Whoops...
That was a mistake by the Fresno State athletic department...
So let me get this straight...women's swimming & diving gets cut circa 2004, leaving scores of athletes with no team to compete for any longer. So they keep going to school, as normal, everyday students who just go to class, finish college and about the time they settle into a few careers, their sport is reinstated. Why?
Does Fresno State have more money now for athletics than it did then?
Oh, and here's the real kicker -- women's lacrosse was also added. Now, I don't know how to say this, and I don't want to be rude, but lacrosse sucks. If you don't believe me, just watch the first American Pie. That guy "Oz" chose singing in the choir over his championship lacrosse game. And that was in Michigan or somewhere more eastern than California, where people actually play lacrosse.
I've lived in Fresno for a long time, and not once in my life have I ever heard of a high school anywhere close to here playing lacrosse. Who even knows how to play lacrosse!?
Speaking of sports people know a thing or two about...shouldn't the athletic department have chosen a couple women's sports that would at least be spectator-friendly? Uh hum, water polo! How many people are going to pack the Clovis North High stands to watch swim & dive, and how many are going to go watch lacrosse (a game they've probably never heard of and/or don't have a clue how it's played)?
Speaking of which, where's the lacrosse field gonna be? They sure as heck better not decide to take a chunk of the Red Lot tailgating area from us next to put in a women's soccer/lacrosse specific facility! Don't do it athletic department, it's just not worth it!
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Actually I'm very excited about the addition of women's lacrosse at Fresno State. Girl's and Boy's lacrosse are the fastest growing HS sports in California since it became an official CIF sport in 2000. Granted the sport is not in the Central Valley where I grew up but give it time. As far as it not being fan friendly and no one will watch it, well I hate to say it but no one watches most women's sports.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is interesting that the University is chosing to add a sport that does not have a feeder system in this area, lacrosse is demanding athletic sport that takes a great deal of talent and is called the fastest game on two feet for good reason. Please note though that the men's and women's games are vastly different. The kids playing in American Pie were awful and not representative of the skill level of the game - trust me, us players cringed when we saw that. People may not know lacrosse now but you've got to start somewhere. Here is a look for your readers who may not be familiar with the sport. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_wb3n3hswY
ReplyDeleteThanks for the input. I know there is a diehard lacrosse community out there...the problem is, I just don't think "out there" necessarily includes many people in the Valley.
ReplyDeleteThe American Pie reference was just a joke, not to be taken seriously.
Don't get me wrong, I will root and cheer for any Fresno State team, including lacrosse. And I felt absolutely terrible for the swimmers who lost their sport a few years back. But I just think there are other sports that Fresno State could have chosen and been more successful in (i.e. water polo) based solely on the amount of talent available in the Valley (as I said in an earlier blog).
FSdogs1, your lack of worldliness in this topic is amusing. Lacrosse is VERY popular in Southern California. It is slowly creeping up north and should be a statewide sport within the next decade.
ReplyDeleteAs far as women's water polo, someone told me your wife and all your inlaws have played at high levels. Sounds like a textbook conflict of interest on your part.
How can we not take your recommendation with a grain of salt?
Hey, take water polo out of the equation if you'd like. That doesn't change the fact that there is no high school lacrosse in the Valley, which just so happens to be talent-rich in other sports that could have been added.
ReplyDeleteConflict of interest? This blog is a fan blog...there's no such thing as conflict of interest...our interest is Fresno State sports.
I actually agree that water polo would have been a better addition than swimming/diving but not lacrosse (I love lacrosse). The reason water polo wasn't added though is because there's not enough scholarships in that sport. If you're going to say that there are other sports out there that could have been added that may be true but you have to look at the number of scholarships those sports would add. Fresno State had to add scholarships and that's what they were looking at (along with annual cost).
ReplyDeleteWhat other sports could have been added that would have added 12 scholarships?
Lacrosse makes so much sense from the perspective of the Athletic Department. You have four teams to play that are a bus ride away in the Bay Area, another short flight to Oregon and Denver. From a competitive standpoint this sport automatically gives Fresno State the opportunity to compete at a high level immediately. With the right coach and a committed athletic department which they have, Fresno State will be very good.
-Scot
I really appreciate your reply to my comments about lacrosse and apologize that I didn't catch your American Pie reference was a joke - but I think we're on the same page that it made the men's sport look bad. I am from the east coast where I played in college and moved to San Diego where I watched the sport grow from a handful of teams to a lacrosse power west of the Mississippi, and the growth has been amazing. There is a difference though in that San Diego has had feeder teams so that girls have been playing since middle school and are quite competitive once they graduate college. Without the sport being well known here, I'm concerned about getting the players here.
ReplyDeleteI really want the sport to succeed and grow here, but I again I hold reservations that the University is looking for a quick fix and maybe didn't plan appropriately. Most schools start out at club status, such as U of Oregon to build their program (which Oregon has become quite a success) so that they do have a chance to grow and prosper. The Naval Academy is in the middle of one of the most highly recruited towns for lacrosse in general and has a nationally competitive men's team, but their women's team has been playing club for a bit over a decade. Navy has some of the best athletes, period, and will go varsity DI this season with a coach that won 8 DI championship, and just last season still lost to a local NJCAA two year school. Granted east coast and west coast lacrosse are two different animals, and may not be a fair comparison.
