Growing up, my siblings and I were very close to our grandpa. Our family lived with him, and he was like a third parent. He’s also at least partially responsible for why I love to tell stories. Whether it was sitting down at family dinner or taking us for post-dinner ice cream and eating it overlooking the beach, he was always telling stories. Often, they were stories about our family, about him, my mom and her siblings, or my siblings and I all growing up. He also would retell a lot of the same stories, and I always got a kick out of hearing them (the funny ones, at least; I did tire of the story of a St. Louis Cardinals scout seeing him pitch and wanting to sign him, but because he was committed to go to college, the rules at that time prohibited it, and he never got another shot). One of his favorites involved taking me to the grocery store.
I was somewhere between the ages of three and five. We were at the grocery store, my grandpa pushing me in the shopping cart. The aisle was empty, and he farted. Hey, sometimes it happens, right? No big deal. We carry on with our shopping.
We moved a few aisles over, and there were a few older ladies. Now, I was young when this happened, so I have no memory of doing this, no explanation for my actions, or really any proof that it actually did happen. But while my grandpa was browsing the shelves of Shop Rite for the ketchup that was on sale, I yelled out, “Grandpa, you farted! And it’s a stinky one too!” As he told the story, he staggered back in betrayal, and the women clutched their pearls and rushed past us.
My grandpa passed away in January of 2019, and he is missed. My daughter was born in 2021; I really wish he got to meet her. He would be infatuated with her.
About a month ago, my daughter was sick, so I stayed home from school with her. That afternoon, I had an interview to do for a story I was writing for New York Hockey Journal about Princeton women’s ice hockey player Sarah Paul. My daughter is usually pretty good about me working, though. She’ll play or watch a movie, and I’ll do the phone call. Sometimes, she likes to sit on my lap while I do the interview. I also never stress if she gets talkative because, well, she’s my top priority, and if I have to pause the interview for a second to get her a cup of juice or to help her get a toy off the shelf, then we work through it. Thankfully, everyone I’ve interviewed in this kind of scenario has been very understanding; sometimes, it even helps to disarm the person on the other end of the call and becomes a topic of conversation for us to relate to each other more.
Well, for this interview, my daughter was sitting in the living room coloring, so I went into the kitchen and sat at the counter to make the phone call (it’s an open concept, so I could look over the couch and see her).
I had just started the interview. I had asked my first question, Sarah — with the sports information director also on the line — responded, and I was pausing for a beat before I asked another question. It was during this moment that my daughter decided she was going to choose violence.
Instead of Sarah breaking the silence with added detail to her response, or instead of me breaking the silence with another question, my daughter broke the silence, which proved to be a dangerous oversight on my part. She stood up to look at my face and yelled out, “Daddy, was that a tooty? Daddy, you tootied! That was a loud tooty, Daddy!”
In case you don’t speak toddler, tooty means to fart. Now, I had not tootied, nor had I even moved in my chair to make it sound like a toot. No, for whatever reason, my daughter decided she was going to incriminate me in front of others without any evidence.
Because she wasn’t right next to me, I thought there was a chance they didn’t hear me; a later replaying of the audio file proved she most certainly could be heard clearly. But then, I couldn’t help but laugh, and did so right into my next question. Kids say the darndest things.
I also couldn’t help but think my grandpa was looking down at us and laughing his butt off at the payback.
Retiring Numbers in the PLL
I found a very interesting exchange on Twitter that started with Leo Lickfold and PLL Updates about the concept of PLL retiring jersey numbers. Yes, it’s a young league without a ton of history save for the two teams with links to Major League Lacrosse, but there’s nothing wrong with honoring the past, and it’s a fun topic to talk about.
I saw an interesting reply from Matt Campbell (not the Boston Cannons midfielder) that they should not retire the jerseys but make them part of team lore, like Syracuse’s #22, Maryland’s #1, and Navy’s #40. I like the idea, and I can envision the PLL content team creating stories and graphics connecting players with the same number through the years, but that concept doesn’t leave me much to write about at this moment. So, for the sake of this newsletter, let’s pick the next/first player from each PLL team that I think should have their number retired.
Boston Cannons: Paul Rabil
One lacrosse image that is burned into my brain is Rabil hoisting the Steinfeld Cup in a Cannons jersey after winning the MLL Championship in 2011. It was a coronation like LeBron James winning his first NBA Championship. He’s a two-time MLL MVP. Rabil is also one of only a handful of players to play for both the MLL and PLL versions of the Cannons. The number itself, 99, is a unique one, and he also just happens to be one of the co-founders of the PLL.
