Maryland (6-2 at the time) squared off with Virginia (10-0 at the time) on Saturday in a game that, as I understand, is quite the rivalry. Maybe I’m missing something and I definitely understand the irony of an Ultimate player ragging on the watchability of a sport, but I watched what was considered one of the more exciting games in televised Lacrosse history and I was…bored.
Don’t get me wrong though. The regulation was exciting. 9-9 at the end of regulation with some great athletic prowess and skill shown off all around. Some of the goals were just down right astounding. I could never pretend to have some of the coordination these guys have.
But something happened in Overtime. First off, the overtime system is crazy. Indefinite amounts of overtime are possible. They are short and it’s all “sudden victory” or first goal wins. Maybe I don’t understand the system, but why not have a shootout? That would have been exciting after a couple of overtimes. Another issue is the issuance of a timeout every overtime. Pretty much every time the team would gain possession, a timeout was called. This really slowed down the game, which isn’t really “fast” to begin with. It’s like a slower version of hockey really. Lastly, the referees botched a call that would have ended with a Maryland upset in the first overtime. Instead, they THOUGHT they heard a timeout from the Maryland side and blew the whistle right as the Maryland player sunk the shot. But who can fault the refs really, apparently timeouts in overtime just happen. I would have assumed Maryland called one too.
I play ultimate and I fully believe the sport has a long ways to go before it’s featured on ESPN2. However, I watched the finals of Women’s Centex on Sunday and it was much better than this “instant classic” of a lacrosse game. Yea, I’m biased, but I find it hard to believe that I found a club women’s sport was more fun to watch than the highest level of college lacrosse. I think with some fine-tuning and elimination of the on-field discussion you see in Ultimate, it could easily surpass the tension and “excitement” we saw in the Maryland v Virginia game. Too many timeouts, the refs seemed lost at times, and the overtime was SLOW. Teams were tentative and afraid to turn it over and they just sat back and tried to sneak one in. Rather than jumping out of my seat when the game ended, it was more of a “thank god it’s over” and it seemed the crowd felt that way too.
I have very little experience in watching lacrosse. All my experiences have been short, but I can say that none have been that fun. Even the championship games I’ve watched were pretty dull. I’m just curious how this sport has gained so much traction recently. Ultimate isn’t the most widely-respected sport and I understand that, but I feel like it has just as many legitimate athletes in the college ranks as lacrosse does. Is it our lack of refs holding us back? Or is our sport just too hippy? Any lacrosse players out there have any input? I wish I could say I enjoyed it, but I was unimpressed by the longest lacrosse game ever.
It all comes down to equipment. Lacrosse equipment is plentiful and expensive. This serves two purposes: 1. it limits the sport to people who have lots of disposable income making for an attractive television audience, 2. It's a positive feedback system for the sponsors/manufacturers of this equipment, they are willing to pay for the television time, because they are confident the viewer will purchase their uber-expensive gear, making for even more tv time in the future.
Ultimate's best marketing move would be to somehow incorporate pads.
Monday Thoughts: On Lacrosse
Maryland (6-2 at the time) squared off with Virginia (10-0 at the time) on Saturday in a game that, as I understand, is quite the rivalry. Maybe I’m missing something and I definitely understand the irony of an Ultimate player ragging on the watchability of a sport, but I watched what was considered one of the more exciting games in televised Lacrosse history and I was…bored.
Don’t get me wrong though. The regulation was exciting. 9-9 at the end of regulation with some great athletic prowess and skill shown off all around. Some of the goals were just down right astounding. I could never pretend to have some of the coordination these guys have.
But something happened in Overtime. First off, the overtime system is crazy. Indefinite amounts of overtime are possible. They are short and it’s all “sudden victory” or first goal wins. Maybe I don’t understand the system, but why not have a shootout? That would have been exciting after a couple of overtimes. Another issue is the issuance of a timeout every overtime. Pretty much every time the team would gain possession, a timeout was called. This really slowed down the game, which isn’t really “fast” to begin with. It’s like a slower version of hockey really. Lastly, the referees botched a call that would have ended with a Maryland upset in the first overtime. Instead, they THOUGHT they heard a timeout from the Maryland side and blew the whistle right as the Maryland player sunk the shot. But who can fault the refs really, apparently timeouts in overtime just happen. I would have assumed Maryland called one too.
I play ultimate and I fully believe the sport has a long ways to go before it’s featured on ESPN2. However, I watched the finals of Women’s Centex on Sunday and it was much better than this “instant classic” of a lacrosse game. Yea, I’m biased, but I find it hard to believe that I found a club women’s sport was more fun to watch than the highest level of college lacrosse. I think with some fine-tuning and elimination of the on-field discussion you see in Ultimate, it could easily surpass the tension and “excitement” we saw in the Maryland v Virginia game. Too many timeouts, the refs seemed lost at times, and the overtime was SLOW. Teams were tentative and afraid to turn it over and they just sat back and tried to sneak one in. Rather than jumping out of my seat when the game ended, it was more of a “thank god it’s over” and it seemed the crowd felt that way too.
I have very little experience in watching lacrosse. All my experiences have been short, but I can say that none have been that fun. Even the championship games I’ve watched were pretty dull. I’m just curious how this sport has gained so much traction recently. Ultimate isn’t the most widely-respected sport and I understand that, but I feel like it has just as many legitimate athletes in the college ranks as lacrosse does. Is it our lack of refs holding us back? Or is our sport just too hippy? Any lacrosse players out there have any input? I wish I could say I enjoyed it, but I was unimpressed by the longest lacrosse game ever.