I missed my opportunity, I should have been a lacrosse goalie.

I was at home this morning watching the semifinals of the NCAA Lacrosse tournament. Syracuse was playing Virginia, and the game was tied 11-11 as time was running down. These teams are at the pinnacle of their sport, and the game was hard-fought. Both teams had chances to score the go-ahead goal, but neither succeeded in regulation.

The commentators attributed this to the excellent play of the goalies. But replays showed that the shots of the waning minutes either bounced off the post/crossbar of the goal or hit the goalies squarely in their bodies. The goalies had sticks, but they had no impact on these final saves. In one instance, the commentators praised the goalie for a great stop, and the replay showed the ball hitting him just above the groin area.

Lacrosse goals are reasonably small, so it appears that a particularly wide goalie (think Jared in his pre-Subway days) could be an All-America Lacrosse goalie sheerly by virtue of his ability to stand in front of the net. Homer Simpson would be so proud.