At FloridaLacrosseNews.com we are not a big fan of the rules changes recommended by the NCAA rules committee for Face Offs.  If you are not familiar with the topic you can see the full rules changes recommendations in our post titled “Ready or Not the Shot Clock Is Coming!” We believe that most of the rules will achieve the desired result of speeding up the game.  But the changes to the Face Off rules (outlawing the motorcycle grip) seemed to be unrelated to the goal of speeding up the game.  In an interview with laxmagazine.com the rules committee Chairman, John Hind, ambiguously stated that the subject kept coming back to “fairness and safety.” We attempted to contact John Hind through his email at Hamilton College but he did not respond.  We want to get some more info on what is unfair about the motorcycle grip but not the traditional grip.  We are also curious as to what injury stats they had which gave them cause to deem the motorcycle grip “unsafe.” In a follow up Q&A with laxmagazine.com Hind , “…  estimated that 95 percent, “the overwhelming majority,” of feedback he has received has centered around the face-off proposals. Without knowing the specific responses other committee members have gotten, he suggested a proportionate amount of next week’s conference call will be dedicated to faceoffs.” A mystery group who calls themselves “Face Off Club” has weighed in on the subject.  “Who is Face Off Club?” you ask.  Rule number one about Face Off Club is, “you never talk about Face Off Club.”  But according to their website they are a “are a rare breed of warriors that committed to reaching a level of faceoff dominance in our careers and want to give back to the lacrosse community for all of the great opportunities that our faceoff success has afforded us.” All the mystery aside, FOC is made up of some of the best in the business including guys like Nolan Godfrey, Craig Bunker, John Ortolani, and other MLL FOGO’s. We recommend reading their position statements on the rules changes at thefaceoffclub.com.