Florida ‘Launches’ Its Professional Lacrosse Team
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
The night finally arrived.
A culmination of a 3-year process fed by Major League Lacrosse, the Florida Launch played it’s first game as a franchise last night at the sparkling FAU stadium.
Let’s get the bad puns out of the way now . . .
Launch launches franchise. Player launches two-point bomb. Attacker launches body towards crease.
Okay, got that out of the system.
Florida came into the game short-handed as the indoor professional league is going through their playoffs and some of Florida’s top talent is still playing. Last night Philadelphia finished their schedule and Kevin Crowley and Garrett Thul will be eligible to start their MLL seasons. Crowley is the reigning MLL MVP from last year and Thul is currently a member of the 30-man roster for the U.S. National Team for this year’s world championships. Then throw in players like Cody Jamieson and Stephen Keogh that will be available after their season is over and a very highly-regarded draft class (http://fln.mattplu.com/2014/01/10/florida-launch-mll-college-draft-live-coverage/) and this will be a team that gets better as the season goes on.
The day started early for me as I went out to the stadium in the morning to watch the walk-through practice. Denver was just finishing up their time and the first person I ran into was Chris Bocklet of Denver, a young man who ran a couple of camps down here during the holiday season. We had a chance to catch up a little and swap stories of the two state’s high school seasons.
The Launch then came out on the field and a funny thought came to mind. This game roster was a who’s who of local assistant high school coaches!
Nick O’Hara – Jupiter
Doug Shanahan – STA
Chazz Woodson – Ransom Everglades
Mario Ventiquattro – North Broward Prep
Pretty cool. Rob Kavavit, where were you?
After practice Head Coach Stan Ross and I chatted a little and he made only one request of me . . . don’t publish the 19-man roster before the game. I didn’t. Probably wouldn’t have been a big reader article anyhow. But why give his old team any info at all? After all, Stan was the Denver assistant head coach last season and game-planning was tough enough for this game.
Another surprise I found . . . Stan’s assistant is George Harris, the Head Coach at Pine Crest. Keeping it all in the local lacrosse community!
Watching the team practice in an empty stadium gives you a different perspective. Without the backdrop of fans taking your eye away sometimes you can get a good feel for how spread out this game can get. In football, the only time the whole field is populated is on the kickoff or on a punt. Otherwise, most of the players are congregated closely to start and on passing plays the size and depth of the field starts to become apparent when you are in the stadium. Lacrosse is all of that and then some. The entire field is populated and there is not time when all the players are in the same location. 50-yard clearing passes are not uncommon. Just watching long pole practicing passing from sideline to sideline in an almost matter-of-fact way up close shows the skill so well. TV just doesn’t do it justice.
While watching practice I noticed Kevin Finneran and another person who was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite place the face. Kevin came over to say hi and catch up and he told me he was doing the game on YouTube for the MLL and the other man introduced himself to me as Dave Lamont, and the light went on. Here was a man I have listened to on the TV quite a lot over the years for baseball, football and so many other things, and he was going to do the play-by-play on the broadcast with Kevin. And for the first time, I noticed Kevin wasn’t wearing a hat. I asked him about that since I always enjoyed the sartorial splendor and he claimed to have retired them.
Sorry Kev, not buying that . . . maybe it wasn’t going to fly on the broadcast but when the summer sun hits at the showcases my money is on the reappearance of the chapeau.
Dave is a really nice guy and we talked about what he’s done lately, which included TV Bowling broadcasts for the college national championships. That game us a chance to talk about my son with him (for the few readers out there who don’t already know, I still brag on my son’s First Team All-Palm Beach County selection a few years back with his 207 average for the year since I have no athletic achievements myself for the last 20-plus years). We then talked a little bit about the broadcast since it was going to be Dave’s first lacrosse broadcast. Being the professional he is Dave told me he had spent time viewing videos of broadcast games to get a feel for it. We talked a little bit about some of the terminology and what to expect and I’m sure the broadcast was a success.
Practice then ended around 11:15am and the team went off to shower and get ready for their pre-game meal at J. Alexanders. Gotta load up on their carbs.
