From today’s b, the paper

I have a shameful admission to make today before all the sports fans of the b world: I don’t like lacrosse.

Now, before someone rescinds my “Maryland native” card, I have a full explanation. While I respect the speed, passion and skill it takes to play lacrosse, I’ve never understood the culture around lacrosse, nor the rules. I love hockey, and all my lacrosse friends tell me, “It’s just like hockey,” but I’ve still never caught on. And for nearly 20 years now, many lacrosse lovers have extolled the virtues, camaraderie and joy of the sport to me. But I still don’t “get it.”

Being from Dundalk, we played baseball when I was a kid. The first 20 years of my life, I only knew one kid who played lacrosse, and he spent his summer days tossing a ball against a wall while we all played baseball on the St. Peter’s Church parking lot on Eastern Avenue. It was a lonely existence for him, being a lacrosse kid from Dundalk.

Maybe it’s one of those things you need to get early in life, the love of lacrosse. My experience has been that there are very few “casual” lacrosse fans. Those who love it live for it. The rest might just tune in the final weekend and try to understand what’s happening on the field.
For people like me, it’s just another Memorial Day weekend to signal the start of summer. A weekend to mow the lawn, go to the beach or fire up a barbecue.

But for a whole segment of folks who are a part of the cult that is lacrosse, this is the biggest of big weekends, led by the men’s NCAA Final Four, which will be played in Foxborough, Mass., Saturday, with the championship game Monday. Many believe this is a crucial weekend for the sport’s otherwise regional growth over the past 25 years by moving the biggest games away from the usual circuit of Baltimore, Philadelphia, New Jersey and Syracuse to get more exposure in the sports-crazed New England area.

There’s very little doubt that the sport is picking up some national interest, especially to the west in places such as Denver, where it’s becoming as popular as its “roots” areas in Maryland and throughout New York state.

Sure, it would be nice if Baltimore and M&T Bank Stadium became the permanent home of this annual Memorial Day championship weekend, but it’s nice to know that you can drive over to Unitas Stadium at Towson and watch the women’s NCAA Final Four this weekend featuring Northwestern, Syracuse, Duke and Penn. For the men, just outside Boston, it’ll be Johns Hopkins, Duke, Syracuse or Virginia taking the title Monday.

If you’re a lacrosse person, enjoy your Super Bowl this weekend with your sticks!

It’s been so long since there’s been local enthusiasm for the O’s that it’s almost unfair to temper it. But despite their above-.500 record and ability to pull out miraculous wins, anyone who believes they’re going to compete for a playoff berth must know they’re going to need more players who can hit. You can only win so many games with a .240 batting average before the miracles end. On Monday, the New York Yankees begin eight days of baseball madness downtown before the Boston Red Sox come back to Camden Yards next weekend. If the O’s are going to contend, we’ll find out more next week.

Nestor Aparicio, owner of WNST-AM 1570, writes about sports and more. His column appears Mondays and Fridays. For more, go to wnst.net.

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