How many articles have been written on the quality of the men’s collegiate lacrosse as we know it today? Like it or not, another one is coming your way.

This time around, though, I won’t join the chorus suggesting that the game used to be more exciting. Sure, maybe shooters don’t score as much anymore, there are way too many long sticks on the field, and extra man offense is non-existent. But one thing’s for sure. The run and gun offense lives on. Just ask the guys from Syracuse, Virginia, and UMass.

I grew up in an era when athletes played more than just one sport. Believe it or not, we all played our seasonal favorites, and many of us would play both baseball and lacrosse in the spring. It was no big deal to play a doubleheader on a Saturday morning, make our way down to Homewood Field to see Hopkins beat up on someone Saturday afternoon, grab a quick bite at home with the family, then get picked up to make the Club game at Mt. Washington, in hopes of seeing one of the games most prolific shooters, Joe Cowen, put on a show.

As a kid in the late sixties, Norris Field on Saturday night under the stars was the greatest thing going. Sitting on the wall along the JFX, above the field, just waiting for the police to tell us to get down was a real thrill for us up and coming prepsters. Forget about smuggling beer, or checking out the chicks, the game was all that mattered.

On a typical Saturday, I would have the opportunity to see some of the greatest stars in the history of the sport all play, and I would sit in awe at the prospects of even just one of these lacrosse gods looking my way. I didn’t realize it at the time, but figured that lacrosse was really only meant to be played in Baltimore. Why else then did all the best players grow up in my neighborhood, Rodgers Forge, or at least play there.

On any given evening in the summer time, I could always count on finding superstars like Tom Duquette, Jay Connor, and Jack Thomas hanging around the cage at Dumbarton Junior High. By the way, these three alone have probably racked up more points collectively than many Division 1 teams score in a season.

These were the best of times. Life was simple, with the only sadness being the number of lacrosse games typically played in a season. In a good year, I might have played in twelve games. It wasn’t that scoring meant everything but when you only have twelve games to achieve greatness, shooting was a high priority. An average goal for an over achiever might be a hat trick in each outing, making for a reasonable year.

Growing up in Baltimore today, kids enjoy something that old fogies like me never had, the opportunity to play in hundreds of lacrosse games in any given year. If I had that growing up, I wouldn’t have ever left home. Who would have time to do anything else?

In my opinion, today’s athletes are better than they were when I was coming along. They are stronger, faster, more dedicated, and more competitive. And why might this be? Perhaps it’s the fact that College tuition has the potential to bankrupt an average family, and this fact is drilled into most of our children’s brains from the second they’re able to shoot over the shoulder.

But what’s really neat about the game of lacrosse today is that it has spread across the nation. It’s played everywhere, perhaps a little too often in some areas, but the love of the game is catching. Just look at the numbers. It’s not just played in Garden City or Baltimore City any longer. It’s played and enjoyed by hundreds of thousands nationwide. The same guys that say the game is lacking the enthusiasm or excitement that was evident when fast breaking was born need to move into the future. Lacrosse is not a provincial sport any longer, and the potential for exciting changes will offer the next generation of superstars many options.

Take for example the College Championships each year. Attendance is hitting records every year, and the need for bigger stadiums will be an eventual issue. Who would have ever considered that much demand? And what about TV? Lacrosse is one of the best sports to watch on Television. The potential for instant replay, to see the field from many perspectives simultaneously, is exhilarating.

Forget the fact that there are too many long sticks on the field. Great players are born every day, and each feat of greatness achieved by the likes of the Gait or Powell brothers will eventually be outdone by another chosen gene pool. It’s just a matter of time, but as long as our kids dream we will keep hoping that the future will provide all of us with a glimpse of that unfathomable move that hasn’t even been dreamed of being possible. And when it does happen, television will be there to catch it in perpetuity.

“The fastest game on two feet” will continue to evolve in unimaginable ways, as the quality of the players improves nationally. For those of us who love to live in the past, admit it. This game has a long way to go!