Celebrity Look-A-Likes

Last Week was Adam Niden being compared to Donkey. This week is another hilarious comparison...

Above pictured we have sophomore defensemen #31 Andrew Ahearn of Medway and linebacker #55 Terrell Suggs of the Baltimore Ravens. Both are savage men.

Guys a psycho, peace. 

Cheers, No Regrets

22

That's a Wrap

Well folks, that's it. Fall Ball 2012 is officially over & happy 40th birthday to Marshal Mathers aka Eminem aka Slim Shady

After 4 weeks of practice together, last Saturday's scrimmages marked the end of it all. However, that doesn't necessarily mean the foot is coming off the gas. After this week off, the boys and I will start player-run captain's practices to keep the sticks and feet active. Saturday marks the 1st practice post fall ball session at 2pm on God knows whatever field we're allowed to use. Unfortunately, my presence will not be felt that day. I'll be heading back north to Revere for my stud of a brother's engagement party. Although that will be a crippling loss, I'm sure the fellas will carry on without me for a weekend. 

Let's take a minute to recap the events of Saturday morning. There was some good, some bad, but that's what you expect out of fall scrimmages. For us at least, this was the closest thing we had to a game-type situation all fall. In the first matchup we had Gordon. There was strong performances from a number of people. Nick Thayer did what Nick Thayer always does and gave us a chance by standing on his head and making tough save after tough save. Upperclassmen D-poles Ryan Holbrook and Larry Gilvarg played tough per usual and kept the Gordon attack at bay. D-mids and face-off guys such as Zac Drolette, Brad Bell, Jared Wright, Dan Brown, and myself performed well and won most of the face-offs and ground ball battles. I want to say we only lost 2 two face-offs, but hey I'm just saying. 

In the second matchup we faced a much smarter group of individuals, the Huskies of Northeastern University. I can't speak for anyone else on the team, but this was the first club/not D3 school I've played since my college career started in 2010.You might think since they are a club level team that they'd be a joke. That's not the case. You have to keep in mind these kids wicked smart and decided that they probably don't have a career in professional lacrosse so being at NEU wasn't a bad fall back plan. They boys and I still played decent, similarly to the Gordon matchup. The goalie combination of Jesse Johnson and Pete Foley stood tough like #4 did the game before and kept us in the game. Midfielders Justin Lawless and Todd Davis led the action at the top of the box while Adam Niden and Conner Gaffney led the attack unit below.

#33 Adam Niden against Norwich last season

All in all, it was a nice showing for your UMass Dartmouth men's lacrosse team and was full of encouraging signs. Days and scrimmages like these are reminders that building a team and an identity is a process, a process that doesn't simply happen over the course of a month. With a lot to take in after Saturday, we now know what we can build on as a team and what we need to work on. It will be a long road to competing for a Little East title, but I can say that we started that journey off on the right foot.

With that, The Mano's out for now. I'll be posting here and there throughout the remainder of the semester with updates from captain's practice, workouts, and things that will make you laugh because I'm hilarious. I leave you with a quote from the infamous Frank Costello from The Departed (which is one of the top 5 movies of all time), "I don't want to be a product of my environment, I want my environment to be a product of me."

Cheers, No Regrets

22

Celebrity Look-A-Likes!!!

Ladies and gentlemen, Happy Thursday.

Last week I treated you with a little sample of celebrity look-a-likes with Jesse Johnson and Bill The Butcher. However, this week I have a real gem for you...

Above we have pictured on the left junior starting right pipe #33 Adam Niden. On the right, we have one of the most beloved characters in animated movie history, Donkey from the classic Shrek films. They're so handsome!!!

You're very welcome, deuces.

Cheers, No Regrets

22

End of week 3, Blue/Gold Scrimmage

Devoted fans of the nation, I sincerely welcome you back and hope you had a stellar Columbus Day. 

Now just because you all had Monday off, that doesn't mean the boys and myself did as well. In fact, we were out in the cold, thick mist splashing around in the mud on Monday afternoon. This practice came after a nice Sunday off. I spent the entirety of that day on my couch under my fuzzy Patriots blanky watching Stevan Ridley and Tom Brady carry me to a fantasy win over Jared's team the Chowda Cannons. It was a solid victory and brought No Regrets Nation to 3-2 and off of a 2 week losing skid. 

Now rewind to Saturday morning. The boys and I found ourselves behind the Tripp Athletic Center and being spit up into two separate squads. It was time for the inaugural Blue/Gold scrimmage bright and early at 10am. The entire fall roster was split down the middle and headed by their own coaches. My blue squad was coached by Mr. David Beriau and the inferior gold (white) squad was manned by junior stud, currently the owner of one good knee, and softball enthusiast,  #23 Jordan MacPherson and head coach Kevin Mahoney. This scrimmage was no joke ladies and gentlemen, it wasn't like your average fall ball weekend morning walk through- kids were motoring around. Goalies Nick Thayer, Pete Foley, and yes even Jesse Johnson rotated through both nets and got pelted with balls. These three brave souls stood tall in net and all did exceptional jobs keeping the game close as well as sharpened their own skills. My heart went out to the face-off men Brad Bell, Dan Brown, and Zac Drolette who had the distinct pleasure of kneeling and subsequently scrumming for loose balls in a 6x6 mud patch- it didn't stop those psychos from getting the job done though, no regrets. The attack units consisting of 2 of last year's starters, and anchors, Adam Niden and Conner Gaffney moved the ball well and created plenty of offensive opportunities for both sides. After a pretty even contest with neither side really gaining the upper hand, the game came down to one play in the final seconds and was the epitome of a true underdog story. With time dwindling down, sharpshooter Adam Niden teed up for one final cannon of a shot. However, what Adam didn't realize was that none other than Jesse Johnson was in net, and after a day of standing on his head making saves Jesse kept his streak going and stoned Adam's opportunity. This nail biter ended in a dead even tie. All this came on the day that I got to see my Notre Dame Fighting Irish dominate The U and keep climbing the polls.

