So When Do We Really Learn About Sports?

I have been writing this blog for a little over a month. I have received many nice comments and e-mails from family, friends and new readers (keep them coming). A common theme seems to be, “Great job Guru, but I don’t know anything about sports”. Well maybe either I’m not doing what I set out to do (see May 20, 2008 blog or click on I am not a Sports Nerd tab) or my friends and family are a few logs short of a cord.

I’ll go with the theory that some of my family are not the sharpest tools in the shed. Sports Guru’s Sports Son #1 plays lacrosse (game played with sticks and a hard rubber ball that hurts when it hits you). Not only does SGSS #1 play lacrosse, he is a goalie. That means the hard rubber ball is thrown at hit him very hard (high school players can throw it in excess of 80mph) by boys who don’t like him and hope that if the ball does not go by him for a goal, it hits him in the arm or leg so it hurts a lot. I know what you’re thinking now, goalies wear all that protection and it’s only a small ball. Wrong…

Ice Hockey goalies (SGSS #1 did that for 8 years also) wear protection that makes them look like this.

But lacrosse goalies wear such little protection they look like this.
Lacrosse is played on a field that is almost the same size as a football field. Each team has ten players and depending on what position they play on the field, their stick can vary in length from three feet long to six feet long for defensemen. The rules are pretty simple. You get to run around and hit your friends, and if they have the ball, you get to take your stick and hit them (hands and stick) with it. When you’re not being hit by your friends and smacking them in the hands, the object is to get the hard rubber ball past the goalie (the guy who is a few cards short of a deck) and into the net. It really is a great sport (especially if you’re not the parent of the kid whose elevator does not go all the way to the top floor).

One of the things about lacrosse that has made it very popular during the past 10 years is the possibility of a college scholarship for those players who have talent. Some of the best colleges in the country have a long standing history of playing lacrosse. Duke, Virginia, Georgetown, Cornell and many others are looking for the brightest student athletes to come play for their universities. So even if your kid is a few fries short of a Happy Meal and can get that hard rubber ball past SGSS #1, Harvard might be calling your son.

For some additional information about lacrosse you might want to check out the US Lacrosse website http://www.uslacrosse.org/the_sport/index.phtml. Remember if little Jimmy is a few Fruit Loops shy of a full bowl, lacrosse might just be the sport for him.

Your Friend in Sports (yes I’ve been accused of being a few threads short of a sweater),

Dave the Sports Guru