FOGO is a valid and sought after position. Colleges are recruiting these kids as early as possible and I suspect they are using those spots wisely...Having a face off does not slow the game in fact makes it more exciting. You can argue that one player is better than another at every position, should we tell the really fast guys to slow down so the other teams middies can catch up? Should we tell the athletic D man he can't play because at 6'4" his reach is 6 inches better than everyone else on the field and its not fair? Or like the other poster said, take out the goalies and play basketball.
Only people that don't like face offs are those that don't have a good fogo...
I dont have a fogo kid, but if I did i would be happy given that people with that skill, win the ground ball by whatever means possible, are a commodity in this market.
For the doomsday guy that apparently has the inside knowledge that the face off is going away, what are you on the rules committee? Get a grip, the growth of this sport like all others will depend on TV deals. Not based upon the speed of the game. So like Hockey, people like to watch the face off and the cameras capture the action very well.
Everyone says its about the "speed of the game" and to a certain extent that is true. So the way to speed up the game is a real shot clock behind both cages or in the box.
But the real growth will only come from TV and that is about watch-ability and enjoyment of watching.... How fast does baseball move? How fast does soccer move? How about football?
No, those sports have grown and are successful, not because there is non stop action, but because they are distributed through TV in a viewer friendly manner.
Scores of 12 to 8 are more than enough and there is no need to tinker with one of the real skill positions in the game. Spend your time and energy figuring out how to get ESPN to do more than 8 college games per year and you will grow the sport without regard to any rule change....
Great post! We all want the sport to grow. Need to keep it exciting. The breaks for F/O are good for the boys to regroup and good for the spectators to refocus attention. My son is an attackman, but I love to watch the F/O, kind of like a mini wrestling match!
