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Wilson’s Wheelhouse: Fall Happenins

Before we get into all the dopeness that is this version of Wilson’s Wheelhouse, I’d like to direct your attention to a recent post on 412’s site. The charity run is on the 17th of October. Keep donating!!! THEY ARE SO CLOSE!!!  Plus you can win free gear.

Custom college gear is starting trickle out of the manufacturers and so far the product has been pretty good. Adidas is leading the way in releasing custom gear and is making a real push to step their game up in the college arena this year.

The 10-team NLL season is gearing up and the vaunted Hawai’i Invitational is just around the corner. Fall Ball is in full effect right now even as a lot of the teams further North start bracing for what could prove to be a long winter.

2009 Hawai'i Champions

Syracuse will take on some of their alumni on October 9th and if I lived any closer, I would definitely make the trip up there to check this scrimmage out. The alums will be coached by Paul Carcaterra (Cuse ’97 and current ESPN lacrosse commentator) and will feature guys like Casey Powell, Matt Palumb, Ric Beardsley, Matt Abbot, Kenny Nims and John Glatzell. Oh and someone else is going to play… what’s his name? oh right. GARY GAIT. I bet the old man still has it!

Gary Gait played pro indoor last year. I think he can handle a college scrimmage.

Syracuse has a long tradition of excellent Native American players and some of those guys, like Marshall Abrams, Cody Jamieson and Sid Smith, will be traveling out to Hawai’i for the annual lacrosse tournament (via IL) that takes place over the Halloween weekend each year. The Iroquois weren’t able to travel to the World Games this past summer because of passport and visa issues so expect them to bring the pain and take home the hardware. Current stars like Paul Rabil and John Grant Jr. will most likely be there playing for teams like Wimmer Solutions or the Crease Monkey’s, but I think the Iroquois have something to prove and will play like a real team.

Sid likes to tape his shaft a bit, huh? never noticed that before.

I am curious to see if John Grant Jr. is using all Adidas equipment at the Hawai’i tournament. Adidas has recently released their 111 line of protective gear and as I mentioned earlier, they are also releasing the custom pads to college programs already. Notre Dame and Bucknell (via LPG) have both seen their padding and it looks pretty good, especially for a company that is relatively new to the game. I’ll have a review of the largest 111 Adidas arm pads coming out next week.

Bucknell gear is looking solid.

As we work towards the end of this post, we’re able to view the physical manifestation of years of hard work via Tufts‘ new National Championship rings.  The rings are spicy and even though I went to rival Wesleyan, I can admit they look great. Congrats to the Jumbos for the last time… from this point on, it’s back to the battle.

The Jumbos, named after an elephant named Jumbo. True story.

Justin Smith is still chroming things out and while he hasn’t done many helmets or any padding (other than a goalie’s throat guard for Jesse Schwartzmann), he and the guys at Mueller Corp are still pumping out new colors. This time it’s pink for Breast Cancer awareness. Using trendy products to raise money for a good cause? Excellent.

And finally, the “USA” outdoor team is scrimmaging Harvard this fall.  USA is in parentheses because it is not really THE US Team but a team made up of US players. Check out the roster for yourself. It’s not a bad collection of talent, especially at the midfield position, but it is far from a true national team. The 4 attackmen on the roster, Steven Boyle, Max Quinzani, Chazz Woodson and Craig Dowd, illustrate this point to a T. I’m not saying these guys aren’t really good, because they are. I’m just saying they aren’t all the best, and I’d be surprised to see any of them on a real US roster anytime soon with the exception of maybe Quinzani in 2014.

The US Indoor team is hosting its final selection camp this weekend in Maryland, and if you’re in the area, I would DEFINITELY stop by for the Red-White scrimmage. I think we’re going to see a very different team in Prague from what we saw in the Bowhunter Cup a few weeks back. Rabil, Powell, Chris Schiller and Joe Walters could all easily make the final cut, but the Devil will be in the details and – of equal or greater importance – the goaltending. If we want to compete with Canada at all, we need better goaltending than what we saw at the Bowhunter Cup. Simple as that.  Erik Miller anyone?  Thought so.