It's Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio Daylon Brown.
Backhead lost the ball, Ananoby all by himself blows it down.
And Titum is hurt.
Taratum is down. He wants a time out. Titum is so much pain.
I'm a Celtics called time out, grabbing that right ankle.
And that's the final time out. Well the Bosston.
Celtics, but more importantly, Tatum really.
Shake it up and perhaps the reason the Knicks are still in this thing and up on the Pacers. As d Andrews told you fifty six forty five, Dan Shaughnessy Judge's boss a globe. Uh Dan, if you have by the way, I need to tell people if you haven't read the book, I wish it lasted forever. It covers the eighty Celtics. We're going to get into that coming up. And also Dan's and parents on Celtic City with Bill Simmons, which was great. But we're going to talk about the
team in the current situation. So Dandy, thanks for joining us.
Hey Gary, good to be here.
Listen. So what do you think if Tatum doesn't get hurt, did they come back and are they playing Indiana right now.
No, No, that series was already over. I mean, in my view, I mean teams have come back with three to one. That game was over. It was Game four, so they were going down three to one. Whether Tatum was on the floor or not. It was like nine or eleven two minutes to play when that happened. They weren't going to win that game. And you know, you could say they could come back and win the next three and still be playing it, but I'm not buying that.
Every team has injuries this time of year. Had that happened in the first game of the series, yeah, that's a legit excuse. But they the three games they lost, they had leads of twenty, twenty and fourteen points in the second half. That was a collapse. And I don't want to hear the excuse thing. They shouldn't use it. I mean, you know, we're still hearing about Jalen Brown's meniscus whatever. He may not even have surgery. It's just something that they play through. So I'm just there's too
much of that. I mean, Porzingis was clearly was clearly limited, but that's kind of him. I mean, he only played and I think less than half the playoff games last year, and everybody remembers, you know, twenty one in the first half of Game one of the finals against Dallas. But he really wasn't a factor most of the time in their great run last year when they were sixteen and three in the playoffs. So this is a whole other thing this year, and it should still strike Boston fans.
Is wildly disappointing that they did not do better.
Yeah, I thought they'd be mentally tough. Now, could they have defeated Indiana? I think the Pacers are a lot better than we think, but they shouldn't have lost the series against the Knicks. Without question. The first two games they blew it.
I mean twenty point leagues at home. I mean, that's unheard of in the playoffs. In the second half, I mean they and there was a stat they were ahead going into that Game five or Game six, yeah, game six. I mean they were ahead in eighty four percent of the minutes played in that series. They were always ahead. They were the better team and they got beat. That's like Dandrew Keett Moore days in first place. We can do that stuff forever, but it doesn't do him any good.
But I know my eyes told me, and they had beaten those guys eight out of nine over the last two years, an average of twenty one point wins. In this season when they were four and zero against them, I mean it just again, there's just no excuse for what happened to them.
I wonder if Missoula is too much of a fan of the team or a concierge of the team, or a defender of the three, which I thought was crazy, or is he a coach. I mean, you got to look to coaching in that thing.
I think you've hit it with the three thing. And you know there's all about the analytics. They kind of think they're a little smart and everybody, and I just I just don't buy it. I mean, when you when you say it's a make miss league, that's not good enough. When you have the better players, when you have the better players, you use that, you go to the basket, you do things that can demonstrate your better players. You don't just take a chance on hitting the three every night.
And we know that that was their strategy. It was always preferable. They took the most in the history of the league, and the team before him that did that was Houston never won a championship. It's just not a formula. And you watch the teams that are still playing, no one comes near what they did with that three point weapon. It's just not a playoff strategy. And it was certainly good enough for sixty one wins, and they won a
lot of games shorthanded. You remember, there were very few nights they had everybody right, and they're just so deep and well put together by Brad Stevens that they were able to do that. But yeah, I mean the Oklahoma City they would have been interesting in my view because they were zero and two against that team. And I thought last year Denver would have been interesting. They were owing to against Denver. Turn the season never gotten into
the playoffs. So again we don't know. You just ifs some butts and all that stuff, but but it's it still sticks with me that they should still be playing and they're not, and and it's just it went from oh God, they're gonna win another championship back to back to rebuild in a matter of like five days.
