The Baltimore has an international reputation as a city of drugs and thugs. When individuals think of Baltimore, they need to comprehend that the city is actually a melting pot of socioeconomic status. While THE WIRE is considered my many, including myself, the greatest show ever created, it does not portray the entirety of Baltimore. Sure, the deep seedy underbelly of the ‘hoods' in inner city/East Baltimore consist of excessive drug trade and the city's attempt at stopping an invincible market were depicted exceptionally in the show, but there are other elements of the Baltimore. There's a real blue-collar worker feel to the historic shipping and manufacturing city. There is a pristine (well, clean enough) tourist trade and a great night life in the confines of Fells Point, Canton, Federal Hill, Mount Vernon, and Towson.
Baltimorons, as we have no issue being called, take pride in our exceptional crab cakes, work ethic, our "hon" accent, our blue-collar history, our Ravens and Orioles, and how intertwined the growing sport of lacrosse is in the culture. Growing up in the lax Mecca causes the sport to be embedded in your bloodstream.
The lacrosse hub of the world (feel free to take offense Long Island, Northern NJ, and Toronto) is Baltimore. Growing up, you're given a stick before you can read. You play year round in the most competitive leagues in the world with overwhelming pressure to not only compete but dominate. High school games air on TV, high school lacrosse crowds are in the thousands, and eventually when having a discussion with someone rooted in Baltimore, the subject of lacrosse will be touched upon whether you want it to or not. In the Baltimore that I grew up in, there was simply no other element of life more important than the almighty stick.
Lacrosse is currently progressing throughout the country and the world. As the fastest growing team sport in the US, it is continuing to develop and change until it either becomes a staple of the country, standing tall with the kings of the sports world (NBA, MLB, NFL and I’ll throw NHL and, maybe, MLS into that category), or becomes another failed attempt at trying to charge the walls of the already diluted US Sports market.
While watching the MLL semis and finals this week, I was listening to the broadcaster discussing the future of the league. While I was the only individual I knew who had a vast interest in watching the games, and also noticing the stadium not near capacity, I started to feel a small sense of fear that possibly this sport would sooner than later run its course.
The MLL started in 1998 by Jake Steinfeld, Dave Morrow, and Tim Robertson with its inaugural season beginning in June of 2001 with 6 teams. Now while it has had a tumultuous career as it went from 10 teams in 2008, down to 6 teams in 2009, 4 folding due to financial problems, there is actual potential. Currently, there are 8 teams and they plan on expanding to 16 teams in 2019. They have already discussed the 19 markets ranging from Miami to Seattle.
I do struggle with its current lack of popularity, but there are definitely reasons why it appears that the MLL and lacrosse in general will eventually thrive.
Exposure
The college final four is truly the pinnacle of the national lacrosse market. Because of the extensive talent, competition, and deeper history, college lacrosse is currently more popular than the MLL or the NLL for that matter (NLL is indoor). ESPN2 has been the national home for the MLL since 2003 and as of today, ESPN’s contract is the longest commitment that any television outlet has given to a lacrosse entity.
In 2008, all 64 MLL games, including the All-Star game, both, Semi-Finals, and the NB ZIP MLL Championship Game were streamed live on ESPN360.com. After airing live, the games were archived on the website for a period of one week.
In 2010, ESPN2 aired a total of 6 MLL games, including live broadcasts of the All-Star Game (July 8) from Boston, as well as the first Semi-Final game (August 21) and the MLL Championship Game presented by Warrior (August 22) from Annapolis.
In 2011, all 36 regular season games in addition to the 2011 Sports Authority MLL All-Star Game (July 9) and the 2011 Sports Authority MLL Championship Weekend presented by Warrior (August 27 and 28), were broadcast in syndication. Every MLL game was streamed live on ESPN3.com in HD, and a total of six MLL games including the All-Star Game and the Championship Weekend were broadcast live on ESPN2.
