Father-son

I spent at least one evening in the company of Donald, whose son Geoff was a friend of mine in college. I met Donald through Geoff at the University of Delaware and I remember having a great time over drinks and “shenanigans” at Geoff’s apartment on Main Street in Newark. Don was the type of dad (a lot like mine, which was why I liked him) who so enjoyed spending time with his sons in the company of their goofball friends.

Geoff and his family had been from Manhasset, New York, a Long Island lacrosse mecca, where Jim Brown starred in lacrosse (and, oh yeah, football too) before Syracuse, a place that continues to churn out some of the top players in the country. I would never have met Geoff had it not been for common acquaintances through lacrosse. A couple of my Delaware teammates were also close friends with Geoff, so therefore I would have never met Donald if not for a relationship lacrosse helped to mold.

Shortly after 9/11 I met Geoff in Wilmington for what turned out to be the last time since we hung out regularly in college. I can recall the strength with which he spoke when I asked him how he was coping after the loss of his father in such a sudden and unimaginable way. Having lost my father to cancer this past July, I now have a better understanding of where that strength comes from.

Newsday on Long Island recently did a small film interview with Geoff and asked how much he remembers of the actual day, September 11, what that day was like for him, and how he and his family have managed to cope since. It was great to see him doing well — actually living in New York City, married, and at peace.

The “area”

In college we used to rib each other when someone gloated about some relatively famous (at least to us) person, usually athletes, who hailed from our respective home town or “area”. During my sophomore year I had two roommates from Nyack, New York and so Jon Hess (Princeton Lacrosse virtuoso on arguably the greatest attack line ever), Elton Brand, Keith Bullock, who all went on to success in the pros after great prep careers around the Hudson Valley, were often repeatedly (stress on “repeatedly”) subjects of mindless banter. I, too, would chime in about usually some obscure athletes from my “area” in northern, New Jersey. Glenn Sekunda, anyone? Parsippany Hills, New Jersey basketball star, early 90s? Syracuse, transferred to Penn State? I’m shocked.

Okay, my list was far less impressive I would come to realize than the Hudson Valley one often bragged by Will and Kevin, my two housemates from Nyack. Some of the people from my “area”, like Sekunda, did experience marginal successes, but only if I could prove it.

Kevin, Will and I would often trade sarcastic comments, often unsolicited, over our clinging to “glory days” through constant mentioning of people from the “area”. Both Kevin and Will were good lacrosse players (Kevin, a goalie, Will, a middie) who grew up with Hess and Welles Crowther, at the time an equities trader with Sandler O’Neill & Partners, who heroically perished on the day of the 9/11 attacks.

I’m not exactly certain whether at some point I met Welles through Willy or Kevin. But I can swear with positivity that they both spoke about him often. No different from any of our closest friends, I remember Welles’ name coming up over conversation, usually with some term of endearment attached to it — something like “scrapper”, “legend” or “asshole” (actually pronounced by New Yorkers as ess-hole and, unlike in most discourse, was a commonly used, matter-of-fact, surprisingly benevolent attachment to any buddy’s name. For example, “How’s that asshole doing? Haven’t heard from him in a while.”)

There’s a uniqueness to the bonds that people from New York form through friendships, and I mean that in a good way. Will and Kevin clearly shared that unique friendship with Welles. When I caught the piece ESPN recently aired about Welles, Man In The Red Bandanna, I was immediately moved by the photographs and film footage of Welles as a lacrosse player at Nyack and Boston College. As I learned his story narrated by Ed Burns, I couldn’t help but feel an attachment to Welles. It’s impossible to comprehend what someone like him experienced on 9/11. Though I didn’t really know him hardly at all, I sure knew of him. That certainly wouldn’t have been possible without having Kevin and Will as teammates, and always talking about the “area”.

Everyone comes from an “area” — it is our own personal small world and, for some like me, it is often shaped by lacrosse.

