The Ultimate Lax Bro

If you haven't already seen the video, please take the time to visit the link below:

Meet Brandtford Winstonworth, The Ultimate Lax Bro

With over 2.3 million views, The Ultimate Lax Bro is an internet phenomenon. The video is the most quoted video of all time among lacrosse players around the world, and forever changed the culture of the sport.

This video first burst out on the scene when I was a junior in high school – my friends and I thought it was the funniest thing of all time. The kid who made the video attended St. Lawrence in New York at the time, a pretty well known D III school. The video had a tremendous impact on the culture of the sport, inventing new terms and reinforcing the stereotypical lifestyle of a lacrosse player; the lingo, the attire, the attitude, the confidence (or arrogance depending on how you want to look at it). However, being from the northwest, the culture associated with the sport at home, was a bit different from what it was portrayed in the video. I'm not only talking about differences in the sport itself, but differences from east coast styles to west coast styles.

Here I am going to breakdown the video from start to finish, analyzing the most important terms:

Fluff: The mesh is the basket where the ball is held in a lacrosse stick. The term “fluff” is referring to the slack of the mesh that sticks out the back of the head. Whenever a stick is strung, there is always a little bit of mesh that is left over, and sticks out the back. Sometimes it gets caught on things, worn and torn, and just gets really soft and frayed. Brandtford describes one of his sticks as fluffy, therefore, the universal term was born.

Boarding school/Pastels: Boarding school is something that not a lot of kids attend out west. On the east coast it is much much more common to have your kid attend boarding school. I don't even know of any boarding schools in Washington State to be 100% honest. Before I came back here I always just thought of boarding school as this far away place your parents sent you if you were a bad kid. When I came back here I learned they were nice schools and it was pretty common to attend boarding school, especially if you played a sport. Pastels are what he refers to his colored as. The east coast is preppy, and I never had shirts like that growing up, but I sure do now.

Spoon or Twig: A player's “spoon” or “twig” is in reference to their stick. How you pick up the ball by scooping it, and when you run you cradle it. Naturally the terms make complete sense.

Lax Bro: A Lax Bro is a term associated with anyone who plays lacrosse. “Oh you play lacrosse? You're a Lax Bro?” Bro is chill term to call another person, because lacrosse is a chill sport, then combined with lax you get “Lax Bro”. It is a common term thrown around by others who don't play, directed at people who do.

Nantucket: Brandtford Winstonworth refers to his Nantucket hat “ACK” for short. Nantucket is associated with wealthier, old money, upper-class, generally white people who have played lacrosse through the generations. The hat is a symbol of who plays the sport, and is another stereotype. When I first saw the video, I had only heard of Nantucket because it was on the fruit drinks I liked, Nantucket Nectars. I never knew about that stereotype until I got back here and my friends told me all about it.

Flow/Lettuce: “90% of lax is in the flow” A player's flow or lettuce refers to your hair when it is long, and sticks out the back of your helmet. It is a universal term and a pretty funny thing to everyone who is involved in lacrosse. Bro Bible is a hilarious college lifestyle site and they assemble the “All-Flow team” each year, featuring the players in NCAA lacrosse who have the best looking flow. Keep it short and maintained all year, then come spring and lacrosse, you let it rage.

Club/DI: This is really funny because players do not need to decide between club and DI.....The talent is head over heels much better D1 than club. Players play at the club level when they either get cut from the college's varsity team, get kicked off, or just flat out aren't good enough to make the team in the first place.

Turf Dogs, Mid Calves, Nice shorts, Lax Pinnie, Croakies, Shades: The old adage, look good play good, absolutely rings true for lacrosse players both on and off the field. When I first saw the video it was weird. I never wore bright colored shorts like he does, on the west coast everything is much less preppier. I never had heard of Sperry Topsiders either till I came back here. Croakies are almost non-existent on the west coast; except for old Dads with no sense of style. As for Turf Dogs, I saw them here and there on football players, but never had I seen lacrosse players wear them off the field – especially as a style choice.

Preakness: The Preakness reference ties back into the sport being relatively wealthy. This is a high class event, and once again, is something I never would ever have thought of as an awesome event lacrosse players are associated with attending.

Party Culture: Lastly is this party culture that goes with playing and being apart of a lacrosse team. This video always shows empty beers everywhere and is hilarious. Around campus lacrosse players are looked at, or put in a category as “wild” whether you like it or not. For instance, every single day at Endicott in the locker room, we blast constant wompy party music, with heavy bass. To say this isn't true would be lying, we play hard and party hard too.

On the flip side, some people hate the Ultimate Lax Bro video. They are so against that stereotype it's not even funny. I personally like to make fun of the video, and it doesn't upset me – but what I dislike is the label as a “Lax Bro”. It's annoying to be automatically grouped or looked at in predetermined a way. A lot of people think the video was an awful thing to happen to the sport, and that because of it people view the players as giant jokes. If you look at the comments on the Youtube video, its a whole lot of back and forth opinions. Some people think it's the funniest thing ever, some think its the dumbest thing ever. There's quite a few fighting words between commenters as well.

The Ultimate Lax Bro video took the “Lax Bro” stereotype to an entirely new level. It sparked the idea of what a lacrosse player is, how he should act, what he should look like, what he should sound like, and what he stands for. This video opened my eyes to what lacrosse was like, and made me think “okay. so this is what lacrosse must be like back east”. The first time I visited colleges out here and stayed with kids, it wasn't exactly like the video, but there were similarities for sure. Many more similarities than there were out west. A.J. Pegno, who I stayed with at Endicott, was wearing croakies and shades when I met him. Chuck Spinelli, who I stayed with at Merrimack College in North Andover, wore a pinnie the entire time I stayed – even to breakfast and everything. These are only a couple more examples of the affect this video had on kids. Brandtford Winstonworth is and always will be a true internet sensation.