How perfect that on the weekend of the NCAA lacrosse championship semifinals that I get to write about this book. And it's doubly fitting that the school that's the main focus of this book is Cornell who will be playing this weekend.

We Showed Baltimore by Christian Swezey indeed shows how the Cornell University lacrosse team infiltrated the tightly sealed lacrosse community to beat Johns Hopkins, one of the five major players on the scene in the 1970s. This book covers that magical period when Cornell rose through the ranks with incredibly talented players and a highly committed coach to become one of the most praised teams when it comes to lacrosse.

I've been a lacrosse fan since my son stumbled onto a team at age 7 and continues to play as a 17-year old in high school. I never expressed interest before this time, and I went to a high school in North Jersey that held lacrosse in high esteem. In fact, within the first chapter, my school is mentioned and one of the alumni, which I didn't even expect.

Although the human interest stories about the players and coaches grabbed me, some parts of the book moved slow. I liked hearing about the rise of lacrosse in different areas like upstate New York, where Cornell is located, and was surprised because I thought that Baltimore and this area carried the most weight. I knew that Virginia was a hotbed and Long Island, too. I never realized that New Jersey was just starting to come into their own with the sport.

I also found the fast evolution from wooden stick to plastic stick fascinating. It really revolutionized the way the game is played. Also, this contributed to the spread of lacrosse throughout the Northeast and made it easier to attract more players. I would have liked a lot more about the origin of lacrosse from the Native American population. That would be a boon to this book.

If you're a player yourself of any level, you may find the recaps of the games captivating. Maybe it's just me, but it was hard to envision the games with the dense information. I feel the same way about battle scenes--I have trouble following them. The pictures help, but it didn't resonate with me. Any human aspects surrounding the games were engaging and interesting, but sometimes, I found trouble getting excited about the games. Someone who actually played the sport may be more in tune with what the author was trying to express.

While I did find it slow as sometimes you'll notice during lacrosse games, the speed picks up just like a game in real life. Many parts kept me enrapt in the story, but other times, it jumped around too much. Either way, here's wishing Cornell good luck this weekend.

Before the 1970’s, college lacrosse was dominated by five schools, collectively known as the “Big Five” – Army, Johns Hopkins, Maryland, Navy and Virginia. Cornell University’s program was getting better as the 1970’s approached and went through their 1970 season undefeated. At that time a team had to selected by writers to win the national championship. Cornell did not gain the votes needed, which made their coaches, players and athletic department upset enough to call for a tournament. This led to a very successful decade of lacrosse for Cornell and that decade is captured in this excellent book by Christian Swezey.

Swezey is a well-respected lacrosse writer – his knowledge and the depth of his research shines in this book that is best described as a history book of the Cornell lacrosse team for the decade of the 1970’s. Just about any question or piece of information you would want to know about those squads can be found in these pages. There is much information on the two coaches of that decade – Ned Harkness, who also coached the hockey team, and Richie Moran. Harkness left after the undefeated 1970 season to take an NHL job, leaving the program to Moran.

That was a wise decision, as the book does a great job in describing Moran’s teams, his players and his coaching style for the decade. The book never goes too deeply into personal lives, whether Moran or star players like Eamon McEneaney, Mike French and Tom Marino. There are some sections which get very detailed, such the recruiting of McEneaney or even the description of what some of the players did in a hotel room before an NCAA tournament game (listing the Friday night TV programs they watched in the hotel room). This does give the reader a decent look at the person being profiled.

Unlike many books about teams or athletes from different eras, there is not a lot of text about the social and political climate of the time. Of course, since this is about a college sports team during the 1970’s there is some mention of the Vietnam war and the associated protests. But that type of commentary is not often found in the book. Instead, more is written about the sport of lacrosse and those changes, such as the introduction of plastic sticks, which were much easier for players to use and more affordable than the traditional wooden sticks. This was an excellent way to introduce the reader to the changes that were occurring in the sport during the decade.

But the best writing by Swezey is when writing about the action on the field and associated actions that occurred, such as the switching of Cornell’s home field from natural grass to artificial turf to accommodate the training and practice regiments of Moran. This led to better conditioned players for Cornell and combined with the outstanding skills of the players, Cornell ended up winning the NCAA championships three times in the decade – 1971, 1976 and 1977. Their championship games, especially the 1977 one against Johns Hopkins, is great reading for detailed, on-field action.

For any reader interested in the sport of lacrosse, whether a newcomer or a long-time fan or player, this book is one that must be added to their library. It doesn’t matter if the reader knows much about the history of Cornell lacrosse because it is such a great read about the sport itself that every person who likes the game will like the book.

I wish to thank Cornell University Press for providing a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.