I had a conversation with a team captain today and he brought up something that I knew was going to be an issue at some point in time and need to be addressed as the league grew and got better. Here is the scenario: Team A shows up for their game with a full roster including 2 goalies. Team B does the same with the exception of a goalie. The two teams talk and Team A agrees to loan one of their goalies to Team B. Much to the dismay of Team A, the goalie they loaned to Team B plays in a spectacular fashion and beats them. Now what? Should Team B be forced to forfeit the game because they didn’t have a goalie? Of course they should…but that isn’t the rule we’ve used over the years and to make them forfeit would not only be unfair, it would be hypocritical…Heck, I jumped into the game after mine and played for 10 minutes because their goalie was late. Many of you reading this have done it or asked for it yourselves at some point in time. So now what, now? The use of “Guest Players” is something that goes back to the early days of this league when it wasn’t uncommon for a team to show up short handed. Like now, teams then, would be warmed up and ready to play and they wanted to do just that; Play! It’s all fine and good to score a forfeit, it’s automatic X in the win column but do you really want to record the win and go home having not played a game? Of course not, so the obvious answer is to borrow a couple guys from somewhere and play some lacrosse. It’s Summer Ball for crying out loud! Times have changed and the league has become much more competitive and one loss can be the difference between making the playoffs or not. For that reason do we start crunching down on teams? Should we punish the 19 guys standing on the sideline and force them to forfeit if their goalie doesn’t show? Then we should probably kick them out of the league if it occurs multiple times, that would fix the problem, right? I love this league and I appreciate every guy that shows up to play on Tuesday Nights. It is you the players that make this league special because for one hour you are on the field working your ass off and competing while at the same time using restraint to avoid hurting anyone or making them look silly. You are keeping the spirit of the league and it is a balancing act that you guys have perfected beautifully. With all that being said, every person in this league is a fierce competitor. If we weren’t we would all be sitting at home watching television rather than beating the heck out of each other with titanium poles. And for that reason we want what’s fair while exhibiting good sportsman ship. It truly is a ying and a yang. What is the answer? Communication, it’s that simple. If you have a concern, have one representative talk to the other team’s representative and figure it out ahead of time, then go play lacrosse. Or maybe I’m wrong. If that is the case speak up and let’s change what needs to be changed. I am damn near perfect but not completely. For that reason I am always open to suggestions. Scores: ArrowHead L vs BAFLC W Fightin Pierogies 6 vs The Dills 8 The Law Sharks 7 vs The Flint Michigan Tropics 6 Magnum Lacrosse vs The Wild Cards The Pink Panthers 5 vs The Trailer Park Boys 2 ECRN 10 vs OB Sauce 7 West Alumni 6 vs The Gryphons 5 Bar Down Boys 6 vs The Old Dogs/Lions 8 The Beavers 4 vs The Under Dogs 1 I don’t have scores for the Magnum LC vs Wild Cards game and the Arrowhead vs BAFLC game.
Posted on: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 02:49:09 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015