No-Shave November-A Great Excuse Being Lazy While Look Great

October 31^st, a date many of us consider to be Halloween, where dressing up, knocking on stranger's doors to tell them jokes and eating tons of chocolate is perfectly acceptable. But, for many men this date resembles a time more important than carving pumpkins; it marks the eve of No-Shave November.

This underground tradition goes back long before the caveman era, back when Jesus made wearing a beard not only appropriate, but stylish.  Facial hair marked the sign of a manly man.  A man, that wrestled wolves with his bare hands, fought of bears for fish in the streams and carried a pocket knife in his pocket at all times for no apparent reason.  Yes, a beard tells the world; “No longer do I have peach fuzz, this is real man hair. Hear me roar!”

As a child, that first patch of fuzz that started showing on your upper lip was exciting.  Receiving a free razor and shaving cream in the mail from Gillette was another epic point in our lives, eager to start shaving like a man.  Some of us couldn't wait to start growing the beard, in which case I’ll never forget my Grandpa Mallette giving me the manly advice of, “Why don’t you put some cream on there and like the cat lick that peach fuzz off.” That saying stuck with me.  No longer would peach fuzz be accepted for a man’s beard.

Now, as my first full year is wrapping up in the “real-world” and I am now a professional, I find myself pondering the question “Can I grow a man’s beard?”

What better time to start as No-Shave November draws near? Though this concept may seem selfish to many (i.e. our lady-friends), I believe I have found a way to give back as we grow.  I think it would be a great idea to make this into a charity for a men’s shelter.  I think if men want to grow a beard it could be for a great cause!  Of course, you can grow a beard for No-Shave November for free, but wouldn't it be for a better cause to give back? I will start this charity in the future, as this year the idea came to me too late in the month to get organized. But I do encourage men to rise this month, set the razors and shaving cream down and let the manliness shine through your face!  

Cardinals Represent What Baseball is About

The defending World Series Champions, the St. Louis Cardinals dropped the "best player in baseball," had a legendary coach retire and still managed to play themselves into Game 6 of the NLCS tonight.  Must we forget what happened last year with the Cardinals in this game?

I think it's obvious to say that St. Louis is the best baseball town in America.  I may have a biased opinion here, but let's look at some facts:

New York believes they have the best team; the Yankees.  Well, how fun was it to watch a bunch of overpaid, pre-Madonna crybabies wiff at every pitch in this playoffs? With respect to Derek Jeter, the whole excuse of "the New York media is just so hard" is really wearing itself out. Turn on ESPN and they are talking about Alex Rodriguez giving his phone number to a girl.  Is that really newsworthy? That's the first story ESPN will talk about when there's an amazing series going on in the NLCS.  Meanwhile, the "die-hard" Yankee fans are booing their own team.  Yeah, that's about as classy as the Atlanta Braves throwing bottles during a game because of a call. The Yankees lost that series after Game 1 of ALCS.  Wanna know how I knew? Look at their body language, heads down, no smiles, no confidence.  America then had to watch painfully as the Tigers basically waltzed through the next three games.

The Boston Red Sox had something special.  Until they starting drinking in the cluhouse, throwing their Manager under the bus, and losing games.  Here's a tip, take note of what's going on with the Yanks and do the complete opposite!

It's been great watching the L.A. Angels collapse.  Everyone had them easily winning the World Series this year.  Just goes to show you can't buy your way to a ring.  Call me bitter, but I hope Pujols has a nice view for these playoffs.

Have we learned never to count the Cardinals down and out?  Two outs, bottom of the 9th against the Nationals and everyone knew the game was over, expect Cardinals nation.  They have the talent, not one superstar in the line-up, but nine.  The pitchers are unreal, the bullpen is young, but they throw like they have nothing to lose and they throw hard.  Look in that clubhouse and you'd see a Little League team, full of best friends making up funny and elaborate handshakes.  The Skipper, an ex-Cardinal catcher, leading these players deep into the post season in his first coaching job ever, as if he was LaRussa himself.  These guys are having a blast playing baseball! YouTube Adam Wainwright clips and tell me he's not enjoying it, follow the bros on Twitter as they tweet about "#highsocksSundays", wear ridiculous Tuxedos on a road trip, and enjoy the game the way it should be loved. I'm a loyal Cardinals fan, and I think it's safe to say St. Louis is the best baseball town in America. Go Cards!!