As I sat comfortably in the living room with my four fabulous roommates Sunday night, watching the Packers-Cowboys game and stuffing our faces with taco pizza and chips felt painless. That is, up until we saw Green Bay cornerback Al Harris collide with his teammate, linebacker A.J. Hawk, in the middle of the first quarter.
Suddenly that nice leather couch could not stand up against the hit that even I, a spectator approximately 120 miles away, felt hit me like a ton of rocks.
It was such a brutal impact, yet as they showed the replay, I could not help but keep my eyes on the screen. It's like watching a natural disaster. I knew what was going to happen, but I still could not pull my eyes off the television set.
The strange thing is, even though Hawk and Harris probably should have seen each other, they crashed like two car traveling on the highway without their headlights on a dark night. True, Hawk had his back to Harris, but it was obvious the two did not just back into one another at full speed. This being said, I also would have no problem seeing a 6'1\, 250 pound guy standing in my way. But hey, that's just me.
Two defensive plays later, Harris was back in the action. He brought down Dallas running back Marion Barber III later in the series and felt the pain once again. After that second blow, Harris took a trip to the locker room and did not return.
Harris' injury report came out Monday evening indicating that he may have ruptured his spleen due to internal bleeding. He will probably be getting a second opinion. More importantly for the Packers, if more medical results show his spleen is ruptured, Harris will probably have to enjoy the game of football from the sidelines for the rest of the season.
Now, I ask myself, how could a situation like this have been avoided? The answer: a nice hair cut.
I feel like a general trend with football players today is that they grow their hair long and think that they look good. To tell you the truth, I can't tell if they are trying to keep in touch with their feminine side or if they think it looks good to appear to have giant tarantula legs coming out of the bottom of their helmets.
In my mind, both Hawk and Harris have needed a hair cut for the past, oh, I don't know, several years.
Here are the reasons why a haircut could do a lot for men playing professional football:
1. Financially, I would think these men would have enough money to take a trip down to the barber shop for a quick trim at least once a year.
2. Some spectators can't take these football players seriously when they have hair longer than most girls they know ... and wear tight pants.
3. Safety is important, and when playing a sport that requires a strong sense of vision, allowing your hair to be long enough to get in your eyes does not make sense. Besides, I'm sure there is enough vision and neck restriction caused by the helmet alone.
4. I'm sure fewer little girls will come up to the players on the street and ask them if they can decorate their beautiful braids with beads.
5. Shorter hair would be less likely to get caught in your shoulder pads and would allow fans to actually read your name.
6. Imagine being tackled and ripped down to the ground by your hair. Enough said.
Playing in the NFL is a fulltime job for these men. I understand that they want to express themselves, but what does long hair really say about you?
And when these gentlemen start putting athletic tape in their hair, what are people supposed to say about that? Imagine showing up to work and seeing one of your male co-workers with dreadlocks and a roll of athletic tape holding his hair back.
First, I would ask him why he has his hair in a cast. Then, I would sit back and wonder how in the world that guy is making so much money because not even I can take him seriously.
The bottom line is that there are fashion trends in the world of athletics. While most of them are short lived, others stay around for far too long. In the case of a football player's hair, keeping it within a few inches outside of the helmet is fine.
I strongly believe shorter is better, that is as long as you are not referring to the NBA shorts from the 80s. In that case, I'm glad they put on a couple more inches.
If you think long hair is a great way for football players to express themselves, e-mail Crystal at crowns@wisc.edu.
