This Saturday, someone asked me to invent a sport that would have high entertainment value if it existed.
Shouldn’t be all that difficult, I thought. Just take football and make it a little more streamlined. Add a touch of hockey but have there be more scoring. Throw in rugby and make it a little less British. Sounds like entertainment to me.
Then Sunday I went to watch the men’s lacrosse game against Cornell. About midway through the first quarter, I realized the American Indians beat me to the punch.
High paced? Check. Contact? Check. Scoring? Check.
Lacrosse is a perfect blend of a number of different sports. It’s got the fluidity that football lacks, scoring that would surprise Gretzky, and, well, no accent.
And so I started thinking: Why isn’t this sport more popular in places outside of Charlottesville?
There are 57 Division I men’s lacrosse teams. Compare that to about 240 D-I football squads.
Or compare the six major league lacrosse teams to about 30 major league teams for hockey. And basketball. And baseball. And football.
Though the MLL got a much later start than all of those sports, I would think that, based on the amount of contact, scoring and pace, it should be flourishing rather than floundering. Last year, five of the 11 MLL teams folded. Though it might be among the most rapidly growing sports among youth, there are apparent obstacles to lacrosse’s popularity spreading nationwide.
Problem 1: Familiarity with the rules.
When I watched the game Sunday, I realized how lacrosse-illiterate I was. I didn’t know why some players were only allowed on one side of the field. I couldn’t spot penalties. And I wasn’t able to explain who should get the ball when it went out of bounds.
Even though the game itself entertained me, my appreciation could only extend so far without knowing the basics. Considering my confusion stems from the fact that I have never played lacrosse, it seems reasonable to think older generations suffer from the same ignorance.
When the majority of people older than the age of 30 don’t know how to play, it seems likely that the MLL would have a hard time taking flight.
Problem 2: It’s regional.
By looking at the D-I programs that participate in varsity lacrosse, it’s apparent the sport remains relegated to the East Coast. Though the “Great Western Lacrosse League” does exist in D-I, it includes teams like Quinnipiac — located in Connecticut — and Ohio State. Colorado, Indiana and Kentucky seem to be the only states not on the East Coast that have schools with D-I lacrosse programs.
Certainly, it’s hard for a sport to gain nationwide popularity when the majority of college teams are situated in only a portion of the country.
Problem 3: It’s hard to ignore a pastime.
Little league baseball is a cliché. Most everyone has played at one point. Though lacrosse is quickly gaining popularity among youth, baseball — the other predominant spring sport — has deep roots in American culture. I don’t think the MLB will give way to the MLL anytime soon, but I do think that they might be able to coexist in the distant future. Chances are, that future will come only after enough lacrosse-playing generations have had children — to the point where little league lacrosse seems as normal and American as little league baseball.
Problem 4: Race and economics.
For some reason, there aren’t a whole lot of minorities or underprivileged kids playing lacrosse. It’s not as though lacrosse is the only expensive sport: Baseball bats can run close to $300, and you need to buy pads for lacrosse just like for football.
But lacrosse originated in some of the wealthiest circles in America. The first high schools to have lacrosse teams were boarding schools (Philips Academy, Philips Exeter Academy and the Lawrenceville School). Perhaps it has been a self-sustaining process that has left lacrosse stigmatized as relatively white and relatively rich. To gain widespread appeal, it needs to engage more races and different classes.
This is not meant to be an essay on race and socioeconomic diversity in modern sports. I don’t claim to be spouting truisms. Heck, I don’t even claim to know all of the rules. But I have observed the growth of the sport in high school and in college. I have observed those who play it and I have seen what makes other sports popular nationwide. And it does seem true that one of the biggest obstacles facing the popularity and spread of the game is the diversity of the people who play it.
But maybe the tide is changing. At Virginia during the past few years, some of the most talented players have not been white: Johnny Christmas, Will Barrow, and Rhamel and Shamel Bratton, for example.
Perhaps they have started to inject interest in the game into new pockets of the country. Maybe the game is evolving before our eyes.
And to be honest, there probably isn’t a better place in the country to watch it happen than Charlottesville.
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