A column

DGRollins · Aug 16, 2007

Last one I'll post for a while...It's an opinion piece, something I haven't received feedback on yet.

The thing about being on top is that you make an easy target--just ask the Six Nations Arrows.
Three consecutive Ontario Lacrosse Association titles, all in dominating fashion, have put the Arrows straight in the crosshairs of every critic in the province.
Primary among the complaints is the perception that the Arrows â€œbuyâ€ their team. With an owner with deep pockets, Six Nations is able to sweep up the best players in the province and dress them in orange, so the argument goes.
Exhibit 1A in the critics’ case is OLA leading scorer Shawn Evans. Evans came to the Arrows in an off-season deal with Peterborough.
Money was exchanged. How much was never released, but $35,000 seems to be the consensus.
It’s also been suggested that something may have been pushed under the table as well—something with four wheels.
There is no proof of that, of course, but to the critics it doesn’t matter. The Arrows are guilty, end of story.
And now the rumours are flowing again. Six Nations is hot for Orangeville’s Adam Jones, the story goes. They may have gone so far as to approach him after an OLA finals game last week.
The critics say the Arrows have told Jones that if he wants to play for Six Nations next year they will â€œmake it happen.â€
The story doesn’t pass the smell test.
If the Arrows are interested in Jones—and they may well be, he’s a talented player—they would be smart enough not to tamper with him now. It’s a long off-season; there is plenty of time to put together the 2008 roster.
And even if they do end up buying him, so what.
When Six Nations spends money to bring in a player they do so within the rules of the game. Six Nations isn’t doing anything that every other team can’t.
Sure, some teams can’t afford to buy players, but this is elite sport. It isn’t meant to be a meritocracy. It other teams want to stop Six Nations, they need to do a better job of securing talent themselves.
Ultimately, the whole idea of Six Nations as a mercenary team is more than a bit farfetched. Although the Arrows do have a few high profile imports—Evans being the most obvious—this is still predominately a Six Nations and native team. Of the 25 players on the Arrows roster, 13 are local boys. Of the 12 non-Six Nations players, six are Aboriginal.
The team is representative of the community. Something the critics have difficulty understanding or accepting.
Click to expand...

Sorry about the Canuck spellings... I'm not crazy about the end, it just sort o....

jgmacg · Aug 18, 2007

DG -

Thanks for posting. There are a couple of mechanical issues with the piece. "Target," "crosshairs," and "Arrows" unintentionally mixes a metaphor, for example.

My much bigger concern for the piece is that you're reporting rumor. It's not enough, at least for me, to hide behind the fig leaf of unnamed "critics."

I think you either have something - confirmed by more than one source - or you don't.

This is thin ice for a reporter - or a columnist. Tread carefully.

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