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Total posts: 31
Blog URL: http://laxspot.e-lacrosse.com/blogs/my_crazy_life
By: Hunter
Washington Bayhawk and New York Titan Hunter Lochte introduces you to his life in and out of the lacrosse world.
I hope that everyone has recovered fully from Halloween....It took me an extra day to get back to normal after a long Friday night. For Halloween I dressed up as Paul Bleeker from Juno (picture to follow). I didnt do anything special, just bounced around Federal Hill.
A lot has happened since my last post and I wanted to catch everyone up to speed. For starters, I have signed to play indoor this year with the Philadelphia Wings and training camp starts this weekend. Needless to say, I am not excited for training camp, but I am excited to get back out on the floor. On top of indoor starting, I have signed a contract to coach the JV lacrosse team at the Gilman School this spring season. I am excited about this opportunity to coach at the high school level and to have total control of the offense.
Other than that, everything is pretty normal. I will repost next week to let everyone know how training camp was. Unitl next time, have a good one....
Hi everybody (saying that makes me feel like the cheap doctor on the Simpsons who always seems to pop up and say that). Anyways, I hope that everyone is doing well and excited for the week to come to an end and the weekend to begin. I wish that I could say that I had some excting plans for the weekend, but I dont. Last weekend we (Trilogy Lacrosse) had tryouts for our North New Jersey Middle School and High School club teams. It was a huge success with almost 200 kids coming out to compete for a spot on our teams. Although the weather was a little cold and I was severly under dressed, the turnout was great and the effort the kids played with was great to see. The tryout lasted both Saturday and Sunday, but I was only there for the Saturday session, I had a tee time on Sunday (probably the last of the year) that I needed to get back for. After a bad outing of golf (as usual) and a Ravens win, Sunday ended up being a great end to the weekend.
This weekend, I will make the trip back up to New Jersey only this time to the Jersey Shore where we will have our last day of our six week fall lax program. This program was meant to spur some interest from some of the lesser experianced laxers on the shore and prepare them for our Jersey Shore club team tryouts that take place next weekend. After a long day Saturday of driving up and back to NJ, it may be a mellow night Saturday with a blowout on Sunday for the Ravens game. Its been a while since the boys played a home game and after this week, they are back on the road for 3 or 4 straight weeks.
Other then the Trilogy work and school, I have been trying to get myself ready for the indoor season. I recently signed with the Philadelphia Wings and training camp starts soon. I am not going to say that I look forward to the training camp, but I am looking forward to getting back out and playing. With Haloween being next week, I may not check in until the next week, but I will be sure to have some stories for the next blog.
Any good Halloween costumes?? Unitl next time, take care everyone....
Wow, what a wedding. After an hour flight, sitting in traffic, a very nice ceremony and a reception to remember, my first wedding in Long Island was definetly one that I will not forget. It was great to see some former teammates and their parents at the reception where it seemed like we picked up right where we left off in college. After a long night of celebrating the married couple, it was time to get a couple hours of sleep before driving back to Baltimore. The drive back was easy and we got in around 1. The marathon had just finished and the roads were empty, so I jumped on my bike and took a nice long bike ride to get my workout for the day. After an 8 mile ride and some lunch, it was time to finally watch some football. How about Texas coming back to beat Oaklahoma, Okalhoma State knocking off Missouri, and Florida dismantaling LSU? It was a great day for some football.
Sunday started early with a walk around Patterson Park with Mason and a 30 minute drive to Genesse Valley. The scrimmages started at 10, but the teams (minus us) were promplty warming up by 930. The entire team finally strolled in around 9:40 and it was time to strap it on and play our first game against Ursinus. This game was close in the first half as we got our kinks out and knocked the rust off. We were all pretty impressed with the intensity that Ursinus played with and they came after us all game long. I didnt get a final, but we managed to extend a lead in the second half. After a 20 minute break, it was time to strap it on again and play a Michgan team that last year went 19-0 and won the club championship. The coach at Michigan, John Paul, I have known for quite some time because we used to work the Warrior camps together when I was in college has put together an impressive team at Michigan and I wont be surprised if this team goes DI in the near future. The game was unfortuentely not as competitive as the Ursinus game, but these kids did play incredibly hard which I definetly respect. Best of luck to Ursinus and Michigan both with their upcoming seasons.
Thats the recap of the wedding and the tourney, I was going to talk about my Ravens, but that will have to wait until next week when we come back from Miami with a W.
Have a good week and Ill check back in soon.
I hope that everyone is doing well....I know its been a while, but I have been busy moving (I never realized how much crap I had) and getting settled into the new house. We have moved from Federal Hill across the Inner Harbor to Butchers Hill. It has been an interesting move to say the least and it is tough getting used to new surroundings. For starters, parking is miserable, if you get home past 7, you are going to be lucky if you can find a spot that isn't three blocks away and unfortunately, the gym is no longer a block away and I had to buy a bike to get there. The bike has made things a lot easier and I have enjoyed the exercise riding to and from the gym. Mason has managed to adapt well and seems to be enjoying Patterson Park as much as he did Riverside.
Well, I am now three weeks into being back at school and is has been nice to get back into a routine. Dont get me wrong, the summer was amazing and I love the travel, but at times, it is nice to settle back into normal life. Being back and settled in allows me to get back to the gym which has been very nice, travel can take a toll on working out. I will say though, it is tough to go from not working out in about a month to jumping back into it at full speed.
With school bein back in session, that means it is only time for my second favorite time of the year (after lacrosse season), football season. What an opening to the season it has been in both college and pro. USC look absolutly unstoppable, but will the get complacent and have a mind lapse against a lesser opponent...Will Oklahoma make it through their difficult schedule of the Big XII to take on th Trojans in the National Championship? Those two teams are my favorites at this point, but it is early.
The NFL is also off to a good start with teams that were supposed to be good, being terrible, and teams that were supposed to underperform, winning. The Ravens looked better than expected in week one and I think that the whole city is "Wacco for Flacco." The big question for them will be if they can bounce back from the Hurrican Ike ordeal to make a run that includes no bye weeks and 5 straight road games in 35 days. If they can get through it, watch out AFC, the Ravens will be back and be a force to be reckoned with.
