Pearson keeps hair to the end
Emmett Pearson never got the shave he wanted.
In January 1975, after the Vikings lost to the Steelers in the Super Bowl, Pearson made a promise. He wouldn’t shave his beard until the Vikings won a Super Bowl. He kept that promise, too.
Most likely, Pearson never figured he’d live another 38 years without shaving and die with his beard intact.
“I made a vow, and I’m going to stick with it,” Pearson said in an interview with the Rochester Post-Bulletin in January 2010, the day after the Vikings fell one game short of getting to the Super Bowl. “But I think my wife would just as soon I give it up.”
Daughter Amy Pearson tried to get her father to shave his beard for her wedding 18 years ago, but “he said no. That’s the kind of man he was. He had an unwavering conviction toward the Vikings.”
Pearson was 31 years old for the Vikings’ first season in 1961, and lived until he was 83.
During the Vikings’ powerhouse 1998 season, shaving cream and razors routinely arrived in his mailbox. But his Amish-like facial hair - sans mustache - survived when his beloved team lost out to Atlanta for a Super Bowl berth.
Pearson is survived by his wife of 56 years, Rosann, and their five children, three of whom never saw their father clean-shaven.
The Rev. Kristi Mitchell, who officiated his funeral on Friday, said Pearson’s postmortem fashion included a Vikings cap and sweatshirt.
Also, “he was very adamant that the beard not be shaved off” for his funeral, she added. “We ended the service by singing the Vikings fight song.”
Very superstitious
St. Louis Cardinals fan Susie Pundmann made a connection about her “gift” back in the 2009 playoffs. If she turns the bath water on during a playoff game when a team is behind - and stays in the bath for the rest of the game - the losing team rallies for a win.
Recently she was forced to spend 3 1/2 hours in the bathtub out of devotion to her team.
“It’s kinda awkward,”Pundmann said. “Some folks just have to wear certain clothes.
Mine’s a little more personal.”
While some fans keep a shrine, wear a lucky shirt, don a favorite cap or save rally towels from years past, Pundmann has taken her fervor to another level.
“I don’t get involved when we’re ahead,” she clarified. “But when I come in for a save, I’m batting .800.”The sting
Cory Vaughn, a Mets minor leaguer currently playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League, is recovering after being bit on the leg by a scorpion.
Wrote Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com: “Good thing the kid doesn’t play for a team affiliated with the Detroit Tigers.”Oh, the pain
Brad Dickson of the Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, on Advil being named the official pain reliever of the NHL: “This is the second-most lucrative endorsement deal, next to being the official bail bondsman of the NFL.”Quote of the day
“Nobody said this was going to be an overnight turnaround just because a new staff walked in the door.” Arkansas defensive coordinator Chris Ash on turning the Razorbacks around
Sports, Pages 23 on 10/27/2013