All in all, the Blue/Gold scrimmage was a good opportunity for the team to work on game type situations before this Saturday's multiple team scrimmage up at Gordon College in Beverly. The boys and myself will be going hard in the final two practices of fall ball both tomorrow and Friday preparing to head north and dominate for a couple hours on Saturday afternoon. And since we'll be passing through the gorgeous city of Revere on the way, I wouldn't really mind if we stopped at Kelly's on the way back. But hey, that's just me.

With that folks, I'm done for now and peacin' out. I leave you with a quote from Townies Doug MacRay and Jim Coughlin, "I need your help. I can't tell you what it is, you can never ask me about it later, and we're gonna hurt some people.... Who's car we gonna take?"

Cheers, No regrets

22

Quick Post to Make Fun of Jesse

For those of you who have seen Gangs of New York starring heart throb Leo DiCaprio, this post will give you a chuckle or two. For those of you who haven't, you must awful taste in American cinema.

Above pictured are junior reserve goalie Jesse Johnson of Pembroke, MA and Bill The Butcher of the 5 Points of New York during the times of the Civil War and leader of "The Natives". Although they look alike, Jesse does not demonstrate any of the badass, psycho, awesome qualities that Bill does... ever. With that, I'll be seeing ya's.


Cheers, No Regrets 
22

Weekend Recap- A Tired Group of Gentlemen

Sup y'all? If you're reading this blog for the second time welcome back, if this is your first time, what's up with missing last week? It's whatever though.

Let me start off by saying that I feel as if I can speak for the whole group in saying that we're pooped. 

Senior Defenseman #13 Larry Gilvarg doing what he does 18 out of 24 hours a day

Another week of practice and training in the books the boys and I didn't have much time to kick back and slow things down. On Saturday, a majority of the boys and myself were up early in the morning for UMass Dartmouth's annual Oozeball tournament (pretty much everyone but Larry). You might be sitting there and wondering what the hell that is, and that's not a bad question. You have a volleyball, a big mud pit, and that's about all. My team was knocked out in the first round and every point we scored had absolutely nothing to do with the girls on my team. But, no one really cared because being out in the drizzling rain and the never ending gusty winds of South Eastern Mass for more than and hour covered in mud is nothing anyone looks forward to for the remainder of their Saturdays.

A portion of mine and Jared's(right) team the "Tyed Guys"

Now fast forward to Sunday- the inaugural and soon to be world-renowned Corsair Lacrosse Clinic kicked off at 10am. As I walked through the gates to the beautiful Cressy Field with my roommates Justin, Larry, and Jared- we saw a good piece of the squad playing toss and chatting it up with the local youth players of New Bedford, Dartmouth, and Fall River. These lucky gentlemen did not even realize who they would be learning under for the next couple of hours. Some of these young fellas seemed to blend in with some players from our team i.e Connor Gaffney, Tyler Chasnov, and Brad Bell most notably. For those of you unfamiliar with those names, I just made a "they're not that tall" joke.

Through the chill of the wind and rain, the local lacrosse players went through drills the boys and myself go through routinely under the guidance of one David Beriau, the man behind scenes for the birth of these clinics. With these clinics our hope is to help develop lacrosse throughout the area, give the program some positive exposure, and help raise team funds for various needs. I'm voting we get team gloves, but hey that's just me.

Other news from Sunday: some of the kids on this team dress like complete morons, and no, they don't do it to make people laugh. Among Sunday's best dressed were Brian Grant, Zac Medeiros, and of course Laurence C. Gilvarg. Now let me fill you in on some of these stunning get ups. I'm pretty sure Zac left his room that morning with the intention of looking like a giant banana with navy blue gym shorts on. Larry on the other hand kept it simple and stuck with his usual Champion hoodless sweatshirt and Jordan shorts and a matching pair of Jordan flip flops (which will never not be fresh). 

But, the most handsome player of the day award would have gone to who other than Brian Grant. For those of you who don't know Brian, he wakes up every morning and bumps Nick Cannon's "Gigilo" at full blast simply because he can. Below is Brian's Sunday morning get up

In this quick photo, Brian could be trying to resemble Geoffrey the Giraffe previously of Toys R Us ads and Junior midfielder Jordan MacPherson is simply trying to ride his coattails of swagger. 

After giving you that amazing image of a true beef castle, I sign off this time from Liberal Arts classroom 102 with a quote from the great Shane Falco, "Pain heals, chicks dig scars, glory lasts forever."

Cheers, No Regrets

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