MLL recently announced a major television agreement with CBS Sports Network that will bring14 live games in HD to CBS along with 18 episodes of "Inside the MLL,” the league's 30-minute magazine show. Additionally, six games will be aired live on ESPN2, which brings the total number of nationally televised live games to 20 this season.
So as of right not the MLL’s issue is not exposure. It is continuing to increase its national exposure. Besides this, I can safely say that there are games in Baltimore that do play on local channels.
Now that's just the MLL. College contains several more games. Last season, ESPN (with coverage between ESPN, ESPNU, and ESPN 3) provided coverage for 49 total (39 regular season games plus six conference finals). I recall days when the only lacrosse action I watched consisted of ball-boying for Hopkins and Loyola. This explosion of coverage proves that, if the leader in sports think that this sport is profitable, they are doing something right. Lax on the Big Screen
As someone who understands and appreciates the nuances of the sport, I can safely say that I have never seen the sport of lacrosse depicted accurately in any TV show or movie. The new Beverly Hills 90210 ( Exposure-Lacrosse in Cali), and American Pie essentially take the whole technical portion out of game. The stick stays stagnate instead of being cradled and never appears to change hands. That said, lacking stick skills does not seem to be an issue as these appear to be the stars of the team.
I have not seen Crooked Arrow nor a Warrior’s Heart, but from what I gather from the trailers, the lax games simply appear to be physical battles lacking any finesse. Sure Crooked Arrow seems to be a little realer than the rest, but the premise is lacrosse meets the Little Giants. A great movie when younger, but can be slightly too hokey for an older generation.
Crooked Arrow
A Warrior’s Heart
Growing up, I can safely say that lacrosse in Baltimore is similar to football in Texas. It’s intense. There's an unhealthy amount of pressure from your coaches, peers, and family, not to mention all the politics at play. It means so much to each pocket community. I would say a better comparison for Hollywood would be Varsity Blues or to a lesser extent Friday Night Lights. I've seen player’s face masks dragged into the dirt by their coaches, screamed at mercilessly due to a slightly inaccurate passes, sprints until vomiting, and there was even an individual from my brother’s grade who was recognized by the clerk of a liquor store while buying booze underage. I think they served him anyway.
Ok so one thing that I've found out is that any publicity is good publicity. Several years back, they actually developed a video for the sport and it sank quicker than the Titanic. One can say that these moving pictures are helping grow the sport but on the other side their inaccurate depictions might lead to further ignorance about what the sport really is, especially in light of an athletic pushback against overt violence in sports.
Expansion
The MLL appears to have in-depth plans on how they want to expand to future territories, but in order to do so, they need to ensure that they enter into profitable markets. While the sport has started to aggressively expand around the country, it's still a young sport. Sure there has been more parity in the college game between the teams who make it to the final four and the players that form those teams, but there are still several generations that encompass the majority of die-hard sports fans alive who never experienced the game. Without living in a centralized lacrosse bubble or having children who play the game, they cannot comprehend the sport.
According to US Lacrosse, youth participation has grown over 138% since 2001 to nearly 300,000. It is also the fastest growing high school sport in the last 10 years, where there are now an estimated 228,000 high school players. Granted that number is still minute when compared to the number of high school kids in the US, but it's still growing. Therefore, I foresee it continuing to progress, but right now, it still lacks popularity. Only one of my four roommates’ high schools actually had a program while they attended.
So while I think the MLL should expand, and it will, it should not do so without a base in place or they will have to then downsize like when they went from 10 to 6 teams. Either way, the future does look promising and I would prefer to see it grow slowly until it's developed enough of a following to remain. Eventually, the young lax bro’s will age and get to a point where they can be more vocal in the decision making revolving around the US sports industry.
In the end, this is the real American pastime, played by Indians before Europeans had anything resembling organized field athletics (polo doesn't count). It's been here long before baseball and obviously isn't going anywhere. - Kyle
In the end, this is the real American pastime, played by Indians before Europeans had anything resembling organized field athletics (polo doesn't count). It's been here long before baseball and obviously isn't going anywhere. - Kyle
No comments:
Post a Comment