If you've watched an NFL game in the month of October, then you might've wondered
if the league has Pepto Bismol as one its sponsor. There is hot pink everywhere. Sweatbands,
mouthpieces, sleeves, cleats, shoelaces, hats, and chinstraps all seemed to have been dipped
in the fluid that coats, soothes, and relieves.
In support of breast cancer awareness, the NFL, which protects its dress code the way
Michael Jackson once guarded his privacy, let the players get all pretty in pink, if they
chose to. Many of them have and some have gone beyond the field to support the cause.
I saw a player on the Denver Broncos (It wasn't Peyton Manning) arriving to a Sunday
Night game against San Diego in an ALL pink suit. NFL Network analyst Warren Sapp wore
bright pink shoes on the set. (I'm sure Sapp, who recently filed for bankruptcy, autographed
the shoes and sold them on eBay to help pay off creditors.) Washington Redskins QB Robert
Griffin III wears a sleeve opposite his golden arm that is hot pink which even Felix Baumgartner
must have noticed it before jump out of his capsule from 23 miles above the earth.
I often think if players got the green light to wear pink for the entire year, they most
certainly would. Oh, most of them wouldn't be caught dead wearing a pink suit out in
public if they didn't have the shield of breast cancer awareness protecting them from taunts
and ridicule, but since the NFL says it's OK, then it must be OK to really express yourself.
But I sometimes wonder if the players splash pink all over themselves just to gain attention
and a thousand more Twitter followers, or are they doing it to really help the cause. Do
they want to be noticed for the color they wear or the cause they are supporting?
The NFL gets major points for making people aware the cause, but I'm just not sure how
much theyare really donating to it. According to the Business Insider, only 5% of the sales
from the NFL Shop on-line, are being donated to the American Cancer Society. The Business Insider states that, "If the pink products have a typical 100% mark-up at retail, that means
the NFL is keeping 90% of the profit from the sale of Breast Cancer Awareness gear."That
means, the NFL is getting fatter off all the sales of the pink gear that the NFL has allowed
the players to wear this month. Hmmmm. Interesting. Seems to me the NFL should be
donating a lot more of the proceeds to cancer research. Perhaps, they're going to put all
that cash in reserve so they can pay the referees the next time their contracts come up.
I applaud the NFL for supporting the cause by allowing the players to wear pink and I
think it's great the players are bold enough to be seen wearing the color. I'm just not sure
both are doing enough themselves to being making a difference for breast cancer research and recovery. Sure, they are helping make people more aware of breast cancer, but are they
really helping in the fight against it? I'm not so sure. And once the calendar rolls over to
November and the pink fades away, what will they do to help out in the fight against breast
cancer?
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