Everyone's Blog Posts - Mohawks Rock2024-03-29T00:55:33Zhttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profiles/blog/feed?xn_auth=noNo timetag:www.mohawksrock.com,2022-04-07:1501994:BlogPost:9660002022-04-07T17:41:58.000ZRon Graywolf Levinehttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/RonGraywolfLevine
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10277130490?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10277130490?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center" width="582" height="582"/></a></p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10277130490?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10277130490?profile=RESIZE_710x" class="align-center" width="582" height="582"/></a></p>THE FUN OF INITIATION HAIRCUTS -- PART 3 -- "CROSSING THE EQUATOR"tag:www.mohawksrock.com,2018-02-26:1501994:BlogPost:8414062018-02-26T09:00:00.000ZScalped 442https://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/Californian442
<blockquote><p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>"THE FUN OF INITIATION HAIRCUTS -- PART 3 -- "CROSSING THE EQUATOR"</strong></span></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510652?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510652?profile=original" width="222"></img></a></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>THE LEGENDARY "SHELLBACK" MOHAWK.</strong></span></p>
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<p><strong>FEW PEOPLE REALIZE THAT THE MODERN-DAY MOHAWK WAS…</strong></p>
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<blockquote><p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>"THE FUN OF INITIATION HAIRCUTS -- PART 3 -- "CROSSING THE EQUATOR"</strong></span></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510652?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510652?profile=original" width="222" class="align-left"/></a></strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>THE LEGENDARY "SHELLBACK" MOHAWK.</strong></span></p>
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<p><strong>FEW PEOPLE REALIZE THAT THE MODERN-DAY MOHAWK WAS <span style="text-decoration: underline;">PARTLY</span> BORN IN THE SUPER-TOUGH "CROSSING THE LINE" SHIPBOARD INITIATIONS OF AMERICAN SAILORS AND MARINES CROSSING THE EQUATOR EN ROUTE TO SOUTH PACIFIC BATTLES IN WORLD WAR TWO -- AND ALSO ON THE HEADS OF TOUGH AMERICAN PARATROOPERS PARACHUTING BEHIND NAZI LINES. </strong></p>
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<p><strong>SO IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL THE STORY OF THE MOHAWK'S EVOLUTION WITHOUT REVISITING THOSE TOUGH SHIPBOARD INITIATIONS . . . WHERE FORCED MOHAWKS WERE ADMINISTERED BY THE THOUSANDS. </strong></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>(IF YOU MISSED PARTS ONE AND TWO OF "THE FUN OF INITIATION</em></span> <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">HAIRCUTS"</span> <strong>. . . <a href="http://www.mohawksrock.com/profiles/blogs/the-great-fun-of-initiation-haircuts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE</a>.)</strong></em></p>
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<p><strong>DURING & IMMEDIATELY AFTER WORLD WAR TWO, MORE MOHAWKS & REVERSE MOHAWKS WERE INFLICTED DURING "CROSSING THE EQUATOR" INITIATIONS THAN ANYWHERE ELSE IN THE WORLD. NEWSPAPER AND NEWSREEL PHOTOS OF THOSE INITIATION RITUALS PLAYED A HUGE ROLE IN POPULARIZING THAT SHOCKING HAIRCUT. </strong></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510991?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="210" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510991?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="210" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p><em>News photographs in and around World War Two often showed young sailors and Marines restrained in Medieval wooden stocks for their initiation haircuts..</em></p>
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<p><em>An article in Naval History Magazine says that in 1936 alone (five years before the war began) close to <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>30,000 U.S. sailors got initiated</strong></span> when the admiral deliberately detoured the entire fleet across the equator -- just so all his 30,000 sailors could have the fun of getting initiated. (It's safe to say that most of those 30,000 sailors and Marines ended up with shocking initiation haircuts.) And the war hadn't even begun yet, so the Navy was still rather tiny.</em></p>
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<p><em>Virtually <span style="text-decoration: underline;">every</span> sailor and Marine who fought in the South Pacific during World War Two had to cross the equator to get there. And most of them got initiation haircuts. The following Marine's account of crossing the equator in April 1944 aboard the troop ship USS Mormachawk provides evidence that Mohawks were often the most popular initiation haircut<strong>:</strong> </em></p>
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<p><em>"Our keepers demanded we pollywogs visit the Royal Barber, We lined up. Our Shellback overlords graciously said we could bargain with the Royal Barber on the type of initiation cut we would each receive with his electric clippers. A pollywog could choose from among only four styles, each sure to bring laughter from a buddy, even if he was next up.</em></p>
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<p><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>"You could get a Mohawk, the most popular choice by far.</strong></span> Or, for the 'straight back,' the Royal Barber shaved a stripe from your hairline to the nape of your neck (a Mohawk in reverse, if you will). Or, for the ever-dapper 'cross over,' the bald stripe ran ear to ear. Finally, replicating your days in boot camp, you could be shaved completely bald.. Me, I got a Mohawk. I figured it would grow back easier, as opposed to the poor saps who went for a cross over or straight back." [On other ships the Royal Barber usually didn't ask. He just arbitrarily started plowing the clippers through the initiate's hair in bizarre patterns.]</em></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511223?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511223?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="400" class="align-left"/></a>I'm going to dwell in some detail on the toughness of that shipboard initiation back in earlier days before anti-hazing laws . . . including some hazing practices that may now seem a bit brutal and surprisingly sexual by today's tamer standards . . . because it was the toughness of that shipboard initiation that significantly contributed to the image of the Mohawk haircut as a proud and highly visible symbol of toughness that its early-day wearers often relished. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511612?profile=original" target="_self"></a><em> </em></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 12pt;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511917?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511917?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 12pt;"><strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;">PREPARE TO BE SHOCKED.</span></strong></span></p>
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<p>Until the rise of the Internet in the early 1990s, the "Crossing the Line" initiation was rather secretive, largely kept away from prying outside eyes by the men who endured it. It was a closely guarded tradition that the men rarely talked about the exquisite -- sometimes X-rated --humiliations they had endured. It was a an intensely proud bond that they shared only with fellow initiates.</p>
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<p>An occasional photo of isolated portions of the secretive ritual -- like a shot of a young sailor with his initiation haircut or perhaps getting paddled -- would, on rare occasions, make it into the newspapers. But not until the rise of the Internet a half-century later, would Americans become <span style="text-decoration: underline;">fully</span> aware of just how tough that "Crossing the Line" initiation really was.</p>
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<p>It's probably no coincidence that the Navy's crackdown on the toughest parts of that initiation coincided precisely with the rise of the Internet and the easy posting online of thousands of intimate and shocking photos of <span style="text-decoration: underline;">all</span> parts of the ritual. An online comment from one veteran Shellback -- angry that the secrecy of the ritual had been breached -- said that any veteran posting photos of the ritual should be forced to give up their certificate showing that they endured the ordeal. . . . because he had broken the bond of secrecy.</p>
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<p>One scholarly journal says -- before the rise of the anti-hazing movement in the 1990s -- "hazing was believed by the Navy to build manliness necessary for the job . . . and that kept many crude activities hidden from public view. As home societies allegedly became increasingly . . . feminized, pacifist, . . . Naval leaders tolerated and even encouraged the ceremony as a way to build a separate world based on discipline and aggressiveness." Naval History Magazine says even the initiation head-shave was seen as a part of manliness.</p>
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<p><em><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512467?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="275" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512467?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="275" class="align-left"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512774?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512774?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a></em></p>
<p>In those early days, that tough shipboard initiation was a major part of the Mohawk's strange allure.</p>
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<p>When photographs like these began showing up in newspapers, magazines and newsreels during the Second World War showing young American sailors and Marines with their heads forcibly shaved into Mohawks during the ritual crossing of the equator, it was obvious that they were intensely proud of those Mohawks<em>.</em></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513490?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513490?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>The shocking haircut advertised to the world that that they had been man enough to endure an initiation that often made college fraternity "hell weeks" look like a walk in the park by comparison.</p>
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<p><em><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803527793?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803527793?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a></em></p>
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<p>You may be surprised to learn that Old Navy salts" who endured this initiation -- before it was tamed in the 1990s -- now look back on the ordeal with great fondness and nostalgia as one of the most eagerly anticipated highlights of their Navy career. For the rest of their Navy careers, they liked to brag that they had the balls to endure the roughhouse initiation. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803530520?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="489" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803530520?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="489" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Most of those "old salts" were bitterly disappointed when the Navy -- under pressure from anti-hazing reformers (and the sudden appearance of women on warships) -- outlawed some of the more humiliating and painful practices that you will see in the shocking photos below. The Old Salts complained that the Navy was "going soft."</p>
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<p>Although the ritual still exists in a reduced form, the really rough, really humiliating, really painful initiation that Old Navy Salts fondly remember from decades ago is now largely "gone with the wind" . . . now largely a part of American history and folklore.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803530837?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="433" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803530837?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="433" class="align-right"/></a></p>
<p>These shipboard Mohawks don't at all eclipse the vital role that Mohawked American paratroopers in the D-Day invasion of Nazi Germany played in popularizing the Mohawk -- but it certainly supplements and augments it in a huge way. </p>
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<p>The paratroopers were the first to seize on the Mohawk as a wartime emblem of toughness. But the Navy's initiation ritual carried the Mohawk to new heights of popularity..</p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>CAUTION:</strong></span><strong> </strong> <strong>Most of the archival photographs you will see below came from the era <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">prior</span></em> to 1995 -- before the U.S. Navy cracked down on some of the more shocking aspects of the "Neptune Day" initiation. The centuries-old ritual continues to this day in a greatly reduced form. But information is spotty as to precisely which aspects of the ordeal are still inflicted on sailors and Marines today. </strong></p>
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<p><strong>So we will be talking here primarily about the way this initiation was conducted</strong> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">prior to 1995</span><strong> <i>. . .</i> when the initiation was more like an entire "hell week" at a college fraternity all rolled up into a single, incredibly humiliating and painful day that seemed to the initiates as if it would never end. </strong></p>
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<p><strong>Forced Mohawks and other more embarrassing haircut mutilations were doled out like candy. The creativity of those initiation haircuts was endless. For a couple of weeks after the initiation, each Navy ship was full of half-shaven sailors with bizarre haircuts . . . </strong> which the initiates were proud to wear for days to come so everyone could see they were man enough to take it.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803536321?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="269" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803536321?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="360" class="align-left" height="241"/></a>It's a ritual that began in the earliest days of sailing ships in the 16th Century.. . . as shown in this early-day steel engraving. </p>
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<p>Veteran sailors pretend to be Neptune, the ancient god of the sea. In the old days, they would tie up the captain and take over his ship, for the express purpose of initiating new sailors crossing the equator for the first time, called "polliwogs." If the polliwog successfully endures the always humiliating and sometimes painful initiation ordeal, then he joins the proud ranks of the "Shellbacks." A Shellback is a sea turtle -- believed to be the toughest of all the sea animals because of its hard, protective shell.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803536410?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803536521?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803536521?profile=original" width="216" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>In earlier centuries, it was such a brutal ritual that it wasn't uncommon for young sailors to lose their lives while being initiated. During the ritual, initiates sometimes drowned while being "keelhauled" -- tied up and dragged beneath the ship on ropes. In later centuries, mercifully, it was tamed quite a bit.-- but it was still a tough, day-long ordeal of humiliation and debasement. </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>NAVAL HISTORY MAGAZINE EXPLAINS THE SYMBOLISM & SIGNIFICANCE OF THE INITIATION HEAD-SHAVING:</strong></span></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803536743?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803536743?profile=original" width="348" class="align-right"/></a>The Naval History Magazine, published by the independent U.S. Naval Institute, explains the symbolism and importance of the initiation head-shave:</p>
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<p>"The pollywogs [wogs for short], would be put through a series of initiation rites involving harrowing and often embarrassing tasks, obstacles, physical hardships, and generally good-humored mischief—all of which were meant to entertain the Shellbacks and degrade the pollywogs<strong><span>.</span></strong></p>
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<p><span>"The esteemed rituals conducted on board the USS </span>Oregon that day were symbolic rites of passage<strong><span>. </span></strong><span>Shaving, which represents a farewell to childhood innocence for most men, was originally connected to manhood. No one may enter Neptune’s kingdom without first having a haircut." </span></p>
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<p>One reason the Mohawk, during World War Two, acquired a reputation as a symbol of toughness was because -- in those days -- if you saw a Mohawk, it was probably worn either by an American paratrooper . . . or by a sailor or Marine who had just crossed the equator and endured one of the most grueling, day-long initiations on record . . . one that sometimes made fraternity "hell weeks" seem like a picnic in the park in comparison.. If a sailor or Marine had a temporary Mohawk, you knew he had earned it the hard way.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803537311?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803537311?profile=original" width="401" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">ICONIC PHOTO</span>:</strong></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span>When this World War Two photo of a just-initiated U.S. Marine on Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands was distributed worldwide in a major American magazine in 1945, it (like the earlier photos of the Mohawked paratroopers during the Normandy invasion) helped enormously to popularize the Mohawk -- which in 1945 was still a shocking new look to most Americans. </p>
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<p>"What attracted my curiosity," the combat correspondent wrote, "was the haircuts of several of the horseshoe players. Some had their heads half-shaved. Others had just bristly tufts extending over their otherwise bald pates. (The Mohawk was so new, the reporter didn't even know the name for it.) 'We've just become Shellbacks,' one explained. "Yesterday we crossed the equator for the first time. This is what our pals did to us.'" </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803537445?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="396" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803537445?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="396" class="align-right"/></a>The reason the shaven portion of his scalp looked so patchy is because his tormentors shaved him using an old, World War Two era, manually operated hand clipper. If you have to endure an initiation, just hope your tormentors have access to electric clippers.</p>
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<p>So . . . since that roughhouse shipboard ritual played such a historic part in spreading the image of the Mohawk as a symbol of toughness . . . let's take a moment to examine the nature of those "crossing the line" initiations.</p>
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<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">CAUTION</span>: SOME OF THE HISTORIC EQUATORIAL INITIATION SCENES BELOW FROM WORLD WAR TWO AND THE FIRST TWO DECADES AFTER THE WAR CONTAIN NAKEDNESS AND SIMULATED SEX ACTS. SO IF YOU ARE EASILY OFFENDED, WE SUGGEST YOU STOP READING AT THIS POINT. </strong></p>
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<p>In the bad old days before about 1995, the "Crossing the Line" initiation was openly sexual . . . deliberately sexual.. . . as you are about to discover. Heck, that was one of the big attractions. When men were isolated at sea for long periods, far from women in those early days . . . uh . . . well, they tended to get a bit raunchy. Wouldn't you?, </p>
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<p>But be tolerant . . . because these are historic, wartime, archival photographs from half a century ago. Some of these scenes, which I guarantee will shock you, are the reason the Navy eventually outlawed some aspects of the ritual and toned it down after about 1990, under pressure from anti-hazing reformers . . . although much of the ritual continues today in a tamer form. Some of the quotations below from sailors describing now forbidden portions of the ceremony are from lengthy analyses of the ritual in a number of scholarly university journals . . . which had a very hard time persuading tight-lipped initiates to share the secrets of what they endured -- and frankly enjoyed.. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803547579?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803547579?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p>Here's a World War Two photo of a U.S. Navy sailor, who has just been subjected to a forced Mohawk during his initiation as a "Shellback." </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803547579?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
<p>Some of the shocking scenes that you will see below will likely never happen again -- thus infuriating most old-time Navy vets who bitterly resent the partial loss of an age old ritual that once allowed them to prove their toughness. That was the original purpose of the initiation 400 years ago. It allowed young sailors joining a ship's crew to prove to their shipmates that they were tough enough to withstand the dangers of life on a sailing vessel. And an embarrassing haircut -- in later years often a Mohawk -- was proof to their buddies that they had survived the ritual.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803547619?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803547619?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>A standard part of that grueling, day-long initiation ritual was when the "Shellbacks" forced the "pollywogs" to submit to a haircut from the Royal Barber -- which included chop-jobs like those inflicted on these two pollywogs in February 1944 aboard the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga en route to the invasion of the Marshall Islands. Notice the early-day World War Two Mohawk on the sailor on the left.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803547854?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="253" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803547854?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="253" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>At the end oif the ritual, the victims are awarded wallet cards certifying that they have survived the initiation and are now "Shellbacks." </p>
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<p>Old Navy men are intensely proud of having endured that tough initiation, so they carry those wallet cards with them for the rest of their Navy careers. If they lose the wallet card, then they are forced to undergo the initiation all over again the next time they cross the equator. Some sailors who are careless with their wallets have endured the initiation several times.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803547891?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="292" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803547891?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="292" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>Here's another Mohawked initiate forced to crawl along the decks during the hazing ritual.</p>
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<p>Most civilians had never heard of that humiliating initiation ritual -- didn't even dream it existed -- until February 1945 when another national magazine published the startling World War Two advertisement below, which depicted the initiation barber shaving the head of a young Marine . . . while his grinning buddies swig soft drinks and snap photos of his ordeal to send to the folks back home.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803555558?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="600" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803555558?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="600" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>In case the print is too small to read, here's what the ad said:</p>
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<p>". . .<span> </span><em><strong>INITIATING A NEW SUBJECT OF NEPTUNE.</strong><span> </span> It's a fine old custom -- the good-natured initiation of those who cross the equator for the first time." </em></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510652?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510652?profile=original" width="222" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p>So you think that ad was exaggerating the situation by depicting the smiling, young Marine with his head and hands locked helplessly into wooden stocks while the initiation barber happily uses the clippers to carve bald swaths through his hair? Think again. The stocks and the head shaving were standard parts of the ritual -- as you will see in the photos below.</p>
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<p>Before the reforms -- as that 1943 advertisement showed -- the initiates were indeed often restrained helplessly in wooden stocks for their "punishment" haircuts and for their ritual paddlings for supposedly entering the equatorial zone without the permission of Neptune, the ancient god of the sea. Most warships headed for the equator seemed to have carried several sets of wooden stocks to restrain young polliwogs for their initiation haircuts.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803555679?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803555679?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="400" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>Here's the actual news photograph which apparently gave the artist the idea for that 1943 soft drink ad. Just a few months before that soft drink ad appeared, this news photograph in late 1942 showed a sailor on a U.S. aircraft carrier locked in wooden stocks, getting his initiation haircut while crossing the equator.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511612?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511612?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557709?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="450" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557709?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="450" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>One scholarly journal explains that "the men, in anticipation of this ritual, buy and store the stocks on board before the ship departs. Sometimes these items are kept for 5 or 6 months before the ritual.</p>
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<p>So far, the initiation victim on the right still has his hair intact. But in another ten minutes, he'll be bald. Below him we can plainly see the piece of wet canvas fire hose that was traditionally used during these Neptune rituals to paddle initiates. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557986?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557986?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-left"/></a>Here's one sailor's account of the way the ritual floggings were carried out on one ship of the Navy's 7th fleet on a 1979 crossing of the equator en route to Thailand:</p>
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<p style="font-weight: 400;">"There was someone called the Royal Executioner. . . . His costume consisted of a black hood with eye slots, tattered dungarees and a fire hose paddle in either hand. . . . He looked like a psychotic nightmare.</p>
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<p style="font-weight: 400;">"The Slimiest Wog from each division would appear before the company of Shellbacks, and present the Royal Executioner with his summons. The crowd would hear the charges and call out the required number of strokes to the victim’s backside as they knelt on all fours before the executioner."<strong> </strong></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558172?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558172?profile=original" width="361" class="align-right"/></a></p>
<p>A book about destroyer life during WWII says that on the USS Macdonough during WWII, there was one sailor who somehow managed to escape the haircut portion of his Neptune Day initiation. Shipmates said he was very vain about his hair and mustache. "The rest of us Pollywogs who suffered through the initiation haircuts questioned the Shellbacks about their seeming lack of concern.</p>
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<p>"Months later . . . the night before entering San Francisco Bay, the Shellbacks captured this no-haircut pollywog, cut off all his hair, and shaved off one sideburn and half his mustache."</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558357?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558357?profile=original" width="378" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>The nude sailor below is forced to kneel before Neptune's "Royal Court" to receive his sentence and to be told what his day-long punishment will be. The following written account from 1945 shows just how tough those "crossing the line" initiations could be in those days. </p>
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<p>"Many of those initiation indignities came in the form of punishment for crimes you will not find listed in Black’s Law Dictionary.</p>
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<p>"One seaman was charged with threatening to steal the line of the equator for a kite string." </p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558605?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="278" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558605?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="278" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">The "Royal Surgeon" examines a blindfolded initiate to find out if he's healthy enough to endure the constant paddlings, punishments, head shavings and humiliations that lie<span> </span><span class="skimlinks-unlinked">ahead.of</span><span> </span>him. </p>
<p class="wp-caption-text">The diagnosis is ALWAYS yes -- the victim is ALWAYS found able to endure the day-long ordeal that began before dawn and won't end until sundown. .</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">To begin receiving their punishment, they are bound by the "Royal Torturer."</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803559523?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803559523?profile=original" width="446" class="align-center"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803559523?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803559708?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803559708?profile=original" width="332" class="align-right"/></a>According to the written account, "They were then dragged to the pillory, and locked into the wooden stocks at the gunnel [ship's railing],"</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">While restrained in the stocks, they were paddled, and their heads were shaved . . . or partially shaved . . . or Mohawked.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">One scholarly article says the initiates were provided with a "Polywog's Prayer," which said "Please look over us 'wogs' through this upcoming humiliation and torturous initiation. . . . Guide us with dignity to endure the tortures of flogging . . .'"</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803559843?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="256" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803559843?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="256" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">A scholarly article says: "As the ceremony begins, wogs renounce all claims to their bodies or dignity."</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803560933?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="325" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803560933?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="325" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562163?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562163?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">This pollywog -- his body smeared with garbage and grease -- is blindfolded as the Royal Barber begins shaving his head. His haircut design will be a shock when the blindfold is removed.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562456?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562456?profile=original" width="343" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">In addition to being blindfolded and restrained in the wooden pillory, this initiate's legs are also tied with ropes . . . to hold him firmly in place as his tormentors lower his shorts for the next ordeal. (Don't ask.). </p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">Meantime the Royal Barber is at work on the other end of the initiate's body, shaving a Mohawk into his hair..</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">Now you know what that scholarly article meant when it said: " As the ceremony begins, wogs renounce all claims to their bodies or dignity.".</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">But he'll be damned proud of the forced Mohawk he's getting -- he'll wear it proudly for days to come -- because <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">this</span></em> is what he had to go through to earn the right to wear it.. </p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562541?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562541?profile=original" width="308" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">Here's a rear view of the same bound victim. His shorts have now been removed, and his tormentors . . . . are you ready for this? . . . are giving him an enema composed of foul smelling garbage and then injecting blue axle grease from the engine room into his rectum and smearing it all over his genitals.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">The two grinning initiates in the World War Two photo below are restrained in the stocks as their tormentors humiliate them by unbuttoning their trousers and dropping them to their ankles, in preparation for . . . uh, I'm afraid to ask.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562826?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="545" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562826?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="545" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563174?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563174?profile=original" width="414" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">In this old 8 mm home movie footage from the Vietnam War in 1957, which family members discovered in the trunk of a long deceased military veteran, a nude initiate is paddled with fire hoses on his naked buttocks as he emerges from a 20-foot-long canvas sack filled with week-old garbage. Like we told you, it used to be a really tough initiation -- and that's the way the old-timers say they preferred it. They insist that the modern Navy has "gone soft."</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">. </p>
