Is There Room in Football for Pink?

There ain’t no cryin’ in football. There ain’t no “tomorrow” in football. There ain’t no fear in football. But is there room for … pink? On the field, I mean.

Apparently wide receiver Robbie Parris of Notre Dame thinks so. There for the world to see, swinging above his sweat-stained #82, were pink hair extensions that paid tribute to a relative and a friend, both of whom suffered from breast cancer. October, as we all know, is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The television sportscasters paid particular attention to this during the Fighting Irish’s eighth consecutive loss to the University of Southern California.

I think it’s commendable of young Parris to do this. But it wasn’t well received in the football blogs. I usually google blogs after USC games and you should see some of the nasty homophobic comments that were posted on the websites.

Oh well, no matter. USC pulled out another great victory, despite some stupid penalties that gave the Irish a fighting chance to tie it up and force the game into overtime.

Pink or not, the only color that Charlie Weis and his players are seeing tonight is dark blue – as in their jerseys, and in their deep funk over losing a game they truly believed they could win.

I bet Regis Philbin, who was so convinced that this was his alma mater’s year to beat the Trojans, is crying in his Enfamil.

Fight on, USC!