| d21lewis said: If it had a manly name like Thrash Ball, you wouldn't need to convince me. Lacrosse just sounds like a sissy sport. Two men playing with a beach ball sounds manlier. |
It does have a sissy name, you can thank the French for that. Before French settlers arrived in certain parts of NA, Lacrosse had no "civilized" name, they named it because they thought the heads on the sticks looked a bit like the staff carried by bishops (which is called a cross, or something).
The sport itself is not sissy in any way, though. The Native Americans used lacrosse as a training exercise for its warriors, in fact, lacrosse games used to be played as a substitute for war between tribes - games of lacrosse were used to settle land disputes/etc. This explains the agressive nature behind the sport: the original athletes were trained to kill, and had a lot to be playing over. Before the game was formalized, the games could last for days, and the pitches could be miles long.
The head of the MLL (Major Leage Lacrosse) said it right "it's got the hits of football, except the players are armed with metal sticks that they can whack each other with, too".
