Faceoff

When the Alliance for American Football stepped on the scene, they avoided competing with the NFL by design, opting instead to complement, even make deals with, the sports primary league.

When the Premier Lacrosse League steps on the scene in June, they're ready for war.

Much like the sport's martial roots, the Premier Lacrosse League is preparing for a direct faceoff against the sport's primary outdoor league, Major League Lacrosse. The league's founder, Paul Rabil, is an MLL alumnus and perennial All-Star. In addition to high quality lacrosse, his vision includes a league in which players are owners with equity, full-time wages, and benefits. PLL has a media partnership with NBC, who will air games on the flagship network and NBC Sports. Will the new challenger unseat - even end - the MLL?

Unique about the PLL among North American teams sports is that the league will feature a touring model where the teams are not identified with a city or home region. The leagues six teams, the Archers, Atlas, Chaos, Chrome, Redwoods, and Whipsnake Lacrosse Clubs are exactly that - no location designation to speak of. Their 14 week season will take place in 12 cities, with a touring model not unlike DCI, NASCAR, or PGA. It's a potentially bold move, but the risk seems sound: Instead coalescing around home town pride, rooting interests, if they develop, may center on players, style of play, and team identity. Instead of attending seven home games, live fans will wait for these lacrosse mega-events to blitz their region for a weekend and get their fill there. The league uses the slogan "We the players. For the fans." to highlight their dual purpose for both the players and the fans.

So far, like the MLL and the sport of lacrosse itself, the announced cities skew heavily eastern, with New York, Boston, Baltimore, DC, Atlanta, and Chicago being confirmed as hosts. I'm selfishly hoping for a stop in the Carolinas - the Triangle (likely WakeMed Soccer Park) or Charlotte seem the most likely options - and expect at least some teams further west will make an appearance. The league, interestingly enough, is headquartered in Los Angeles.

A new era is set to begin, and it just may be a battle.

-Premiering in June
-Founded by Paul Rabil, who has played in both of the current pro leagues
-Touring method - like DCI, NASCAR, or PGA
-Intentionally setting up as a competitor to MLL. but with a different model. Will it complement? Supplant?
-Is the model healthy? Allegiance to players, teams, styles, but not geographic ties.
-Compare/contract with AAF

Mad

I might need an intervention.

A Tournamentervention.

Here in Tournament Town, I always make sure to get in on at least some of the March Madness (and to be clear, March Madness begins with conference tournaments, not just the Big Dance) action here or nearby. Usually, it's a Fat Day - the double-doubleheader of an early- or quarterfinal round in a conference tournament - at the ACC men's or women's tournament. Occasionally, I make it up the hill to the SoCon tournament in Asheville, or catch early NCAA tournament action with a local host.

This season began with the second round of the ACC women's basketball tournament, a full Thursday posted up in the Greensboro Coliseum (and in the break, the brewery across the street). Twelve hours yielded four games, eight teams, eight bands.

While Greensboro was only slated to host two basketball tournaments this year, we were gifted with bonus basketball as UNCG's men's team hosted two NIT games after missing the NCAA Tournament. I caught the second of these, which saw the home team fall to Lipscomb, ending their season. Of note: Lipscomb didn't bring their band, which I personally consider a cardinal offense for any team that earns postseason play.

Today I bought my ticket for this weekend's action: The Greensboro Regional of the NCAA women's tournament. As I type this, South Carolina and Iowa have already punched their tickets, while NC State, Kentucky, Baylor, and Cal will vie for the remaining two spots. I'll catch Saturday's doubleheader before laying live college basketball to rest until at least the fall.

When I March, I March HARD.

Next year, Greensboro hosts three tournament weekends in a row once more: ACC women's, ACC men's, and NCAA men's first and second rounds. With any luck I'll be a portion of each. What's more, it came to my attention that this year and the next two, the SEC women's tournament is in Greenville, SC, a cool city that's a reasonable drive away. Hmm....

Somebody stop me.

Better yet, don't.

This Is March

Barely a day and a half into the iconic month, I watched a team rally from down 18 at home to a game-winning three with 2.4 remaining on the clock.

And that was the undercard of the day.

I made the trip home to UMBC this past weekend for Spirit Groups Alumni Day. For the first time in four years, I was back with the Down and Dirty Dawg Band, and for two tunes, back behind the drumset. And yet this year, I came home to a different house. UMBC basketball has moved from its longtime home in the RAC to the new Event Center, which opened last season. The upgrade is significant.

I arrived and made my way to the rhythm section. One of the biggest changes was that the drumset, previously on the floor level, is now at the top of the section. It made it a bit challenging for me, as a not-tall drummer, to see the director without positioning myself just so; I imagine this is the challenge commentators often talk about with short quarterbacks and seeing over their offensive lines. The current band was great - I know they would be - and I met several more recent alumni as well.

At some point too late to make a bigger deal about, I realized that this with the band having begun in 1998-99, this was the 20th anniversary season. I joined in its second year. I mentioned this to the current drummer who noted, "The pep band's 20? I'm 20."

I got to experience some of the band's new traditions, chants and charts, and bring back a few from my way. Ray Lewis popularized the "What time is it?!" chant during his career in a stadium not far from our own, and we adopted it as the very dawgs in the house he references. Thankfully, it's well known enough that everyone caught on as I reprised it for Alumni Day.

The game, as I mentioned, was an exciting one. Despite recent success, I spent enough losing seasons behind the drumset that I've never considered a win a given, nor a prerequisite to enjoying a game. At the point that we were down 18 in the 2nd, I was fully expecting to add another L to my UMBC hoops watching experience. That was not to be; the team rallied, ultimately winning by three on a near-buzzer beating 3. Our former post-win tune was a mashup of 3 Dog Night's Celebrate and Kool and the Gang's Celebration. These days, unsurprisingly, it's T-Pain's All I Do Is Win.

There was only one returning alumnus who I truly overlapped with in my time in the band, and several others I had met in previous trips home. Still, the bond of shared experience remained between me and those who I was meeting for the first time, or had never met. I had the slightest hesitation in headed to the after-afterparty at PubDog with alumni as much as a decade and a half my junior, but as I knew, the beat goes on, and I had a great time with some fellow alumni. The rest of the trip was a nice roll through southeastern Baltimore County as well - both Heavy Seas brewery and Guinness' US branch are in Halethorpe, mere minutes from campus and where I was staying.