Pat Heim: Midfielder or Movie Star?
Published on June 12, 2007 under Major League Lacrosse (MLL)
Chicago Machine News Release
Chicago Machine rookie Pat Heim knows he looks like Matt Damon.
You don't have to tell him, he's been hearing it for a while now. There was that story about the resemblance on the Major League Lacrosse website. Then it became a running joke in the Machine locker room. And of course, the recent opening of Ocean's 13 and accompanying Damon sightings on billboards and movie previews hasn't helped matters much.
OK, so maybe the young midfielder does look a little like the A-list celebrity. Maybe it is a tad uncanny. But come to think of it, movie-star good looks might not be the only thing Heim and Damon have in common. In fact, there could be a whole lot more.
When Pat Heim was selected first overall in the 2007 MLL Collegiate Draft by the Chicago Machine, a few eyebrows raised around the room. Heim? The middie from Penn State? First? He was a great college player, to be certain, the star of the Nittany Lions - but the Machine's pick came as a surprise to a lot of people. And Heim was no exception.
"It excited the heck out of me," Heim recalls. "It was kind of shocking. I was shocked by it. But also I was very, very excited. Altogether it was just an unbelievable experience."
First pick in any draft comes with some high expectations, to be sure. With one big decision by the Chicago front office, Heim was thrust into the limelight as the MLL's marquee man for the 2007 season. All eyes were on him after the draft.
After the hype came the game, of course: Heim's first as a Major League Lacrosse player, June 2, against the Denver Outlaws at Toyota Park. There was a learning curve, naturally.
"The game's a lot faster than college," Heim says. "There's a 60-second shot clock, so once you get the ball on offense, you just gotta go, go, go, right away."
One of the MLL changes Heim particularly liked was the absence of a fourth long pole. As a fast, athletic player with a great shot, Heim was accustomed to being guarded by a long-stick midfielder swinging six feet of titanium. Not so against Denver.
"There's no long pole, which is great. I mean, I had been getting the long-stick middie since my sophomore year in college," he said, with a hint of Thank God that's over tone to his voice. "So, going out there and having a short-stick defender come out at me is a relief, you know, because it's much easier to score."
And score he did. In his MLL debut, Heim netted four goals, helping the Machine secure their first-ever franchise victory and send Denver home with their first-ever road loss. So much for the jitters, and so much for the doubters. It looked like Pat Who? from Penn State was going to turn some heads in 2007.
"It was pretty exciting; it was an electrifying feeling," Heim says of his first MLL goals. "Just hearing the crowd roar, hearing my name on the loudspeaker, seeing my goal up on the Jumbotron, it was like, wow, this is great. Coming in here and scoring four goals, and getting the franchise's first win - it couldn't be sweeter than that."
Heim's encore came June 10 against San Francisco. Heim was sharp once more, notching a goal and four assists in a 15-14 Machine loss. It wasn't exactly The Bourne Supremacy, but it wasn't too shabby, either.
With two games under his belt, Heim is settling in nicely. And so far it appears the Machine made a great pick when they took him at number one. He's already an effective player at the MLL level, and he knows what it takes to be a great midfielder in this league.
"You have to be able to play both sides of the ball, offense and defense," he says. "In college you can specialize, but the same isn't true here. You have to be able to run between the lines; get the ball in the defensive end, run hard down the field and create good transition. You've got to be strong, fast and able to shoot with both hands on the run."
So maybe Heim deserves that red carpet treatment after all. At the rate he's been playing, the Machine might have to get him a star on a boulevard anyway.
Just don't tell him he looks like Matt Damon.
Major League Lacrosse Stories from June 12, 2007
- Pat Heim: Midfielder or Movie Star? - Chicago Machine
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