Tewaaraton Foundation Adds Three to Award Watch List

Look: The Tewaaraton Award is a special honor bestowed on only a chosen few. It is, along with the Enners Award, recognition of excellence on the lacrosse field. The award should be revered and its winners held among the greats that have played the game.

However, listing over 90 players in an initial "watch list" and then adding three more players just three weeks after the initial announcement -- without removing any players -- is bonkers with a capital "rob an ice cream truck with a toy Wii gun." I don't understand this; there aren't 90+ guys that are legitimately in contention to win the award. I mean, it's nice that the Tewaaraton Foundation is taking the time to note that there are all kinds of terrific players across the country that are capable and special players, but Robert Morris' Dave Morton isn't going to win the award over Cornell's Rob Pannell. It's just not going to happen. It's nice that Morton is on the list, but he's not even the most productive or important player on his team. So why does the Tewaaraton Foundation have Morton and dozens of other players that aren't legitimately going to be considered for the Tewaaraton Award on their "watch list" right now?

And, more importantly, if you're going to add players to the list three weeks after an initial list was issued, why not wait until mid-March to release the first "watch list," limiting the list to only legitimate candidates and actually creating a manageable conversation about who should be in contention for the award? I don't necessarily mind a big list, but it's the context of a huge list that makes me want get a paintball gun and do some damage.

Let's be honest here: The Tewaaraton Foundation doesn't need to highlight important players around the country that aren't performing at a hyper-elite level from a national perspective; that's what conference player of the week awards are for. I think that's the disconnect that's making it difficult for me to reconcile all this.

Anyway, Princeton's Jeff Froccaro, Notre Dame's Matt Kavanagh, and Mount St. Mary's Andrew Scalley were added to the list. You can see the original list, which hasn't been trimmed, here.