The score "PSU 7 UMASS 5" scrolled at the bottom of television screens nationwide after the Penn State men's lacrosse team defeated No. 7 Massachusetts on Saturday.
Other than that, only avid followers of the game would understand what that meant, or the sense of accomplishment the Nittany Lions felt on that day. How the players had shut down one of the best teams in the nation remained a mystery to most.
"We are not to that stage yet," Penn State men's lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel said. "It's a long ways from getting on SportsCenter."
But on ESPN, CNN and ABC, the story of the Duke men's lacrosse team and the allegations of rape against three yet unnamed players continues. Large headlines run on ESPN.com explaining the "Duke Scandal."
Obviously, the crimes alleged against the players and the public outcry against it is news no matter what the sport. Not to mention that the No. 10 Blue Devils were in last year's NCAA championship game and are considered a perennial powerhouse.
Unfortunately for a game like lacrosse, nothing else played on the field could draw the same amount of media attention. Only a whole team being suspended for the sake of a DNA investigation can pull the cameras in so tight.
It's a shame nobody heard Stuart Scott or John Anderson give a call of senior attacker Nate Whitaker's game-winning goal that whipped around a Minuteman defender, or heard of the swarm of Lions that engulfed freshman goalie Drew Adams after allowing only five goals.
Nobody was there to witness the post-game celebration between the Penn State players, family and friends escaping the rain under the bleachers of Jeffrey Field.
Whitaker skipped out early on an interview so he could walk his grandparents to their car, carrying a huge smile on his face. His four-goal performance during that game earned him ECAC Player of the Week on Monday.
Yet before that game ever started on Saturday afternoon, a UMass fan mentioned how surprised he was that Larry King hadn't done a special on the Duke issue yet.
"It's bad pub for Duke, and it's bad pub for the sport, no question," Thiel said.
No Penn State player asked would want to get into conversation on the issue, but that is understandable considering it has nothing to do with the Lions' concerns.
All they want to think about is the season and a possible championship and not immerse themselves in touchy off-the-field issues at another school.
But the black cloud hovers over Durham, N.C., where the 46 white players on the Blue Devils roster can find their faces on posters all over Duke's campus. Racial tension has mounted between the lower-class community of the town and its mostly rich, upper-class students.
Lacrosse at the moment is the fastest growing sport in the country. You don't have to be from Syracuse, Long Island or Baltimore to play the game. You don't even have to be an offshoot of the rich, white, suburban male stereotype.
Last year's winner of lacrosse's Tewaaraton Trophy, the sport's equivalent of the Heisman, was Johns Hopkins' Kyle Harrison, an African-American.
It is easy to forget that arguably the most accomplished openly gay athlete was on Dartmouth's lacrosse team during the 2005 season. Goalie Andrew Goldstein, who now plays for the Long Island Lizards of Major League Lacrosse, was an All-American.
The story received a special on SportsCenter late in the season last year, as well as being the main headline on ESPN's Web site when it broke.
But no real attention is paid to the lacrosse regular season otherwise, except for a few games broadcast on small college sport networks. The national airwaves won't carry a game until the time comes for the NCAA Tournament and the Final Four that is held at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field.
When the situation is resolved at Duke, lacrosse will probably fade from the minds of mainstream America. Instead the "MLAX" subheading on tickers will quickly zoom by.
Unfortunately, that might be for the best for now.