Anyone that knows lacrosse knows you can’t blame it on the refs. They just always inject themselves in their somewhere to try to become a part of the game. They were especially dramatic with a stick check of Paul Rabil’s cross late in the fourth. A dubious loose ball push on Canada with 0:34 left sealed it.

The U.S. came out strongest winning face-offs and shooting to a three goal lead behind Matt Streibel and two by “I’m the God of Lacrosse” Paul Rabil (hat trick). Ex-Delaware faceoff man Alex Smith dominated the early faces until Ex-Delaware attackman John Grant Jr. scored on one of his one-handed specials for Canada that landed him in the crease. Canada’s Mark Steenius made it 3-2 U.S. at the end of one.

In a game of inches, Canada’s Brodie Merrill missed a scoop allowing Max Siebold to go Ryan Powell to Ned Crotty (hat trick) to make it USA 4 Canada 2. Both Rabil and Grant narrowly missed goals, Rabil called for playing with a free hand and Grant whistling a behind-the-back sizzler to the post. Grant followed with a one-hand feed to Shawn Williams who make it 4-3 USA.

Grant again rang a post and continued to take a beating from U.S. defenders. He’s had to come off the field to have his bad knee attended to, but returned. Zack Greer tied it 4-4 for Canada before the USA unleashed four unanswered to take an 8-4 halftime lead.

The USA was aided early in the second half with more poor refs calls. Canadian faceoff man Geoff Snider was consistently called for procedure penalties and the USA had advantage. Mike Leveille hits a pipe and lands in the crease, but Canada’s Jordan Hill is called for a ward when replays showed he had both hands on the stick.

Canada got its first man-up early in the third quarter and John Grant Jr. put another behind-the-head card trick in after a furious front-of- the-goal flurry. Canada’s Garrett Billings pulled them within two, 8-6 off a Grant feed. Shortly after, Canada won a face and Kevin Crowley ripped from outside off a feed from Rhys Duch to make it USA 8 Canada 7. With 12 seconds left in the third, Kevin Huntley split defenders and knotted it up with another Canadian goal 8 to 8.

Canada took its first lead of the game 9 to 8 on a Zach Greer nifty. Then the fourth quarter began to fly. First Brendan Mundorf, who fancies himself (just ask him) as one of the best, finally scored after playing a generally bad game. USA 9 Canada 9. Twelve minutes left. John Grant Jr. (hat trick, 2 assists) next finishes his day (and maybe his career) with a beautiful one hander to give Canada its last lead 10-9. Ex-Dukie Ned Crotty spotted the next two goals before Mike Leveille iced it at about the minute mark. USA 12 Canada 10. Whinin’ Ryan Boyle was probably best remembered for stalling the ball and making the whole game anticlimatic, especially after the refs teetered on the Rabil stick call at the time out with a minute left.

Perhaps they could have used a lesson from American umpire Jim Joyce on how to not to avoid making a controversial call.

Nice bit of writing there weaving the Native American Indians into the story after Britain wouldn’t allow the Iroquois Nation into the country last week to compete in the FIL World Lacrosse Championships in Manchester, England. The Iroquois had probably the only very remote chance of breaking up the big two, 2006 defending champion Canada and runnerup United States.

But before we address the U.S.-Canada showdown, let’s talk about what has been good and bad about these championships. The Iroquois aside, the international rules once again threw a monkey-wrench into the pure enjoyment of the game.

In the most glaring instance of a bunch of dopes gathering around a table somewhere and reading a rule book to decide the fate of the medals instead of letting the boys on the “pitch” (as the fields were called all week in Manchester) determine the outcome. Overtime rules and goal differential became the non-competitive way to determine the standings in the elite Blue division which included the destined-to- be-gold-or-silver winners Canada and the United States, as well as England, Japan, Australia and late Iroquois substitute, Germany.

