S1 E35. Total Team Effort: NLL Commish Brett Frood & Professional Lacrosse HOFer Greg Cattrano, Part III.

In this third and final installment of our three part interview series with special guests, National Lacrosse League Commissioner, Brett Frood and his college roommate, USILA Goalie of the Year, MLL Player of the Year, and Professional Lacrosse Hall of Famer, Greg Cattrano, we listen as the Commish describes what his first year at the helm of the NLL was like.  He describes his visits to the various league franchises and how each has their own unique flavor of enthusiastic characteristics. 

Our co-hosts, Ron Dalgliesh and Jay McMahon also inquire about how these two guests view the recent inclusion of lacrosse in the upcoming 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, CA. 

Finally, our roving reporter Steve Gresalfi hails a flurry of rapid fire "Pass/Fail" questions at our guests that leaves everyone laughing. Especially when one questions elicites the recounting of Rick Beardsley's infamous "Cele" in the faces of Coaches Pete Lasagna and Joe Breschi after scoring his third goal against the Bears in a 13-12 Syracuse win. No worries Brown fans, Bruno got revenge the following year beating the Orange 20-12! This another episode that is packed with energy, excitement, and great stories; jump right in and enjoy!

And please support the show by subscribing, leaving a review, and telling a friend about us, thanks!

NEW BOOK!
Inside the Recruiting Game: Insights From College Lacrosse Coaches
-available for FREE on the JML Training App at:
https://jay-mcmahon-lacrosse.passion.io/checkout/79608
-And available on Amazon.com as an Ebook and paperback

Link to the FREE JML Mini Course-now with a FREE defense course taught by Lars Tiffany and a FREE Mini goalie course taught by Kip Turner- on our own App: https://jay-mcmahon-lacrosse.passion.io/checkout/79608

Check out our Patreon page with the link below:
patreon.com/GetTheLaxScoop
And take a look at our new virtual storefront here: jml-online-store.company.site

Link to Video of the Week:
Master The 5 Best Dodges From the Wing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_7LDOcQQ6Q&t=88s

Blazing Shots... on the Run!
https://youtu.be/XiptPlM63oQ

Check us out...

On YouTube @jaymcmahonlax23
On Instagram @jaymcmahonlax23
On Facebook @: facebook.com/jmcmahonlax23. Page name: Jay McMahon Lacrosse

SuccessHotline with Dr. Rob Gilbert on Ironclad & Apple Podcasts

Brian Cain Daily Dominator on Apple Podcasts

Jon Gordon Positive U. Podcast on Spotify

Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Carol Dweck, PhD on Amazon.

Transcript

Jay: 0:00

It's time for get the La Scoop, a podcast bringing you all the people and stuff you should know. In the game of lacrosse, we take LAX seriously, but ourselves, not so much. Join hosts, big Dog and Jaybird, and the biggest names in the game. Brought to you by Jay McMahon lacrosse. That's J M L Skills, mindset, and LAX IQ training. Ron Doish, the big dog, was a collegiate football and lacrosse player at Brown. He was also an assistant lacrosse coach and the executive director of the sports found. and Jay McMahon, the Jaybird, a three time All-American Midfielder Brown. He was a captain of the US Junior National team and is the founder of J M L. And joining us in the studio, Steve gfi, who's collegiate lacrosse career statistics equals one goal against Dartmouth. Jml skills. Mindset and LAX IQ training, helping the next generation cross players. Get to the next level.