<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563353?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="326" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563353?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="326" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">These nude Coast Guard initiates in that same 1957 ritual proudly show off their shellback haircuts.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563430?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="261" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563430?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="261" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">The initiates were required to kneel and kiss the grease-covered belly of the "Royal Baby" in a humiliating ritual obviously designed to suggest oral sex.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">In the background we can see another polywog ("wog" for short) in the process of being locked into the pillory, while two other totally exhausted, sopping wet "wogs" are forced to remain prone on the deck, face-down, not allowed to look up at their tormentors. </p>
<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563490?profile=original" target="_self"> </a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563776?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="211" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563776?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="211" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">Here another initiate, with a patch of hair shaved off the back of his head, is required to kneel and use his tongue to remove a cherry from the grease-covered belly button of the Royal Baby. </p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">Then he'll be required to swallow the cherry covered with grease from the Royal Baby's belly button. ..</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563490?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="326" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563490?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="326" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">Keep looking down, polliwogs. If you look up, you'll be dragged back to the stocks for yet another whipping. </p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">The veteran Shellbacks hovering above them with canvas whips have ordered these initiates to keep their heads down. Like . . . uh . . . . down between the legs of the man in front of them -- for maximum humiliation..</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564232?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="341" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564232?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="341" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">Then they are forced to kneel and kiss the "Sea Hag's" feet. </p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">This victim still has his hair -- but he won't for much longer.</p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564603?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="236" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564603?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="236" class="align-right"/></a></p>
<p class="wp-caption-text">A World War Two account says "One seaman made the mistake of crying during his ordeal in the Royal Bathtub [filled with sea water and days-old garbage from the ship's galley]." </p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text">For that mistake, the account says, he was bound again, dragged back to the pillory, locked in it again, and whipped with fire hoses a second time -- then forced to repeat the entire initiation. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564769?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="256" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564769?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="256" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Some World War Two ships held a "Wog Dog Auction," in which the pollywogs were auctioned off as dogs to veteran Shellbacks. Their "masters" put collars and rope leashes on them and made them crawl around the decks all day, performing dog tricks whenever ordered to do so . . . such as rolling over, marking their territory by peeing on the legs of fellow initiates, and simulating sex with other pollywog dogs on leashes . . . while their "master" whipped them along with a piece of fire hose. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803583282?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803583282?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>One scholarly journal quotes a veteran sailor thusly: "When you’re a Shellback you can pick one or two 'wog dogs' as your personal slaves. You put them on a leash and run them around the ship. And I had this guy . . . . I often had him screwing or getting screwed by other wogs . . . ."</p>
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<p>But even the other Wogs who weren't on leashes and collars were still subjected to what was called "wog sex." The article in a university publication says prior to 1990, "throughout the ceremony, Shellbacks simulate anal or oral sex with the pollywogs. . . . [and] in several accounts shellbacks ordered pollywogs to simulate oral and anal sex with each other.</p>
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<p>When ordered to simulate sex with their fellow initiates, if they didn't "hump" vigorously and realistically enough, they were whipped with fire hoses while they humped to spur them on. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803583791?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803583791?profile=original" width="288" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>The scholarly articles all agree that -- surprisingly -- even the straight guys were perfectly OK with the simulated sex with other men . . . because they could assure themselves that they were <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">not</span></em> <em>doing </em>it voluntarily . . . that it was <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">required</span></em> as a centuries-old Navy tradition. As long as the initiates could say they were only doing it because they were <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">forced</span></em><em> </em>to do so -- while being whipped -- as part of their <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">deliberate humiliation</span></em> during the world's most macho initiation . . . then it was perfectly OK on this one special day. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589276?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589276?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="400" class="align-right"/></a>Academic studies say that during the "Wog Day" initiation, the ship was full of wogs everywhere forced to hump each other.while being whipped. </p>
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<p>It was one of the biggest attractions of the initiation. One initiate described his humiliating day as a "wog dog" this way:</p>
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<p>He said the Shellback who had won him in the Wog Dog Auction and had him on a leash said to him : “Wog Smith, since you are such good friends with Wog Jones, I want you to mount him. NOW!”</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589321?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589321?profile=original" width="149" class="align-left" height="322"/></a>"It was a command that was always suicide to refuse. So I began to dry-hump my friend to the amused hoots and catcalls from the gathered crowd of Shellbacks. This went on for about five minutes before I was relieved by a Shellback who allowed us to switch positions. Now, I was the humpee, so my friend mounted me and went to town at it.. This went on for another five minutes. Eventually we were allowed to stop -- after a few more whacks with the paddle for a great performance."</p>
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<p>All the scholarly articles agree that "on any other day, such homoerotic behavior would be severely punished by the Navy -- but on Shellback initiation day <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">everyone</span></em> winked at it . . . and <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">everyone</span></em> enjoyed watching." </p>
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<p>Or at least they did until the reforms in the 1990s. </p>
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<p>Oldtime Navy guys universally deny that it was ever homoerotic. "It's never gay when you're forcing them to do it solely to humiliate them," said one Shellback.. "There's nothing more humiliating than for a straight man to be forced to simulate sex with another man. It's the <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">ultimate</span></em> humiliation. And the Shellback initiation is all about humiliation -- all about finding out whether he's man enough to endure a little public embarrassment." </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589499?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589499?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a></p>
<p>"It's the same reason so many freshman initiations in high schools and colleges routinely force their initiates to dress in women's clothes . . . and then take them to the shopping mall and force them to parade around in their dresses," said another Shellback. "They do it because <em><span>the ultimate humiliation</span></em> is seeing some tough football player wearing a girl's dress.in public." </p>
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<p>The Navy's Shellback initiations likewise humiliated their initiates by forcing them to dress in drag for the so-called "Wog Beauty Pageant" prior to the 1990s -- as in the photo on the right. . But they also kicked up the embarrassment to an even higher level by then forcing them to dry-hump each other in front of a crowd of paddle-wielding Shellbacks. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803591722?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803591722?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Some observers insist that, instead of being homoerotic, the pre-1990 ritual actually was quite the opposite -- blatantly homophobic -- that the Shellbacks forced the initiates to simulate homosexual acts precisely because that's the one thing that would embarrass them more than anything else. </p>
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<p>A university article quotes one Navy veteran as saying: “It’s got to be tough, it’s got to be embarrassing, just so you can say, ‘Yeah, I did it, I went through it,' Every old Navy guy wants to go through the ordeal."</p>
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<p>As a way to entice the initiates into donning women's dresses, the Shellbacks would promise that whichever pollywog won the beauty contest would be exempt from all the other degrading ordeals and would get to watch his buddies getting humiliated. But unbeknownst to the pollywogs, the joke was on them. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803591770?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="325" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803591770?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="325" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>In reality the winner of the Wog Beauty Contest ended up being punished and humiliated even <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">more</span></em> than all the other guys . . . still wearing his dress.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803591797?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="356" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803591797?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="356" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>On a Navy landing craft support ship in the South Pacific in 1943, a young initiate on his knees, with part of his hair shaved off, is forced to use his tongue to extract an olive from the greased-up belly button of a veteran Shellback posing as "The Royal Baby," while everyone watches.. </p>
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<p>And then swallow it.</p>
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<p>Widely viewed as a simulation of oral sex, this was a standard part of the Shellback initiation, enacted on virtually every Navy ship that crossed the equator during the war. </p>
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<p>By the end of World War Two, hundreds of thousands of young sailors and Marines had enacted this embarrassing ritual with their tongues -- an experience they never forgot for the rest of their lives..</p>
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<p>As one veteran Shellback said, "That's what the initiation was all about -- exquisite humiliation."</p>
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<p>The initiate below has a steel collar bolted around his neck, while his wrists and head are locked into wooden stocks. He's being led around on a chain by a shellback wielding a whip made of fire hose while he waits to go under the clippers. His fellow initiate on the far right has already been given a reverse Mohawk. The guy in the stocks (below) is about to get the same treatment with the clippers. Another initiate (2nd from the right) awaits his turn in the stocks . </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592008?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592008?profile=original" width="480" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>Notice that in this photo, all the initiates are forced to wear the striped clothing of chain gang convicts, marking them for abuse -- and for chaining..</p>
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<p>A university publication quotes one veteran sailor as saying of his initiation: "They would give you orders. You are a slave—-someone with no authority whatsoever. So I would get behind this guy and I’d be like this, having [simulated] sex with him [as ordered] , and everyone would be laughing and stuff. . . . : It was humiliation, but it seemed OK, because everyone else was going through it."</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592122?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="270" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592122?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="270" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p>This young Marine -- with a rope leash around his neck -- is forced to crawl around the deck in the garbage while his buddies whip him with sections of wet canvas fire hose.</p>
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<p>He may have a Marine Corps high-and-tight haircut now, but he'll soon be relieved of the rest of his hair.</p>
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<p>Nobody ever said this was an easy initiation. As one Navy veteran said with a grin, "This is a sublime form of hazing."</p>
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<p>Others, like the initiate being tormented below, were humiliated by being required to wear women's clothes while undergoing the day-long hazing.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592340?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="244" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592340?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="244" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>On many ships, initiates were required to strip to their underpants, which had to be worn backwards and inside-out for the entire day -- to add to the humiliation and to make the constant paddlings sting more. Sometimes the initiates were stripped completely naked for their ordeals, as you will see below..</p>
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<p>Notice the crude Mohawks that have been inflicted on the initiates in the background.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592489?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="249" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592489?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="249" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>In this photo, a grinning, newly inducted shellback with a reverse Mohawk shows off his initiation haircut. He has been forced to wear his underpants backwards.</p>
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<p>The "crossing the line" initiates were intensely proud of their humiliating haircuts, because for two or three weeks, the haircuts provided strong visual proof to everyone on shipboard that they had been man enough to endure this rite of passage. The haircuts -- frequently including crude Mohawks -- were a badge of courage to be worn proudly.</p>
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<p>Judging by his grin, this guy appears to have come through the ordeal with flying colors. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592618?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592618?profile=original" width="235" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p><span><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592776?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="312" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592776?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="312" class="align-right"/></a></span></p>
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<p>In this scene, which appears to be on a merchant marine ship, the initiate has his wrists tied behind his back with rope as he kneels to receive his initiation head shave. </p>
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<p>It's possible this haircut victim is already a veteran shellback from a previous initiation -- because part of the standard ritual is that -- the day before the initiation -- the polywogs are expected to stage a "revolt." They are allowed to capture any veteran shellbacks and, in the words of one victim, "tie them up and do anything to them that they want to." The shellbacks willingly submit. It;s part of the fun, and the veteran shellbacks are disappointed if the "wogs" don't revolt and initiate the shellbacks too. It's revenge in advance for the punishment the "wogs" know will be inflicted on them tomorrow. </p>
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<blockquote><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592905?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592905?profile=original" width="288" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>So by the end of the second day, everyone has been initiated -- polywogs and shellbacks alike. And it's all in fun. Ever since the ship left port, both sides have eagerly looked forward to this two-day ritual -- with the two sides initiating each other. And there are a lot of crude Mohawks on both sides.</p>
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</blockquote>
<p>In the photo below, a veteran shellback restrains the hands of the polywog below while the Royal Barber shaves his head. The bald headed "wogs" on the right have already lost their hair.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803593126?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="471" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803593126?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="471" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603397?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="370" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603397?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="370" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>These U.S. Marines ended up with these initiation haircuts when they crossed the Equator enroute to the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific during World War Two (1944).</p>
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<p>There heads have been shaven to spell out "Victory USMC."</p>
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<p>The virtual sea of egg-bald heads shown below was likewise the result of a World War Two shellback initiation. A memorable war story they can tell their grandchildren about. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803528108?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803528108?profile=original" width="449" class="align-center"/></a></p>
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<p>In a typical equitorial initiation, at the end of the day there were enough shorn locks lying on the deck to stuff a dozen mattresses. But the initiates cherished the experience for the rest of their lives as one of the most memorable parts of their service at sea. For years afterward they loved to recount stories of the tough, day-long humiliations they endured.</p>
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<p> </p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603713?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603713?profile=original" width="341" class="align-right"/></a>"IT'S ONLY A GAME."</strong></span></p>
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<p><span>The obvious question: Why -- back in the days before the Navy's anti-hazing crackdown -- would hundreds of thousands of young sailors and Marines have <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">voluntarily</span></em> submitted to all those painful floggings, humiliating haircuts, and other horribly embarrassing degradations?</span></p>
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<p><span>Perhaps the answer can be found in one initiate's description of his ordeal posted online<strong>:</strong></span></p>
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<p><span>"</span>I heard the sound of people getting hit with [fire hoses] down the line, working its way toward me. . . . <strong><em>WHACK! </em></strong>The [fire hose] went right up the crack of my ass and just barely caught my scrotum. My anger exploded.</p>
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<p>"Heedless of the rules I jumped up and grabbed my assailant. . . . 'Calm down,' said one of the paddle-wielding Shellbacks. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>'it’s just a game.'”</strong></span></p>
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<p>Exactly!!!</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557986?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="408" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557986?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="408" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>In other words, the whole ritual was just a huge, elaborate role-playing game . . . in which both the perpetrators and the victims willingly and enthusiastically played their assigned parts. Most of the victims said later they wouldn't have wanted to miss the exciting ritual even if they could . . . even though their butts were sore for a week.</p>
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<p>In those days, the game was played out in an elaborate, carefully scripted psycho-drama.that lasted a full week leading up to initiation day. Beginning a week beforehand, the veteran Shellbacks began teasing their future victims relentlessly with hints of all the degradations they would soon be inflicting on them. . </p>
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<p>They began showing the initiates the women's dresses that some of them would soon be ordered to don. </p>
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<p>On deck, there was much hammering and nailing, as the initiates had to watch veteran Shellbacks assembling the wooden stocks that would soon restrain the initiates for their head-shavings and floggings. The Shellbacks began taunting the victims, warning them they'd have to wear the Mohawks and other humiliating haircuts they were about to receive for at least a week so everyone could see them and tease them about the haircuts.. And, in the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>ultimate</em></span> act of humiliation, they taunted them that, as straight men, they'd be ordered to simulate sex acts with their buddies while the whole ship's crew watched.</p>
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<p>Hey, nobody ever said this was an easy initiation.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604711?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604711?profile=original" width="399" class="align-left"/></a>While the future initiates looked on with growing trepidation, the veteran Shellbacks spent the entire week fashioning old fire hoses into paddles -- wrapping them with twine, waxing them, and stiffening them with salt water so they would really sting the butts of the pollywogs. . </p>
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<p>Then -- the day before the initiation -- came the strangest, the most hard to explain part of the weeklong psycho-drama -- the "Wog Rebellion."</p>
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<p>The veteran Shellbacks expected . . . no, demanded . . . that the "wogs" (pollywogs) must mount a massive rebellion . . . in which the soon-to-be-initiated victims must capture the veteran Shellbacks, tie them up, "interrogate" them (what today we would call "enhanced interrogation -- i.e. "torture"). </p>
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<p>Why? Well, just because . . . you know . . . that's the way the "game" has been played for centuries. </p>
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<p>In other words, the Shellbacks offered themselves as victims -- willingly submitting to a preview of the very same tortures that, tomorrow morning, they would be inflicting on the pollywogs. So before the next 48 hours was over, <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">both</span></em> sides got initiated. Result: the Shellbacks got re-initiated every time there was a new crop of pollywogs <strong>. . .</strong> over and over and over again. Ouch!!! .</p>
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<p>The pollywogs gleefully and enthusiastically stage their rebellion . . . even though they know that, by tradition, the daring leader of the "Wog Revolt" will be whipped even harder than the others at tomorrow's initiation.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604648?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604648?profile=original" width="359" class="align-right"/>A</a>ctually it probably was a brilliant move on the part of the Shellbacks. Because, by demonstrating that they themselves were man enough to submit <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">repeatedly</span></em> to the tortures, it demonstrated very powerfully to the initiates that <strong>"<span style="font-size: 12pt;">hey, it's just a fun game. Just a guy thing</span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"</span><strong> </strong>. . . even if it's painful. It adds two days of fun to what would otherwise be a very long, boring voyage to the South Pacific. Something <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">both</span></em> sides look forward to with excitement.</p>
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<p>One university study said, as with other ritual celebrations of manhood, "it is considered a proud and necessary rite of passage, one that should be secretive and guarded." The author said "All of the men I interviewed who had participated in it were very hesitant to reveal any of the details, whether risqué or not. . . ." Which is why some Old Salts will not be happy that the most shocking of these historic, archival initiation photos reached the public.</p>
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<p>The academic study continues: "Rites of passage culminate with bonding between the initiates, which would not be possible without a certain amount of [secrecy]. Also, the gender bending and sexual play, which are explored in the context of the ritual, were protected by this [secrecy]." </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>HERE'S ONE OF THE BEST FIRST-HAND DESCRIPTIONS OF THE SEMI-SECRET INITIATION RITUAL -- FROM THE WARTIME DIARY OF AN AMERICAN SAILOR:</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">It's from a book called "Pacific War Diary, 1942-1945: The Secret Diary of an American Sailor." by James Fahey. The book jacket says Seaman First Class Fahey defied the Navy's wartime security regulations "by surreptitiously compiling a diary on scraps of paper." Fahey's warship -- the light cruiser <em>Montpelier</em> -- was in some of World War Two's most brutal sea battles, frequently attacked by enemy dive bombers.. The book jacket calls it "one of the most extraordinary personal documents to emerge from the war."His "secret diary" provides a vivid description of a December 1944 initiation upon crossing the equator:en route to the Battle of Luzon. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605319?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605319?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-left"/></a></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">". . . They cut the poor polliwog's hair off in big chunks, and when they get through with him, you would think the moths were at it. Boy, what a mess! He might just as well have all his hair cut off. After the haircut, his head is covered with machine grease. A special group of Shellbacks were dressed like pirates. . . . They carried long clubs the size of a baseball bat, made of canvass and full of rags and cotton soaked in salt water. When you got hit with one of these, you felt it. .</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605514?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605514?profile=original" width="285" class="align-right"/></a></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">"Everyone was really enjoying the show. . . . The Royal Barber was next to work on the polliwog. They really chopped his hair. It will take months for it to grow back right. When they finished chopping his hair, they covered his head with catsup and mustard and broke eggs over it. . . . They did many other funny things to the poor polliwogs before it was over. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605739?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="325" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605739?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="325" class="align-left"/></a></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">"The last thing the polliwog had to do was get on their hands and knees and crawl through a long line of men on both sides of them, about 50 altogether. They really warmed the rear ends of the poor polliwogs with their wet canvas clubs. . . .</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">"One kid only about 18 yrs old felt very funny, because he only had a pair of girl's pink panties on, and his face was made up with lipstick. He really looked like a girl. If his parents could have seen him, they would have died laughing.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605860?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605860?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a> "The ones who had their rear ends paddled could not sit down for a week. . If you were watching that ritual, you would never know there was a war on. Everyone had a great time except the poor polliwogs -- and they really had a rough time. It was a really tough initiation.All the other ships in our task force did the same thing [to the polliwogs]." </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>DESPITE THE HUMILIATIONS, AN ENDLESS NUMBER OF FIRST-HAND ACCOUNTS TESTIFY THAT, INSTEAD OF RESENTING IT, THE GUYS BEING INITIATED ACTUALLY RELISHED THE EXPERIENCE:</strong></span></p>
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<p>Like this account in a scholarly journal: "In 1998, aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star, I experienced my first “crossing.” initiation. . . . I was subjected to a feast of humiliation. I was treated as the lowest of low by my fellow shipmates and made to do degrading things, such as rolling in garbage and eating rotten food; I was ridiculed and suffered mock beatings. Yet the experience is one of the richest memories of my life. . . . </p>
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<p>"I was brought before the Royal Barber. Blind-folded and disoriented, I was placed in a line with my fellow “pollywogs” and led along the outside of the ship with many of King Neptune’s minions surrounding me, taunting me mercilessly. Brought to a halt, my blindfold was removed, and the scene before me was ridiculous. The Royal<br/> Barber and his assistant were standing on a stage . . . .</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605924?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605924?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a>"I heard a buzzing sound and a huge patch<br/> of my hair was shaved off. The barber took his time and carved out a Mohawk in the shape of a phallic symbol into my head. . . . I stood up, and the numerous Shellbacks who milled about to watch the show, began to cackled and howl at my new haircut. I was subjected to a few seconds of ridicule, and then was blindfolded again and led to the next stage of my initiation., . . . </p>
