March 31, 2012
By Matt Winkeljohn
Sting Daily
Here’s all the reason you need to attend Georgia Tech’s series finale today against Duke: you can get your head shaved for free.
Well, that’s a bald lie, or a lame April Fool’s Day joke.
The truth is there will be some buzzing after the Yellow Jackets play the Blue Devils.
Players will have their heads shaved, generally one victim for every $200 donated to the St. Baldrick’s Foundation for child cancer research. It’s a great cause, with a fantastic back story. Check out this ramblinwreck.com link to learn how some lads in Ireland turned a St. Patrick’s day celebration into a world-wide push to help.
Tech head coach Danny Hall, who has very little to offer by way of head hair, loves it.
“Number one, it’s for a great cause,” he said. “Whether it’s the St. Baldrick’s Foundation, or Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and the game we play at Turner Field against Georgia, or the Foundation for Mitochondrial Medicine . . . . the idea of helping out people who don’t have their health, or have cancer or have something they need help with . . . it all says something about our team.
“When you look at young men, a lot off times their hair is pretty important to them so the fact that they’re willing to get it buzzed says something. For me, it’s no big deal but I remember when I did have hair, I liked it.”
Sophomore infielder/pitcher Alex Cruz is going to get nearly scalped and like it.
“It’s kind of a big deal for us; we make a big thing out of it,” he said. “We have some teammates who have had siblings who have gone through stuff like cancer at a young age, and we think it’s a great, great foundation. We pitch in anything we can to help.
“My dad likes it. He was military . . . Air Force.”
There’s sure to be some hilarity. Cruz already has fairly short hair, but some of his teammates have a little more by way of locks. They can end up looking dramatically different.
“Last year . . . Connor Winn looked pretty hilarious. Kyle and Colby Wren were funny looking. Colby was in-describable. He looked extremely bald, and his head was extremely pale.”
Hall’s looking forward to the buzz.
“[Strength and conditioning coach] Steve Tamborra’s been known to cut hair,” the coach said. “They have a lot of fun seeing somebody else get their hair buzzed. It’s a light-hearted, high-spirited good day for us.”
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