Louisville players and coaches growing beards until next loss
Picture Louisville coach Rick Pitino as a cast member on Duck Dynasty with a beard that would allow him to fit right in. How about forward Luke Hancock looking like he could be spinning a guitar on his belt buckle in a ZZ Top video?
If the players and coaches of the Louisville basketball team have their way, each one of them will eventually fit into some famous bearded segment of society. The Cardinals have decided not to shave until they lose again.
"We all said, ‘Let's have some fun. Let's grow beards until we lose,'" Pitino said in report on CardChronicle.com. "It's the first time in my life that I'm trying to grow a beard, and it's the first time I've looked in the mirror and seen multifaceted hair coming in, different colors. We want to have some fun right now, so we're going to do that and hopefully we can get on a little streak and grow some full beards."
Too bad this decision was reached earlier this week as opposed to the beginning of the month. Louisville (20-4, 9-2) has won three straight over the past two weeks and Pitino and his players would probably be looking like a Stanley Cup contender in the NHL playoffs by now had they made their pact a little sooner.They take on Rutgers at home on Sunday.
If the Cardinals do begin to look scruffy over the final three weeks of the regular season, it will be a noteworthy achievement because four of their final seven games will be played against current members of the top 25 and three of those four games will be played on the road.
Sure, maybe it's a gimmick, but it might be the type of thing to spur the defending champs to make a run at defending their title. The Cardinals responded to a similar pledge from Pitino last season when he agreed to get a tattoo if his team won a championship. Louisville also had Kevin Ware's injury to galvanize them in 2013. Obviously they would rather grow a little facial hair instead this season.
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is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
