Network executive gets hairy about NHL playoff beards

There is no official daily award given out to the most ridiculous idea in sports, but if there was it's a safe bet that an NBC executive's concern about NHL facial hair would get a trophy.

Lest you think this is merely some sort of bizarre setup for an equally bizarre story, it is not. This is a real thing that has happened, and it illustrates just how much power television (and the almighty dollar) wields, or at least believes it can wield.

The Chicago Tribune interviewed NBC Sports Chairman Mark Lazarus about the growth of hockey, something about which he is pleased. But the growth of playoff beards? That he could do without.

"The players won't like this, but I wish they all would stop growing beards in the postseason," Lazarus said. "Let's get their faces out there. Let's talk about how young and attractive they are."

That's kind of an odd thing to say, but as an opinion alone it's fine — maybe even something with which a decent number of fans would agree. Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane usually looks like a fresh-faced young man. Right now, he looks like a werewolf. I get it.

With Lazarus, however, it's not just an opinion. It's a lobbying effort. The Chicago Tribune reported that he has "conveyed his shave requests to NHL officials; the NHL Players Association; and even players in individual discussions."

His theory is that fans have a hard time recognizing the sport's best players when they grow beards, which hurts efforts to market the NHL because this is the time of year when hockey is in the spotlight.

They don't want to listen to him because it's a tradition that started 35 years ago with the 1980 Islanders, according to USA Today. Playoff beards are silly fun — the kind of thing a team can rally around when camaraderie is needed most — and they've even spread to other sports. The 2013 Red Sox grew them for pretty much the whole season and won the World Series.

They also don't want to listen to Lazarus because even though NBC is paying $200 million a year for NHL rights under its current contract, it still takes quite a bit of audacity to make such a suggestion.

So much of professional sports have become made-for-TV theater that perhaps Lazarus feels empowered to ask for such a thing. But if sports are going to retain even a hint of innocence, we can't have networks telling grown men to shave.