PLL 3 and 3: Week one

Can't stop. Won't stop.

Do you know what’s better than getting to five and five? Getting to three and three. That is, it’s better to write three good things and three bad things than five good things and five bad things. You write five bad things and everyone will forget that you wrote the five good ones. Trust me, my entire career is based upon this logic - especially as it applies to professional lacrosse. 

Now, you all know I love the PLL. It’s a reskinned, better-run, and faster-paced version of my first love, the MLL. I loved the MLL DESPITE all of its failings because - for a long time - I just ignored the external factors that made everyone else shy away from it. Instead, I just focused on the product on the field. And I have to tell you, that’s the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done as a writer. If you haven't had someone threaten to punch your face in for diagramming how they got roasted on a pick and roll, then, my friend, you have not lived. 

So, this is my new offering to the pro lacrosse pantheon. I don’t know how to quit you. I can’t go a full summer without writing about pro lacrosse. I just effing can’t do it. If you know me, you know why. Let’s just light the candle.

3 things I liked

ESPN Crews

Look, Ryan Boyle is the best color commentator in lacrosse. It’s not close, we all know it and it needs to be acknowledged. But you know what I liked the most? No stories about getting chicken parm after the game. Or what car the co-commentator drives. Just calling the action with excitement, verve, and - most importantly - research. 

(Or maybe I just didn’t hear any funny business because unless Anish, Boyle, or Carc is on the call I watch the game without sound.)

Isos from X are back

Oh, hey X-play, I missed you as much as I missed the previous incarnation of your name that had Morgan Webb on it in the mid-aughts. They taught me how to get a gmail account! Forever, grateful. 

But, really, seeing several teams initiate from behind the cage was exciting for me as an OG MLL fan. The adage - “You can’t win a [pro lacrosse] championship unless you can score from X” is a foundational pillar of pro lacrosse #analysis.

Fast breaks? Yeah, dog - fast BREAKS!

In the bubble, teams would sneak a man off late in the shot clock to try and stuff the inevitable long pass to the break that would then lead to a good shot. Now, teams have finally loosened up (for the most part) and decided to play the game straight up - with a chaser.

3 things I didn’t like

Coaches bailing out defenses with dumb timeouts

How many times did I see a PLL coach call a timeout when they had a converted attackman feigning midfield chops trapped on defense in transition? Once is too many and it was more than once. 

Look. I get that everyone wants positionless 6 on 6 - they have a game for that, it’s literally called sixes. Go play that. Roles and player phenotypes are still going to revert to the mean. Even if it takes just a little more time for that to transpire this summer.

Too many attackmen pretending to be midfielders

Speaking of out-of-position players - I guess we know where all of these attackmen will be playing, huh? It’s gross. You are terrible at defense. Similarly, your body language and hesitation to run back and play on the other side of the field are despicable. No one wins when you play guys way out of position for extended periods of time. I get that you want to try things out and see who belongs where, but man - learn faster.

Refs just no-calling their way to paychecks

I guess trips and pushes with possession do not exist in the PLL because there was one of those infractions on every other possession in at least two of the games I watched his weekend. Now, I understand that a lot of box guys are in their month-long process of adapting to the field rules, but it was a bit excessive to see guys get hammered into from behind on groundballs scrums and then just look around like “what is happening?” 

It’s the same lackadaisical refereeing style that made countless players quit in the MLL. Let enough little stuff go, and the retaliation will be that much worse. If I can see it in week one, you better believe the players can, too.