Troy Polamalu may be forced to get his groove back***

When you think of Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu, what is his identifiable trait? His intelligence? His speed? His tackling? Well, while all of those are great, Polamalu’s most identifiable trait are his “Samson-esque” locks of hair. If the Chiefs have their way? we might not be seeing that anytime soon. Adam Schefter from NFL network reports,

…the NFL’s competition committee is considering a rule that would ban players from having their hair cover or obscure the names on the back of player’s jersey.

The Kansas City Chiefs proposed the rule that is expected to be debated, and voted on, at the league’s annual meeting later this month in Palm Beach, Fla.

The Chiefs view longer hair as a uniform violation. But others could interpret it as a safety violation. When Kansas City played Pittsburgh in October 2006, Chiefs running back Larry Johnson pulled down Polamalu from behind grabbing a hold of his hair.

Obviously, if this rule is passed, Polamalu and many others will be making some major changes to their appearance. (This would normally be the part of the post where I would link to the NFL collective bargaining agreements provisions on Uniforms. But, since somebody got their new website, they decided it would be a good idea to take the heading sections off of each article of the CBA.) The NFL has a bunch of “knit-picky” rules regarding socks and shoes and everything else, so if they pass this, it wouldn’t be that big of a surprise. On the other hand, I think this would be the first rule, or at least one of the first, that actually deals with a player’s physical appearance. There is a big difference between regulating someone’s sock length (part of their uniform) and their hair length (part of their physical body). And the question that begs to be asked…”If the NFL has let this long hair issue go on for this long, why did the Chiefs feel so compelled to bring it up now?” Maybe they’re just so concerned about the pristine nature of the NFL that they couldn’t bear any rules violations, or maybe they want Larry Johnson to learn better tackling techniques. Who knows. The only thing I do know is that if the rule passes, NFL fans will have a very easy time reading the back of his jersey.

***The title reference is to the movie “How Stella Got Her Groove Back”. In the movie, she’s in her 40′s, and she decides to cut her hair and go to the islands, where she eventually falls in love with a much younger man, etc. etc. I just saved you the time of ever having to watch it. You will thank me later.

NFL.com: A Hairy Issue