The Power of the Rays ‘Hawk Compels You

The Rays clubhouse is so hip right now. First, they all started wearing Ed Hardy shirts as a sign of their metrosexuality solidarity, but the power of overpriced, skull and crossbones-inspired designer tees amazingly wore off -- on Monday, they lost 13-5 to the Sox, virtually giving up an AL East lead they’d held for two months. After the game, they came up with a new, fail proof way to win ballgames: See the team stylist and get some Mohawks. And if the players are doin’ it, dammit, manager Joe Maddon’s getting all Anarchy in the UK with it, too:↵↵⇥Maddon, ever the team chemistry flag bearer, figured, what the heck? “I just wanted to get on board with the rest of the team. I needed a cut, and actually I think it looks pretty good,” he said before Tuesday’s game. “I did the perm in ‘76 and I did the color in 2002, so I thought this would be the year of the ‘hawk.”↵⇥↵⇥A quick look around the Rays’ locker room showed at least [Jason] Bartlett, B.J. Upton, Evan Longoria and Fernando Perez matching their skipper’s haircut. “Wilbur, our stylist, was here last night and said he wasn’t going to be here today, so I just jumped on the chair last night about 11 o’clock,” Maddon said. “I said, ‘Go ‘hawk. Just do it like you’ve done to everybody else.’ If I put all the appropriate juices on it, you get the total effect.”↵⇥

↵↵Well, big thanks to Wilbur the Stylist for hooking up the ‘hawks because the Rays won with a ninth inning single last night to regain a one-game lead over Boston. ↵↵Oh, what does Maddon’s dome look like, you ask? Well AP, Getty, St. Pete Times, MLB, various Rays blogs … no one had an actually photo of the Maddon Mohawk. Luckily, we got our hands on one, as seen above. Pretty impressive, I must say, and if he tires of it, it would make for a great circa ’76 perm.↵

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