In their infinate wisdom, the powers-that-be, and their silly after-regulation rules, denied England from the medal round after Australia, England and Japan all ended with identical 2-3 records following the Blue division round robin. England beat Japan by a goal in overtime and lost to Australia by two goals in overtime. Japan upset Australia by two goals in overtime, providing the only mathematical situation to deny the host nation from a possible medal.

How can you win by two goals in overtime, you North American lax geeks ask? Well, in the deep wisdom of the international rules TWO five minute periods are played after regulation and if they are still tied after that it goes to sudden death. Before this, Sportscream was all for new proposed NFL overtime rules. Now, after this, we are not so certain. Although the MIL rules could never be similar with the NFL proposals because the NFL only proposes guaranteeing each team a possession, not two timed periods.

Goal differential, in the spirit of the wimpy ways soccer works, became the next factor. Lame coaches (like England’s) in the spirit of getting players into games, and allowing players to go renegade in desperate attempts to score, pretty much conceded losses with time remaining, proving to be the difference that denied England of a great chance to play a medal game and be the feel-good story of the nation.

On the good side, Manchester, England can hold it’s head up proud by providing a first-class venue, terrific support for a growing sport, and vast improvements on communications and webcast offerings of all games. Sure, all webcasts are still very unreliable, buffering and inability to communicate with help to correct billing and technical flaws wasn’t that strong. Either were the broadcasters, whose lack of knowledge bogged down the description of play. But overall it was a great effort by England.

And now for a few words on the Canada-U.S. matchup. With both teams made up entirely of professionals, it’s no surprise why they rule the roost. Nationalism kind of takes a backseat because most of the players are well known and revered across borders by the “the lacrosse nation,” the unique ever-growing fraternity of fans, players and ex-players, parents and kids who helped establish the fashion of baggy shorts and head-snugging baseball caps worldwide.

For years the Canadians have played in the U.S. and gained as much popularity as the native Americans (there we go again weaving in a reference that this time means ALL people native of America). So who to root for? Says here Canada because they are better people. John Grant Jr. remains, in his 30′s and on bad knees, the most exciting and best offensive player ever. As they went through the round robin undefeated, they had smiles on their faces, respect for their opponents no matter how far ahead they were and they appeared to enjoy the away-from-the-field action with the best. On the other hand the U.S. team, led by the ugly Americans including Whinin’ Ryan Boyle, Brendan “the mouth” Mundorf, and Paul “I’m the God of Lacrosse” Rabil, were the joke of the feel good tournament which has put an accent on sportsmanship. After losing to Canada for the title in 2006 and again last Saturday 10-9, the United States is desperate for a win today in order to back their cocky status as they strut around Manchester. Another loss might require a U.S. basketball-like shake-up. And they might benefit from the Jerry Colangelo/Mike Krzyzewski Dream Team’s opening motto “check your egos at the door.”

It is the single most favorable decison ever granted to an NCAA team, giving an obvious unfair competitive advantage with blessing, as a reward for going through an awful chapter involving a lying hooker and an aggressive, politically-motivated DA. And, oh yeah, reporters like Sports Illustrated’s, ex-New York Times writer, Selena Roberts, who jumped on the throats of the Duke “privileged” and stood up for women everywhere as a loud mouth who was wrong and never apologized.

Duke sent 17 seniors out to eke an overtime win and its first national championship against Notre Dame. A just reward by “lacrosse society” and the NCAA, who granted the extra year of eligibility concession with little debate. The perception was that the bogus charges ruined the pretty good lives of Reade Seligman, Colin Finnerty and David Evans and punished the rest of the team when Duke president Richard Brodsky cancelled the remainder of the 2006 season. So the lacrosse powers-that-be and the NCAA, doled out and granted rewards to make everything right.

As it turned out, Finnerty played well in a tough overtime loss in a tournament game for Loyola of Maryland against Cornell, while Seligman played and graduated at Brown and Evans toiled on Wall Street. All three have allegedly profited from wrongful prosecution lawsuits, while Mike Pressler, the Duke coach at the time, who was discarded, without so much as an inkling of support from such good and powerful friends as Mike Kryzewski, was named head coach of the 2010 U. S. World Team.

