Sunday, 4/29, 2012
I MEAN SPORTS AUTHORITY FIELD MADNESS
Last Saturday night we ventured into ‘Outlaw country’ for our annual CSU v CU ‘Rocky Mountain Showdown’ game in Denver at Mile High, and we somehow came back to the Fort fully alive following a memorable, thrilling, rise from-the-grave overtime, 11-10 victory. The game was not a roller coaster. It was the Titanic unsinking. We trailed 9-4 well into the fourth quarter after ‘giving up’ an ‘empty-netter’ to the Buffs. We were already a team in dire straits, using desperation measures with more than 6 minutes left in the game. They had us, but they couldn’t hold us and finish us off and we came back on the scoreboard late like we’d been shot out of a cannon. The boys won’t soon forget this one, but for just now they better (fogetaboutit). Werk to do.
MOMENTUMLY
Momentum, or whatever that is, is a very powerful force even though it doesn’t really exist at all. Well, a car can have momentum, of course. It’s moving in a physics kind of way, but for a team it is simply a metaphor for force. Nothing actually moves when a team has momentum, but at the same time everything moves relentlessly when a team has momentum. The dictionary says that momentum is a noun. It is not a person and not a place, so it must be a thing, or is it a THANG? The last definition for momentum (4 of 4) in my little dictionary reads like this: “4. An essential part of the whole”. Now, my computer’s digital brain might have pixalized something there…
It’s powerful. Everyone wants it. It’s elusive. If you could bottle and sell it you’d be rich. Yet, it’s always within reach, available without politics to all, and when it is in fact ‘around’ it seems so very palpable for a ‘thing’ that isn’t really visible or even definable.
WE DON’T’ NEED NO STINKING PLAQUES
We (CSU) get to keep the old gold painted leather yesteryear lacrosse helmet, the victory symbol for that very intense rivalry game with CU for yet another calendar year, but we are far from done with the Buffs on the field as we will play them this very Friday afternoon in Grand Junction at the RMLC Championships, and who knows how the brackets will lay out in Greenville, but there is a good chance that 3 RMLC teams will be in that mix. Pete and repeat are always possibilities it would seem.
FUZZY WUZZY WASN’T VERY FUZZY, WAS HE?
I have way started my playoff beard since the only games left are of the playoff kind. Every time we play from now on looms as a ‘one and done’ possibility. We could only have two games left (one and done twice) or 6 games left, 4 of which are in South Carolina (perfect world).
One might think that this (beard) is no big deal. I don’t wear a tie to work or anything. In my many years I have done the playoff beard many times indeed. I have not a clue of what my bearded playing and coaching record might be, buttt, for the record I have always hated having more than one or two days growing unshaved on my face. So this is a commitment/sacrifice for me to some degree. Beards for a team on the ‘run’ are great, but in my mind it can be any kind of a personal hair expression that serves as a constant reminder of who we are as a team and where we are headed on the next mission. If I could I would grow my hair like Trace’s (#58) golden locks or Jui ‘s (#2) ‘Braveheart’ mane, but alas, I have no hair to grow. Jui makes me think of Sampson hisself. I would like to be able to sport the Fonzzee look. Never could have without an Elvis wig. I could totally shave my head, but I hate the way that feels on the pillow, so I’m not going there.
Anyways, I can’t grow a good beard, never have been able to, and my ‘mustache’ is pretty much pathetic, too, but it’s ‘on’ as far as the playoff and hair thing goes.
BE THE BALL
I have been thinking about different things lately in terms of my lacrosse/team philosophy. My minor epiphany this week concerns a very easy ball concept. Many things matter on the lacrosse field. Things and situations change quickly. Different parts of the game must be broken down and worked on in practice in different ways, but when all is said and done, and at the ‘end of the day’ or play, as a team you either have the ball or you don’t, and you need to know, as a team, exactly what that means in your team mindset. No one’s going anywhere without that instinct firmly in place.
