The Browns were the first to cultivate mustaches as a large-group experiment earlier this season, but the Ravensshowed Sunday that the Fu Manchu is more powerful.
The Ravens are 2-0 since quarterback Joe Flacco unveiled his symbolist-poet 'stache in time for a Thanksgiving Day win over the 49ers.
Now Flacco's urging teammates to adopt the look long-term (much to the dismay of Baltimore-area loved ones).
"We're keeping it because I want everybody on the offense to catch on," Flacco told WNST-AM on Wednesday. "Me and (tight end) Dennis Pitta want some people to start wearing them just to be funny, just to have fun. I mean, it's getting late in the year and we wanted to have fun with something ... and break up the monotony a little bit. Last year, I grew a beard, and this year, I just decided to do this."
Flacco's beard was a minor failure, however, as the Ravens fell to the Steelers in the AFC Championship Game.
Ravens coach John Harbaugh is actively warning anyone who will listen against linking game success to a mustache made famous by a fictional evil scientist.
"I'm superstitious about not being superstitious," Harbaugh told The Baltimore Sun on Monday.
This isn't new to sports. Flacco -- like Joe Namath before him and so many others -- is just the latest pro athlete hoping to walk the mustache road to success. Let's see how this turns out.
