Wine and Lacrosse

This is definitely not a sport’s blog, but I feel the need to talk about lacrosse. Lacrosse is a great sport. People get to catch balls in small handheld nets and toss them back and forth. They get to go behind the goal, which is unheard of in other goal sports, and they get to hit the opposing team with sticks. Sounds fun, right? It is. Saturday I attended the University of Idaho lacrosse game against Boise State University. Unfortunately, UI lost in sudden death but that’s beside the point.

What really interested me was the crowd. Here is a sport, that to be honest, isn’t always well attended. Saturday the sidelines were packed. It was packed with mom’s here for Mom’s Weekend along with their spouses and children, other UI students and Moscow community members. All in all, this was not the usual lacrosse match crowd. Many of the spectators were not lacrosse enthusiasts, having attended their first match for the first time that day, and others assumed lacrosse at UI was an upscale event. Let me explain.

One girl in the crowd asked her friend what the point of the game was. When told it was to get the little white ball into the net she asked which net. She is definitely not a regular attendee.

Then there was the alcohol. I expected to see the usual red plastic cups, but what I didn’t expect was the wine. One group of women brought their own bottle of wine and stemmed wine glasses. Talk about classy. They were sipping Bordeaux on the sidelines while the team was practically knocking their opponents unconscious.

Next game I am bringing a tea set (in real china) complete with tea cozy and enough cups to share with surrounding spectators. And instead of screaming at the top of my lungs and abusing the refs I will wave a flag daintily and hold up a supportive and tastefully decorated sign encouraging my team to victory.