CAN'T WAIT

I'm starting things off with this video because it never gets old. Ever.




It's finally here. Tomorrow starts the 2011 campaign of the Plattsburgh State men's lacrosse team. I'm real excited about this season for a number of reasons:

-This is one of the most talented teams I have played on in my four years here. On paper it might look like we are a young team but we have a great mix of experience and youth in all the right places.

-The schedule has us playing some great lacrosse games including a Spring Break in Greensboro, North Carolina. To see the full schedule click here.

-The opportunity to raise awareness for another great cause this semester. Currently we are working on making our April 8th home game against Morrisville an event to raise money for breast and prostate cancer. The working title is the "Protect Your Equipment Game" but I am completely open to suggestions. We are hoping to sell t-shirts that will go towards cancer research. The game will also be played at night to bring out the biggest crowd. Oh did I mention we are working on getting alternate pink jerseys for the game as well. I'm not gonna put out any prototypes but think Don Cherry mixed with Craig Sager.

Yeah we're gonna go that route^.

-This year we're gonna really try to give the readers as much behind the scenes stuff as we can. I tried to keep the blog as up to date as possible but I know I slacked off a bit so this year I'm gonna try to step my game up. We also have a flip camera at our arsenal so expect plenty of videos on the road and what not. I also have a possible twitter account in the works. I'll leave it at that.

-On a personal level this will be my final year playing collegiate lacrosse so I am pumped to get one more shot at winning a SUNYAC title and taking a run at the National Championship. It's weird to think that after this season I'm no different than those out of shape 30-something guys on my summer league team...(Sorry guys! Go Team Saloon!)

Hope everyone had a great break. Having six weeks off from school without a job gives you a whole lot of free time. I will in short recap my breaks biggest achievements in order:

-Took trips to NYC and Baltimore in an effort to figure out what I will do when I leave the place that lets me write thesis papers on Entourage.
-Watched the entire Showtime series "Weeds", got progressively worse but could not stop watching
-Knocked out seasons 3 and 4 of HBO's "The Wire", got progressively better
-Got to level 32 of Call of Duty
-Watched several terrible documentaries/indie films that were on Netflix Online

Apparently their is a football game next Sunday but I'm not sure...for all intense and purposes the season ended January 23rd at around 9 p.m. ish.

I'm a big fan of American Idol.

Now Let me clarify that statement. I'm a big fan of watching people make an absolute fool of themselves on national television in the hopes of getting there 15 minutes of fame. So in short, I'm a big fan of the first 2 weeks of American Idol when they travel around and give out the tickets. I was a little nervous about the two new judges. Simon obviously is a ruthless dude who does not have a soul. I'm pretty sure he wakes up every morning and eats a bowl of dead kittens in baby seal blood everyone morning. Paula was just...out there. Plus that whole controversy about her sleeping with the contestants was great. Those are two tough people to top and "J.Lo" and "Steven Tyler" aren't the two names that come to mind to replace that duo. While Lopez has, in my opinion been lackluster Tyler has been off the charts in the unintentional comedy rating. He random screams of "YEAH" during peoples tryouts and the way he unsuccessfully flirts with the younger contestants is priceless. But I digress. This song is a tribute to the Yonkers native who has made yet another season of Idol off the charts.

And for the record if you watch American Idol once they get into the actual singing you are an idiot. Double that if you text in your votes for people. Triple that if you do this multiple times in hopes of affecting the actual outcome. Turn off your computer and go for a walk if you have actually auditioned for Idol.
-DeFran

Freezin' for a Reason

This past weekend, members of the Plattsburgh State Men's Lacrosse team took part in the Inaugural Polar Plunge to raise awareness and funds for the athletes of Special Olympics New York. Approximately 200 people leaped into the chilly waters of Lake Champlain to raise $22,000 for the Special Olympics.

Team FUNdraiser

I never realized until now that the word fundraiser literally means FUND-RAISER, as in we are "raising funds". Well now that the internet knows how much of an idiot I am I should pass along this gem to you guys and gals.

Looking to represent the Dirty Birds in your native town but don't have the chance to get up to Plattsburgh to buy the gear? Looking for that perfect holiday gift for your child or significant other? Just can't get enough Plattsburgh Lacrosse gear? Want to look like your favorite Plattsburgh lacrosse player? If the answer to the last question is yes I suggest you stop shaving and invest in a plethora of sweatpants. If the answer to the rest of those questions is yes than you my friend are in luck. We here at Plattsburgh have developed a way for you to help yourself to some fine Plattsburgh lax clothing while helping out the program! Head here to find a ton of men lacrosse gear that you can order to have shipped directly to your home! Also because we are so boss we got the nice folks at "Wear Your Colors" to give us free shipping on all orders over $50. A portion of the profit made on the items will be donated to the team so everyone wins. If you wanna get gear but can't find anything you like check out Turfers main site here and we'll see if we can update it.

