Sixes. Box. Field. Lacrosse.

We're going to the Olympics! Maybe!

Yesterday, the LA28 Olympic organizing committee announced their recommendation for lacrosse to be included as one of five sports to be added to the 2028 Olympic games. The lacrosse world was set to rejoice and celebrate as this announcement was a long time coming. Even though it still needs to be ratified by the International Olympic Committee.

There is a[nother] catch, though. It’s not going to be field lacrosse. Or box lacrosse. Or even the women’s game.

No.

It’s going to be Sixes.

Sixes? Damn. All my homies hate Sixes.

In the white-hot fire of my youth, I hated everything that I didn’t like. I was good at it, too. I used to think my only talent in life was to make people angry with my opinions.

But one of the things you learn as you get older is that it takes a lot of energy to hate something.

I have concerns, but I don’t hate Sixes. That would be a waste of energy. So, let’s just examine some of the easy truths and present some salient points about the three main versions of [men’s] lacrosse.

Is field lacrosse still the king of the sport in America?

Yes.

Is box lacrosse the most exciting indoor product involving the sport?

Yes.

Is Sixes lacrosse a more universally accessible version of the sport?

Yes.

All of these things can be true. You don’t have to take a side, you can take all the sides because lacrosse is too small not to.

Every version of the game has aspects to it that aren’t perfect because nothing in the lacrosse world is perfect (other than a bar-down ripski - that translates across all versions).

Months before their summer season, which just concluded, the PLL debuted their pseudo-Sixes Championship Series off-season tournament. I say “pseudo”, not as a pejorative term, but as a factual one - Sixes rules have been established and they don’t include a two-point line. Facts are facts. And as we all know - #FactsArentMean.

It’s almost a Sixes format, but the PLL couldn’t help itself - it had to PLLize it. The hype machine never stops. And it shouldn’t. That’s what the PLL does best; it’s what the MLL did the worst and that’s why they’re dead. (Well, that and selling merchandise. Which…the PLL also does a much better job of.)

The PLL version of Sixes plays a lot like basketball. It has a lot of scoring, a lot of isolation play, and a lot of transition. Not as much as it could, but a lot nonetheless. Mostly, people are upset that face-offs are all but obliterated. A defender’s most prized weapon, their long pole, has been taken away. It’s just guys shooting and running!

I mean, sure. Those are relevant gripes to those subsections of fandom that those subtractions impact. But this is the thing most people don’t realize: Lacrosse needs to appeal to new fans. You, the person reading this? We already have you. You’re not going anywhere. And you don’t have to like or watch Sixes.

The fact of the matter is that Sixes is the newest gateway drug to our - still very much underground - sports community.

Every version of lacrosse is a part of lacrosse. We are not warring factions; we can’t afford to be. If you think that’s what this is then you are what keeps us - ALL of us - under the thumb of baseball, hockey, basketball, football, and soccer. Even if you combined all of the versions of lacrosse together, and added the women’s side for good measure, we’re a third-tier sport.

Third.

Tier.

Not second.

Not first.

Do you know how I know that? I work in the basement/mail room of all tiers: Media.

We are the boots on the ground. We are covering the games. We are writing the words.

And none of us can afford to cover just one version of the game to be successful or make a living.

You can cite all the growth metrics you want, but so far those studies have amounted to nothing but a drop in the bucket in the growth of the game. The only things that are going up are club lacrosse dues and summer tournament costs.

Maybe I’m wrong about this. Maybe we can’t be unified. Maybe we deserve to be where we are. But I’ll tell you this - as long as we talk about lacrosse with venomous spittle dripping from our mouths as we do so, the more potential fans we lose.

Show this Olympic announcement with your non-lacrosse friends.

And sell it as hard a you possibly can to anyone that will listen.