KC And His Sunshine (Phillies Mar 12,2010)

His name is Kieran Carobine. Welcome him to Philliesmania.com!

Hey the Phillies went out and got a stud so we had too also. True, I am a stud but unlike Ruben Amaro and our Fightin’s, we can afford 2 studs. That’s because we are about $140,000,000 under the Phillies budget!

Stay tuned and we will tell you a little about the man, the legend, and start posting his contributions. 

His first installment is titled:

“THE BEARD MADE ME DO IT”

Now before we get any further into this ‘I write something, and hopefully you read it’ relationship I feel obliged to tell you that baseball will be at the very core of most of my writings.  It may not be apparent at first but in time it will all become very clear to you.

So with that said, let’s talk facial hair.  Beards are awesome.  And I am not talking Johnny Depp Pirates of the Caribbean beard.  I am talking full on, gnarly Tom Hanks Castaway type beards.   Ok, maybe not that much but you get the picture.

I know what you are asking yourself.  Do I have a beard?  And yes I do.  It is a very nice beard too.  However, it is no relation to the beards of Jayson Werth, Johnny Damon circa 2004, Harry from the Hendersons, or Allen from the Hangover.  My beard is my very own.   But we are not here to talk about my beard.  Don’t laugh, that may come up.

I want to bring attention to Jayson Werth.  The 30-year-old right fielder for the Phightins showed up to Clearwater this past February with not only a chip on his shoulder, and with good reason; killer season, but also some excess facial hair.  At one point in the season last year, I thought Werth was a burn victim with the way his, excuse my French, D-Bag tag was crafted on his chin.  There were times in the season he seemed tight, and frigid.  He was ending swings on one knee and looked confused on breaking pitches.  Now I am not trying to take anything way from his career year.  He was amazing for the Phillies.  He just needed an edge.  And I think he has it.  Werth looks more limber, stronger, and more relaxed.  He also looks like he just got back from excursion in Alaska’s deep snowdrifts.

I don’t care.  The beard needs to stay.  This could be his strength.  Like Sampson and his hair, like Sloth and his Baby Ruth, hell like Pig Pen and that damn cloud of dust.  A gentlemen’s one-two punch to all the critics out there that say professional athletes need to look, well, ‘professional.’

The thing you have to understand here is there is really no scientific proof that a beard can improve performance.  But let us not forget certain people of history with amazing facial fuzz.  There was George Clooney in Perfect Storm, Jesus, Rick Ross, Charlie Daniels, and Allen from the Hangover.  I think you get the point.

Keep the beard.  If you do anything else, just keep the beard.  Well that and win another Championship.  Not too much to ask.

For more of KC’s Sunshine check out    http://kierancarobine.wordpress.com/

Side Note from Andy: In a related beard story……… I always found it interesting that the Texas Rock/Blues band ZZ Top, who are infamous for their beards have an odd irony in there history. Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill are notorious for their beards and the drummer almost never has a beard. Ironic and odd? Why? His name is Frank Beard!