Private School Lacrosse Thread

[Anonymous]

If lacrosse is viewed as a 3rd tier sport at GP, then what sport is viewed as first tier?

They play IAC football and can't even win the league banner.

I

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If the chippiness of recent Bullis-Prep games is any indication, a similar hostility may develop between those two schools if Bullis continues its winning ways. One thing Prep can't handle is IAC schools, particularly non Christian ones, threatening is athletic superiority complex.

A little chippiness in a lacrosse game isn't even in the same universe as the decades long antipathy between GP and Landon.


Bullis, in spite of its recent foray into having more competitive teams, is just another team. And the kids are almost assuredly not aware of religions of the boys on the other team. To them these are just opponents standing between them and a win and hopefully an IAC title.

But they do feel that it you push us, we are going to push you back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:anti semitism plays a big part.

I can assure you there is no religious or cultural animosity towards Jews or any Semite at Prep.

It's simply not something they are aware of or that ever comes up. The GP folks are about as aware of the Jewish population as they are Eskimos or Samoans. It's just not something that is anywhere on their radar. (All of the ethnic humor on "Seinfeld" goes completely over their heads.)

These are, after all, a privileged lot within a relatively insular community. Their dentists, doctors, orthodontists, accountants, lawyers and real estate people all went to Gonzaga, Prep or St Johns as did their fathers, brothers and uncles

Now their parents do know their own history and the experience of the Irish and Italian Catholics in the US and in Europe. The people that gave their grandparents the hardest time were not the Jews.

So if you are standing on the Bullis or Landon sidelines looking across at the Prep team you can rest assured that there isn't a single thought in their heads about anyone's religion or ethnic background.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If lacrosse is viewed as a 3rd tier sport at GP, then what sport is viewed as first tier?

They play IAC football and can't even win the league banner.

I

What I said was Lacrosse WAS viewed as a third tier sport at Prep until about 1996.

If you are going to respond, you need to read what was written more carefully.

Prep has been expelled twice from the IAC for a number of years for being too good at football.

Given that the AD is also the head football coach and that Giblin, who built the GP lacrosse program is gone, I wouldn't be surprised to see football become the clear number 1 sport again. It will take a while.

Lacrosse still attracts a lot of full tuition paying families, so it will never be 1996 again.

[Anonymous]

Prep football is solid but I would say they are far from being an elite program in the DC area. At the end of the day, you play IAC football. While the IAC is a solid football conference with Bullis making serious strides and Episcopal with the Canadian imports, and Landon having decent team every 5 years, the IAC is far inferior to the WCAC any given year.

I doubt GP will go the Dematha route, the IMG or St. Johns route or even the Bullis route. The school has much higher academic standards than those in the WCAC and even in its own conference. GP will not bring in senior transfers nor will they bring in kids from Canada.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Prep football is solid but I would say they are far from being an elite program in the DC area. At the end of the day, you play IAC football. While the IAC is a solid football conference with Bullis making serious strides and Episcopal with the Canadian imports, and Landon having decent team every 5 years, the IAC is far inferior to the WCAC any given year.

I doubt GP will go the Dematha route, the IMG or St. Johns route or even the Bullis route. The school has much higher academic standards than those in the WCAC and even in its own conference. GP will not bring in senior transfers nor will they bring in kids from Canada.

They may however go the "Marcus Mason" route.

[Anonymous]

[quoteWhile what you say is correct, the great animosity pre-dates the lacrosse rivalry that began in the late 1990's many years. For
GP the lacrosse rivalry was layered upon an already existent dislike.

The low point of this relationship was occurred when members of the "Landon Army" beat some GP boys the beach so badly at least one had to be hospitalized.

As GP lax improved, the Landon coaching staff began scouting every GP game, home and away. One of these two coaching staffs seemed obsessed. You can decide which.

Without the Landon dragon to slay, GP lax would have stayed at the level it was, a third tier sport played by football players trying to stay in shape but with few stick skills.

This apparent debt has never translated into any positive feelings towards the school, players, coaches or students that anyone has ever seen.

If you are 5 years out of college and resent an individual based purely on where one attended High School, what does that say about you as an individual?

