Will Hazlehurst pens a somewhat constipated eulogy to the fast break for Inside Lacrosse. He does, however, get to what I've been yammering about over the last year or so:

"I believe the fast break is being pushed out of lacrosse. I don’t have statistical evidence to support this belief, but I believe it nonetheless. Why? Because everyone agrees, even the perpetrators.

Who are these people? Some will tell you it’s not people but sticks. The fast break is often the result of a mistake: a ball dropped, a catch not made. The current sticks with their pinched throats and sagging gullets now require those mistakes to be acts of intent.

Others believe it is the general state of the game, with stronger, faster athletes keeping the ball off the ground and playing better catch-up defense. I disagree. To me the answer is obvious. It is the coaches, and the rule makers who have empowered those coaches."

Also, I, too, can't necessarily prove that the fast break is dying, but I can prove that pace-of-play is in the dumper compared to just three years ago.