Great interview with Mike Powell.

Off the Rug, The Life

Off the Crosse-Bar Podcast with Mike Powell

April 18th, 2012 by Teddy Jenner



Inevitably, as kids grow up there is an immediate comparison to those that have come before them. People will always draw parallels to the names of the past putting unnecessary pressure on young minds before they even grow and become their own person. Well when your older brothers are two of the greatest players to ever play at Syracuse University people will automatically think you can do what they did. Mike Powell was put in that situation. He set records at Carthage High School in upstate New York and when he agreed to attend SU, the shadow was cast to repeat the feats of Casey and Ryan. He did that and more, setting the SU all time points record of 307, was a 4x All American, 4x Tewaaraton nominee, winning it twice and a 2x National Champion. But after his senior season, he didn’t want to continue down that path anymore. The idea of being a professional lacrosse player like his brothers didn’t appeal to him so he put down his stick and became his own man, did what he wanted to do and set out on a journey to find out who Mike Powell was. Well this week on the OTCB podcast, we find out who Mike Powell IS!

Many people criticized Mike Powell when he opted to completely walk away from the game of lacrosse after his senior season at Syracuse. They jumped to conclusions as to why he was choosing not play NLL or even MLL. What they didn’t know was that Powell was making the choice for himself, not those that watched the game. “I have so much respect for guys like John Tavares and John Grant Jr. and the others that play lacrosse full time, all year around. It’s so taxing on the body and I wasn’t ready to make that commitment.”

So with one tough decision behind him, he set off on a journey to find out who he was, what made him happy and what path he was going to go down. Powell packed up his car and traveled the US sleeping in a tent and allowed himself to find the things that made him happy.

After a short stint as a traveling musician playing in a couple different bands he realized that the game of lacrosse was drawing him back and in 2005, he suited up along side lacrosse legend Gary Gait to help lead the Baltimore Bayhawks to an MLL title. Even though he was out of the game for a year, he picked up right where he left off and it was like he never left.

However, he continued to ply his trade outdoors on the big field. “It would be like a top level boxer thinking he can just walk into the Octagon and be succesfful,”remarked Powell sitting that his game was modeled for the outdoor game and not indoors. You can’t blame the guy for knowing his strengths.

Like many Americans, Mike admits that his knowledge of the indoor game was and still is very minimal but since he’s been apart of the CBS Sports Networks broadcasts he started to learn the intricacies of box lacrosse. “Casey and I were filming a sequence on pick and rolls for one of our segments, Tracy Kelusky was standing on the side watching. When we were done he came over to us laughing and said, you guys are doing that totally wrong,” obviously, it’s still a learning process. That’s what makes Powell such a great piece to the CBS puzzle. He’s very similar to the common newbie and together they can learn the game.

So have a listen and not just to the podcast(check out ‘The Polite Rebel’ on YOUTUBE and iTunes) as Mike Powell and I cover a ton of topics from the NLL, MLL, his music why his game doesn’t fit the indoor game, his growth as a person and “The Move”.

This is a must listen for all lacrosse fans!

http://www.ilindoor.com/2012/04/18/off-the-crosse-bar-podcast-with-mike-powell/