Mr. Movember

As most of you already know, I'm currently sporting an absolutely-awful-looking moustache in support of Movember, a month-long crusade to raise money and awareness for men's health (prostate cancer in particular) by growing a funky 'stache.  From the Movember website:

Movember challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st clean-shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month.  The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men. 

Before I head to the Shark Tank tonight to see the Islanders visit the San Jose Sharks, I wanted to praise the NHL for taking the lead in promoting Movember in the world of professional sports.  Movember has reported that over 150 NHL players across 14 teams are growing 'staches to raise money for the cause, lead by Anaheim Ducks enforcer and Princeton alum George Parros.  Since the month started, I've wondered why more athletes aren't participating in Movember and using their status to do some good.

Anaheim's George Parros is leading the NHL's support of Movember.

Normally, I'm not one to argue that athletes "owe it to their fans" to do good for society; at the end of the day, sports is a business and the employees (the athletes) have no more responsibility to donate time or money to charitable causes that you or I do.  But Movember is simultanously so easy and so amusing that I would have thought tons of athletes would be doing it.  Why isn't a fun-loving guy like Dwight Howard comically stroking his handlebar moustache after one of his monster blocked shots?  Couldn't LeBron James, a guy who was beloved last year for acting like a kid and having fun on the court, gain some good PR and show the world that he's the "same ole' LeBron" by growing a fu-man-chu for charity?  Could Eli Manning be the creepiest looking guy ever if he grew a hilarious pencil-thin 'stache?  These questions need to be addressed.

In the meantime, kudos to NHL players for not taking themselves too seriously and doing something good for their fellow man in the process.  While I can't force Superman, LeBron or Eli to grow a 'stache, I can and will keep mine growing strong (at least until Thanksgiving break).  If you'd like to donate to my Movember campaign, please feel free to do so here.  Thanks in advance for your support, and Happy Movember.