What do you think of Madula?
I like Joe personally, and I think he knows a lot about basketball. I think he has the room I think that's really important in this in this sport, that the guys, you know, Tatum is a big, a big fan, and that's important is I mean, it really matters these days. And I just don't like the analytics driven stuff and and and how how tired they seemed to be to that,
And yeah, they were time out issues. I mean that first game, he just some of the stuff they were trying, it was was just it was just silly and he looked at these stretches. But he and then Joe's not calling timeouts really burned him in game two, the overtime games. So yeah, that's stuff. That's stuff still there. But he's not going anywhere, believe me. I mean, Press Stevens loves him, the players love him, and it's really sort of a MIoD point what you think.
And also the year before last year when they won the championship, we all know that some stars were injured, you know, Miami, Indy, they had lost some of their big guns. Butler was down in Miami. And also it wasn't the three point shot that won that championship. It was the intangibles by Drew Holliday. It was the fact that Jason Tatum couldn't make threes and we get fifteen rebounds a game. It was that they actually played some defense and that Porzingis could go down low and be
they just warneds depended on the three. The thing that frustrated me is they were trying. They got lazy. That's it, Dan, That's the way I see it. This year's team got so you see, that's why they get black.
I felt that way all year. The only time they lose is when they got bored, but just in intentive or taking things for granted. And that seemed to be you know, you're always going to lose your eighteen twenty games, I don't care how good you are. And and winning sixty one is good, it's not a guarantee. And Cleveland won sixty four or five and they went home the same same quick speed. They just weren't playing well at the end. But I just thought the bosson team was
so hit, so much depth. But you know, your reference holiday in Porzingis, and in this case being a year older is not good for them. Always been a leaked sixteen years and put in you know, al Horford's thirty eight, thirty nine years old. And there were times when you know, when they were playing the next on Horford was Garden Brunts, and some of the time they had everybody trying to guard Brunson and and they just they weren't able to
contain him when when it mattered the most. And then going back, I mean, there was really kind of no excuse for the lay down in New York for Game six. That was really disappointing. And they were behind by forty two points in that game, yep, and that's that's just I mean, that tells you that's that's quitting. They just they just gave up. And we'd never thought we'd would see that out of this team. So yeah, it's a
I don't know, that's a sorrow one for me. I had the empty frame on my wall here ready to put the page one Championship nineteenth banner here, and that frame is still empty. I'm not quite sure how that happened.
All Right, we're going to talk to Dan about what's down the road with the Celtics. Also, he was in Celtic City, which was a terrific documentary and if you haven't read his book Wish It Lasted Forever about the eighty Celtics, you really should pick it.
Up.
It's a great read. We'll get into that coming up next on WBZ.
You're on Night Side with Dan Ray on w b Z, Boston's news Radio.
Back here with Dan Shaughnessy, Bost The Globe, Gary Tag rag tonight. So Tatum's out for the year and holiday. I think his better days of passing by this talk of baby him being moved to Dallas and Porzingis has a year left and you don't know if he's dependable. So we've gone from the possibility of winning or the certainty at least in my mind of winning two in a row, to a rebuild a year off. How do we look at this?
Yeah, there's really going to be a challenge. Brad Stevens is good. I have a lot of paith in him, and they tend to surprise you with things that we haven't speculated on or route about, or they're they're good at that at keeping things close to the best. So I'm hoping there's something we haven't thought of that's on the horizon away for them to still be a contender
next year. But on paper everything you just referenced, knowing that that Tatum's not going to be on the team and you can't count on them for the whole year, which is the only way to look at this. What do you do? And do you continue to pay the have the payroll they have and pay the luxury tax penalties that they that are built in with a team
that can't win the championship? Well the answer is pretty much no. You got new ownership there, which they don't have the equity in the team that the last guy's had, and why would they start off working in the red with a product that can't win a championship? So yeah, all those things, and you didn't you mentioned Al Horford's an unrestricted free agent. I can't imagine why he would re up in Boston unless they were serious contenders win
the NBA Championship in that last year. Otherwise he should go somewhere that is now, the East isn't that strong, and the Celtics, as we talked about, we're able to be most teams without one or two of their big guns on a regular basis, But take Tatum off of the season and add a year to the people that he referenced, and it's just hard to see them as a serious contender going into this thing, Which means, how do they how do they build the roster for next year? And that that's Brad.