On top of football, its time to get back out and play lacrosse again. The BILL (Baltimore Indoor Lacrosse League) started last week and despite having a young team, DeWalt should be able to challenge the top teams in the league. This past Saturday, the alums of Towson, Maryland, and UMBC made their way out to Genesse Valley for the second annual alumni lacrosse tournament that goes to benefit former Maryland coach Dick Edell. It was a great event again this year and it was great to see all of the guys and participate in an event that goes to such a great coach and person.
Thats all for now, talk to you again soon.
I know that it has been a while and I hope that everyone is doing well. I just got back from a two week vacation in Hawaii that ended my hectic summer and now it is time to go back to work. This summer has been a busy, but well worth it. For the last three months, I have been on the road with maybe a week at home in Baltimore. My travels have taken me from Baltimore to New York, New Jersey, California, Denver, Texas, Illonois, North Carolina, and Hawaii but I wouldnt have it any other way. Lacrosse was tough this summer for me, not playing for the Dragons for some odd reason and than being traded half way through the season and playing pretty poorly for the Bayhawks. Oh well, life goes on and now it is time to gear up and get ready for indoor. I am not sure what is going on yet with indoor, but things should play themselves out over the next month or two. Trilogy had an awesome summer. While most camp companies were down, we were up. We have built a very good following that keeps getting bigger the longer we are in the game and we are only going to grow from here.
Just wanted to check in and see how everyone is doing......I am in Kill Devil Hills, NC sitting on a deck looking out at the ocean and things are good, other than not playing in the game for the Bayhawks tomorrow night versus the Pride.. I have had a great week so far, sat on the beach all day Sunday, Tuesday, and today, played golf on Monday and we are playing again tomorrow, followed by another day on the beach Friday and Saturday before driving back to Baltimore.
Sunday I will head up to New Jersey for our last camp of the summer in Bay Head. This is where our very first camp is and it is always a great time. THe weather is ususally pretty hot, but we are at the beach and it is great to be able to jump in the ocean between sessions. After a week of camp, I will drive back to Baltimore and then fly to Hawaii for 2 weeks. The only downside of going to Hawaii is that I am missing the Ocean City Tournament. This is a tournament that I have played in every year but one over the last 10 years (2006 MLL Championship Weekend with the Outlaws) and the first one I am missing going to. I think I will be able to get over it relaxing on the beach in Hawaii though.
It has been a long summer with a lot going on, but I wouldnt have it any other way. I hope that everyone is doing well. I will check in soon.................
How is everyone doing? I am finally back in Bmore after a two and a half week work trip to New Jersey with a game in Rochester inbetween. The Rochester game was brutal, but that is all I am going to say about that. Tomorrow we play Boston in Naval Marine Corps Stadium which should be prett sweet. The stadium is really nice and I have never played there before, so I am looking forward to it. Boston is a tough team and we will have to play well as a team to pull out the W.
THe summer has been a busy one and I have been all over the country playing lacrosse and running camps. This sport has grown so much, it is amazing to see the talent of players in other parts of country and how much it has grown over the past few years.
With the summer more than half way over, I finally have two weeks off to relax and enjoy the things I have yet to do this summer. Next week I am planning on playing golf twice in preperation for my big game in the Outer Banks with my girlfried Christie's dad and all of his friends. They are pretty good and I am not. I am also going to go tubbing down the Gunpowder River. It seems childish, but is a lot of fun and relaxing.
I hope everyone has a good week and I will check in soon....
How is everyone doing? I am checking in from the Ramada hotel in beautiful Wayne, NJ. I am up here this week for our (Trilogy Lacrosse) "training camp" for our club teams before they head up to Mass for a tournament this weekend. Well, its game week and it is a big one. Saturday the Bayhawks head up to Rochester to face one of the toughest teams in the league. The Rattlers are pretty interesting to watch becuase they play box outside. The team is full of dominant indoor guys who like team Canada at the World Championships two summers ago dominated by playing that style. They are a tough team with a lot of fire power, but if we stick to the game plan and play the way we are capable of playing, we should be fine.
I will try to check in next week again from same hotel as I will be here for our day camp next week.
Until next time......
So after a week on barely no cell phone service, internet, and no TV, I am checking in as a member of the Washington Bayhawks. Early this week, I got a call from Dragons GM Doug Locker informing me that I was traded to the Bayhawks to play under Jarred Testa who I played for in Denver in 2006. I must say, it is always tough getting traded, but I am excited about the new oportunity in Washington. At this point in the season, I would much rather drive 45 minutes and have a chance to play than fly six and a half hours across the country to not get a chance to play.
This week has been a good one. We had our second overnight camp of the summer at Oldfields school outside of Baltimore and as I said above, the cell service was terrible, we had no access to the internet and no TV. Believe it or not, it was kind of nice to take a step away from society and the kids that came to camp were really cool and wanted to learn.
Onto the weekend, the Bayhawks face off against the Barrage and I am excited for the first game with my new team. Right after the game I will have to drive back to Baltimore because we have another camp in Baltimore this week that starts on Sunday. The camp runs until Wednesday and the Bayhawks have a bye next week, so that means I will be able to have a few days in Baltimore, something I havent had since May, before I head to the Jersey Shore on July 6th for another camp.
I hope everyone has a good one and I will try to check in next week. If I dont, have a Happy 4th of July.
Whats up everyone. I know that it has been a while, but I have been sans computer for the last three weeks. Once school was over, I started my Trilogy camp circut and have spent the last two weeks in Austin and Houston, Texas with weekend stops in San Jose and Denver. I am finally home, even if it is only for a few hours. I got time to throw a load of laundry in spend some QT with Christie and Mason before I head up to NJ for the Dragons/Pride game tomorrow night.
