I'm a pretty big lacrosse fan and have folloed the league for the last five or six years now..
First off, it's funny you'd congratulate the Rock for t"eaching them a leason that NO ONE takes a Canadian NHL team and gets away with it!" I'm sure Wayne Gretzky (who owns the Sting and has ownership in the Coyotes as you are aware of I'm sure..) will take that lesson to heart..
EA has the rights to the NLL brand.. much like they do with the PGA, Nascar and NFL.. so I don't doubt that a game is on the way in the next year or two. There actually is an NLL game out on the market for the PSOne called "Blast Lacrosse" .. kind of arcadeish, but not bad overall.
The NLL did have at one point five Canadian teams.. Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa. The eastern teams were all owned by the same guy (The owner of the Rock went and got two more teams) and thus Ottawa and Montreal didn't last long at all.. Vancouver started off really well with good crowds and such.. but the owners there got cocky and stupid, felt that they no longer had to market the team anymore to the public, fans lost interest quickly and the team fell off the map shortley after.
Edmonton is now getting a team for the 06 season (something I am quite happy to see and will be right in line to get season tickets too..)
.............Mr. Lion, welcome your new NLL team to the fold eh? Roughnecks fan here, can't wait for there to be another thing to be added to the Battle of Alberta! should be quite the hoot...........
.........Now make sure your management doesn't go and call them something ridiculous like your new baseball team........The Cracker-Cats........what the hell is up with that?!........figure the guys in Sioux City or Jolliet need a good laugh or something?...........
One name being thrown around for the Ednonton lacrosse team is "Maulers" .. in reference to West Ed Mall. I don't really care what the name is, as long as the name isn't oil based.. would seem quite lame with one Alberta team already having an oil based team name.
I can't wait for a new verson of the battle of Alberta either.. and unlike the CFL, the NLL is making sure we can see it early and often.
I hated Cracker-Cats at first, but I am kinda warm to it now. I just call them the Cats and leave it at that. It's still better than Goldeyes. :lol:
..........I'm not kidding! The Cracker-Cats, and the logo is this cat that looks like Sylvester's orange-coloured buddy, this overweight doofus looking cartoon, I mean Mother Mary the players gotta be real proud of this club?.........
.......her's the meaning though, and I think most of my terminology is correct here but excuse me if I call something wrong.........on an oil derrick, where the drill pipe is sent into the base platform before it enters the ground there is a locking stand to keep the pipe stable, and a big mother clamping device is used to hold the pipe to the derrick floor. That clamp is under tremendous tension. When a new section of drill pipe is required a guy 'pops' the clamp open, it is called 'cracking' and therefore the fellow opening the clamp is called the Cracker..........but jeesus, who the heck is going ot know that?.......
I don’t mind the cat logo… It could have been a little edgier, but it’ll appeal to kids.
I believe the original term is known as “Cat-Cracking” … It was explained a few times when the name first came out, but yeah it’s a very obscure oilfield reference.
Kinda fitting with such an obscure name that we get a player like Stubby Clapp to play on the team.
.....anyway, back to the NLL, if you haven't seen a live game it is an absolute blast, the action is end to end........the other wild thing is they play rocking music the whole time, the teams like it 'cause they say it pumps them up as they play, and the crowds definately get into it.........so Good Job Edmonton, welcome to the NLL and let the rivalry begin anew!!!!.........(psst, GO ROUGHNECKS!!!!!)........
Just in case anyone was interested, I have followed indoor Lacrosse since it's inception in 1987. Back then it was called the M.I.L.L. (Major Indoor Lacrosse League). Actually even before that it was called the Eagle Pro Box Lacrosse League. As with any new pro. sport venture they went through many trials and tribulations to get to where they are today.
Box Lacrosse has been played in Canada for generations,while Field Lacrosse is the predominant game in the U.S.
Indoor Lacrosse is a combo of both games. And as the league has grown and built a fan base, there have been many cities that at one time had a franchise.
And here they are.....
Albany attack
Batimore Thunder
Boston Blazers
Charlotte Cobras
Columbus Landsharks
Detroit Turbos
Montreal Express
N.E. Blazers
N.J. Saints (Later became N.Y. Saints)
N.J. Storm
Ontario Raiders
Ottawa Rebel
Pittsburgh Bulls
Syracuse Smash
Vancouver Ravens
Washington Wave....
These are all the teams that went belly up over the years. But it now seems that the league has figured out it's market and is going after it with new teams in Edmonton and Portland Oregon for 2006.
I think they're on the right track now and this sport should be exciting generations of fans for many years to come.
Yeah, I’m from Edmonton and have had a few months to get used to it. Nobody outside the oil patch will understand what it means. I was horrified when it was first announced.
By the way, Edmonton was also recently awarded an NLL franchise.
Since they announced the new franchise in Edmonton, they stated that they are having a "name the team" contest. I know I am not elligible faor any of the prizes because I live in the states, but I thought I'd try my hand at it anyway.
Given the History of the city, I thought some of these would sound good coming from an announcer's mouth. Let me know what you think....
"Ladies and gentlemen....welcome to Rexall Place this evening, as we begin a brand new chapter in Edmonton sports history."
"Playing in their first ever home game in the National Lacrosse League....It's time to introduce...YOUR..EDMONTON...........................
Traders
Klondikes
Rush (Gold)
Gateway
Capitols
Big Horns.....
Is it true that the Edmonton Team is just the old Ottawa team?? Because I didn't think that Bruce Urban owned the Ottawa team...and...none of those players will be in Edmonton. (Unless they're still in the league and are traded to there)