Yeah, I mean you just I think you're a team in waiting. I've had this debate with my friends. I've become a little frustrated with how people have fallen in love with all these other players, whether it's you know, not well, not Dallas anymore now Los Angeles or Denver. And SGA is a great player. Don't get me wrong, I would take Jason Tatum over anybody, hands down. Some of my friends have tried to blame him for what happened with the Celtics. I'm like, come on, that's it's
not on him. I think Jason Tatum for me, is my favorite player in the league.
Well he and you know, oddly, he was having one of the best games of his career that I know her. He was just just lighting it up and from the longest range threes I've ever seen on a steady basis that night, and yeah, and just rebound steals the whole package. I think that what do you say, Gary, His ceiling is probably higher than anybody out there now, including SGA or Anthony Edwards or what.
Have you get Anthony Edwards. I mean the Baby Jordan thing. I mean, forget it. I'm not I'm not buying that.
You know, Tatum's been you know, Tatum has been Top four MVP four times. I mean, and and that all NBA First Team. So he's he's right there and it can still be more. And he's still relatively young in age years. I mean, he's got a lot of NBA years. He's in the middle, and you know, has remained remarkably healthy. That was the one thing that never really touched Tatum Brown to the degree that we're seeing now. So this is a big test. And what will he do when
he comes back from this? I mean, if some guys aren't ever the same, so we'll be that's true. I mean joking, what's there?
I mean the Joker and Luca, they don't play defense. I mean, come on, I mean Tatum doesn't. Forget about it. I mean, those guys they remind me of some of my friends playing in the Thursday night beer League, you know, I mean, you know, they shoot a three and you could still beat him back on the other end of the floor. I want to talk about Celtic City and also again if you haven't, if you missed Dan's book will shuld Lasted Forever and you are in a Celtics trait.
It's a great read. A lot of people think of Dan as the baseball guy, which he certainly is. I mean he's been recognized by Cooperstown, but also he covered the Celtics in the mid eighties. He was there for the Glory years called Scoop affectionately question mark by Larry Bird, So check that out. But you were great in Celtics City. It was great seeing you and Jackie and Bob Ryan and I had a chance to see you at the premiere. What was that experience like and what did you think of the series?
I love this series. It's really a keyper and to have nine parts, and it's nice that you can always you know, we watched several of them, and for younger people, just a history of those early decades in the sixties in particular, you know they won eleven and thirteen years and just the way Red built it in the lineage of you know, Sam Jones and Russell and all those great great guys. Of course, having Kouzi is still alive able to sort of connect all the all the threads
as this narrator almost it just made. It was really special for me, and though I thought they were very thorough professional. I mean, Montville and Ryan and myself all would of view three different times and twice collectively and once each individually, and there'd be like two hour sessions. I can't imagine editing that because we were small parts of that. There were people that were in a lot more than we were, and there's important players in it a lot.
You know.
They went and got you know, read our bags, daughters and Bill Russell's daughter and just really deep archival stuff as well. I thought it was spectacular and I really was going. I would set my clock by it every week, you know, could they dropped them one at a time and wait for the next one. So I really enjoyed it.
Of course, my wheelhouse, as you reference with the book, there was the early eighties, mid eighties, and and I was glad that the night we read that premiere, that's the one that they showcased, because that Celtic Laker thing in the eighties to me was still you know, it just it just moved the NBA to the next level to where they are now, and where they were they went from small time to almost global with the Larry Magic Boston La thing, you know, giving away to David Stern,
Michael Jordan's dream team and here we are today. But yeah, that Celtic thing on HBO is a keeper for all Celtic fans.
