The day's defense-heavy first game was almost done. Some of the country's best lacrosse players were sweating, slashing and scoring their way to a shot at the men's collegiate lacrosse title.
But outside the gates of M&T Bank Stadium, with summer's first sizzling heat taking hold, even the hardiest of the sport's fans were beginning to wilt.
Time to shotgun a beer.
"We're having a great time. And yeah, we'll see the games, too," said Adam Cummins, a former college lacrosse player from Towson who circled up with friends to guzzle Busch Lights from small holes poked in the bottom of the cans.
The homecoming for college lacrosse's championships in Baltimore, which kicked off yesterday, seemed excuse enough to fete everything about the nation's oldest sport, both inside and outside the stadium.
In addition to the season-ending games in three men's divisions, the city hosted a LAXFEST for sport merchandisers along the western side of the Inner Harbor and held concerts at the Pier Six Pavilion and Harborplace Amphitheater.
"This is a great town to host the tournament," said Paul Riportella of West Islip, N.Y.
The father of three who works in construction never played organized lacrosse himself, but living on Long Island now means all of his children - 14-year-old Toniann, 13-year-old Paul and 10-year-old Lena - now cradle, throw and catch a surprisingly heavy lacrosse ball with style.
The Riportellas arrived with a tailgating group of 130 from a town that claimed the high school state championship last year. For the team's varsity coach, Scott Craig, the attraction to the sport needs little explanation.
"I think it brings together the best parts of a lot of sports," he said, standing not far from where his West Islip contingent of parents and children were grilling lunch and playing a pick-up lacrosse game in the stadium parking lot. "You have a field sport like soccer, with the scoring and athleticism of a sport like football or basketball."
The Division I universities - Duke, Cornell, Johns Hopkins and Delaware - grabbed the spotlight yesterday as thousands dressed in school colors and waved placards to cheer on their contenders in lacrosse's Final Four. Emboldened Duke fans, shaking off last year's now-discredited rape allegations against Blue Devil lacrosse players, wore their team's name with pride. The final tomorrow pits Hopkins against Duke.
