For those of you that don’t know, LAX is either an airport in Los Angeles or an abbreviation for what many consider the chillest sport of all time: lacrosse. People often mistake those chosen to lax for highly regarded figures, such as Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Tim Tebow. However, lacrosse, or lax, is so much more than a sport – it is a way of life with a unique and scintillating culture.
The lacrosse culture exhibits its own unique fashion. Unlike other sports, lacrosse athletes wear distinctive clothes to represent the ‘lacrosse’ image.
“To be cool like a lax bro, you have to wear a lax penny with no shirt underneath it, shorts that show at least five inches of your boxers and half calves (socks),” junior lax bra Hannah Dreier said.
To truly understand the North American Laxer (amphibilax brous) it is important to observe their natural habitat and behaviors. Watch and learn.
“The epitome of a lax bro includes, but is not limited to, hats, bright colors, long hair, high socks, and some sort of hemp jewelry,” senior lax bra Kristen McKenna said.
From pure observation, it seems keeping up the reputation of a lax bro is tedious work, calling for unparalleled attention to the color of their shorts and the size of their penny. It seems you have to have a certain level of charm that is unrivaled by anyone else, even the chess club.
Some lacrosse players, however, think that the lax bro stereotype is insensitive and over done.
“I think the lax bro thing is kind of bashed up,” senior lax bro Mitchell Boh said. “We don’t really have any kids on the team like that. I think we are perceived like that when we really aren’t.”
Senior lax bra, Molly O’Donnell, partially agrees that these stereotypical lacrosse players cannot be found at Arapahoe, but some of the members of the team observe a few of these traditions anyway.
“You have to love the sport, obviously, but I think you have to do more than play the sport,” O’Donnell said. “You have to live it. They all wear their pennies and everything. I mean, we all think it’s stupid, but they’re actually proud to represent it.”
However, lacrosse is not just hemp anklets, pennies and colorful shorts, some think that there are many problems that come with the colorful, vibrant culture of the lax bros.
“Common side effects include a surplus of cockiness and a vocabulary including ‘bro,’ ‘word,’ ‘gnarly’ and ‘stoked,’” McKenna said.
Despite the criticisms of lacrosse life, no one can deny that the culture itself is distinguished as entirely unique and those who are a part of it are individuals unto themselves.