A look from a fan's perspective on the new Eagle League...
by PAUL FRANKLIN - Courier-News Sports Writer
EAST RUTHERFORD – Box lacrosse is now. It’s the 80s.
Box lacrosse is the MTV of sports.
Last night, before an announced crowd of more than 5,000, something called the New Jersey Saints outscored something called the Washington Wave, 25-15, in a Major Indoor Lacrosse League game.
Or is it a match? Whatever. It’s fun.
Five players to a side and a goalie. The object: carry the tiny white ball like Eric Dickerson, set picks like Charles Barkley, and shoot it like Wayne Gretzky.
Speed, grace and contact. And music.
Whenever the home team went on offense, the sound system at Meadowlands Arena blared the likes of Genesis, Def Leppard, and the theme songs from Miami Vice and Jaws.
Four teams comprise the league, which is in its second year. The commissioner is a lawyer. Heck, many of the players are lawyers.
Others are accountants, bartenders, postal workers. One is a full-blooded Indian.
His name is Mikko Red Arrow. Imagine the cult following he’ll have if this ever catches on.
Practices are held once a week, and each player makes $150 per game. The season runs from early January to the end of February. Playoffs go into mid-March.
Commissioner Darrell Russell says the league expects to expand to at least two more cities by next season — most likely Boston and Hartford. Other franchises right now include Baltimore and Philadelphia. Long-term goals include a 20-team league with a television package.
“If lacrosse is ever a go,” Saints coach Bob Engleke said, “it will be the indoor game, not the outdoor game. It’s much faster and more physical than outdoors.”
The action is non-stop except, of course, when the hitting turns into fist fighting. That happened a few times last night.
At one point, after a New Jersey player scored a goal and taunted the goalie, the goalie became irate, pushed an official and was tossed from the game.
Or is it a match? Whatever. It’s wild.
“I wasn’t sure what it would be like,” the Saints’ Tom Sweeney said Sweeney, a resident of Edison, played lacrosse at Rutgers, where he graduated in 1980 as a four-time All-American. “I like the action.
I’ve brought some people here who knew nothing about the sport, and they’ve come back. I don’t know if they’re saying that because I’m playing, but they seem to like it.”
And why not?
The field measurements are the same used by the the New Jersey Devils in the National Hockey League. Artificial turf covers the ice, with bright orange lines breaking the field into three zones. With a yellow border running around the base of the boards, the arena does not lack for color.
The fights only add to the color.
“I tell the officials,” the commissioner says, “that if they’re equipment is on, to let ’em roll around for a minute or so. They can’t get hurt with all that equipment on.” At least they don’t hit each other with the sticks. Not yet, anyway.
The nets are only four-feet square, but the abilities of the players ensure a lot of scoring.
Given that America just two years ago won the World Cup in this sport, the talent is arguably the best in the world.
With the ball bouncing off the boards and the glass dividers, the sport combines the misdirection of football, the flow of ice hockey, the pick-and-rolls of basketball, and a little bit of pinball. And, of course, boxing.
“Hitting is part of the game,” Sweeney says, “but I don’t want to see fighting promoted. I don’t want that to be a major part of the sport, to the point where they start bringing in goons.”
There were no goons in the crowd, the majority of whom seemed to be under 30. Well behaved — no beer is sold at box lacrosse — the enthusiasm in the seats matched that on the field.
Box lacrosse. It’s the new wave. The fast-food of sports. Be there.
