This past weekend, I had the greatest time at a college sporting event that I had ever had before. No I'm not talking about a La Salle men's basketball game. I'm actually talking about the 2013 NCAA Lacrosse Championships which pinned the four best teams from Division I against each other and then the Division II and Division III teams played for their respected championships.
I had the opportunity to be a part of the media covering it for my own sports site and I loved every bit of it. The atmosphere outside the stadium was amazing when I had arrived it was like going to a college football game on Saturday, only it was college lacrosse. This event had teams' bands playing with fanfare and fans from every college walking around showing their school pride.
On Saturday, I got the chance to see two of the best schools in college lacrosse and that was the Syracuse Orange and the Duke Blue Devils. Who would have known that these two teams would advance to play on Monday for the National Championship? Both of these schools played good and their school pride was loud and clear. But I cannot Denver University and Cornell University and their fans traveled just as well and you definitely the championship experience from the press box.
As I said, Duke and Syracuse would advance to the National Championship and it was a tremendous game just as the National Championship should be settled. Duke would go on to win 16-10 over the Orange. But as with every college sport, you see the player behind the helmet and equipment with the tears of joy and the tears of sadness that they did not get to win the ultimate goal and that was a National Championship.
I on the other hand thought it was a great experience and definitely think it rivals the fanfare of a college football or basketball game. College lacrosse, in my opinion could definitely outdraw a college basketball game. With that being said, college lacrosse will not be up to standard as those sports. It's just like soccer here in the United States -- it is starting to catch on.
Will it be big? Who knows? So I definitely think college lacrosse is on its way up the totem pole but it will take some time. How much time? Nobody knows but one thing that I do know is that college lacrosse is a pretty fun game and it should definitely be consider as a big time college sport.