Had a chance to introduce myself to Tony Seaman, the assistant coach of Denver, and a former head coach at Johns Hopkins. I mentioned to him that an eye doctor I had seen some years ago in Delray was a former player of his at JHU and Tony knew exactly who I was referring to, showing why he is remembered so fondly by his ex-players. He then mentioned to me that he reads our site! So between Tony and Chris I now know why we get two visits from Colorado every day!
As the teams came out for warm-ups the stands started to fill up. As usual, it was a generally late-arriving crowd. I’m not a big party-goer anymore so I can’t comment on whether this is solely a sports phenomenon down here or a cultural one.
A lot of familiar faces showed up. The Jacobs of Benjamin, Andy and Jennifer . . . Bolger, not Warhol and Lawrence. So many more.
As the teams came out for the game the first thing that came to mind:
Those uniforms are SWEET:
Yellow with Blue piping, like the logo colors.
White numbers.
At ground level pretty good. From the broadcast booth . . . a little tough to read the numbers.
But still pretty SWEET.
Still hanging out at field level.
Time for the anthem.
Hint for the next game. Fireworks during the anthem IS NOT EXPECTED.
And a little louder than maybe planned for . . . which caused a number of us to jump. Remember, we were just remembering the Boston Marathon bombing and it was a little discomforting.
Better next time to just ask the whole crowd to sing along with the singer . . .
And finally, game time!
I’ve heard differing numbers of attendance figures but the one I’m going with is the one provided me by someone with direct lineage to the MLL Commissioner, so let’s go with about 2,200.
I won’t really give a play-by-play. You can read the MLL press release we’ll publish later or even watch the YouTube broadcast on the MLL channel if you want. I watched some of it this morning and Dave and Kevin are doing a great job!
Doug Shanahan scooped off the loose ball off the first faceoff and shot down the right alley before shooting wide on Florida’s first offensive attempt. Those of us who know Doug probably agree that he’s been visualizing that one for about a month. Of course he visualized it going in . . . better luck Tuesday Doug!
Casey Powell showed his usual skill and level of competitiveness throughout the game. And when we met up before the game I had to pass the torch to him, or as we call it, bragging rights for the next 12 months, and he reminded me that he will gleefully and frequently use them.
As another Casey would say, wait til next year.
Chris Mattes performed admirably in the face-off circle, battling Anthony Kelly to a standstill and winning more than half.
From the bench I could here a lot of cheering for Lee Coppersmith. Being from Saint Andrew’s that made a lot of sense.
The first half was pretty much a disaster, enough said.
The second half showed what the fans in this area have to look for. An exciting comeback that showcased the way this team will compete going forward. Stan will have this team ready for a playoff run and then anything can happen.
All in all not a bad first day at all.
Now we know what the floor will be. The ceiling can be something special.
Lot’s of demand after the game for autographs . . . none from me.
The comeback didn’t quite make it all the way back. That would have sent this place into a frenzy. We’ll just have to hold off that celebration for next week.
Let’s Go Launch!
Another surprise I found . . . Stan’s assistant is George Harris, the Head Coach at Pine Crest. Keeping it all in the local lacrosse community!
Watching the team practice in an empty stadium gives you a different perspective. Without the backdrop of fans taking your eye away sometimes you can get a good feel for how spread out this game can get. In football, the only time the whole field is populated is on the kickoff or on a punt. Otherwise, most of the players are congregated closely to start and on passing plays the size and depth of the field starts to become apparent when you are in the stadium. Lacrosse is all of that and then some. The entire field is populated and there is not time when all the players are in the same location. 50-yard clearing passes are not uncommon. Just watching long pole practicing passing from sideline to sideline in an almost matter-of-fact way up close shows the skill so well. TV just doesn’t do it justice.
While watching practice I noticed Kevin Finneran and another person who was vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t quite place the face. Kevin came over to say hi and catch up and he told me he was doing the game on YouTube for the MLL and the other man introduced himself to me as Dave Lamont, and the light went on. Here was a man I have listened to on the TV quite a lot over the years for baseball, football and so many other things, and he was going to do the play-by-play on the broadcast with Kevin. And for the first time, I noticed Kevin wasn’t wearing a hat. I asked him about that since I always enjoyed the sartorial splendor and he claimed to have retired them.