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<p>"Why, after having experienced this degrading, humiliating and down-right disgusting ritual, do I not feel sullied? Why am I not angry with my shipmates for treating me so poorly? . . . Probably the most rational explanation, though, is that I didn’t want to let my shipmates down. . . . By taking every torture that they could invent and by suffering every humiliation, I told them, “You can trust me. . . . "</p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>AN ONLINE BLOG PROVIDES A FIRST-HAND EXPLANATION OF WHY OLD NAVY SALTS REALLY LOVED THOSE SHELLBACK INITIATIONS BACK WHEN THEY WERE REALLY <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">TOUGH</span></em> . . . BEFORE THE ANTI-HAZING REFORMS:<em> </em></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;">This Navy veteran -- whose father also served in the Navy -- </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">says he deeply regrets that he'll never have a chance to get flogged with a fire hose and have his head shaved into a Mohawk like his dad did.</span><strong> </strong><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Because his dad had never talked about his initiation ordeal until his son found his secret stash of initiation photos, it illustrates the traditional secrecy with which Navy men fiercely protected the ritual from disapproving eyes. The son writes:</span></span></p>
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<p><a href="http://cfcc.edu/storyforce/files/2016/09/Pas-Shellback-Copy-300x193.jpg" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="http://cfcc.edu/storyforce/files/2016/09/Pas-Shellback-Copy-300x193.jpg?width=350" width="350" class="align-left"/></a>"I first heard about the Shellback Ceremony when I was eleven years old and I came across this old black and white Navy photo in my dad's drawer. One of the shipboard photos showed a line of men on their hands and knees, head to butt, crawling through two rows of standing men. The guys standing over them them were holding what looked like cut-up fire hoses.</p>
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<p>"The crawling men had their names written on their white tee shirts, with the word “wog” added to it [short for "Pollywog"]. When I read the name "Cudywog" on the initiate about to be whipped with the fire hose, my heart skipped a beat. I wondered if he could be my dad because “Cudy” was his Navy nickname. Upon closer inspection and seeing the head of thick black hair [about to be shaven], I knew it was him. .</p>
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<p>“Pa! Pa!” I excitedly yelled. I hesitantly touched his arm to get his attention, not sure if he’d be annoyed that I was bothering him. He started at my touch, and I had to stifle the urge to giggle.</p>
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<p>“What?” he grumbled as he reached for the TV remote control to lower the volume.</p>
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<p>"I held the picture out and asked, “What were you doing here?” He took the picture from me and stared at it for a few seconds then broke out in a smile, all hints of grouchiness gone.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606078?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606078?profile=original" width="287" class="align-right" height="431"/></a>“I was being flogged,” he said proudly.</p>
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<p>“Flogged? Doesn’t that mean getting beat?”</p>
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<p>“Yup, I was getting beat with fire hoses.” I heard the pride in his voice.</p>
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<p>“But why?” Confused, my eleven-year old self did not understand why he seemed happy about it.</p>
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<p>“My ship was crossing the equator, and sailors who’ve never crossed become Shellbacks. It’s a type of initiation. Not only were we beat, we had to crawl through a tunnel full of garbage, get our heads shaved, and then had to kiss a fat guy’s belly.”</p>
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<p>"Aghast, I asked again, “Why?”</p>
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<p>"My dad laughed at the expression on my face as he simply answered, “Because it’s Navy tradition.”</p>
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<p>"A few weeks later, some of my father’s shipmates came over for dinner and the topic of being Shellbacks came up. My mother, siblings, and I listened in fascinated horror and amusement as they swapped stories.</p>
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<p>"Their stories were about having their head shaved, wearing women’s make-up with a mop head as a wig, and being whipped with fire hoses. They all told how they had to kiss the Royal Baby’s bare belly. He was usually the fattest guy on the ship, and he would grab their ears and rub their faces into his belly as they bent to kiss it. Usually the belly was greased with cooking oil, mustard and ketchup, or leftover mashed potatoes and gravy.</p>
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<p>" Another one of my father’s shipmates told us, that on his ship, they had to suck a maraschino cherry out of the Royal Baby’s belly button, eat it, and<em><span> </span>then</em><span> </span>kiss the belly. We all laughed and groaned as we tried to finish our dinner.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606178?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606178?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604711?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
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<p>"Many years later when I was stationed onboard the USS Wasp (LHD-1), I was a bit disheartened to learn that none of our deployments would take us across the equator. As crazy as it sounds, I would have loved to have gone through a Crossing the Line Ceremony and earn the title of being a “Shellback.”</p>
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<p>"I recently called a friend of mine who became a Shellback in 2012. He told me that because of recent hazing policies, they were now “flogged” with greased socks filled with rags. And the Royal Barber didn’t shave their heads anymore but colored their hair with a washable dye. .</p>
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<p>"<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606996?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606996?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a>As I complained on the phone about the “kinder, gentler” Navy, I saw my ten-year-old son, Elijah, curiously looking at me. As soon as I said goodbye and hung up the phone, Elijah asked, “What was that about?”</p>
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<p>"After admonishing him for being nosy, I told him all about the Crossing the Line Ceremony and what Pollywogs had to do to become a Shellback. I even got out my laptop and googled “Shellback Ceremony” and pictures of Pollywogs and Shellbacks popped up. We laughed and “eewwwed” together as we scrolled through the images. I told him that “Papa” had been a Shellback, and I wish that I had had the honor to be one.</p>
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<p>"I felt a sense of déjà vu coming on when wide-eyed and in disbelief, Elijah asked, “Why?”</p>
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<p>"And like my father those many, many years ago, I simply answered, “Because it’s Navy tradition.”</p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>SHORTLY AFTER WORLD WAR TWO, WHEN AMERICAN FOOTBALL TEAMS BEGAN USING THE MOHAWK AS AN INITIATION HAIRCUT, THEY ALMOST CERTAINLY GOT THE IDEA FROM THOSE "CROSSING THE LINE" HAIRCUTS . </strong>. . </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>AND FROM THE WORLD WAR TWO PARATROOPER MOHAWKS. </strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803607312?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="450" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803607312?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="450" class="align-right"/></a></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">As when the 1950 University of Nebraska football team -- five years after the war -- shaved initiation Mohawks into the heads of all their sophomore players<strong>. . . </strong></span></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803607535?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803607535?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>SOME CIVILIAN CRUISE SHIPS AND 'SEMESTER AT SEA" STUDENT SHIPS LOVED THE NAVY'S "CROSSING THE LINE" INITIATIONS SO MUCH, THEY <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>VOLUNTARILY</em></span> COPIED THEM</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Yup . . . Ironically, just as the military was toning down the Shellback initiations considerably to avoid the criticism of anti-hazing reformers, the civilian passengers on many cruise ships -- especially university cruise ships providing students with a semester at sea -- were happily launching their own civilian versions of the "crossing the equator" initiation ritual -- for both passengers and crew. .</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803607631?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="450" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803607631?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="450" class="align-right"/></a>Yes, even including the head-shaving!!! </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span>T</span>housands of civilians on cruise ships and student ships began lining up to <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">volunteer</span></em> to submit to "Crossing the Line" haircut hazing . . . including hundreds and hundreds of women..</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">So just as the Navy was deciding that initiation haircuts amounted to cruel and unusual punishment, civilians in droves were deciding the exact opposite . . . that initiation haircuts were actually . . . well, <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">great fun!!!</span></em></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Go figure.</span></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803607449?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803607449?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Student cruise ships now take special pains to include the exciting head shaving ritual -- but only for those brave civilians who <em><span>volunteer</span></em>.to be shaved bald.</p>
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<p>Like this woman who proudly holds up the long tresses that the clippers have just stripped from her head. </p>
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<p>Brave woman!!! Hey, you look kind of sexy with a bald head!!!</p>
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<p>The Neptune Day head-shave is one of the most eagerly anticipated days of the entire student cruise. Contrary to what the anti-hazing reformers would have you believe, these passengers feel the equatorial initiation head-shave is a hallowed sea-going tradition, and they don't want to be deprived of a chance to endure it like the old-time sailors did.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803608066?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="290" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803608066?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="290" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 18pt;"><strong>END OF AN ERA</strong></span></p>
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<p>When anti-hazing reformers in the mid-1990s -- and the later arrival of women on battleships -- caused the Navy to crack down on a lot of the more shocking (and painful) parts of the "Crossing the Line" ritual <strong>. . .</strong></p>
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<p><strong>. . . </strong>it meant the end of an era.</p>
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<p>And the end of a major era in the birth and popularization of the Mohawk haircut, which had been inflicted on thousands (tens of thousands?) of initiates during and immediately after the Second World War.</p>
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<p>Those who love and admire the Mohawk haircut as a sign of toughness may perhaps look back on the passing of the really tough "Crossing the Line" initiation with just a touch of sadness <strong>. . . . </strong></p>
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<p><strong>. . .</strong> as do the "Old Navy Salts" who still to this day bitterly lament that by taming the initiation and civilizing it, the Navy has deprived them of a really tough test of manhood that every Old Navy guy was <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">intensely</span></em> proud of enduring. For more then four centuries, it was a deeply cherished part of Navy life.</p>
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<p>The anti-hazing reformers will spend the rest of their lives trying to figure out why in the world so many of the younger men joining the Navy today are intensely disappointed that they will never have a chance to experience that profound bonding experience.</p>
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<p>The bewildered anti-hazing reformers are probably muttering to themselves: "But we thought we were doing you a favor."</p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><em><strong>(IF YOU MISSED PARTS ONE & TWO OF "THE FUN OF INITIATION HAIRCUTS" . . . <a href="http://www.mohawksrock.com/profiles/blogs/the-great-fun-of-initiation-haircuts" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE</a>.)</strong></em></span></p>
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<p></p>MOHAWK MULLET-- Sexiest of all the Mohawks???tag:www.mohawksrock.com,2018-01-19:1501994:BlogPost:8412682018-01-19T09:30:00.000ZScalped 442https://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/Californian442
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<p><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong><u><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510618?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-right" height="313" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510618?profile=original" width="333"></img></a></u></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 36pt;"><strong><u>THE MOHAWK MULLET</u></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Sexiest of all the Mohawks???</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>For the truly daring!!!…</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong><u><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510618?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510618?profile=original" width="333" class="align-right" height="313"/></a></u></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 36pt;"><strong><u>THE MOHAWK MULLET</u></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Sexiest of all the Mohawks???</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>For the truly daring!!!</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511118?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511118?profile=original" width="445" class="align-left" height="251"/></a></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>And -- surprise!!! --it’s actually an authentic Indian haircut.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong> </strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Do you have the balls to wear one?</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;"><strong>Here’s a gallery of the best, most eye-catching Mohawk Mullets you’ve never seen.</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Normally I’m not a fan of long hair on men.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>But I make a big exception for the Mohawk Mullet . . . sometimes called the "Mull-Hawk."</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511539?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511539?profile=original" width="332" class="align-left"/></a></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>There’s something <em><u>incredibly sexy</u></em> about a long, slender </strong></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>patch of loose hair dangling from the back end of a shaven scalp lock and tumbling down a guy’s back . . . just waiting for some girl to run her fingers through it. </strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Easy there, girl -- control yourself!!! It'll take 6 months to grow out, so you'll have plenty of time to run your fingers through it.</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511765?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511765?profile=original" width="275" class="align-right"/>I</a>t’s just so damned <em><u>daring</u></em>!!!</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>MYSTERY FINALLY SOLVED:</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>FOR MONTHS, SOME OF US HAVE WONDERED WHO IS THIS DUDE ON THE RIGHT WITH THE WORLD'S MOST SPECTACULAR MOHAWK MULLET?</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Well -- as millions of visitors to the Las Vegas strip have discovered to their delight -- he turns out to be the "Biker Aerialist" Brandon Pereyda.</strong></span></p>
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<p>This muscled acrobat is from the super-athletic, spectacular Cirque du Soleil stage show in Las Vegas titled "Zumanity" . . . a daringly erotic, adults only exploration of human sexuality in all its delightful forms . . . described as "the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>other</em></span> side of Cirque du Soleil. </p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>I'M GOING TO DWELL A BIT ON BRANDON . . . MERELY BECAUSE NOBODY ELSE IN THE WORLD ILLUSTRATES QUITE AS WELL AS HE DOES THE UNBELIEVABLE SEXINESS OF A FULL-BLOWN, IN-YOUR-FACE, LET-IT-DROOP-DOWN-YOUR-BACK MOHAWK MULLET. </strong></span></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512356?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512356?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p>Man, that haircut of Brandon's is definitely a show-stopper!!! A Mohawk Mullet for the ages!!! Don't let that girl above get her hands on this one, or she'll kidnap this Mohawk to her boudoir.</p>
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<p>This part of the super-erotic Las Vegas show is titled "Biker in Chains," and it spotlights Brandon's Mohawk mullet in all its luxuriant glory . . . advertising to millions of audience members from all over the U.S. that . . . yes indeed . . . Mohawks are, in fact, <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">all</span></em> about sex. Hell Yes!!! That's <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">precisely</span></em> why most of us love wearing our Mohawks in public. </p>
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<p>What makes a Mohawk -- especially a <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">mullet</span></em>-style Mohawk -- so powerfully sexy? Probably because of the Mohawk's hyper-masculinity -- because of its centuries-long association with Spartan warriors, Native American warriors, American combat paratroopers in the Second World War, tough football offensive linemen, biker dudes, MMA fighters, and more action heroes in movies and video games than you can count..</p>
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<p>And because a guy needs real balls to wear one in public..</p>
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<p>It's why almost <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">every</span></em> guy secretly wants to get Mohawked at least once before he dies. </p>
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<p>So no wonder Cirque du Soleil spotlight's Brandon's eye-popping Mohawk mullet in their ":adults only" sex show. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513011?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513011?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>A Mohawk Mullet is a way for a guy to wear at least a little bit of extra long hair – one slender strand -- and still look super-macho. It’s almost as if some macho stud told his buddies, “I don’t care if you shave off most of my hair – but just leave me at least one narrow strand of it to dangle enticingly down my back for the girls to play with.”</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513535?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513535?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="276" class="align-left" height="596"/></a></p>
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<p>The Los Angeles Times focused on biker Pereyda's mullet-style Mohawk as a major highlight of the show, when it wrote:: "'Zumanity' certainly is not for the faint of heart. The show explores sexuality in all its forms, and audience members must be 18 and older. . . . <span>Brandon Pereyda, who sports a red Mohawk, is a favorite of women in the audience, Pereyda shows off his athleticism while strapped in chains above the stage."</span></p>
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<p>Over the years, tens of thousands of American guys have left that "adults only" Cirque du Soleil show in Las Vegas and headed home . . . secretly wishing they had enough guts to wear a macho Mohawk mullet just like Brandon's back in their own boring hometown. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803527551?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803527551?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>Well, if they finally muster up enough courage to submit to the clippers, they can assure people that the Mohawk Mullet isn’t just a phony affectation. Actually the Mohawk Mullet -- as we will see below -- is hundreds, even thousands of years old and authentically early-American. </p>
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<p>Early-American as in . . . “<em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">native</span></em> American warriors.”</p>
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<p>Some (but certainly not all) Indian warriors 250 years ago actually wore a Mohawk Mullet like Brandon's into combat. </p>
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<p>It's the one long-hair haircut that looks fiercely masculine. <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803527723?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803527723?profile=original" width="296" class="align-right" height="310"/></a></p>
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<p>Some of these photos show actor Wes Studi – a real, full-blooded Cherokee Indian from Oklahoma – wearing his <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>authentic</em></span> Mohawk Mullet in multiple movies. . . .</p>
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<p>. . . Appearing in such movies as “The Last of the Mohicans,” “Dances With Wolves,” “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee,” “Trail of Tears: Cherokee Legacy,” and “Geronimo: An American Legend.” </p>
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<p>As a young child, Wes spoke only the native Cherokee language until he was five years old. </p>
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<p>Later he taught the Cherokee language, helped found a Cherokee language newspaper, and has been a fierce defender of Native American rights. </p>
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<p>And he just happens to have one of the sexiest – and most historically accurate -- Mohawk Mullets you’ve ever seen. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803528012?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803528012?profile=original" width="415" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>No one has a more authentic right to wear one than this Native American hero, Wes Studi</p>
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<p>But he'll probably be flattered if you want to copy his famous Indian haircut . . . if you wear it proudly like he does.</p>
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<p>Wes must be really proud to see famous American athletes copying his Mohawk Mullet and wearing that shocking haircut into athletic stadiums all over the world.</p>
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<p>So, kids . . . if your high school teacher has a problem with your Mohawk Mullet dangling down your back, just ask them if they’ve got a problem with genuine American history. Are they unpatriotic or something? </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803528113?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803528113?profile=original" width="244" class="align-right" height="256"/></a></p>
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<p>Meantime . . . on the other side of the pond, totally independent of the Mohawk Mullet worn by Native Americans, . . . . . Spartan soldiers and Roman Centurions were likewise perfecting the exact same look that came to be known as the Mohawk Mullet . . . but on their helmets instead of their scalps..</p>
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<p>In addition to the bristly tuft on top of the Roman helmet, the proud dangle of loose hair down the ancient Roman soldier's back was a key part of the fierce warrior look.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803528286?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803528286?profile=original" width="236" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>And the fact that warriors of <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">both</span></em> peoples thousands of years ago and 4,000 miles apart, separated by a vast ocean, came up with the same "dangle," totally independent of each other . . . proves conclusively that there is just something intriguingly masculine about the daring Mohawk Mullet . . . the warrior image.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803531566?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803531566?profile=original" width="209" class="align-right"/></a>So, if you love <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">regular</span></em> Mohawks just for the sheer shock value – just for the in-your-face fun of getting stared at and watching people’s jaws drop . . . then you’ll love the Mohawk <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Mullet</span></em> twice as much . . . . because people will notice it twice as often . . . and be twice as jealous of you for having the balls to flaunt it in public. Get ready for lots of admirers asking if they can get their picture taken beside you.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Just when the Mohawk itself is starting to be a little bit more ordinary, because it’s now a bit more acceptable on the job and in polite society . . . along comes the even <em><u>more</u></em> shocking Mohawk <em><u>Mullet</u></em> to make you stand out even <em><u>more</u></em> glaringly in public. Enjoy the hell out of it!!! You only live once, right?</p>
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<p>It’s now beginning to show up more and more on football, rugby, and soccer teams – and in team initiations.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803531673?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803531673?profile=original" width="166" class="align-left"/></a>What makes a Mohawk Mullet so sexy? Well, art is all about contrast, right?. And I guess maybe it’s the stark, jaw-dropping contrast between the pale,totally shaven scalp and the long, loose, extra-slender lock of hair cascading down over that shaven skull and dangling enticingly partway down his back – <u>not in a ponytail</u> but rather in a cascade of loose, fluffy hair. </p>
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<p>By being attached to the bottom of the regular Mohawk scalp lock, the dangling mullet draws even more attention to the shorter scalp lock itself . . . kicks it up a couple of additional clicks and throws even more of a spotlight on the scalp lock atop your shaven scalp because of the contrasting lengths . . . short hair on top, longer hair dangling down the back. Love it!!!</p>
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<p>And . . . uh . . . well, let’s face it. It gives the girls something sexy to run their fingers through. (“Hey, Suzie – want to play with my . . . uh . . . dangling lock?”)</p>
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<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803531747?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803531747?profile=original" width="208" class="align-right"/></a>If you’re already wearing a <em><u>regular</u></em> Mohawk – like I am -- then you already know that girls are constantly asking you, “Can I feel your scalp lock?” Sometimes several times a day – total strangers. </p>
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<p>For them, there’s something incredibly sexy about running their hand over that narrow, bristly tuft of hair, standing out against your shaven scalp – sort of like the tingly feeling of running your hand over the bristles of a shoe brush.</p>
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<p>Very sensual.</p>
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<p>Well, the girls tell me it’s even sexier to play with the fascinating, tactile contrast between the short bristles of your scalp lock and the extra-long, narrow lock spilling down your back. Kind of the yin-and-yang of the Mohawk feel. Twice the fun for the girls’ fingers!!! What’s not to like?</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803531651?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803531651?profile=original" width="252" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>In another blog on this Website, I discussed the fact that the <em><u>regular</u></em> Mohawk was originally an initiation haircut – at least for us non-Indians . . . . going all the way back to 1778 at the birth of our nation when the Shawnee Indians captured the most famous early-American explorer of therm all, Daniel Boone,</p>
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<p>The Indians initiated Boone into their tribe by giving him a Mohawk . . . the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>painful</em></span> way . . . by plucking out all his hair strand-by-strand, except for leaving a bristly tuft down the middle of his head . . . a long and painful initiation depicted in this early 1940s “Classic Comics” illustration for children. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2653866599?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2653866599?profile=original" width="260" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>For the next 190 years, the Mohawk remained primarily an initiation haircut – as tens of thousands of college and high school freshmen and rookie football players went through essentially the same initiation ritual that Daniel Boone endured -- but much more humanely with hair clippers instead of hair-pulling <strong>. . .</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532928?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532928?profile=original" width="470" class="align-left"/></a></strong></p>
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<p><strong>. . .</strong> until these American paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division adopted it as a combat haircut during the Normandy Invasion on D-Day in the Second World War <strong>. . . </strong></p>
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<p><strong>. . . </strong>cutting a combat Mohawk ("warhawk") the really <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>hard</em></span> way.</p>
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<p>With a razor-sharp trench knife.</p>
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<p>Well, at least it's one step better than plucking.</p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2653864613?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2653864613?profile=original" width="385" class="align-right"/></a></strong></p>
<p>Punk rockers (after the war) -- having seen these famous newspaper photos of Mohawked paratroopers on D-day -- adopted the in-your-face haircut as a way of extending a middle finger to grown-ups.</p>
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<p>If those paratroopers adopted the military-style Mohawk as a way to intimidate the Nazis (which they claimed was exactly why they did it) <strong>. . . </strong></p>
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<p><strong>. . . </strong>then teenagers figured that same shocking haircut would be an equally great way to intimidate their parents and intimidate polite society.</p>
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<p>But how and why did Americans suddenly start growing long tails on the end of Mohawks that had heretofore been crewcut-short?</p>
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<p>Well, you can probably blame it on a super-tough college football star with a love for bizarre haircuts.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533191?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533191?profile=original" width="259" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>DID "THE BOZ" INVENT THE MODERN MOHAWK MULLET???</strong></span></p>
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<p>As far as I can determine, the very first modern Mohawk <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>Mullet</em></span> -- perhaps the very first person to grow a long tail on the end of his Mohawk --seems to have been a flamboyant but incredibly gifted inside linebacker for the University of Oklahoma, Brian Bosworth, later drafted by the Seattle Seahawks.</p>
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<p>Bosworth -- famous for his radical, eye-catching haircuts that he seems to have invented -- was known to millions of his fanatical fans as "The Boz."</p>
