Let’s Go Bandits!

At long last the National Lacrosse Season is in full swing. The endless torture of waiting for the season to start has been replaced by pulse pounding, end to end excitement. Hard hits fast paced action and more goals in one game than the professional zebra racing (NHL) gets in a night. Okay that last part is a bit of an exaggeration but there still are a lot of goals.

Since the end of last season I have been sporting a Buffalo Bandits hat proudly but recently I have been questioned about it (being in Toronto that is to be expected even though ninety percent of Torontonians don’t have a clue what lacrosse is or that Toronto even has a team; thanks 905 for supporting the team). On Friday as I was leaving work, I was stopped and questioned about the aforementioned hat. At this time I proudly flashed my Bandits jersey, in a similar fashion to Superman revealing the S on his chest, and tried to explain why the Bandits over the Toronto Rock (that is Toronto’s team for those who don’t know). I don’t feel I gave a satisfactory response so I shall try to better it here and now.

I will start with why not Toronto. The team captain seems like he belongs in a nursing home rather than playing a sport other than lawn bowling (I mentioned this to the questioners Friday and they chuckled); the fans in Toronto are more concerned with being seen than watching the actual game (there are many exceptions but in a crowd of 16K they seem immaterial); the game announcer doesn’t seem to understand a thing about lacrosse or getting the crowd into the game; the sound system in the ACC is set up with way too much bass that one can barely make out any words when one speaks (and seeing as they have an in game announcer this feature is pretty important); and to top things off, they went ahead and traded possibly the best player in the league and the teams true captain (Colin Doyle) before the season started.

Now for the why to Buffalo. First of all, I like the way the HSBC arena is set up, the club seats are actually good seats; everyone involved seems to be very knowledgeable of lacrosse and are friendly; the fans are crazy and don’t need the announcer to start every cheer; the music is at a good level and the sound system is properly equalized; the Bandits have two of the best players in the league (Tavares and Steenhuis) and have a couple young guys who look like they will become stars in the league (Powless and Bucktooth); and overall it is such a better atmosphere in Buffalo. In past years I went to Buffalo and I felt myself wanting to cheer for Buffalo just because it was so electric in the HSBC.

This year I am torn between the two teams. I have been a Rock fan since 1999 when I happened to catch a game on tv one weekend while channel surfing but in the early ‘90’s I watched the Bandits on a local Buffalo station and have followed them since I was reminded of them in 1999. I recently came to the decision that Toronto is my team and once they wizen up and get rid of the geriatric case (Veltman) I will return to them. Until then I am a Bandits fan. Let’s Go Bandits! Wooooooooow!