1:01

Hello everyone. And welcome back. We are super excited to bring you the third installment. Of our interview series with national lacrosse league commissioner breadfruit and his college roommate, professional lacrosse hall of Famer, Greg Catrino. You will find our interview in progress. And Brett, congratulations to you on becoming the commissioner of the N. L. L. Last September. And since it's relaunched there in 1997, there's only been for other commissioners. So it's quite an honor and I'm sure it's quite a task to run the league now with 15 teams and tell us what your first year was like and what are some of the plans, you know, 30, 000 foot fly by there for the league going forward. Yeah, for sure. First, a cat. I can't think of a more worthy recipient of, that Hall of Fame honor. So I know I reached out when when you were inducted. But man, what an honor. Um, incredible career. So congrats again. Thank you. Um, yeah, thanks, Jay, uh, commissioner of the NLL. I'm not sure how that came about. You know, it was, I didn't have my resume out there and got a random call, um, from the agency working on the search as I was on my way to a high school game. And, um. It's just, you know, rare in life where you can marry personal and professional pursuits. Um, and this just seemed like the perfect opportunity. Think about the league, it's deep, you know, amazing history, um, of competition and iconic players. Um, we've, a lot of the names that have come up today. Um, we've got just massively engaged and sophisticated owners that are. Not just lacrosse owners. They're, you know, business Titans, um, Superbowl champions and Stanley cup champions and, um, and hedge fund icons. And, you know, there's just, it's just really fun to engage in and be involved from a fiduciary standpoint with those folks and then obviously just. Talented, competitive athletes that, you know, are all in, um, competing at the highest level. We obviously share a number of our players with our, with our peers. Um, Greg mentioned, you know, Paul and the PLL and those guys, we've got about 40 guys crossover who are obviously the best in the world playing in both disciplines. So it's just, um, I feel, you know, obviously come from a field background, but Um, it's been, it's been a wild first year, um, you know, and very easy to embrace the box lifestyle, um, feel like our on floor product is just unbelievable and resonates with such a diverse demographic out there and, you know, we've got it all, but it's, uh, been, been drinking out of a fire hose, so to speak, you know, it's, it's all new. Governance and bylaws and reporting to 15 owners, not just one. So I had Tony Stewart for 20 years and, uh, now 15 of them and, uh, a NLPA. So we've got a CBA. So getting entrenched in collective bargaining and, um, you know, just. And what we have is assets and, um, understanding, you know, from my perspective that we've got this property and it's, it's odd to say, but it's a, you know, 37 year old startup, um, with just so much meat on the bone. Um, and really excited about the, the enterprise value that, um, I hopefully will have the pleasure of building with many constituents, you know, players, partners, owners, fans, and,. And present and, you know, propagate this sport in a way specifically in America, right? Like, you guys know the history of it from, from very much a Canadian, sport. Very, very much part of the fabric of, of their culture, especially up in Ontario and B. C. Um, right. But now I think there's like 10 American teams and I was gonna. throw in here on the next question. Just, you know, obviously most of the great players are Canadian, but Casey Powell started playing in like 98, I think 99 and was the MVP in 2010. And he's going into your hall of fame, the NLL. And then you got guys like Tom Schreiber, Joe, I can't ever say his name properly. Ressiteritis. Ressiteritz. Ressiteritz. He's amazing. And Connor Fields. Call him Joey Rez. Joey Rez. It's easier. But you got a lot of nice American players there too. And tell us a little bit about that. Are you looking to get more players involved? I know a player, Peyton Booth, who I coached is going to Cornell. He's a 24, but he's played on the indoor USA team and done really well. So what, what's that, uh, status as far as looking at this game in the U S well, timely question. Cause we just returned from the hall of fame, as you just mentioned a couple of weeks ago and had, we had, uh, Kevin Finneran, Reggie Thorpe, and Casey that were inducted, which joined Sal Lacassio, who Greg mentioned, and Tony Resch and John Tucker. So you start seeing some of that momentum on the American side, but obviously the, the legacy of the league is most closely associated