Dallas faces Denver for the MLL Championship Saturday.
By Chris Rosenthall / insidelacrosse.com
Newton’s third law states that every action is accompanied by an equal and opposite reaction, but that notion certainly doesn’t extend to all walks of life. In order for said law to carry into the realm of interpersonal dynamics, we often need to bring one special ingredient to the table, and that, my friends, is sweet, sweet revenge.
You may not be as big or strong as your favorite athlete, and you may possess a sidearm rip that wouldn’t get pulled over in a school zone, but the range of emotions surrounding revenge is something that bonds pros and schmoes alike. From James Brown to Carrie Underwood, “Rocky IV” to “Carrie” (note: apparently it’s a really bad idea to mess with people named Carrie), revenge makes the world go ‘round. Which brings us, of course, to the Dallas Rattlers, one of the teams battling for the MLL championship this Saturday in Charleston, South Carolina.
Back in 2008, the Rochester Rattlers (if you’re new here, they moved to Dallas prior to the 2018 season) defeated the Denver Outlaws to win their first and only MLL championship. Following the departure of one Rattlers franchise (they moved to Canada, and eventually, Florida), and subsequent reboot three years later (Chicago’s team moved to Rochester and became the new Rattlers in a hermit crab-ish sort of way), the modern Rattlers began to take shape when Joel White and John Galloway were selected in the 2011 collegiate draft. Two of the most highly decorated players in Syracuse history, White and Galloway were chosen in the first and fourth rounds, respectively, by head coach/general manager BJ O’Hara. And that’s where things get interesting, because, as you may know, BJ O’Hara has since become head coach of the Denver Outlaws. O’Hara served as an assistant from 2012-2013, and in his initial season at the helm, led the Outlaws to their first MLL championship, a 12-11 win over his old Rochester Rattlers. Rochester was outscored 6-1 in the final quarter, Drew Snider firing the game-winning goal with just 56 seconds remaining.
For those vanquished Rattlers, the past four years have essentially amounted to a team-wide training montage. In 2015, Jordan Wolf was named Offensive Player of the Year. In 2016, White and Mike Manley were named Co-Defensive Players of the Year, the only time the honor has been shared. In 2017, White, John Ranagan and captain Jordan MacIntosh led the Georgia Swarm to an NLL championship. This summer, Galloway was named co-captain of Team USA, he, Wolf and White earning gold medals in Netanya, Israel. Michael Lazore and Donny Moss scooped a career-high 18 and 17 ground balls this season, manning the front end of a defense that allowed a league-low two two-pointers. Finally, Ty Thompson went from suiting up just once in 2014 to scoring multiple points in all 13 of his games this summer, his team-high 36 goals good for fifth in the league.
The team’s dedication and internal stability, coupled with a series of key pickups throughout the years, have resulted in a historic 2018, where after three consecutive 8-6 seasons, the Rattlers finished 11-3, their .786 winning percentage a new franchise record. Next came the postseason, and for the Rattlers, a gauntlet of unpleasant familiarity standing between them and their final goal. In last weekend’s semi-final matchup, they defeated the New York Lizards, the team that beat them for the 2015 championship. When Galloway spoke with LSN after the victory, he said, “It’s the end of the road for a lot of us, and we talked before this week – we didn’t want this to be our last practice, we didn’t want this to be our last road trip together. We just fight for each other; we fight for another sixty minutes together.”
If this is the end of the Rattlers as we’ve come to know them, and it certainly sounds like it could be, they’ve been given the opportunity to ride into the sunset with loose ends tied, all scores settled. Last weekend, they eliminated their 2015 opponent. This weekend, they face their 2014 opponent, led by the man who not only set them on their course, but engineered their defeat three years later (note: BJ O’Hara as villain is simply a matter of narrative circumstance, not a reflection of personality; I don’t believe we’ve met but I’m sure he’s delightful). 60 more minutes of fighting, and their story will conclude. If strength, wisdom and fortune align in their favor, the Rattlers will have their revenge.