ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Cody Jamieson sits on the floor of a preschool classroom, reading ‘One Drowsy Dragon’ to a group of timid and anxious 4-year-olds. The students stare at the professional lacrosse player sitting in front of them, some in awe and others in apathy.

Either way, this is now a part of Jamieson’s life. A rookie on the Rochester Knighthawks of the National Lacrosse League, Jamieson is helping to grow a game that hasn’t been able to break through mainstream sports.

‘Whenever I can, I definitely don’t mind it,’ Jamieson said. ‘Some guys don’t like it, and then there are guys like me that enjoy it.’

Jamieson is away from the spotlight of Syracuse lacrosse, one of the many former college stars turned professionals. Often making little more than $25,000 or so per year, Jamieson and other former SU stars aren’t doing it for money, but more for the love of the sport.

Unlike most other professional sports, lacrosse lags behind in popularity and attention. One season, especially at Syracuse, lacrosse stars like Jamieson are glamorized on ESPN networks most years in May. The next, they’re toiling away in relative anonymity. That translates to the low salaries and a constant struggle to garner attention on a national level.

It’s a life that’s anything but glamorous, but Jamieson and other former SU stars like Gary Gait say they wouldn’t trade it for anything. Gait, now the Syracuse women’s lacrosse coach, spent two decades playing professional lacrosse for teams across the country.

‘You love to play, you have a passion for the game,’ Gait said. ‘Certainly back when I started, they really didn’t pay any money. The leagues have come a long way, and players have opportunities now that certainly weren’t there 20 years ago. We did it for the love of the game.’

Gait and Jamieson were teammates briefly this season before Gait retired in early February to focus on coaching at SU. With Gait gone, Jamieson now holds even more responsibility in helping professional lacrosse grow in popularity. Late last year, he signed a record 10-year contract to remain in Rochester.

‘That’s a big part of why I did it,’ Jamieson said. ‘I don’t want to play anywhere else for any other team. I hope to be around a long time.’

Syracuse lacrosse doesn’t need much promoting. After basketball season, lacrosse garners most of Syracuse’s athletic attention. Not so in the pros. In Rochester, for example, this year’s average attendance is less than what it was in most previous seasons.

On the day before one of his team’s games, Jamieson walked into The Distillery — a bar and grill restaurant in Rochester. He sat down at his table and looked down at his placemat. Staring right back at him was an advertisement for the Knighthawks with his picture on the left side.

After he finished lunch, Jamieson walked out of the restaurant and saw yet another reminder of his growing popularity in the city — popularity that comes with leading the team with 20 goals.

The Knighthawks run a promotion where fans can have their car wrapped in a team decal, with their favorite player’s picture covering the entire side of the car. The car has to remain that way for two years. Sitting in the parking lot was a car with Jamieson’s picture plastered on its side. Still, only about a dozen fans have taken part in the promotion.

‘My dad especially loves it. He wishes he could get his truck done,’ Jamieson said. ‘Growing up, who’d think there’d be some stranger driving around with your face on their door?’

But despite the advertisements on restaurant placemats or the decals on the sides of cars, Jamieson said he’s rarely recognized. That’s the nature of professional lacrosse.

Jamieson said he knows the real purpose of his pictures around the city. At the end of the day, he said, it’s not just him that the team is promoting.

‘As a kid, I wasn’t thinking about having my face 50 feet long and 50 feet wide on the side of a building,’ Jamieson said. ‘It’s for a good purpose — the Rochester Knighthawks.’

Whenever the Knighthawks play in Rochester, Jamieson’s temporary home is a hotel room in the Radisson Riverside, just a couple of blocks from The Blue Cross Arena. Most of the players all stay on the same floor, giving them the opportunity to reunite for the first time in a week.

One of the challenges is not spending much time with teammates. Between games, the players return to their respective homes, where most have full-time jobs and some have families. That in itself is one of the many things Jamieson had to get used to. It’s also one of the things he misses most about his playing days with the Orange.

‘The companionship,’ Jamieson said. ‘The guys at Syracuse are definitely a lot tighter, especially because we were with each other every day. In the pros, you have to find time. We go out for team dinners and stuff like that. That’s a big part of it, getting to know everybody.’

Compared to some of his Knighthawks teammates, Jamieson’s life remains fairly routine. Aside from the weekend trips from his apartment in Orchard Park, N.Y., to Rochester for his team’s games, Jamieson has the ability to stay at home. With job security and what he says are fewer expenses than some of his teammates, Jamieson doesn’t have to work another job to support himself.

That’s not the case for many others who have a career away from lacrosse. They have to make certain arrangements with their full-time employers to allow for them to miss workdays if needed. Ian Rubel works as a police officer for the Niagara Regional Police in Ontario, Canada. Scott Campbell doubles as a sales and account manager with No Panic Computing. Craig Point is an ironworker in Ontario.

‘The guys that are playing have been playing for a long time, as far as their lives are concerned,’ Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen said. ‘So going into situations, jobs and stuff like that, they’re fully aware of their other commitments.’

When they can, the players go out for team dinners or find other forms of chemistry-building opportunities. Before one game, it was ’70s night. Jamieson walked to a packed bag on his bed and pulled out a brown wool sports jacket, bellbottom pants and a vest.

‘We’re professional, we show up wearing our own suits and ties,’ Jamieson said. ‘It’s always fun to get dressed up and do something different and have a laugh at each other. The fans know nothing about it.’

But for Jamieson, the invisibility is what makes the difference in feeling comfortable in his new professional lacrosse life. After Rochester’s first game of the season in Minnesota, Jamieson and his teammates went out after the game. It was a group of professional athletes who didn’t draw any double-takes from anyone else around them.

No matter how unknown the world of professional lacrosse is to fans of mainstream sports, those who are a part of it never want to leave. The low salaries and the weekends away from home, as well as the long workouts during the week, are all something professional lacrosse players like Jamieson have come to accept.

Just like they’ve accepted the lack of state-of-the-art practice facilities. When they’re at home, the Knighthawks practice in a facility that’s in need of an update. The Rochester Sports Garden is a nondescript building on a highway on the south side of the city. On the inside, it’s dark and gloomy.

‘I don’t let little things like that bother me,’ Jamieson said. ‘Lacrosse players aren’t too picky.’

That, perhaps, best summarizes the life of a professional lacrosse player. Jamieson and other professionals spent years preparing for this life. So they don’t mind that the attention is rarely on them or that they don’t make millions of dollars or practice in the best facilities.

‘Everyone that plays lacrosse knows you’re not going to get rich off of it,’ Jamieson said. ‘It’s something you understand way before it happens.’

cjiseman@syr.edu

 

Published on April 4, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Chris: cjiseman@syr.edu | @chris_iseman