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<p>More than 30 years ago, back around 1985, as a way to supposedly intimidate opposing linemen on the football field, "The Boz" brilliantly combined a sexy-looking, bleached blond Mohawk with a dangling lock in the back. In those early days, nobody called it a Mohawk <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>Mullet</em></span>. They just called it "The Boz Haircut." High school and college football players all over the U.S. suddenly became Boz look-alikes. And the girls went wild over the daring new look.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533310?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533310?profile=original" width="244" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>Thirty years later in 2014,another college linebacker from the University of Nevada by the name of Brock Hekking -- later drafted by the Los Angeles Chargers but now a free agent -- likewise became famous for the jaw-dropping blond Mohawk Mullet that he admits he copied from his hero, "The Boz." </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533438?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533438?profile=original" width="298" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Sportswriters, calling it "The Macho Mane," hailed Hekking as having "the best hair in college football," and girls all over America were dying to run their fingers through the blond,locks dangling from the back of his sexy Mohawk. </p>
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<p>Hekking did more for the Mohawk Mullet than Campbell did for soup.</p>
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<p>Like his hero of 30 years earlier -- The Boz -- Hekking says he did it to intimidate opposing football teams. (Same reason those World War Two paratroopers did it.)</p>
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<p><img width="387" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533552?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="387" class="align-right"/></p>
<p>His fellow football players told Hekking that -- with that spectacular Mohawk Mullet of his -- once his football career is over, he could have a great future in professional wrestling <strong>. . .</strong> .</p>
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<p><strong>. . .</strong> where Mohawk Mullets are wildly popular with fans. </p>
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<p>Notice any resemblance between this professional wrestler and footballer Hekking? I think we're definitely onto something here. Brock, I think if I were you, I'd be picking out a good pair of wrestling trunks.</p>
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<p>One of Hekking's line coaches said, "Can't you just see him jumping off the top rope" and smashing some poor wrestling jobber? Yes, I think I can.</p>
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<p>(Notice that this wrestler's partner is also wearing a Mohawk Mullet.)</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533718?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="223" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533718?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="223" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Hekking admits that wrestling is "Plan B" when football has run its course. </p>
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<p>As one sportswriter put it, "Mohawk Mullets in wrestling are like fir trees in Oregon -- fairly abundant." So, if he's smart, Hekking will hang onto that spectacular haircut. It's money in the bank. Not just professional wrestling -- but. hey, can Hollywood be far behind with that blond "macho mane?" </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803556061?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803556061?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>This artist's sketch of the stunning Mohawk mullet worn by the character Daken in Marvel Comics' "Iceman" series is one of the hottest Mohawk Mullets I've ever seen.</p>
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<p>Wow!!!</p>
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<p>The mullet-style Mohawk looks especially eye-catching when the tail is grown long and loose and hanging halfway down the back like this one so that no one can possibly miss it.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803556249?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803556249?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>And here's that same iconic Mohawk Mullet worn by actor / martial arts fighter Scott Adkin while playing the movie version of Daken. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803556300?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803556300?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803556401?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803556401?profile=original" width="358" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>Wrestlers -- always looking for radical, eye-catching haircuts to attract the fans -- have probably done as much to popularize the Mohawk Mullet as "The Boz" and Hekking' did.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557066?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557066?profile=original" width="289" class="align-left" height="221"/></a></p>
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<p>This professional wrestler -- Enzo Amore -- sports a stunning <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">two-tone</span></em> Mohawk mullet.</p>
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<p>Nice!!!</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557253?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557253?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>And here's pro wrestler Enzo Amore with a fascinating variation on his truly creative Mohawk mullet.</p>
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<p>I love the way his tail spouts abruptly from the very bottom of his Mohawk instead of higher up. Much more eye-catching that way. Looks like one of those great NFL initiation haircuts.</p>
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<p>I think I would have preferred the tail just falling loosely down his back without the rubber band.</p>
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<p>But . . . well . . . on second thought . . . Jeez, it's damned sexy.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557476?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="366" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557476?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="366" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>These Mexican "Lucha Libre" wrestlers have trimmed their wrestling masks to fit neatly around their truly <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">awesome</span></em> Mohawk Mullets.</p>
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<p>Love the long blond tail dangling down his back.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557727?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="750" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557727?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="493" class="align-right" height="285"/></a></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong> </strong>Wow!!!</span> </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557959?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557959?profile=original" width="460" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p> <span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cool!!!</span></p>
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<p><a width="332" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558138?profile=RESIZE_480x480" target="_self"><img width="332" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558138?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="332" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>Here's the Mohawk Mulleted wrestler known as "Master Blaster."</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558083?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558083?profile=original" width="308" class="align-left" height="374"/></a></p>
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<p>"Animal" of the Road Warriors wrestling tag team had this great Mohawk Mullet.tumbling partway down his naked back.</p>
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<p>Nice!!!</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558478?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558478?profile=original" width="258" class="align-right" height="310"/></a></p>
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<p>As did wrestler Braun Strowman.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803559342?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803559342?profile=original" width="379" class="align-left" height="248"/></a></p>
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<p>And this unfortunate wrestler -- who lost his match after betting his hair -- is forced to kneel and submit to having his head forcibly shaved into a Mohawk Mullet right there in the ring in front of thousands of delighted wrestling fans, who are relishing every moment of his public humiliation. </p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803559486?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803559486?profile=original" width="418" class="align-right" height="466"/></a></span></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>THE MOHAWK MULLET SPREADS FROM WRESTLING TO MIXED MARTIAL</strong> <strong>ARTS </strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">Once professional wrestling adopted the eye-catching Mohawk Mullet, it was probably inevitable that the shocking haircut would spread to wrestling's distant cousin MMA and wire cage matches-- which combine wrestling, boxing and other combat skills <strong>. . . .</strong> </span></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803559854?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803559854?profile=original" width="300" class="align-left"/></a> </strong></p>
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<p><strong>. . .</strong> thus further cementing the daring Mohawk Mullet as a super-macho warrior haircut.</p>
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<p>Below are a couple of additional MMA fighters with Mohawk Mullets.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803560496?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="198" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803560496?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="198" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803560600?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803560600?profile=original" width="245" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803560731?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="206" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803560731?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="206" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 12pt;"><strong>A FAMOUS WORLD SERIES PITCHER GROWS THE MOST AWESOME MOHAWK MULLET OF ALL</strong></span></span></p>
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<p>Meantime . . . sometime around 2014, at roughly the same time that Hekking was becoming famous for his stunning, blond "macho mane," . . . a widely known World Series pitcher named Brian Wilson debuted his own eye-catching black-colored Mohawk Mullet. </p>
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<p>Earlier, back in 2010 when he helped the San Francisco Giants win the World Series, Wilson had been famous for his plain old Mohawk (combined with his massive, even more famous pitch-black beard) . . . even showing up Mohawked on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno . . . pulling a black leather BDSM mask out of his pocket and showing it to Jay . . . making him even more daring and intriguing.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564285?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="277" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564285?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="277" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>But sometime around 2013 when he moved to the Los Angeles Dodgers, Wilson grew a spectacular tail on his Mohawk . . . turning it into a full-blown, unabashed Mohawk Mullet . . . and helping to further popularize the Mohawk Mullet when his own version of the "macho mane" began appearing in newspapers and on TV. </p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803575113?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="231" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803575113?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="231" class="align-left"/></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>. . . </strong>producing one of the gutsiest, most memorable Mohawk Mullets we've ever seen</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564056?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564056?profile=original" width="243" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>Way to go, Brian!!! Lookin' great!!!</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803575637?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="315" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803575637?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="315" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>And here's yet another major league baseball player sporting a truly memorable Mohawk Mullet.</p>
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<p>He's Josh Donaldson, third baseman for the Toronto Blue Jays.</p>
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<p>And if his Mohawk Mullet looks a little bit like a Viking warrior . . . well, he is indeed a huge fan of the History Channel's series called "Vikings."</p>
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<p>Such a big fan that when the producers saw his great Mohawk Mullet, they quickly drafted him for a cameo role in the blockbuster TV series.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803575917?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="432" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803575917?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="432" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Here's a shot of Josh in the movie studio's barber chair, letting them shave the sides of his Mohawk Mullet even balder to turn him into a Viking.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803576086?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803576086?profile=original" width="308" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>And here's how Josh looked in the actual film with his Viking-style Mohawk Mullet. Wow!!! After seeing him on "Vikings," thousands of American men rushed out to get a haircut just like his.</p>
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<p>Now if we can just get him and Brian Wilson on the same baseball team <strong>. . . </strong></p>
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<p><strong>. . .</strong> or get Brian a role in the Viking series <strong>. . . </strong></p>
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<p><strong>. . .</strong> we can have a whole major league team of Mohawk Mullets.</p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803576214?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="362" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803576214?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="362" class="align-left"/></a></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>INTERNATIONAL SOCCER SUPER-STAR NEYMAR SPORTS A REALLY NEAT MOHAWK MULLET</strong></span> <strong>. . . </strong></p>
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<p><strong>. . . </strong>thus inspiring thousands of his young soccer fans to rush to their own barbershops to copy the iconic Neymar Mull-hawk. .</p>
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<p>Could have been just a skosh longer on the dangle, since it's the dangle that makes a Mohawk Mullet so sexy.</p>
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<p>But, hey, on a scale of one to ten, Neymar's still scores a hefty eight.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803586888?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="278" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803586888?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="278" class="align-right"/></a></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>NATIVE AMERICAN RAPPER ADDS TO POPULARITY OF MOHAWK MULLET</strong></span></p>
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<p>Sometime after 2011, yet another part-Cherokee Indian -- rap star Yelawolf -- adopted the Mohawk Mullet as his professional look <strong>. . .</strong> a haircut that his Native American ancestors actually invented <strong>. .</strong> <strong>.</strong> </p>
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<p>Thus adding to the haircut's popularity, as some young Americans loved the look and began copying the "Yelawolf haircut."</p>
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<p>His mother was a Cherokee Indian. He said in the Cherokee language, <span>Yela represents light, the sun, power, fire, hunger and Wolf represents my ability to survive… my fierceness." And the haircut didn't exactly hurt.</span></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803586938?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803586938?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a>ROCK SINGER KEENAN ROCKS A REALLY GREAT MOHAWK MULLET</strong></span></p>
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<p>Vocalist Maynard James Keenan with the rock band Tool rocked a really great Mohawk Mullet.</p>
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<p>Now THAT'S the way to do a <strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">real</span></strong> Mohawk Mullet!!!</p>
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<p>Nice 'do!!!</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603094?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603094?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>This one is a little too tall for my personal taste. </p>
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<p>In my opinion the extra height draws too much attention away from the really great Mullet portion..</p>
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<p>Cutting the height by <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">half</span></em> I think would improve it.</p>
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<p>But, hey . . . he's got a really sexy "dangle" down his back!!!</p>
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<p>He sure got <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">that</span></em> part right.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603208?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603208?profile=original" width="194" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Here, on the left is a really, <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">really</span></em> long variation from the cast of "Vikings."</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603327?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="316" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603327?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="272" class="align-right" height="269"/></a>Yes, the one on the right is a totally <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">different</span></em> type of Mohawk Mullet. </p>
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<p>I shouldn't like it . . . but dammit, I do!!!</p>
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<p>I really admire this guy for having the guts to wear it. Amazing creativity with the clippers!!!</p>
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<p>Technically I guess you could call it a flattop mullet with a fascinating "landing strip" on top shaved totally bald.. It's almost a "reverse Mohawk," but with a delightfully long, fluffy mullet attached to the back.. But I suppose the shaved sides qualify it as a Mohawk Mullet. </p>
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<p>When he posted this photo online, one female fan posted an online response saying: "I'd love to run my fingers through this guy's sexy haircut. I'd just love to feel all the different <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">textures</span></em> in it with my fingers . . . the bristly tuft . . . the top shaved bald . . .. and best of all, I'd like to play with that fluffy tail hanging down his back!!!" Her online comment just proves again that <strong>THE MOST FUN THING ABOUT WEARING A MOHAWK IS SO MANY PEOPLE JUST DYING TO FEEL IT. </strong></p>
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<p>Yes, I know some guys hate having people touch their Mohawk for fear they'll mess it up. But, for me, I love it when people ask if they can feel my Mohawk. It's the nicest compliment of all. I lower my head and say, "Sure, go ahead and feel it to your heart's content." It's one of life's most sensual experiences.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603567?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="234" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603567?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="234" class="align-right"/></a>One of the sexiest experiences I ever had was many years ago when I finally got up enough courage to wear my freshly shaved Mohawk to the standing-room-only crowd in the back of a closely packed, darkened theater. A woman I had never met suddenly pressed herself up against my back and silently began playing with my scalp lock, running her fingers back and forth endlessly along my bristly tuft . . . never introducing herself . . . never asking permission. I never saw her face.</p>
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<p>She played with it all through the last act of the play. I could hear her rapid breathing behind me, and I could feel her warm breath on the back of my freshly shaven scalp. She whispered softly in my ear from behind, "I just love the feel of your Mohawk." Those were the only words she spoke. I wish my military style Mohawk at the time had had a nice long mullet hanging partway down my back for her to play with.. </p>
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<p>And then, just before the house lights came up, she quietly slipped away into the darkened theater, and I never saw her. Never spoke with her. I popped a stiffy, which made it embarrassing walking out of the theater all tented up. But I loved every minute of it!!! Decades later, I remember her with pleasure every time I trim my scalp lock. Dear lady of my dreams. Please come back someday and play with my Mohawk again.</p>
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<p>I might even grow a mullet tail on it for you to play with. That makes a Mohawk <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">twice</span></em> as much fun to touch. ..</p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong><img width="357" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603750?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="357" class="align-left"/>THE WILDLY POPULAR "TOUGH MUDDER" OBSTACLE RACES ALL OVER THE U.S. FURTHER POPULARIZE THE MOHAWK MULLET AS A SYMBOL OF TOUGHNESS</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">Those tough races where average civilians get to play at being weekend warriors to raise money for charity -- wallowing in mud, over obstacles and under barbed wire in a rough approximation of the Army's Ranger course while wearing tough-looking Mohawk haircuts -- further popularized Mohawk Mullets.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603950?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803603950?profile=original" width="300" class="align-right"/></a></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">"Tough Mudder" obstacle courses all over the U.S. make a huge point of erecting barbershop tents with signs offering free Mohawks and Mullets to all the contestants -- or a combination Mohawk-Mullet.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604225?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="208" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604225?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="208" class="align-left"/></a></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">By the time the endurance race is over, there's a huge pile of hair in the barber tent, as guys actually line up to submit to the clippers . . . turning a voluntary haircut initiation into a really <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">fun</span></em>, eagerly anticipated event -- especially the haircut. What a perfect excuse to get that macho Mohawk every guy always wanted to wear at least once in his lifetime. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">What a great sight!!! . . . sometimes hundreds of Mohawked athletes crawling through the mud and climbing over walls..</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;">When the Tough Mudder contestants show up at work Monday morning, proudly sporting their Mohawk or Mohawk Mullet, it's proof to all their buddies that they had balls enough to endure the Tough Mudder initiation and become weekend warriors.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604414?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604414?profile=original" width="294" class="align-right"/></a></span></p>
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<p>This Tough Mudder participant says originally he had planned to shave off his scalp lock the day after the obstacle race before he went back to work. But he ended up loving his Mohawk Mullet initiation haircut so much, he just couldn't bring himself to part with it. </p>
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<p>He kept it for days or weeks. Right on, Dude!!!<span> </span></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604540?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604540?profile=original" width="302" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>And the businessman in this photo likewise found it difficult to part with his Tough Mudder Mohawk when Monday morning came -- so he too proudly wore it to work, ignoring all the stares. He explains better than anyone else ever has, why Mohawks (and Mohawk Mullets) are such a powerful, visible symbol of commitment to a team. </p>
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<p>"As I walked into the office on Monday morning, I caught a glance of myself in the reflection of our front door and smiled. I was still sporting my bristly Mohawk from this past weekend. Probably not the most professional fashion statement to make, but one I was quite proud of. Yes, proud – not because I’ve always secretly wanted to ‘rock a hawk’ since I saw Mr. T in the 80′s, but because I'm proud of what it symbolizes."</p>
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<p>Right on, dude!!! He probably came closer to explaining the <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">incredibly</span></em> powerful attraction to Mohawks that only those of us who love them can ever hope to explain.</p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604774?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604774?profile=original" width="453" class="align-right"/></a></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>THE "MAD MAX" MOVIE SERIES REVS UP THE FAD FOR MOHAWK MULLETS ANOTHER COUPLE OF CLICKS</strong></span></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605074?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605074?profile=original" width="178" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Wow, nice mullet, dude!!!</p>
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<p>As long as the collar and leash don't come with the haircut.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605402?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605402?profile=original" width="211" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>NOW EVEN AVERAGE GUYS ARE WEARING MOHAWK MULLETS</strong></span></p>
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<p>Meantime, sports heroes, professional wrestlers, movie stars,and Tough Mudder endurance contestants weren't the only ones having their hair shaved into jaw-dropping Mohawk Mullets.and getting stared at.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605709?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605709?profile=original" width="211" class="align-left"/></a>The popular fad quickly spread to the general population.</p>
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<p>These guys cut it <em><span>perfectly</span></em>!!! Great Job!!! . .</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605598?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803605598?profile=original" width="247" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Ordinary guys like you and me began handing the clippers to their buddies and asking them to carve them a Mohawk Mullet . . . so they could scare the bejabbers out of Mom. </p>
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<p>And what's more fun than that?</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606015?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606015?profile=original" width="326" class="align-right" height="314"/></a></p>
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<p>This guy, asked why he had his friends shave his hair into this beautiful haircut -- truly one of the all-time greatest Mohawk Mullets -- he said he did it while he was still a college student . . . </p>
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<p>. . . because he realized it might be his last chance to shock people with such an eye-popping haircut before he had to settle down into a boring 9-to-5 job.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606092?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="208" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606092?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="208" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Uh . . . well . . . maybe not . . . if this great haircut keeps on gaining in popularity.</p>
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<p>After all . . . remember when the flat-top was considered too radical for businessmen? </p>
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<p>Now the once-radical flattop has been taken over by conservative businessmen.</p>
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<p>So 30 years from now, will this really great haircut be showing up in corporate board rooms? Don't laugh. It could happen.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803588557?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="396" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803588557?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="351" class="align-right" height="299"/></a></p>
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<p> Or this sexy haircut?</p>
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<p> Notice how far down his back it tumbles.</p>
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<p> Love it!!! </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606588?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606588?profile=original" width="265" class="align-left" height="304"/></a></p>
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<p>I'm not really a big fan of scalp tattoos . . . and I'd like to see this guy straighten the scalp lock on top into a perfectly straight, consistent width, especially in front..</p>
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<p>But otherwise this is one of the best darn Mohawk Mullets I've seen.</p>
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<p>I especially like the extra-long dangle partway down his back.</p>
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<p>Wow!!! Truly daring!!!. . . Nice 'do.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606853?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="243" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803606853?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="243" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>Even young boys have got the hang of pulling off the perfect, loose dangle partway down his back. Nice job, kid!!! Beautifully cut!!! Perfect length on top, and perfect length to the dangle. Your Mohawked Dad would be proud of you!!!</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803632003?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="229" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803632003?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="188" class="align-left" height="193"/></a></p>
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<p>.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633059?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803658889?profile=original" width="115" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803659061?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="213" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803659061?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="213" class="align-right"/></a></p>
<p>So maybe in another decade, having your kid come home from high school with a delightful splash of hair cascading down over his backpack from the end of his Mohawk <strong>. . .</strong></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>. . .</strong> will be no more unusual than having him come home with a flattop.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Meantime, hang in there, kids.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Mom will get used to it sooner than you think. </p>
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<p>Hey, nice look, kid.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803659104?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="192" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803659104?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="192" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Of course, <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">some</span></em> Mohawk Mullets may take a <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">little</span></em> bit longer for Mom to get used to. .</p>
