Let the 2008 Games Begin

July 23, 2008 - Standing on the restraining line this afternoon at the site of the Men's Lacrosse Games this weekend at Binghamton University, we came to a number of realizations. After a beautiful summer, on Wednesday the rain came in droves, forcing the opening ceremonies inside and leaving standing water across the turf field. The rain, however, could not dampen the spirits of the competitors for the 31st annual Empire State Games.

As the teams arrived at the Events Center the air was full of noise as athletes could not hide their enthusiasm. Each of the lacrosse teams were convinced that this would be their year to shine and each was eager for the games to start tomorrow.

The staff at the University was very helpful. Each person we talked to was excited and willing to pass along whatever information we needed. Their excitement also extended into the use of the field, which has never seen this level of competition. "Field number 2", although untested, has lights (as opposed to last year) and is turf (as opposed to two years ago). However, unlike the last two years, there is no press box and therefore no active internet connection for our quarterly updates. Since learning this news we have scrambled and put together a number of solutions to keep bringing you up to date information. We have set up the capability to do short quarterly updates from a phone and have made arrangements in the press box for the stadium field to do updates between games. Although the access will not be as full as the last two years, the Binghamton staff as well as our staff will do our best to bring you the most complete and up to date information.

We talked to each of the teams at the Opening Ceremonies and each of the teams (bar Western) has kept their rosters in alphabetical order. Western has provided up with their correct roster; so all of the rosters in the roster page should be correct. As the games progress we will list any changes and fill in any missing grades or schools as the information becomes available. There have been two changes for the Long Island team. Both Jeff Molinari and Dominique Alexander have become injured and will not be participating in the games. Defenseman Kyle Sheridan and attackman Michael Chapman have stepped up from the alternates list and are ready to make a difference for the three time defending champion.

After each of the games Thursday we will keep the site updated and after the conclusion of all six games we will be writing articles and updating the leader boards and full stat packages. Much like the last two years we will have PDF files from each game as well as summary pages for each of the teams.

Let the games begin.