The first series of The Lax All Stars Fireside Chats. USA Lacrosse projected roster after the Navy tournament. Gimme more like B. Spears.

Actually the villain from Catch 22 didn’t send me anything. Brine’s top rep Neal Goldman did though. Take a look.

The Lax All Stars Fireside Chat

Up first, Chris Davis, founder of Strike Danger.

412:  Who is responsible for Striker Danger? How did the idea for a clothing company start?

Davis: StrikerDanger is made up of me, as well as a covert group of creative cohorts. The name was born in college. It’s purpose, a way to pick up chicks. I’m sure you would agree that many great ideas were started this way. If you don’t, I’m sorry things didn’t work out with the girl.  She’d say, “What’s your name?” StrikerDanger.  “Really, what do you do?” I fly rockets, you want a ride? I know. I know. Don’t hate. I was an arrogant lacrosse player at Lynchburg College. I am sure you know the type.  And yes, you can use that line – you’re welcome. As we ventured into the realm of limited edition sports apparel StrikerDanger seemed to be a good fit. Because what is fashion, but a means to that same end, picking up chicks.

I realized that over the course of my high school, college, and current club career that I was always the guy offering to order the team gear.  With my A.L.L. team, Six Shooters aka Six Schooners, I also started designing all of our team gear. I really enjoyed the design aspect of the process. Everything from warm-ups to fundraiser tees. Over the last few years, the technology to produce designed apparel has reinvented itself.  New technology, such as dye sublimation, broadened my design ability for our team apparel. When I first got started designing for the Six Shooters, my desire was to spark some creativity in the, somewhat conservative, lacrosse world. And make the Six Shooters have what I call intimidating swagger. People liked what I was putting together.  “Where can I get that?” “I’d pay for that” “Hey! I think that’s the guy who invented the StrikerDanger move.” So, I decided to put my designs to the test and see if the lacrosse world would take a ride with StrikerDanger.

412: You recently designed shorts for STX. How did that come about?

Davis: We heard the phrase “Rip the Duck” being thrown around this summer. In a quest to determine the meaning, we figured it would be fun to make a pair of shorts to represent “Rip the Duck”. We still didn’t know what it meant. We showed the design to STX. STX was just about to launch their “Rip the Duck” T-shirt design contest on Facebook and asked for a few of our designs. Thanks to Tizzle at STX the collaboration was born. You’d never know we didn’t know what it meant but looking at our “Rip the Duck” shorts. I think they came out pretty well….. we still don’t know what it means.

412: The sublimation short craze is taking off in the lacrosse community. What makes Striker Danger different?

Since college, StrikerDanger’s goal has always been to differentiate ourselves from the competition. The difference is in our designs. We are known for our aggressively fresh designs and color combinations. Our designs have no boundaries and are not limited. The concept is to take lacrosse gear out of the preppy world and into a universe of endless possibilities.  That being said, we don’t have lacrosse sticks and player silhouettes on our gear.

412: Artwork inspiration comes from….

Our inspirations come from the cultural influences of skater/snowboard, hip- hop (new and old), comics/old school cartoons and movies from the 80’s.

412: You offer team sales. What kind of teams are you hoping to market to?

Davis: I think we can offer something to all teams at all levels. We do not sell cookie cutter team gear. We design everything custom. You want a standard practice pack for your 9 year olds, we can do that. You want your team to look like they’re wearing Lederhosen, we got you. The more challenging the better; this is the fun part.

We showed this off last week, have to show them again. Absurd attention to detail

412: When can we see some uniform designs?

Davis: We are currently offer shooting shirts, and shorts. We are in the R&D stage right now and you should see our first jersey options in February of 2010.
412: What are the company goals for 2010?

Davis: Brand awareness is the primary goal. We want StrikerDanger to be part of the lacrosse community. We are talking to several retail stores that are interested in carrying StrikerDanger in their stores.  We will also be developing a retail and jersey line for the ladies in early 2010.  We would like to have 20-40 new retail short designs next year. Gotta keep it fresh. Like Jay-Z, I’m on to the next one.