Sorry Kev, not buying that . . . maybe it wasn’t going to fly on the broadcast but when the summer sun hits at the showcases my money is on the reappearance of the chapeau.
Dave is a really nice guy and we talked about what he’s done lately, which included TV Bowling broadcasts for the college national championships. That game us a chance to talk about my son with him (for the few readers out there who don’t already know, I still brag on my son’s First Team All-Palm Beach County selection a few years back with his 207 average for the year since I have no athletic achievements myself for the last 20-plus years). We then talked a little bit about the broadcast since it was going to be Dave’s first lacrosse broadcast. Being the professional he is Dave told me he had spent time viewing videos of broadcast games to get a feel for it. We talked a little bit about some of the terminology and what to expect and I’m sure the broadcast was a success.
Practice then ended around 11:15am and the team went off to shower and get ready for their pre-game meal at J. Alexanders. Gotta load up on their carbs.
Had a chance to introduce myself to Tony Seaman, the assistant coach of Denver, and a former head coach at Johns Hopkins. I mentioned to him that an eye doctor I had seen some years ago in Delray was a former player of his at JHU and Tony knew exactly who I was referring to, showing why he is remembered so fondly by his ex-players. He then mentioned to me that he reads our site! So between Tony and Chris I now know why we get two visits from Colorado every day!
As the teams came out for warm-ups the stands started to fill up. As usual, it was a generally late-arriving crowd. I’m not a big party-goer anymore so I can’t comment on whether this is solely a sports phenomenon down here or a cultural one.
A lot of familiar faces showed up. The Jacobs of Benjamin, Andy and Jennifer . . . Bolger, not Warhol and Lawrence. So many more.
As the teams came out for the game the first thing that came to mind:
Those uniforms are SWEET:
Yellow with Blue piping, like the logo colors.
White numbers.
At ground level pretty good. From the broadcast booth . . . a little tough to read the numbers.
But still pretty SWEET.
Still hanging out at field level.
Time for the anthem.
Hint for the next game. Fireworks during the anthem IS NOT EXPECTED.
And a little louder than maybe planned for . . . which caused a number of us to jump. Remember, we were just remembering the Boston Marathon bombing and it was a little discomforting.
Better next time to just ask the whole crowd to sing along with the singer . . .
And finally, game time!
I’ve heard differing numbers of attendance figures but the one I’m going with is the one provided me by someone with direct lineage to the MLL Commissioner, so let’s go with about 2,200.
I won’t really give a play-by-play. You can read the MLL press release we’ll publish later or even watch the YouTube broadcast on the MLL channel if you want. I watched some of it this morning and Dave and Kevin are doing a great job!
Doug Shanahan scooped off the loose ball off the first faceoff and shot down the right alley before shooting wide on Florida’s first offensive attempt. Those of us who know Doug probably agree that he’s been visualizing that one for about a month. Of course he visualized it going in . . . better luck Tuesday Doug!
Casey Powell showed his usual skill and level of competitiveness throughout the game. And when we met up before the game I had to pass the torch to him, or as we call it, bragging rights for the next 12 months, and he reminded me that he will gleefully and frequently use them.
As another Casey would say, wait til next year.
Chris Mattes performed admirably in the face-off circle, battling Anthony Kelly to a standstill and winning more than half.
From the bench I could here a lot of cheering for Lee Coppersmith. Being from Saint Andrew’s that made a lot of sense.
The first half was pretty much a disaster, enough said.
The second half showed what the fans in this area have to look for. An exciting comeback that showcased the way this team will compete going forward. Stan will have this team ready for a playoff run and then anything can happen.
All in all not a bad first day at all.
Now we know what the floor will be. The ceiling can be something special.
Lot’s of demand after the game for autographs . . . none from me.
The comeback didn’t quite make it all the way back. That would have sent this place into a frenzy. We’ll just have to hold off that celebration for next week.
Let’s Go Launch!