So, the last few weeks of camp have opened my eyes even more to the growth of lacrosse in the non-traditional areas of the country. I have been going to Texas for the last three summer to coach kids at camp and this year I was blown away. The kids in Austin and Houston have really been working to be better players and in two years, I feel that a lot of these kids will be finding their way to DI rosters.
As for the Dragons, we are sitting at 1 and 3 and unfortuently I have not been playing. I wish I could give a reason why, or even knew why, but I am really not sure. I have been traveling and practicing with the team, and have done whatever I can to help the coaches and the younger guys, but it has been tough not getting on that field. Hopefully that will all end soon. Sadly, it wont be this weekend, but hopefully it will be soon...
Sunday starts another stretch of travel with four straight weeks of camp, I will try to check in. Have a good one and enjoy the summer.
Its been a couple weeks since my last post, so I am going to blast you with this one since it may be a while until I can post again. I want to start by congratulating Cuse on winning the championship and Mike Levielle winning the Tewarton.
The Dragons faced off with the LA Riptide on Saturday in our home opener at San Jose State Universtiy and unfortuently lost. It was a hard fought game on both sides but we came up a little short. I did not play because I am nursing a bruised quad that happened in the fourth quarter of the Chicago game two weeks ago, but I should be out there this week when we face off against Chicago again, this time at home.
My summer starts on Friday, and I cant wait. The weather has been getting hotter and it has been feeling more and more like summer everyday. On Friday, I start my 16 day lacrosse tour, by heading to San Fran to play Chicago on Sunday. After Sunday, I will be in Austin, TX for our Trilogy Camp until Friday when I fly to Denver to play the Outlaws on Saturday. Sunday, it is back to Texas, only this time to Houston for another Trilogy Camp until Friday when I fly back to Baltimore and drive rite to New Jersey to play the Pride on Saturday.
Seems like a lot doesnt it? Believe it or not, that is only the beginning. I will try to check in and let everyone know how the travel is going. Wish the Dragons luck, we need to get off this two game losing streak.
Well, week one of the season is now behind us and the Dragons start off 0-1 after a tough one goal loss (10-9) to the Chicago Machine. It was a hard fought battle on the field, with both teams going back and forth the entire game. Chicago opened the game with two straight goals before we answered back to tie it at two. From there, we exchanged goals until halftime when Chicago took a two goal lead into the break. We came out on fire going on a four goal run but cooled off and allowed Chicago to go on a four goal run of their own. We were able to get the last goal of the game, but unfortuently it wasnt enough as we came up one goal short. My hat goes of to the Chicago team, they played hard and came out on top. As for the Dragons, we have a bye week this week and open up at home next weekend against the Los Angles Riptide.
There is nothing worse than having a bye week after the first game of the season (and a loss) because that is all you have to think about for the next week. When you can come back and play the next week, there are so many other things to concentrate on(scouting reports, game flim, etc) that it is easy to forget about the loss. Fortunately for me, I bruised my quad in the fourth quarter when I got sandwiched between three Machine defenders and I can use this week to get that better so that I can be ready to go next week against the Riptide.
Predictions for this weekend?
I am hoping that Hop can knock of the Blue Devils, but I dont think this will happen. As for the Cuse/ UVa game, I would like to see Cuse take down the Wahoos, but either way, I just want to see a good game. I am going to pick Cuse to play Duke with Duke winning it all.
In the DIII game, I am going to go with the Seagulls. If they can overcome getting their starting and backup goalie kicked off the team and win it, I will be impressed.
How is everyone doing? It has been a couple weeks since I have checked in, so I wanted to catch up and let you know whats been going on the last few weeks. The Titans defied all odds that were placed upon them to make it to the Eastern Conference Championship against the Buffalo Bandits. Unfortuently, they came up short and ended the season Saturday night in Buffalo. It was a great season for the team, and I met and learned a lot from some great players and better people.
Outdoor is in full swing, with training camp now behind us and our first game against Chicago this Sunday. The last two weekends, I have left Baltimore on Friday afternoon and flown atleast seven hours to the other side of the country for training camp. We had two practices Saturday and one again on Sunday before getting on a plane and flying another 6 hours home. I must say, I like flying and dont mind being on airplanes, but it gets hard when you get home at two in the morning and have to get up at six to start the work week off. Training camp went well, we had a alot of guys that played incredibly hard to get a spot on the team and I would not have wanted to be the coaches trying to pick the team. After three weeks, I feel that the coaches did a great job picking the team and getting us prepared for the season to begin.
With the season less that a week away, I checked out what the experts are saying about the upcoming season and am amazed that they have picked us to finish last. Now, I guess I can understand since we traded away Ryan Powell and Chris Rotelli retired, but at the same time the best teams arent always the most talented. We may not be the most talented, but over the last few weeks we have come together and I will take a team over a group of individuals any day. There is only one ball in play at a time and when you have a team, they will share it, when you have a group of individuals, they all want it.
I will leave you with this, look out for the Dragons during the 2008 season, we just may surprise a few people.
How is everyone doing today?
The Titans are in the playoffs and it is a great feeling. The team was picked to finish dead last in the NLL and we have shocked everyone outside of our locker room. With a huge win over the defending champion Rochester Knighthawks on Saturday night, we clinced our first playoff berth in our two year history and knocked Rochester out of the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. The interesting thing about the playoffs this year is that all four Eastern Conference teams are tied with a 10-6 record and the seedings were based on tiebreakers. The team will travel to Minnesota to take on the Swarm on Saturday night at 8 eastern, if you arent doing anything, go to B2 Networks and buy the game online for seven bucks, it will be worth it.
Unfortuently, I wasnt at the game on Saturday night and wont be there Saturday in Minnesota either. Saturday after our 11 am shoot around in the Garden, I had to head out down to Philly so that I could get a physical and attend practice for the Dragons. We had our first weekend of training camp in Philly which was convenient for me so that I could make some of my Titans responsabilities and be there for the start of Dragons training camp. Camp started around 8 pm and we were missing a good number of returners from last years team (about half of our guys play indoor and are in the playoffs.....GOOD LUCK boys), but that didnt start the guys that were there giving 100% for the two hours we were out there. After practice I got a quick bite and a little sleep and we turned it around for a ten am scrimmage with the Barrage. It was a good scrimmage for both sides, but I think we came up on the short end of the scoreboard. This weeks training camp will be in San Jose and should be another good one. Countdown to game one 17 days.
