Sportsbroship
The portrayal of Lacrosse in the media
I really had no idea what I was going to write about this week. I normally keep a running list of topics that I either am interested in, or feel confident in my knowledge about. Through the tunneled view that is our season, the old writers block was setting in. We were on our last big road trip of the season, this weekend. On a comfy 6 hour drive back from Northern Wisconsin, I had every intention on trying to start writing this week’s piece. What I ended up doing was watching movies, talking to players, and dozing in and out in between phone calls with my family, and other coaches. I have a habit of procrastinating at times. I needed something to talk about. What the frick could I possibly talk about that I hadn’t already covered this season? While scrolling through Instagram, I found my inspiration. There it is, this week’s topic, staring me in the face!
I don’t have an actual Instagram anymore. I remember when it first came out, I didn’t really understand what made it so special. It was circa 2011 when I downloaded the app and made an account. I feel like I did what most people did at the time. I took pictures of mountains and tall buildings, etc. and posted them to my feed. Back then it was really much more artistic. It was almost packaged as a way you could be a photographer without the wide range of skill, or equipment needed. There wasn’t any reels or stories at the time. There were videos but they were very short and felt like it wasn’t really the point of the app. With the use of filters and cropping, you could really take an ordinary photo and turn it into something much more interesting. It didn’t take long for the app to really take off and become something so much bigger than I think anyone thought it would be. Before I found myself staring at my phone and scrolling for long periods of time. I didn’t want it on my phone anymore, so I deleted my Instagram account.
Social media can be addicting. I often long for a world in which it didn’t really exist, at least not in the same manner as we know it today. Unfortunately, I cannot break away from it completely. Because of the team, I have access to the program’s official Instagram, twitter, and Facebook accounts. Maybe an excuse, but as a DIII head coach, I make a few of the posts from time to time. Once I get my ticket as a DI HC, that will be the sole job of my director of ops, or team manager, or special program intern (jk). Until that time, I still have the Instagram app on my phone, just the team account profile though, along with twitter…I mean X.
Anyway, as you can imagine, our team account follows a lot of other lacrosse accounts. I like the grassroots accounts like d3.lax, or deethreelax. I like what they do for the teams that don’t get as much media coverage. But of course, we follow the bigger handles as well, such as Inside Lacrosse, etc. Lacrosse as a sport, seems to be very much into highlights. And I think that is kind of an absurd observation, because obviously every sport is going to try and highlight plays that are going to garner attention. The difference is that some of the attention is not always good, and it’s hard to know what sources are going to be more serious in nature, or just try to do anything to get views. I think there is a big difference between showing legitimate highlights on social media from credible sources such as ESPN, NCAA, etc. vs watching shock inducing, and amusing “lowlights,” that are aimed at singling out at a player or team. Any post usually by the barstool accounts, nocontextlacrosse, or all the memes out there that are aimed at poking fun at an athlete or a situation with a team are the ones I am talking about. I know it’s all in good fun mostly. I think at the professional level anyway, you have to probably know that you’ll be subject to ridicule to some extent. Hopefully all in good taste, but I’m sure there are cases where fans of rival teams take things too far with memes, posts, and comments.
I think about how our sport is portrayed in the media. What you see now is the constant glorification of bad sportsmanship, or taunting. This is what spurned my desire to put pen to paper (so to speak) this week. I saw on Instagram, yet another flashy video of some HS player blowing by a defensive player, and giving him the ‘lookback/wave’ combo on his way to the goal. The sad thing about this was it was posted by ‘The Lacrosse Network.’ I know the media sources for Lacrosse are probably fairly limited, and I will admit I don’t have the time, nor the inclination, to actually pay attention to what is credible source for the sport, or what isn’t, but I would assume a company that gives themselves the name ‘Lacrosse Network’ would have more class than to be glorifying such a bush league act on the field. But then again, I got my own things to worry about. Out of habit, I rushed to the comment section to further indulge my guilty pleasure of simmering in the stew of contempt, but what I found was unexpected. Almost wanting to be more annoyed for some reason, I found myself feeling hope once I read the comments. What I expected was replaced with a flood of comments (probably from adults, fathers, and coaches) reflecting my own distaste for the clip. Comments saying that ‘that kid should be benched,’ or ‘don’t glorify this type of behavior,’ or ‘not what this sport is meant to be about,’ etc. I was glad to see that there was a majority of people that felt that this wasn’t ‘cool’ and isn’t something to be celebrated.