with, you know, the Gates and Tavares and. Uh, Grant Jr. and Mike French, you know, like those, those Canadian icons. But man, I have thoroughly enjoyed going to these games and watching, and you said reciters and Shriver and Reardon and Trevor Baptiste. Hanna. Um, Denver kid was a rookie in Vegas. He's just an animal. And you've got cursed and Pia Telly. Um, Cornell kid played at Albany. Danny, Danny Logan played in San Diego. T. D. Erland. You guys seen him? Connor Kelly, Maryland kid, Bertrand, Tara Fanko. These are all world members that are excelling. And just, and you guys can probably hear it, right? Like, this is why I took the job. It's the passion piece. And to your point, we've got to, we've got to make sure we're growing, in America, we've got to. We've got to be nimble and have our finger on the elasticity of supply and demand. And it's not just, it's not just the players, um, Jane and Doug, it's, it's the fans, right? It's how do we continue to foster an environment where box is a discipline that comes to mind, um, for all of us. And, and it's not an easy fix because, I mean, one reason why we have never been there is just facilities. You think why, why did it, why is it so prevalent in Canada? It's because they take the ice down during the summer and all the hockey rinks and they play box. Um, and a lot of rings look at all. Yeah. I mean, so it's, it's, they played hockey, hockey, lacrosse, hockey, and they have, and they, and it's still, when you look at junior B's senior, you know, junior A's and you get into, you know, senior B's and man cup Minto, like it's, they're all playing during the summer. So it is challenging for us. So we we've. We've I feel like we've got to have the mindset from a league standpoint of kind of that rise the tide mentality, um, working with the Houghton Shoney N. C. A. A. P. L. L. Athletes United and just grow across, um, grow it communities. And to me, Whether it's field, whether it's box, whether it's sixes, um, if we're all working together and growing the game, I think through osmosis, all of us will win. And I think more people, more endemics,, like our kids that are out there, you know, that are used to field, we'll start watching the box, the Olympics. As you guys may be aware, we're going to find out IOC, ratification processes in, Five, six days and, really optimistic and hopeful that, gets to the finish line, which I think it will. So you can imagine that 2028 Olympics guys in LA lacrosse cat wishes he was younger, right? Oh my God. I was just thinking that. Can you imagine? Could Toronto in the. sixes game. I mean, he's got to be crying. He wants to go back in the time machine. I think he still could. I think he, I think he should go, I think he should try out for the world team, but you know, so it's, it's exciting times for lacrosse. We just started, we're heavily involved with the national collegiate box series. Which is grabbing American college kids during the summer, had a big tournament in Utica. And that's where a lot of these guys are growing. And you mentioned that you mentioned Peyton. Um, we played against him. I think he played at ST Anne's Belfield kid going to Cornell, right? So that will provide a opportunity for kids like that. Um, when they're in college to play during the summer box, I think Joey Spallina played right. And if you're yeah, Joey played up in Canada. But we really got to, we've got to have more programming down here. So working hard on grassroots and it's part of, certainly part of the strategic plan and, and really excited about presenting, you know, this, this box product to a lot of folks endemically here that haven't touched it yet. Nice. All right. So, so Kat, you get the last question before we turn it over to our Rover reporter, Steve Gasolfi. And Kat, I'm just wondering, you know, hearing Brett talk about. You know, his vision for the NLL, you having been part of every facet of the game over time, what excites you most about the future of lacrosse? You know, as a guy who's been such a part of the sport? Well, I mean, it's the continued growth or explosion of the game. You know, obviously what Brett's doing with the NLL and I mean, you're hearing it firsthand, his, you know, his passion to grow the game at the grassroots level. Um, you know, I've seen the same thing on the PLL side. I see what U. S. lacrosse is doing. You know, I, you know, I'm looking from the outside in because right now I'm, I'm not really as involved in the game as I would like. My, my son is eight years old. There's not much lacrosse. Where I am in South Carolina. So I get to I'm looking at the lens of everyone else and You know, we're gonna get him the J. McMahon lacrosse app. He needs it. Yeah, we got a