On to the NFL Draft. How predictable was the first three picks? For the first time in a while the NFL picked the right six guys to be in attendance at the draft. No more watching a first round pick sitting in the green room wondering when he was going to get a chance to get up on the stage. As for my Ravens, I couldnt be happier with the draft. I cant wait to see how Joe Flacco does and I think Ray Rice is going to be good number two behind Willis.. Gooden is gong to be the next middle linebacker from the U to dominate the NFL, and a fourth round pick for Fabian Washington works for me. Throw in some great backups and special teamers and we have a draft that is going to turn around the Ravens....
Thoughts?
How is everyone doing? I know that it has been a while since I last posted, but I have been busy and also have been trying to figure out what to write about. I want to start my post with an appology to the Towson lacrosse team and coaching staff if I ruffled any feathers with my comments about this years team and the program. I was out of line and I am sorry.
Now its time to move on and let you know what has been going on with me. For starters, the TItans are 7-6 and in fourth place in the NLL Eastern Conference. We have a big weekend with two games, Friday night against the Chicago Shamrox at the Garden and Saturday night against the Philadelphia Wings in Philly. If we win these two games, we should pretty much lock up a playoff spot, if we dont it will make next weekends game against the Rochester Knighthawks at the Garden all that more interesting.
Other than indoor, I have been working out feverously for the MLL season to start. Dragons training camp kicks off next weekend in Philly with our first trainig camp practice Saturday night and a scrimmage against the Barrage on Sunday. I cant wait to get outdoor going again and to catch up with all of the guys from last years team and to welcome our new teamates.
Next weekend is also a huge weekend for NFL fans with the draft. I cant wait to see what the Ravens do with the eigth pick. Do they get QB Matt Ryan, one of the many talented corners or linemen, or do they trade it away to get more picks than they already have (8). We will just have to wait and see.
Game of the weekend in college should be the Navy vs Hopkins game. Hop is coming off of a huge win over rival Maryland while Navy lost to rival Army. Throw in that it is Navy's homecoming and over 10,000 people....it is going to make for a great game. Other big ones include a GWLL matchup Denver vs OSU (coming off a huge win over UNC), UPenn vs Maryland (Terps need to score more than 8 goals in two games), Albany vs Cuse (big upstate battle), Princeton vs Cornell (battle for the IVY), Duke (are they beatable) vs Army, and my Tigers in a huge CAA mathcup vs Villanova (this game should decide CAA tourney seedings).
Until next time........
Whats up everyone? I hope you are having a good Opening Day, eventhough the weather is pretty crummy. I know that being a laxer, means that we are supposed to hate baseball, but I cant do it. I grew up a baseball fan and have meet some pretty phenomenal baseball players over the years and there still isnt much that beats going to an O's game on a nice Spring/Summer night. Eventhough the O's +/- for the year (according to Vegas) is only 66 (that means that if they win 66 games, they have lose 97....thats pathetic), and have had 10 straight losing seasons, I am still a fan and will always be.
This past weekend was a good one and I am deffinetly feeling it today. The Titans had a bye week, so we had no lacrosse obligations this weekend, so I had some time to catch up with some friends that I havent had a chance to hang out with in a while. On Saturday we celebrated Tom Garvey's 25th birthday and boy did we clebrate. We started the night at an amazing dinner at Sammy's Tratoria on Charles Steet in Mount Vernon. The owner is also the cook and the food is amazing. The atmosphere is nice, if you can get passed all of the Hopkins memorabelia (JHU goes to their pregame dinner there). After dinner we hit up Federal Hill and than back to Tom's for late night schnanigans. Needless to say, I was feeling pretty awful all day Sunday, but Tom's birthday was a night to remember.
Now onto lacrosse.......What is going on in D1 this year? Hop losing 4 straight and 3 of those in OT. I may be biased becuase the backup goalie for the Hop is my roomate, but come on Petro, give him a shot. Closer to home, what is up with TOWSON. How can my alma mater be sooooo bad. How do you only beat Robert Morris by one goal and trail the entire game? Good luck Tuesday versus a good underated UMBC team. Maryland, is playing well (smoking UVA) minus a tough 3 OT loss to UMBC and a schalacking by UNC. Did I mention they have 4 freshmen rotating through on their attack and a freshmen starting at D. UVA and Duke looked like the teams to beat, but have struggled as of late.
Lacrosse has become a sport of parity and it is great seeing teams knocking eachother around and off of the pedistal. Keep it rolling and it should make for an interesting run for the next two months.
Until next time.....
How is everyone doing? After a 10 day break from school, I am now back and not too happy about it. Where did my spring break go?
For Spring Break, I stayed in Baltimore and just did some stuff around town. On Tueday of last week, I got the chance to go out to Perry Hall and help coach the Varsity lacrosse team. I had a blast coaching these kids.
The rest of the week was spent doing things around the house, "meating" out at the gym, and hanging out at the park with Mason. On Friday I spent all day in Perry Hall again helping the rec program out at their Good Friday Clinic. It is a long day (8-430), but the kids have a lot of fun. After the clinic, I headed back to Federal Hill to meet up with Brenden Mundorf before hitting the road to New Jersey for Titans practice. After a really good practice, we headed back to the hotel for some quick sleep, so that we could make the 8 am breakfast and film session. After film, we got back in the car and made out way to Trenton, NJ for our shoot around practice at our home arena for the weekend. Just to let everyone know, we play our home games at Madison Square Garden, but becasue of the preseason strike, the Garden released the arena dates, so this season we have spent the majority of our games on the road (11 out of 16 games to be exact).
