I’ve been hearing this claim for at least ten years. Sports Illustrated did a story on the claim seven years ago. If it was true then - and to be honest it sounds like baloney - it probably isn’t anymore.
The most remarkable growth in sport in North America in the last ten years has obviously been MMA (“ultimate fighting”). I can’t say that pleases me, but it’s pretty clearly a much faster growing concern than lacrosse.
I’m channelling my husband, who is a very avid student of all things lacrosse (here’s a link to his Bleacher Report page where you can read all his articles if you like) - he sent me this link:
I think we might be talking about two different things - we’re talking about participation in a sport, and I think you might be talking about viewership, in which case I would agree, people are not watching lacrosse in droves. Their loss - it’s a very entertaining game to watch.
They stuck to their flight plan, which was not in restricted airspace. If there was any sort of terrorist plot whasoever going on with that plane (either Sussex drive or the balloon festival or anything else you imagine), do you really think they would have obeyed the RCMP’s instructions to land? :dubious:
And if the plane had refused to land, I highly, highly doubt they would have been able to scramble fighters fast enough to intercept it, given that it was already over Ottawa.
Mine is too. However…
If the RCMP (or the overeager officer) grounded the aircraft because of the content of the message, then it seems to me that we definitely have a Charter breach.
I have to agree with RickJay here. When I lived in Calgary, there was a great deal of media emphasis placed on the local pro lacrosse team (the Calgary Roughnecks?); but here in Lethbridge, only two hours south of Calgary, lacrosse is completely off the radar. To the best of my knowledge, neither the local college nor the university have a team; and on my travels across Canada in the last few years (and you are all aware that I get to Toronto a few times a year, either by driving or by air), lacrosse rates two column inches (if that) at the bottom of the sports statistics page in the newspapers I read as I cross the country. It seems to me that lacrosse is not dying, but it is a very niche sport.
I’m not happy with the rise of MMA either, but it does seem to be popular. My local sports bar shows every MMA PPV event. Other than that, my local sports bar shows, in order of popularity, (a) hockey, (b) football (both CFL and NFL), (c) baseball, (d) golf, (e) international soccer (we have a surprising number of expat-UKers here), and (f) Sportsnet/Sportscentre wrap-ups and highlights. I’ve never seen lacrosse on TV at the sports bar; except, perhaps, for a quick squib during Sportsnet/Sportscentre.
I don’t think anyone thought it might be some kind of terrorist attack. But, a couple of years ago the RCMP on parliament hill were raked over the coals when some Greenpeace supporters, dressed as construction workers, were able to gain access to the rooftop of the centre block and unfurl anti-government banners. Everyone at the time said, well good thing they were only Greenpeace supporters, and not some terrorist group.
This time the RCMP probably didn’t want to take any chances. I really don’t think this was a big deal either way. PSAC got their message out; the plane was asked to land just in case, and it’s not much of a story otherwise.
I googled “fastest growing sport in North America.” It returned in the following order (not that it matters): ultimate, pickleboard, kiteboarding, roller derby, mixed martial arts, cycling, soccer, jiu jitsu, snowmobiling, rugby, seniors softball, lacrosse as cited from this thread on the SDMB, golf, lacrosse (non-SDMB reference), floor ball (floor hockey), and girls ice hockey.
I think that there are two types of sports press releases: those that advertise that their sport is “the fastest growing sport in North America” and those that forgot to advertise that their sport is “the fastest growing sport in North America.”
When did they stop using wooden lacrosse sticks and start using the easy-scoop plastic sticks?
Years ago. Plastic and composite materials are just way more economical.
As to the issue of “fastest growing sport,” even with the links it looks like self promotion all the way. One of the tricks with the term “fastest growing” is that if you phrase it in percentage terms, growth from “really really small” to “really small” can be characterized as “Fastest growing” even if other sports have added more players in absolute terms. If I invest Rickball and get ten friends to play it, if in 10 years 200 people are playing it I can say with a straight faace that the sport has experienced 1900% growth.
