Two Ways To Stick It To 'em

Suggate's scoring championship last season was the first for him at any level, and it came in overwhelming fashion: 239 points to Davis' 183. "I was great, by far the best in the league," he says. "But not now. Maybe I've mellowed because of my success. I've been asking myself what the hell's wrong."

Most probably, nothing is. He still leads the NLL in total points (128 to Davis' 123), and his lower scoring is mostly the result of his teammates' contributing more, a fact that does not make Suggate particularly happy.

"Maybe I am jealous," he casually admits. "There's no way I'd let one of my teammates beat me for the scoring title. If it got down to the last play of the year, and I needed to score to win, I wouldn't let anyone shoot but me."

It is no wonder that Suggate's coach, Cy Coombes, once angrily called him a "big shot." On another occasion, after scoring 12 points in a game against Quebec, he was fined $50 for criticizing his teammates and $50 more for criticizing Coombes. Yes, Suggate is a prima donna. Just ask him.

But he is not the divisive force that description suggests. Like Davis, he is the team captain, a responsibility that explains much of his brashness. "Paul really isn't a discipline problem," Coombes insists. "He steps out of line occasionally, but it only points out how much he wants to win."

Suggate certainly is competitive, at least for personal prestige. "I wish people had as much respect for me as they have for John Davis," he says. "That's what I'm really looking for."

Actually, he receives considerable respect; he simply does not recognize it. "I try to play the game just like him," says rookie teammate Blair Campbell, the league's leading goal scorer. (Campbell has 60 goals to 52 for Suggate, but Suggate has 45 more assists.) "You can't help but like him or learn from watching him." Of Campbell, Suggate has said, "I never have gotten along with Blair. He plays lousy defense."

That is quite a contrast to the way one of the Montreal players talked about Davis last week. "He's our leader, we listen to him," said Goalie Ernie Mitchell, an Indian who lives on a reservation "for tax purposes."

One subject on which Davis likes to be heard is U.S. participation in what was once Canada's national game. "No American will ever lead this league in scoring," he says flatly. He is not the only Canadian who believes the indoor pro game is more demanding than the outdoor variety. Otherwise, the Canadians argue, there would be more than 17 Americans in the league.

But some observers are not so negative about the ability of U.S. players. Maryland is eager to sign University of Maryland star Frank Urso, who still has one year of college eligibility remaining. And the Boston Bolts plan to trade for several Americans, perhaps Bruce Arena and John Sheffield of Montreal, considered the best U.S.-born players. Bolt President Peter Brine believes their acquisition would boost Boston's attendance and, eventually, its league standing. "We think Americans have greater potential than the Canadians give them credit for," he says.