Live, Love, Fear the Beard!

Ah, Brian Wilson. You and your silly, contrived, fake dyed black beard have not only inspired thousands (millions?) to grow out their beards, wear stick-on beards, make T-shirts, and create a facebook page for Brian Wilson's Beard, it's inspired me to dedicate a blog post to it. Woopty-doo you may say. But that's what we all said about you when you told us in your captivating "Life of Brian Wilson" YouTube shorts that you were starving because room service was unavailable! So here's to you, my bearded neighbor!

That beard has really started a movement here in SF, and amongst Giants fans around the country. You know, a one-on-one interview with Brian would be clutch right now, because i have some questions about this beard: who started it, Brian or Romo?

Romo's is obviously a lot more natural. And he was rocking that weird King Tut chin hair long before Brian did anything with his face...

Regardless, why did Brian do it? He told Jay Leno that they were all growing out their beards until they lost (which they never did, obviously). But why did he feel the need to dye it black? Was it really to be intimidating? I mean, I thought he looked pretty silly when I was walking down Fillmore with him the other day. (I should've taken that opportunity for my 1-0n-1 interview!) But if I saw this:

I'd be scared! And seriously, as a batter, 9th inning, no one on base, etc etc, this guy throwing 95+ mph fastballs at you would probably shake you up a little.

Anyway, this whole discussion has made me think of appearances and what they mean in society. Yes, i know wearing wife beaters, boxers, and trucker hats in high school probably made people perceive me as a slob (my mom did, anyway). But we also know that you can't judge a book by its cover. Brian Wilson's actually a total goofball (check out the above-mentioned "Life of Brian Wilson" YouTube videos). But appearances do provoke opinions when you don't know anything about that person otherwise. So what about Brian's big, dark, wooly beard? Fine! i'll just come out and say it. He wanted to look how people envision terrorists: thick beards, mysterious, and intimidating.

Now everyone (at least in SF/California) knows that terrorists don't always have beards, and beards don't always make someone a terrorist. Look at Fadi, for example. Sweet innocent Palestinian boy, afraid he might get stopped at the airport.

But thanks to Brian, Romo, etc, now everyone and their mother has a big thick beard, so no one can really be racially profiled! So I say kudos to you, Giants and Giants fans, for revamping the stereotypes and reminding us that you can't assume anything based on appearance!