To purchase gear from Striker Danger, click here

Striker Danger’s twitter page is also very, very informative as they tweet any and all lacrosse news 24/7. It’s like the CNN of lacrosse.

Are you following 412 Lax on Twitter?

USA Lacrosse Update

Did Max Seibald make our second cut?

E-Lacrosse was nice enough to provide video coverage of the USA against Maryland, Navy, and Virginia.

Our attack roster after the intrasquad scrimmage at West Point looked like this:

Attack

Ryan Boyle

Drew Westervelt

Brendan Mundorf

Matt Danowski

Brandon Corp

Well Brandon Corp has since dropped out of the running. And unfortunately my personal bias can no longer stand in the way of how well Ryan Powell looks on tape. I also released that group didn’t have a lefty attackman that I really trusted. Our new attack looks like this:

Ryan Boyle

Drew Westervelt

Matt Danowski

Ryan Powell

Mike Leveille

Projected first line: Powell, Boyle, Leveille

Reasoning: Boyle is the smartest attackman to ever play the game (Coach Tierney backs me up on this, its not just my undying love for the person who made me want to play attack). Powell is suddenly playing with a chip on his shoulder for the first time ever, perhaps it has to do with the disappointing finish in 2006. The Canadians are terrified of him according to a survey we made up. With those two back there I feel confident they can quarterback the offense and be a calming influence over a younger third attackman in Leveille who only happens to be a left handed Tewaarton award winner.  Danowski stays on the roster thanks to his elite dodging ability especially with speed burner Corp sidelined. Westervelt also makes the second cut thanks to his outside shot which none of the others are particularly known for, though of course capable. I especially like the idea of being able to get Danowski or Westervelt the occasional midfield run to expose a short stick.

Here is was our preliminary batch of offensive middies:

Paul Rabil

Joe Walters

Stephen Peyser

Steven Brooks

Max Seibald

Matt Poskay

John Glynn

Matt Zash

Matt Abbott

Chris Eck

After watching another tournament and Steven Brooks being unavailable, we have overhauled the midfield company.

Faceoff middies:

Chris Eck

Alex Smith

Reasoning: Again I’m putting personal bias aside and slotting Smith in with Eck. Small business owner be damned, faceoffs wear a huge problem in 2006. With these two guys, it should be an advantage in 2010 against the Canadians.

Defensive middies:

Matt Abbott

Kevin Cassese

Reasoning: Had to add Cassese after watching him play this weekend. Like Max Seibald he’s willing to check his ego at the door and play d middie. Both can stay on the field and help with transition which will be crucial in determining tempo for the US offense. Pressler will be able to decide if he wants to push or slow thanks to their offensive abilities (Somehow Abbott’s low to high from hell is getting better). They could also stay on the field as to steal a possession as a make shift third offensive midfield.

Offensive middies:

Paul Rabil

Kyle Dixon

Joe Walters

Max Seibald

Kevin Buchanan

Stephen Peyser

Projected first line: Rabil, Walters, Dixon

Projected second line: Buchanan, Peyser, Seibald

Reasoning: Watching more video footage of the USA squad confirms what the world already knows, Paul Rabil is a man playing against children. The idea of a Rabil, Dixon, Walters first line scares me and I’m not even trying to cover them. I decided to add Buchanan to the fold because I wanted a lefty on the second midfield for offensive balance. I moved Glynn and Zash out because I thought we could get better faceoff production from Smith and a better offensive threat from the d middie position in Cassese.

Our original batch of long poles:

Eric Martin

Joe Cinosky

Jack Reid

Lee Zink

Parker McKee

Kyle Sweeney

Starting close defenders: Cinosky, Reid, Martin

Reasoning: Our current projection is Nick O’Hara instead of Zink as O’Hara was running pole this weekend which will give Sweeney a break. O’Hara can also be used at close to stop those crafty Canuck attackmen.

Nothing has changed for the goalies.

Adam Fullerton

Brian Dougherty

Starter: Doughtery

Reasoning: Pressler isn’t taking Schwartzman because he is still upset with Jesse from the 2005 title game. There I said it.

The team has one more scrimmage at the end of the month before making their announcement.

Wednesday Banger

This song has changed my life 283 times since this morning.