This past February, the Towson University Tigers men's lacrosse team opened the season with the first major upset of the college lacrosse season. The Tigers did something they hadn't done in 19 years: beat Johns Hopkins. On a cold February 10 night, Towson stifled the Blue Jays' offense and won the season opener 7-5. That same night I was in Philadelphia broadcasting a Tiger men's basketball game against Drexel. For new Director of New Media Kevin Copp, it was his first-ever Towson lacrosse broadcast. What a way to break in. More on Kevin later.

I remember my first Towson-Johns Hopkins broadcast. It was in the spring of 1992. The Tigers were coming off their most successful Division I season ever. The year before the Tigers lost the national championship game to North Carolina at Syracuse. Towson had lost some key players from that '91 team, including All-American midfielder Rob Shek, All-American defenseman Steve Kislinger, and the greatest goal scorer in Tiger history Glenn Smith.

Glenn was my broadcast partner for the 1992 season. I'll come clean here; I knew very little about lacrosse and had never broadcast the sport when the season began. Glenn was just a tremendous help. Not only was he a great player, he was a great student of the game. I picked his brain ad nauseam during those first few years we worked together.

The 1992 season begins and the Tigers have picked up from the great 1991 season. Towson wins its first six games including an upset of Maryland in week two. The Tigers dropped game seven to Hofstra 10-9. The only other loss by the Tigers up to their match-up at Homewood, had been a spanking by the Naval Academy 12-2. That game was played at the old turf field that butts up against the Severn River. It was a frigid and windy March day. I swear you can go to that field in July and it would still be cold there.

The Blue Jays were ranked fourth in the nation, the Tigers eighth, when the two teams met in Towson's season finale at Homewood Field on May 2. Towson had never won on Hopkins campus', and had only beaten Hopkins once in school history. My broadcast partner Mr. Smith had the game winner in the Tigers first-ever victory over the Blue Jays in 1989.

Back then the Hopkins press box did not have a booth for visiting radio. We were right in the middle of the press box. They also let big donors sit in the box to watch the games. So there were Glenn and I on a beautiful May 2 day in a press box full of Blue Jay lovers and they were going to hear every word we said.

It was a rough start for the two of us. As they were playing the Johns Hopkins school song, Glenn and I continued with our pre game comments. When the song ended, someone sitting behind us came storming up to us while we were still on the air and started berating us for talking during the Hopkins' school song. I quickly went to a commercial break, this man just wouldn't stop yelling. Finally, I looked at him and reminded him that we didn't go to Hopkins and we don't care about their school song. He walked away mumbling.

The Tigers start to the game was much smoother than ours. As a matter of fact, as ticked off at us as that old guy was during the pregame, I thought he was going have a stroke when the Tigers jumped out to an 8-0 lead. That's right: 8-0. But to the Blue Jays' credit never gave up. They fought back and actually took a lead late in the game. But Joe Genevose, the Tigers leading goal scorer in 1992, tied the game late at 13 all.

The Tigers got the ball late in the game, and a deflected shot went out of bounds near the top of the restraining box. There were four seconds left in the game. John Blatchley, who is tied with the great Bob Griebe as the Tigers leading assist man of all time with 125, then came up with the greatest assist of his career. Blatch took the ball out of bounds and threw a beautiful pass to Genovese near the crease. With one second left, Genovese turned and scored the game-winner.

Then Blue Jay head coach and future Tiger head coach Tony Seaman went crazy on the sidelines claiming the goal had been scored after the clock had expired. This is Homewood Field, and crazy things happen to referees when they step on that field. As the referees huddled, there was a dread that they would rule in favor of the Blue Jays. This time, to the dismay of Coach Seaman, the Blue Jay players, fans, and the Hopkins fan sitting behind Glenn and me, the refs upheld the call and the Tigers won the ballgame 14-13. It was the Tigers first ever victory at HomewoodField, and remains the Tigers only victory ever on the Hopkins' campus. It is also still one of the most extraordinary wins I have witnessed in the last 25 years of Tiger athletics.

I mentioned Kevin Copp earlier, news came in this week that after six months as the Tigers Director of New Media, that Kevin will be leaving Towson to take a position at Temple. Even though Kevin has only been here a brief time, it has been a pleasure working with him. His enthusiasm and optimistic outlook about everything has been a breath of fresh air. We all wish Kevin the best as he moves closer to home and begins this new adventure.