Saturday, April 12, 2008

The Playoff Beard

Today we'll take a question from the mailbag...

Chad Jones from the USA asked an excellent question. He was curious whether the playoff beard popular with players in, and fans of the NHL should start from bare skin, or whether we just keep the old whiskers and stop trimming.

I must confess that, while I am a long-time hockey fan, I have only recently been able to grow a beard (and even that is debatable), so some of the nuances are a little sketchy. I think that the important thing is that you put away the razor for the duration of your team's run in the playoffs, not whether you use it first.

I've made the choice to show my face on this continent for the first time, and shave (or at least cut back to two games' worth) first.

We'll keep a playoff beard update until the Wild are out...or win the cup. Which, after this last game, I was worried that I would be shaving again far too soon, but they pulled it out. I think they were actually trying to give me palpitations.

By the way, for a good laugh, check out the songs on the sites below.
The Teenage Song is a good cultural reference about contemporary adolescence in Australia -- don't miss the vegemite jar on the table (yes, they really eat that stuff).
The other is just fun.




8 comments:

cj_atc said...

Sounds good to me...I wasn't looking forward to shaving completely anyway.

The Caps won in dramatic fashion last night...down 4-2 starting the 3rd, won 5-4. 22-year-old defenseman Mike Green scored the 3rd and 4th goals; then Alex (HART TROPHY) Ovechkin netted the game winner off a great fore-checking steal. Oh, and he's also only 22-years-old! Caps lead the Flyers 1-0 in the series. Game 2 is Sunday afternoon.

Nice OT win by the Wild last night.

cj_atc said...

Oh, and this is the start of my playoff beard...

Elwood said...

Congrats on both wins! I saw them on TV...not being the world's biggest hockey fan, I won't be growing a playoff beard, but won't be shaving anytime soon anyway. That's one more slap of the snooze button every morning I'd never get back.

Unknown said...

Well - you know how I feel about your beard, so I hope the Wild is in for a long long time. I did watch both games and I don't rule the Wild out early.

I love the diving photos - glad you're getting to do this

And of course the year of the potato means it's Nato's year.....

Why do they eat vegimite?

Nathan said...

Nobody knows why they eat vegemite -- every country has that food that is based on a dare...Haggis in Scotland, Menudo in Mexico, even our beloved lutefisk. Australia has, perhaps, just moved this food up from disgusting side-dish to national icon. Just spit-balling here.

cj_atc said...

Caps won 3-2 today...series is now 3-2 Philly with game 6 in Philly on Monday.

Wild and Avalanche tied (what else is new in this series?) 1-1 midway through the 2nd right now.

As a life-long sports fan I can honestly say: there is no better post-season tournament than the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Super Bowl is awesome, but that's just one game. The NCAA Basketball tournament is the closest thing, but that is still just single games.

Too bad Juneau didn't have a rink when we all lived there, huh?

cj_atc said...

Sorry about your Wild...but LETS GO CAPS!

For the second time this series, we overcame a two goal defecit to win. Ovechkin scored 2 in the victory, further etching his name onto the Hart Trophy.

Game 7 tomorrow night here in DC.

Anonymous said...

Hell of a Philly - Caps series but the right team won in the end :-) Habs with do us in 5 or 6 though!

Nate - any pictures of the full face fungus...?