They came with sticks.
Whether set across the tops of strollers in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor or swinging in the arms of 11-year-olds in hotel parking lots, lacrosse fans brought their sticks and spirit to the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship games this weekend. A total of 116,289 fans sat in the blue seats of the city’s M&T Bank stadium during the three matches. Many cheered for the Blue Devils.
Trevor Willis, 12, and his four lacrosse teammates from West Islip, New York—the hometown of midfielder Justin Turri—said people carry their sticks to throw the ball around while they wait for the game to start.
“We can practice our laxing,” Willis said. “Lacrosse is an adrenaline rushing sport.”
Lacrosse is 10 times better than basketball, according to Willis’ teammate, Cameron Crazie tee-clad Conor Smith, 12, whose father, Sean served on Duke’s head coach John Danowski’s staff from 1998 to 2006. Smith has attended the NCAA lacrosse championship games since he was one year old.
Jean Waagbo, 52, from Ellicott City, Maryland, said she brings her son, Justin, to the finals every year for his birthday. The tradition started when he was 10; he turned 27 Monday and is now a lacrosse coach. Waagbo’s daughter, Kristen, Trinity ’07 was chosen for Inside Lacrosse’s All-American team her senior year at Duke.
John Koskinen, Trinity ’61, who supported Duke’s Koskinen Stadium with his wife Patricia, said he loves the sport because of its constant motion. “It requires a lot of skill,” Koskinen said. Lacrosse fans are as spirited as those of other sports, but at lacrosse matches, adult fans stand up to cheer as much as students do he noted.
Mark Lefkowitz, 44, who came down from New Jersey for the tournament with his 13-year-old son Adam, said he thinks lacrosse fans are especially passionate about their sport, because they often play it.
“It’s not like basketball or football,” he said. “Everyone’s here because they love playing lacrosse.”
In a parking lot surrounded on all sides by highway overpasses—good for shade in the 91-degree heat—Duke fans tailgated Monday afternoon before the final game against Notre Dame. Amid trunk-open mini vans, pretzel stick jars and charcoal-coated watermelon rinds on concrete, was a familiar face.
Herb Neubauer, known by most Duke fans as the “Crazy Towel Guy,” had left Durham at 7 a.m. Monday morning to watch his first NCAA lacrosse championship game live in Baltimore. Neubauer said he has seen Duke win five national championships and does not want to miss this one.
“It’s always tough watching it on T.V. because you feel like you’re missing,” he said.
Richard Witmer, a graduate of Middlebury College, attended tailgate and the finals with his high school lacrosse teammates—one of whom is attacker Tucker Virtue’s brother.
Witmer described lacrosse fans as a small, close fraternity.
“If you’re a lax fan, and you meet another lax fan, that’s an instant talking point,” he said.
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