All I know is the segment with you, Ryan and Montville on the porch in shorts is an ad for SPS fifty.
I mean Mint Phil Rose Lord the shorts. That was his mistake. But yeah, we're not We do not bronze Gary, you know, we do not bronze our people.
I think people. I was glad that people were reminded that the great Celtic teams of the eighties did not repeat. It's hard to do. You mentioned the sixties a different time. Great teams. Take nothing away from them, but the Celtic teams of Larry, which people in this area he's the god. And fine, they did not repeat. And I think people forget that.
Oh they do for sure. And you know, I mean they were in it, you know, five times, but they one they were spaced out. Eighty one, eighty four, eighty six, those are the three they won. And the seventies teams didn't repeat either. They won seventy four and seventy six, right, So really the last team to repeat is the Russell team sixty eight sixty nine when he was the player coach, and and of course prior to that they had the eight in a row from the late fifties into sixty six.
So yeah, a different time, like you say, but no less of an awesome accomplishment to do what those guys did.
I mean one of the things they took from it. Because listen, I love Cedric Maxwell. He's a friend of mine. You know, he's coming, He's talked to some of the classes I've been teaching in the whole thing with Larry and Max, and you know, look, Max won an MVP in the series. I mean eighty one eighty four, you know, did they win without Max? I think the guy deserves a ton of credit? Was there, you know? And I asked Ryan about this, you know, when Larry said something
about Max quitting. Did Larry realize the impact of those words that way?
He just that's how he felt, and then he was angry and because you know, as you said, they didn't repeat in this limited amount of chances. And you know that eighty five team, I mean they won eighty forty eighty six, so they really could have won three straight. Eighty five team was a wagon, but at the end people were hurt and it couldn't help him out. You know, Bucker the last game against the Lakers when they lost at home, Bucker didn't play, Max didn't play. It was
they were very thin. They only used like seven guys in that game, so they just got they had no depth at the end, and that's why they brought in ceasting of Waltz in the next year and kind of got the thing going again with more depth, but didn't have it in the playoffs than eighty five. But the eighty five team was a wagon from start to finish, and they just didn't have the depth in the playoff and Max not coming back from the February small knee surgery was a part of that, and he did play,
but he never was the same guy. And then the way he teased about it didn't help and didn't sound like he was taking it seriously, which it defends him to think that people did take that seriously. And Larry just didn't think he did enough, and of course then Red didn't think and it caused hard feelings for some time.
Yeah, the eighty three team That's the one that bugged me because they didn't like the coach and Parish even talked about it. Parish was great. I mean, the Parish part was phenomenal. But they quit on the coach. They quit on But that was a mut.
I was there for that. That was a team mutiny. Larry is the only guy standing by Bill at the enne. Larry's always big on authority to like Bill Fitch. Bill Fitch wasn't Hall of Fame great coach, but he had a shelf life and they had exceeded it that year. And that was the first year I came to cover the team, and it was obvious from the jump they were done and they needed the change. And as soon as they made the change, you know, four straight finals and were two championships with.
Ye yeah, you know. But here's the thing. This is where're so parochial, which is like if we saw that in another city, you know, we go, wow, come on, what do you mean? But I guess what I'm saying is Simmons is such a great job putting this together. Revisionist history tells me that these guys were perfect and they're not. They're human beings. As a Celtics fan. The eighty three thing bothered me, you know that that that
bothered me. I was like, wait a minute, you guys could have had another title, but you didn't like the coach, so you quit on things.
We're working the backcourt. You know, Tiny was Selking. He was at the end, and Buckner had come in and he was not as good as we thought he was. And Pitch was disappointed in that the guard thing was messed up. Danny wasn't starting, and Pitch wrote him really hard. Jerry Henderson was about to have a great moment and then get traded. Yeah, so the whole backcourt thing, and they didn't have Dennis Johnson. Don't forget that. That changed.