Making everything right for a team that still engaged in a “traditional” end-of-spring-break-week party, at the captain’s off-campus house that brought the police. Complete with underaged drinking and “imported” girls. A national championship for “Blue Devils Gone Wild.”

LeBron

Big news when he talks about where he’ll wind up with Larry King on CNN. David Stern is mad because it takes away friom his marquee matchup in the Finals of Boston at Los Angeles. Still, LeBron remains the biggest non-story-forced-down-our-throats since Brett Favre’s retirement status and the U.S. Soccer team.

Cleveland can pay him the most, has shown commitment to surround him with talent and its home. Leaving Cleveland could also mark him as a quitter and change an area that now reveres him into one that detests his grand opinion of himself. The Los Angeles Clippers would allow him to rub elbows with the stars, and play with a loaded, youthful, rudderless team. But there’s Donald Sterling, the Clipper’s owner, the standard for ineptitude, who serves as the sterling standard of bumbling, for Knicks owner, James Dolan.

Chicago gets a lot of play in the speculation, but Jerry Reinsdorf has a horrible track record with Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. He’s cheap and not beyond eventually turning his back on loved ones. Why go there?

New York, it is becoming clear, is too hot to handle. There would be money and endorsements and adoration and there is a need for the NBA to get stronger despite all of David Stern’s claims otherwise. Putting a winner in New York could revitalize the league and put LeBron’s historic stamp on it in the way that Larry and Magic pulled it out of the “cocaine years.” New York is also the best springboard to the rest of the world, something LeBron could easily conquer if “Team LeBron” is something more than a collection of talent that specializes in “low hanging fruit.”

The Knicks can only pay and the Nets can only pray. They can’t serve up a team and guarantee championships. And then there’s the phenomenon of James Dolan, perhaps the most inept owner since Ted Stepian. Why would LeBron want to struggle in front of the most sophisticated and critical fans in the game? So that he can glide through the ropes at Marquee? So that he can walk the streets and be heckled by construction workers?

Truth be told, LeBron is a beast, but could be the game’s biggest loser, about to be paid the biggest salary. He’s got seven years on a 25-year old body. Dan Marino, anyone? Charles Barkley? Karl Malone? Alex Rodriguez? None of the teams he’s being courted by qualify as sure-fire winners. Maybe his free agent summit can change that by creating a Survivor-like alliance. But what remains based on his history is that he hasn’t been capable of winning the big one. And that could be a career curse.

Tiger Woods

There have been 23 tournaments played so far and only Ernie Els has repeated, both times on the Florida swing, at Doral and Bay Hill. 23 tournaments and 22 different winners. Welcome to your new world, Tiger Woods. Yes, Tiger is now a member of the pack. He could rise up like any of the other guys and win a tournament, but his days of domination are over.

He struggles with his swing like the rest of them, not knowing what will show up week-to-week. His new spot is as the most popular golfer on tour, not it’s best, and certainly not both, as it has been for years. The pressures have hit in his head like all the others. He now has doubts. He thinks too much. He frustrates and worries. He alters his swing. He doesn’t have the world on a string anymore. He wonders what people are thinking and what his family is doing. It’s pretty certain he’s lost that edge. Welcome to the pack, Tiger.

The prep games were followed by three college contests. Tenth-ranked Hofstra skinned by Delaware 12-11 in the most entertaining game of the day. The showdown between #1 Virginia and #2 North Carolina also didn’t fail to entertain, as the Cavs remained unbeaten, 7 to 5. Third-ranked Syracuse clobbered fifth-ranked Princeton 13-4 in the nightcap as Princeton’s first year coach Chris Bates didn’t make anyone forget Bill Tierney.

