Editor’s Note: Alex Jones, a junior midfielder at Brown University will be blogging with LAS all Spring, providing an exciting and intriguing look inside the Brown University Men’s Lacrosse Program. If you want to know why the series is called Brown State Blogging make sure to check out Alex’s first post! This week we’ve got a Spring Check-In – where Alex tackles the “The House”.
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Here in Providence, Rhode Island, lacrosse is a winter/spring sport, in that order. At Brown, in strict accordance with Ivy League rule, official practice does not start until February 1st, and it’s safe to assume that the weather will fall anywhere between “God forsakenly” and “I don’t know why I do this to myself” cold.
The weather was so bad in 2011 that the first day of practice took place inside, seeing as there was too much snow to plow off the field. Consistent snowfall and freezing temperatures rendered the field an almost completely unusable ice skating rink, which made practice slightly more difficult, to say the least. Orange Maverik lacrosse balls were also commonly used in practice to contrast with the high snow banks that seem to perpetually surround the field.
So February 1, 2012 was bound to be a nightmare, right? A miserable combination of icy winds, gray skies and frozen rain, right?
Actually, this year on day one we found ourselves breaking a solid sweat in nothing but shorts and a t-shirt, enjoying the sunshine and blue skies of Providence, which is nothing short of completely outrageous. The weather is most often “inconvenient” or “inconsistent”, and that was just the truth for the Brown Lacrosse team, so trust me, no one was complaining this year.
So how do we find ourselves in the early season, beyond just the weather? In shape, and looking good!
Armed with a running packet, a lifting regimen and the fear of Coach Tiffany’s pure wrath in the back of our minds, all the guys on the team worked diligently over break and came back in great shape. Now, it’s time to maintain and build upon our strength and stamina, while taking in a wealth of information concerning our old and new schemes. The focus has taken a shift from the physical aspect of the game to the thinking aspect, it’s time to get smart, and we have to do so in short order.
Our first game against Quinnipiac is fast approaching on the 26th of February and we couldn’t be more excited. Our overall schedule also has people excited in the Brown State family, with Providence, Bryant, Penn, Harvard, and Yale all being night games.
But enough with the season preview… there will be more on that later. It’s time to get to the (more) fun stuff.
A big, blue house sits near the corner of Brook St and Cushing St in Providence, a very short 5 min walk from the center of Brown’s campus. On this house you’ll find old disheveled Christmas lights, a worn in couch, a deflated Frosty the Snowman blowup cartoon, and usually, a very fat squirrel digging tirelessly through the trash. All of it screams, “this house is probably filled with degenerate athletes”, but in reality friends, it actually is a house filled with degenerate athletes.
I have the great privilege of living in this “home” at 444 Brook with eight other team mates, all of whom are juniors, except for our two Senior Captains. We of course, aren’t really all that bad, but we definitely have a lot of fun together and so far it’s been a great experience.
Let’s get to know the Men of the house shall we? These will also be some of the guys appearing in later posts, and playing on the field, so you should know who they are.
Starting on the bottom floor, you have yours truly, closest to the door. After a lengthy and downright terrifying summer residential housing scandal, (I forgot to sign the lease last spring, like a fool) I found myself in the overall least desirable room in the house (which in actuality isn’t bad at all). If you ever need to get into the house, my window is the one you would knock on.
Moving along, you’ll find junior defenseman Sam Ford sporting grizzled facial hair, and “resting”, a unique form of napping he created, which consists solely of laying in bed and staring at the wall, while of course keeping your mind totally at ease. Going up the stairs and to the left you’ll find none other than junior midfielder Shane McHugh, the keeper of the Xbox Live Account, and an avid hoodrat rap enthusiast. Listen to “North Memphis” by Project Pat to get a strong sense of what Shane likes to bring to the table.
In the adjoining room, you’ll find our strong, admirable, stalwart Senior captain Robert “Bubbie” Schlesinger, listening to his Country Pandora playlist, watching “Roadhouse” for the 13th time on AMC, laughing hysterically and finishing his third of seven bags of Jack Link’s beef jerky. Out through Rob’s room, and down the hall, you’ll find fellow Senior Captain Parker Brown’s room… it’s locked of course, because if the sun is out, Parker is on his grind getting work done, displaying his trademark cheesy smile and indirectly making sure you feel guilty about all the things you haven’t done that day. Right across the hall, you’ll find midfielder George Sherman waiting eagerly for a call back from JP Goldclay Sachs, and devising the most effective way to avoid ever getting caught on defense in a game.
On the third and final floor of the house, you’ll see junior Johnny Depeters’ room. With the biggest room in the house, sporting all the latest entertainment technology, Johnny has accepted the responsibility of the designated hangout room. While freshman on the team are watching the game, Johnny is likely off doing work, or arranging great outfits for future themed events, his favorite of course, being the Cat in the Hat. Across from there you’ll see Marc White in his room, which has been deemed “Sharc Island”, given that it is so immaculately clean that it looks like it’s a totally uninhabited place.
Marc will likely be playing a Taylor Swift/Avicii mashup, formulating his senior thesis of why Florence, Italy is the greatest place on earth, and convincing Coach Tiffany in a very well written email that shooters do, in fact, need to shoot. Last but not least in the third room on the third floor you’ll find none other than junior long-stick midfielder Roger Ferguson. Roger, with his charming sense of humor, will probably be laughing hysterically at an oddball joke, then subsequently struggle to regain his breath as he tells you through a labored wheeze that he is “in shape, for suuuure”.
I of course also have to include our 10th unofficial roommate Clay DelPrince, who lives a stone’s throw away from the house. Hailing from Buffalo, NY, Clay is one of the smartest among us as a pre-med student, but to this day can’t provide me a good scientific explanation for why he says “fuyre” and “tuyred” instead of fire and tired in his upstate New York accent.
Well there you have it readers, a small taste of what life is like in the Brown U lacrosse house. In my next post, I’ll include a lacrosse update, as well as interviews with some of the players, and some musical suggestions to give you an idea of some of the things we like to listen to. Thanks for reading!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJOkLqEFNls