National Lacrosse League Background Revealed In "Weekend Warriors" Book As NLL Cancels 2008 Season Weekend Warriors, The Men of the National Lacrosse League book reveals insight into the background of the National Lacrosse League as the NLL cancels its 2008 season
New Chapter Press reveals some insight into the background of the National Lacrosse League in the following is an excerpt from its book WEEKEND WARRIORS, THE MEN OF PROFESSIONAL LACROSSE (www.newchapterpressmedia.com). The NLL announced on Tuesday that it canceled its 2008 season when they could not reach an agreement with the Professional Lacrosse Players Association's executive committee over a Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Weekend Warriors, The Men of Professional Lacrosse is the first-ever book about professional lacrosse players. Written by Jack McDermott of Tallahassee, Fla., Warriors is a compilation of short life stories of 15 pro players who star in the indoor National Lacrosse League and the outdoor league, Major League Lacrosse. The excerpt is as follows.
Mr. Langtry teaches humanities and literature to seventh and eighth graders at the Challenge School in the Cheery Creek School District near Denver, Colo. Mr. Langtry, who has a master’s degree in teaching, guides his students through lessons on the Middle East, China, the Russian revolution, and literature; he instructs though literature, bringing into the study of Russian history, such works as Animal Farm.
“I like teaching the Orwell books,” Mr. Langtry says. “I encourage the kids to identify from the real people in the history of the Communist revolution, the characters in the book.” But sometimes, Mr. Langtry comes to class with a black eye. Because when he’s not teaching, Mr. Langtry is Brian Langtry, a “Weekend Warrior,” a full-season professional lacrosse player who is a forward for both the Colorado Mammoth of the National Lacrosse League (NLL: the indoor, January-to- May game), and the Denver Outlaws of Major League Lacrosse (MLL, the May-August outdoor game).
In having two jobs, in being a hero both on and off the field, Brian Langtry is not unique—his sport is. Unlike the four major pro sports—football, baseball, basketball and hockey— lacrosse players cannot support themselves and their families through the earnings of the game alone. Rookie league salaries average $6,000 a year; high-end league salaries are slightly over $20,000. The result? During the week, professional lacrosse players are students, coaches, businessmen, service technicians, computer specialists, construction workers, policemen, financial analysts, insurance executives, firefighters, and, as is Brian Langtry, teachers. In vivid contrast to the glamorous,
media-hyped stars of other professional sports, these men are “ordinary” people with “ordinary” jobs who just happen to have extraordinary abilities on the lacrosse field. The players’ salaries, very low relative to those in other
professional sports, have had a direct effect on creating a family-friendly athletic event: in most lacrosse arenas—a single adult admission is $10; some offer $5 tickets. While the cheap price of curiosity may draw lacrosse first-timers to a game, the game itself—with the checking, hitting, quick-line changes, and fighting of hockey; the screens, picks man—and zone defenses of basketball; the stick-handling technical skills of tennis and baseball; and the up-and-down action and passing of soccer—quickly hooks a new spectator.
Also, in the twenty-one-year-old National Lacrosse League, games average 25 goals a game—a 13–12 final score is
