How do we make lacrosse better than it’s ever been before?
We all know lacrosse is a great sport, but if we want the masses to get on board, our game is going to be forced to make some serious changes. This isn’t my opinion, it’s fact, dictated by what else is popular in our wonderful world of worlds.
This is going to be a challenge, but the good news is that, in some ways, we’re heading in the right direction already! The harder part comes later though, so pay attention, as we get into some serious, serious business on the first day of the fourth month of the year 2017.
How To Make Lacrosse Better
Step 1: The Permanent Shot Clock
The subjective and ever-changing nature of putting on a stall warning and corresponding 30-second shot clock is detrimental to the game. It makes it hard for fans to understand, it created undue complexity, and it burdens referees with another subjective call that must be determined over time as they are still trying to ref the game.
Let’s look at how long teams are typically allowed to possess the ball without a shot before the clock is put on, and then set some time limit around that point. If teams, on average, hold the ball for 1:20 before a shot on goal, let’s set the shot clock at 75 or 80 seconds from change of possession. You could even get rid of the 30 second rule to clear it, as it’s now not really needed. It’s simple and MLL has proven that it works.
Heck, I’d even be in favor of a shorter shot clock. Let’s at least try it and be open to the idea.
Step 2: Make The Field Smaller
The problem with watching field lacrosse on TV right now is that it’s hard to follow the action. People are consuming more and more media on their phones and computers, so lacrosse needs to be viewable on those devices by new potential fans of the game. If they can’t see the ball or follow the action, it will never stick.
This also makes it much easier for for the game to be played indoors or outdoors, on smaller fields around the world, and it would bring fans much closer to the action. Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and takeaway defensemen across the land rejoice.
Step 3: Reduce The Number Of Players On The Field
If you have a smaller field, you could stand to have less guys on it. Let’s open the game up just a little, let it flow quickly, and avoid all this mucked up 6 on 6. Now I don’t want to go crazy here, so offense-defense should still be 5 on 5. See? I’m not going totally crazy. This is a totally reasonable argument.
Step 4: Encourage More Two-Way Players
I’m not entirely sure how this can be accomplished, but I really like the idea in general. Play offense and defense? How novel! Maybe by the end I’ll have figured this out…
Step 5: Change The Playing Surface
Playing on grass should never be an option. How do you throw a bounce pass? And mud is icky. It should be turf, or if that’s not available, maybe some other harder surface would work… of course this means we need to take out hitting, but like I said, some of this stuff is already happening, so why fight it? Also, goalie seems like a really dangerous position, we should probably take that out of the game too, since it’s bound to happen with the first major lawsuit.
What if players had to shoot the ball through a smaller circular goal that was just a couple inches wider than the ball? That could work just as well. There is already a rule in youth lacrosse where a field player can’t “goaltend” so just bring that over to the rest of the rules. Face offs also slow the game down, so after Team A scores, maybe Team B just gets the ball on their endline. It’s simple and quick, and still allows for the beloved quick restart. Face offs could happen at the beginnings of quarters, and we could replace the stupid automatic possession rule with a hard earned face off! Keeps it in the game. Perfect.
Step 6: Make it More TV Friendly
So we’ve got a smaller field, or court, if you will, and less players on the field, but the ball is still tough to see. Maybe we can make it bright orange. It could also stand to be a little bigger. That would help a lot.
Step 7: Standardize The Sticks
Every lacrosse stick should be the exact same.
In fact, you know what? Let’s get rid of sticks altogether.
If the ball is big enough, the players can just throw it to each with their hands! Talk about making the game accessible to everyone. Think of how quickly we could grow without needing sticks! This is genius. Instead of cradling you’ll just bounce the ball on the floor. Close enough, really.
Step 8: Add Some Pizzazz
Maybe we can get some celebrities involved in the game? What if Justin Timberlake were playing on a team with Paul Rabil, Joe from Throne, Michael Rappaport, and a couple other people you had never heard of? What if they were playing against Rob Pannell, Taylor Swift, and ECD Greg, Matt Gibson, plus a couple friends of the Kardashians? Tell me you wouldn’t watch that!
Let’s not stop there! Add in another goal, raised WAY ABOVE the other goal. Then paint circles on the field and if you shoot the lacrosse ball into the raised goal from the spot, you get 50 goals and Jock Jams blasts over the PA.
How has no one ever thought of this before?
WHAT?
Oh.
Welcome to April 1st, my fellow fools. Be honest, how long until you figured out that this was all just a ruse?
Or was it?
Enjoy real lacrosse… while you still can. DUN DUN DUN.
