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Vail Shootout Day 3 – 10:20 am – (9th entry)

Good morning again.  I’ve been holed up in the Nerd Tank all morning doing actual work with Rock-it Pocket.  I’ve got a sweet program that basically allows me to be in the office even though I’m on the road.  The wife doesn’t like that too much since she says I work too much as it is, but this technology is invaluable when we’re out of the office for an extended period like this.

Yesterday was one of the hardest days and today we will dial it down a little bit.  Pool Play is tough on the staff because even though the games are short, there are a lot of them and it stretches us thin.  I’m excited for the Masters Championship game that will start shortly between Jagermeister and Middlebury.  That side of the bracket heated up considerably yesterday and this game should be a good one. 

We made a couple mistakes in our score reporting yesterday.  The most egregious error was on the Supermasters side where I erroneously reported that Lacrosswear defeated Rock-it Pocket in the quarterfinals.  It was an 8-7 game and Rock-it Pocket did in fact win, so I apologize for the mistake.  The other reporting gaffe was less important as a high school score was entered incorrectly.  It didn’t ultimately matter since the team I reported as the winner did in fact win, but apparently the coach of the losing team wanted to set the record straight that they didn’t lose by that much.  They will get their chance to show how good they are today, so hopefully they can step it up to match their coach’s enthusiasm.

I’m off, freed from the shackles of the poorly ventilated Nerd Tank in search of a shipping carrier to send my work back to the office.  Then I’ll be at the Masters Championship game and back here with an early report on that.  Hopefully I’ll catch some of the Supermasters Semifinals, but that is a long shot at this point.

Vail Shootout Day 3 – 2:45 pm – (10th entry)

So I’m back after an entertaining Masters Championship game between Middlebury and Jagermeister.  It was a close game, but Jager pulled it out 8-6 behind 15 saves from their goalie and a nice defensive effort in 6 on 6.  The game was mostly quality, but it lacked a little drama at the end.  Middlebury just couldn’t quite get over the hump.

The consensus from the staff was that this was a nice Jagermeister team, but they just didn’t stack up to the Rusty Red squads that had won five championships in a row before not coming to the tournament this year.  For some reason, the Masters Division only had 6 registered teams this year, making for screwy scheduling after the first two days.  It’s a shame there aren’t more of these teams because it’s one of my favorite divisions after the Men’s Elite. 

We had a little more controversy in one of the Supermasters consolation games.  Apparently one of the teams was picking up players as they went along and that’s a big no-no up here.  Once you have your roster, you are set.  You can’t just cherry pick players from other teams.  We do our best to make this tournament more than just a summer league while keeping it fun for everyone, but this is on the short list of ways to get exiled.

The weather was perfect today and this morning.  I’m back in the Nerd Tank for the afternoon when it really starts to get hot out here.  I will be taking some shots from some of the staff before dinner.  Our scheduled eating time is the Boys and Girls High School barbeque.  Suffice it to say that I’m a little old for that fiesta, so most of us who are well beyond the novelty of lax chicks and lax brahs and their awkward and often inappropriate exchanges will get some dinner in town somewhere and relax tonight.  I think a lot of the staff is ready for a slight down day tomorrow when we just have Supermasters and high school going.

The Grandmasters also completed this morning with Mr. Boh/Nacho Mamas winning the first ever bracketed championship in that division.  We’ve had Round Robin play before, but never an actual tournament like this.  So Mr. Boh/Nacho Mamas wins two awards this week – one for their play on the field and one for their awesome name.

Games continue this afternoon.  Be sure to check the daily news releases for all the scores and some summaries too this evening.

Also, a big thanks to the folks at www.realvail.com who are posting some of these blogs on their site and sending us some readers.  Check them out if you are in the Valley.

We’re jamming along today as all the divisions got their info in quickly and we were able to get scores posted and up before dinner.  That gets a big hooray from me because I’m about to go take some shots from about 10 different people and get a nice workout in.  I keep lying to myself every night by saying that I’m going to take a jog the next morning and that never comes to pass, so any time I can get in the goal is good.

There’s no way to please all of the people all of the time, apparently.  I was begging for readers before and now I’m getting complaints that the coverage here is too serious.  Sorry about that.  Apparently a blurb about the Colorado Favorites not being the “real” Team Colorado in the Boys U19 Division is causing some friction in our way-too-uptight society.  I have a hard time apologizing for stuff like that.  Of course the players for both teams are quality – otherwise there would have been no way the Favorites could have stayed with Baltimore yesterday and beaten a solid Delaware team this afternoon.

The fact that two Colorado teams are playing so well is a testament to the growth of the sport in this state.  Part of me takes special pride in knowing that we can field two teams here that can compete with just about anyone.  But I was the 26th kid on a 25 man Team Colorado my junior year of high school.  They brought in another goalie who didn’t even try out to take my spot and I didn’t get a jersey that year but I still came up and competed with the team.  We can talk about hurt feelings all we want, but every player should be able to derive some motivation from stuff like that.  I know it worked for me.  If it's causing the teams to be unfriendly with each other, than hopefully they will get to play each other on Wednesday and we can see the real competitiveness of these kids come out.  Summer tournament or not, that's what lacrosse is all about.  It is a "Warrior's Game" after all.

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