Bad sportsmanship is something that I really don’t care for. Taunting in particular is something that should never be encouraged and in my eyes, is grounds for discipline. I think it’s ridiculous. The idea that some individual feels entitled or embolden enough to tease another individual because they bested them is absurd to me. Because the way I see it, there is always someone better than you. If you want to play that game, where you belittle someone because they are not on the same level genetically, or physically, or whatever, then go up a level and find out what it’s like. There will always be someone bigger, stronger, faster, more athletic etc. There are guys in the PLL that can literally do whatever they want out on the field. It doesn’t give anyone the right to put down someone that has no doubt put in a ton of time and effort to get where they are. Things in life are not always equal. There are probably 4 or 5 levels within Division III alone. Who cares? Just do your best. If you happen to win that day, then that is the ultimate exclamation point. I’ve always submitted that winning is enough, and should be enough. It does the talking for you. If you win, you don’t need to say anything at all. Just thank the other team for even allowing you to compete that day in the first place, and move on. That’s what real a real champion does, in my opinion.
And it is hard. Sports are emotional. Things occur on the field that can bring out the best and worst in a person. I get it, I see it every day. But there is a pretty hard line I think between celebrating and taunting. Celebrating is internal, whereas taunting is external. If you are celebrating, that occurs between you and your teammates, not you and the opposition. I am all for celebrating. If someone does something good on the field, they should be excited. More importantly, their team should be excited for them. Watching our guys light up when one of their close friends does something great, makes me feel better than anything, and this is the God’s honest truth. Some of my favorite moments as a coach are the moments I have alone with myself, where sometimes I’ll go back and re-watch a game on hudl. And what I have a habit of doing, is when something great happens, I find myself not even watching the play transpire, but watching the other players on the field, and watching the sideline to see how they react. It gives me the greatest feeling of joy to see guys feel genuine happiness for others. That’s how you know your team culture is good. Anyone can experience joy when something good happens to them. But to experience real joy for another person’s triumph is empathy embodied. It’s what being on a team should be all about. Bill Belichick famously talked about this. He actually made his team watch film of when someone did something well and teammates not celebrating along with them. You can see that clip here
. Positivity and body language promote healthy team culture.
So yes, I think the media often portrays our sport in a negative light. And they aren’t going to stop. As much as I hope someone who runs these accounts reads this article, I’m sure they won’t. And even if they do, it won’t make a difference because sadly, it’s not about being right or wrong. It’s about views. They will continue to post content that shouldn’t be condoned or glorified because no matter what side you’re on, they will get attention for it. Whether the comments are filled with love or hate, the more it will be passed around, and shared, and viewed and liked, etc. Attention is all that matters sadly. The comments are getting bad too. Another thing I can’t stand are bullies. At least when I was growing up, someone would bully you to your face. Now you have all these people hiding behind fake accounts commenting ruthlessly on videos, and reels. It’s cowardice of the first magnitude. And the media is the machine that produces all of it. They can twist things to make them seem like they are real, when they aren’t. You can see it in other sports as well. I noticed a lot regarding the NCAA women’s basketball tournament this year. Never has it been so highly televised, which is a great thing for women’s sports, and sports in general. But with it comes all the BS I have been alluding to. I’ve seen so many videos and memes about players like Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese, and Hailey Van Lith, in regards to beef, slights, and shit talking, amongst these athletes, when in reality, any beef or perceived beef is mainly manufactured by social media, because that’s what people stop to click on. And we are all guilty of it, myself included. Hopefully people see through the rouse and can make up their own mind about things, or just not feed in to the created conflicts. It’s just sports. And it’s just young people. They have enough on their shoulders just being in the spotlight. If I was in their shoes, I would definitely not have social media.
So again, do I think it’s a problem among all sports, of course. But in particular, Lacrosse has always had such a stigma. It’s for ‘rich white kids,’ or only for the ‘privileged,’ or ‘laxbro party animals,’ etc. I think our sport is the most diverse, and inclusive its ever been. It’s good to see coverage for things like that as opposed to just the stereotypes. I like the ‘drip king’ because that’s a guy that has taken the proverbial ‘laxbro’ and created an absurd alter ego embodying all the typical lacrosse player stereotypes. I think it’s funny because he is not meant to be taken too seriously or literally. And I think those guys that can be funny, but vulnerable at the same time, have more value to the impressionable youth. They have the power to say, “hey this is what people think of our sport and although some of these things persist in the game and are part of the overall experience as a player, there is more than looking cool and acting aloof that makes a great college player. It takes hardbwork, dedication, and great passion.” Hopefully I did him justice with that little riff. We all go through our ‘laxbro’ phase, myself included. The sport has an identity that is sometimes hard to fight. I know in college there were times I bought into it. And although I made some mistakes, in my core I was always the same person. I went to class, I got good grades, I practiced hard, and I generally made good decisions most of the time off the field. I know a lot of players out there are doing the exact same things. It would be cool if the media could portray more of what these athletes are really doing. It would be cool if they could show what a real day in the life of a college lacrosse player really looks like. It would be cool if we as a society could start glorifying these things, instead of the stupid clips of guys getting stepped over. I know if guys are acting like that in HS, they probably will never make it at the college level.
KASEY BURST
The HC at the University of Dubuque, Kasey brings all things college lacrosse to your inbox.