In Denver, Tierney’s University of Denver team beat visiting Louisville’s Bellarmine University 12-8 in a week where lacrosse venues across the state of New Jersey showed support for ailing Bellarmine coach Jack McGetrick. In other New Jersey lacrosse news, Rutgers travelled to Jacksonville, Florida to get clobbered 17-10 by two-year-old Jacksonville University.

Bill Tierney, who some call “the best coach in college sports,” made a move that could be looked at some day as a seminal moment for the game. Yesterday, Tierney resigned as head lacrosse coach at Princeton, to announce that he will take over the program at the University of Denver on July 1, 2009. The six-time National Champion and HOF coach will move to the mountains to join his son and former goalie Trevor, who will serve as an assistant for the Denver Pioneers.

In a bold move that has to have Baltimore’s Charles Street buzzing, Tierney will allegedly be paid $250,000 (plus) to take the reigns in Denver. He is being looked to build another elite program that will stretch the popularity of the game west. Even without athletic scholarships, which are not allowed in the Ivy League, Tierney always got his men, luring top talent to Princeton with the pledge of an elite education and a top-ranked team. Not that Tierney was ever at a disadvantage when attracting top players. He used the prep school PG to his advantage to bring in borderlines and continually found superlative athletes and thinkers to compose his teams.

Tierney’s task in Denver may be easier. At 58, he’s looking to close out his career and has found a new welcoming home in the beautiful Rockies where Trevor has been defensive coordinator for the professional Denver Outlaws. Academically qualifying players will meet much less resistance and recruiting prospects to Denver is a natural where abundant outdoor pursuits are bound to appeal to the standard stick-swinger. Tierney will also for the first time as a head coach, be given a dozen or so scholarships to break into so many pieces.

Even with the choke hold that the same elite teams have held on the NCAA game, players are more and more emerging from new markets. California, Tennessee, even Mississippi shipped players to this year’s Final Four. Tierney will no doubt include New Jersey, his high school stomping grounds of Long Island, his college area (Cortland State) of upstate New York and his familiarity as an assistant at Hopkins in Baltimore to form his recruiting footprint. Travel costs may provide a new obstacle for Tierney as his team and visitors will wrestle with the expense of putting together a competitive schedule.

Denver will compete in the ECAC along with Air Force, Ohio State, Quinnipiac, Bellarmine, Penn State, Stony Brook, Navy, Hobart, Loyola and Fairfield. Jamie Munro resigned as head coach of the Pioneers in May after going 91-70 in 11 seasons. Dave Metzbower a 13-year assistant for Tierney, heads a list of possibilities to be named as Princeton’s new coach.

Cornell coach Steve Tambroni will kick himself on how he managed this. With a three-goal lead with 3:40 left in the game Cornell began to falter. Syracuse came with its expected push and Cornell had no answer. Even under fire for the last three minutes, things appeared to be okay for the Red after allowing Cuse to 9-8, and receiving a lucky turnover with 27 seconds left. But a brain freeze occurred on the field and sideline as Cornell defensemen Matt Moyer couldn’t handle or cheap the ball ahead and his coach Steve Tambroni didn’t use his final timeout.

Syracuse turned the ball over and All American Matt Abbott somehow lobbed in front of the net to the nation’s leading scorer Kenny Nims, who scored the tying, and his only goal of the day, with 4 seconds left. Abbott’s pass deflected off Cornell’s Roy Lang’s stick and could have easily been redirected in any direction, but it fell to Nims’ stick in front of goalie Jake Myers.

In Sudden Victory, Syracuse defensemman Sid Smith poked checked Ryan Hurley to force a turnover and clear to Abbott. Abbott circulated the ball around the net where attackman Cody Jamieson sank the winner with 2:40 left in the 4 minute OT.

Helio Castroneves danced the Roger Penske (record 15th win) team to his third Indianapolis 500 win at a rather slow pace of 150.315 mph which included 8 caution flags for accidents. Media Darling Danica Patrick finished third.

