ARLINGTON, Texas — “Fear the beard” was a rallying cry during the World Series for the San Francisco Giants, whose closer Brian Wilson was sporting such a prolific thatch from his cheeks and chin it had the look of a Halloween costume.
A different beard is now a rallying cry for the Steelers as they prepare for Super Bowl XLV Sunday against the Packers at Cowboys Stadium.
Steelers defensive end Brett Keisel’s unruly beard, which he has been growing without any trimming for about seven months, has its own Facebook and Twitter pages. Naturally, it was a major topic of conversation at yesterday’s ever-popular Super Bowl “media day” at Cowboys Stadium.
“The beard is special,” Ben Roethlisberger said. “The beard has its own Twitter page. It’s got a Myspace page. It’s got a Facebook page. It’s got its own T-shirt. I mean, it’s its own entity. He hides everything in there. We go hunting and he hides his decoys in there.”
Looking to follow in the footsteps of teammate Troy Polamalu, whose mane of hair has gotten him into shampoo commercials, Keisel is seeking some endorsement coin for his beard.
“I’m trying to get Suave or someone to step up to the plate and make a beard shampoo and conditioner,” he said. “I think there’s plenty of people in the country that don’t take care of their facial hair.”
Keisel, who said he doesn’t remember what his face looks like, said, “I know I was handsome, but I don’t really remember what it was like.”
Keisel said he got the idea to grow it out from watching the Pittsburgh Penguins players grow their playoff beards.
“We got a great hockey team and they grow their playoff beards out and I saw those guys looking burly and thought, ‘You know what? After minicamp in June I’ve got seven months until the Super Bowl and we’re trying to win our seventh Super Bowl. So I’ll see if I can let this thing grow for seven months.’ And this is the result.
“The beard is why we’re here,” he said. “It’s unleashed the Super Bowl powers on our whole team and hopefully can win us one more game. Hopefully we’ll win and I can go home and pull the Lombardi trophy out of the beard for all the fans to see and then I think I’ll whack it off or my wife may leave me.
“She gave me a razor for Christmas, but it’s still in the package. I’ll have to break it out eventually.”
