NOW I'M IN WOMEN'S LINGERIE...

...Again, strike that. Still at the women's lacrosse national championship game. And really, what business is it of yours what undergarments I happen to be wearing as long as I do my job well? Marv, would you like to comment?

Before we commence with the utter overall dominance of the lasses from Evanston, Ill., allow me to toss this existential query your way: How many citizens of La Crosse, Wisconsin, do you suppose are watching this game this evening? And in case you wondered, there are no Cheeseheads on the Northwestern squad, even though Evanston is located a mere forty or so miles from America's Dairyland.

According to Wikipedia: "Despite this, there is no written record of any visit to the site (of La Crosse) until 1805, when Lt. Zebulon Pike mounted an expedition up the Mississippi River for the United States. Pike recorded the location's name as "Prairie La Crosse". The name originated when he saw the Native Americans playing a game with sticks that resembled a bishop's crozier or la crosse in French."

If only Pike, of Peak's fame, had stumbled upon the locals playing dodgeball. Dodgeball, Wisconsin. I'd live there.

ANYHOO.... While the little national media devoting themselves to lacrosse this weekend are sequestered 105 miles south on I-95 in Baltimore for tomorrow's men's final and the seductive redemption tale of Duke ("Hey, they had strippers at the party, AND they're in the national championship! Wooo!"), this Northwestern team is, just on the basis of their overall excellence, a more worthy story.

First, a little history: the Northwestern program was dropped in 1992 and then resurrected in 2002 under head coach Kelly Amonte Hiller , who is my new hero. A former two-time national lacrosse player of the year at Maryland (1995 and 1996, where she led the Terrapins to back-to-back undefeated seasons and national titles), Hiller was also an All-American in soccer and also competed in the World Triathlon Championships in Switzerland in 1998.

Total studette. Oh, and her big brother is five-time NHL All-Star Tony Amonte.

But Kelly is the jock in the family. And an even better coach. As I said, Northwestern didn't even exist as a varsity program in 2001. In 2002 Amonte Hiller (her hubby, Scott Hiller, is an assistant coach as well as a big deal in the sport). Hiller had five sophomores and fifteen freshman. Two of her players had never even picked up a lacrosse stick before.

But the programs has climbed swiftly. In the last three seasons the Wildcats are 61-2, and have won a pair of national titles. Before they came along, the only national title in Northwestern's history was a 1941 fencing championship. I mean, good for those guys, but these Wildcat players (except for the frosh) have personally won more team national championships than all the previous Northwestern athletes in school history combined .