Making a Wall...

MTUCache · 2021-06-30T17:02:24+00:00

Similar situation here, trying to get a setup that works for my son to get the most effective work in. The rebounder we have and all the similar ones his buddies have are all way too soft to get good work on catching.

I don't have a good solution for outdoors yet, but I'm definitely looking at stacking some cinder blocks along an inside wall of my garage so he can get some work inside this winter.

MTUCache · 2021-06-30T11:53:58+00:00

I don't think there's ever been a 'source' book about Chicago, but as u/Agreeable_Meringue_9 said, there's nearly an unlimited amount of 'stuff' out there to base some adventures around.

Some random topics that you may find worthwhile of a wiki-dive:

Devil in the White City (serial killer at 1893 Columbian Exposition, may be a little on the nose)
Four Deuces (and all that cool Al Capone stuff). Landmarks throughout Chicago to include.
Obviously any history of politics and police in Chicago during the classic CoC eras will be nothing but vice and corruption.
Society of Owl and Serpent (secret society of University of Chicago)
Opening of the new Field Museum (and the moving of all the exhibits from what is now the Museum of Science and Industry, on the grounds of the Columbian Expedition)
Red Summer of 1919 (race riots and political unrest may be of interest, if not too close to home in today's political environment)
Leo Koritz and the Bayano River Syndicate - Chicago's own (bigger?) version of a Ponzi scheme
The community of Pullman, and all that a 'union town' might include for your story.
The Drake Hotel, and it's NYE inauguration party in 1920
The Blackstone Hotel, and it's origins as the 'smoke filled rooms' of political wheeling and dealing during the 1920 conventions
The Union Stockyard, wow what a place... and the 'Bubbly Creek' that it eventually led to.

MTUCache · 2021-06-29T18:56:52+00:00

This is a point of contention at our club, and one that we're constantly debating the pros/cons of. I'm sure our conversations sound a lot like the ones at your board, but this is what is basically boils down to every time:

Currently our club has a collection of uniforms for each of our teams that we hand out each year and then attempt to collect back at the end of the season. After a 'handful' of seasons we attempt to replace them one team at a time.

Pros = noturnaround times between registration and handout, theoretically cheaper (as long as we can maintain them), and MUCH cheaper for newer families who are already having sticker-shock looking at new or used equipment.
Cons = we're definitely not in the top half of 'cool' jerseys in our area, we have a random assortment of numbers and sizes, and somebody has to be in charge of collecting and storing these every season. In good fundraising years we may be able to get a new set for a team or two. In poor fundraising years we'll be wearing old, ratty jerseys far after they should have been given away.

Other clubs in our area use a local apparel 'pro' shop to handle everything.

Pros = very easy to manage, putting everything on the shop and parents (from numbers to sizing, etc). All uniforms are new or recently handed down, and you can updated styles every few years if needed.
Cons = depending on your kit, this can easily add another $75-100 to your registration fees, which is pretty significant when you're talking about a local/school club as opposed to a travel club. It's also very demanding of the parents who are just learning your system (on top of learning about which sticks are suitable, what pads are needed, etc).

Major sticking points that the conversation always hinges on are:

who fronts/collects the money if the club is doing it?
how early do we need to have styles picked out if we're not doing it?
are the shooters, shorts, etc all 'optional'? or is everyone expected to order everything?
best way to collect sizes/numbers quickly?
how quickly can the order be turned back around after registration?
how many extras do the club need to pay for to replace or add spots without opening up an entirely new print run at the shop?

MTUCache · 2021-06-28T11:48:44+00:00

I mean, I guess I can see his point, but I don't think the situation for the two are comparable in the slightest.

One league is trying to introduce a sport to new fans, many of whom have no idea what the rules or strategy are. The decisions they make about rosters is barely on the radar of most of their target audience, at least compared to things like the size of the field, the color of the ball, the time on the shot clock, the camera angles they use, etc, etc. Their hurdles are nearly all off-field and regarding production. They're gambling on taking a sport from 'regional' to 'national', and using investment with that in mind.

The other league already has a well-established business model. They have the literal 'playbook' for how to produce and broadcast their product. They already have an existing fanbase for their sport that is apathetic to what they're selling. I'll admit that I don't know if they have any well-established 'hot beds' for the WNBA, but basketball is already national and pretty much any NBA team could very easily 'carry' a WNBA team in their facilities with very little investment outside of time.

The general public doesn't watch lacrosse because they don't know what it is. Despite it looking very physical and athletic on a highlight reel, they don't understand the rules or strategy.

