Take a ride through Baltimore, where kids carry lacrosse sticks in favor of baseball bats.

Greg Jackson, a former player on the Penn State men's lacrosse team, sees this on a daily basis. Driving to work at his law firm in the city, it looks similar to his home of Annapolis, Md., where he grew up and picked up a stick in the first grade.

It's the same in Geneva, N.Y., or Long Island, where lacrosse is king. In fact, Jackson never played tee-ball, and, when it comes time to find toys for his children, something is certain.

"It is probably inevitable that they will have a lacrosse stick in their hand before they can walk," Jackson said.

That has been the story for decades of lacrosse players raised in the hotbeds. The old guard of the sport has a different mindset, one reason Maryland's official sport is lacrosse. Elsewhere, children play America's games, like baseball and football -- there was even the recent craze of soccer moms where minivans are the norm.

When Jackson was a captain for the Nittany Lions in 1997, the rarity was a player from Michigan who was recruited mostly on his athletic ability.

This year's Penn State team features a new generation of players: two from Michigan (freshmen midfielders Ryan McAleenan and Charley Henneghan), one from Missouri (junior midfielder Matt Radecic) and one more from ... Texas.

Meet freshman defenseman Scott Jacobs, born and raised in Dallas. Football ranks as a religion in the Lone Star State. For those that don't want a contact sport, baseball works as a suitable alternative.

But factor in the fastest growing sport in the nation -- lacrosse. Every year for the past decade, the number of participants has grown annually at a rate of 10 percent according to the most recent U.S. Lacrosse participation survey. Including every level, 351,852 people played a season the game in 2004.

While there isn't a defining moment where Jacobs remembers picking up a stick, lacrosse found him around fifth grade. He wanted a contact sport, so baseball didn't do much for him. At the same time, football wasn't going to offer the long-term options Jacobs was looking for -- like a way to get into college.

Lacrosse was a club sport at Jacobs' high school up until 1998, when St. Mark's elevated lacrosse to a varsity sport. Before then, Jacobs participated at a young age on the state team. It took a bit of time for the players on the team to gain some seasoning.

"In '99 we got beat, so bad, in the nationals," Jacobs said.

Then Jacobs grew into the 6-foot-5 frame that caught the eye of Penn State men's lacrosse coach Glenn Thiel at an annual summer camp. He was bigger and faster than most of the others, helping his team finish sixth in the event.

"Who you play for in high school has gotten to be not so important," Thiel said. "It is what travel team you're on. You don't have to be from Long Island or Baltimore to be good anymore."

In a short stint as a coach alongside Thiel, Jackson saw recruiting tapes coming in from all over the country. Even though he carries an admitted East Coast bias, Jackson heard buddies coaching in high school touting prospects from as far as San Diego.

This has benefited programs like Stony Brook and its men's lacrosse coach Lars Tiffany, a former Penn State assistant coach and recruiting coordinator. On the collegiate level, men's lacrosse was the fastest growing sport over the last 10 years, gaining slightly less than a 10 percent edge over indoor track.

Tiffany isn't reaching out as far as Texas for a prospect, but gaining some of the leftover pieces from nearby New York helped the then-unranked Seawolves beat the then-No. 20 Penn State 11-10 on March 18.

"It is the fastest growing sport in the country," Tiffany said. "I don't know if it is going to sweep the country like soccer did, but it is not just Syracuse and Long Island, and it seems like there are so many people playing. It has really provided an exciting amount of parity."

To see a prospect like Jacobs doesn't startle Jackson at this point, because the expansion ripples for the sport hit the pond much further back in time. The parity created by the super-sized talent pool dates back much earlier than Bucknell's victory over then-No. 1 Maryland this season.

In fact, the Bison went 12-0 in 1996, during Jackson's junior year with the Lions. Those were the days of dominance by teams like Virginia and Syracuse. Hobart, then a Div. III powerhouse, had won 12 straight national championships. To this day, the Statesmen have a countdown to games on their athletics Web site for two sports. One for football, and the other for lacrosse.

"There isn't much to do up in Geneva, New York," Jackson said. "It was a way of life up there."

Jackson remembers how the Lions "waxed" the team from Lewisburg, his freshman season. Then, Bucknell's rise to an undefeated record caused tremors throughout the lacrosse world.

It was a squad the powerhouses wouldn't think about scheduling, like Penn State at that time, which finished unblemished. After beating Army and Navy, and an 11-6 win over the Lions, Jackson saw a NCAA tournament appearance for his Bison friends.

But the Pennsylvania squad never received an invite to the NCAA tournament, the same bias that might have robbed Penn State of a couple chances at the tournament.

"Lacrosse can be so much of an old-boys network," Jackson said. "They refused to recognize that the sport was growing. Now you will never see that."

No longer can a school send all of their coaches to certain schools in New York or Maryland, like Jackson experienced during his recruitment. He remembered a time he got a note during class that told him to come down to the office because the coach from Hobart wanted to talk to him.

Today schools scour the nation looking for the best athletes. While gender-equity restrictions limit schools with a big football team like the Lions, quality talent has found its way to State College.

The Statesmen, who are now Div. I, can hold more players than Penn State, about 60 to the Lions' 30. Lacrosse is king at Hobart, but Penn State was the better team on Saturday, winning 9-4. McAleenan scored a goal in the contest, while Jacobs and Henneghan have been relegated to the bench most of this season.

This doesn't speak to the latter two's lack of talent, but rather their lack of high-level experience. Most of the good talent out West comes to annual summer camps like Jacobs, Henneghan and McAleenan did to gain exposure. Otherwise, the competition levels away from the hot beds aren't the same.

"Some of those kids are a little bit behind in game sense and feel and all of that kind of stuff," Thiel said. "There is some good and there is some bad."

Thiel has a commitment from another Texas prospect for the 2007 season, just as Jacobs found himself in the blue and white this season. Learning the fast pace of the Div. I game is a challenge for a southern lacrosse player, along with the other expected adjustments.

There will be long plane rides back and forth from home, with a winter jacket safely packed in luggage. Winter lasts a few months longer in State College than in Texas. Then, be prepared for some grief from teammates.

"They really love giving me crap, you know, about riding the horses and going out on the farm and everything," Jacobs said. "The jokes will never end."

And, if the sport keeps growing, add a few more stereotypes to the bin. There are officially recognized lacrosse associations in 19 nations, including Argentina, Australia, Italy, Japan, Spain and even Tonga.

Once it was just weird when Jackson saw a team wearing lacrosse helmets reminiscent of the Colorado Buffaloes.

"It was surprising to me," Jackson said. "They were good. A kid with a good stick from Baltimore just isn't going to get it done anymore."