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Cajun’s Corner – What A Weekend

What an incredible weekend to be in Louisiana.

In case you hate sports, I’ll fill you in on some news –

THE SAINTS WON THE SUPER BOWL!

Oh. My. God. You have no idea how big of a deal this is to us. Fireworks were going off all across the state. People were dancing in the streets. Cats and dogs were getting along. Pure insanity struck New Orleans as the final clock ticked down to 0:00. It’s 9:00AM and I’m still “feeling it,” if you catch my drift. People in Louisiana typically go hard as it is, but the level of debauchery that existed in the state last night was at an all time high (or low, depending on how you feel about it). But let’s talk lax first.

The HS team I coach participated in it’s first ever regular season game. It didn’t go quite as well as we had hoped. We lost 18-2 to the hands of Brother Martin. I could make up excuses, like our goalie has a broken thumb, 4 of our middies were taking the ACT, and one of our long poles had a 103 fever, but we just got beat by a far more advanced team.

Sometimes, as a coach, you get so wrapped up in trying to make your players understand the concepts of the game (near man defense, crease sliding, offense rotation), that you forget about the basics (catching, throwing, scooping). It looked like our players sort of understood the concepts, but failed to execute due to stick skill. Well, stick skill comes with time. We all know that.

NOLC Team shot

At the New Orleans Lacrosse Club Mardi Gras tourny, I got to catch up with LAS’s very own Connor Wilson – I can’t say enough good things about this guy. We talked for awhile about being a start up team, and he brought up a very valid point. You just have to survive the first year or two, so that by the time the third year rolls around, you have a roster of kids who can catch and throw, and understand the game.

Connor also took some time to talk to our high school players, and show off his insane stick stringing skills (Y’all, the pics he had of that two tone Marc Mesh do not do it justice).

All in all, my faith in the HS team isn’t shaken a bit. In fact, I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season, just to see how much the guys progress from game 1 to game 10. I don’t have any pics of the High School game ( a certain fiancee of mine can’t find her camera’s battery charger), but prepare for some images from the Mardi Gras tournament and the LSU game.

Check out that Jester Hate on the NOLC attackman's helmet. Festive.
Connor got asked to play for the Maple Danglers. Those StrikerDanger shorts are insane.
See if you can spot Connor with those shorts
Some more action shots
Team Adeona and Connor rocking more flamboyant orange apparel on his head
I've seen this before somewhere...

So I have a confession. I’ve never actually watched Canadian lacrosse of any kind. Sure I’ve seen a couple Canadians play in an MLL game, but that’s about it. Never seen any organized Canadian teams or witnessed their style of play, which I now know is notably different, probably because they play some much box lacrosse. I got to catch up with the Maple Danglers, a team from Canada at the tournament, to just talk about the differences between our style of lax and theirs. Man, let me tell ya. Those Canadians can ball.

A few of my high schoolers were begging to be taught how to do some Canadian stick tricks. Then we watched them play, where our jaws were dropped. And not to knock any of the other teams there – they all were insanely good. But the Maple Danglers were aggressive, fearless, and most importantly, drunk.

In true New Orleans style, they had all you can drink beer for $10. Players who weren’t in the game were refilling the beer cups for their team and running back to the sidelines. After goals, people would run off the field to chug one, then head back to work. Who needs to take Tylenol before a game, right? The only time I saw water get used was when Connor had to wash the mud off of his stick.

Worth mentioning – Team Adeona from New York seemed like they were enjoying the beer as well. Most of them were on the field playing with Mardi Gras beads around their necks. Not that this is a big surprise, but when some women and men get drunk, they get violent. I didn’t witness it, but I heard that the ladies teams at the tournament were getting a little feisty, which led to some ejections. Party on, girls. Party on. All in all, the tournament was very fun to watch, despite the fact that it was FREEZING COLD (55 degrees).

Then I went to the LSU vs. Texas State game on Sunday, but stopped to see Mike 5 first

Meow.
LSU gear is pretty sweet
Some face-off action
Bustin a move

LSU also suffered a fate similar to my High School team, but hey, those LSU guys are still pretty solid.  I’m going to blame it on the fact that the University Rec center forgot about the game and didn’t have the gates to the field open until 20 minutes before face off.

Stay tuned for an exclusive LAS interview with LSU’s head coach, Nick Joslyn, and a couple players..

Finally,

WHO DAT?

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About the author: Knox is a 24 year old High School Head Coach in a small area east of Baton Rouge. He played High School ball for four years, and college ball for about 1 week until he realized his collegiate priorities rested with more important things like partying and eventually trying to get his grades up. He enjoys things that most Louisiana people do – eating boiled crawfish and alligator, a cold Abita Amber, anything LSU, his dog, and his beautiful girlfriend, Audrey. Lacrosse is not listed because most Louisiana people have no idea what lacrosse is.

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