Hockey is becoming more and more of a hipster sport. I mean just look at Alex Ovechkin.
The kid’s probably got the whole Fleet Foxes album on his iPod. Shit, the Caps’ goalie used to date Paris Hilton!
Even members of Animal Collective are hockey fans:
Which brings us to beards. Beards have long been a staple of the Hipster lifestyle. The New York Times made the connection as early as 2006:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/nyregion/thecity/16bear.html
Beards are right up there with PBR or Parliament Lights or really tight jeans or fixed-gear bicycles as a hipster accessory (I smell a line of action figures). So it only makes sense that the Capitals unify this growing target audience with some savvy marketing. Behold, the beard-a-thon, just in time for the Playoffs.
http://www.beardathon.com/capitals/team.aspx
Check out the site, you can rate beards, grow your own beard (for charity) or just poke around in a state of envy (ladies).
From the Caps’ website:
“There’s nothing like a hockey fan come playoff time, all-heart, all-passion, and if we get it our way, all-beard. Welcome to the Beard-a-thon, a fundraiser for fans to show their hockey love while raising money for charity. Whether you’re ‘Growing One for the Team’, or sponsoring someone else, now you can watch beards grow for a good cause. Curious? Check out ‘Rate-the-Beards ‘and see who gets voted, ‘Beard-of-the-Day.’ Folically challenged? Grow your own at ‘Build-a-Beard.’ Don’t forget to invite your friends to join in.”
We here at BYT are really hoping that John Thornley will get involved with the Caps on this one and show Washington what a real beard looks like…
Or was it this?
Related:
Not true. The stache has been violated and played out. Beards are now back until the stache can recover.
April 7, 2009 at 12:17 pmuh-uh.
April 7, 2009 at 12:21 pmthis article makes me want to shoot myself in the face.
April 7, 2009 at 1:22 pmNot to slight the hipsters here, but the beard has been a playoff thing for as long as there have been playoffs. In the NHL at least its been considered bad luck to shave during the playoffs while your team is still in the running, Take a look at any photo of the winning team with the Stanley cup on the ice after winning… More hair than Sasquatch…
April 7, 2009 at 1:57 pmbeards and mustaches are both lame. they’re gross and stink like old food.
April 7, 2009 at 2:03 pmYes. No. Maybe. Well, it depends.
April 7, 2009 at 2:29 pmi see what you did there w/ us royalty.
April 7, 2009 at 2:47 pmBeards and hockey have gone hand in hand the way toothlessness and hockey have; since forever. Hipsters just happened to have stumbled upon something that’s associated with… gasp… sports!
April 7, 2009 at 3:37 pmso a lot of hockey players sport beards. BFD. i wouldn’t say that beards are in any way associated with sports any more than bad tattoos are.
and my guess is that there are way more athletes with shitty tattoos that there are with beards.
April 7, 2009 at 4:11 pmand, FWIW, i’ve always thought that toothlessness and beardedness went hand in hand with being a hillbilly. or a grizzled old prospector.
http://vwt.d2g.com:8081/laugh_toothless.jpg
April 7, 2009 at 6:02 pmthe ovechkin beard is totally dissapointing in that photo
April 7, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Beards are so yesterday. The stache is where it’s at.
April 7, 2009 at 11:03 am