The Ballad of Joey Spallina
Recruiting news is now inevitable
If you haven’t heard of Joey Spallina at this point you’re likely a lacrosse fan without a twitter account. By the by - that’s okay, this is a judgment-free dojo, but as your Senpai, I must take it upon myself to bring his existence to your attention. Why? It’s not because he’s the No. 1 recruit in the nation. It’s not because he committed to Syracuse. It’s because he’s the first true No. 1 recruit to garner big boy media attention in the history of lacrosse. Is that hyperbolic? Absolutely.
All the old heads will recall the first time they heard tales of the youngest Powell brother or the time they heard their sister was at a party with Nicky Galasso. This is more than that because Joey Spallina’s hype train has been on the tracks for at least five years running. The kid was a star in the making ever since he got to play on national television in the World Series of Youth Lacrosse - an event that was sponsored by Coca-Cola and Nissan. Now, having a father who coaches a top tier DI women’s program AND won professional lacrosse championships certainly helps to bring exposure by osmosis, but the thing about the eldest Spallina spawn is that the hype is something that he has helped to construct. And I mean that in the most positive way possible.
Here’s the thing - this is a story about recruiting and the recruiting process and how it’s the most important part of lacrosse. I buried the lede on purpose because that’s the most fascinating part of this entire saga. The biggest moneymaker in lacrosse is recruiting news. Why? Because potential and hope trade at a higher value than anything else in the world. Especially right now.
I know this to be true and yet I have avoided the recruiting scene like...the best analogy is the campus of any public college in Florida, but I shouldn’t say that with any degree of seriousness. And that right there is my problem. There’s no room for fun or puns when you write about recruits. Maybe the occasional cute metaphor, but not too cute as to distract from the message you’re conveying or from the player you’re evaluating. Have you ever read a scouting report? It’s like trying to read a horoscope written by a golden retriever.
Here’s a sample:
Great feet (He used a drop step and threw a check without falling over).
Moves well off ball ( is it “offball” “off the ball” or “off-ball”? No one knows because context is meaningless in lacrosse).
Reactionary on defense (Is he leading a Huguenot rebellion in France? This is not a real point).
Good first step (Translation: He’s not terrible, but he’s not great either).
Struggles to get separation under pressure (He’s slow, but I can’t say he’s slow).
Still awake? Good. That’s all window dressing and excuses though. Passionate writers can make anything interesting. Bullet points are for power points and poorly assembled fantasy football draft kits. The demons are in the details. And, apparently, player year classifications because people love to get upset over literally nothing. What does it matter if a kid chooses to go do a post-graduate year? I did a PG year and ended up ripping all of my adductors away from my groin. There are no guarantees. If you’re spun up about that you’re focused too much on ranks and not enough on the experience or the outcome.
The infrastructure to cover lacrosse recruiting on a national scale isn’t foolproof. There are plenty of people that want to do it, but consider which ones have ulterior motives - chief among them to promote their own region. Before you rant against that, stop and think about the last recruiting argument that you saw. Did it involve another parent? A club coach? An actual player?
Everyone has something to gain in the recruiting game, but the problem is that it’s an aspect of the sport that begs for neutrality to be covered correctly.
I’ve said “No.” to exactly two assignments in my time at Inside Lacrosse. One was an interview and the other was an assignment to evaluate a team comprised of seventh and eighth-graders. Neither refusal was born out of malaise or malice, but instead (an admittedly misguided) morality. At the time I thought it was wrong to evaluate the playstyle of someone that wasn’t even in high school yet. Part of me still objects to that very notion, but now...now I understand it. The great lacrosse world machine must be fed with the promise of young talent or it will slow its churn.
Let me tell you a little secret about lacrosse at the moment - the sport and the industry cannot afford to slow down any further.
So, I’ve done a 180. I’m all in on recruiting news and analysis because (selfishly) I will need it to flourish so that I can survive as someone that writes about the sport. The recruiting content is easily the most popular content in the sphere right now even though the NLL draft is this week. That’s crazy - especially since we don’t even know if there is going to be a college season this spring.
I have secretly dreaded this day for a long, long time. A few years ago when the MLL player data was breached it looked like pro lacrosse was finally done. I recall being extremely sad - I’d even go so far to say visibly forlorn - in the IL offices that week. IL Publisher Terry Foy razzed me, as he is want to do, and said “Well, what happens if the MLL folds? What do you do then?”
I stopped, wanting to show zero weakness because I am nothing if not deceptively dudebro in my aggressions; stared at him with dead eyes, and said, “Well, I guess I have to become the greatest recruiting writer that ever lived.”
Of course, that’s not going to happen because then I’d have to kill Ty Xanders and I don’t have a taste for real violence. Plus, Ty and I have buried so many hatchets that we could open a hipster ax-throwing bar in my backyard. But there is a shift in how lacrosse is going to be covered going forward and that shift is leaning hard into the recruiting space. Whether we like it or not.
So, thank you, Joey Spallina. You’re the catalyst for what comes next.