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Lax Link-O-Rama!

Lax Link-o-rama

Another week has passed and even though fall ball is over, the club tournament scene is quiet, and winter is settling in slowly over much of the North the lacrosse action just keeps coming!  Trust me, there are big things going on in the lacrosse world. You just need to know where to look for them!

First off, the LXM Pro Tour has their first stop scheduled for this weekend in Cali.  There will be clinics, music acts, an MCLA game and 40 top flight pro-caliber laxers taking over the OC.  California, Californiaaaaaa, Here we cooooooooooooome! That will never get old, thank you Phantom Planet.

Mikey is putting down the axe and picking up a spoon for a weekend!
Mikey is putting down the axe and picking up a spoon for a weekend!

IL did a couple posts as did LAS (here’s one, here’s two) and the LXM guys have really been stepping their Tweet game up as well.  Overall, people are thrilled that Mr. Mikey Powell is going to pick up a spoon again.

Now back to the college game…here is an interview with new Princeton HC Chris Bates, and he talks about the transition from a Tierney-led team, changes the program will see and expectations for his first season.  A good read for sure.

Lax.com also provides us some second level basics training from STX reps, Kyle Harrison and Joe Walters.  We get a solid piece on the throwback and then Kyle shows us his beach workout which is great if you live in Cali.  NYC? Not so much.  On LPG, Joe also goes over some wall ball techniques all the time wearing sunglasses. Classy.

To learn a little more about how lacrosse started (and possibly where it is headed) check out this article on Manhasset HS lax back in the day.  Jim Brown played at Manhasset, Richie Moran coached there. You get the picture; its a history filled program.  Long Island is currently considered one of, if not THE, lacrosse hot bed in the US but back in the 30s when the first teams were coming into existence, it sounded a lot like current high growth areas.  One team, under an excellent coach, rose to the top and forced all of the other teams to improve just to keep pace.  I see this happening all over the country right now and must say it bodes very well for the game and its popularity.

Albany recruiting? ...Excellent.
Albany recruiting? ...Excellent.

Speaking of up and coming programs… Albany locked in two HUGE NLI signings as well as a big verbal commitment from a 3rd member of the Thompson Fam in upstate NY.  These kids can straight up play and from what I hear, they play even better together as they’re all family.  Usually, kids like this just go to Cuse.  No questions asked, they sign up with the Orange and win championships.  With Albany signing these three I can imagine A LOT of other top notch players will want to go to Albany.  Think that never happens?  Just ask Bill Tierney what happened when the younger Lowe brother signed up to play at Princeton. About 3 first team AAs followed him and Princeton rose to the top of the heap very quickly.  You heard it hear (but probably not first)… Albany will contend in the next 1-2 years.

The NLL and their refs can’t agree on compensation.  REALLY?  Usually this only happens in the MLB or NBA so maybe the NLL is a real sports league after all!

Maverik has new WonderBoy shafts lots of colors and colors are pretty! Oh and from what I hear, the shafts are pretty darn good too.

For dudes who are SO worried about looking good that they can’t even step on the field (no mirrors on a lax field) you can still get your fix on XBox. Yup, a lax video game is finally here!  Reviews have been mixed so far but its promising!

stripes, beets, BG.
Stripes, Beets, Battlestar Galactica.

Zack Greer signed with Minnesota of the NLL and is living with Joe Cinosky, another Swarm player.  3 things I know about Minnesota:

1)It’s cold there

2) They have a huge mall with a roller coaster inside

3) They have the best uniforms in the entire NLL.  The stripes on the arms? the navy and yellow? Puh-lease.  Sweetness at its maximum.

We’ve been dyeing heads to keep warm and recommend you do the same.  Nothing will warm you up like standing over a bucket of boiling dye water and inhaling deeply (Do NOT do this. It is bad for you).  Get your dye on, be safe and pray the snow to get out of the way early so the field will be ready come spring time… its not that far away!

Rumor has it that the LXM Pro guys will be rocking these sweet-ass see through helmets.  WANT! WANT! WANT!
Rumor has it that the LXM Pro guys will be rocking these sweet-ass see-through helmets. WANT! WANT! WANT!

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About the Author: After helping to start the program at Weston HS in Massachusetts, Connor Wilson went on to play at Wesleyan University for a 4-year career playing defense. Post-college, Wilson stayed on and coached at Wesleyan for 2 years. He also played in Australia and the American Lacrosse League for teams in CT and MA. Currently Wilson plays for the Southampton Lacrosse Club in NYC and enjoys rocking out, dyeing lacrosse sticks and eating breakfast sandwiches.