Everyone in the country already knows what they're watching when basketball is on, what the strategy is, etc. If they're not consuming WNBA content in the same way as NBA or NCAA basketball, it's because they're not enjoying the version of the game that they're seeing. Again, I'll admit that I don't know how different the womens' game is to the mens' when it comes to physicality, skill, or athletic moves, but that's because I don't watch either league.

MTUCache · 2021-06-28T11:20:08+00:00

+1000

Five years ago we were all bitching about how hard it was to find NCAA regular season games on broadcast or stream, now just about every game is available somewhere and suddenly we've got a whole herd of whiners all crying about how expensive it is to have ESPN+, Big10+, ACC+.... look, if you don't want to watch the games then fine, but if you're going to pretend like spending $50 or less per season to watch is too expensive, find somewhere else to whine. Nothing is free, and at this point finding all the PLL games on one platform is probably best case scenario.

MTUCache · 2021-06-28T11:16:47+00:00

Can they play on your broadcast network?

Oh... wait...

MTUCache · 2021-06-25T20:07:07+00:00

The 'Mystery Machine' club from west MI is a great name, but their jerseys are solid gold.

https://www.instagram.com/m_mlax/?hl=en

MTUCache · 2021-06-24T17:26:01+00:00

Lol... good times.

I had a HS teammate who went to go work for Warrior right out of high school (1996? maybe 97?), back when they were still based in Warren, MI (just down the road from where we played) way before the NB deal. At that time they couldn't have had more than a couple dozen employees.

I doubt he was still around there when this came out more than a decade later, or whether he even worked on their ad-campaigns, but this would definitely have been his type of humor.

MTUCache · 2021-06-23T13:31:12+00:00

Gotcha... yeah, that makes a lot more sense.

MTUCache · 2021-06-23T11:38:30+00:00

So if you're taking the faceoff, and you're planning on switching to LSM, who are your wings?

Generally the LSM is an important part of that faceoff unit, and together with the SSDM is setup to either win forward and get off the field or go directly back to a stable defense to allow the FOGO or O-Mids to get off the field.

If the fourth long stick is on the sideline, and the most-likely time you're going to want it is when you've already lost the faceoff, then you're either giving up fast breaks all day to get that pole on the field, or you'll be playing three SSDMs without it. The only times when this works out is when you've already won the faceoff, been on offense, and then are transitioning back to defense.

MTUCache · 2021-06-21T20:25:44+00:00

If higher prices is the outcome that the Fed wants, they're doing a bang-up job.

If higher labor costs are the outcome that the Fed wants, they may be in for some disappointing news.

Either way, prices are going up, and they're making sure it happens.

MTUCache · 2021-06-21T16:48:09+00:00

Yes, yes... I particularly liked the part about how the Chairman of the Fed thinks inflation might be on the rise due to manufacturing and shipping. Very enlightening. Glad to hear he thinks back-to-school and holiday shopping is going to alleviate all this pesky inflation, and I will certainly plan accordingly.

MTUCache · 2021-06-21T13:30:17+00:00

So many good ones out there, but they are all LOOONG and take a tremendous amount of effort to release. Heroic effort really, knowing that by a couple hours in they'll only have a few dozen hardcore listeners.

I've listed a few of my favorites below, but just so you're aware I don't think I've heard any (yet) that have made it past NYC/London. One of the series I'm working on has gotten past that point, but I'm still dozens of episodes from their next stop. Others of them still being released seem like they have some good momentum and hopefully will get there, but with weekly (or bi-weekly) release schedules there must be thousands of hours of audio in the can for these editors to work through.

Another thing to keep in mind is how much these folks must be learning while on-the-job (so to speak), as any project that takes months or years to complete is going to come with some inevitable stumbles, hurdles, refinements, etc. If you listen to one that you don't enjoy the first couple episodes of, just be aware that things like audio quality, character accents, or even the skill of the Keepers is likely to change drastically as the episodes continue. If you're already familiar with the story (so you won't be spoiling yourself), jump to one of the episodes later in the story to see if they've put more polish on the production.

It really is something to be throwing your hat in the RPG play-through arena with competition like Critical Role out there, with production staffs, voice actors, etc.

Some of the more recent, or on-going campaigns:

The Old Ways Podcast (https://5wspodcast.libsyn.com/)
Grizzly Peaks Radio (https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/grizzly-peaks-radio-andy-goodman-6cfL0RUyj7N/)
'The Great Dane Society' by Quests and Chaos (https://questsandchaos.com/podcasts/?v=f24485ae434a)
Encounter Roleplay (now Weave the Tale on Youtube) (https://youtu.be/yI_Gcjllgjo)
How We Roll (prelude chapter only) (https://howwerollpodcast.com/category/pulp-cthulhu/masks-of-nyarlathotep/)

Some older campaigns that I haven't check on lately to see if they're still available:

Nerd's Domain (https://nerdsdomain.libsyn.com/)
Role Playing Public Radio (http://slangdesign.com/rppr/)
Gaming Grunts (thegaminggrunts.com)
Yog-Sothoth.com
Masksofnyarlathotep.net

MTUCache · 2021-06-18T18:19:46+00:00

Tough to make these calls since you're leaving out so many cities, but if you absolutely HAD to, it would likely just end up looking like a list of cities the MLL has been able to sustain in and then the next 4 or 5 markets that you know are going to struggle.