After practice, we headed to the hotel for a team lunch, some relaxation, and basketball (I loved seeing Duke lose). Saturday we played the Wings (Philly is an hour away from Trenton), the number one team in the league and the team that has beaten us every time we have played them. When we got to the arena, Philly fans were already there, and they were rowdy. For those of you who havent experianced a game in Philly, you have to go see it, it is amazing how much these people love the Wings players, but there is something a little different about them (that is all I am going to say). It was a hard fought game and the Titans were victorious but a score of 20-13. This was hands down the best game we have played all year.
After the game, we headed back to Baltimore (big day Sunday). I have my family over for Easter and I had to cook all day. We had a feast of Brisket, Lamb Chops, Potatos au Gratin, Spinich Salad, and cheesecake for desert. It was delicious if I say so myslef. Yesterday was my last day of spring break and it was spent in court at Jury Duty. It was a miserable way to enjoy my last day of break, but extremely interesting to say the least. I got selected to be on two different jurys, one for attempted first and second degree murder and the other for possession with intent to distribute of heroin and cocaine. Luckily for me, I was excused from both juries.
Now, I am back at school, and back to my normal routine, I hope everyone has a good week and I will talk to everyone soon.
I cant believe it is finally here, but as of today at 1215, I will officially be on Spring Break until March 25th. This school year has absolutly flown by and before you know it, summer will be here. I wish that I could say I am going on some crazy, fun, tropical spring break, but I cant. I am going to be staying in Baltimore laying low, relaxing, and working out. I am actually looking for a week long job next week to make some extra money, so if anyone has anything for me, let me know....
Now onto Lacrosse:
The Titans have a huge game tonight in Toronto. The team had a tough loss the first time against them this year after leading for most of the game, so tonight should hopefully offer a little payback.
Yesterday, I talked to our GM in San Francisco, Doug Locker, about how the Dragons are shaping up for the 2008 season. Now, dont get me wrong, we are going to have a lot of work to do, LA looks sick and are coming off a Chapionship run last year, Denver is tough and since we just traded Ryan Powell to them, they are looking even tougher, and Chicago really came on last year and have a lot of young talent, but I think we are going to be pretty good too. Talking to Doug, we discussed the moves that have been made this off season (traded Alrich and Hulme to Boston for David Mitchell; traded RP and Nate Watkins to Denver for an 08 and 09 first round pick; traded Rommel and Hendler to Chicago for Steve Panarelli and Zach Hefner; not to mention a new head coach in Tom Slate) and I must say he sounded excited about it and I think we have a great group of guys that are going to make some noise in the league this year. I am really getting excited for the first week of training camp.
With "Selection Sunday" coming up this weekend, I cant wait for the tournament to begin. This time of year always provides huge wins for the no names and some reallly exciting basketball games. Anyone have any ideas as to who wins? I know the brackets arent out yet, and it is stupid to ask that because we dont know who has the chance to play whom and where, who will get upset, etc.
I am going to take a page from Jim Rome (eventhough I cant stand him) and give you my "final burn."
I am a huge Maryland basketball fan, I have been my entire life, and I am so dissapointed in the way this season went for them. They started off horriblely and had a midseason turnaround and just when it counts, (the end of the season) they throw it away. All they had to do was win to get a chance to make the NCAA Tournament and they couldnt even do that. Three games in a row where they had over 10 point leads and they blow it.....absolutly embaressing. How do you play so well at times and lose? How do you lose 6 of 9 games when all you have to do is win and your in?
Well, the weather has started to get warmer and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it stays like this. The last week has been a tough one and I figure that I would catch you up on what has been going on. Last week was a pretty standard week until Thursday cam around. After school on Thursday, I had a "Putt-Putt" Golf Tournament at school to raise money for a family that went to Calvert that sadly died in a horrific fire late last year. After the golf tourney, I had about an hour to get home, change and get my lax gear so that I could head up to New Jersey for practice at 11 pm. We had a pretty good practice and it was nice to see the team after a few weeks of not getting together with them. Practice went for about an hour and a half and at that time I got in the car, stopped at the Quick Check to pick up some food and Gatorade and hit the road back to Baltimore. I got in around 330 am and fianlly got to sleep around 4. After about two hours of uncomfortable sleep, I was off to school. I left school at 230 and hit the road again to meet up with the team at the hotel in Philadelphia. We headed over to the Wachovia Center in Philly a little after 5 and face-off was at 8.
We suffered a tough 16-10 loss in the game, but I want to give major props to Rory Smith one of our rookie defensemen who took on Geoff Snider, who is hands down the number 1 fighter in the league, in his first NLL fight.
How is everyone doing? It has been a while since I checked in, I hope that everyone is doing well. I have been pretty busy over the last two weeks, eventhough I havent had a lot going on. To start, the Titans have been on a winning streak lately and are now sitting at 4-4 with a hugh mathup against the undefeated Wings this Friday night in the Wachovia Center. I am excited to see the team, with our schedule, we have had more away games than home games, so I havent been able to see a game over the last few weeks. With the game being on Friday night, we are going to have practice Thursday, which means that I am going to drive up to practice Thursday after school, and than home after practice so that I can go to work on Friday. Friday after school, I am going to drive back up to Philly in order to be with the team before the game, and than back to Baltimore after the game. I debated whether or not to stay in Philly Friday night, but its a big weekend in Baltimore this weekend with the KonicaMinolta FaceOff Classic. It is going to be nice to see Cuse vs UVA and Hop vs Princeton on Saturday.
Anyone have any predictions after the first real week of the season? I dont have any yet, but I should by the end of this weekend. I went to the Towson game and was hoping to see them beat up on their Charles Street rival Loyola, but at the end of the day was dissapointed in the outcome. I hope that the Tigers can get their game together becuase they have a tough schedule and it could get ugly if they play the way they did on Saturday.
Other than all of this stuff, I am continuing my workout and staying ready to play. My school team start practice next Monday and I am looking forward to getting back out on the field to coach again. It is going to be a tough season for us, in that we may not even have enough kids to have a 6v6 scrimmage, but it will be a good coaching test for myself and the other coaches.
Have a good one and I will catch you next time.
