NLL Insider

Flappin’ jaws and trash talkin’ is nothing new to indoor lacrosse but the problem is, we never get to hear it from the stands or press press box. Wouldn’t it be fantastic to have some of these guys mic’d up? I’m sure there’s a lot of love goin’ back and forth.

But what happens when the smack reaches a new level? Say, as in, between two entire teams and not just the players? Well, we’ve got ourselves a fine seat for what’s being thrown down between the Edmonton Rush and the Calgary Roughnecks. Tongue in cheek? Maybe. All in good fun? Perhaps. But you gotta know there’s an element of real heat there as well because not only are these teams just a few hours apart from each other waaaaay over in Alberta, but they’re duking it out for playoff position in the tight West Division.

So what’s going on? Well, we could say the Riggers kicked it all off with an advertisment placed in the April 4 Edmonton Sun. (Thanks to teesix over at WingsZone for scanning the ad for us to borrow). Getting ready for the April 5 game between the fellas, the ad in the newspaper referred to Edmonton as the City of Losers, which seems harsh at first, but our Ty Pilson explains the meaning behind it.  Next, we have Rush owner Bruce Urban offering to buy tickets for all the Rush fans who want to make the drive from Edmonton to Calgary for their matchup this Saturday.

“He asked me if it was OK if I did that,” Roughnecks owner Brad Banister told the Calgary Herald. “(I said) you want to fill up my building? Absolutely.”

“I want it to be louder than the Calgary fans, because the Edmonton fans are louder and prouder fans,” Urban said in a news release. “I want to come in here and I want to humiliate Calgary fans, just to show who the real fans are.”

To which Banister says: “I think Calgary will step up and won’t let that happen. They’ll be dismal in the stands and nobody will be able to see them. We’ll beat them like we should have last weekend.”

Is it working? Hard to tell right now, but our resident expert, Ted Jenner, tells us that at least one bus load of fans is set to make the 2-hour trek and we still have a day or two to get another bus or two ready to go. “I think what Bruce Urban and Brad Banister are doing in Alberta is great for the game of lacrosse,” Jenner says. “It’s all in spirited fun, it’s helping to spread the word about the great game and, honestly, who the hell is going to complain about free tickets?”

Well said, bro. Game on.

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