They acquired Dennis Johnson in the summer after the eighty four sweep and get swept out by the Bucks. So they added a new coach, Casey, who basically rolled out the ball and said go get him, guys, And they added Dennis Johnson, one of the you know, Hall of Fame guard who could it was a great clutch player and also a great defender of guys like Andrew, Tony Magic and et cetera. And Larry loved playing with him. We all loved him. I mean, he was just he
was a great presence in that team. So yeah, those those things weren't there in eighty three, and I was at the eighty three team every day, and you could see that coming. I mean that it was not They were not championship Timber in that season. M l was a leader of the mutiny. He hated Fitch so much. You know, Max hated him. McHale just never took him seriously at the end, he was just teasing him. And yeah, it was it was club wide except for Larry Bird.
Final question here, Dan, what was your favorite part of covering that team?
You know, it occurred to me that I worked in the book just how how secure they all were in their own greatness, and guys really rooted for other guys and and you know, McHale Larry weren't that close, but they didn't resent each other's talent Paris same thing he could have resented not getting more touches of the publicity for Larry DJ. They just they were securing their own greatness and rooting for each other and really had fun. And just I wished I had for my part, just
enjoyed the basketball more. Because you'll never see anything like it again.
Wish it lasted forever. If you haven't read or check it out, you can get it at Amazon bookstores everywhere. From Dan Shaughnessy covering the Celtics when he was there from eighty two to eighty six, it was a pleasure to see you at the premiere. It was great to revisit the Celtics in the eighties. Sammons did a great job. Dan, thanks for coming on. We appreciate it, enjoyed it.
Carry take care okay too.
Dan Chaughnessy's busting Glo. Coming up next a national champion, the Pride of Subbury, mass Matt Dooley on what it takes to be a collegiate athlete and what parents need to know. It's all coming up next to WBZ.
Run with Dan Ray. I'm w BZ, Boston's news radio.
Madam puts Cornell about three and fifty seconds to go.
If there's one player you want to bone his stick in this spot to close.
It out, to tie the record.
It's almost two story book.
In honesty, a half century in the making. But the journey is complete.
Cornell.
We'll bring a championship home to the the You have it, the big red Man. They win the title down at Jillette Stadium. Division one champions youhoing at me right now is the pride of Sudbury, Massachusetts. Also a defenseman, starting defenseman for Cornell and Matt Dewley. Matt, thanks for coming on night side.
Of course, thanks so much for having me. Gary.
Yeah, it's great to have you and listen. Full disclosure. Friends with the family. We like this, kiddies. It was a mentor of my son who played lacrosse at LSU, Bob an A mcdools. They have a lot to be proud of. But what I want to talk to you about. First of all, what was that like to win that championship down at Gillette.
It was a surreal experience. I mean, I've had this date circled on my calendar ever since I did a postgraduate year at the Salisbury School. As soon as I found out that, you know, one of the final fourth in championship was going to be at Chalette Stadium, you know, that was that was the dream. And to finally make it there this year and then beat Penn State and make it to the championship and then win it all,
it was it was just a dream come true. I had so many family members there from local town supporting me, so it was just such a cool moment.
Also, I want to thank Danny Kraft. He makes it all happen down there. Danny's a big supporter Toughs lacrosse. His son scored a goal for Toughs and and it Crafts through a great job with this tournament down at Gillett and my daughter, which loves lacrosse, we saw North Carolina play, so it's a great event. Now are you surprised at the growth of the sport over the last ten or fifteen years because it was always big in Sudbury,
But since you've left Sudbury, you've got other towns. You've got Redding, You've got chelmsforad, You've got Franklin, You've got public schools act in Boxbury. As much as it pains me to say being from Sudbury, you got to be. I mean, these are all legit programs right now. Are you surprised at the increase of popularity of the sport?
One hundred percent? I mean when I was growing up in Sudbury watching Lincoln Sudbury High School lacrosse, it was really just kind of Duxbury LS and Hingham. We're kind of the three powerhouses in high school lacrosse, and that you know, has grown so much. You have BC High now, sjp ACT in Boxborough. All these towns are growing their youth programs, growing their high school teams. So it's really
really cool to see. And this weekend, Jillette, I think head around thirty two thousand fans, which was the highest number of fans since since twenty eleven, So it was really really cool to see. And I think as more people have access to, you know, watching the game and equipment and gear, it's it's just gonna keep growing because it really is such an awesome sport and I don't think many many people have been exposed to it, and as they do, they'll just they'll just fall in love
with it. So it's really cool to see.