sponsor. We're in transition to, uh, JML and let's do that. Today's JML minute. Is inspired by what both of our guests have said. They have discussed the skill level being at an elite level. And they've also discussed how many of these players are starting their own academies that are all in person. Now if you are not proximal to those locations, if you cannot get to them. That's where the J McMahon lacrosse app comes into play. It is something that your son or daughter can use. Wherever they are. All over the country. It's an app that they would download on their phone. And then the training is right there at their fingertips. Many of our prior guests all being college lacrosse coaches Said that players need to develop their game. I asked you, what is your game? Acquiring skills that you need starts by working on your own in your backyard or at a local field. And while you're doing that, you want to have the benefit of the technology using technology to accelerate your path to improvement. Now the Jim McMahon lacrosse app is designed to help you do just that. On the app, we have a free mini course. On three types of shooting, which are stepped down shots or outside shots shooting on the run and shooting from the crease. Along with the instructional videos on this free course, we have drills that you can use to perfect these skills. And when you're ready, you can move on to our paid programming. We have the go from good to great course. Six week journey that has all the skills, lacks, IQ and mindset information that I've learned from playing under great coaches like Dom stars. Yah. And playing with great players like Andy towers and coach large, Tiffany. On top of all that I've been coaching with lacrosse for over 20 years and have put all that knowledge onto the app. Now. The course has six weekly sections each section is 30 to 40 minutes long. And can absolutely transform your game. So go ahead and download. The J McMahon lacrosse app on the apple app store. Or if you have an Android phone at the Google play. App section. That you would simply type in J a Y M C M a H O N. Lacrosse. And download it. Now we will return to our interview in progress And we're, uh, you know, I just did just want to explore and hearing about, you know, the potential for the Olympics. I mean, that's the most exciting thing. And Brett, I mean, I'm hearing that the Olympics after 2028, I did think to myself, you know, Why couldn't this happen like 20 years ago or 50? Man, I missed that. Right. Um, and no, I should come back. Um, but Fred, I think I did say to you you know, I reached out to you via text and I congratulated you and I think I might have said, Hey, I might have to come out of the retirement if you put a team in Greenville, South Carolina. Um, of course, you didn't do that. So I'm still on the bench and retired. So, uh, We'll take you. We'll take you. No, it's the growth and the explosion of the game still. And that's what I mean, I love seeing it from the outside in and, you know, and And I am trying to get more involved with the game in South Carolina as well. I travel a lot for work, so it makes it a little more difficult. But as my, you know, my son's out there, he's playing every sport right now. And, you know, I'd love for it to give him the opportunity that I had playing lacrosse growing up. So, uh, you know, we'll see what happens there. Now, is he a goalie or is he playing in the field? He's not, he's not, but he's just going to some camps right now and some clinics he's playing, you know, he's eight years old. So right now he's doing tackle football. He's doing basketball. He's doing baseball. He's pretty basically doing everything. I mean, his eight U football team is undefeated. Um, and, you know, they didn't play for the championship, in about a week or so. So that's pretty exciting, and bread, you talked about coaches. And, the type of message they want to send their players, even at the age of eight. I mean, what I love about, you know, these coaches out there, it's not about, um, you know, yeah, it's about how you play on the field. You want to win, but it's the discipline and, you know, teaching life lessons to young kids. And that's what I get inspired by. So, Jen, it's time, uh, for the Rover reporter Steve Rufi, who tends to take guys a little different slant Sure does. Here at the very end of, uh, our episode. Yeah. They, they don't let, they don't let me ask seriously cross questions. It's mostly'cause I don't really know what I'm talking about but, um, We instead of viewer mail that we normally read in this segment, uh, whenever we have the pleasure of having two Brown grads, we have a special feature called pass or fail, which pays homage to the SNC option at Brown. So