The Chicago Black Hawks, taking exception to a hard hit by Detroit’s Niklas Kronwall on Hawks’ forward Martin Havlat in their OT win in game 3 of the NHL Western Conference Finals, came out firing and fueled with revenge, its intense home crowd, not to mention, the Red Wings scratching of superstars Niklas Lidstrom and Pavel Daysyuk due to injuries. The youthful Hawks then took a three-period lesson from the more poised Red Wings, who coasted to a 6-1 win and a 3-1 edge going back to Detroit Wednesday. Black Hawks coach Joel Quenneville blamed the loss on a bad call in the first period before the Hawks took 16 penalties for 56 minutes, three misconducts and an ejection of Ben Eager.

Major League Baseball returns to regular league games with the NL West leading Dodgers, boasting baseball’s best record at 30-15, at Colorado. NL Central leaders Milwaukee (26-17) will be hosting the 26-18 Cards, and Florida takes on the NL East leading Phils (24-18) tonight. In the American League, AL East leaders Boston (26-18) are at Minnesota, AL Central top dog Detroit (24-18) is at Kansas City and the Yankees visit AL West leader Texas (26-17).

The Lakers and Nuggets take it up again tonight in the NBA Western Conference Finals at 9:00 PM Eastern Time. Here’s hoping George Karl has taken some time to work on an inbounds play that doesn’t involve throwing in to the Lakers’ Trevor Ariza. This series could easily be 3-0 Nuggets (just like it could be 3-0 Magic in the East) with a little late game coaching.

Oh yeah. Tennis is being played in France.

This is as ritualistic as it gets. The weekend camraderie is unique. Even bitter rivals will pick you up drunk or point you to your tailgate. The fraternity of lacrosse is like no other. If you had a nickel for every pair of lacrosse shorts, flipflops, and old school baseball hats from lacrosse schools you’ll see up in Patriotland this weekend, you’d have enough money to sustain the pro lax leagues for years. Beer is the common denominator and dads with their stick wielding sons are hard to avoid.

On Monday, when Syracuse plays Cornell, the crowd will be slimmer, hungover or toasted, the sunburns in full bloom, and the visons of the long-haul rides home through Memorial Day traffic will be dancing in their aching heads.

I-90 will be especially full on Monday night westbound as the followings of the “Empire State Elite” return to Ithaca and Syracuse. Mark Monday night as a winner for all of New York.

Cornell is the 5th rated team in the nation and needed an all out effort to overcome #1 Virginia led by coach Dom Starsia and his ACC All Stars. What the Big Red have is the best midfielder in the nation in Max Siebold and an enterprising young coach in Jeff Tambroni, who is positioned to outsmart Starsia and prove, once-and-for-all, that Cornell losing Dave Petrimala back to his “homewood” at Hopkins was no big loss. Cornell blasted Virginia from the get-go and got hat tricks from Rob Pannell, Ryan Hurley and Chris Finn to take a 15-6 laugher.

Duke was once again at an advantage with at least five players on their roster playing in their fifth year. This, of course, is without counting red shirts. The extra years in this case being granted across-the-board by the NCAA (to prevent lawsuits) to compensate for the termination of their 2006 season due to their poor partying skills. Our best guess is that next year’s senior class will be the last of the “college PGs” at Duke (that’s not counting real red shirts). And the last year that every other team in the NCAA will be able to say “can you imagine how good we’d be if we could have kept so-and-so, so-and-so and so-and-so for another year? Fewer lacrosse fans will be pulling for the Devils than pull for Coach K’s team when Mike Patrick, Billy Packer and Dick Vitale are announcing. Syracuse rewarded those pulling against the Devils with a 17-7 thrashing.

In a related item of equal importance, the WNBA has begun its preseason. The professional women continue to make better salaries than the pro lax players, even though their game is ill-attended, noncompelling and in dire need of its NBA subsidy to stay alive.

Still no word from either Selena Roberts or John Feinstein on whether they thought their Duke lacrosse team coverage was wrong in 2006.