NLL Insider

The Life

Peyser tries his hand in Arena Football League

When a failure between the NLL and the players’ association to reach a new collective bargaining agreement caused the apparent cancellation of the 2008 season - a decision which, of course, was later reversed - different players dealt with the possibility of not suiting up this winter in different ways. For the New York Titans Greg Peyser, he saw it as an opportunity to find out where he stacked up in another realm of professional sports: the Arena Football League.

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InsideLacrosse.tv Lax Shax

Lax Shax in NYC

Last weekend I spent a day in NYC filming a couple great Lax Shax segments with a couple pros. The first of these is going to be featured on Friday and its with lacrosse pro Matt Alrich. Matt plays midfield/attack for the San Francisco Dragons and defense for the New York Titans. The location of his apartment is awesome and the building looks more like a hotel than your typical apartment building, with a full gym on the top floor overlooking all of Manhattan. He was a really great host and had a lot of fun with the video. There was even an appearance by Lindsay Lohan and Heidi Klum.

Here’s a little sneak peak of what’s to come on Friday.

Business Time

Knighthawks for sale?

Interesting article in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle today about an unnamed twosome looking to buy “at most a 50 percent stake” in the Rochester Americans (AHL) and Rochester Knighthawks (NLL).

The article says the deal is believed to be at least $4 million, based in part on the $1.8 million in debt carried by the clubs. The story gets even juicier, however.

There is currently a legal dispute between majority partner Steve Donner and minority partner Randall Latona. Check out the story on this here. Today’s article says Donner and fellow majority partner Walter Turek need to buy out Latona’s 20 percent stake for the current deal to go through.

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The Beat

Into the Crystal Ball

If the New York Titans and Edmonton Rush somehow wind up playing for the NLL Champion’s Cup in 2008, we never had this conversation. The chances of that happening, I think I’m pretty safe in saying, are slim. (Note: Rush faithful, please don’t send Slush after me for saying that. And yes, this note was a blatant excuse to run another picture of hands-down the funniest mascot in the league).

But now that the new regular-season schedule has been released, and the players from the Boston and Arizona rosters have found new homes - if only potentially for a one-season loan, in Arizona’s case - it’s time to offer up some completely speculative, probably too-early championships picks. And who doesn’t love those? They can make you look like a genius, or in the case of Sports Illustrated’s NFL prognostications (a Saints-Chargers Super Bowl, huh?), leave you wiping yoke off your face for the rest of the season.

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NLL Insider

Plenty of questions surrounding NLL Dispersal Draft

I’ve been asked to write about how I think the first round of the dispersal draft will go down tonight. I might as well get my darts out and throw them against the wall because this is the strangest draft I’ve ever seen. On the one hand you have a number off All-Stars available to “rent” from the second most talented team in the NLL. On the other you’ve some less glamorous players available from Boston - but they are yours to keep.

Every team in the league wants Dan Dawson. Next to John Grant he is the most dominant offensive player in the NLL. He can help a good team win a championship, and possibly lead a bad team to a playoff spot. The only thing I’m sure of is that I would pick him No. 1. However, does Dawson want to go to Portland? He is currently studying to become a firefighter and there are a lot of teams with easier travel schedules. Will he try to dictate where he plays?

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The Beat

NLL Dispersal Draft takes intriguing twist

According to the Calgary Sun, this week’s Dispersal Draft will take on a bit of an intriguing twist when teams select players from the Boston Blazers and Arizona Sting.The Blazers players will stay with their new teams after the 2008 season, but the Sting players’ rights will switch back over to Arizona following this year. Both teams are expected to return to the NLL in 2009, but Boston will start over and Arizona will be able to maintain the players they were expecting to play with in 2008.

That will lead to some interesting strategy in terms of drafting. Obviously Dan Dawson is the most talented player available, but is he worth taking with a high pick for just one season? Arizona went to the league championship game last year, so they have plenty of talent. Goalie Rob Blasdell turns 38 this coming May, but last year he was the league’s second-rated goalie in goals against average. Lindsay Plunkett, Curt and Derek Malawsky, Matt Brown, Bruce Codd, Peter Lough should also be attractive choices among Sting players.

But are those guys more valuable than a guy like Gewas Schindler, who put up 37 points last year for New York and turns 31 this March? What about 28-year-old defender and face-off man Pat Merrill? Boston’s roster is pretty green on NLL experience, but guys like Jon Harasym, Jed Prossner, Jack Reid and Matt Alrich have seen some playing time in the league and could be valuable as young, promising players. Goalie Pat Campbell has seven full NLL seasons under his belt, so look for him to be a high selection as well, since legitimate starting keepers are extremely hard to find.

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Business Time

LumberJax call out local media members

Put your money where your mouth is.

That was the message sent loud and clear by the Portland LumberJax this week when the team challenged two members of the local media - Portland Tribune editor Dwight Jaynes and Fox 12 sports personality Matt Smith - to a pickup lacrosse game following comments made by the two on last Sunday’s “Oregon Sports Final” show regarding the lack of skill in the National Lacrosse League, and lacrosse in general.

“We thought it would be a good opportunity to show them the difference in skill, and the talent that these guys have,” said LumberJax Media Relations Manager Steve Masters. “They really are the best players in the world.”

Portland team owner Angela Batinovich and vice president Brian Silcott are scheduled to be among the participants in the game, along with a handful of current players including forward Ryan Powell, defenseman Richard Morgan, and goalie Dallas Eliuk.

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Inside Lacrosse Magazine

Inside Lacrosse Looking For Freelancers

Inside Lacrosse Magazine October issue

With Face-Off Yearbook less than a week away from going to the press (next Wednesday could not come any sooner — thanks to all the coaches who waited to the last minute to send in their info: Good times), it’s almost that time to turn our attention to the ensuing lacrosse seasons, college and pro.

That’s right, it’s barely November, but in the media world it’s never too early to plan ahead. So it’s with that thought that Inside Lacrosse offers this open invitation for any writers, photographers and videographers looking to contribute this winter (NLL season is back on, you may have heard) and spring.

We’re looking for feature writers for Inside Lacrosse Magazine, game-story writers for InsideLacrosse.com, people to help out with score updates during spring college games, photographers and videographers to shoot games and lifestyle content - basically anyone interested in helping out with lacrosse coverage, while getting their work published at the same time.

If a moron in my fantasy football league can spend hours out of his week crafting a weekly update newsletter for the rest of the nerds, there have to be more people out there interested in getting their work published, on a website that gets millions of unique visitors and in a magazine that is distributed on major newsstands throughout North America.

So, if you’re feeling it, drop us a line with a resume and some work samples. We’re in the process of organizing our winter and spring coverage as we speak, so don’t delay. Some idiot fantasy football geek might take your spot.

InsideLacrosse.tv Lax Shax

Coming Soon to IL Video…

I just wanted to let you all know that I have been hard at work the past week getting some really good video content together. Here are a few clips to preview some segments that will be on IL Video very soon.

Here is a preview of our next Lax Shax feature with Philadelphia Wings forward Jake Bergey. Jake has a really nice house outside of Philly and he invites us in for a tour.

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