In its continuing effort to provide the best indoor lacrosse coverage on the Internet, the Outsider's Guide will once again publish game reports and statistics online for the 2001 season.

That's where you, the fan, enter the picture. Because the Outsider's Guide is a one-man operation, volunteers will be needed to serve as game reporters. The role is two-fold: write a short summary of the game and produce a boxscore for the game.

The written summary, six to eight paragraphs in length, should be written objectively and in a manner in which someone who did not see the game would be able to follow the major events of that match. The use of quotes from players and coaches, as found in other media, is encouraged -- however, plagiarism absolutely will not be tolerated.

Reporters will also be asked to track simple statistics such as goals, assists, and scoring by period, and to arrange them in the form of the sample boxscore shown:

BOX SUMMARY
                1  2  3  4  5  6     TOT
Canada          1  0  3  9  0  1  --  14
United States   3  5  4  1  2  0  --  15

CANADA                        UNITED STATES
               G - A   PTS                   G - A   PTS
Paul Gait      3 - 2     5    Mark Millon    4 - 1     5
Tom Marechek   2 - 3     5    Ryan Wade      2 - 2     4
Chris Gill     4 - 0     4    Darren Lowe    1 - 2     3
Gary Gait      3 - 1     4    David Curry    2 - 0     2
John Tavares   2 - 2     4    Bill Miller    1 - 1     2
Jamie Bowen    0 - 3     3    Michael Watson 1 - 1     2
                              Casey Powell   1 - 1     2
                              Blake Miller   1 - 0     1
                              Jesse Hubbard  1 - 0     1
                              Rob Shek       1 - 0     1
                              Char Lockwood  0 - 1     1

                     SAVES                         SAVES
Chris Sanderson         20    Sal LoCascio            32

Reporters will not be required to track individual saves in the event of a team using more than one goalie, but are asked to include a tally of total saves made by each team's goaltender(s), when available. It is also requested that, if possible, a tally of power play success rates be included, although this is not a requirement. A template for creating the boxscore will be provided to all reporters.

Reporters will be asked to submit their game report as soon as possible (within twenty-four hours), but when situations warrant, allowances will be made.

The Outsider's Guide hopes to have enough volunteers to ensure that no one must be asked to produce more than two or three game reports this season. By the same token, the eagerness of some fans to help this site will not be ignored, and those who wish to serve more often are welcome to do so (in fact, most reporters who have already committed are planning to cover all seven home games of their respective teams). After reporters for each game in a given week are determined, anyone else may submit comments and observations on an NLL game they attended, which may be added to the published game report. Reporters not "officially" covering a game that week will be invited to serve in this role.

Additionally, information found in game reports published elsewhere may be added, and the reports themselves may be edited for clarity, concision, or objectivity. Basically, this is the old "two heads are better than one" idea. What a reporter submits, though, remains his intellectual property and may be distributed elsewhere.

The Outsider's Guide respects that its reporters are, first and foremost, fans wanting to enjoy the game they are attending. This was kept in mind when the requirements for the job were being determined. After careful consideration, it was decided that access to game statistics would be requisite for writing a good game summary. In most cases, teams will provide official statistics to those who make prior arrangements. It is strongly advised that reporters take advantage of this, and the Outsider's Guide will provide assistance in securing a copy of the official stats to anyone who requires it.

Those interested in serving as a game reporter are asked to e-mail the Outsider's Guide at raphilly@usa.net. Please specify what team(s) you can cover.