That's really it for now folks. Hope your fall is going well. I'll feel a lot better when the Jets stop trying to kill me. Also Call Of Duty: Black Ops came out today so any parent curious as to why their son stopped calling them that is probably why.

Can you hear it....?
-DeFran

Representing the Red, White and Blue

Awesome game on Thursday! I believe the final was something like 26-6, a far cry from last years thrashing. Although I don't think McGill was the team we expected them to be we still executed well up and down the field.

Today marked the official end of fall ball with our final practice on this rainy afternoon. I think we really finished our off season strong. Although their is plenty of room for improvement we are making moves in the right direction.

That's all for now. I'll keep you posed throughout the semester of the on goings of our team.
-DeFran

America got a couple of things right: cars....and freedom

Hello all! I'd like to start off this patriotic post by showing you a great commercial:



Sorry I haven't posted on here lately. Strangely senior year of college isn't as easy as senior year of college. For all who were there the alumni game went great, except for Luke's broken thumb that is. Other than that the game was a lot of fun for everyone.

Fall ball has gone well these past couple of weeks. The team is really starting to gel together. The younger guys have learned the system and are proving their worth day in and day out.

On to tomorrow. For those of you that don't know we will be shaving our heads at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow in the ACC as part of the St. Baldrick's foundation. Up to this point we have raised $5,250 which is $1,250 more than our goal! But we still could use more so if your interested in donating go here.

After the head shaving we will be playing McGill in our fall scrimmage. This is a huge game for us as it is our only scrimmage in the fall and one of our last events for the whole fall ball. It will be a good measuring stick for how far we have come and how far we have to go. The game is at 7:30 p.m. so if you can make it we would greatly appreciate it.


For those of you driving up tomorrow be safe. I leave you with a classic American tale of overcoming the odds.
-DeFran

Fresh Start

Hey all! So we just completed our first week of fall ball. Gotta say I am impressed with a lot of the new guys. Although we lost a lot of talent to graduation we definitely are bringing in some great players.

Fall ball kicked off at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday for us all. In an effort to be one of the best conditioned teams in the country, our team has pledged to do the "Insanity" workouts featuring the infamous Shaun T. Let me tell you, their is really something special about going to sleep when it is dark out and waking up when it is still dark out. All kidding aside though it is a really good workout and it will definitely benefit our team. Getting 40 18-22 year olds up before 7 a.m. is a testament to how dedicated our team is to winning this year.

Not much else to speak of. Practice has been basic, nothing out of the ordinary. Alumni game is next weekend so that should be fun.

More importantly St. Baldricks is less than a month away! If your interested in donating to an awesome cause check it out here. You could honestly not pick a better foundation to give to. Any donation small or large is greatly appreciated!

Well looks like we all know who the REAL New York football team was this Sunday...

-DeFran

Ready to Start

Hey all! Hope everyone had a great summer. I know I did. Their is nothing quite like learning the finer points of air conditioning installation and maintenance. Really makes you appreciate cold air.

Not much to report on the team over the summer but I'll hit the high points:

-The majority of the returners and new guys from Long Island played on a summer league team together that did pretty good in a tough league.

-As for our friends out West, although two of the Oswego natives weren't able to play on their usual summer league team (Tucker and Will), Sean Jaquin and sophmore transfer Brett McClelland brought home the teams third straight UOLL championship

-My summer league team won back-to-back-to-back league championships...BOSS.

-Sophomore LSM Ryan Phillips played for the Dutch national team in the World Games in Manchester, England. That's legit.

-In our own micro-version of "The Decision 2010" Kyle Norchi announced that he would in fact be bringing his talents back to Plattsburgh for a fifth year.

-I turned 21.

I think that about sums up everything important.

Now...onward and upward to this year! Believe it or not fall ball is just around the corner. Tuesday is our first official day of tryouts. The alumni game is less than 2 weeks from that, occurring on September 25! Our fall scrimmage is set for Thursday October 14 when we will take on McGill under the lights. As an added bonus all the Cards will shave their heads as part of the St.Baldricks foundation. St. Baldricks is a great organization that our team got involved with last year. Team members shave their heads to show support for children suffering from cancer. Last year we raised a ton of money and hope to bring in even more money this year. For more information and to donate go here.

I drafted my fantasy team named "Cromartie's Ninth" (in honor of one of my favorites cornerbacks) tonight. A couple of the guys on the team are in the league so I'll be sure to keep you posted on my dominance in our league "Jamarcus's Secret Sauce".

That is all that's really going on now. I'll keep you posted on fall ball throughout the semester. For now though it's mostly pick up.

By the way...He's backkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

As always I'll leave you with a jam:



-DeFran