Player Spotlight

Player Spotlight highlights the finer details and elements while supplying insight to the fans on what a player's thought process may be pertaining to a certain play, game or situation. It brings the intensity, passion, and inner most thoughts of the individual player that otherwise may not be felt or heard.



Chris Panos - Anaheim Storm

In the aftermath of the NLL renewing its collective bargaining agreement, I had a chance to speak with NLL veteran Chris Panos about the current and future state of lacrosse. Over the course of his seven-year career, Panos, a 30-year old native of Smithtown, NY, has played with seven different teams and was part of the Philadelphia Wings' 2001 World Championship team. After signing with the expansion Anaheim Storm in 2003 as a free agent, Panos emerged as a leader both on and off the floor. But despite a successful season personally in which he amassed 51 points on a team that struggled to compete most nights (Anaheim went 1-15 in 2003-2004), Panos knows there is still a lot of work to be done for the franchise to turn itself around. As is often the case with cities that are not natural lacrosse markets, much of the challenge lies in the team's ability to successfully market itself and lacrosse as an entertaining sport. As Panos reveals, this task is made exponentially tougher when many of the players are primarily fly-ins who, as a result, are unable to help promote their team and their sport within the community..


Question Chris. When I called you last night to set up this interview, you were driving in a tunnel in New York. Where were you heading?
Answer Yeah, I was on my way back to Long Island where I'm living at the moment.


Question At the moment sounds about right...Since 1997 when you came into the league with Baltimore, you've played on several teams which have carried you to both coasts of Canada and the US. Can you give us a sense of how you started playing lacrosse and what it's been like to change your zip codes and postal codes so often?
Answer Well, I grew up playing field lacrosse, which includes the time I spent at Hofstra University [on Long Island]. Because there's no feeder program for the NLL the way hockey has the AHL or baseball has three tiers of minor leagues, I wasn't sure if I would keep playing. Then I spoke to a couple friends-Marty O'Neill and Rodney Tapp-who told me to go to Canada to play the summer season. Rodney advised me to go to the Brooklin Redmen, where I played the '96-'97 season. After that, I was drafted by Boston and since then I've mostly spent winters in the States and summers in Canada.


Question In 2003, you signed a free agent contract with the Anaheim Storm. Why did you choose to sign with an expansion team?
Answer Let me take you back a little to help explain that. In '98, I was playing for the Shamrocks in Victoria and my wife and I had a baby girl. Although we're not together anymore, after New York folded after the 2003 season, I saw a chance of being closer to my daughter. Vancouver would have been ideal, but Anaheim was a lot closer than New York, so I figured it would work.


Question Now, as a new lacrosse market, how did Anaheim take to the sport and do you think it is a viable market for the sport over the long term?
Answer Anaheim is not a natural lacrosse market. In some ways, I think San Diego may have been a better fit. Anaheim, though, is still a decent market, but there were definitely problems last year. The first one is that most of the guys, myself included, fly in for the games. Which makes practicing rare and kills any chance of creating consistent team chemistry. And because the players are rarely in town, it makes advertising the team and the game very difficult. In one LA Times article I read, the writer was asking what the city did to deserve a lacrosse team. Obviously, with this kind of press and a team that loses, it's difficult to sell the product. Another problem was the total absence of cross-marketing between the Mighty Ducks and the Storm.


Question Have you had an opportunity to speak with your new coach in Anaheim, Derek Keenan?
Answer Briefly. He hasn't contacted me directly, but I saw him at a game during the Ontario Lacrosse semifinals and made a point of introducing myself. I'm looking forward to the change, though, and have heard nothing but good things. He's won 4 championships as a coach and 2 as a player, so hopefully our team will be able to draw off his experience.


Question How is the team shaping up for the upcoming season?
Answer Well, as I mentioned, chemistry was a big problem. I commute from Long Island and most of the team commutes from other parts of the country. But if we can improve our communication on the floor and maybe add some Canadian talent and a little toughness, we should be alright.


Question This summer, you moved from the basement in Anaheim to a powerhouse team in Peterborough which just beat the Victoria Shamrocks-who you've also played for-in the Mann Cup final. Can you talk a little about how the series went and how you came to play for Peterborough this year?
Answer I had actually planned on taking the summer off. It had been a long year, and in February my dad passed away. So I was feeling pretty depressed when I got a call from Peterborough's coach, Jamie Batley, who I'd played for on Team USA at the World Indoor Championships. Jamie asked if I'd like to play and a couple weeks later Ted Higgins [the president of the Peterborough Lakers] called to see if I'd made up my mind. I finally decided I'd play at the deadline which is around mid-season. The team, the city and the organization were all very welcoming and it felt great to bring Peterborough its first Mann Cup in twenty years.


Question How satisfying was it to beat your former team?
Answer Bittersweet. I would actually have loved to have played for Victoria again. I have a great deal of respect for the Shamrock players and their organization. Going back to Victoria would also have given me a chance to spend the summer with my daughter, but I guess it wasn't in the cards. That aside, there's no question it was nice to be on the winning end of what was a very physical series.


Question Earlier this month [October 2, 2004], the NLL announced that it had reached a new collective bargaining agreement with the PLPA. The deal includes an increase in player salary, revenue sharing, and an increase in worker's compensation benefits and per diems. Do you have any initial reaction to the deal? How do you think it will impact either the league or yourself personally?
Answer From the players' side, I'm excited about how the union reps communicated with the players. They kept us up to speed with what was happening in the talks between the two sides. And I'm also encouraged to see that the owners have shown that they have a vested interest in the success of the league by signing this agreement. Now if we could take advantage of the hockey lockout in Anaheim with a strong season, hopefully the city will realize how exciting the game is.




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