

When one hears the term Sexual Assault one can link it to many people and or sports. An infamous case of sexual assault was that of the allegations the Duke Blue Devils had against them. The Duke men's lacrosse team held a party around April of 2007, at this party they paid for two exotic dancers. One of the dancers later on claimed she was sexually assaulted, raped and kidnapped. Three individuals of the team were brought up on charges of all three offenses. Though through a tough legal battle all the charges against the three athletes were dropped. With that being said, Mike Pressler coach of the then Blue Devils lacrosse team was still fired despite the dropping of charges. 8 years later Duke is now back at the top of Mens Division I lacrosse, with no problems in sight.

Sexual Assault among Athletes

As one may know, there are many athletes that don't always do the right thing. Whether it be making controversial statements, getting involved in and or initiating fights, and of course the big one Sexual Assault. A case that sticks out in particular is Kobe Bryant's sexual assault allegation. This happened around 2004 when Kobe Bryant's career was on the rise. At this time Kobe had two NBA titles on his resume and he was continuing to wow crowds. Though when in Colorado awaiting a minor knee surgery Kobe slipped up. He was shown around the hotel by a young 19 year old employee, who he then would have sexual relations with this young women. The girl 19 at the time Bryant was 24, though one might think this is perfectly fine the girl claimed Mr. Bryant forced himself upon her. Upon police interview, Mr. Bryant denied any forceful altercations with the female and swore many times that the interaction was consensual. Bryant was never convicted of this sexual assault, though not being convicted he lost tons of money. His prized endorsements were stripped from his grasps and his family nearly torn apart at the time. We don't know if he did it or not though time tells all.

Athletes in the Media

Just like the Beyonce media outbreak, other athletes have experienced the same treatment and or criticism. A local athlete that has received similar criticism is Jalil Okafor of the Philadelphia 76ers. When the 19 year old rising star was drafted everyone was star struck. He is a great young player and a great person to have on the sixers. Though when he began getting in trouble, for instance the brawl he was involved in outside of a Philadelphia night club. Or when he was pulled over going across the bridge into Philly going 108 mph. Moods about the young star quickly changed and many fans now despised Okafor. Though after some time and Jahlil's consistent big numbers talks became good again.

Beyonce's Controversial Performance

With the Super Bowl still fresh in everyone's minds, the halftime show stands out particularity. The performance of the new single "Formation" by Beyonce is turning the world upside down. This years' halftime show was action-packed and lively with appearances From Coldplay, Bruno Mars, and the star of the show Beyonce. Many people, after hearing this song recognize that this song touches on a lot of the recent political controversies with African-Americans. This being said, people are speaking out and saying Beyonce chose the wrong place and wrong time to perform this song.

So is Beyonce wrong for performing her new single "Formation"?. In my opinion, I don't think so. Here's why, during the Super Bowl the majority of viewers are more focused on the game or on the newest commercials than anything else. Personally I did watch the game in its entirety, halftime show and all, and I found nothing wrong with the performance. Beyonce's performance did exactly what it was supposed to do, and that was to entertain. The formation her background dancers made and the synchronized choreography is what was able to draw the viewers attention. Me personally I experienced trouble even making out all of the words to the song. This leads me to believe that, that is exactly why all of the controversy about this song came out after the Super Bowl. All it is, is reporters looking for a good story, and hey they got it! Beyonce did her job to entertain and the media is doing there job to make claims.  

The Biggest Stage in Sports

As we know the Super Bowl just passed yesterday. This once a year game is undoubtedly the biggest sporting event of the year for any sport. People are glued to their TV's or desperately trying to get tickets or looking for somewhere to watch this event. Men's College lacrosse is similar in a few ways. Little do many people know College lacrosse is a pretty big deal, at least here on the east it is. The NCAA tournament for lacrosse is all out excitement from the time it starts all the way down to the National Championship game. All three collegiate levels of the sport receive the same excitement, there is no drop of between divisions. Last year, the Final Four and National Championship Game were held in Philadelphia,PA. The turnout was amazing, vendors from every nearby business were present and thousands upon thousands of people. Now the Super Bowl is one day, the crowds for the tournament lasted an entire weekend. I even struck out trying to get tickets to one of the games. If lacrosse keeps growing as it is now, one day it may be the biggest stage in sports.

Intro

This blog will be dedicated to lacrosse, I am a senior in high school and I am going into my second year of the sport, my position is D-Mid. Though I've only been playing a short while, I have grown a great love for the sport of Lacrosse. I was introduced to the sport by a few mutual friends and loved it ever since. The physicality of the game intrigues me as well as the ties the game shares with other sports. Throughout this here blog I will be focusing on the men's game predominately. If one knows the game well, they know that the professional level of the sport isn't all that mainstream yet. Though the collegiate game is very well known and supported. A few of my favorite college teams that I keep my eye on happen to be Syracuse, Maryland, and Duke. When I play lacrosse I enjoy playing with my high school teammates either at school or the local turf fields. As any lacrosse player knows one must always be improving their skills to remain a dominant force in the game.

On this blog, I'd like to discuss a few specific topics regarding the sport as well as every day happenings of lacrosse. Looking in, it does not take one long to realize the sport isn't all that diverse racially. A predominantly white and Native east coast sport, that has not gained much traction in other regions or cultures. Just last year, the collegiate game of lacrosse seen it's first national champion that is not located on the east coast the Denver Pioneers. Another topic that will be discussed is just that of why college lacrosse is more popular than the professional game. As well as this, as the season approaches I will provide game recap for the top games. Stay tuned to this blog and you won't be disappointed.