Category: History and More

As someone who has been a fan of American football for as long as I can remember ― and who loves hockey ― it makes perfect sense that I’d also enjoy lacrosse.

It shares some familiar traits with both sports and has its own unique style.

That being the case, I’m looking forward to the debut of the Premier Lacrosse League, which opens its inaugural season on June 1. Seventeen games will be televised on NBCSN and two are set for NBC.

While lacrosse has struggled to find its niche in the crowded field of professional sports, the PLL (founded by lacrosse legend Paul Rabil and his brother, Mike) is charting its own bold course – one that gives it a real chance to break through.

“Ever since I fell in love with the game I dreamed of being a professional athlete on the sport’s biggest stage,” Paul Rabil said in a statement. “We’re building a professional sports league that lacrosse deserves. The best players in the world will be showcased like never before, thanks to a unique touring model, a robust media-rights partnership, and player content strategy.

“Additionally, our players will be owners in the PLL, contributing to the build, competition, and ultimate success of the league.”

If you follow the game at all, you know that the primary pro leagues in North America are Major League Lacrosse, an outdoor (field) league, and the National Lacrosse League, an indoor (box) circuit.

Although MLL has been around since 2001, I’m concerned for its long-term survival. This season it has contracted from nine teams to six in a “restructuring” move, and players receive extremely modest incomes (although a 51 percent increase in team salary cap is now in effect).

Part of the downsizing included the folding of the Charlotte Hounds, which was the MLL team I followed most closely since it played only 100 miles from my home.

The NLL, on the other hand, is more of a success story; founded in 1987 as the Major Indoor Lacrosse League and now featuring 13 teams, it’s fast, fun, and does pretty well at the box office. Heading to the outskirts of Atlanta to see the Georgia Swarm play remains on my “to-do” list.

But like their outdoor counterparts, players in the indoor league need other jobs to supplement the money provided by the NLL.

Enter the PLL, which has already signed more than 150 of the sport’s best players in a bid to move to the head of the class.

It offers players substantially more money than they can make in the other leagues, a healthcare plan, and equity in the organization.

“This is a revolutionary model, which will place the PLL at the forefront of the next evolution in professional team sports,” PLL director of player relations Kyle Harrison said in a statement. “What Mike and Paul have established with this league is going to have a tremendous impact on players’ ability to be rewarded for the sport they love, as well as the overall continued development of the game and professional sports as a whole.”

Here’s what’s unique to me, though: the six teams in the league don’t represent cities. They’re simply given nicknames, stocked with top-notch players, and spend the season making stops in various markets and showcasing their games there.

So instead of fans pulling for the “home team,” they pick a side that features their favorite players – or maybe they choose a team because they like their name or logo.

The PLL teams for 2019 are the Archers, Atlas, Chaos, Chrome, Redwoods, and Whipsnakes.

Paul Rabil has played in both the MLL and NLL and will be an “owner-player” in the PLL, suiting up for the Atlas.

Anyone concerned about a conflict of interest should note that Josh Sims, an All-American at Princeton who helped the Tigers claim a pair of NCAA titles, will serve as the PLL Head of Lacrosse.

He’ll oversee competition, management of coaches and players, and spearhead implementation of league rules.

The season runs for 14 weeks and makes stops in 12 different cities.

The idea of touring is to create an “event” atmosphere for every match week, and I think that’s a terrific idea.

The PLL stops in Atlanta in June, so if I want to make the two hour drive to Georgia State Stadium I can see all six teams in action at one site over two days of action.

Or, I can pick and choose the games I want to watch.

The whole concept of the PLL is innovative, and it has most certainly grabbed my attention.

Hopefully, it’ll be the start of something big in the sport of lacrosse.

“Lacrosse is going through an exciting and transformative time,” Sims said in a statement. “The PLL charted an aggressive path from humble beginnings and is already growing and enriching the lacrosse community in ways almost no one believed possible. I believe we will look back at this time as a major milestone in all of sports, and as the Head of Lacrosse, I couldn’t be more excited to bring a world class product to a global audience.”