<p></p>
<p>But, hey, it's still sexy as hell!!!</p>
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<p>He's having fun . . . and that's what counts, right?</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803660351?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="286" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803660351?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="286" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>BUT WHY THE THREE DECADE GAP </strong></span>between the very first Mohawk Mullet in the sporting world -- shaved into the head of "The Boz" -- and that <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">great</span></em> "macho mane" that suddenly showed up on linebacker Hekking's head more than 30 years later?</p>
<p></p>
<p>Your guess is as good as mine. </p>
<p></p>
<p>But I have a theory.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Read on.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803660377?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="255" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803660377?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="255" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>DID NFL HAIRCUT HAZING INSPIRE THE MODERN-DAY MOHAWK MULLET???</strong></span></p>
<p></p>
<p>I suspect the <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>modern</em></span> return of the Mohawk Mullet -- once worn 250 years ago only by Native American warriors -- may possibly have been inspired by the annual NFL haircut initiation rituals.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Notice a resemblance between a Mohawk Mullet and this initiation haircut inflicted on a rookie by the Denver Broncos -- who have perfected haircut hazing into a fun-filled, eagerly anticipated fine art? </p>
<p></p>
<p>This rookie's mutilated haircut derives its shock effect from precisely the same startling contrast seen on Mohawk Mullets -- the shocking contrast between pale scalps shaven egg bald and the long strands of hair left on the back of the bald heads to dangle down the player's back. This rookie's initiation haircut looks sort of like a Mohawk Mullet with the top part shaved off -- right? I think the team veterans wielding these clippers were definitely onto something big They were on the verge of re-inventing the Mull-Hawk..</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803660783?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="366" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803660783?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="366" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>The fact that this bizarre initiation look was quickly copied by veterans on other NFL teams -- and by high school and college initiation rituals all over the U.S. -- suggests that many people actually thought the sight of long strands of hair dangling down the back of a shaven head actually looked . . . uh . . . well . . . kind of cool <strong>. . .</strong></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong>. . .</strong> especially for those of us who actually enjoy being stared at . . . as (let's be totally honest) ALL wearers of Mohawks do . . . or else they wouldn't be shaving their heads into Mohawks. Right?.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803663279?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="270" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803663279?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="270" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p>So . . . just take that long strand of hair dangling down the back of a shaven initiate . . . and connect it up to a bristly strip of short hair on top, and . . . BINGO!!! Behold the Mohawk Mullet.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Just as closely-shaven crewcuts forcibly inflicted on millions of American soldiers and Marines during the Second World War (as an initiation into military service) led to a whole generation of postwar teenagers enthusiastically paying barbers to shave off their hair <strong>. . .</strong> and just as initiation Mohawks (beginning with Daniel Boone 240 years ago) led to tens of thousands of teenagers eagerly volunteering to have their heads shaved into Mohawks <strong>. . .</strong> it's my suspicion that those "really cool" NFL haircut initiations, with the long, dangling locks atop shaven heads, very likely led to large numbers of American athletes and non-athletes lining up voluntarily for Mohawk Mullets. </p>
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<p><br/> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803663387?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="175" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803663387?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="175" class="align-right"/></a> </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803663387?profile=original" target="_self"></a>I can't prove it. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803663339?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="334" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803663339?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="334" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>But I suppose it's as good an explanation for the invention of the Mohawk Mullet as any other, right?</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803663902?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="263" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803663902?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="263" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>Upper-classmen carving up the hair of hapless freshmen with hair clippers were inadvertently developing a whole new art form. And freshmen who voluntarily submitted to the clippers, often emerged with strange new haircuts that seemed to come awfully close to what finally emerged as the full-blown Mohawk Mullet. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803664401?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="209" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803664401?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="209" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Nobody else has ever remarked on it . . . but it's downright amazing how many basic -- and highly popular -- American hairstyles actually originated as forcible initiation haircuts . . . until guys finally decided that . . . uh . . . the haircut hazing actually looked pretty cool.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542187?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="211" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542187?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="211" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>Did the upperclassmen who carved up this high school freshman's hair have at least the bare beginnings of a Mohawk Mullet with that cute little patch on the back of his shaved head?</p>
<p></p>
<p>Is this the beginning of a great idea???.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803674780?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="196" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803674780?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="196" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p></p>
<p>This initiation haircut was getting a bit closer to inventing the Mull-hawk. </p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>Almost</em></span> there . . . but not quite.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803675028?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="290" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803675028?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="290" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>The Denver Broncos were getting the closest yet to the invention of the Mull-hawk with this haircut ritual for an unfortunate rookie in the locker room.</p>
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<p>Hey, guys -- just carve off a little more under the ears with those clippers, and I think we're there!!!</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803675229?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="338" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803675229?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="338" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>So if you're an upper-classman or a veteran team member taking a pair of clippers to the hair of that freshman or rookie <strong>. . .</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803675345?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="246" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803675345?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="246" class="align-right"/></a></strong></p>
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<p><strong>. . .</strong> be aware . . . you may be inadvertently creating tomorrow's fashion trend. </p>
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<p>Who knew?. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Hey, I like really this one.</p>
<p></p>
<p>I hope he enjoyed the initiation.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533468?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="248" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533468?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="248" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Here's just one of the surprising number of guys who see newspaper photos of initiation haircuts -- and actually <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">like</span></em> the totally radical, rebellious, in-your-face look enough to <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">pay</span></em> their regular barbers to recreate some of the hazing <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>voluntarily</em></span> . . . and then enjoy the hell out of getting stared at. Great fun!!! </p>
<p></p>
<p>I especially like the way he left a totally separate tuft of hair -- completely disconnected from the rest of his Mohawk -- tumbling down his back in a mullet.. </p>
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<p>Wow!!! Truly creative!!!. </p>
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<p>This guy has balls.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803679714?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="325" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803679714?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="325" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>WITHOUT INITIATIONS, WOULD MASCULINE HAIR FASHIONS BECOME . . . WELL . . . DOWNRIGHT BORING???</strong></span></p>
<p></p>
<p>Uh <strong>. . .</strong> well <strong>. .</strong> yeah, probably.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Who else has enough guts to experiment with truly drastic new looks?</p>
<p></p>
<p>Wouldn't masculine hair fashions be kind of blah . . . without the occasional chance to have lots of fun shocking people? </p>
<p></p>
<p>Go figure.</p>
<p></p>
<p> # # #</p>
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<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>PART TWO: "THE FUN OF INITIATION HAIRCUTS"tag:www.mohawksrock.com,2017-07-29:1501994:BlogPost:8390002017-07-29T06:30:00.000ZScalped 442https://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/Californian442
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-7" style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>(PART TWO)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-5" style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><span class="font-size-6">"THE FUN OF INITIATION HAIRCUTS"…</span></strong></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;" class="font-size-7"><strong>(PART TWO)</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;" class="font-size-5"><strong><span class="font-size-6">"THE FUN OF INITIATION HAIRCUTS"</span></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><span class="font-size-5"><strong><span class="font-size-6"><span class="font-size-3">(HAIRCUT HAZING, FRESHMAN HAIRCUTS, ROOKIE HAIRCUTS)</span></span></strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong><span class="font-size-3">(If you missed Part One, click <a href="http://www.mohawksrock.com/profiles/blogs/the-great-fun-of-initiation-haircuts?xg_source=activity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HERE</a>)</span></strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510597?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510597?profile=original" width="302" class="align-right"/></a>HIGH SCHOOL SWIM TEAM HAS DELIGHTFUL ANNUAL INITIATION RITUAL</b></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>For more than 30 years, this high school swim team shown on the left has had a cherished tradition of initiation rituals in which they shave the heads of freshmen just joining the team into Mohawks and other humiliating designs. </p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510778?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510778?profile=original" width="270" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>But the freshmen "victims" love it and look forward to it every year for the powerful sense of bonding that it brings. On the 2010 initiation night shown in these photos, 23 swimmers were carved up by the 17 upperclassmen who had their own heads shaved in previous years. They figured if they could take it and enjoy it, so could the new initiates. They were right.</p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511304?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511304?profile=original" width="369" class="align-right"/></a>“I look awesome,” said the victim on the right whose shaven head was left with short tufts of dirty blond hair extending outward from his ears. “I belong on the cover of ‘People’ magazine.” He said the event is an initiation rite that all newcomers have come to expect.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512280?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a> “This is a really good swimming program," he said, as the upperclassmen stiffened the remaining hair over his ears to make the tufts protrude more.. “But it comes with consequences.” And the consequences are submitting to a humiliating haircut that gets stared at for a few days. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513048?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513048?profile=original" width="320" class="align-left"/></a>“My life is over,” said the guy on the left with a grin as he felt the bull's eye shaved into his scalp. But the night was just beginning for the boys participating in a head-shaving ritual that has been in place since 1980. Every year, the team stages this pasta feast and shaving ceremony prior to its biggest meet of the state tournament, where the first-year members of the team go under the razor at the hands of their upperclassman teammates. There were a few Mohawks, always a popular initiation haircut, along with the more bizarre designs. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Because the school has strict rules, their heads must be cleanly shaven by the time the swimmers appear back on school grounds. But with winter break conveniently scheduled the following week, the athletes had a few extra days to enjoy sporting their initiation haircuts, so they can prove to everyone that they had the balls to go through the initiation.. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513443?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513443?profile=original" width="280" class="align-right"/></a>The coach, who submitted to having his own head shaved as a freshman in 1988, said the tradition began as a team bonding experience meant to intimidate opponents. But he said over the years, creativity in the haircuts has become as important as intimidation. As an extra incentive, he promised the athletes that if they won that year's state title, he'd let them shave his own head "as ugly as that'll be." We never heard whether he managed to hold onto his hair. Hopefully not.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But since he too had already been through it as a freshman 22 years earlier, he should be able to endure a little embarrassment for the sake of his athletes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513624?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513624?profile=original" width="457" class="align-left"/></a>CALIFORNIA SWIM TEAM INITIATION:</b> </span></p>
<p></p>
<p>The freshmen shaved in this memorable California swim team initiation were expected to wear their humiliating haircuts to school the next day so the entire student body could see what was done to them. One of the seniors said of the freshman haircuts: “we are just a normal school with dedicated swimmers who get embarrassed the next day at school after the seniors shave the freshmen.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> Another person who was present for the swim team initiation posted this comment: “The seniors created some lovely masterpieces on the freshman boys' heads that will undoubtedly get them more attention than they want at school tomorrow. We hope the shaving helps them all swim faster this week.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513747?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513747?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a>Embarrassing, yes. But at another California high school a short distance away, the school newspaper said actually the shaving of freshmen soccer players by the seniors is.an eagerly anticipated annual event that the entire school looks forward to with great anticipation. The whole school can’t wait to see what new humiliations the seniors have inflicted on the new crop of freshmen. And the shaven freshmen, in return, get a tremendous sense of belonging by supplying the whole school with a few laughs at their own expense.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A crazy haircut is the ultimate icebreaker that turns shy kids into the life of the party. It’s healthy. It’s fun. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>And it’s good. </p>
<p><b><u> </u></b></p>
<p><b><u><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803518627?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803518627?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a></u></b></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><b>ANOTHER SWIM TEAM INITIATION:</b></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p>This is one of the best swim team initiations I’ve seen.</p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p>He’ll have fun wearing that one!!!</p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
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<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803518885?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803518885?profile=original" width="345" class="align-right"/></a>Swim teams have often been able to get away with freshman initiation haircuts easier than other athletic teams. Since it’s a widespread tradition for <u>everyone</u> on a swim team to shave their heads completely bald before a big race – to reduce drag and thereby swim faster -- , that makes it almost impossible for principals to argue with any logic that the team is picking on freshmen by shaving just a portion of their hair – before everyone on the team goes completely bald. What’s wrong with leaving a little extra bit of the hair on freshmen for just two or three days? </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Kudos to all the swim teams that seize on that technicality to preserve the great fun of freshman haircuts. </p>
<p></p>
<p>One former swimming team member:at another school posted this glowing praise for initiation haircuts: "I was on a swim team in high school and the boys did all kinds of crazy shaving designs before the state championship. Neither I nor any other shaven student -- nor any of our parents -- would trade the powerful bonding from those shaving parties for anything. It was <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">fantastic!</span></em>!! The ridiculous sensitivity over head-shaving just goes to the absurd political correctness and fears of the unknown that are making childhood nothing but participating trophies for insecure children."</p>
<p></p>
<p><b><span class="font-size-4">A GREAT NEW IDEA: EVEN THE SENIORS GET RE-INITIATED EVERY YEAR:</span></b><b><i><span class="font-size-4"> </span> </i></b></p>
<p>At some schools, a fascinating new tradition is rapidly developing. In order to get around strict anti-hazing rules. On more and more high school and college teams -- as you will see in multiple first-hand accounts below -- either the team’s senior co-captains or, in some cases the entire team volunteers to submit to the haircut initiation again every year for four straight years. Hey, you can’t call it freshman hazing if even the seniors are getting initiated. </p>
<p></p>
<p><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803519411?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="400" class="align-right"/></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803519411?profile=original" target="_self"></a>A couple of decades ago, some seniors on this Northern California high school football team – including these two co-captains – were among the first in the nation to adopt the radical new idea that everybody on the team, including seniors, gets an initiation haircut. They made front-page news in the local newspaper with their startling idea and were greatly admired for volunteering, as upperclassmen, for the head-shaving to set an example of team pride for the freshmen. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>The father of the guy with the great-looking Mohawk in the foreground was a barber, so he did the initial shaving of the team-members. And thereafter each football player’s own father manned the clippers once a week to keep their own son’s Mohawk trimmed for the entire football season. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803519475?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803519475?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a>The seniors and captains admitted they got stared at when they wore their team haircuts in public and at games – but they said the head-shaving inspired the whole town to support the team. Wow – what gutsy kids!!!</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803519490?profile=original" target="_self"></a>The team bonding is ten times more powerful if <i><u>all</u></i> the team members are walking around the campus for a week or two with embarrassing initiation haircuts . . . when the <i><u>entire</u></i> team voluntarily shares the embarrassment together. It becomes a highly visible emblem of <i><u>intense</u></i> team pride. But, equally important, it also lets the entire student body bond with the team . . . because it lets all the other students see exactly </p>
<p><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803519490?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></p>
<p>who’s on the team by spotting those jaw-dropping haircuts. </p>
<p></p>
<p>When I attended a very large university, a lot of the football team members were in my daily classes. But I had no idea which ones they were. They blended in with the other anonymous students. But at those schools where the entire team gets initiated every year – not just the freshmen -- it lets everyone on campus know which guys are representing them on the team.. . . so they can be proud of them.</p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p>For an example of one California high school soccer team that that has adopted the “everybody gets initiated” idea with enormous success, see the following item below.</p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803520764?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="275" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803520764?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="275" class="align-left"/></a>DELIGHTFUL HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER TEAM HAIRCUT TRADITION:</b> </span></p>
<p></p>
<p>This soccer team at one of Northern California’s most highly respected high schools has adopted the “everybody gets initiated every year” idea with spectacular success to get around anti-hazing laws. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Upperclassmen on that team told their school newspaper that every winter – just before freshman initiation night -- they scour the Internet for photos of NFL initiation haircuts that they can inflict on their own rookie players. They like sharing the ritual with their NFL heroes.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803520816?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803520816?profile=original" width="191" class="align-right"/></a>It’s an embarrassing ordeal that both the victims and the upperclassmen on that high school soccer team say they eagerly look forward to every year for the <i><u>incredibly</u></i> powerful bonding experience it provides between the rookies and the older players. Nothing – absolutely nothing – creates a bond quite as powerful as all the new freshman players saying to the veteran team members: “I so much want to be a member of your team that I’m going to prove my commitment to the team by voluntarily letting you do anything to my hair that you choose to – and I’ll wear whatever goofy haircut you give me for several days in public so everyone can see my commitment.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>One of the freshman victims on that high school team told the school newspaper: “It’s a really fun initiation – a great school tradition” that he wouldn’t want to miss. “It’s only hair,” he said. “It grows back.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But once all the willing freshman players on this team have had their heads shaved into weird patterns, an extraordinary thing happens. The shaven freshmen are allowed to stand up and feel what’s left of their hair . . . and then all the upperclassmen take their places in the initiation chairs. And all the upperclassmen – including the seniors -- voluntarily submit to the same initiation haircuts to show team unity. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803528230?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="275" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803528230?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="275" class="align-left"/></a>That means that every soccer player goes through four initiations by the time they graduate. The <i><u>everybody</u></i>-gets-initiated-every-year idea is increasingly copied by other schools to get around anti-hazing laws. You can’t call it hazing when even the seniors get initiated. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Freshmen say that seeing the seniors demonstrate their support of the new freshmen by voluntarily submitting to the same embarrassing haircuts every year creates an <i><u>unbelievably</u></i> powerful team bonding.</p>
<p><i><u>Everyone</u></i> leaves the room with a wacky haircut. Next day at school, the entire soccer team shows off their initiation haircuts and poses for photos for the school newspaper (from which these photos are taken). The entire team is expected to wear their</p>
<p><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532738?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-right"/></p>
<p>mutilated haircuts for several days – and during the first big soccer game of the year with a rival team. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Asked what the other team will think of their bizarre haircuts, one of these shaven freshmen said: “They’ll probably laugh at us – but we enjoy it.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532787?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="152" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532787?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="152" class="align-left"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532738?profile=original" target="_self"></a>According to the school newspaper, the entire student body eagerly looks forward every winter to seeing what sort of strange haircuts the soccer team will emerge with. The school newspaper says it’s a “beloved” tradition at the school. The freshmen say it brings a powerful sense of belonging.</p>
<p></p>
<p><span>One player who submitted to the initiation haircut said, "</span><span>It’s a very positive team building activity, It’s fun to receive one [a haircut], and you can show it off as a token of making the varsity squad." </span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>To stay within the anti-hazing laws, any freshman who doesn’t want his hair mutilated is allowed to opt out -- but he’s missing an experience that the victims insist is a cherished highlight of their high school career.</p>
<p> </p>
<p class="p3">Their school newspaper cites a study conducted by two university professors, showing that nine out of 10 students who undergo hazing in college don’t mind the experience at all. The survey said most students perceive hazing as having much more positive benefits than negative, with only 11 percent feeling “stressed out” by the initiations.</p>
<p class="p3">Not wanting to be outdone by the soccer team, the same school’s baseball team members all show their own team spirit by getting Mohawk haircuts for the playoff games every spring. ““When we get the Mohawks for the playoffs we just kind of come alive and we start to hit much better than we did during the regular season,” said one team member. “I think it’s contagious; the Mohawk energy just sort of goes through the team.”</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p3">Kudos to that high school for successfully harnessing the incredible power – and the fun -- of team haircuts.</p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3"><strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532954?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532954?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a>FIREFIGHTER INITIATION: </span></strong>This Native American firefighting "hotshot" team in California had one of the best initiation rituals we've seen anywhere. Rookie firefighters, when graduating from the fire academy, had to allow their instructors to carve Mohawks into their hair. They had to wear the initiation haircuts for everyone to see until they completed their first forest fire assignment, no matter how long it took. What could possibly be a more appropriate initiation for Native American firefighters than . . . Mohawks!!! Fuck yeah!!! </p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3">Man, were they proud of those initiation Mohawks -- because it was stunning visual proof that they had endured some really tough training.</p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3">Then . . . just to show solidarity with the initiates . . . the fire academy instructors took their places in the chairs . . . and allowed the newly initiated rookies to shave Mohawks into the instructors' heads. Wow, what a great way to build team spirit!!!</p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533059?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533059?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a>AMERICA'S ALPINE SKIING WORLD CUP TEAM FOR YEARS HAS HAD FUN WITH IN</strong></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>ITIATION HAIRCUTS</strong></span></p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p><img width="175" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533175?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="175" class="align-left"/></p>
<p class="p3">For years, rookie skiers just joining the World Cup team have cheerfully submitted to the clippers with big grins on their faces as a way to welcome new team members and build team spirit.</p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p></p>
<p class="p3"><span>One veteran team member wielding the clippers at the 2013 World Cup games </span><span> in Garmisch, </span><span>Germany, explained it this way: </span></p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3"><span><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533227?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533227?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-right"/></a></span></p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533300?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></p>
<p class="p3">The rookie haircut tradition started on the team about four years ago, as a fun way to both initiate and include the young rookie into the team.</p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3"><span>"The haircut honors go to the last guy to score his first world cup points, so majority of the time it is a recent rookie.</span></p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3"><span>"It's also an incentive for the rookie because if they get top 15 they get to shave my head, so at some point in my career I’m sure I will be sporting a horrible haircut and you’ll know why." </span> </p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3">. </p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="p3"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533468?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="175" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533468?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="175" class="align-right"/></a></strong></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>SURPRISE!!! FASHION TREND-SETTERS ARE NOW DELIBERATELY COPYING INITIATION HAIRCUTS:</strong></span></p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3"></p>
<p class="p3">It turns out that haircut hazing is so much fun -- who knew??? -- that amazing numbers of Americans -- even the athletes themselves -- are actually <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">paying</span></em> barbers to copy initiation haircuts -- so guys can wear them around town just for the sheer fun of shocking people . . . precisely the same reason that guys love Mohawks.</p>
<p class="p3"> </p>
