Two men (obviously gay) write to the Globe (emphasis added):

Perusing the May 25 special supplement on the Stanley Cup playoffs, we counted 14 beards (including some suspicious fuzz) on Calgary team members. Can someone explain this trend?

Yeah, you ignorant ponces. Of the myriad suspicions that rule hockey players’ lives is the edict never to shave during playoffs. Even the only black captain in the NHL isn’t shaving. I could go dig out my clipping file if it were remotely worth the trouble.

But you love them bruisers, don’t you? At least be upfront about it.

We live in a decade whose sole contribution to male fashion has been the determination to rid men of their second-most-visible difference from women. Chest waxing, body-shaving, laser depilation are the metrosexual norm. You see muscle boys on the street with legs as smooth as a lingerie model’s. Beards, when worn, are clipped back as ruthlessly as a suburban lawn.

Then along come the Flames, with their gloriously unkempt, Yukon-trapper sproutings. It’s bold, it’s butch and it’s very Canadian.

Go[,] Flames!

Yeah, darlings. Go.