How is everyone doing? I am doing well, been busy, but things are good. Ok, so I said that I would get back after the Titans were back to .500. Well, we had a tough loss of Friday to Minnesota, but the team battled back and beat a tough Buffalo team in OT on Sunday. We are now sitting at 2-4 with a big game this weekend at Chicago.
Since I havent been playing, I have been able to work out a lot and try to get myself ready if my number gets called and if it doesnt, than I am going to continue to get after it and get ready for outdoor to start. Now, my workouts arent "Justin Berry" like, but are still pretty tough and I have added Yoga into the workout atleast once a week.
Now onto the real reason why I am writing today. I need opinons on somehting that happened last week......I am the head coach for the middle school basketball team at my school and we had our final game last week against Boys' Latin (my aluma mater) and their head coach was my coach in high school. I would describe myself as a pretty passionate coach, and I make sure that all of my kids play atleast 10 minutes every game, winning or losing. We are playing the game at BL and have referees that I have never seen before but seem to have refed all of the BL home games. I will not sit here and say that the refs called the game in favor of BL, but the calls were not going our way at all. Throughout the game, I asked the refs, what the call was, or what happened, and questioned their decisions on other calls. You may be saying....lay off the refs, or they are just doing their jobs, or its a middle school game. My resonse to that is that this game was not fair to my team and I was getting fed up with it. My team was playing the hardest they played all year and were coming off their best win and week of practice, I wasnt about to let a referee ruin the final game of the season for my team. So, with two minutes to play, there was a call that did not go my way, I questioned the referee and asked him how can you call that, Than I let him know that he wasnt refereeing the game fairly, we hadnt got a call all game and it was getting a little rediculous. His response was a Technical Foul, I asked him how and why and he gave me a second technical which got me kicked out of the game. At this point of the game, we were down six and the calls kept getting worse. I had one player foul out, another with four fouls and another with three fouls....they had one player with three fouls. How does a kid foul out of a game when he only plays 10 minutes? We in no way play dirty or tough, we play hard. I have two kids that are over 5'7" (at the most) and everyone else is small.
My question to you is.....Did I do the right thing? We still lost the game, only by seven, but I felt that it was not fair to my kids. If I am wrong, please tell me. I have already had to write a letter to BL appologizing and have been disciplined by Calvert, so I have accepted what I did, I just want to know what you all think?
Until next time, have a good one and I will talk to you soon.....
Whats up everyone? Sorry I havent checked in in a while but I have been super busy for the last two weeks. I wanted to start by congratulating all of the Giants fans out there. Eventhough I said the Patriots were going to win, I was cheering for the Giants on Sunday. The amazing thing about the game is that it is going to go down as the greates Super Bowl ever and the greatest play ever....Manning almost sacked, somehow getting out of it and throwing a 40 yard pass to Tyree (who?) who catches it with one hand and a helmet. I am an Eli fan, I have actually drafted him the last two years in fantasy, but I didnt feel that he deserved the MVP, granted, he had a great game, but how about the D-line? Justin Tuck and Osi Umanyoria (sp?) played awesome.
Ok, enough of the Super Bowl and on to everything else. Last week was a tough one for me...I got moved down to the practice squad with the Titans (hopefully only a two week move), which I am really bummed about and we lost a tough game on Thursday night in our opener in The Garden. Friday I had court in NYC for a workmens comp issue that I am dealing with from when I hurt my knee last year and after walking through the rain and catching the subway to Brooklyn, my court date gets postponed to April. Eventually this will all get taken care of and I will be a whole lot happier.
On to the Titans...big week this week for the team. We are now standing at 1-3 with a double header this weekend. The team heads out Thursday night to Minnesota to face the Swarm who are sitting at 4-0 on Friday night. I am not sure if they will fly out late Friday or early Saturday to head back to NY, but I will be there Saturday to meet up with the team. Saturday will be film and rest in preperation to face off agains the Buffalo Bandits on Sunday. After losing a tough one to these guys only 3 weeks ago, it will be nice to get a chance at redemption.
I will check in again next week, when the Titans are back to .500 at 3-3 after a great weekend of victories.
So I promised that I would give some feedback on my Yoga experiance this weekend, so here it is. I went to Yoga twice this weekend, and I have two completely different opinions of the classes and Yoga itself. On Saturday morning I went to a 930 class where I was the only male and there were four total people there for the class. It being my first time, I had no idea what to expect, but everyone (all 4 of them) were very nice in helping me get through the class. Not knowing what to expect, I left the class with a pretty good feeling and actually thought to myself, "This was pretty easy, I dont get the big fuss over how tough it is." This class was a little over an hour long and I felt pretty good when I left.
I went home to a house of jokes when I walked in the door, but after I told them about it, they were a little interested. There was another class on Sunday at 1130 that I wanted to try and believe it or not, Christie and my friend Matt were interested in giving it a try. Sunday morning rolls around and the three of us are off to Yoga. When we show up there are already about six people there and by the time the class started there were 8 more people. Going into this class I was expecting an easy hour of stretching and breathing, but after more than an hour and half my opinion of Yoga had completely changed from what it was on Saturday. The girl who taught this class was amazing, she had me pushing my body to another level as I stretched deeper and longer. My legs were burning, my arms are burning, Im sweating, but incredibly relaxed. All three of us left this class feeling great, and like we just had a workout like we have never had before, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to putting it into my workout routine.
As I sit here trying to let you know what Yoga is all about, the only thing I can tell you is to give it a shot and form your own opinion. I am pretty flexible, so I found that some of the poses and stretches were easy, others take lots of practice, but even if you are not very flexible, the instructor helps you so that you do not hurt yourself. Give it shot and let me know what you think.
Busy week this week for me. I have a busy Monday and Tuesday with school, schoool meetings, and basketball. Wednesday I have school and than will drive up to Rahway, NJ for practice. We play San Jose on Thursday and I cant wait to see Madison Square Garden. Friday I have court in New York so that I can get all of the Workmens Compensation stuff settled from last year when I tore up my knee at training camp for the Titans.
Super Bowl weeekend, predictions?