My long winded point is this ... I am incredibly concerned again that this is a quick fix and the University only took the number of scholarships into consideration, and if this team isn't successful in the next few years because it wasn't built properly, will they get yanked as well? My heart breaks for those swimmers and divers who had the rug pulled out from under them just a few short years ago to only see the sport return when it shouldn't have been pulled in the first place.
I hope I'm wrong and the lacrosse team will take everyone by surprise and the sport will take off, as well as be able to recruit players and coaches from all over and from well-known programs.
I'm happy to hear that you will root for women's lacrosse. I just found your blog yesterday and plan to keep up with it.
"There is a difference though in that San Diego has had feeder teams so that girls have been playing since middle school and are quite competitive once they graduate college."
ReplyDeleteI meant when they graduated high school, but I think that was probably understood. Thanks again for allowing me to comment.
I can't believe your comment on the fact that people wouldn't pack the stands for women's swimming and diving, so therefore it wasn't a good choice to bring back. Yes, that is true that it doesn't pack the stands. However, swimming & diving both take a tremendous amount of dedication and work. Putting in 30+ hours a week to a sport deserves some recognition. I'm glad Fresno State is bringing swimming & diving back, it's just too bad that they didn't keep it all along.
ReplyDeleteI don't think anyone said that swimming/diving wasn't a good choice because people wouldn't pack the stands. I made the comment in the first post that no one really watches women's sports. But really I guess you could say that's true for all the sports teams (except football and basketball) no matter if it's mens or womens. Really I'm just glad they have the programs.
ReplyDelete-Scot
No such thing as conflict of interest? HA!
ReplyDeleteHad you married into a family of seed-spitters, you'd be pushing for that to be a varsity sport.
We can't take your word on this topic. You have family pressure to support water polo.
OK Mr./Mrs. "Anonymous"...you wrote:
ReplyDelete"FSdogs1, your lack of worldliness in this topic is amusing. Lacrosse is VERY popular in Southern California. It is slowly creeping up north and should be a statewide sport within the next decade."
First of all, being popular in Southern California isn't good support for your argument. Because Southern California is not the Valley, where Fresno State is located. That was my biggest pro-water polo argument, that there's loads of local water polo talent, and little if any lacrosse talent locally.
Now, let's hope FS can pull recruits from wherever they do play lacrosse, because it will be expensive to recruit out of state, and I truly hope this program is a success (as I hope for all FS programs).
My point with water polo was that it's ALREADY taken off IN the Valley. We don't have to wait 10 years for it to be all over the state. Granted, it would be somewhat neat for FS to be cutting edge and ahead of the curve with this program.
Now, onto your "conflict of interest" argument. If I did have family members who played water polo, does that mean I'm too biased to blog about something mentioning water polo? Last time I checked, a blog is opinion-based.
And let me ask you a question, have you or do you know someone who has played lacrosse? Because if so, wouldn't that be a conflict of interest for you to come on here and call my lack of interest in lacrosse a "lack of worldliness"...?
Or let's take basketball. If one of the bloggers on this site played a high level of basketball, does that make him exempt from all basketball-related discussion.
This blog is full of bloggers' opinions. The whole blog is based on being written by the Fresno State fan for the Fresno State fan. And then when I presented factual support (there's more local water polo talent than lacrosse talent) you called that a conflict of interest...
dear retardymous, i like pizza. so i guess its a conflict of interest for me to make pizzas and to tell people about how tasty they are. also, i hope you never read or had a textbook cuz you said "textbook conflict of interest" and that sound like a conflict of interest on YOUR part by using the word "textbook" to further your case against FSDogs when IN FACT, PRO BONO HENCEFORTH, you USED INEQUVICALLY the same word in which you have either owned BY POSSESION or said VERBALLY in your defense QUID PRO QUO by using it to your advantage providing the hersay conflict of interest PER SE, IPSO FACTO. i rest my case.
ReplyDeleteWho's in for bringing back Men's Soccer? We were in the Pac-10 for crying out loud!
ReplyDeleteAnother point to consider..."the 2nd anonymous" made a very interesting point about many teams starting out as club sports (a la Oregon). Fresno State's club women's water polo team, as a matter of fact, just won a national championship and spent all or part of the previous two years ranked in the top 3.
ReplyDeleteYour point about scholarships is also well taken, and I must say I'm not sure off the top of my head how many water polo scholarships are allowable? But I do know that there are many water polo schools within a bus ride of Fresno State as well, several of which are among the top 5 or 10 in the country (UCLA, Cal, Stanford, USC, San Diego State, UC San Diego, UC Santa Cruz, CS Bakersfield, Loyola Marymount, UC Irvine, UC Santa Barbara, San Jose State, CS Northridge, UOP, Long Beach State, etc.).