<p class="p3">Look what the NFL rookies started. Fans want to be just like their athletic heroes -- not just wearing their jersey numbers to the local bar but even proudly copying their initiation haircuts. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803536591?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803536591?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a>SCHOOL PRINCIPAL SUPPORTS THE FUN OF SHAVING FRESHMAN HEADS – IF THE FRESHMEN GET WRITTEN PERMISSION FROM PARENTS: </b></span></p>
<p></p>
<p>One really wise principal at a highly respected boy’s school firmly supports the tradition of freshman head-shaving as a way for the incoming students to visibly demonstrate their support for the school football team – and the students love the ritual. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Here an upperclassman gives a willing freshman a T-cut.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Every year the principal joins in the fun by sending a note home to the fathers of incoming freshmen, saying we’re going to be shaving the heads of the freshmen on Monday as a show of support for the school football team, Please sign this paper if you want to allow your son the fun of getting his head shaved. And then the faculty joins in the fun by letting the kids shave their teachers' heads to show solidarity with the shaven freshmen . . . with the principal himself wielding a pair of clippers. Way to go!!! </p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803537711?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803537711?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a>The kids consider it the most fun-filled event of the entire school year. Wow!!! Great idea!!! What a powerful school tradition. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Almost all the fathers enthusiastically sign the permission slips, allowing their sons’ heads to be shaved – which provides a powerful bonding between fathers and sons. Most fathers frankly enjoy seeing their sons prove their manhood in a rite of passage by enduring an embarrassing initiation haircut. </p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>UPDATE:</strong></span> Recently, a few uptight parents persuaded the school officials to ban the strictly consensual freshman head shaving -- claiming it might be construed as hazing. Huh? When the freshmen wanted the initiation haircut so much they went to all the trouble of persuading their parents to sign permission slips so they could be shaven? So the students themselves circulated an online petition <span style="text-decoration: underline;">demanding</span> the return of the fun-filled ritual, saying that alumni insist that submitting voluntarily to the initiation haircuts was the happiest memory of their entire high school career. Stay tuned.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541048?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541048?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541164?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541164?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541048?profile=original" target="_self"></a>A FATHER STAUNCHLY DEFENDS THE RIGHT OF HIS YOUNG SON TO SUBMIT TO A HAIRCUT INITIATION.</b></span> </p>
<p></p>
<p>The father of this freshman haircut victim made news headines in 2012 by courageously standing up to school officials and publicly defending his son’s right to submit to an embarrassing initiation haircut as a treasured rite of passage when he entered high school. </p>
<p></p>
<p>In earlier years, it had been a cherished tradition at that same Midwestern high school to shave the heads of freshmen – a rite of passage that most incoming freshmen eagerly looked forward to – but the head shaving was now banned. </p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541478?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541478?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>But the boy’s older brother, who was a senior in the same high school and whose own head had been shaven before the ban went into effect, wanted to return to the old tradition -- wanted to initiate his younger brother and two of the younger boy’s friends the old-fashioned way by giving all three of them embarrassing freshman haircuts. The younger brother enthusiastically asked their father for permission to submit to the initiation right there at home and to wear the haircut to school to show everyone he had been properly initiated..</p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p>So their father told the older brother, sure, go ahead and shave him, if that's what he wants. </p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541507?profile=original" target="_self"></a>The next day, school officials suspended the older brother for manning the clippers and thereby allegedly violating state anti-hazing laws. Huh?</p>
<p> </p>
<p>But the father showed up on the evening TV news, saying his kid asked for the initiation and that he (the father) gave permission for his son to be shaved. Way to go, Dad!!! .</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So ask yourself: If the victim himself <i><u>wanted</u></i> the haircut and <i><u>asked</u></i> his older brother to initiate him . . . and if the father gave his full permission for his son to be shaved right there in the family living room in front of the parents . . . and if the older brother wanted to have the fun of welcoming his brother to the school with a crazy haircut . . . and if the victim himself actually enjoyed showing off his initiation haircut to the TV cameras . . . then where the dickens is the harm in it? Lighten up, people!!!</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541730?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541730?profile=original" width="273" class="align-left"/></a>THIS MOHAWKED MUSICIAN AND MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER TELLS ONE OF THE MOST CHARMING, BOYHOOD HAIRCUT INITIATION STORIES YOU'LL EVER READ </span></strong></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Shaun Groves, a musician and motivational speaker -- who sometimes on stage sports one of the best-looking Mohawks you'll ever see -- tells a delightful boyhood story of his own initiation haircut many decades ago as a young high school freshman. It's a truly memorable rite-of-passage experience any young boy would be lucky to have.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">His story illustrates better than anything I've ever read <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">anywhere</span></em> why school officials should lighten-up and let young boys enjoy the incredibly powerful bonding experience of an initiation haircut, because it's a memorable welcoming experience.. Here, with great photos of his own boyhood initiation, is the story in Shaun's own colorful words. Enjoy. </span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://shaungroves.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Front.jpg?width=300" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="http://shaungroves.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Front.jpg?width=250" width="250" class="align-right"/></a></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">“Don’t run,” he said.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">I didn’t.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Three Texas cowboys escorted me from my house and out to the driveway. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Kids from the </span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">neighborhood circled out front on their bikes or sat on our lawn watching my initiation in fascination..</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><a width="150" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541950?profile=RESIZE_180x180" target="_self"><img width="175" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541950?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="175" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Bzzzz.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">The cowb</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">oys used sheep shears to remove most of my hair – a</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">ll but a strip of bangs in front, a tail in back, and a circular tuft on top.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">My dad, who would soon take a job with the Texas prison system (no joke), took these mugshots so I’d never forget the day. Like I ever could. [Good for Dad, joining in the fun.]</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542035?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542035?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541950?profile=original" target="_self"></a>Decades before, the seniors on the </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">football team began the tradition by shaving a “T” for “Tyler” into the heads of freshman football players – a “rite of passage” that, in wussier states like Vermont or California, would be called hazing.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">By the time I was a ninth grader at Robert E. Lee High School, all Seniors, not just ball players, could shave the head of any freshman. And though the practice was still called T-ing there were no T’s involved. Instead, a kid might walk away with a “Bozo” – hairy around the edges, smooth on top. Or a “mange” haircut – r</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">andom gouges of hair taken out at random intervals all over your head.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542187?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542187?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a>I was both horrified and honored to be T-ed by my girlfriend’s big brother and his 4-H friends that day. On the one hand, it meant looking like an idiot for a week, at which point I was allowed to shave <em>all</em> the hair on my head and go to the big dance looki</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">ng like slightly less of an idiot. But still, I had to go to th</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">e first formal dance of my high school life looking like I’d just stumbled out of Auschwitz in a tuxedo.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">But it was an honor to be T’ed, because it meant seniors actually knew I existed. A freshman boy would never cop to it, but walking around with a vandalized head was actually a real reward of sorts -- highly visual proof that he was known to someone presumably cooler. </span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Someone with sheep shears.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542232?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542232?profile=original" width="200" class="align-left"/></a></span></p>
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<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Many decades later, my wife's sister, Kathy, gave me the other haircut that got mentioned in almost every review of my first album.. . .</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542418?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542418?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a></span></p>
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<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">I’m honored because when Kathy saw this guy with really cool hair in an airport -- a good fifteen years younger than me – she said to herself, “This haircut would be <em>perfect </em>for Shaun!” She snapped a photo of his hair and then flew to my house and told me not to run.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">I didn't.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><em style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bzzz</em></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542385?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542385?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a>I’m both horrified and honored by what’s happened. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Horrified because the haircut Kathy has given me is </span><em style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">much</em><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> cooler than I actually am. </span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">Then there are the reactions of the kids. Twelve year-old boys say my new haircut is “rad” and “wicked.” </span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">It feels good to be thought of by the really cool kids with the sheep shears.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803551877?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="100" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803551877?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="100" class="align-right"/></a></em></strong></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong><em>HEY, SHAUN -- I ESPECIALLY LIKE THAT LITTLE TAIL THE COWBOYS LEFT ON THE BACK OF YOUR SCALP WHEN THEY SHAVED THE OTHER PARTS OF YOUR HEAD WITH THE SHEEP SHEARS. I'LL BET THE HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS LOVED THE TAIL. </em></strong></span> </p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803553588?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803553588?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a><span class="font-size-5">HERE’S YET ANOTHER CLASSIC EXAMPLE OF A SCHOOL OVER-REACTING TO A HARMLESS FRESHMAN HAIRCUT:</span></b></span></p>
<p> </p>
<p>In January of 2011, the Washington Post reported that a high school in suburban Potomac, Maryland, fired their wrestling coach – who twice led his team to the state championship and was considered a local hero – and immediately had him escorted off of school property (although they later reinstated him to a demoted position). His offense? The Washington Post said as a team-bonding ritual, the coach shaved the heads of at least three freshman wrestlers in the team room after practice.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803553773?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803553773?profile=original" width="172" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p>Two of the wrestlers signed written statements saying they didn’t mind the head-shaving at all – they thought it was “fun.” And the third bald-headed wrestler told a TV interviewer that he volunteered to be shaven.</p>
<p></p>
<p>So in just two days, one father who had two sons on that wrestling team collected an astounding 1,000 signatures from townspeople, indicating that they thought the head-shaving was totally harmless fun and that the firing was a gross over-reaction to guys just having fun with hair clippers..</p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803553812?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803553812?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a>DO FRESHMEN AND ROOKIE ATHLETES RESENT INITIATION HAIRCUTS? HECK NO!!! MOST OF THEM SAY THEY ACTUALLY ENJOY THE HEAD SHAVING FOR THE POWERFUL BONDING EXPERIENCE. </b></span></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p>Don’t believe me? Just check out all these haircut initiation photos, and notice how many of the happy victims have big grins on their faces. Clearly, they don’t look like unhappy victims.</p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p>Again . . . and again . . . and again in the authentic, first-hand accounts below, the grinning faces on victims of the initiation haircuts tell you that they thoroughly enjoyed the experience . . . in many cases actually sought it out . . . often standing in line to voluntarily receive their haircut initiation . . . sometimes even signing a legal contract agreeing to voluntarily accept any haircut the upperclassmen or team veterans want to inflict on them. (Later in this article, I’ll show you a photo of one of those haircut contracts.) </p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803553773?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803553773?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a>THEY TIED A HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYER TO A CHAIR & SHAVED HIS HEAD –BUT HE ENJOYED IT:</b></span><b> </b></p>
<p></p>
<p>USA Today, in a story a number of years ago about hazing in high school sports, interviewed five high school athletes. One of the five told the newspaper he thoroughly enjoyed his haircut initiation and wouldn’t have missed it for the world. </p>
<p></p>
<p>“The older players tied me to a chair in the locker room and shaved my head and eyebrows. I saw it all as fun. It was like bonding. Every freshman football player on the team got tied up and shaved, no matter what – so we all went through it together.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803554489?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803554489?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a>BACK IN THE 1940s, THIS PENNSYLVANIA STEEL MILL TOWN CARRIED FOOTBALL HAIRCUT HAZING TO AN EXTREME THAT DEFINITELY WOULD <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>NOT</em></span> BE ALLOWED TODAY:</b></span></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p>Do <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">NOT</span></em> try this at home!!! It would likely violate most anti-hazing laws today. But back in the days before anti-hazing laws, haircut initiations could get pretty extreme. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Of all the haircut hazing stories I’ve heard over the years, the single most humiliating account came many years ago from a fraternity brother of mine– a star lineman on the football team at a small eastern church college. It was a week before our own fraternity initiation was scheduled to begin, and we freshman pledges were speculating on what they were going to do to us. </p>
<p> </p>
<p> “Well,” said my friend, “whatever they do to us next week couldn’t possibly be any worse than the head shaving I endured when I was a high school football player.” </p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803554597?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803554597?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>The story he recounted happened prior to the enactment of today's anti-hazing laws.-- back when initiations could get rather wild. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“It was a tough little steel mill town in western Pennsylvania,” he said, “where Friday night high school football was the biggest thing in town. And those tough steel workers’ sons were really good at dreaming up excruciatingly humiliating initiations for the high school letterman’s club. </p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803554238?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803554238?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-right"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>“They stripped all my clothes off, tied my hands behind my back, blindfolded me, and led me into the gym. When they removed my blindfold, I was stunned to see a lot of adult guys in the bleachers. A lot of the older guys in town who had once played football for the team – former lettermen -- had come to watch us younger players being initiated into the lettermen’s club. They wanted to see how tough the younger guys were.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803554987?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803554987?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a>“Suddenly I heard the buzzing sound of hair clippers behind me. They asked me where I wanted my hair parted – but I knew damn well what was coming. Growing up in town, I had seen it happen to the older football players every year. One by one, they shaved me and all the other initiates totally bald. </p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803555289?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="225" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803555289?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="225" class="align-left"/></a> “As each guy was shaved, they collected our falling hair in little transparent bags.” [It was similar to what happened to this professional wrestler who is being punished by having his head shaven in the ring. The red circle shows the plastic bag in which the victim’s shaven hair is being collected.]</p>
<p> </p>
<p>”Then they used string to tie the hair bags around our necks – and ordered us to wear the hair bags everywhere we went around town for the next week. We had to keep </p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803555583?profile=original" target="_self"></a>the severed locks dangling outside our clothing so everyone could see them. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803555666?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803555666?profile=original" width="238" class="align-right"/></a>“We weren’t even allowed to remove the bags of hair when we were at home at the dinner table with our parents, which really embarrassed me in front of Mom and Dad. That was the most humiliating part of all – even though Dad was really proud of me for being tough enough to take it. He had gone through the same initiation when he was younger, so he couldn’t wait to see his own son go through it. It was a big tradition in football families in that little steel town.. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“Since the bags were transparent, you could plainly see the hair that had been stripped from our bald heads. The purpose was to make it crystal clear to everyone in town that we were being initiated. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“They warned us that if we lost the bag with our severed locks, we’d have to go through the entire initiation all over again. So all week long, the upperclass football players made a huge, sadistic game out of it – trying to snatch away our severed locks, just so they could have the fun of initiating us all over again – after our hair grew out.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803555967?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803555967?profile=original" width="225" class="align-left"/></a>“Well, sure enough, one of the older players managed to grab my hair shavings, breaking the string that held it around my neck. So they ordered me to go without a haircut for the next four months, so they could have the fun of shaving me all over again. I had to go through the whole, humiliating ordeal <i><u>twice</u>.</i> I spent most of the year with a shaven head – and everybody in town knew <i><u>exactly</u></i> what had been done to me. Everywhere I went in town, people teased me mercilessly about it.</p>
<p></p>
<p>"Yes, it was embarrassing. But I have to admit I kind of enjoyed it. It was fun proving to ‘em that I was tough enough to take whatever they did to me. That’s part of what football’s all about, right? . . . being tough. Believe it or not, I still have that little transparent bag of my hair as a cherished memento of that tough initiation. The <i><u>second</u></i> bag. The older guys stole the first bag from me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803556468?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">MOM'S COMPLAINT ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL CAMP H</span></strong><strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-4">EADSHAVE TOUCHES OFF MICHIGAN DEBATE ABOUT INITIATION HAIRCUTS, BUT TOWNSPEOPLE RUSH TO DEFEND THE FUN</span></strong></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<div id="article_container"><div class="entry-content"><p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">The woman complained to the local board of education when her son came home from football camp with his head shaved. But the football c</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">oaches and other <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803556581?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803556581?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a>teammates said all the players agreed to the haircuts and asked for them. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">One area coach said many high school sports teams have some type of tradition -- but for solidarity, not as hazing.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">"It's something the team does. It's kids being kids," said one varsity football coach at another local high school. </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">"My kids come back on a regular day with haircuts that look strange, and I know they did it to each other. It's not hazing. It's something they enjoy, and they ask each other to do it."</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">Virtually ALL of the reader comments posted on the newspaper's Website strongly defended the initiation haircuts. Here's a sample: </span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3" style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803554489?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803554489?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a>"</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">This is just an example of team unity and good clean fun, </span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">It's parents like her that make good, respectable men and women hang up their whistles and quit coaching."</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">"She's going to ruin it for more boys who go to camp. It's hair, for crying out loud. It will grow back. B</span><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">e glad it was just shaving heads ... It could have been much worse."</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">"This is still an issue? The little benchwarmer's hair probably grew back by now."</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">"With such an overprotective mommy, getting his head shaved as a team player will be the least of his problems in high school - or life."</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
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<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;" class="font-size-3">"If she's so concerned about her son's safety then why is he playing football? That seems far more dangerous to me than getting his head shaved."</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">"He consented to the haircut, so if there was no malice involved I don't see the problem. Her kid will get more flack from these articles than the haircut. His hair will grow back in a matter of days. But he's forever gonna be known as the kid whose mom made a big stink about the incident."</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558129?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558129?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a></span></p>
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<p></p>
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<p><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">"His mom is worrying about the wrong issues. His hair will grow back. If my son's hair is the worst of my worries, than I really do have a wonderful son."</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558331?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803558331?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a>A SPORTSWRITER IN UPSTATE NY DEFENDS ROOKIE HAIRCUTS AS A POWERFUL TEAM-BUILDING RITUAL</span></strong></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">In 2016, a young sportswriter for a newspaper in upstate New York wrote an excellent defense of rookie haircuts for high school athletes. He explained beautifully why -- for a shy freshman athlete -- willingly submitting to an initiation haircut at the hands of older team veterans, and then proudly wearing that mutilated haircut around the campus for everyone to see, is such a powerful bonding ritual and such a truly satisfying rite of passage. Here's how he explained it:</span></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">"T</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">here are two different types of hazing," he wrote. "There are:innocent, playful initiations that are intended to bring the team closer together as a group, and there is the other kind of hazing with intentional malice.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<div class="subscriber-only"><p><span class="font-size-3">"Well, I've been involved in both, and it's important to recognize the difference. . . . </span></p>
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</div>
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<div class="subscriber-only"><p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803561542?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803561542?profile=original" width="263" class="align-right"/></a>"</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I do not fall on the side that believes all types of initiation are bad. . . . </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">In my experience as a high school athlete, the rookies were given haircuts by the upperclassmen. We'd gather at one player's house and one by one, each rookie would sit down and receive a haircut by an older player.</span></p>
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</div>
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<div id="tncms-region-article_instory_middle" class="tncms-region hidden-print"></div>
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<div class="subscriber-only"><p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803561964?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803561964?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a>"Now, we're not talking a buzz cut ... no, these haircuts were meant to be funny looking. The worst part? It was the rule that you had to walk around school the next day with whatever haircut you were given. Some guys just had chunks of hair taken off — I was gifted with the Friar Tuck look . . . .</span></p>
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</div>
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<div class="subscriber-only"><p><span class="font-size-3"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"It was harmless fun that brought the team much closer together. Except for the prized initiation haircut, a 14-year-old freshman would never otherwise get to interact with the big, intimidating seniors." He said voluntarily submitting to the clippers being wielded by that big, intimidating senior "allowed the younger players to instantly bond with and deeply respect those who had gone through the same headshaving initiation before them. W</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">e can't be afraid to let these kids bond and have some fun along the way."</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Bravo!!! Well said!!!</span></p>
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<p><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562499?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562499?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="400" class="align-right"/></a>NOBODY DOES INITIATIONS BETTER THAN THE DENVER BRONCOS</span></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5">!!!</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3">Denver Broncos rookie quarterback Paxton Lynch tweated out this message to his mom, preparing her for the initiation haircut she was about to see on the evening news..</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3">Wow!! An absolute classic!!! Kudos to the Bronco wielding the clippers!!!</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562669?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562669?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a>And here are some other hazing haircuts inflicted on some other Broncos rookies the same night that they scalped the quarterback.</span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562719?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562719?profile=original" width="226" class="align-right"/></a></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Enjoy.</span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562956?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562956?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a></span></span></p>
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<p><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803562990?profile=original" width="159" class="align-right"/></p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5">ROOKIE PROFESSIONAL SOCCER PLAYER GOES UNDER THE CLIPPERS FOR INITIATION</span> <span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5">TRADITION </span></strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3">Take a good, last look at that handsome head of hair on 18-year-old professional soccer star Myles Beerman. </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3">He's about to lose it in a cherished initiation ritual.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563342?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563342?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">When the highly talented player got unexpectedly called up from the Malta farm team to the main Rangers team in Scotland, he knew he wouldn't have his hair much longer as he combed it for the last time. Team tradition calls for the veteran team members to shave the rookie's head egg bald in a welcoming ritual. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563466?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563466?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a></span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Beerman himself -- proud of his new initiation haircut -- promptly tweeted out to his fans photos of his shearing ceremony.. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3">As one newspaper dubbed the photos: "Proud and bald!!!" </span></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3">Thanks, Myles, for being a good sport. </span></span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563622?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563622?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a></strong></span></p>
