In its continuing effort to provide the best indoor lacrosse coverage on the Internet, the Outsider's Guide intends to publish game reports and statistics online for the 1999 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, whose role will be two-fold: to produce a short summary of the game, and to 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 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. A template for creating the boxscore will be provided to all reporters.

Reporters will be asked to submit their game report by noon the following day, but this deadline is somewhat flexible, based on individual situations.

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 so those who wish to serve more often are welcome to do so. 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 "official" game report. Reporters not assigned to cover 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.

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 found that access to game statistics would be requisite for writing a good game summary. If and when circumstances warrant, the Outsider's Guide will lighten the load on the reporters by arranging for two people to split these responsibilities and to share information as soon after the game as possible.

Those interested in serving as a game reporter are asked to e-mail the Outsider's Guide at raphilly@usa.net, or to post a note on this site's bulletin board.