I hope that everyone is doing well. I know that I usually post on a Monday following a weekend game, but I am not traveling to Toronto this weekend, so I figured I would send a blog out today is preperation for the weekend. Eventhough I bummed that I am not traveling to Toronto, I am a little happy because I get to have a weekend in Bmore for the first time in a while. We have been practicing pretty much every weekend since the first weekend in November. It is going to be nice to catch up with some friends that I havent seen or hung out with in a while.
Eventhough I am not going to be busy with travel this weekend, I am still going to keep myself busy. After school today I am going to take the dog to the park, go to the gym, eat some dinner and go out for a little. Saturday is a big day, I am going to go to my first yoga class at 930 in the morning. I have heard nothing but good things about it for athletes and I figured with the weekend off, why not torture my body giving it a shot. After that I will probably relax for a little before heading out to Christie's little sister Molly's 16th birthday party. Let me tell you how much I am looking forward to that.....
Sunday is a big day. The Terps are going to upset another top team in Duke this weekend (I cant stand Duke basketball). Its also a big night, the new Wire is on and I cant wait. I am addicted to the Wire. I never got into it until Matt Striebel started talking about it a few months back. He kept going on and on and wouldnt shut up about it, so I decided that I would check it out. Luckily HBO was playing all of the seasons over OnDemand in preperation for the last season. I watch four seasons of the Wire over the next 3 months getting ready for this final season.
Lastly, I wanted to give a shout out to Justin Berry aka THEFASTESTHANDSINTHEGAME? I am siked to see that he is getting back into shape and giving the MLL another run. He was hands down one of the best FOGO's, and I mean FOGO, that I have ever seen. Justin, good luck getting back, but for your sake, work on bending over and picking up a ground ball....
I hope everyone has a good weekend....
Hey everyone, I hope that you had a great weekend, mine had some ups and some down, but all in all, no complaints. Ill start with the ups....How about the Terps pulling off the huge W versus the Tarheels? What a game. I only got to see the first half and got the update of the final score from my roomate Trey (he graduated from UNC last year), but what a game. I have been a Maryland fan forever and beating Carolina is a huge step for this years team. The NFL Championhip games were good games to watch, but in the long run rather dissapointing for me. After watching a hard fought game in New England which saw the Pats come out on top, I watched my Packers take one on the chin from Eli and the Giants. As for the Super Bowl, lets hope that the Giants put up a showing like they have on the road (10 straight road wins) this year and in week 16 vs the Pats and not Giants that got spanked by the Ravens in Super Bowl 35.
Anyways, on to Buffalo. Our plane left Baltimore at 540 on Friday. This was nice because I got to get through a whole day of school and didnt have to take any time off and the flight only took an hour, so by the time we got up in the air, we were on our way back down. Once in Buffalo, which was cold (not as cold as the Green Bay/Giants game), we headed to the hotel, dropped off our stuff and made our way to practice. We had a relatively good practice, but it was really tough becuase we were playing on a roller hockey rink with no turf. The ground was slippery and the lights made it very tough to see the ball too. After practice, we headed back to the hotel where we got a quick bite to eat and got some sleep. We had flims at 8 am and than were off to our shootaround at 915. The HSBC center is a pretty cool arena, but it had a lingering smell of stale beer. After shoot around, it was back to the hotel for team lunch and nap time. At 5:00 we were on our way back to the HSBC to get ready for the Bandits. The game was a dissapointing one, but I did get to see history in John Tavares breaking Gary Gait's all time goals record. After the game we went back to the hotel and hung out there for a little while before heading out to see what downtown Buffalo had to offer. Did I mention in was freezing cold. 530 am wake up call and it was off to the aiport to head home. The early flights are tough, but getting home early is nice.
Today starts another week, but a short one for me. We have no school today becasue of Martin Luther King's birthday, so I am going to take some time to relax before going to the gym, cleaning up the house and taking Mason to the park. We head to Toronto on Friday, so check back next week for updates on how that trip went.
HAve a good week everyone and I be back next week.
I hope that everyone had a great weekend and their week is off to a great start. I figured with the first game of the season in the record books, I would give you a recap of my first weekend in the NLL.
Bryan Barrett, Erik Miller, and myself took off Friday afternoon from BWI on our way to Portland. We had to stop in Atlanta which still seems odd to me that we had to go south before making the northwest cross country flight. The flights werent too bad, actually the flight from Atlanta to Portland was pretty neat. Each seat had its own touch screen TV and it had a variety of movies and a trivia game that the whole plane could play agaisnt each other. My mini DVD player wouldnt work (I think I forgot to charge it), so I played trivia for a while before switching over to PTI and Sportscenter. After Sportscenter, I rented "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry." I found it hilarious and Jessica Biel is pretty easy to look at too.
We got into Portland around 730 and had to wait for the rest of the team to get in so that we could catch the bus and go to practice. We finally got to practice around 9-930 and had a really good one hour practice. After practice, we ordered some pizzas and hit the hay. Game day is here and we have flim and scouting report at 9 for the O guys and 930 for the D guys. After that, we are off to the Rose Garden for a shoot around. Following the shoot around, we had some time off. Barrett was my roomate, and we ended up sitting around watching the Packers (GO PACK) beat up on Seahawks before we ate lunch and got ready to head out to the game.
We left the hotel and made our way to the Rose Garden at 5. Once at the Roses Garden, we had our informal warm-up, followed by our offical warm-up. Game time is fast approaching and the team is getting ready to play. I didnt play in this game, but the excitment in the locker room was amazing. Game time is here and Barrett and Anthony (A-train) Kelly and I head up to a suite to watch the game. What a game it was, the team played great and we pulled out a victory and shut up a lot of the naysayers that were out there. Following the game we went back to the hotel to drop of our stuff and headed out to see what Portland had to offer.
Sunday, 415 am the bus departs and we head to the airport to head home, so much for sleeping. I am guessing that the flights home were good, all I remember was getting on the plane and waking up as we were landing in Minneapolios and doing the same from Minneapolis to Baltimore.
