Got their mo-jo rising
We remember sports stars whose furry lips added to their appeal
WITH Movember in full swing, now seems like the perfect time to look back on some of the best moustaches – both past and present – in the world of sport. A quick look at the list suggests that moustaches have sadly gone the way of the moa in recent years with most athletes preferring the sleek look straight out of a Gillette commercial. Sir Richard Hadlee Call us biased but Sir Richard’s fantastic cookie duster had the perfect amount of curve on it. Sort of like Chopper Reid’s but classier. Merv Hughes It’s hard to go past moody former Australian quick Merv Hughes and his trademark handlebar. Hulk Hogan Sticking with handlebars and is there a more recognisable mo than Hulk Hogan’s blond beast? Eric Murray His decision to step into the ring against another beast, Manu Vatuvei, is ridiculously foolish. But Olympic rower Eric Murray deserves points for rocking his moustache all year round. Mark Spitz He was the greatest Olympic swimmer in history before Michael Phelps ruined his party. Thankfully, though, he’s still the gold standard when it comes to facial hair. Lanny McDonald No, we hadn’t heard of him either but a quick glance porves he’s worthy of our Mo Hall of Fame. McDonald played over 1100 games in the National Hockey League and, by the look of it, never once trimmed his facial hair. Mike ‘‘Fluff’’ Cowan The former caddy of Tiger Woods, Mike ‘‘Fluff’’ Cowan has the best walrus moustache in sports. Seriously, who can top this monster? Grant Batty When you talk about greatest All Blacks hairy lips, there’s a momentous amount of choice. Keith Murdoch’s Mexican bandit and Bernie Fraser’s hairy monster come close but for us Grant Batty’s handle-bars win the day. Arsenal footballer Andrey Arshavin (my, what a great name that is!) has been outed as a serious tightwad by employees at the McDonald’s in Hampstead. According to a report in The Sun, the Russian star, who signed with the Gunners in 2009 from Zenit St Petersburg for about $30 million, is regularly seen with his wife and kids at the McDonald’s store.
While that’s a little bizarre given he could command a seat at any restaurant in London, what’s worse is he often uses meal deal vouchers to ensure he gets a discount.
‘‘None of us can believe it when we see Andrey in here with his family,’’ a McDonald’s staffer said. ‘‘He’s a regular, so collects the £1.99 meal deal vouchers to cut down on the total when they’re in..’’ As if it wasn’t bad enough that Arsenal defender Andre Santos bizarrely hit Manchester United recruit and former Gunner Robin van Persie up for his shirt at halftime during a recent clash at Old Trafford.
Now, as Arsenal fans continue to express their disgust at his actions, Santos’ wife has taken to Twitter to defend him, further embarrassing the Brazilian.
Suelem Leal dos Santos, the defender’s wife, blamed the incident on a cultural misunderstanding.
‘‘The English should better understand the Brazilian culture before judging someone,’’ she tweeted. ‘‘No one stops being friends just for changing company.’’
Apparently, swapping shirts is ‘‘normal in Brazil’’. Maybe so, but we aren’t sure if that’s the case as early as halftime, especially when the shirt belongs to a former club hero who is now detested by fans. It’s Hispanic Heritage Weekend in the States and to celebrate, the American Hockey League’s Rockford IceHogs wore these jerseys yesterday. In case you were wondering what’s going on, the team’s logo, Hammy Hog, is pictured wearing a sombrero and rocking a dirty Sanchez style moustache. He looks, to be fair, more like a bad Halloween costume and the decision to mark Hispanic Heritage Weekend by reinforcing an archaic stereotype is a dubious one. Not to worry, though, the good people at the IceHogs organisation also decided to give out maracas to the first 2500 fans in the rink. Sticking with racist overtones in America, here’s another slip of the tongue, this time by Fox NFL analyst and former player Terry Bradshaw. During a recent match, he suggested Miami Dolphins star Reggie Bush looked like he was ‘‘chasing a bucket of chicken’’ as he sprinted down the field for a touchdown.
Apparently, though, as Bradshaw later explained, his comment was not racially motivated but was actually an in-joke about his co-host Jimmy Johnson’s love of all things poultry.
If that’s not another Tui billboard, we don’t know what is. Football supporters of German side Schalke will be pleased to know that from next month they will have the option of being buried in the club’s official graveyard.
Apparently following in the footsteps of Argentine club Boca Juniors and German side Hamburg, Schalke officials decided the time was right to expand the club’s revenue streams into the death business.
The Schalke Fan Field overlooks the club’s stadium and includes full-sized goals and benches and is decked out in flowers in the club’s blue and white colours.
Rolf Rojek, vice-chairman of the club’s fan club, has already booked his plot.
‘‘My life is Schalke and at some point I will lay on the fan field, with my friends having a view of the stadium forever. What more could
you want?’’ What more indeed. Straight from our ‘‘ Only in America’’ files this week comes the story of Nathan Burris, a 49-year-old accused of murdering his exgirlfriend and her male partner with a shotgun.
While being cross-examined during his murder trial, Burris got so frustrated that proceedings were taking so long that he, according to reports, ‘‘snapped his fingers as he asked a jury to find him guilty quickly so he could be back in jail in time for Monday Night Football. ‘‘I did it, so what?’’ Burris told the court. ‘‘No remorse, no regrets, no mercy. . . . You want me to draw it out in crayon?’’ Premier League club Everton are not only out-stripping their rivals on the field, they’re also doing it off it.
Several footballers in the team have stripped off for charity calendar ‘12 Shades of Blue’.
The players are baring their chests in order to raise cash for official charity ‘Everton in the Com-