Why do you love it? And what lesson has it taught you in life.
It's something that I've kind of taken with me since high school. But uh, effort equals respect is something that has kind of stuck with me throughout my you know, high school career, especially in my postgraduate year. A lot of those guys who are there have been three four year guys, So to come in as a postgrad can be a little nerve wracking. But I just knew going into there, if I worked my hardest, I would earn the respect of my teammates and the coaches, and the
same thing. The same thing at Cornell, because the truth is, everyone that's recruited Cornell is the best kid on their team in high school. So when you have twelve recruits who are the best of their own towns, you kind of need to need to separate yourself. And it's just, you know, my effort and hard work I feel like
has always driven me into the right moment. So and just gaining the trust of my teammates through that effort is something you know, that will stick with me going into my senior year, continuing to earn that respect to my teammates through my hard work and effort, and then even going into the workplace. We put a lot of emphasis at Cornell on doing the little things, and I think that you know is important, uh in athletics and beyond, you know, showing up to the office five days a week,
you know, getting it in early, that little thing. You know, it might not make a difference, but it shows that you care and it shows that you're putting in effort. So I think that's something I'll kind of always take.
With mesover baseball.
Uh So I started with baseball. I think kindergarten to maybe second grade, I played baseball, and and Brian that well, I was too I was too focused on climbing the batting cages. So my mom was like, we we can't do this. We need to we need to get you running around. So I picked up a lacrosstic in second grade. Actually wasn't a huge fan of it, put it down for a year, and then got back into it fourth grade and just kind of ran away with it from there.
But you know, when I grew up and Brian Varns had the legendary head coach of LS lacrosse who's done a great job there. When I went to the University of Maine, my buddy Bill Herbster, now he was from Jersey and he was lived in the room across the hall, and he had a lacrosse stick, and I went, you know what the hell is that? Yeah, because I had never seen nobody played lacrosse in main I mean, it
was a rich kids sport. Quite frankly, I mean it was obviously in a history with the Native Americans, or it was a private school sport, so I wasn't familiar with it at all, but I could speak like from my son who plays. Kids love the helmet, Kids love the physicality of it. Kids love the fact that you don't have to wait to get a fly ball in right field or center field or left field. You know,
you know twice in a game. It just moves and it's just perpetual in motion and that's why people are playing instead.
Of Yeah, an emphasis of kind of the Final four weekend was you know, showing people that's the fastest, uh fastest sport on two feet, which is I think is one hundred percent true. You know, you're you're always moving, You're not waiting for something to happen. And you know, to your point about you know, the physicality, I grew up playing uh football, basketball, and lacrosse, and you know, I think the physicality from playing football helps me in lacrosse.
And then as a defenseman, playing defense on a basketball court is very very similar to h on a lacrosse field. So I think it's a great sport. You know, you did you learn a lot from the other sports you play and it helps you in lacrosse. So that's why I love it, I'd say yeah.
And also I think that the you know, basketball people who don't follow the cross don't haven't been followed lacrosse, haven't been exposed to this, but the basketball game translates very well to it because some people think, yes, you know, oh it's you know what what would what what? Like hockey? The initial response as well, if you understand hockey, you understand lacrosse. No, if you understand basketball, you understand lacrosse.
Yeah, even from like an offensive perspective, sure, the amount of the amount of cutting, and you know, picks, picks have become a huge part of the game of lacrosse lately, you know, setting picks, cutting, moving the ball moves faster than you move, which is the same in basketball. So there's so many similarities. And then on the defense, and then you know, you can play his zone in lacrosse, you can play his zone in basketball. The footwork aspect
of both those sports is incredibly similar. So there's a ton of similarities between the sports, which which really helps me.
