Sideline Chatter: May 2009 Responses
Where would you put the NCAA championships?
No one likes an overinflated bureaucracy, but here's your chance to run one -- and get it right.
You are in charge of the NCAA committee -- whatever its name is -- that selects the sites for the NCAA men's and women's lacrosse championships. Each represents the pinnacle events for their respective games, and the recent record crowds flocking to each championship weekend has helped boost the sport's popularity.
So, where do you put your NCAA championships, and why?
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This Month's Winner: Frank Amtann, Baltimore, Md. (via Facebook)
Hawaii.
Why? Because you're in Hawaii.
I'll take my prize, please.
Frank will receive a pair of men's adiSTRIKE Gloves from adidas.
It has to be Philadelphia: great history, great venues and
location, location, location. Centered between New England and
North Carolina.
-- Anthony Ventresca, Philadelphia, Pa.
I think Philly is the best because of location. It allows a nice
middle ground for the north and south. And it's in a great hotbed
with large stadiums available. I love Baltimore for its history --
and I'm a Maryland guy -- but Philly is prime."
-- Damian Hall, Cary, N.C.
It should be at Citi Field, the Mets' new stadium, because no
stadium on Long Island
-- Greg Boucher, Oceanside, N.Y.
The championship should be played in upstate or western New York
on a two-mile long field, to the death. That's way the game was
meant to be played!
-- Scott Weiss, Arlington, Va.
Why not have it in the new lacrosse-oriented PAETEC Park? Now that
the Rattlers have moved out, the field is waiting for another big
lacrosse venue.
-- Stuart Slutzky, Rochester, N.Y.
The two best facilities are Baltimore and Philly. We need the vast
parking areas and both have the people that understand and can
handle big crowds.
-- PJ Slack, Massena, N.Y.
Foxboro.
-- Neal Duffy, Westfield, Mass.
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the U.S. Lacrosse is up and
coming here, and it could use something like the NCAA championships
in Texas to help promote the sport. My daughter plays for The
Woodlands girls' lacrosse team and loves the sport. I would like to
see it become as big here as it is in the East.
-- Angela Turner, The Woodlands, Texas
The men's championships at Byrd Stadium were the BEST! Great
college-town feel, lots of room for tailgating, easy access to
major highways, a real community atmosphere. Bring the
championships back to a college campus, where they belong.
-- Paul Muller, Upper Falls, Md.
I think the next place that the NCAA lax chapionships should be
is at either Navy or Saracuse, because both fields can seat
thousands of fans and they're both really sick campuses.
-- Phil Giuffre, Oradell, N.J.
The best place for NCAA champsionships is Syracuse. I went to
the NCAA final four last year, and as you know, Syracuse won it
all. They beat Virgina in an amazing semifinal game, OT baby. Then
they had Johns Hopkins the whole way. After all this, star
attackman Mike Leveille goes to the pros. Yet Syracuse still is in
champsionship contendership. 'Cuse rocks!
-- Patrick Norton, East Greenwich, Conn.
I think that the best place for a NCAA championship is M&T
Bank Stadium. It is a large stadium and could hold many people. It
is a well-known stadium that many other lacrosse games are played
on.
-- Alex Batton, Salisbury, Md.
The best place for the NCAA championships would have to be the New
York Yankees' new stadium. It would be perfect, because people
would go to the stadium thinking it was baseball, and we could show
them how lacrosse is 100 percent better than baseball.
-- Jake Megna, Toms River, N.J.
The best place for the NCAA championship is Giants Stadium at the
Meadowlands in New Jersey, a haven for the most exciting sporting
events in the country. Championships are no strangers to the
Meadowlands. Not only is it a home to the 2008 Super Bowl champion
New York Giants -- as well as 1995, 2000 and 2003 Stanley Cup
champion New Jersey Devils -- it's conveniently located within five
minutes (with traffic) from two interstate highways, three local
highways, and within 20 minutes of Liberty International Airport.
Not to mention plenty of sightseeing and nightlife of nearby
Hoboken and a tunnel drive away from New York City. To make matters
perfect, the lodging available within minutes of the 78,000-seat
monstrosity will more than accomodate the folks there to pay their
yearly homage and festivities.
-- Rob Epple, Cranford
I think the NCAA championships should be played at the new
Giants Stadium, beacause three places are probably the best at
lacrosse: Long Island, Farfield County and Baltimore. The new
Giants Stadium is between the three.
-- Scooter Harrington, Greenwich, Conn.
I think that the best place for the NCAA championship would be at
Cal, because lacrosse has always been super popular on the East
Coast. I mean, look at the rosters of any D-I college team --
they're almost all from the East Coast. It would be great to have
an NCAA championship at Cal, because Northern California has
minimal schools that are really dedicated and good at lacrosse and
because lacrosse is such a young sport on the West Coast.
Especially here in California, some of the high school teams don't
have JV and are sometimes barely able to field a varsity team.
Lacrosse is such an amazing sport, and it would be more widely
known and appreciated here.
-- Baylin Vreeland, Mill Valley, Calif.
Denver, Colorado. They have the highest MLL fan base, and
Colorado is one of the fastest growing lacrosse states.
-- Michael Sheldon, Colorado Springs, Colo.
Lacrosse. America's very first sport, played by the Native
Americans for centuries, long before European explorers even set
foot upon the soil of this great nation. So, what better place to
hold and honor America's initial sport than in one of its
originating regions of the Cherokee tribe, at the Tennesse Titans'
LP Field. Lacrosse began here, it only makes sense for it to end
here as well.
-- Sawyer Hill, Marlborough, Conn.