I'll, uh, I'll throw out a topic. You guys will mention whether this topic pass or fails in your opinion. And maybe offer, offer some commentary. So, topic number one is, changing the rules every season. Brett, you might have a, particular interest in this, topic, with the, shot clock, crease dives, helmet, brush checks, et cetera. What? Where are you on changing the rules every season? Is that a pass or a fail for you? It's a fail. But your timing is impeccable because I just came back from Toronto and our competition meetings and GMs and coaches wanting to make changes. Um, and usually there's a lot of unintended consequences. So I'd be more of a pragmatic, let's get it right and then take a few years before we re explore change. All right. Interesting. Greg, you want to weigh in on that one or you want to go on? It's a fail for me. Fail for me. We don't need to keep changing the rules every, you know, every single year. I mean, it's let the game evolve on its own, on its own course, you know, and, you know, every few years if you want to reevaluate, no problem. But it seems like it's, it's, uh, it's happening way too much nowadays, in my opinion. What about with that crease dive rule from a goalie perspective? Uh, did they get that right? You read my mind. Uh, what do you think, Greg? You'd like to crease dive or not? Pass or fail? Uh, I don't know if it's a pass or fail. I never mind. I don't, I, I didn't ever mind anybody jumping across the crease because I knew that. You were stuffing them anyway. Well, yeah, but that attack, it was going to get. Absolutely destroyed by one of my defensemen. So, um, it would never happen again anyway. So, um, It's a one shot deal. Brainy. Kevin Brainy. If you do it once, you're never going to do it again. So. Alright, topic number two is the, uh, is mad helmet tilt. Should lacrosse helmets tilt 10 or 15 degrees? Discuss. Oh, I'm gonna say fail. I think on that one. I don't see. I don't like to see that tilting coming down too much right on your head. I mean, you gotta be able to see your eyes at some point, right? It was trending to just absurdity, wasn't it? My son's in high school and I was playing, you know, at Lake Placid and played out actually in California. And he was just like. Really assessing the tilt is like you got to bring that thing down. I'm like, dude, what is this? I mean we had like a a grapefruit peel on our head with the back of rack raisin now We got to have certain tilt the cascade. Maybe they need to start a new trend Jay and just tilt it back So far they can look underneath the grill, right? Nice It's like it's like hemline. All right. Topic number three is the archer post goal. Selly, is this a pass or a fail? And this is, you know, for the audience. This is where the attack and pretends to draw and loosen arrow using his stick as a bow after a goal. So, Greg, is this a pass for fail? And, uh, What post goal celebration bothered you the most? Uh, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna go with, uh, I can't go neutral here. I'm gonna go with fail. I don't like to see too many, uh, you know, you score a goal, just, you know, get ready for the next play. We don't need to overdo it. But it is exciting for the player, the fans out there to see some of that stuff. And it is an entertainment business as well. So you do want to entertain. But when you're on a field in a competitive setting, score a goal. You know, let's let's go get ready for the next play. Uh, what celebration did I ever, did I hate the most? Um, uh. I don't know. I was too busy focusing on picking the ball out of the goal and handing it to my defenseman so I can get ready for the next play. So I can't say I've ever... Did you do a selly when you scored your multiple goals? I ran, I ran back to the goal. I had to get ready for the next play. No, no cabbage patch or, uh, you know, big swooping? No, no. I'm wondering if the big goal scorer, Brett Fruitt, has a different perspective on the post goal celebration. I, um, I definitively do not. Um, I am the fun police, so I am against celebration emphatically. At least I guess I'm talking at the youth level. None of that. If any of our if any of my kids like touch the ground or did the bow, they wouldn't be playing the rest of the game. It's a high five and, and get to the bench and get ready to go. So that was definitely a core part of our DNA., but I did laugh when you asked about a celebration, that still I picture to today. We had year after year close one goal games with Syracuse. I think every game we had with Syracuse except for our senior year was a one goal game, 13 And, um, we were at the dome in 95 and Rick Beardsley scored three goals on us. And on his third, he came up in front of