Sep. 23rd, 2004 - Anatomy of an Alumni Game
Special to USLIA.com by Alex Smith
As far as being old and washed up goes, the annual fall alumni game is about as good as it gets once your college eligibility is gone. What better way is there to relive past glory than to buckle the chinstrap and butt heads with a herd of newbies on your old stomping grounds?
I mean, this is the year, right? The year the alumni finally get the upper hand on the current crop of collegiate stars? The year that so-and-so's graduation finally spells the end of alumni disappointment and ridicule? The year the old and graying overcome the previous night's festivities to put the young bucks in their place?
Wait a minute. That's what we say every year.
But this year was a bit different. With a true sampling of the best that Colorado State lacrosse has had to offer over the past eight seasons, the 2004 version of the CSU alumni team might have been the best ever to take on the kids on the, ahem, "historic" rec fields at Colorado State University.
This is, after all, a team that boasts five out of the six all-time leading scorers in team history. This is a team that had been formed of the same consciousness and will at different times during head coach Flip Naumburg's career. If CSU lacrosse had a hall of fame, almost all of the members of this team would be in it.
Mike Roth (2001), Mike Napolilli (2002), Pat Shanley (1998), Ryan Davis (2002) and Kelten Johnson (2004) were first or second team All-American attackmen at some points in their careers with the Rams.
Jared Katz (2003), Kale Nelson (2003), Jim Hasson (2003) and Garth Heth (1998) were some of the all-time great midfielders the team has ever had. Long stick midfielder Mark Plonkey (2004) was arguably the most dominant player to wear the gold and green. I think even the goalie (2003) might have enjoyed some limited success at this level as well.
Put this cast of characters together and mix in some of the heart and grit that helped the team win three national championships and six straight title game appearances, and you've got a pretty good squad on your hands.
But the alumni weekend is about more than just a lacrosse game. It's a chance for everyone who hasn't seen each other in a year to reminisce and catch up. More accurately, it's a chance to be reminded that perhaps the best years of your life are getting further away than your old 40 time.
Let's be honest. You know you are getting old when it takes more than one hand to count how many of your friends are married or engaged.
Not to be so negative about it, but the more I am removed from my days as a college lacrosse goaltender, the more I feel the need to tell people to enjoy their own. Trust me, you can't get them back, and you certainly can't take them with you.
But, we've got to be realistic about these things. See the positive side of the situation. I mean, how many more times did I really want to get pelted in the thigh with an 85 mph shot in 40 degree weather? Not many. And besides, now that we are graduated, there are no such things as pre-game curfews or mandatory stretching and line drills.
All of the players listed above are perhaps even better known for their off-the-field antics. Given most of their tenures in Fort Fun, local law enforcement had to feel chills going down their spine the moment this group of vagabonds came back to town.
But that is most of the fun of alumni weekend. You get together with all of your buddies from the good ol' days and see if you can't recreate some past glory. If you are lucky, you sabotage, err, invite a couple of the current players to come out and celebrate (names be withheld to protect the guilty). Then you go out and play a little lacrosse. Not a bad weekend, thank you very much.
Some say that the hardest part about the day is waking up, but thanks to a favorable 1:00 start time, most of the alumni were able to pry their eyes open and stumble to the field. At 12:45, while the current team was running through their pre-game routine, about half the alumni were trying to figure out which shoe went on which foot.
(Author's note: I can't admit to being one of the alums who showed up to the game late because I did sneak on to the field a couple of hours early to get in a secret warm-up. Unfortunately the freshmen began appearing to set up the field and my warmer-uppers and I had to scamper away before they saw too much. Luckily, I still found time for a quick pregame "prayer" said on one knee in the far corner before the opening face. I can't say which deity I was trying to channel, but suffice it to say, it seemed more like an exorcism than anything else.)
I think most of the newer Rams found us tragically comical. Of course, that was part of our plan. Lull them to sleep with our rag-tag appearance and keep them at arm's length with the stench of last night's breath and stale booze on our clothes.
When the whistle did blow to start the game, it became clear that if the young guns had the ball for any length of time, we were going to be in trouble. We tried several different strategies, but ultimately letting them score and winning the face-off seemed to be the most effective tactic.
After the first half, it was a one-goal game and it appeared that this might be The Year after all. We were playing pretty well and actually coming together as a group. For most of us, our competitive spirit was finally beginning to push last night's toxins out of the way and the decent sized crowd was being treated to some good lacrosse.
The current CSU'ers scored three in a row to push the lead to 8-5 or so in the early stages of the fourth, but the alumni battled back to tie as the game began to wear down. Truthfully, this had become a very good lacrosse game that featured some great individual plays on both sides of the ball.
Personally, I made the ultimate lucky/ridiculous/terribly unfundamentaly-sound save while I was on the ground and got to witness my favorite moment in the sport of lacrosse. The moment when you pick a ball out of the air, clear it away while transforming the attackman's face from joy to heart-wrenching agony. If you are a goalie, you know the face. It is the same effect as watching someone win the lottery and then realize they put the winning ticket through the wash with their favorite jeans. Not only do they lose the ticket, but maybe they left a pen in their pocket and ruined the jeans as well. I get a kind of sick pleasure out of that face. (Sorry, Danny.)
Anyway, my glory was short-lived as one of the newest stars-to-be, Shea Cunningham, scored on the doorstep with a few minutes left to seal the deal.
There was finality in that goal, though it did not prove to be the game winner. (A few minutes were mysteriously added to the game clock to give us a chance to tie, but CSU-now scored again right away to make it official.) The competitive spirit in me was disappointed to lose, but it was good to see the current CSU Rams step up to a decent sized challenge and prevail.
The day was a resounding success, but it took a little talking afterward to convince coach Naumburg of that. He was slightly upset that his current team wasn't able to ride their depth and blow us out of the water in the later stages. I assured him that he should be proud that he took a crew of misfits like us and transformed us into a collective unit that could still come together and play good lacrosse. He responded that he now knew why other teams hated us so bad after watching us behave on the opposite sideline.
But he said that one with a smile on his face.
It all ended with more drinks and fun at our favorite all-time lacrosse watering hole. Some of the older guys who did not show up to play made appearances at Sullivan's and showed us that they still know how to do certain things well. To be honest, I was pretty beat after four quarters and ready to go to sleep before it got dark.
So, while the alumni did not ultimately prevail, our narrow margin of defeat has served to whet our appetites for next year.
You know, next year. When we get Price and Harper and Timmy. When we actually stay in the night before the game and come up with a discernible game plan. That'll be the difference. Next year is definitely The Year.
And just like last year, I can't wait.