"I feel about lacrosse the way I would about a little restaurant with great food where you don't have to wait for a table. I feel about lacrosse the way I would about owning a beach house on a secluded stretch of sand. Should such delights be shared? Or kept a secret?

Lacrosse is one of the best-kept secrets in sports. It's a great game -- fast-paced, hard-hitting, often high-scoring -- that very few people know about because very few have ever seen it.

They don't know what they're missing. And I don't know if I should tell them."

FOXBORO -- That's what I wrote 13 years ago, the weekend in 1995 that Brown hosted the Fleet Invitational, which featured three Top 10 teams, including the ninth-ranked Bears.

Well, the secret's out now, and has been for a while.

The highly exciting and extremely enjoyable sport of lacrosse continues to grow rapidly in both participation and popularity every year.

"I feel I should tell people to go," I wrote back then. "To sit in the stands on a sunny spring day and see how swiftly and skillfully the players pass the ball across the field. I know that, if people see lacrosse, they will like it. And that's the problem. Because then the secret will be out. My quiet little restaurant will be like the one described by Yogi Berra, where 'nobody goes any more, because it's too crowded.' My strip of secluded sand will resemble Daytona during spring break.

"Because lacrosse isn't an acquired taste, like oysters, or single-malt Scotch, or baseball. Once you see lacrosse, especially once you see it played at the highest level, you're hooked."

More and more people are getting hooked on what -- sorry, hockey fans -- is the national game of Canada.

For years a sport played mostly at elite prep schools, and in pocket-hotbeds such as Baltimore and Long Island, lacrosse is increasingly played at public schools in more and more states across the country. With greater numbers of talented players available, the sport also has grown significantly at the college level, with schools adding scholarships and programs. Increasingly, games are aired on network television, particularly those owned by ESPN.

While 17,500 was considered an excellent crowd when Brown hosted the NCAA Final Four in 1985 -- Johns Hopkins beat Syracuse, 11-4, in the title game -- last year's championship game, in which Hopkins defeated Duke, 12-11, in Baltimore, drew 48,443 to M & T Bank Stadium, where the NFL's Ravens play.

This year's Final Four is being played this weekend at the home of the New England Patriots -- Gillette Stadium, in Foxboro -- where the 5th-seed Blue Jays will be attempting to defend their title.

There are no underdogs in this Final Four, which also includes top-seeded Duke, second-seeded Virginia, third-seeded Syracuse, and Hopkins. The Cavaliers and the Orange play Saturday at noon, followed by the Blue Devils and the Blue Jays at 2. The championship game is Monday afternoon at 1, with the Division II and III title games on tap for Sunday afternoon.

It's a field filled with traditional powers. Of the last six tournaments, Hopkins, Virginia and Syracuse have won two apiece, and Duke has lost in the finals two of the last three years.

"I think the four best teams from 2008 are in Foxboro this weekend," said Virginia coach Dom Starsia, who was head coach at his alma mater, Brown, for 10 seasons before moving, in 1993, to Charlottesville.

He has won three national championships there - most recently in 2006, when the high-scoring Cavs were a perfect 17-0.

"You've got two really intriguing matchups, certainly for folks that may be looking at lacrosse for the first time," said Starsia. "Getting an opportunity to watch Syracuse and Virginia run up and down the field and get after each other, the way they traditionally do, is a good way to introduce someone to the game. I also think that the Duke-Hopkins game certainly is going to be terrific.

"If I'm putting this event on, I don't think you could ask for better teams, or for two better games, in the semifinals. For new lacrosse people, you ought to get yourselves to Foxboro this weekend and take a look.

"If you've heard about the sport, but you've never seen it, I think you've got two really, really exciting games on Saturday."

Outside the stadium, the atmosphere is like a huge fraternity party, as lacrosse lovers representing virtually every college team in the land gather to celebrate the sport's showcase weekend.

If you're a sports fan, and have never seen a game, you owe it to yourself to go. Think of it as a kind of sporting blind date -- one where you open the door and find you're taking Scarlett Johanssen to dinner.

If you're a sports fan and haven't been to a lacrosse game, you've been missing something. Something exciting. Something fun. Something special.

As so many fans have found out.