College Crosse Prospectus: Utah News; Westworld Actor Loves Lacrosse

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, College Crosse Nation!! Thanks for making us a part of your day! Here are your links for June 16, 2017.

What You Missed

A special Crossecast is up, where I discuss fixing the pro game.

The big kahuna: Utah is very close to adding men’s lacrosse.

Were the Navy Midshipmen a disappointing team in 2017?

Lacrosse The Nation

More on the Utah Utes news, they’re scheduled to have a Board of Trustees vote this morning at 8 am Mountain time (10 am here in the East), and there’ll be a press conference scheduled for 10 am Mountain time (Noon here in the East).

We also have a special report.

Westworld actor Jeffrey Wright used to play lacrosse at Amherst in the mid 80s as an attackman, as noted by Matt Hamilton at US Lacrosse Magazine.

WHAT KEPT YOU INTERESTED IN THE SPORT?

Another aspect that I was drawn to about the game was its origins. As the first sport of America, predating America. That history, although it’s not widely known outside lacrosse circles or even celebrated enough inside of lacrosse circles, it certainly was meaningful to me. After my senior year of high school, I went out to a reservation out in Wisconsin near Hayward. La Courtes Oreilles, Wisconsin. I went to coach native kids in the sport over the summer. This is with a guy from the Smithsonian, who had written a number of books on Ojibwe culture and the drum. It was me and a guy who went to Denison and another guy who went to Middlebury. We went out there and for me it was an opportunity to reconnect, or to connect to something closer to the origins of the game. And also to the peoples and the culture that originated it. It was a real lesson for me in a number of things. We were out there for three weeks because there was a resistance from kids and pressures from the reservation that I was unaware of prior to experiencing it. … It was an eye-opening experience. That relationship of the game to this land, to the original cultures of the place, was compelling to me as well.

WHAT WAS YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH AMHERST LIKE?

I started off as a goalie and long story — there was a sophomore goalie my freshmen year who was good. I switched back to attack my freshman year, and then for the rest of my career. It was an odd time for positions, but that was the story before I started acting, at which point I became a flake on the field my junior and senior year. I also was fascinated by the tool and weapon that the stick was, familiarizing myself with it and becoming one with it over time. I loved to string my own sticks.

The Maryland Terrapins are still getting face-time!

Matt Rambo will also make his pro debut tonight.

US Lacrosse has added more names to their Team USA 2018 Tryout Pool:

Everything you need to know about the new recruiting legislation that limits early recruiting, courtesy of Inside Lacrosse.

But, it looks like it might have a challenge on its hands with the first legally binding contract between a college athlete and a school, from Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports.

The College Athletic Protection Agreement would make negotiable such items as medical treatment/insurance beyond an athlete's eligibility and an automatic release from a scholarship should a player want to transfer.

The agreement states that the protections and benefits secured by such a contract would be "worth over $100,000 beyond a minimum scholarships without breaking NCAA rules."

"We think this will change things," said Ramogi Huma, executive director of the National College Players Association. "This will be a good place to start. It opens Pandora's Box."

Huma's nonprofit organization has advocated for players' rights and is behind development of the contract. He says the NCPA has thoroughly vetted the document with legal and NCAA experts.

You can check out the document here.

Denver Pioneers head coach Bill Tierney is loving the idea of the CCBLL!

Congratulations to this Princeton Tigers great!

Albany Great Danes great Lyle Thompson is back on campus to host a camp, from Michael Kelly of The Daily Gazette.

Relaxed and approachable with his hat on backwards, the man viewed by many as the greatest college lacrosse player of all time offered plenty of that Thursday. With brother Miles Thompson unable to make the camp’s first day because of a commitment with the Swarm, Lyle Thompson demonstrated one drill after another at the first trip of the brothers' traveling camp first trip to UAlbany. Helping along with Lyle Thompson at both sessions were older brothers Jerome and Jeremy Thompson, family friend Bill O’Brien, UAlbany head coach Scott Marr and another former Great Dane star, goalie Blaze Riorden.

“I haven’t been able to make it up here as much as I’ve hoped,” said Riorden, a 2016 UAlbany graduate. "But I wanted to give back to kids who watched us play and try to teach them some of the stuff we learned from our time here.”

Marr certainly sees the value.

“The opportunity to learn from these guys and be around them to see how they are as people is pretty cool for a young man in our area,” Marr said. “It’s an honor to have them back here.”

Philly Jawns

There’s still no verdict in the Bill Cosby trial.

World News

Amazon is buying Whole Foods for an incredible $13.7 billion.

Video of the Day

Lonzo Ball rips his dad in this hilarious Foot Locker commercial:

That’s it for today!! I’ll see you out there!! Make sure you follow us on social media!

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Managing Editors: Safe Fekadu, Chris Jastrzembski, Ryan McDonnell