NLL Insider

Another year and another list of Lou Marsh Trophy nominees and nary a lacrosse player to be found. There’s something to be said for consistency, and that something to be said is that it’s garbage. After all, it’s not like we haven’t been here before.

In 2007 John Grant Jr. was named the National Lacrosse League regular season MVP as well as the Champion’s Cup MVP after he won the title with his Rochester Knighthawks. During his summer vacation he broke the MLL single-season points record and was named the Offensive Player of the Year as well as league MVP. And that’s when he wasn’t busy winning the Mann Cup with the Peterborough Lakers and being awarded the Mike Kelly Memorial Trophy for, yes, the Mann Cup’s Most Valuable Player. Add to that the 2007 World Indoor Lacrosse Championship win and maybe it’s a good thing he didn’t register on the Lou Marsh selection committee’s radar. Maybe they were just trying to keep his trophy shelf from pulling down an entire wall.

Unless we collectively have the memory of a goldfish, there’s no reason to be surprised that his lowly one championship, one MVP, and one Offensive Player of the Year award effort wasn’t enough to land him on the ‘08 list for Canada’s Athlete of the Year. And if you scanned the nods with your fingers crossed looking for a Mr. John Tavares then go ahead and give your head a shake. I’ll wait. What could possibly make you think that winning an NLL championship and setting the all-time scoring record would be enough? Surely not lacrosse-related precedent.

Maybe instead of a Grant Jr. or a Tavares having their names etched into elitist award history this year it actually is more fitting to have Adam Van Koeverden, a kayaker who trained all year for two races and then fell apart in the first one like a Faberge egg on the business end of a Paddy Driscoll drop kick. Or a major league baseball player who hit 13 home runs, because you just don’t see that very often. And far be it from me to accuse anyone of shenanigans, but I’m pretty sure the only reason Jeffrey Buttle was nominated was so the Star could post this picture.

But no, as fans and players and coaches and proponents of this great game, we don’t need to be angry. We don’t need to send expletive-laden emails to the Toronto Star. (Keep it clean.) Maybe instead we should be grateful. Maybe it’s exactly this kind of national ignorance that breeds the underdogs we watch week in and week out – the athletes who pack up their briefcases and get their game faces on during the sometimes hours-long commute to their home arenas. The weekend warriors who occasionally have to play in front of pocket change crowds. The ones who have logged more miles than an odometer on a ’66 Volvo. The players who give everything they’ve got all winter long and then turn around and play all summer for gas money and a shot at a Mann Cup or MLL championship. What more could we ask for?

So thank you. Thank you Lou Marsh Trophy selection committee. Thank you for all you haven’t done. But it’s been 72 years now and I think these guys are ready for a little recognition.

Rate This Story:

(+46 rating, 11 votes)

 Loading ...