Understanding The Views and Concerns of Lacrosse Fans

In my literacy event analysis I describe about how I am very able to write about something I care about. Lacrosse has made a big impact in my life and is he main reason why I ended up at Wheaton College. Lacrosse is that something that I care about. So in this essay I took the “lacrosse culture” standpoint, and I analyzed a insidelacrosse.com fan forums input on lacrosse issues in today’s world. I looked at their concerns and conversations about big lacrosse topics.

As I look through all the issues discussed on this fan forum there was one that really caught my eye. It was about the Major League Lacrosse (MLL) expanding to Atlanta. They area going to input a new team into Atlanta and re draft the league. The MLL currently only consisted of 8 teams and with the Atlanta expansion it would make 9. Now lacrosse is mostly a sport that is strong in the northeast, New York, Delaware, and Colorado. Many talented lacrosse players come from these areas and enjoy watching the game of lacrosse. The last team to be expanded in the MLL was the Florida Launch. Currently the team is struggling to bring in money. Lacrosse in the south is nowhere near as popular in the Northeast areas. I believe that expanding the league into Atlanta would only hurt the league and its players. MLL players make around $20,000 if they make a great impact for their team. Teams like the Florida Launch currently can’t support to play their players that amount of money. I expect the team in Atlanta to experience these same issues as the Florida Launch. Not only would this expansion not bring in enough revenue to support the team, many players will be stripped away from their career long team and teammates. Players wouldn’t have as much chemistry anymore and the style of lacrosse will change. The MLL expansion is not the right thing to do now and especially put a team into Atlanta.

If you play lacrosse there is a certain type of language and slang that players of the game to say to each other and completely understand. To the other people surrounding this conversation can become really confused. For example one of these slang words is “Tilt.” Tilt is a hard word to explain but basically it has to do with how tilted your helmet is. The more tilted towards the ground it is, the more tilt you have. It is a good thing to have tilt, it makes you look more intimidating on the field and other players will think you are a pretty good player. Having tilt has become a major part in the safety of lacrosse players. Usually when a player has good tilt they are not wearing the helmet correctly. Many officials and doctors are seeing more and more lacrosse players come in with concussions because of how they wear their helmets. Some teams have had professionals come in to adjust their player’s helmets so that they are safe. My high school team did this and the players weren’t happy with how their tilt was. I was guilty of this as well but many players just adjust their helmets back so they have better tilt. This subject was a big topic of discussion on the fan forum of lacrosse. Many responses included that players would rather have better tilt and look intimidating rather than being safe. Unfortunately I agreed with them. Tilt has become an important part of lacrosse.

Another topic that was highly discussed was the new collegiate shot clock rule. This rule states that if a team is stalling to shoot the ball and try to score the officials will start a 30 second shot clock. Before this rule was implanted many teams would just hold the ball and not try to score while they had possession of the ball while they were leading the game with a few minutes left. This shot clock rule requires a team to shoot within 30 seconds when the officials of the game feels it necessary. There were many mixed replies on this topic. Some people agreed with the rule 100% and thought that close games would become more interesting because the losing team would get more opportunities to tie the game or even win it. Other fans believe that this rule takes away from the originality of the game. Many teams that were leading with a few minutes left in a close game, liked holding on to the ball and trying to run the clock out. Without the shot clock, it gave the losing teams defense a reason to pressure the player that was carrying the ball and get possession back for their team. In my opinion I am not a fan of the shot clock rule. I believe the losing teams defense should strive to pressure out of the offense and try to get possession back for their team. Now all the defense just has to do is wait for the shot clock to turn on then play defense from there. It takes away from the natural excitement of lacrosse.

Lacrosse is something I am very passionate about and could talk about for hours. Many people do not comprehend the terminology of lacrosse players, so talking in the insidelacosse.com fan forum was a interesting and fun new experience for me. I did not have to make things more simple because everyone understood what I was talking about. From tilt, to shot clock rules, to expansions, to certain teams swagger, and the type of lacrosse each teams plays. I have come a long way in lacrosse and it has become a big part of my life. There is a great difference in the way that lacrosse player’s talk and the way normal people talk. I’m sure this goes for many other sports that I am sure I wouldn’t understand their language. Cultural language barriers and differences surround the world around us and this unit made it more clear to me.