[Anonymous]

The one thing Prep and Landon agree on is their hatred of Bullis. My Landon son has friends at Prep and grudgingly respects Prep. That is not present with Bullis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Prep football is solid but I would say they are far from being an elite program in the DC area. At the end of the day, you play IAC football. While the IAC is a solid football conference with Bullis making serious strides and Episcopal with the Canadian imports, and Landon having decent team every 5 years, the IAC is far inferior to the WCAC any given year.

I doubt GP will go the Dematha route, the IMG or St. Johns route or even the Bullis route. The school has much higher academic standards than those in the WCAC and even in its own conference. GP will not bring in senior transfers nor will they bring in kids from Canada.

They may however go the "Marcus Mason" route.

Marcus Mason lived in the neighborhood .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Prep football is solid but I would say they are far from being an elite program in the DC area. At the end of the day, you play IAC football. While the IAC is a solid football conference with Bullis making serious strides and Episcopal with the Canadian imports, and Landon having decent team every 5 years, the IAC is far inferior to the WCAC any given year.

I doubt GP will go the Dematha route, the IMG or St. Johns route or even the Bullis route. The school has much higher academic standards than those in the WCAC and even in its own conference. GP will not bring in senior transfers nor will they bring in kids from Canada.

They may however go the "Marcus Mason" route.

Marcus Mason lived in the neighborhood .

And your point is what?

Marcus Mason was from the Scotland neighborhood in Potomac which has produced a bunch of good athletes. But it isn't next door to Prep.

[Anonymous]

Why doesn't Prep compete in the WCAC? The WCAC recently added the Heights as one of its member schools. I can assure you the invitation was also extended to the LiL Hoyas. The WCAC is trying to expand the league as I know Pallotti was also asked to come back to the league?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why doesn't Prep compete in the WCAC? The WCAC recently added the Heights as one of its member schools. I can assure you the invitation was also extended to the LiL Hoyas. The WCAC is trying to expand the league as I know Pallotti was also asked to come back to the league?

The Heights asked to join the WCAC not the other way around. Because Prep would lose at most sports and they can't handle being in a "b" league, it would hurt their little feelings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[quote

If you are 5 years out of college and resent an individual based purely on where one attended High School, what does that say about you as an individual?

I’d say they had long memories, no reason to change their opinions, an existent tight knit circle of friends from GP and plenty of other alternatives based on rediscovering friendships with those that went to Gonzaga and St Johns and even public schools.

There’s a fundamental disconnect in the GP-Landon relationship. I’ve always thought Landon espoused what I think of as the English Private School/Ivy League approach to athletics. The idea is to win and you have to do everything in your power to do it. At the end of the day, you should respect those that have shown themselves to be worthy. And from respect it’s not far to friendship. We have, after all participated in these great struggles that should bind us together. We are, just like you, wonderful fellows underneath it all.

In order for this to work, both camps have to buy in to the last part concept and by and large the GP people do not.

The GP people, looking across the field or gym, aren’t thinking about the privilege of participating and the potential for friendship based on mutual respect and based on shared experience. What they see is someone desperate to beat them. What they see are the hats turned backwards, the strutting and the flexing of newly-earned muscles. What they hear is the “We Don’t Mess Around” chant. What they gather is that there really are fundamental reasons to why everyone at the school going back decades dislikes these "others".

So while there is some grudging respect, especially when an opponent is punching above their weight, no affection is going to follow. The Landon people are surprised and a little disoriented by this. It’s as if both schools are in a play and have been given different scripts. The Landon version has this stuff about glory of shared struggle and the GP version does not.

That’s why there are questions about why those GP guys I used to compete against are still giving me the cold shoulder.

[Anonymous]

Prep = Deliverance

[Anonymous]

That’s why there are questions about why those GP guys I used to compete against are still giving me the cold shoulder.

Its usually the real estate brokers and mortgage brokers who continue to embrace this mentality. I've said this before but GP and Gonzaga guys are known for really never leaving the DC area, other than college, and generally come back to work for mommy and daddy or uncle Billy.

I worked up on WSJ for a number of years, met some Prep guys, and they seemed like wonderful people. I graduated from Landon a number of years ago and I would certainly consider some of the GP alums friends of mine and I'm sure they feel the same way. And from time to time.... yes we tease one another about the football and lacrosse games.