Lacrosse Your Fingers, Hope to Get Into Middlebury

I keep trying to convince my oldest brother to blog but I think I've spooked every working member of my family from starting one. Still, he sends me news links all the time so I'll start proxy-blogging for him. This is what I imagine he would write, if he had the time or inclination.

"It's these terrible Baltimore public schools. God, I wish I lived in Connecticut!!" - Edith Massey as Cuddles Kovinsky in Polyester

The Lacrosse Hall of Fame is in Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is known for it almost as much as being a premier medical school/facility, and a state bill has attempted several times to make it the state sport but a bunch of historical purists continually fight to preserve medieval jousting, as if that has any relevance today except if you're talking about the "white horse" turf wars on the Western District's street corners. (Oh shit, the horsefly just bit my ass, looks like they amended it last year and made lacrosse the official "team sport" of Maryland.)

I guess it was a big deal growing up and while I was never the team sport type of guy, I did take lacrosse class in high school and broke my nose when Kevin Barrett windmilled a shot into my face. I feel that was my small contribution when the varsity team went on to win the State Championship that year. Primarily the province of private/prep school kids (though hicks with sticks was no strange sight), it's no surprise that when the NYTimes profiles the sport as a gateway to college, it quotes a couple of privies from Darien, CT.

Sam's friend Alex Yackery, 16, also of Darien, believes lacrosse can compensate for less than stellar grades. "It's a really good springboard if you're not the best student." Alex has been working all year with a personal trainer experienced in lacrosse skills. He is also working with an SAT tutor, and Sam plans to do the same. The boys are counting on their high school coach to put in a good word with college coaches. Meanwhile, they are dreading the admissions process. "It's a lot of pressure," Alex says. Sam adds, "We don't want to think about it."

Of course, a better springboard is their family income.

Ex-Lax Tidbit: Football legend Jim Brown was an all-star lacrosse player at Syracuse.