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Gio Gonzalez's beard has an official sponsor
At a time in our existence where everything in sports has a sponsorship, from every segment and feature on game broadcasts, to every square inch available in every major sporting facility, to all of the major superstars themselves, this announcement by Wahl Home Products only makes sense.
On Tuesday, the company announced the results of its annual study of the most facial hair friendly cities in the United States. Topping the list this year is Washington D.C., and in conjunction with those findings they've also announced an official sponsorship of Washington Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez's beard.
Because honestly, why wouldn't they sponsor Gio Gonzalez beard or any other player's beard for that matter. We're only wondering what took them so long.
Here's more from the Wahl press release:
To honor this year’s top city, and one of its key contributors, Wahl is doing something that has never been done before—sponsoring an actual beard. For the next four months, the beard belonging to Washington starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez will be brought to you by Wahl. Gonzalez’s bodacious beard combined with his likable personality and wicked curveball made him the obvious choice for the first-ever sponsorship of this kind.
“On behalf of my beard, I accept this honor,” said Gonzalez with a smile. “When I first heard that Wahl wanted to sponsor my beard, I was like, ‘you want to do what?’ But, I have to say it’s exciting to be the owner of the very first beard to ever get sponsored. Facial hair just fits my personality. For me, it’s about confidence, comfort and above all, sexiness.”
According to the release, D.C. made a huge leap into the No. 1 spot. The company credits that to the Nationals roster, which is represented by numerous fantastic beards, including those belonging to Bryce Harper and Jayson Werth. They took the title away from Boston, which dropped all the way to 17th on the list.
The Red Sox were undoubtedly at the ground level of Boston's facial hair resurgence, but the acceptance of facial hair in Boston must be dropping with the same ferocity as the Red Sox in the standings.
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As for Gonzalez's sponsorship:
What exactly does it mean to sponsor someone’s beard? According to the terms of the deal, Gonzalez agrees to keep his beard well-groomed and conditioned and any reference to his beard—or its many accomplishments—must be preceded with “sponsored, or brought to you, by Wahl.”
“When you’re in the business of celebrating great facial hair like we are, it helps to have a compass,” said Steven Yde, vice president of consumer marketing for Wahl, the Official Sponsor of Facial Hair. “Identifying the top facial hair friendly city helps us to find and sponsor anti-clean-shaven ambassadors like Gio.”
Of course, when you think Nationals and beards Jayson Werth's is often the first that comes to mind. Rightfully so, too, and Gonzalez made sure to acknowledge as much.
“[He] was obviously our pioneer,” Gonzalez said. “He’s had his beard for a long time and he’s the one that represented us and showed us the way.”
Werth was a trendsetter, but as they often say about trendsetters, he was too far ahead of his time to get a proper acknowledgment. It's Gio's time now.
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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Townie813
