Scott
Sophomore
Posts: 144
Reg: 07-25-06
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07-26-06 01:04 AM - Post#21585
In response to Scott
Ok, I'll try to rehash my thoughts from last night while watching the Orioles begin their wild card push.
1. Someone asked when was the last time Loyola extended a men's hoops coach's contract. Believe it or not, Dino rec'd an extension early on. Remember, under Dino, Loyola received votes in the USA Today coach's poll after winning the Battle of Baltimore.
2. John was mentioning how lax will not be a spectator sport and compared it to soccer. The difference is that people who play soccer by and large have no interest in attending soccer games while many many people who have played little or no lax do attend lax games. The lax Final Four is an EVENT while the soccer Final Four is by and large an afterthought even though millions more kids play soccer than lax. No, lax won't be taking the place of football but it could still grow. Twenty five years ago watching stock cars make left hand turns for three hours or so was a regional phenomenon that would never be big anywhere except for the south.
3. As Lax grows, the window for Loyola ever winning a Nat'l Title or for that matter to remain a player is closing. As lax spreads and more kids play, larger better funded schools will field teams and the Loyola's will be squeezed out of the picture. Consider Northwestern's women's lax program which was recently brought out of the mothballs and now has won consecutive titles.
4. I believe it was John who said that the only thing Loyola ever won in lax was the "rankings". That is true but what could have been had there been better facilities in place. Cottle did an amazing job of recruiting considering the home stadium was a parking lot covered by artificial turf. Had Cottle had a nice stadium to use as a recruiting tool we may have very well won some big games in May.
5. I think everyone is overrating Loyola's lax tradition. Loyola lax success began and ended with Cottle. It was well into his run of excellent seasons that the all-time winning % for the program reached .500. In the 50's and 60's hoops was king at Loyola while soccer ruled in the 70's into the mid to later 80's.
6. I think comparing this past season's hoops and lax attendance is misleading. This was the first time since '94 that the Hounds had a winning season and there was understandably a lot of excitement while lax was in the middle of another "down" year in the post Cottle era. It would be interesting to see what would happen in Baltimore if one of the local hoops teams got on a run where they were competitive year in and year out in a good conference. Would that team become "Baltimore's Team"?
7. It will be interesting to see how everything plays out with the MASN/CSN regional sports networks. MASN will begin to have a full schedule begining July 31. Could one of these networks pick up the MAAC televsion package? Right now CSN, which is Wash DC centric, shows most if not all of the CAA tv package games which means Towson gets exposure in Baltimore and the teams that they play get exposure in Baltimore. What this means is that a Baltimore hoops fan sees VCU or Hofstra etc...play occasionally so when those teams come to Towson to play the Tigers, this fan is more likely to attend due to familiarity. Is the same fan as likely to go to Reitz to see a Loyola - Canisius game when they have no exposure to Canisius.
8. I think Towson is better positioned than Loyola to become Baltimore's team. Not only is the CAA tv contract a bonus but the CAA is a much stronger league than the MAAC right now. The CAA may not continue to fly as high as it is now but it will be strong again next season as the league was fairly young last year. I thought that the MAAC was loaded in '94 with Manhattan, Canisius, Siena, St Peter's and Loyola. However seeing the CAA teams last year was amazing...JMU, Delaware and GA State were bad, Towson was mediocre but the rest of the league was very good. Drexel gave Duke and UCLA battles in the preseason NIT yet stuggled against CAA competition. Just as Loyola's recruiting improved when they moved to the MAAC, Towson's will also improve due to being a CAA member. In addition should Pat Kennedy find success at Towson he as a veteran coach is much more likely to stay at Towson that Patsos is to stay at Loyola if he somehow keeps winning.
9. Glad to see Joe Logan get a contract extension...he's a great guy. Time will tell if he is a good coach or if Candy Cage was simply a great recruiter who could not get the most out of her talent. I think it is probably a little of both. In Candy's final year the Hounds were picked by the coaches to win the MAAC and fell on their faces. Would Joe ever be a candidate for the men's job?
10. As a fan of a Loyola opponent, I must say that Patsos is a complete genius/jerk/buffoon/ whatever you want to call it. He's kind of a mixture of Gary Williams and Mark Cuban only more animated. Though a neutral observer would probably find him entertaining for a little while. I used to be put off by Mark Amatucci's antics when he was Loyola's coach and Amatucci was tame in comparison.
11. It will be interesting to see how Loyola does this year without Collins. I think he made the other players better and that last season was Patsos's one hit wonder season.
12. I love the design of the stadium. With one large grandstand you get the advantage of sitting high which is a better vantage point for seeing plays develop etc...the sight lines at Curley Field are terrible. However, I don't understand the lack of parking spaces.
The Orioles lead the very underrated KC Royals 4-2 in the 6th inning. It's going to be a fun October in Baltimore.
Have a great rest of the summer everyone.
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