<p><strong style="font-size: 14pt;">AN INITIATION HAIRCUT ISN'T ALWAYS THE RESULT OF AN INITIATION:</strong></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">Sometimes a guy can end up with an initiation-style haircut without even going through a hazing. </span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">German professional soccer star Kevin Grosskreutz bet his hair on a team championship. </span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563917?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563917?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a>As an incentive for the team to win. he promised his team that if they won the title, then he'd let the entire team shave his head any way they wanted to -- and he'd wear the results for awhile.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">Well, they won . . . and he submitted to the clippers right there on the soccer field at the end of the game in front of the stadium. Love it!!!</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">That haircut rivals anything an NFL rookie ever had to wear.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564019?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564019?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a>And this unexplained haircut butchery proudly flaunted for awhile by Marlins outfielder Logan Morrison is another alltime greatest initiation haircut that apparently did NOT result from any initiation.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">Reportedly Morrison decided to chop off his long locks that were interfering with his baseball cap and batting helmet -- and he just decided to have some innocent fun with the clippers. Wow!!! I love it!!! </span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564353?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564353?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a>And you'll be surprised to learn that the haircut on the left, proudly flaunted by English rugby star Joe Marler in front of a stadium filled with 72,000 fans, wasn't the result of hazing at all. Marler s<span>ays sometimes he gets bored with constant rugby practices, so he turns to the hair clippers for fun. He </span>says he just enjoys initiation-style haircuts.and Mohawks for the sheer fun of it. His fans love him for his daring haircuts -- as well as for his great athleticism. They can't wait to see what he does next with the clippers.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">He had his barber carve the masterpiece on the left into his hair to advertise a teammate's sausage company -- a bazillion dollars in free advertising on worldwide TV. What a masterpiece. Some high school teams will want to use clippers to copy that jaw-dropper into the scalps of their own freshmen.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564831?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="284" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564831?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="284" class="align-left"/></a>The montage on the right shows a composite of the various bizarre rugby-field haircuts that Marler has inflicted on himself over the years. Wow, what a gutsy guy!!!. If he thinks a strange haircut is fun, then he doesn't give a damn what anybody else thinks. My hero. He has more balls than any ten players.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">Are these self-inflicted haircuts on star athletes a sign that initiation haircuts are now getting so popular that you no longer have to endure an initiation to enjoy the heck out of them? Are you listening anti-hazing reformers? Some guys think initiation haircuts are so much fun, they volunteer for them and seek them out. Do you think maybe you're missing something here?</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-4"><b>WHY DO SO MANY GUYS ACTUALLY ENJOY INITIATION HAIRCUTS?</b></span><b><span class="font-size-4"> </span> </b></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803565037?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803565037?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>Well, these next three football players pictured here may be able to provide one good answer to that question.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803565037?profile=original" target="_self"></a>All three of these team members told reporters that at the beginning of every football season, the very first thing they did was drop by the barber shop and have their hair shaved into a Mohawk – an eye-catching haircut that they then retained for the entire football season . . . refusing to shave off the Mohawk until the season ended.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803565657?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803565657?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a>All three said it’s because, in their particular community, Mohawks usually meant football. Their Mohawk haircuts let everyone who saw them know that they played for the local team -- made them walking billboards for the team. </p>
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<p>The high school team captain on the left told the local newspaper his football Mohawk actually generated new fans for the team and better attendance. He told a reporter: “This older couple saw my Mohawk in the checkout line at the supermarket and asked me why I had it. When I told them it was a commitment I made to the local football team, they vowed to buy season tickets and show up for the games. That made my haircut worthwhile.”</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803587848?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803587848?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a>It’s the same reason the player on the right and his entire high school football team used to allow their coach to shave them bald – and then kept their heads shaven for the entire season – because everyone knew that their shaven heads meant they played football for the local team.. </p>
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<p>Well, guess what. That’s <i><u>exactly</u></i> the same reason so many guys actually enjoy wearing an initiation haircut around town for a week or two. It's the same reason they like to wear their team jerseys around town with their number on it. Because it telegraphs to everyone who sees them that (A) they play for the local team, and (B) that this is what their fellow team members did to them to warmly welcome them to the team. It’s a real pride thing. <i><u>Intense</u></i> pride!!!</p>
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<p>The highly visible haircuts are an exciting part of being on a team. Don’t deny them that pleasure.</p>
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<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><i><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803588275?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803588275?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a>INITIATION HAIRCUTS DESCENDED FROM THE MOHAWK:</i></b></span><b><i> </i></b></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">Any Mohawk-lover who isn’t also intrigued by the growing popularity of initiation haircuts is missing half the fun. Because initiation haircuts are essentially just . . . . . uh, well, mutilated Mohawks.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-4"><i style="font-size: 13px;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803588557?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803588557?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a></i><span class="font-size-3">What makes a Mohawk so damned much fun? It’s the shocking, eye-catching, but oddly fascinating contrast of that bristly tuft of hair protruding from a cleanly shaven skull. It’s a stunning effect!!!</span></span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">Well, that same shocking contrast between the shaven scalp and the remaining tufts of hair also defines an initiation haircut. They’re first cousins. .</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">An initiation haircut is just a Mohawk on steroids. A Mohawk times twenty.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">So if you like Mohawks, then you probably also like initiation haircuts.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><i><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803588789?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803588789?profile=original" width="131" class="align-left"/></a>THE MOHAWK BEGAN 240 YEARS AGO AS AN INITIATION HAIRCUT:</i></b></span><i> </i> </p>
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<p><i>A lot of folks will be surprised to hear that the Mohawk itself began as an initiation haircut.</i></p>
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<p><i><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803588789?profile=original" target="_self"></a>Although invented by the Native Americans, the Mohawk first entered white culture 240 years ago as an initiation haircut inflicted on one of America’s all-time greatest heroes – the frontier explorer Daniel Boone. Here’s Daniel showing off his initiation ‘do. (I’ll tell you the fascinating but largely unknown story of his initiation a little later in this article.)</i></p>
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<p><i><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589128?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589128?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a>After Daniel’s hair grew back out, for the next 200 years, the Mohawk remained <u>solely</u> an initiation haircut – except for Mohawked American paratroopers during the D-Day invasion in World War Two. But in the mid-1970s rock stars and the punk movement adopted that shocking haircut as their chosen trademark. Thereupon, teenagers around the world fell in love with the Mohawk look and copied it by gleefully shaving their heads into scalp locks -- to the everlasting shock of their parents and school principals. </i></p>
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<p><i>That’s how the “initiation look” suddenly became the “in” fashion for teens.</i></p>
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<p><i><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803588998?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803588998?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a>Meantime, during and right after the Second World War, the Mohawk morphed into a huge variety of other types of initiation haircuts inflicted on countless freshmen & athletic team rookies:</i></p>
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<p><i>Reverse Mohawks, bi-hawks, crossways Mohawks, block-letter Mohawks & lots of other bizarre haircuts to warmly welcome male freshmen & rookie athletes to the team . . . or to the school . . . with a really fun experience for everyone. </i></p>
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<p><i><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589623?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589623?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a></i></p>
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<p><i>Here's a historic circa 1965 photo of two upperclassmen holding down a grinning freshman at Harvey Mudd College in Southern California while a third upperclassman uses electric clippers to give him a mutilated freshman haircut..</i></p>
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<p><i>Cruel? Not really. In those days before anti-hazing laws when it was traditional on so many campuses to shave the heads of freshmen, wearing a freshman haircut around the campus for a few days was seen by most of the victims as a highly visible sign of acceptance into the group.</i></p>
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<p><i>As one 1960s freshman explained, "I knew it was the only time in my life when it was socially acceptable to have the fun of wearing a really weird haircut around town for a week or two and getting stared at. It was lots of fun. I loved it!!!" </i><i> </i></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><i><u><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589667?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589667?profile=original" width="236" class="align-left"/></a><span class="font-size-5">A VERY IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:</span></u></i></b></span><b><i><span class="font-size-5"> </span> We are arguing that initiation haircuts, even if embarrassing, are totally harmless fun – as long as the victim willingly submits to the head-shaving, as long as nobody gets hurt, and <u>AS LONG AS THEY DON’T VIOLATE ANTI-HAZING LAWS IN YOUR STATE. </u></i></b></p>
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<p><b><i>But this does NOT mean that ALL types of initiations are harmless. Inflicting serious physical injury is blatantly illegal, can lead to criminal charges – and is totally unacceptable. </i></b></p>
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<p><b><i>Worst of all, forcing an initiate to drink excessive amounts of alcohol is not only dangerous – it is often fatal and can lead to prison for the perpetrators. That’s a huge no-no.</i></b></p>
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<p><b><u>ANTI-HAZING REFORMERS TEND TO GROSSLY OVER-REACT TO HARMLESS RITUAL HAIRCUTS – BUT THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT TO BAN THE MORE DANGEROUS INITIATIONS:</u></b> Obviously no high school or college student should ever be placed in danger of physical injury or death merely in order to join a school organization.. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589878?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589878?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a>These two historic photos illustrate initiation rituals that cross the line into forbidden territory. In 1937, a major magazine published these two photos, showing young college students willingly submitting to a tough initiation into a sophomore honor society at one of the nation’s best-known colleges. First their heads were shaved bald. OK so far, as long as it was voluntary. . No one ever died from a shaven head, right?</p>
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<p>Then the shaven pledges were paddled with wooden fraternity paddles that the initiates had been forced to carve in the college wood shop for use on their own buttocks – forced to carry the paddles everywhere they went for weeks so that everyone could see what was going to be inflicted on them. They were forced to strip to their underwear for the initiation paddling so it would sting more and were required to hold each other’s hands to keep them from instinctively reaching back to protect their buttocks.. </p>
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<p>The paddling could get them in significant legal trouble in many states -- although oddly enough, the big grins on the faces of <i><u>all</u></i> of the pledges suggest that they were actually enjoying the initiation at that point. But things went swiftly downhill from there. .</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589951?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803589951?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-left"/></a>Apparently what caused the college chancellor to ban the honor society was NOT the totally harmless head-shaving nor perhaps even the paddling, which was accepted practice on most college campuses back in the 1930s when these photos were taken. , Instead, what apparently concerned the chancellor from a safety aspect – quite wisely -- was the fact that the totally unconscious initiates in the photo at the left appeared to have been forced to consume dangerous amounts of alcohol that could easily have been fatal. Upperclassmen had to carry away the bodies of the unconscious initiates.</p>
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<p>That 1937 college chancellor was absolutely right to be deeply concerned about potentially fatal alcohol poisoning shown in these photos.. So it's hard to believe that 80 years later, this lesson is still unlearned. As I write this, numerous members of one of the nation’s oldest and best-known college fraternities are facing criminal charges of involuntary manslaughter and assault for forcing a pledge during a "hell night" ritual to consume potentially lethal amounts of alcohol (four times the legal limit) and then leaving his unconscious body for 12 hours while he lay dying without help after taking a drunken fall down the basement staircase. </p>
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<p>Almost every year, another high school or college freshman dies needlessly from acute alcohol poisoning during an initiation . . . involving incredibly stupid upperclassmen who somehow have failed to learn the elementary fact that too much alcohol can kill – and frequently does. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803590169?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803590169?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-right"/></a>The reformers need to stop getting their knickers in a knot over harmless haircuts – and use all that energy instead to FINALLY get the word out to youngsters that alcohol poisoning can kill. It’s a desperately needed message that the reformers seem to have no interest whatsoever in spreading to school campuses. They’d rather stop silly haircuts. What’s wrong with this picture? </p>
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<p>Forget the haircuts and stop the killing!!! Concentrate of the <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">real</span></em> danger -- not the harmless stuff.</p>
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<p>Officials will never be able to completely eliminate initiations. Young men will always crave some sort of meaningful rite of passage. So let’s be realistic and concentrate instead on banning the really dangerous initiations – and openly welcome the truly harmless ones . . . like silly haircuts. That’s exactly what the really smart school official do.</p>
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<p><b><u><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604874?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803604874?profile=original" width="305" class="align-left"/></a><span class="font-size-4">ANTI-HAZING REFORMERS ARE MAKING THE SAME MISTAKE WITH HAIRCUT INITIATIONS THAT ANTI-DRUG CRUSADERS MADE HALF A CENTURY AGO WITH MARIJUANA:</span></u></b></p>
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<p>Most drug abuse experts today agree that their predecessors back in the 1960s made a terrible mistake by falsely equating marijuana with hard drugs, addictive drugs. Anti-drug crusaders hawked a notorious and widely ridiculed propaganda film “Reefer Madness” that portrayed marijuana smokers as crazed drug fiends from hell. Why was that a terrible mistake? Because when the kids found out that marijuana actually isn’t addictive, that they had been lied to – then the kids decided maybe the anti-drug crusaders were likewise wrong about the really hard drugs like heroin. Wrong. The results were predictable – and disastrous.</p>
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<p>Well, maybe the anti-hazing reformers are making the same mistake by trying to falsely equate totally harmless haircut initiation fun with the truly brutal and truly dangerous initiation abuses – like fatal alcohol poisonings, sodomy with broomsticks, and brutal beatings. Too many kids figure that if the reformers are so horribly wrong about harmless haircut fun, then maybe they’re equally wrong about the really dangerous initiation rituals. So the kids take their initiation rituals underground – again with predictable (and disastrous) results . . . and occasional fatalities.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803610617?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803610617?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a>But the really <i><u>smart</u></i> parents are the ones who avoid the “Reefer Madness” blunder by welcoming the kids’ harmless haircut initiations into their own homes where parental supervision can ensure a fun day for everyone – ensuring that the initiations are limited to just haircuts and that no one is shaved unless they really <i><u>want</u></i> to be shaved. Way to go, parents!!!</p>
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<p>And the really smart school officials encourage the parents to welcome the initiation fun into their homes, where it’s safe and sane – and fully consensual. The really dumb school officials are the ones who then punish the kids when they show up at school with initiation haircuts that the parents have authorized, encouraged, and carefully supervised to guard against abuse.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803611008?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803611008?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>Whoever wielded the clippers on this guy's head pulled off one of the best initiation haircuts I've ever seen.</p>
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<p>Wow!!! Nice job!!!</p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 18.6667px;"><b>(IF YOU THINK THOSE HAIRCUT INITIATIONS WERE TOUGH . . . JUST WAIT TILL YOU SEE "PART THREE" OF "THE FUN OF INITIATION HAIRCUTS -- CROSSING THE EQUATOR." YOU AIN'T SEEN NOTHING YET!!! <a href="http://www.mohawksrock.com/profiles/blogs/the-fun-of-initiation-haircuts-part-3-crossing-the-equator?xg_source=activity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE</a> TO GO TO "PART THREE.")</b></span></p>
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<p></p>THE FUN OF INITIATION HAIRCUTS - Part Onetag:www.mohawksrock.com,2017-07-25:1501994:BlogPost:8388712017-07-25T07:00:00.000ZScalped 442https://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/Californian442
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<p><b><span class="font-size-7">THE FUN OF<br></br> <b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510666?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-right" height="260" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510666?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="298"></img></a></b></span></b></p>
<p><b><span class="font-size-7">INITIATION</span></b></p>
<p><b><span class="font-size-7">HAIRCUTS</span></b></p>
<p><b><span class="font-size-7"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><i><span class="font-size-5"><span> (PART ONE)…</span></span></i></span></span></b></p>
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<p><b><span class="font-size-7">THE FUN OF<br/> <b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510666?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510666?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="298" class="align-right" height="260"/></a></b></span></b></p>
<p><b><span class="font-size-7">INITIATION</span></b></p>
<p><b><span class="font-size-7">HAIRCUTS</span></b></p>
<p><b><span class="font-size-7"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><i><span class="font-size-5"><span> (PART ONE)</span></span></i></span></span></b></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>HAIRCUT HAZING,</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>FRESHMAN HAIRCUTS,</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>ROOKIE HAIRCUTS.</strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><em>One newly shaven freshman summed it up perfectly: "If haircut initiations are so bad . . .</em></strong></span><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><em>. . . then why are they so <span style="font-size: 18pt;"><u>damn</u></span> much fun?"</em></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong><em>Yes!!! Exactly!!!</em></strong></span></p>
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<p><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511081?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-left"/></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><em>Other Websites </em></strong></span><strong style="font-size: 12pt;"><em> will tell you they think </em></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><em>haircut hazing is bad. Hey, they're entitled to free speech. But this Web page is going to show you that, in reality, it's actually great fun . . . for </em></strong></span><strong style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">everybody</span> <em>. . . for the victims . . . for the perpetrators . . . and </em></strong><strong style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>for the rest of us who get to have fun watching the big grins on the faces of the </em></strong><strong style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>initiates as they get shaved.</em></strong></p>
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<p><strong style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>It's a lot more fun belonging to a team. a school or an organization if you've had to endure a mildly embarrassing but totally harmless initiation to get accepted. Hey, it's just hair. And it grows right back. It's a small sacrifice for the team.</em></strong></p>
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<p><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511320?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><em>So if you like initiation haircuts, then this is the blog </em></strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><em>for you!!!</em></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><em>And </em></strong></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><em>if your behind-the-times school official forbids initiation haircuts, show them this article. We'll explain to them why totally harmless haircut initiations </em></strong></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><em>can bring a lot of good, clean fun – and great school spirit -- to any campus. </em></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><em>Ask them</em></strong></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><em>, </em></strong></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><em>if it’s really so bad, then why is Mom standing in line beside your local mayor to have her head shaved at the local St. B</em></strong></span><strong style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>aldrick charity head-shave event? OK for Mom, but bad for her football playing sons? </em></strong></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><b><i><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511684?profile=original" target="_self"></a></i></b></span><b style="font-size: 12pt;"><i>The “Mohawks Rock” Website bills itself as being “for those who rock <u>extreme</u> hairstyles.” </i></b></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><b><i>Well, the most </i></b></span><b style="font-size: 12pt;"><i>d</i></b><span class="font-size-3"><b><i>elightfully “extre</i></b></span><b style="font-size: 12pt;"><i>me” haircuts are the initiation haircuts being rocked by all those brave rookie athletes and school freshmen who cheerfully submit to some of the wildest, most bizarre haircuts known to man.</i></b></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Contrary to what the anti-hazing reformers would have you believe, these obviously aren't the faces of picked-on victims. In most of these photos, the victims are enjoying the haircut initiation ritual just as much as the guys wielding the clippers. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience they wouldn't miss for anything. They're cheerfully "taking one" for the school and the team.</span></p>
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<p><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511985?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Kind of like the first time you submitted to having your head shaved into a Mohawk. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Remember how much fun <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">that</span></em> was? Heck, yeah!!! </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">So when the upperclassmen come at you with the buzzing </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">clippers . . . just relax . . . put a big smile on your face . . . and enjoy the hell out of it. It's a truly wild experience you may only get to enjoy once in your life..</span></p>
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<p><img width="212" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512284?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="212" class="align-left"/></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The girls will love your bristly tuft.. They'll want to run their fingers over it. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">They think it's really hot. Why? Who knows? Maybe because for at least 2,600 years, ever since ancient Sparta, an initiation has literally <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">reeked</span></em> of masculinity. . </span></p>
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<p>Many sociologists and psychologists argue that -- throughout history -- it has greatly helped boys grow up into healthy manhood if they are allowed to endure some rite of passage. </p>
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<p><b><u>IF YOU’VE EVER ENDURED A HAIRCUT INITIATION, THEN YOU’RE OUR HERO!!!</u></b> To those of us on “Mohawks Rock” who are intrigued by “extreme” haircuts, our special heroes have always been those freshmen and rookie athletes who have the guts to willingly submit to an embarrassing initiation haircut – and who are macho enough to wear those jaw-dropping haircuts with <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">pride</span></em> for a week or two of harmless hazing. We look at their carved-up hair and think to ourselves: “Wow, I hope I would have as much courage as they do, if I had to go through that initiation.” </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512525?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512525?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512525?profile=original" target="_self"></a>Our heroes also include the upperclassmen and veteran team members who wield the clippers to create those jaw-dropping masterpieces as a way to <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">warmly</span></em> welcome freshmen and rookies to the team, thereby keeping alive the fun tradition of haircut hazing that our fathers, grandfathers, and great grandfathers before us enjoyed. Thanks, guys, for keeping up a great tradition.</p>
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<p><img width="135" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512965?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="135" class="align-left"/></p>
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<p>For generations, our fathers and grandfathers have delighted in regaling their young sons and grandsons with harrowing stories of their own humiliating haircut initiations in days gone by – stories that shocked but strangely intrigued us at the same time. Many of us spent a good bit of time secretly trying to envision what dignified grandpa must have looked like with his hair carved up like a hot-cross bun – and sort of envying him. </p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513672?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513672?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a></p>
<p>Our heroes also include those very wise parents who have the courage to openly and enthusiastically defend the right of their sons to willingly submit to that never-to-be-forgotten, cherished rite of passage – parents with the courage to stand up against "nanny government" and prissy school officials and anti-hazing reformers who try to discourage this totally harmless fun. </p>
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<p>Below, we’ll tell the firsthand stories of a number of parents who have openly defended the haircut hazing of their own sons as just boys being boys. </p>
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<p><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513946?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></p>
<p>Our heroes also include the rapidly increasing numbers of school officials with the wisdom and forbearance to realize that -- as long as it's <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">voluntary</span></em> -- a little harmless fun with hair clippers can add enormously to school spirit and team comradeship -- and a really fun atmosphere on campus. </p>
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<p>Increasingly, school officials are realizing -- very belatedly -- that fun-filled initiation haircuts (when strictly voluntary) bring students together in a powerful bonding experience, where everybody goes through the same ritual shearing that gives everyone a good, healthy laugh -- freshmen as well as upperclassmen. </p>
<p><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803514259?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803514690?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803514690?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a>Nothing creates such a powerful, <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">instant</span> </em>bond between freshmen and upperclassmen as when freshmen cheerfully <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>volunteer</em></span> to let the upperclassmen do to them the same thing that previously was done to the upperclassmen.</p>
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<p>By allowing the harmless haircuts, wise school officials <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">enormously</span></em> reduce the temptation of the youngsters to veer off into truly <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">dangerous</span></em> initiation rituals . . like the forced consumption of potentially fatal amounts of alcohol.</p>
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<p>This will surprise anti-hazing reformers. But do you know what is the single biggest protection against truly dangerous hazing? Silly haircuts. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803514833?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803514833?profile=original" width="219" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>So check out the photos below, showing the big grins on the faces of happy freshmen proudly showing off their initiation haircuts to their fellow students. And check out the photos later in this article showing incoming students at some colleges <span style="text-decoration: underline;">voluntarily</span> signing permission slips -- or getting their parents to sign permission slips -- just so they can willingly submit to an initiation haircut. . . . to give them that powerful feeling of belonging.</p>