Even at allegedly high levels of percentage growth I doubt lacrosse has grown as fast as MMA in terms of participation. In the last ten years the number of meatheads headed to the gym with dreams of glory in “the octagon” has jumped tenfold. For that matter I’d bet dollars to donuts the percentage growth in “Quidditch” is higher, as stupid and ridiculous as that is. (People really do play it.)
Not that I’m beating on lacrosse, it’s a fine sport, but, hey, it’s the SDMB.
I always looked at lacrosse (yes, I played it) as a summer version of ice hockey. I realize that they have very different origins, but the way it is usually played these days (i.e. box lacrosse), it is (like ball hockey) something very similar to ice hockey that kids can play in the summer without having to track down and pay for summer ice time.
I grew up in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario, and we never played lacrosse or ever talkked about it. We did get some exposure to field lacrosse in PT, just like field hockey.Then to my surprise, a former classmate of mine, Ted Greves who did play a season for the Hamilton Ti-Cats as a lineman, quit and then played semi pro lacrosse in New York State for more money. He never played the sport in high school. That was about 40 years ago.
I haven’t seen any increase in popularity since then.
I have little sympathy for PSAC after this latest endorsement of the PQ
Really a union representing federal employees across Canada is throwing their support behind a separatist party ? They’ve gotten so bold, they don’t even bother hiding the fact they have separatists within their own ranks. What a joke.
Should of kept our Capital in Kingston methinks.
That’s great, but Charter rights are still more important.
And speaking of the PQ, Quebec’s voting today. Be very depressed in advance — it’s easier that way.
I would agree with this point if we were talking about a couple hundred people, like Rickball, but we’re talking about roughly an 870,000 person increase in participation over a single decade, andinto areasthat were not tradtional hotbeds of the game. I’d call that a figure too large to easily dismiss, but YMMV.
I’d have to go look for a cite, but I heard about a year ago that Calgary’s lcarosse community had increased in size by tenfold in the decade that they’ve had a professional indoor team. It certainly didn’t hurt, of course, that one of the team’s stars back then, Kaleb Toth, was a Calgary boy, nor does it hurt that one of the current stars, Geoff Snider, is also a Calgary kid.
It is certainly true that the sport is well behind many others in absolute numbers, but when you consider that sports like baseball showed marked decreases in participation in the same period, it becomes more than just a statistical blip.
Whether or not that eventually translates into more visibility in the public media is a whole other discussion, but ultimately, if you can’t get your product on prime time TV, there’s a limit to how much interest you’ll be able to truly generate.
I just saw this - Edmonton driver causes crash to save four children.
Not much to add, other than ‘Way to go!!’.
Ugh.
On the plus side, I got out of work a little early. On the down side, I spent an hour and a half getting home, because so did everyone else. Let’s see…plus side…I saw cute Bus Guy at the polling station. Down side… the guy crossing out names on the list was creepy and smelly. The ballot also gave me a papercut. Um…free parking? It was rather quick?
This is the first election I’ve voted in where I well and truly wished that “none of the above” was a valid option. I think our best outcome is a strong minority government… strong enough to get good shit done, weak enough to not do too much stupid shit. I generally feel that way about all politics, though… keep it simple and fuck ideology. No one who wants to be a politician should be allowed to be.
…now where’s that Elections Drinking Game I saw…I might need it.
//grumpy.
Calgary named Cultural Capital of Canada for 2012. (Well, sharing the honour with the Niagara region of southern Ontario.) I told you guys it isn’t just a cultural wasteland here! 
Yup, definitely aren’t any good options this time round. On the plus side, a PQ majority is looking more and more unlikely. (Damn near impossible, by now, actually.)
If you remember what that drinking game was, by all means please share it.
Well then. PQ minority with a Liberal opposition and a CAQ balance of power (with very different economic ideas than the PQ).
Let’s do this again next summer, shall we? :smack:
I don’t think the province will explode, at least. Maybe housing prices will go down…I hope so, because I want to buy and would like to pay less 
But oh, it could be so much worse. We’ll see about stability — honestly, it could last much longer than a year, if the PQ doesn’t do anything outlandish.
Given that federalists/effectively-federalists will hold the balance of power in the Assembly, I don’t see there being an especially nasty economic impact, but I guess we’ll see soon enough.