Let The Bodies Hit The Floor
There's nothing better than a quick reminder that lacrosse is a physical, violent, nasty sport. It sucks because through no fault of their own, kids these days don't really get a chance to send somebody through the turf. It seems like every time a hit even sounds like it's a little too hard, there's a flag thrown on the play. It's not like this is a unique situation for lacrosse--all sports across the board have gotten softer and softer throughout the years.
But it's resulted in moments like then when poor Cody Malawsky on Denver doesn't even consider the possibility of getting completely blown up on this play. Ball is on the ground, two teams battling for it, there used to be a day when this was open season to take somebody's head clean off their body. But since guys barely hit anymore, Cody Malawsky thought he could just casually go after that ball without keeping his head on a swivel.
Bad idea.
Nobody told Ari Allen from Ohio State that the game has gone soft. He sees a ball on the ground, he sees a man wearing a white jersey, and he decides it is time for someone to go 100% parallel to the ground.
Of course the refs threw a flag on this hit. But that's one of those plays where the moment Ari Allen goes to take a knee in the penalty box, every coach goes up to him and says that was a great hit.
Now Ohio State's goalie coming out of the net to throw a head butt might be a different story. That may have gone a tad overboard.
But when your goalie is listed at 6'2", 297 lbs and nicknamed "Big Tasty", you just let him to whatever it is that he wants to do. Especially when he's leading your team to an 8-1 start on the season before conference play, and might be the smoothest man in the game right now. Just look at the big fella go.
You can live with Big Tasty taking the occasional unsportsmanlike penalty. You don't put a lion on a leash.