The City of Philadelphia Has Finally Landed A Generational Superstar With The 1st Overall Pick In The Draft
Teams from the city of Philadelphia rarely ends up with the 1st overall draft pick in their respective leagues. That's mainly due to the fact that Philly teams rarely suck enough to be in the mix for that 1st overall pick, but it's also a case of bad luck. And whenever Philly teams do end up with that 1st overall pick, somehow it usually tends to blow up in their face.
The Sixers drafted Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz 1st overall in back-to-back NBA Drafts. Obviously everyone knows how those two worked out in Philly. The Phillies drafted Mickey Moniak 1st overall in the 2016 MLB Draft. I honestly couldn't tell you where Mickey Moniak is playing right now without having to look it up. The Flyers have only ever had the 1st overall pick once in the history of their franchise, and it was some dude named Mel Bridgman who I never heard of before. The last great 1st overall pick for the Eagles was Chuck Bednarik in 1949.
Needless to say, Philly sports teams have never been able to rely on a savior coming to this city with the 1st overall pick. That is, of course, until last night's Premier Lacrosse League draft with the Philly Waterdogs selecting CJ Kirst out of Cornell with the 1st overall pick.
CJ Kirst just set the NCAA all-time career goals record. He's led Cornell to be the top seed in the NCAA Tournament kicking off this weekend. He had 55 goals as a freshman leading Cornell to an appearance in the National Championship game. 65 goals as a sophomore, 45 goals in just 14 games last year as a junior, and has 68 goals in 15 games so far this year as a senior. He's 2 points away from being the only player in DI this year to reach 100 points on the season, so you can expect him to hit that within the first couple minutes of their first round game on Sunday.
He is by far and away the best player in college lacrosse right now. There were a few guys coming into the year that people had in the same tier as CJ Kirst, but over the last few months he has proven that he's in a tier of his own. He has a big body, he can get to the cage whenever he wants, he's going to draw slides in the PLL, and now he gets to play on an attack line with Michael Sowers and Kieran McArdle. And if for some reason a PLL defense tries to outsmart themselves by giving him a short stick matchup? Just know that a faceoff is imminent.
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The Waterdogs got themselves a game changer. They lost like seven 1-goal games last year. Adding CJ Kirst immediately gives that offense another 2-3 goals per game. You turn all those 1-goal losses into wins and all of a sudden this is a Waterdogs team that is playing for another PLL Championship. Philly has its savior.
P.S. -- Shoutout to the Kirst family. The First Family of Lacrosse. That's now 4 brothers playing in the PLL.