MLL Draft

[SCLAX]

Did anyone see the results of this? Boston traded for Sean Morris and also got Paul Rabil with the #1 pick.

Also, for the first time ever an MCLA player was drafted. The Bayhawks took Michigan's face off man in the 5th round.

http://www.collegelax.us/news/?p=7716

[Sonny]

Yes... We are talking about this already in the Main Forum and the MLL forum.

[Bill from Boston]

Did anyone see the results of this? Boston traded for Sean Morris and also got Paul Rabil with the #1 pick.

Also, for the first time ever an MCLA player was drafted. The Bayhawks took Michigan's face off man in the 5th round.

http://www.collegelax.us/news/?p=7716

Sean Morris is one of my favorite MASS players to watch. Remember playing against him in HS, one heck of a player.

Also I am GIDDY about the idea of watching Rabil live in person again (after the Final Four), going to have to purchase some Cannons tickets.

Does anyone know when Rabil will join the team? I know Danowski was introduced to the Pride the other day, but not sure he is with the team yet. Whats the policy like as these kids are basically joining the team a few games into the season

[SCLAX]

I played at Marshfield with Morris. He is a great athlete and fun to watch. He was inactive on Chicago's roster, though, so I'm not sure what his status will be with the Cannons. As far as Rabil is concerned, I heard he was going to travel with the Cannons for their next game following the draft.

[SCLAX]

To update my last post, Morris had 2g, 6a yesterday so I guess he's active!

[swampthing]

Did anyone see the results of this? Boston traded for Sean Morris and also got Paul Rabil with the #1 pick.

Also, for the first time ever an MCLA player was drafted. The Bayhawks took Michigan's face off man in the 5th round.

http://www.collegelax.us/news/?p=7716

Sean Morris is one of my favorite MASS players to watch. Remember playing against him in HS, one heck of a player.

Also I am GIDDY about the idea of watching Rabil live in person again (after the Final Four), going to have to purchase some Cannons tickets.

Does anyone know when Rabil will join the team? I know Danowski was introduced to the Pride the other day, but not sure he is with the team yet. Whats the policy like as these kids are basically joining the team a few games into the season

They're pretty much eligible to play as soon as the coach thinks they're ready, I think. I just remember Joe Walters coming straight from the final four into his first MLL game in the second half the first week he was drafted and dropping a hattie at midfield.

[GWalsh01]

Rabil didn't see any action yet, but all the 'Cuse guys on Chicago were playing.

[Dan Warren]

I would love to see the MLL switch to NCAA rules. I keep trying to watch, but it just doesn't grab me. Too much scoring, too little defense, too little strategy. Get rid of the shot clock,and add a 4th pole. The athleticism is obviously top notch, and that is the only thing that has me checking it out every now and then. A whole game is just painful.

[StrykerFSU]

I would love to see the MLL switch to NCAA rules. I keep trying to watch, but it just doesn't grab me. Too much scoring, too little defense, too little strategy. Get rid of the shot clock,and add a 4th pole. The athleticism is obviously top notch, and that is the only thing that has me checking it out every now and then. A whole game is just painful.

Second. And I hate the orange ball. When they developed the league I think they gave the PR people too much power and didn't get enough input from true lacrosse people.

[Troy Hood]

Believe it or not, the orange ball actually serves a purpose. It shows up quite a bit better on television that a white ball. I'm not sure why it does, but it's true.

As far as adding the fourth pole, I wouldn't mind seeing that. There are plenty of guys playing d-middie that played with the pole in college. I don't think it would affect the size of the roster that much.

That said, I like the fact that the MLL game is different from the collegiate game. It moves faster and holds the interest of the casual fan better than the college game.

Note the success of the NLL. The box game has had much greater success in attracting casual fans to the gate. The speed of the game and entertainment value needs to be maintained.

[StrykerFSU]

Believe it or not, the orange ball actually serves a purpose. It shows up quite a bit better on television that a white ball. I'm not sure why it does, but it's true.

That said, I like the fact that the MLL game is different from the collegiate game. It moves faster and holds the interest of the casual fan better than the college game.

Note the success of the NLL. The box game has had much greater success in attracting casual fans to the gate. The speed of the game and entertainment value needs to be maintained.

Yeah, I know why they do it but I still don't like the orange ball.

Does the MLL really hold the casual fans interest? I'm not trying to be difficult but do the television ratings show that the MLL is picking up casual viewers? There are a lot of other factors to be sure but I still think that NCAA games pull more viewers than MLL games (if there were some way to normalize the numbers based on households with ESPN2 versus ESPNU for example).

The NLL really has no appeal to me at all. It's worse than the NBA with all of the canned noise and music blaring all the time. But then, I don't watch Arena football either. I also watch about 150 Red Sox games a year so take my opinion with a fistful of salt.

[Troy Hood]

Understood. I don't have the TV ratings handy to know whether or not this is happening. But, the fact that ESPN2 has stepped up again and is carrying all of the games this season on ESPN360 is a start.

As far as the NLL comparison, that is more in terms of fans in the seats. A big MLL crowd is 6,000-7,000 in Boston. Toronto, Colorado, and Philadelphia sell out their buildings on a regular basis. In fact, Philadelphia has been pulling in crowds like that for years.

I understand your point about the NLL. Either you like it or you don't. I'm the same way about baseball. I live in the middle of a great baseball town in St. Louis with a great deal of excitement about the Cardinals every year. That said, I can't seem to get into it at all until the playoffs. Just too much downtime during the game for me.

[OAKS]

It doesn't help that a lot of games are shown on TV Tuesdays at 3:30pm. Hard to bring in the casual viewer if they're at work.

[MBlax327]

II live in the middle of a great baseball town in St. Louis with a great deal of excitement about the Cardinals every year. That said, I can't seem to get into it at all until the playoffs. Just too much downtime during the game for me.

Troy: You are not the only one.
got this from another thread...it is worth the time for all americans to read it:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/inside_game/magazine/life_of_reilly/news/2000/10/10/life_of_reilly/

[TheBirdman23]

I would love to see the MLL switch to NCAA rules. I keep trying to watch, but it just doesn't grab me. Too much scoring, too little defense, too little strategy. Get rid of the shot clock,and add a 4th pole. The athleticism is obviously top notch, and that is the only thing that has me checking it out every now and then. A whole game is just painful.

I third that.. Rules should remain relatively the same throughout all levels of the sport just as it is in all other mainstream proffessional sports. I would def watch more MLL if it were NCAA rules