A couple of years ago circumstances surrounded me with coworkers who played/coached/watched lacrosse. And as a bartender with access to every sports broadcasting network designed by humans, and some designed by monkeys, it wasn't hard for me to find a lacrosse game to watch. I liked it (field lacrosse, both the NCAA tournament and MLL), and I thought it translated well to TV. High-scoring, plenty hitting, and with the birds-eye view of the TV camera even an ignoramus like me could see the plays setting up, and defensive moves to counter those plays. So, yeah. Yay lacrosse. Hugh, how does the three-long-stick rule make the game different, playwise? I suppose it was implemented by MLL to facilitate scoring, to sell the game to fans, but I don't know enough about the sport to understand how this rule impacts play.
A few midfielders started playing with long sticks at some point in the early 90's in order to play better defense: since the longer stick enables the middie to keep the attacker from getting too close (once you're inside the range of a stick check from someone who's turned to face you, it's relatively easy to roll, bull, or face dodge around him), coaches have the option of adding a primarily defensive player as the situation merits. As substitutions are made on the fly, this can change game tactics quite a bit, particularly if a player is in the penalty box and the defense needs shoring up. Since the advent of the long-stick middie, more of the game is played in between the restraining boxes (in the middle of the field) and NCAA games have seen scoring go down, as coaches use these "extra defenders" to attenuate the potency of the opposition's offense. Long sticks confer a couple of offensive advantages as well. During faceoffs, if the two wing middies have long sticks, they may have an easier time reaching and scooping a loose ball off the ground. Players often start with a long stick for the draw, then run to the sideline for a replacement stick for their offensive set, or are substituted for a regular short-stick middie. The long stick is generally an offensive disadvantage, though, since it's harder to protect the ball the farther it is from your body, but sidearm crank shots from a long stick can be much harder than from a short stick (physics, right? Something about fulcrums or leverage or something...). The MLL rule change is there to discourage overly defensive coaching and push the game into the offensive set; another of the rule changes they made, allowing defenders and attackers to leave the restraining box as soon as the faceoff starts instead of waiting until one team or the other has possession, speeds up the game and lets defenders and their long sticks into the faceoff free-for-all. I think all of the MLL rule changes, including the 2-point shot, are improvements that suit the caliber of the players and the general parity of the league (lax has never been played at such a high level, by such a collection of talented players, as in MLL). Those rules would be inappropriate for high school or NCAA lax, though, where the lack of parity between opponents means teams need more tactical tools to make up for disadvantages in personnel. Go Bayhawks!
