04/23/24
May 23, 2011
SportsFilter: The Monday Huddle:
A place to discuss the sports stories that aren't making news, share links that aren't quite front-page material, and diagram plays on your hand. Remember to count to five Mississippi before commenting in anger.
Just in case you didn't see this last week, unseeded Maryland scored on a hidden ball trick en route to defeating #8 North Carolina in NCAA first-round lacrosse action. The fake happens 20 seconds in; the replay angle at 1:04 shows it best. Jersey number 1 Grant Catalino draws all the attention but never has the ball.
posted by Hugh Janus at 10:37 AM on May 23, 2011
Wow, that lacrosse play was tricky and very well-executed. For those who have played lacrosse or otherwise follow it, is that considered poor form or violative of any unwritten rule?
posted by holden at 11:28 AM on May 23, 2011
Man the Pirates were right again. That Jose Bautista just isnt going to pan out.
posted by Debo270 at 11:58 AM on May 23, 2011
For those who have played lacrosse or otherwise follow it, is that considered poor form or violative of any unwritten rule?
I spent my high school years spearing and slashing other young men. I don't recall anything about unwritten rules.
posted by yerfatma at 12:16 PM on May 23, 2011
Unwritten rules are for those that got hosed by them.
You can bet every lacrosse team is going to be practicing this move all week!
posted by dviking at 12:26 PM on May 23, 2011
Part of the hidden ball play's success is an artifact of stick changes... the NCAA and stick manufacturers keep altering the rules every year or so, allowing more curve to the stick head and deeper sidewalls. Not only is the ball nearly impossible to poke out of there anymore, but you can run around without cradling the ball, which helps pull off a play like this -- Catalino really sells possession with his cradling motion, while Farrell sneaks away without moving his stick at all before he flips it to Snider for the shot -- I think this play would have been much harder to execute ten or fifteen years ago, when the sticks weren't so sticky.
Quint Kessenich blames stick changes for the low scoring and leaden pace of the current game, but I wonder if it's even possible to turn back the clock. I think it's generally a lot tougher to tighten rules than it is to loosen them.
Trick plays like this are definitely not considered dirty play in lacrosse, though you usually only see them in youth lacrosse, where the level of skill and attention to the game is much lower.
posted by Hugh Janus at 12:46 PM on May 23, 2011
Liberal Democrat MP John Hemming has used Parliamentary Privilege to name the footballer known only as "CTB" in an on-going privacy case in the UK.
"CTB" had successfully gained and defended a "super injunction" that prevented newspapers and other media outlets from using his actual name in reporting on the case, but his identity had been revealed by thousands of different Twitter users.
Hemming said it would be "impracticable to imprison" the 75,000 Twits who had named the player.
The High Court has ruled that multiple comments on Twitter about an issue should not be a barrier to an injunction preventing newspapers from publishing stories on that issue.
posted by Mr Bismarck at 12:52 PM on May 23, 2011
Not only is the ball nearly impossible to poke out of there anymore, but you can run around without cradling the ball, which helps pull off a play like this -
Totally agree with that. In the high school league that I watched a lot of this spring, it was very obvious how hard it has become to dislodge the ball. Players would get knocked to the ground and still maintain possession. While some players continuously cradle the ball, probably out of habit, it is certainly possible to run full speed without doing so. Whether that has lead to lower scoring is debatable, I think it has more to do with conservative coaching styles.
posted by dviking at 03:01 PM on May 23, 2011
Why does UK law even allow for these super-injunctions? I understand the US free speech protections are not the same in the UK but this seems pure rich man's privilege.
posted by billsaysthis at 03:42 PM on May 23, 2011
Edison Volquez throws his team under a bus.
posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 05:16 PM on May 23, 2011
"Your move Bruins fans. We fully expect a human spoked B in a parking lot at Logan Airport on Tuesday morning when Boston flies back to Tampa for Game 6."
What parking lot?
posted by lil_brown_bat at 06:14 PM on May 23, 2011
Didn't see any notices about it, but Bernard Hopkins became the oldest champion ever over the weekend. He beat the old record held by George Foreman by six months.
posted by Bonkers at 06:55 PM on May 23, 2011
Not only is the ball nearly impossible to poke out of there anymore, but you can run around without cradling the ball
Wow, didn't realize that. What's the point of the stick at all then? Of course, we spent lots of time trying to create that effect by loosening the sidewall strings to a point past the rules.
posted by yerfatma at 08:48 AM on May 24, 2011
What parking lot?
Right, and who's going to foot the $300 bill for using those spaces for 5 minutes?
posted by yerfatma at 08:49 AM on May 24, 2011
Not to mention the fact that planes at Logan always take off over the water. I suppose the B's fans could build a raft and make a B on it, but they'd probably get their asses shot off by Homeland Security before they got within half a mile of the airport.
posted by lil_brown_bat at 10:24 AM on May 24, 2011
What parking lot?
They could try to set up in one of the satellite lots over near the oil tanks by Chelsea Creek. A better spot would be the salt marshes under the approach to runway 22, but then people would get their feet wet. Ah forget about it. Just go out and turn over some cars (preferably those with Florida plates) and make a spoked B out of them.
Only kidding about that latter idea.
posted by Howard_T at 04:09 PM on May 24, 2011
I think that the guys from WEEI should start calling the Tampa Bay marketing department and demand that their fans stop what they are doing.