Once I got home, I had a few hours to watch the Giants vs Cowboys game, cook some dinner, and hang out with Christie and the dog. Another work week is upon me and its time to get prepared for Buffalo on Saturday.
I hope that everyone has a good week and I will check in again next week to tell you all about our Buffalo trip.
I hope that everyone had a safe and exciting New Years, and their 2008 is off to a great start. My New Years was fun. The party that Kyle and I threw at Mad River was a big success and everyone really enjoyed themselves (some a little too much, but who really remembers).
Today is my first day back to school since before Christmas and I was not ready to come back. I was starting to get used to getting a few hours more of sleep everyday and not having to shave, but I am happy to be back. I am not the type of person who can have too much time off, I start to go stir crazy and get bored way too easily.
With school being back in session, I figured that I would give you a look as to what a typical day is like for me. If I am lucky, I wake up to the alarm clock at 6:20. Typically my dog, Mason, wakes me up a little before that. I take Mason for a walk, come home grab a quick bite to eat or drink a protien shake, shower, shave, get dressed. and am out the door between 6:55-7:10. I get in the car and enjoy my 15-20 minutes of Mike and Mike in the Morning before I get to work. When I get to work, I fill up my water bottel (I dont drink coffee) and I go to my classroom to get everything organized for the day. My morning classes run from 830-1115 and I teach second, third, and fourth grade math. After my morning classes, I get to go to lunch (our cafeteria is awesome), and have a few minutes to prepare for my afternoon classes. I teach two classes of kindergarten science in the afternoons. I know, your probably wondering, what kind of science do you teach to kindergartners??? Believe it or not, they learn a scaled down version of a lot of different topics from the human body to dinosaurs, space, and plants. After my afternoon classes, its off to practice (I coach football, basketball, and lacrosse at Calvert). After practice, I head home, take Mason to the park for about 30 minutes and than it is off to the gym for about an hour and a half. After the gym, its a shower and dinner time with Christie. We usually cook a nice meal together or go out to eat. After that its some TV time and than bed.
This is a big week for me. Other than coming back to school, we open up with the Portland Lumberjacks this weekend in Portland. Other than the 10 hours it is going to take to get from Baltimore to Portland (via Atlanta, why...Im still not too sure about) I cant wait. We had two really tough but good three hour practices this weekend that closed out our six weeks of training camp and the team is really coming together (Watch out Portland).
Any thoughts about the first round of NFL Playoffs?
Whos your pick in the NCAA National Championship? Mine is LSU. I like OSU, I went on a recruiting trip there and it was amazing, I got to meet and get a tour from Archie Griffin (only two-time Heisman winner), see the football facitlites, and watch a game in Ohio Stadium. Throw in the game featured some of the best college football players that year (Arrington, Courtney Brown, Katzenmoyer, Vrabel, Boston, to name a few).
Until next time, have a good one and I will talk to you soon.
I hope that everyone had a Merry Christmas. Mine was good, busy, but it was nice to spend time with family. Being a teacher, it is nice not having to go back to work until January 7, but even with the days off its still busy.
The last few days have been spent returning gifts, cleaning up the mess that the holiday season has made of my house, working out, and hanging out with my girlfriend (Christie) and dog (Mason). This is something that I dont get a chance to do a lot. Working everyday and traveling every weekend can put a real strain on a relationship, so these past few days and next week have and will be nice.
The indoor season starts tomorrow night for Colorado and Edmonton. With the NLL strike, our first game was supposed to be this weekend, but we now have to wait until January 12 when we travel out to Portland. I cant wait for the season to begin. We have been practicing for what feels like forever and we still have three more weeks to go. The next three weeks are going to be very important to us, we still have a lot of work to do as a team to get ready for the seson and to show the naysayers that eventhough we have a lot of Americans, we can compete with the rest of the league.
Anyways, I hope that everyone has a happy new year and I will catch you agin in 08.
I hope that everyone is having and had an excellent holuday season. My break from school just started and I cant tell you how excited I am about it. I havent had much free time for the past three months, so it is much needed. Before I can relax, I have to get through the next few days that are jam packed with events. I head out tomorrow morning to New Jersey for Trilogy's NJ Club Team tryouts. Those go on all day and from there Boyle, Alrich, Mitch Belisle, and I are off to Titans practice. After practice it will be a quick bite to eat and bed. We practice again at 9 Sunday and have to go back to tryouts after practice.
From tryouts I will drive back to Baltimore, pick up my girlfriend (Christie) and head out to my cousin Skip's house for the 3rd annuall Lochte Family Christmas Party. It is pretty much a debachle, but it is good to see the family at the holiday. After the party, its home to bed. Monday (Christmas Eve) is Christie and mines Christmas morning. We will wake up and exchange presents, have breakfast and than she will go back to bed and I will head out to the gym. We will go to my parents house for dinner than head out to Bel Air to spend the night so we can wake up with her two little sisters (Maggie (11) and Molly (15)) Christmas morning. From there I will go back to my parents house so my mom can make me breakfast and I can hang out with them for a while. I will than go back to meet up with Christie and her family for Christmas dinner. After dinner, its bed (finally) and my break can finally begin.
Welcome to my blog, this is a first for me, but I am excited to let everyone into my life. Let me start by telling you a little bit about me.
I grew up in Baltimore, MD and went to Boys' Latin (one of the best high school lacrosse programs in the country). I left BL and went to Towson University where I was a four year starter at midfield and attack and majored in Marketing. I stayed in school for a 5th year to help Coach Seaman (hands down one of the best coaches and people that I have ever met).
After graduation, I bounced around to a few jobs before taking a teaching job at the Calvert School in Baltimore. I teach kindergarten science and math to second, third and fourth grade (kids are amazing).
Beside teaching, I play professionally for the San Francisco Dragons and the New York Titans. I also am a part of Trilogy Lacrosse (check us out...(www.trilogylacrosse.com) with Ryan Boyle, Rob Lindsey, Matt Alrich, and Matt Striebel. We are the leaders in lacrosse education.
I hope that you learned a little about me and I look forward to letting you get to me.
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