For more information about the league, go to premierlacrosseleague.com.

Watching professional ice hockey teams combine for 13 goals and knowing one of those teams featured Wayne Gretzky makes for an unforgettable memory – even if you have to go back 40 years to retrieve it.

But Birmingham 7, Edmonton 6, is more than a score line from a World Hockey Association game played on April 14, 1979.

It was the end of an era.

On March 22 of that year the National Hockey League voted to absorb the WHA’s Edmonton Oilers, Quebec Nordiques, Winnipeg Jets and Hartford Whalers, beginning with the 1979-80 campaign. Meanwhile, the remaining two WHA franchises – the Birmingham Bulls and Cincinnati Stingers – would fold, release all their players and end the insurgent league after seven seasons.

That meant the game played at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Coliseum on April 14 would be the last regular season major league hockey game ever contested on Alabama ice.

I was among the 8,179 fans on hand to bid a fond farewell to a team I’d grown to love, and on the “bittersweet” scale it leaned heavily on the bitter side. Before the Bulls moved from Toronto to Birmingham in 1976, I didn’t know the difference between a cross-check and a cashier’s check, but by 1979 I had memorized the hockey glossary – and there was no sport I’d rather watch live.

The death knell of this league and these Bulls was a gut-punch.

Their first ever game came against the Atlanta Flames in a WHA/NHL exhibition at the BJCC on Sept. 21, 1976, (Birmingham won, 7-6), and being in the arena was a sensory experience.

The hissing sounds of the blades as a skater raced down the ice were complemented perfectly by the sharp report of clashing sticks.

A puck smashing against the protective glass always gave me a start, and when players crashed into the boards it demonstrated how quickly an event built on grace and artistry could morph into a collision sport.

I walked into that contest as a curious onlooker and left as a hockey disciple, soon finding myself abandoning weekend football plans so I could cheer on the Bulls.

While Birmingham was not one of the league’s better teams – in its three years in the WHA it never had a winning season and won a grand total of one playoff game – the Bulls were both brutal and beautiful to me.

And even though it always played second fiddle to the NHL, the World Hockey Association was a damn good circuit and major league in just about every way (financial stability excluded).

I saw “Mr. Hockey” Gordie Howe skate as both a member of the Houston Aeros and New England Whalers (he scored his 1,000 career goal in Birmingham).

Hall of Famers Frank Mahovlich and Rod Langway played for the Bulls.

Gretzky, although not yet “The Great One,” was still “The Very Young And Good One” while honing his craft in the WHA.

Bobby Hull, Mark Messier, Dave Keon … so many legends of the sport played in Birmingham. And even though my Bulls were on the receiving end of quite a few beatings, I got to see the very best professional hockey had to offer.

So when the horn sounded to end the WHA’s time in Birmingham 40 years ago today, I felt a real sense of loss.

I was so jealous of the teams that were headed to the NHL – teams that would get to host famous clubs like the Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs.

I wondered what it must be like to live in a hockey town, knowing hockey would always be a major part of that town in the future.

The consolation prize, which would be made official in an announcement less than a month after the Bulls’ final season ended with a 5-4 loss at Winnipeg, was that Birmingham would resurface in the Central Hockey League for the 1979-80 season. The “new” Bulls served as a farm club for the NHL Flames.

I supported the CHL Bulls – even got to see them play the “Miracle on Ice” 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team – but it wasn’t the same.

It was good hockey, but it wasn’t great hockey, and with the demise of the WHA, Birmingham would never again be home to that elite level of competition.

Oh, and I just realized something … the first WHA game in Birmingham resulted in 13 goals, just like the last one.

That’s supposed to be an unlucky number but, looking back, I was incredibly lucky to be there for both – and many of the ones in-between.