our bench and gave the three, um, to coach brush and coach lasagna, um, from about three feet away. And, um, yeah, he loved playing against that guy. Such a character, such a. Great defender, right? Like he's he made lacrosse fun. He could get away with the celebrations and just a guy you want to compete against. But I'll never forget that. And they beat us 13 12 in the dome. Um, with Rick having three. I also, I also recall him leaving a message on my voicemail as well. Uh, that he scored three goals on me. So, yes, the celebration continued into the evening. Okay, we'll give that up. We'll, we'll give that a resounding fail. Incredible. Pass for creativity. Right. All right, so the final topic, and this isn't really a pass fail, but I wanted to ask this, uh, you know, specifically to Brett, and Greg, you can chime in. What can fans of lacrosse, both old and new, expect when they bring their family to an NLL game, Brett? Well, for those that haven't been there, um, they might be listening to AC, DC left, uh, Led Zeppelin and Rolling Stones for, for two and a half hours. So music throughout physicality, nonstop action, um, and just high entertainment value, just a great product on the floor, maybe a few fights here and there, a lot of goals and world class athletes getting the job done. What are some of your favorite venues to catch an LLO game? Yeah, so that has been fun. I'm I must say I'm not used to the travel yet getting from Charlotte to Halifax and you know, Calgary and Saskatchewan is a chore but It's been really fun. I'll be honest all the venues have been great, but I've really been interested in seeing the different demographics consuming the sport. So I just use Halifax as an example. So for those of you been there in Nova Scotia, big college town, I didn't know that, you know, it's on on that eastern seaboard. So you go in there, there's it's packed and it's a ton of 22 to 28 year olds. Drinking beer, having a good time. And, and, and they've embraced this Halifax team, just wild environment. You go down to Toronto. And as you could imagine, it reminds me of like old school minor league baseball, where you just have generations of fans watching it. So you got the grandkid, uh, very obviously with the father and the grandfather holding their sticks. They're there two hours before autographs. And I'd say maybe 80 percent of the folks in the crowd at Buffalo have never touched a lacrosse stick. It's a rabid, uh, Buffalo Bill saber, um, beer drinking, camouflage wear and blue collar crowd that just loves their sports. You know, you think of that, you know, the Steelers and the bills. And so, you know, you go to three different venues on consecutive days and you see three completely different demographics. And to me, that's just. Like that gets me excited, right? For where we can grow because there isn't a specific fan for box lacrosse. It's, it's a sport for everyone. And that, and that's really, um, our marketing message. We're going to unroll in a month. Um, our new brand messaging, which is the next called the next major league. Um, and excited about that, but it's, it's going to be for everybody. Um, nonstop entertainment and, and a whole lot of fun. Now, what was your favorite NLL venue to play at? Uh, Philadelphia back then. To like sell out the spectrum, right? I mean, it was just the noise. I mean, it's just, talk about an intense crowd. I mean, crazy crowd. But, I mean, as Brett said, these NLL games, I haven't been to one in a few years, but the energy that's in these arenas, like for two and a half hours, I mean, it's so entertaining. Impressed. Yeah, Buffalo had a 20 so final game. They win at 20, 000 19, 300 people in their capacity. They win the championship and it was I mean, it was just absolutely mayhem in there. Um, I get there, I go out to present the trophy and I've got close to 20, 000 people booing the shit out of me. And I look at my son and I said, are they, are they saying fruid? And he said, Oh no, with his video camera, uh, they're saying boo. Um, so I, I guess I was, that, that was my indoctrination to commissionership first championship. But, um, love that, loved that environment and, um, hope to replicate that everywhere, every single night. Awesome. Well guys, thanks so much for being on. This was absolutely awesome. Good stuff, appreciate it. Love catching up with you guys. No, I really appreciate the opportunity. Appreciate the opportunity. It's great to reconnect with you and bring back so many great memories. Awesome. From, you know, 25, 30 years ago. This is great.

Ron: 26:32

until we meet again, here to, hoping you find the twine. We're signing off here at the Get the LAX coop. Thanks again so much. We will see you the next time.