Beards are as much a part of Portland's fabric as bicycles, delicious beer and Blazermania. They are the physical manifestation of the lack-of-vanity pragmatism (Bayless, get rid of your Louis Vuitton...) that unites this town and its people.

It is such a confident statement of manly simplicity that each and every Blazer player and staff should adopt for this upcoming playoff push.  I see rumblings of this new facial movement on the cheeks of the typically clean Roy & Blake, but beards simply need to become part of the uniform...perhaps they need to have a joint meeting with the Winterhawks to understand the value of the beard.

With the youngest and least experienced playing rotation in the NBA,  the patchy scraggle of well, probably most of the team - e.g. Roy, Rudy, Blake, Sergio, Shavlik, Bayless, Aldridge, Batum...even Pryzbilla - would surely unify the squad & IMO, serve as the mental edge for the Blazer's talent to not stunt in the face of playoff pressure against the older, craftier teams that are going to muscle the Blazers.

And most important of all, Oden will be mauling the key as unkempt giant when his massive beard returns. Oden rediscovering the ferocity of wild humanism - yes, please.

Here's to "Blazer Bearding '09" and the untangible edge that they'll realize in becoming the NBA's beardiest team from the USA's beardiest city.