According to the Urban Dictionary, "bro code" is defined as a set of guidelines to live between bro's.
In laymen's terms, it means men put men before women.
In slang terms, it means bros before hoes.
While the actual word "bro code" may be attributed to 21st century linguistics, the meaning behind it has existed for decades. Men have been putting other men before women pretty much since the beginning of time. Sure, women have made strides. We can vote -- hooray! We can be professional athletes and astronauts, physicists and financial planners, and even CEOs and world leaders. And somehow, we still manage to get dinner on the table and get the kids to bed at a reasonable hour.
Yet, even in 2016, there's still an undercurrent of sexism and gender discrimination that runs throughout the core of our society. Call it "bro code" (and yes, I cringe every time I say it), call it whatever you want. It doesn't matter. It's on display everywhere you turn -- in politics, business, higher education, Twitter -- everywhere. But it's especially blatant in sports.
Let's recap a few of the latest current events that happened over the course of the past couple of weeks, shall we?
On March 20th, former Indian Wells CEO Roger Moore was quoted saying, "Women's tennis players ride on the coattails of men. If I was a lady player, I'd go down on my knees every night and thank God that Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal were born because they have carried the sport." Lady players? Ugh. Down on my knees every night? Eye roll. I guess Serena and Venus Williams did nothing for tennis? Billie Jean King, either?
Meanwhile, over in the NBA, the legendary Lakers look more like the laughable Lakers thanks, in part, to the violation of bro code. Rookie D'Angelo Russell apparently videotaped his teammate, Nick Young, confessing about cheating on his fiancé, Iggy Azalea. (Seriously, this happened.) But instead of focusing on the act of infidelity, and how that's kind of messed up in the first place, everyone seems to be more concerned with the fact that Russell essentially snitched on his bro. That's all the media is talking about. Former players have even come forward to discuss how this is unacceptable behavior for an NBA locker room. Never mind the fact that cheating on your fiancé multiple times is worse than unacceptable behavior, it's downright crappy. Let's just gloss right over that.
The University of Connecticut women's basketball team is poised to win their fourth NCAA Championship in a row this weekend and reach yet another historic undefeated winning streak. But instead of marveling at their achievements, many male sports critics are chastising them for being too good. Huh? When UCLA was dominating everyone in the 60s and 70s, were they too good for the sport? No, they were revered for winning 10 NCAA Championships in 12 years and John Wooden is now immortalized as the greatest college basketball coach of all time. If Geno Auriemma were coaching the UCONN men's team to a possible fourth NCAA Championship in a row, would he be getting this much flak? No. He'd be praised and honored and celebrated, as he should be. But the reality is that he coaches women.
Lastly, five prominent players on the U.S. women's soccer team recently filed a federal complaint accusing U.S. Soccer of wage discrimination. They cited the fact that they earn as little as 40 percent less than what the men's team earns -- even after winning the World Cup last summer. According to the complaint, they also said they were shortchanged on bonuses, appearances and per diems.
Landon Donovan, a former member of the U.S. men's team, said on Twitter that he's not for equal pay, but for "fair pay" and that if the women's team generated more revenue then they should be paid more. But if the women's team isn't given the opportunity to generate more revenue, how is that even possible? U.S. Soccer pumps all of its energy, resources, marketing and promotion into the men's team. They failed to take advantage of the fact that 23 million people tuned into watch the women's World Cup Final between Japan and the U.S. This is not the women's players fault. This is the fault of U.S. Soccer.
But hey, bros before hoes, right?