Matt, can you hang on, we have to take a break. I have some more questions regarding what parents should do if they have a young loxer. Yeah, okay. Matt Dooley National championship, Proud of Sidbury, Mass. Uh, part of the Cornell men's lacross team, starting defenseman, joining me. If you have a kid that's gonna play lacrosse, you're buying the equipment. Please stick around, We're gonna I've been through it as
a parent, Matt's been through it as a player. Uh, you guys need to hear this next on WBZ.
Night Side with Dan Ray on WBZ Boston's news radio.
Back here in Nightside, Gary Tang going in for Danny tonight, Cornell Men's lacrosse champions defenseman, Proud of Sebury, Mass. Matt Dooley joining us here. I was a great time down at Jillette Stadium Again, Danny Kraft, oh Craft family. They did a great job in hosting this event, and Matt in front of his parents, were family at hometown crowd, won a national championship. So that obviously was a great feeling. So now let's get to parents, Let's get through the
real jerks. Okay of this whole thing. Now, speaking for myself, I never took the time to truly understand lacrosse because I didn't want to get upset. When I would watch basketball games, I would get upset because lord knows, I've covered enough of it. But I said, you know what, I'm just going to step back. And my son, who is a teammate of mask, I would try to talk to Lacrosse about him and he goes, just shut up, man, you just don't. You don't know what you're talking about.
So I have a young lax player second grade. What do I do as a parent?
I think the first thing you can do, if your town offers it, is get him involved in the youth program. Here at in Sudbury, at Lincoln Sudbury, we're very fortunate to have an awesome youth program and awesome you know, high school program, and the high school program takes the time to or dedicates time to, you know, help grow the game with the youth program and make them feel
part of it. So I think, if your first looking to get into the sport, you know, don't be afraid as well, just get right in with the youth program. When I started in second grade, you know, I didn't have the fanciest gear, the flashiest stick. You know, I think my mom took me over to the local brines and we kind of got like a starter pack, and I honestly got made fun of a little bit. But
you know, I just want people to be easy. I think nowadays to get caught up in all the expensive gear, the flashy helmets, all that, but just taking the first step of getting your little kid in pads and you know, have them start throwing with kids in the youth program and just being a part of that. That's I think the best way to to get involved.
Also talk about the importance of being ambidextrious. It's true.
Oh yeah, you know, it took me a while, so I'm a natural righty. But you know, once you kind of get into seventh eighth grade, you you really have to start working on that off and less. I would say it's less important as a defenseman but all, but especially as an offensive player attack or midy, it's incredibly crucial and really helps you stand out against the competition.
I would say, especially during recruiting as you get into high school, coaches will look for that, Hey, is this kid, you know, just dodging all with his right, shooting all with his right, or is the ambidextrous, because that can that can really help you stand out. And from a defenseman's perspective, that's really hard to guard because you're not really sure where to force them because they can score
and make plays with both. And so I think that's something that youth players and players entering high school should fo focus on. Is you know, getting really fluent with both your hands, passing, shooting, picking up ground balls.
What did your parents do right? What did they do wrong? What I would say, when do you push a kid? I guess that's what I say, because one of the things I struggled with is a parent with Van is like, yeah, when do I push him? And when do I just let the coaches do the job or do I just let the coaches do the job? You know, because you try to drop your kid off. You know you're going to I say, listen, I'm gonna drop my kid off. I'm going to pick my kid up, and that's all
I'm going to do. But it just never works. You try to push them, You try to say some things, what's the balance?
I would say what my parents did best? They were extremely supportive no matter what I did, and was very receptive to kind of what I told them and how I felt. So after second grade, when I told them, you know that I didn't want to play lacrosse anymore, they didn't push me. They were like, Okay, you know, you're only in second grade. I took a year off, got back into it fourth grade, and absolutely loved it.
