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DENVER, CO – Today was the opening ceremony for the World Championships, and it was another day of things that were very special for me personally.
We were coming to the end of our morning meeting, and our Referee In Chief, Tom Sutton, says to the room, “Where’s Keith Glock and Nathan Adams? Raise your hands.” So immediately my intestines turned into a vice, the hair on my arms stood up and my brain started firing on all cylinders thinking, “Oh no, what did I screw up?”
Then four minutes of silence passed between Tom asking where we were to him actually saying his next phrase (OK maybe it was only like 2.5 seconds, but it felt like four minutes), and magically out come these words: “You’re carrying our flag onto the field today.”
Holy. Moly.
This is my first International Lacrosse event, and to get tabbed to do that was a great honor. Nate and I were literally the first people on the field for the opening ceremony, and the officials all lined the far sideline from end to end as the teams marched in. It was a pretty surreal experience.
In the video from Tuesday, Chris Clark and I talked about how he had to read the “Officials Oath” which basically reads that we are going to be fair and impartial and be true to the rules of international lacrosse.
What we didn’t know was that the players have a “Players Oath” as well. That was read by Team USA midfielder Paul Rabil.
Before I get to the Players Oath, let me say a few things about Paul Rabil: 1 – He is a mountain of a man. He’s just tall and built like a brick you know what. He’s as intimidating a lacrosse player as I’ve ever met when you just stand next to him. I almost feel like, how the heck can anyone guard this guy. 2 – It’s a race between he and the Thompsons of the Iroquois for “most popular player” in terms of who the fans are most interested in. When he drives to the goal and shoots on the run you hear lots of oohs and ahhhs. He also got the loudest ovation of anyone on opening night. And 3 – You know you are a superstar when the players from all the other nations are whispering “that’s Paul Rabil…” to each other as he walks by.
The awed whispers from other countries were common during the opening ceremonies. Let’s just say this – he’s BIG TIME.
I am as impartial as they come when it’s time to put the stripes on. But as an American, seeing that mountain of a man carry the Stars and Stripes into that stadium last night was pretty cool. I almost wanted him to stick the flag in the midfield sod like a medieval warrior on the battlefield and start screaming. I will say though that it would have been equally as cool (and he’s equally as massive) if former Hunterdon Central and Army standout Garrett Thul carried in the flag.
If you’ve never met Thul, he’s just a great dude. Respectful as they come, and FREAKING MASSIVE. At the USA tryout last Labor Day Weekend I saw another player take a 15 yard run at him, lay into him with everything he had, and end up on the ground. He literally just bounced right off of Thul. Looking back on it, I had the privilege of officiating the Group IV Final the year he was a senior at Hunterdon Central. They played Bridgewater-Raritan and BR went up by five or six goals in the second half. Little by little Thul and Mike Diehl (who went to Rutgers off that same attack line) clawed their way back and ended up winning. It was special because it was my first ever Group Final, and I got to work with Phil DiDomenico (Go ahead. Pick up that name I just dropped.)
Back to the Players Oath. Funny moment came when Rabil turned to Chris Clark, who had the Officials’ Oath in his hand and said “where did you get that? Did they give it to you?” Upon finding out that Rabil didn’t have the Players’ Oath with him, Chris ran and found US Lacrosse liaison Charlie Obermayer who made sure Paul was well equipped to deliver his words.
The other funny line from the reading of the oaths came from a US Lacrosse volunteer who turned to Chris Clark and said, “now I know why they picked you to read the Officials’ Oath. Anyone else would have looked small standing next to this guy” referring to Rabil.
Another note from the opening ceremonies with local flavor: FDU head coach Pat Scarpello and Cabrini head coach Steve Colfer are coaching the Bermuda team. I saw both of them and was taken aback for a minute. Then we shook hands and took a picture. It would be fun to ref one of their games here. Just another thing to put in the scrapbook.
The USA/Canada game was intense, as I am sure you noticed from watching on TV. It was more intense in person. There were about 8,000 people (my estimation) in the stands which made the place feel pretty full. If the whole tournament is like that game we are in for some good stuff.
Here is your update on the Target Jersey. As you know if you’ve read the other days preceding this in the blog, we went to the Colorado Rockies game Tuesday night. Well, in about the fourth or fifth inning, one of our compatriots from Japan who was at the game with us, fell dead asleep in the middle of the crowd, hunched over with this back horizontal with the ground. He was out for a good three or four minutes before he woke up to all the people taking pictures with him. It was pretty awesome.
Needless to say, he’s got a target on his back right now.
It was a long, long day and I have to get to sleep. It’s nearly midnight and I have to be up at 5:15 a.m. to shower to be on the 6 a.m. shuttle out to the fields for my game, which starts at 8:30 a.m.
Another great day in the books.
