Le Basketbawl

For whatever reason, NBA basketball players have made this year, the year of the beard! We’ve all heard about the many beard growing competitions around the league such as Drew Gooden vs. DeShawn Stevenson and Baron Davis vs. the World. As far as I know, none of these fools has taken the hacksaw to their’s and the bets are still on. Rumor has it that Stevenson and Gooden are allowed to edge their’s to keep it looking nice for the ladies. (Pfft)

With so many beards on the mind, we thought you might enjoy some beard history since we found a ton of beard-minded blogs out there just by searching Google for “NBA beards.” You whacky NBA bloggers, I love you.

• Goathair over at The Blowtorch ran his “NBA All-Beard Team” back in October that is a must see. And Goathair, didn’t you join in on the Boom Dizzle beard-a-thon? Oh yes, yes you did! Here.

• Here is the Mav’s Full Court Press reporting their beard opinions. A little Gasol anyone?

• Some Darius Miles beard love? I live in Portland and forgot he was still alive! And since we’ve mentioned him…seen his ridiculous whip yet? Now we know why he couldn’t hack it in the NBA.

• Baron Davis getting ranked against some beard greats. I think it’s pretty tough to beat Ilgauskas and that “thing.”

• Sports Illustrated put together its list of facial hair.

• And please check out the official Fear The Beard blog.

• Wow, even hockey showing love to LeBron and the NBA beard!

• Yao back in 2004 betting on his beard? Was this the beginning? And who said Yao-zer was a softie?

• Beards.org has been growing better beards since 1996! Good for them. Oh wow, check out the beard style guide in case you are thinking of joining a competition!

• “Your window to the world of bearded babies.“ -no comment

What does Wikipedia think about beards?

• Beard: A beard is the hair that grows on a human’s chin, cheeks, neck, and the area above the upper lip (the opposite is a clean-shaven face). Typically, only post-pubescent men are able to grow beards.

I think Gasol would find the next one interesting…

• Beard (female companion): In gay slang, a beard is a companion of the opposite sex used to hide a homosexual’s sexuality by appearing in public as if the two were a heterosexual couple.

And here is your NBA beard race from within the last few days:

3. Baron Davis

2. DeShawn Stevenson

1. Drew Gooden

Gooden is absolutely dominating this contest! His beard is so great it actually looks a little fake doesn’t it? Spray on? Avoid the white tee Mr. Gooden?

And lastly, there is one beard we have not checked on…your welcome.