Best Lacrosse Head - Nike Lakota 3
My favorite head to release in 2021 is the third version of the Lakota. I was never a Lakota devotee, so take this with a few grains of hyperbolic salt - The Lakota 3 is the best head I’ve used since I snapped my Stallion Omega over a kid’s knee in the middle of a groundball drill. (It’s okay, he’s fine.)
The L3 has strong and purposeful design lines. The head looks incredible and performs just as well - in fact, it is the best-looking head since the Paul-Gait designed Command Low. Maybe aesthetics don’t mean much to you, but when you link them with an optimal offset and an intelligently placed lower-rail return…it’s essentially nirvana for stick nerds.
Has there ever been a trilogy that was bookended like the Lakota one? Pretty much everyone hates the Lakota 2, but everyone is overloaded with nostalgia for the first version and the Lakota is winning over an entirely new audience/generation.
The first movie had to be a classic, the second movie has to be a functional disappointment, and the third needs to almost surpass the initial release…
Oh. Got it.
It’s the latest Spiderman trilogy. The Lakota 3 is the “No Way Home” of this past year. #NailedIt
Best Lacrosse Shaft - Hahaha.
They’re all the same, you dullard! Buy last year’s model for a disco - wait…is this true for heads, too? IS THIS TRUE FOR HEADS, TOO?!
And you wonder why no one writes about lacrosse gear anymore.
Best Champ - RIT
When I tell you that a team is special it probably doesn’t mean all that much. I make a lot of maximalist statements in real life and on the interwebs. But this time is a little different.
When I say that RIT is the best champion, I define “best” as “most exciting”. The Tigers were the most exciting team in 2021 across all levels of play.
You can argue with me if you want, but I will not hesitate to dunk directly onto your face. All you have to do is cue up this video highlight to be proven wrong more times than an All-American ballot.
Best Play - RIT’s game-winning goal against Salisbury to win the DIII championship game
Shut up and watch it. Try to figure out how it happened. Then watch it again. Because it should be on a loop in your brain.
The DIII Life is the best life for most lacrosse players. This is why.
Best Goal - All the Longpole Goals
I am not aware of when I became the champion of longpole goals, but I am happy to serve the kingdom. Some of the best are embedded below. Me? I prefer the ones where the poles dangle someone into the ground. Join us.
Best On-Field Trend - Wing Dodging
The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was telling all lacrosse coaches that north/south dodging is the best way to get a goal. It’s not the best way. It’s the most DIRECT way and that’s why coaches still bang the drum for it, but if all you do is attack from the top down (or invert) you’re missing out on two other sides of the field.
Whether you’re using a pairs offense to control the low block, or overloading one side to isolate on a fish, the wing is where a lot of goals were manufactured in 2021. I really hope this trend continues in 2022, despite the obvious encroachment of the inverted peoples. Gonna be like Denzel’s son in Tenet out there this spring, just watch…
Best Off-Field Trend - Nothing
**Old man shakes fist at cloud**
I don’t really like anything that I’m seeing off-field in lacrosse. By that, I mean that the pandemic culled many of the businesses and companies that weren’t strong or principled enough to stand on their own feet. As a result of that, you’d think that the last men standing (so to speak) would be made of sterner stuff. You’d be mistaken. What happened instead was a mass consolidation of wealth in the lacrosse space.
The rich got richer while we were all suffering behind doors locked by COVID. The ramifications of these Black Mirror conglomerations have yet to present themselves to the average player or consumer. But that doesn’t mean that they’re innocuous. The lacrosse world lost a lot of good people to other industries and you’re going to see the ramifications of that in 2022.
The one thing I know for sure is this: The deepest benches had the deepest pockets.