Major League Lacrosse 2009: My thoughts.

I read the recent Inside Lacrosse article with an open mind, and going through the list of players and trying to see how it will affect some of the guys I worked with in the past. I guess I should start with being disappointed with the contraction of my old team, the New Jersey Pride. I wasn’t sure where they would end up, but I was hoping to see how these young guys came together. I would have followed them, watched them on TV. Now, we’ll never know. I’m not saying it wasn’t the right thing to do. I’m not sure, only time will tell. But I am being a little selfish, I know.

Now, I don’t know if any of these guys are actually going to play for the teams they are assigned, but I do have some thoughts just based on the list.

I’m happy for Scott Urick. Scott is an assistant coach with Georgetown University in Washington DC and he was assigned to the Washington Bayhawks. Scott came up to NJ every summer for 8 seasons. He made it to all the practices held during that time. Even last year, when he had early season hamstring issues, he still came up to support the guys, even though he wasn’t practicing. He stayed after every practice with Dan Chemotti, another Washington assignee, to shoot and get in any extra work they felt necessary. So I’m happy that after 8 years of commuting, Scott can have his home games closer to his home.

I don’t know if Jesse Hubbard will be playing this year, but he is assigned to Washington as well and Jesse went to HS at St. Albans in Washington DC. After being in NJ and LA, it will be nice for the fans who watched him in HS be able to see him in their backyard.

It’s great Kyle Harrison will be able to play with his buddy Benson Erwin again. They were friends growing up from little kids through Johns Hopkins. I met Benson at one of Kyle’s clinics in NJ a few years ago. He seemed like a really good guy, so I’m happy for them.

I feel bad for Rob Scherr. He was statistically the best goalie in the MLL last year and he lives in Baltimore. So instead of being rewarded for his great work, he has to get a passport and go to Toronto. On top of that, he has to compete with Brett Queener, arguably the most exciting goalie in the MLL. So if you were a Toronto fan, new to the MLL, who would you want to see? The steady goalie who gets the job done, or the maniac we saw last year in the finals? Yeah, Queener might just put more fans in the stands. So I feel bad for Rob and hope he’s able to work out a deal with another team.

Hasn’t Andy Corno been punished enough? Maybe, or maybe not, depends on who you ask. Andy spent less than one season with the NJ Pride. The following year he decided he didn’t want to commute to NJ anymore. (Yeah, the same commute Scott Urick has been doing for 8 years) So he got himself traded to Philadelphia. Karma got the best of him when the next year his team got to travel all over the country and didn’t play in Philadelphia at all. I thought that was punishment enough. But now, instead of getting assigned to Washington, his home, he gets to go to Boston. Ouch!

Finally, I don’t think I can ever be a Lizard fan. But I’m close enough and I’m a Peyser fan, Danowski fan, McDevitt fan, Rewkowski fan, and Unterstein fan. So I will be seeing my friends in Long Island this summer. I just can’t bring myself to buy a t-shirt.

I’d love to hear your comments on the upcoming summer. Please let me know what you think.