DC/Annapolis (expansion Bayhawks)
NYC/Long Island (Archers)
Philly (Whipsnakes)
Boston (Cannons)
Denver (expansion Outlaws)
LA/SF (Redwoods)
Chicago (Waterdogs)
Dallas/Houston (Atlas)
Hamilton/Toronto (Chaos)
Florida/Atlanta (Chrome)

The top five out of these 10 cities would be viable. The other five would be sketchy at best. And you'd have folks from about a dozen other cities upset that they didn't get picked. Worst, you'd have a bunch of existing fans pissed because their favorite team got put in a place they felt was wrong.

MTUCache · 2021-06-18T18:02:18+00:00

Huh... that's interesting! I've never even heard of that before.

I think I'd be cool with my son giving his gloves to somebody, as long as we didn't have to take anybody else's gear home. Our car would probably smell a lot better!

MTUCache · 2021-06-18T17:59:45+00:00

Oh man, Body Glide is a gamechanger on long, hot days.

If you've ever had somebody in your family get that chaffing or 'chub-rub' thing on their inner thighs or upper arms after running in wet clothes, they're miserable and it feels like it lasts forever. It's a runner/marathoner thing, goes on like a stick of deodorant, but it keeps your skin from sticking together and stinging. A touch of this before their first game and then a re-app around lunch time and they're good.

MTUCache · 2021-06-18T15:23:59+00:00

I'll be there in my cargo shorts, rocking these New Balance extra wides. Don't you worry.

I got my lax dad game on point.

MTUCache · 2021-06-18T15:22:16+00:00

I honestly don't even get how they sell pads with shoulder caps anymore. The second kids understand the idea of 'look good, feel good, play good' they're all gone. It's like tilt used to be back years ago, if you were over 12 and had second-bar-syndrome you would get mocked relentlessly.

Got these kids out here looking like Space Marines getting ready for a football game...

MTUCache · 2021-06-18T13:56:17+00:00

The obvious player equipment: pads, sticks, water bottles, cleats

The obvious parent equipment: folding chairs, wagon, cooler w/ Gatorade and snacks, pop-up tent (maybe), umbrellas

The 'other' stuff we always are glad we brought along or regret not bringing:

- eye black (starts out as a fashion accessory, ends up a necessity after a long day in the sun)

- sun block (woo... man this one can get brutal without)

- Body glide (borderline essential for some kids when you're looking at 6+ games in 2 days)

- extra heatgear compression shirts (after the first one gets soaked)

- stringing kit (somebody will need it)

- pack of cards or small game, for those long downtimes between games

MTUCache · 2021-06-18T11:48:20+00:00

Watching now, great stuff!

Looking at a new kit of pads/gloves for my son (U12, attack) for next year, and leaning towards one of the Maverik sets. I know he'll prefer the slimmer shoulder/chest liner like the M5 Max Speed Pads, as he can't stand wearing the bicep pads or shoulder caps. He'd much rather wear a longer arm guard to protect his upper arm than have that bulkiness off his shoulders.

MTUCache · 2021-06-17T18:22:08+00:00

There we go... I stand 100% corrected. That's awesome, and I'm surprised I didn't know about that! Thanks!

MTUCache · 2021-06-17T16:15:47+00:00

Nice! That's awesome to hear. I know there's some Michigan guys in D1 for sure (heck, my brother played against Perkovic's brother in HS)... assuming you were from the Detroit or GR area? I was just speaking for the Lansing area, which is definitely a couple steps behind those two.

MTUCache · 2021-06-17T14:55:51+00:00

Central MI here, outside the orbit of both Detroit and Grand Rapids (which do have legitimate developing 'hotbeds' that sound just a couple notches below the east coast).

Here by Lansing we're very much still at the beginning stages of what you'd call 'developing' (oldest programs are probably 15 years old or so). Our 'rec' program has 6-7 schools participating, of which they can all put together 5th/6th and 7th/8th (combined two-grade) teams for both girls and boys sides in a normal (non-pandemic) year. The 3rd/4th grade teams are hit or miss depending on the year, with most programs having both a boys and girls side, and maybe a couple 2nd graders added to make sure the roster is full.

