Pete Thamel, a contributor to ESPN The Magazine, begged us for a credential to cover the Lacrosse Final Four at Rutgers over Memorial Day weekend. Is he nuts? Read on.

No, I never went to a Dead concert. Ma Thamel's leash never let me venture too far and Jerry kicked it before I hit college. But I can, with some authority, say that the NCAA Lacrosse Final Four has the feel of a parking lot before a Dead show.

Well, sort of.

Trade the hashish for some cheap beer, friendship bracelets for a Warriors visor and PBJ sandwiches for a brat and you've got the scene outside Rutgers Stadium this weekend. It's easy to see the palpable bond among the masses. From tailgate to tailgate among the endless rows of RVs and SUVs, the message of love and lax creates a kinetic energy missing from mainstream sporting events.

Every Memorial Day, the die-hard lacrosse fans make their annual pilgrimage to the sport's Mecca, held either at Rutgers or Maryland. They line parking lots with campers, toss the ball around and mingle freely with their fellow laid-back lax lovers.

This year's gathering, though dampened by rain and chilly temperatures, gives even Rutgers' blah campus a carnival feel. More than 20,000 folks converged this weekend to watch Notre Dame, Towson, Syracuse and Princeton check, dodge and slide in an attempt to win a national championship.

It's one of the great anomalies in modern sport that a game with such a loyal following can be so unknown to the rest of the country. (Ask most anyone west of South Bend about lacrosse and they'll tell you it's in Wisconsin, just south of Oshkosh.)

In the sport's three pockets -- Central New York, Long Island and the D.C./Baltimore Beltway -- it often ranks as a school's most popular high school sport, drawing Texas-football type crowds. Yet the hard-hitting, quick-assing game that bills itself as the "fastest game on two feet" gets but one weekend of exposure per year before slinking back to anonymity.

On Monday at 11 a.m., a wake-up call no lax fan adores, Syracuse will face Princeton on ESPN for the national title. Top-seeded 'Cuse, which has reached a remarkable 19 consecutive Final Fours with its trademark run-and-gun style, will look to blow over Princeton's conservative ball-control style for the second straight year.

There'll be brats on the grills, war stories shared throughout the parking lot, and homage paid to a game by some of sport's most loyal fans. Afterward, they'll trek back home, they'll no doubt truck back next year and do it all over again.

Somehow, I think Jerry would like that.