The Story of Slingman

Tim "Slingman" Berger, a product of the Boys' Latin School in Baltimore, arrived on the Brown University campus in 1995, barely weighing 150lbs soaking wet and with a full head of Balti-Flow. For those of you who are new to the sport, Balti-Flow refers to the long hair that sticks out of the back of a lacrosse player's helmet. Popularized by the best of the best who played high school ball in Baltimore, the more Flow you had, meant the more style you had. In the game of lacrosse, you always need the skill to make it to the next level, but once you get there...it's all about style.
As a freshman, Tim had all the stick skills and knowledge of the game that were necessary to excel at the highest level. What he lacked was the size and speed needed to compete day in and day out against the best players and teams in the country. Slow and skinny, Tim needed to add more substance to his style, and he found it on F.E.M.O (Fake Extra Man-Up Offense) otherwise known as the second string man up offense. As a member of F.E.M.O, Tim found himself rarely able to separate from the defense and when he did, trying to score on All-American Greg Cattrano was nearly impossible. One cold February afternoon while playing F.E.M.O., Tim made a hard move to his left and then in one fluid motion, he stepped back away from the goal, turned back to his right and in an underhand motion, slung the ball low to high around the defender's hip and into the top corner of the goal. Tim needed to put all 150lbs behind his shot and hide his stick as much as possible. The underhand motion not only provided Tim the power he needed but often made it difficult for the goalie to pick up the ball, especially when he wrapped his shot around a defender. Tim credits then Brown Defensive coordinator, Joe Breschi with coining the "Slingman" nickname. Tim Berger soon was able to score three consecutive times in a row with the same maneuver. Once teammates Lyle, Buttolph and company caught on and it simply became an understanding that Tim Berger would then and forever be known as Slingman