California Redwoods: Kyle Harrison
No, Harrison’s best years in pro lacrosse did not come during his days with the Redwoods (13 points in 25 games over three seasons compared to 15 points in 10 games in 2018 with the Ohio Machine). Harrison, a recent USA Lacrosse Hall of Famer, is much too iconic of a player to not have his number retired, however, and he played his entire PLL career solely with the Redwoods, helping them to the championship game in the inaugural season. The video package he received before his final game proves how beloved he was, and that means a lot when honoring a player.
Carolina Chaos: Blaze Riorden
One championship with the Chaos. Four All-Star selections and four Goalie of the Year honors. One MVP award. Riorden also didn’t have a storied pro career before the Chaos, playing as John Galloway’s backup with the Rattlers in the MLL, so his rise to stardom coincided with his time with the Chaos. Easy choice.
Denver Outlaws: JT Giles-Harris
Really, the next Outlaws number that should be retired is John Grant Jr.’s #24 followed by Brendan Mundorf’s #2, but those two have not played in the PLL, and my made-up-parameters have me picking players that played in the PLL. I’m also curious to see if the Outlaws honor the MLL franchise’s retired numbers: 7 (Matt Bocklet), 19 (Jesse Schwartzman), and 29 (Lee Zink). Currently, Jesse King wears 19; will he be forced to change his number? As for a player from the PLL Outlaws, Mike Manley and Jesse Bernhardt have had excellent pro careers, but they haven’t played for the Outlaws yet, and I don’t know how much longer they will be playing. I feel like Giles-Harris is the right pick. He’s only 25, so he potentially has a number of years to be an important part of team history; he’s already a two-time All-Star and one-time Defensive Player of the Year; and the three retired Outlaws numbers previously mentioned were all players on the defensive side of the ball, so Giles-Harris would continue the tradition of great defensive players in team history.
Maryland Whipsnakes: Michael Ehrhardt
Many might say the answer is Matt Rambo, and you could make a good argument for him, but the leader of the Whipsnakes, especially during those first two championship seasons, seems to have been Ehrhardt, and he has dominated the PLL. With the Whipsnakes, he’s a four-time All-Star (remember, there was no All-Star game in 2020), a five-time First Team All-Pro, and a five-time LSM of the Year. Yes, you read that correctly, he’s the only player to ever win the award. Plus, I think he retires before Rambo, which means he would have more time to have his number retired before Rambo’s eventually does.
New York Atlas: Trevor Baptiste
Baptiste continues to be the most dominant faceoff athlete in lacrosse. He’s won four out of five Faceoff Athlete of the Year awards and was the MVP in 2022, becoming only the second faceoff athlete to do so. The 2022 PLL docuseries “All In” primarily featured Baptiste as a player crucial to their success. The Atlas might have been “the team Paul Rabil was on” but Baptiste was and continues to be the franchise cornerstone.
Philadelphia Waterdogs: Kieran McArdle
The Waterdogs are tricky because the team has so many talented players that have been integral to their success. Michael Sowers, Dillon Ward, Zach Currier, and Liam Byrnes are a few that come to mind. I believe McArdle best represents the mentality of the Waterdogs, though. He’s very talented, but he plays with grit and a chip on his shoulder. It’s kind of insane that he hasn’t been selected to a single PLL All-Star game. But I also don’t think he cares all that much, and being the perpetually underrated player also endears him to the fans, and the city of Philadelphia will love him and accept him as one of their own.
Utah Archers: Tom Schreiber
There was a lot of discussion before the 2023 PLL championship game about what a PLL title would mean for Schreiber’s legacy. Well, the Archers won, and he scored the game-winner. Just another accomplishment in a career full of them, as will be the case when his jersey is retired.
North Carolina Tar Heel Bailey Horn
For New England Lacrosse Journal, I wrote a story about North Carolina grad student Bailey Horn and how the successful high school star grinded through her college career to earn playing time and now has her biggest opportunity. I thought there was quite a bit to mine from our conversation for our story which caused me to go a bit long on it. By the time I got in touch with head coach Jenny Levy, it was time to let the piece be. I like the story that was told, but here’s a story from Levy I wanted to share.
“When she came in at the end of the fall, we were talking about what she had to do in the offseason. I said, ‘You’re going to have a big role on our team this year. We’re really depending on you, so when you go home, please work really hard, and be ready to go. She goes, ‘Really? Because I thought it was my fifth year, I was just going to be hanging out, enjoying Chapel Hill.’ I said, ‘No, we need you.’ Watching her really get into her role this year, we’ve been training really hard since the fall. Her and Flynn [Reed] are a great combo working together since they’re so different. She’s into it, she’s bought in, she’s having success and being really rewarded for all the work she’s put in.”
Find more of my work:
Major League Life: Why Major League Lacrosse Players, Coaches, and Fans Share a Passion for a League that Often Goes Overlooked
Lacrosse-ing Into the Mainstream