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Well, I had to do it. I had to get some friends together and grab my son — and video camera — and get up to Toronto to see our beloved Rochester Rattlers, who have become the Toronto Nationals of Major League Lacrosse. I knew I would miss seeing the same team that I hugged and high-fived on the scorched surface of Harvard Stadium in August 2008, but making the trip helped me reconnect and hopefully the video after the jump will help you, too.

That team that was the culmination of years of building a roster, B.J. and Jody finding the right pieces to the puzzle, the guys on the field looking at each other in the locker room and hearing the rumors that this was their last chance in Rochester to win a championship.

To the Rattlers Rowdies, that was the culmination of years of following our team, from Seattle to Hershey to Hobart; from Frontier to Kearney to PAETEC Park. Seeing the guys hold that trophy high made every rain soaked game, every pre-season BBQ we held for the guys, every practice whether it was at Fairport High, Aquinas Stadium, RIT Gymnasium or scrimmages at Nazareth just another piece of that amazing championship.

We left Webster on the eastside of Rochester about 8 a.m., not knowing what to expect at the border or how the QEW would treat us that day. We hit the rest stop in Clarence to let my 2 year old son get the “wiggles” out for the rest of the trip. We were treated to a Porsche club on a run with about 100 Porsches from 924s to 911s to 944s all the way to what I thought was a Panamera, but I don’t think they are on the streets yet.

We hit the border and even with the Rainbow Bridge being closed, the Lewiston Bridge was empty, we pulled up, border guard asked where we were going and we told them BMO for a lacrosse game. She asked if our team wore light blue and were from Baltimore, I said “No” but that is the team we’re playing. She went on to say, they came through in a bus just a few hours ago. I thought to myself, wow I hope they didn’t drive all the way from Washington.

We pulled into BMO Field at 12:22 p.m., paid the meter — yep meters in the stadium parking lot — and went to get our tickets. We got the $21 seats and proceeded into the Carlsberg Beer Garden (actually that is right inside the main gate) for some lunch. Warning: Maybe I’m used to $5 tall beers in Rochester, but the cheap beers at BMO are $10 and go all the way up to a $28 version (single beer, not an all you can drink ticket. haha).

It wasn’t more than 10 minutes before I hear a “Knabber, what the H are you doing here?” It was some of my Canadian Lacrosse Family that go to all of the Rock games and they were decked out in Nationals t-shirts with their red “Rock” scarves. We were really happy to see each other and it gave me a warm feeling that the indoor fans were at least taking in a taste of professional field lacrosse. I had to take a minute to take in BMO Field. If you haven’t been there, it is beautifully appointed with everything modern stadiums have with huge videoboards, concessions everywhere you look and Nationals jerseys, shirts, hats, foam fingers for sale at very reasonable prices.

A Nationals staff member saw us and gave us all Nationals t-shirts and my son a Nationals foam finger that he hasn’t taken off even 3 days later. When the Nationals were announced, I could immediately see the influence of owner Curt Styres. The team was wearing home whites with purple and orange instead of their red and black. A sharp looking uniform, but a weird contrast to the stadium which is all red, black, white and gray. The traditional Native American Smoke Dancers blessed the field before the anthems and you could tell that the Bayhawks had never seen that pre-game ceremony before. The American anthem sang first and then the Canadian anthem seemed to make them jittery as well as they are used to just one anthem before MLL games.

We made our way up to our seats and immediately noticed what the team slogan, “Two Nations, One Team” really meant. I would say 40% of the crowd in attendance was of Native American descent and honestly I felt honored to be watching this lacrosse game among them. There were hats and apparel all over the crowd from Six Nations and also mixed in was the corporate crowd and Toronto jet setters that were on their cell phones making post game plans.

Overall, the crowd seemed into the game and knew what was going on. I heard a few questions being asked about the 2-point line and why the goalies weren’t wearing pads, but for the most part they understood the game. I decided to head out and see the stadium from some other angles and ran into Curt Styres. I patted him on the back and he smiled back. He is getting around really well and should be sans crutch in no time it appears while recovering from a snowmobile incident during the winter. One thing I want to commend the BMO staff on is politeness. Obviously way overstaffed for the size of the crowd, they were attentive and went out of their way to help me find different parts of the stadium and even personnel I was trying to locate.

The game is covered in great detail in the other blog this week, so I’m going to stick to my experience. After halftime, we decided to move our seats over to where our friends from the Rock were sitting and this totally changed the game experience. The fans better known as the Rock Roadies were showing the love to Brett Queener and he was responding in kind with head nods, waves and trademark dancing. They were getting some chants going like “Go, Nats, Go”, but in all honestly, the game was a blowout and decided by halftime.

The crowd from this end of the stadium was energized and cheering and yelling down to the players. My buddy, Jare and his lovely wife Nat are amazing at ramping up a crowd and we were all laughing and loving the game. I wanted to go down and get some video from the other side of the field looking back at the occupied side of the stadium and my friends and Jare and Nat watched my son who was more interested in “I want to play lacrosse down there Daddy” than taking in the game. One thing that you notice immediately from field level is the size of this stadium, bigger by 7,000 seats than Paetec Park in Rochester, but the crowd is about the same size or maybe even a little smaller than the Rattlers crowds.

I came to find out later in the day that to build awareness of the team, a good number of the seats are given out as promotions and comps. Rochester did this in the beginning when they were trying to fill Frontier Field’s 12,000 seat stadium as well. With a plethora of entertainment options in Toronto, you have to get people in the seats and they will come back for this product and this team. Washington threw in three straight garbage goals at the end to make the score seem way closer than the game was in fact.

I made my way down onto the field after the game and found as many former Rattlers as I could including Shawn Williams from the Knighthawks. The guys really seemed to appreciate my attendance even though everyone was being asked to leave the field, even before the autograph session, because they needed to prepare the stadium for the Toronto MLS matchup against the Red Bulls that evening. I made my way back to the locker rooms and made sure to stop into the Bayhawks locker room, which was painfully quiet, and say “Hi” to Buggs Combs and Alex Smith.

After the game, we were invited out to Jack Astor’s for a postgame party, but with a three-hour drive ahead of us back to Rochester, we declined and promised we would be back later this season. Hugs and high fives were exchanged among my lacrosse family and we headed for the car. I’ve got to be honest in saying, my heart still hurts a little bit with the Rattlers leaving as I’m way too devoted to lacrosse for my own good, but the Toronto Nationals truly are the class of the MLL with one of the finest stadiums, fans that want to learn the game and love lacrosse and one of the best inherited rosters you could ask for to start a franchise.

Our Rochester Rattlers are in great hands in Toronto and on my next trip, I will be wearing my Toronto Nationals gear, but in my heart the Rochester Rattlers will be our world champions. Thanks for the opportunity and special thanks to Shaun Guest and Terri Workman of the Toronto Nationals for hosting an amazing day for the Rowdies that made the trip.

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