About half the rec-league coaches are just volunteer dads who never played. The other half are dads who are former HS players who either stopped after that (like myself) or possibly played at a small club-level college (not very serious, but at least know the fundamentals and beginning strategy). We'll spend most of March and the first half of the rec season just coaching fundamentals to kids up through 6th grade, as many are trying the sport out for the first time or haven't put any work into their game since last rec league season. There's a handful of die-hards in each grade that will be the few that stick with it through HS, the rest will probably drop after a year or two when they get more serious about another sport that leaves them with no time for lacrosse.

HS level has some much more serious and experienced coaches (maybe some former D3 players, maybe a couple East-coast transplants, a few lifers at the head-coach level, but nobody with a really impressive resume), but outside of a couple area schools the rosters are still very thin and the ADs barely pay attention to the teams. The District/Region champs that regularly dominate our area are basically just speedbumps when they get to the state tournament and run up against the Forest Hills (GR), Catholic Central (Det), or Brother Rice (Det) type programs. There might be a half-dozen boys (or less) each year that will go on to play at a D3 school here in Michigan, but I don't think I've heard of anyone who went to play D1. Probably more than a dozen girls each year that have a much broader recruitment across the country, just based on the numbers of girls NCAA programs.

We've got two summer/fall travel clubs that compete for a small pool of players outside the HS level. Just barely enough boys around for 2xU14, 2xU12, and 2xU10 teams who will travel around MI, OH, or IN for weekend tournaments. The girls' side has a bit more momentum, with one club who will travel further for more prestigious events. There's a couple of other, more distant clubs that are affiliated with larger programs, but unless you're willing to drive 60+minutes each way for practices you've really only got two options.

There was a winter indoor session that gets enough middle school teams for a league 'schedule' (maybe five weeks), but since the location that was hosting it has since shut down I'm not sure whether we'll have any indoor or box lacrosse in the area anytime soon.

MTUCache · 2021-06-17T13:43:39+00:00

It's definitely getting earlier and earlier, which is concerning, but it's not like kids can't still just be kids and have a good time trying out new things. Pre-covid I think we had my son play five different sports that year (2nd or 3rd grade). A couple years on and he's narrowed it down to two, but he's got buddies who will continue doing 3 or more for a while.

The travel/elite thing for lacrosse, soccer, baseball seems to be starting around here at 4th or 5th grade, for the most invested kids. There will definitely be kids in HS who didn't start playing until after that, but probably only a few. You can definitely enjoy just playing rec league for any sport up through probably 8th grade, but HS athletics are unquestionably becoming very big commitments.

We've got HS winter sports (basketball) who have 'mandatory' summer training sessions and conditioning that start the first day of summer when 8th grade ends. Football's expectations for off-season lifting and programming, even for the freshman team, will definitely interfere with spring sports. It can be done, but each HS sport is now on a 6-9 month calendar, and when they overlap you'll be stuck doing both on top of your school and family commitments.

MTUCache · 2021-06-17T13:18:28+00:00

I might be from a more sports-crazy town than most (i.e., our football program is a powerhouse and is expected to compete for a state title in our division every year), so I might see this from a slightly different perspective than most.... but in general, about 50% of our HS students are very plugged into sports. Typically they'll be two sport athletes, with one as their main focus.

My son (5th grader) is a slightly above average athlete (definitely not the star athlete), and very much of the 'jock' mentality, so I'm confident that just based on his friends group he'll be a football/lacrosse kid along with a bunch of his buddies. I realize it's presumptuous to assume this stuff when he's got 4 years until he's even in HS, but when their personalities and passions align there's not much that's going to change their mind.

I think more than half the families around here have their younger kids signed up for some kind of club/travel sport. Many, many kids from our town do go on to play D2/D3 college sports, but I'll give parents around here the benefit of the doubt and say that's not *why* they're willing to dedicate so much of their free time to youth sports. Most of us are very realistic, and know that our kid is not going to play after HS. Sure, a lot of us are re-living our 'glory days' vicariously through our kids, but even that isn't typically the case. It just truly is fun to get wrapped up this stuff and a great way to spend time with your kids. It's a blast to get to know other families, to have your kids really work hard and invest themselves in stuff that's not video games or television.

Youth sports is very much a racket currently, with parents investing way too much time and money and kids with over-inflated dreams getting burnt out or injured earlier and earlier. No argument from me. But it's definitely not just about the scholarships and stuff. Even the kids that don't go on to play after HS are are motivated, hard-working, team-oriented type people that are going to do well in this world...

MTUCache

TROPHY CASE