Step aside, March Madness.
See you later, NFL.
NBA, just keep happening.
It’s time for the best event and some of the best traditions in sports.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs begin tonight in five cities across North America, and three more on Thursday.
Those fans will be treated to fast, physical and determined hockey for the best trophy in sports: Lord Stanley’s Cup.
The players that play for the Cup are already a little rough and grizzly from the rigors of a long season. The playoffs bring out that and more in the long-standing tradition of the playoff beard.
Players, and some fans included, will not shave their beard until they have been eliminated or captured the Cup.
As each team is eliminated and closing in on a clean shave, the teams meet at center ice in the best true showing of sportsmanship on a professional level with the post-series handshake. Players that have clobbered and hated each other for the entirety of a series put their actions in the past and congratulate each other on their season.
As the grit piles up, the beards grow thick, and the successive wear of each series grows. At the end one team can eventually hoist the Cup over their head, skate it around the rink, take one big swig of their selected beverage, and eventually earn one full day of celebration with Lord Stanley.
Reach Zach at zcavanag@asu.edu