And then, you know, as I got older through middle school, a huge focus in our family was playing different sports and playing one sport season. So in the fall, I was purely focused on on football. In the in the winter, I was purely focused on basketball. And I think for me, once I got to the spring, I was so excited to pick up my lacrosse stick. And I wasn't, you know,
burned out from playing lacrosse year round. I was just so excited to pick up my lacrosse stick and start that season and purely focused on that season, which I did all the way up until my sophomore year. And then I wanted to make the basketball team, varsity basketball team, so I decided to drop football, but obviously stuck with basketball lacrosse, and you know, we would have our spring season, our our summer tour ornaments, but then I would take
a little break. You know, it wasn't like a year round thing that I did, which I think allowed me to kind of never burn out and always you know, once across season came around, absolutely love it and be so excited for it.
Well, studies do show your kids should play multiple sports. I mean, we get into it. I mean we get parents are nuts. I mean it's just insane.
You know.
And I my, you know, I remember, like I'll name drop the great Dave Cowens. I would talk to Dave and he'd run the summer camps, and Dave said he'd always get get the get these phone calls from parents. You know, mister Collens, my kid's really good, Like, I mean, he's really good, David like laugh, Okay, I'm sure he is. You know, you know the kid. The kid shows up, you know, and he's you know, maybe the know thirteen or fourteen, and he's going to be five ten at
the most. And he's like, well, he better be muggy bogues if he's gonna you know. So, you know, our parents, especially this generation of parenthood, they lived, we lived through our kids so much it's just insane. Now your parents, you know, we haven't seen that with them, but you know, you see it with other people. And and that's really the problem is they look at their kids as a representation of their success. Like if my kid is not a College of lacrosse player, I failed, which is crazy.
Your kid is your kid and and and they're separate from you. What advice would you have for a collegiate athlete as far as balancing your life.
Yeah, it can be a lot at times, especially especially like as a freshman arriving in the fall, it's your first time being away from the house. You're you know,
you're adapting to the team, school all that. One piece of advice that kind of helped me balance everything, and I actually of credit to my mom for this is you know, kind of looking at the day as like if it's a work day, So if I, you know, get up at nine o'clock, I'm gonna, you know, if I have time throughout the day to get my homework done or do some extra work, whether that be like
lacrossewise or academic. As soon as it you know, hits, let's say four o'clock and then we have a team lift until seven, I'm kinda you know, obviously there's some alliers when you gotta test the next day you gotta study late at night, but for the most part, I would try and get all of my academic work between kind of nine and four o'clock or nine and seven o'clock, which really allowed me to kind of take a deep breath at night, relax, be with my friends, and not
get overwhelmed. So that was kind of a really really nice way to look at things. Is kind of looking at it like a work day, like I'm going to work nine to four, all my academic stuff done, go to class, then we have team activities and then enjoy the night, get a good meal, and get some rest. So I think that was kind of the biggest piece that helped me maintain my balance these last three years.
Matt, great job, thanks for coming on. Van Tangwi did say to me, I said, I'm having you know, Matt Dooley on lacrosse player, and he like looked at like gave me a look like, well, why not me? I should go win a national championship then we can talk.
Matt.
Congratulations and I know mom and Dad, Bob and Amy Dudles are proud and way to go, and thanks for coming on. I think you had a lot of great things to say and hopefully parents were listening.
Awesome, Thank you so much. Gary. I'm sure I'll see you around town, for sure.
See you around town. Take care all right. Matt Duley national champion with Cornell University as they won the Division One championship down in Foxborough. And I could tell you as a parent, my youngest is a lacrosse player, and then I went through with my son who's playing college lacrosse now as well. The best advice I could give you is keep your mouth shut and let the coaches do the work. It's hard to do though. It's hard, like you know, why don't you shoot it there? Or
why don't you do that? And it's hard, but you really can't. You gotta. You gotta let the coaches do the work. And if your kid loves it, they love it. You can't make your kid love something. You can't. It's just it's you can't love it for them. And I know this is common sense, but when it's when it's your own kid, it's just different. When it's your own kid, common sense goes out the window. I've seen it happen a million times. I've seen it happen with professional coaches.
Professional coaches, they start talking about their kid like they're gonna make the NBA happens to all of us. Uh. Coming up next, Todd Fernard joins us from Fernard Properties. Is it better to work from home or get your ass in the office. That's next on WBZ.