<p><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803515214?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-left"/></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532374?profile=original" target="_self"></a>Yes, if you're a parent, you’ll be a little embarrassed taking your son to church with his hair shaved in weird patterns. But the kid will secretly be proud of himself for having the courage to go through it. And the church members will never tell you . . . but secretly they'll enjoy seeing it.</p>
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<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span class="font-size-5">STOP HAZING DEATHS!!!</span></span> <span class="font-size-5"> <span class="font-size-4">As of October 2017, there had been three separate college hazing deaths in just 8 months in the U.S., all of them apparently resulting from fatal alcohol poisoning related to the forced over-consumption of alcohol in hazing . . . but in the past century, not a single death or injury from harmless initiation haircuts. Tell your local school officials to stop wasting their time worrying about wacky, totally harmless initiation haircuts -- and instead start cracking down really <span style="text-decoration: underline;">hard</span> on the truly <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">dangerous</span></em> hazing practices. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">PEOPLE KEEP DYING -- WHILE SCHOOL OFFICIALS WORRY ABOUT</span></span></span> <span class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-4"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">. . .</span></span></span> <span class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-4"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">HAIRCUTS???</span></span></span></strong> <span class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-4"> </span></span> </p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532374?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></span></p>
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<p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>A STARTLING FACT: Rarely do the guys whose heads get shaved in haircut </em></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>initiations ev</em></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>er complain!!!</em><em> Alm</em></span></strong><em><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">ost never!!!</span></strong></em> The victims themselves usually enjoy the bonding experience immensely. They submitted willingly.-- and enthusiastically. Have you noticed that whenever anti-hazing reformers make a stink about kids caught wearing initiation haircuts, in perhaps 99% of those cases, the shaven kids themselves inevitably insist the haircuts were strictly consensual -- insist that they actually <span style="text-decoration: underline;">volunteered</span> to be shaven, just for the powerful bonding experience.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532492?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532492?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a>That leaves the reformers looking laughable -- protecting the kids from a haircut the kids themselves actually <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">asked for</span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">.</span></em>.So the reformers respond by going one step further and making themselves look even <span style="text-decoration: underline;">more</span> foolish -- by passing laws in some states making it illegal for a kid to <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">ask</span></em> for an initiation haircut. Huh??? Mr. Bumble, a comic character in the famous Dickens novel "Oliver Twist" said it best: "If the law supposes that, then the law is a ass -- a idiot." This is one of the all-time great examples of nanny government run amok.</p>
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<p>The only saving grace is that law enforcement -- having a lot more common sense than school officials -- rarely, if ever, wastes valuable court time prosecuting anyone for a silly haircut -- if the kid wanted it. They'd be laughed out of court..</p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">WHERE ARE ALL YOU LIBERTARIANS OUT THERE WHO OUGHT TO BE DEFENDING A BOY'S RIGHT TO GET A SILLY HAIRCUT IF HE WANTS ONE?</span></strong></span></p>
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<p>Aren't you the ones who hate "nanny government?" Government that wants to tell you what kind of haircut you can wear? </p>
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<p>If school officials are genuinely worried about kid's feelings, then maybe the kids they should <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">really</span></em> worry about are the ones who never get to enjoy the fun of initiation haircuts -- because nobody cared enough to initiate them. The kids who feel left out. Hell, some of those kids would literally <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">pay</span></em> someone to take the clippers to their head, just so they can look like they belong. </p>
<p><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/134137598?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/134137598?profile=original&width=300" width="300" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>This grinning athlete, for example, enjoyed his haircut hazing so much for the team-bonding experience that he videotaped his own initiation in the mirror . . .</p>
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<p><strong>. . . </strong>just so he could remember the fun experience years later.</p>
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<p>Despite what the anti-hazing reformers will tell you, the haircut initiation is one of the most eagerly anticipated rituals of boyhood. Surprisingly, rather than freshmen dreading the haircut, you will read newspaper accounts below from several veteran team members who say they were actually contacted by incoming freshman athletes -- sometimes weeks before the opening of the fall semester -- and asked: "How soon can I get to have my head shaved?" ..<b><i> </i></b></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-5"><b><u><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532745?profile=original" target="_self"></a>INITIATION HAIRCUTS ARE DESCENDANTS OF THE MOHAWK:</u></b></span><b> </b></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532796?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="375" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532796?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="375" class="align-left"/></a>Three or four decades ago -- and going all the way back to the late 1940s -- the basic Mohawk was the initiation haircut of choice for football players. Hundreds (thousands?) of rookie football players in those days all over the U.S. took to the field wearing initiation Mohawks that the seniors inflicted on them..</p>
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<p>Here's a historic photo of sophomore football players newly elevated to the Nebraska Cornhuskers varsity team in 1950, proudly bowing their heads to show off their initiation Mohawks to the newspaper cameras. .</p>
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<p><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803532745?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-right"/></p>
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<p>But when upperclassmen realized the freshman players actually <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>loved</em></span> their initiation Mohawks -- actually looked forward to getting shaved -- the upperclassmen began kicking the initiation haircuts up a few notches into more and more radical, jaw-dropping haircuts, like the ones we see now in the NFL.</p>
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<p>Even the wilder initiation haircuts are, in reality, just astonishingly inventive variations of the Mohawk -- . . just bristly tufts of hair standing out in shocking contrast to an otherwise shaven skull. They are, in essence, just “drunken Mohawks.” And some of them are so inventive, they truly become works of art – folk art. .</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533015?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803533015?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a>For those of us who love "extreme" haircuts that the "Mohawks Rock" Website celebrates, the initiation haircut is a "socially acceptable" opportunity for us average guys to have the fun of exploring haircuts so extreme that, if we wore them every day, people might think we were . . . well, just a little bit crazy. But if it's part of a hazing ritual, everybody just chuckles . . . and shrugs it off . . . and says, "Don't worry. He's just being initiated. He's just proving he's tough enough to take it like a man."<b><i> </i></b></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542621?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="125" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542621?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="125" class="align-right"/></a>When I was in college and seniors on the football team inflicted shocking initiation haircuts on all the freshman players, the rest of us students had enormous admiration for the victims for having the guts to cheerfully submit to the clippers. </p>
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<p>It may sound crazy, but those bizarre haircuts were sort of an emblem of intense masculinity. Because it clearly took a lot of courage to endure the embarrassment. And because the girls on campus thought those initiation haircuts were “incredibly hot.” See item below where girls vote on which NFL rookie has the “hottest” initiation haircut and numerous first-hand accounts below from guys who say they never attracted as many girls as they did when they were forced to wear an embarrassing initiation haircut around the campus for a week or two. Those weird haircuts were babe magnets. Go figure.</p>
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<p><strong style="font-size: 16pt;"><u><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542819?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542819?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a></u></strong></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5"><strong><u>THE DIRTY LITTLE SECRET</u>: </strong><b> </b></span> Shhhh!!! Don’t tell a soul. It’s the dirty little secret that nobody talks about . . . The surprising fact that most men actually think haircut hazing is (gasp) a lot of fun. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Embarrassing? Hell yes. But <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>fun</em></span>.<b><i> </i></b></p>
<p><b><i><br/></i></b> Usually it's the shaven kids <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>themselves</em></span> who rush to post photos of their own initiation haircut online for all the world to see. They're damned proud of those embarrassing haircuts!!! . . . because by <span><em>voluntarily</em></span> submitting to that ordeal, you've proven to your team mates that you're man enough to "take one for the team." . </p>
<p></p>
<p>Read on and we’ll share with you (below) a large number of first-hand, personal accounts in which scores of guys who submitted to initiation haircuts describe in their own words why it was an exciting, team-building, bonding experience that they thoroughly enjoyed. They vigorously defend the right of boys to voluntarily endure that cherished and greatly anticipated rite of passage. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542886?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542886?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803543004?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="125" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803543004?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="125" class="align-right"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p>The popularity of initiation haircuts is exploding, thanks partly to the NFL’s wildy popular annual shaving of each new crop of pro football rookies – one of the most eagerly anticipated highlights of each new football season.</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803543124?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803543124?profile=original" width="356" class="align-right"/></a>The best part of the NFL's annual ritual is when the newly shaven rookies are forbidden to wear hats and are forced to parade their initiation haircuts in front of </p>
<p>the news cameras . . .</p>
<p></p>
<p>. . . and in front of young fans waiting for autographs who are always delighted at the sight of their athletic heroes with the embarrassing haircuts. </p>
<p></p>
<p>.</p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p>Meantime, high school and college teams are gleefully copying the initiation rituals of their NFL heroes, faster than high school principals and coaches can discourage the growing trend. Get used to it, principals. You’ve lost the battle . . . so just embrace it and enjoy the haircuts. For God’s sake, let boys be boys. </p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p><img width="375" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803543325?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="375" class="align-left"/></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>To prove that a great many parents likewise get a kick out of the haircuts -- there are tons of photos like this one showing shaven boys posing proudly with their initiation haircut while their parents gleefully snap photos of their sons’ wacky haircuts to remember the fun decades later. </p>
<p></p>
<p>It's a highlight of every family scrapbook. They're proud of their sons' guts..</p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><span class="font-size-5"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803543473?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803543473?profile=original" width="209" class="align-right"/></a></span></strong></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><span class="font-size-5">DIRTY LITTLE SECRET #2: IT'S ACTUALLY KIND OF FUN TO GET STARED</span> <span class="font-size-5">AT.</span></strong></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3">Remember what it was like when you ventured out in public for the very first time with your first-ever, freshly-shaven Mohawk? Was it a little bit embarrassing when you suddenly realized that everyone was staring at that bristly scalp lock atop your egg-bald skull? </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hell yes!!!</span> </span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803543298?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803543298?profile=original" width="249" class="align-left"/></a>But after the first day or so sporting your daring new scalp lock in public, a strange thing happened -- remember? Suddenly you were gobsmacked with the totally unexpected realization that -- surprise!!! -- you found you actually enjoyed getting stared at for your incredibly sexy-looking scalp lock, right? Especially when people -- both men and women -- began telling you: "Wow!!! I love your Mohawk. I wish I had balls enough to wear one like yours."</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5" style="font-size: 10pt;"><span class="font-size-3">Suddenly, when you realized that most of those stares were stares of envy and admiration, you stopped being embarrassed by your Mohawk. Suddenly you realized that you actually enjoyed flaunting your Mohawk in public and being stared at. Remember?</span></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803543886?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></span></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3">Well, guess what. It's pretty much the same way wearing a really great initiation </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">haircut in public. When you venture out in public </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">for the first time with your mutilated haircut, of course it will be embarrassing. That's why it's called an initiation. </span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-5"><span class="font-size-3">But . . . just like with a Mohawk (which, after all, was the <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">original</span></em> initiation haircut decades ago) . . . . . after the first day or so, you suddenly realize that most of those stares are -- surprise!!! -- stares of admiration for your guts in agreeing to "take one for the team."</span></span></p>
<p><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803548669?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-right"/></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. </span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Like the college rugby player we'll describe below who proudly wore his initiation haircut to a job interview -- and found that the employer loved it, because the employer himself had once undergone haircut hazing by the same rugby team.</span></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong style="font-size: 14pt;"><u><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803548812?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803548812?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a></u></strong></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong><u><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803548830?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803548830?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-right"/></a>THE NFL BRINGS INITIATION HAIRCUTS OUT OF THE SHADOWS AND INTO THE OPEN, ALLOWING THE WHOLE WORLD TO ENJOY THEM</u>:</strong><b> </b></span> <b> </b></p>
<p></p>
<p>Until the past two decades, haircut hazing was mostly an underground and semi-secretive practice – which merely added to the allure. College and high school block letter clubs for varsity athletes would often take their initiates to a secret, off-campus site for their ritual head shaving, in order to remain below the radar and avoid persnickety school principals and anti-hazing laws. </p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p>But now, instead of hiding the initiation ritual, the NFL teams plaster the Internet with videos of their rookies submitting to the clippers so their fans can enjoy the fun.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803548951?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803548951?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803549188?profile=original" target="_self"></a>And the biggest factor in the public’s sudden embrace of the pure fun of haircut hazing has been the amazingly good-natured acceptance of the initiation haircuts by the hapless NFL rookies themselves, who have to wear the mutilated haircuts in public, sometime for a couple of weeks until the first exhibition game of the new season. </p>
<p></p>
<p>The NFL rookies are so proud of their initiation haircuts that they actually Tweet out photos of themselves getting shaved to all their fans to enjoy. .</p>
<p><img width="125" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803549188?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="125" class="align-right"/></p>
<p></p>
<p>The annual sight of large numbers of NFL rookies – with big grins on their faces – proudly showing off their initiation haircuts to the news cameras in an eagerly anticipated rite of passage leaves the anti-hazing reformers looking rather ridiculous after many years of warning that haircut hazing was cruel and inhumane. It isn't.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Hey, it’s just a guy thing.</p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>SOME HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL COACHES THINK INITIATION HAIRCUTS ARE A WONDERFUL TEAM BONDING TOOL -- AND LOTS OF FUN</strong></span></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803549820?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803549820?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a>A respected football coach, athletic director and sports consultant at a Southern California high school posted the following comment on his Website about Episode 2 of the 2015 season of the HBO documentary "Hard Knocks," when cameras were allowed to follow the Houston Texans through training camp:</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"One of the really great scenes of this episode," said the high school coach, "was when the veterans gave the rookies some fun haircuts. This sort of thing is <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">very</span></em> important for coaches to help guide: team chemistry. This type of activity can bring the team together. It helps them to loosen up. It helps them to bond. You gotta have a little fun."</span></p>
<p></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Hey, school principals: Are you listening? The coach has spoken. And he's absolutely right. Keep reading, and you will see below an almost endless parade of football players and other athletes enthusiastically praising initiation haircuts as one of the most powerful team bonding tools ever invented. </span></p>
<p></p>
<p><b><u><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557814?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="275" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803557814?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="275" class="align-right"/></a><span class="font-size-4">LOTS OF GIRLS THINK INITIATION HAIRCUTS ARE “REALLY HOT” ON MALE ATHLETES:</span></u></b><span class="font-size-4"><b> </b></span></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p>The popular “Fantasy Football Girls” Webcast decided to do a whole show, voting on which NFL rookie had the “hottest” initiation haircut. Here were two of their two winners – both of which they described as “really hot.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803570408?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="275" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803570408?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="275" class="align-right"/></a>So you want a date with a great-looking gal? Just sign up for a team that gives really “hot” initiation haircuts – and get ready to fend off the chicks who can’t wait to feel your . . . uh, bristly tuft.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Let 'em run their fingers over it. Enjoy it. </p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><b><u><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803570604?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="275" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803570604?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="275" class="align-left"/></a></u></b></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>In this blog below, I’ll print a number of first-hand accounts in which astonishingly large numbers of guys who submitted to haircut hazing will tell you in their own words why they actually <i><u>enjoyed</u></i> the experience. .. <b> </b></p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p align="center"><b> </b></p>
<p><strong><span class="font-size-4"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803573299?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803573299?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a></span></strong></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p><strong><span class="font-size-4">A SHAVEN ROOKIE’S INSIDER LOOK AT HAZING IN NFL TRAINING CAMPS</span></strong></p>
<p> </p>
<p><b>By</b> <a href="http://bleacherreport.com/users/887776"><b>Ryan Riddle</b></a>, <i>Correspondent</i></p>
<p><i> </i></p>
<p><b><i>[That’s Ryan, the author, on the right with his head shaved during an NFL initiation.]</i></b><b><i> </i></b> <b><i>Ryan played defensive end at the University of California. Afterward, he was drafted by the Oakland Raiders and spent time with the New York Jets, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens and Los Angeles Avengers.]</i></b></p>
<p></p>
<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803573548?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803573548?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a></b></p>
<p></p>
<p><b>He was asked by an online sports blog to write a description of what it was like to submit to an NFL head-shaving initiation, and here’s his fascinating account:</b></p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Every first-year player entering the NFL comes with the distinct understanding that rookie hazing is a rite of passage designed to humiliate.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p></p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803590932?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803590932?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a>"One of the first and most common hazing experiences a rookie encounters around this time of year is intended to strip away any remaining ego you may have held onto from the star-studded college days. What better way to do that than to attack one of the most identifiable visual elements of our character—our hair?</p>
<p></p>
<p>"The veterans gather around the locker room equipped with a pair of clippers and a series of bad fashion ideas. Unfortunately, there’s really no escaping the inevitable. In fact, the rookies who fight the hardest to preserve their precious locks or manicured waves typically are the ones who get it the worst.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Veterans love holding “a fighter” down and watching him squirm as they take away something dear to his heart. .</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592159?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592159?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a>"The best thing to do throughout the process is to ride the wave and learn to laugh at yourself along the way. Trust me, it goes by a lot easier if you don’t resist or put up a fight.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Some guys end up being adorned with intricate designs etched into their head with the craftsmanship of a true artist, . . . </p>
<p></p>
<p>"I personally was one of the guys who went quietly into the barber’s chair from hell. Realizing the futility of a struggle, I figured this could all be viewed in a positive light. After all, it’s not every day that one gets to say they were defaced by NFL football players.</p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592297?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592297?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>"It also meant that any humiliation regarding my appearance would be null and void considering it was manufactured by the very guys who would be initiating the ridicule.</p>
<p></p>
<p>"Besides, we’re essentially isolated from society, so any worry of public criticism is not really a factor, except for when my first game in the NFL happens to be played with giant patches of hair missing from all over my head.</p>
<p></p>
<p><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803592460?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>[Yes, those really are two balls and a penis carved into this hapless rookie's hair. You always knew it took real balls to play in the NFL. Right? Well, now he has them. For everyone to see. (Ahem) Including his mother.]</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803631810?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803631810?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803631810?profile=original" target="_self"></a>"This daily hazing ritual can be somewhat stressful because, if either the helmet or shoulder pads of a veteran happens to be left out on the practice field, well, there might be a few rookies taped to the goalpost at the end of practice the next day.</p>
<p></p>
<p>"This isn’t a good situation to find yourself in because, once taped down, you’re essentially at the mercy of any and everything that may come your way. Rarely does being taped down not come with some extracurricular fun. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>"Every day there are little things to remind us rookies of our lowly status -- like having huge chunks of our hair shaved off.</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803631903?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803631903?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a>.</p>
<p> </p>
<p></p>
<p>"I look back on it now with a smile and sense of pride. After all, it isn’t every day you can have a room full of guys—many of whom you grew up admiring—on the floor, laughing with tears in their eyes."</p>
<p></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2">Every summer when all the NFL teams open their football camps and welcome all the new rookie victims with bizarre initiation haircuts . . . and force the humiliated rookies to show off their haircuts to news photographers . . . newspapers all over the nation delight in publicizing the year’s new crop of rookie haircut designs. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-2"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803631898?profile=original" target="_self"></a>Football fans love seeing them. The rookie haircuts are the first visible sign that autumn is almost here, and the new football season is about to begin. Yay!!!</span> Bring on the clippers. And the victims. We can't wait to see this year's shavings.<b> </b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><u>THE GIRLS THOUGHT THIS INITIATION HAIRCUT WAS “INCREDIBLY HOT":</u></b></span></p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803631975?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803631975?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a>Here’s the back story behind that jaw-dropping “horizontal Mohawk” that the two girls in their Webcast mentioned above voted among the “ten hottest NFL initiation haircuts of 2014.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633001?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633001?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-right"/></a>This rookie kicker for the Washington Redskins, Zack Hocker, told his new teammates that if they would agree not to require him to stand up and sing a song on initiation night, he would willingly submit to any haircut of the team’s choice. Oops. Bad idea, Zach.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A vote was taken by the team to choose which haircut style to inflict on the hapless rookie, and Hocker had to submit to what he described as a “horizontal Mohawk,” They didn’t allow him to wear a cap to cover it.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Some anti-hazing critics demanded that the team let him out of their requirement that he wear the cross-cut haircut at the first exhibition game. But Hocker, a good sport to the end, insisted on wearing the haircut until the veteran players gave him permission to shave it off. </p>
<p></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633086?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633086?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>He even good-naturedly tweeted out a photo of his embarrassing haircut to all his fans, saying: “Nobody ever said your first season was going to be easy.” </p>
<p></p>
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<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b> </b></p>
<p><b><span class="font-size-4">SUPER BOWL STAR QUARTERBACK TOM BRADY SAYS HAIRCUT HAZING IS GREAT FUN</span></b> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633176?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633176?profile=original" width="180" class="align-left"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633176?profile=original" target="_self"></a></p>
<p>Back In August of 2013, Super Bowl star quarterback Tom Brady took a pair of clippers to the heads of a brand new crop of Rookies arriving at the New England Patriots summer camp and gave them the embarrassing haircuts they were expected to submit to. Afterward, Brady provided reporters with one of the best descriptions ever given of just why the annual haircut ritual is eagerly anticipated by both the victims and the perpetrators as a way to lighten the drudgery of training camp. </p>
<p></p>
<p>One reporter described the ritual this way:</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633405?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="175" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633405?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="175" class="align-right"/></a>“On Tuesday, the moment arrived that all New England Patriots rookies have been dreading: Time for the traditional shaving of the rookies. With Tom Brady taking the lead with clippers in hand, the Patriots quarterback showed off his amateur barbering skills as the rookies were treated to some truly abysmal hair-don’ts.</p>
<p></p>
<p>“Said Brady on the hazing tradition: ‘They look good, don’t they? It was fun today -- probably the most exciting part of camp was watching all this hair get cut off. So, it was actually a lot of fun.’” (That’s one of Brady’s haircut victims on the right with the shocking half-shaved head.) </p>
<p> </p>
<p>“There were some good ones,” said Brady. “There was real creativity. The veterans sit around and think about what they want to do to the rookies’ hair.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633876?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="175" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633876?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="175" class="align-left"/></a>Brady told another publication: “We <i><u>always</u></i> cut the rookies’ hair. It’s a fun thing. It’s a camaraderie thing. It’s kind of a group sacrifice, we’re-all-in-it-together type of thing, and it’s done in a playful way. . . . It’s done as more to bring the team together and not drive the team apart.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Fortunately for Brady, there are no surviving photos on the Internet of the way Patriot veterans hacked up his own hair when he was a rookie. “I don’t know what kind of a whack job I started out with after initiation night, he told reporters. “But I ended up with it being completely shaved bald for the first game. It was fun. They got me pretty good.”</p>
<p><img width="171" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633964?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="171" class="align-right"/></p>
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<p><b style="font-size: 14pt;"><u>SHAVEN INDIANAPOLIS COLTS ROOKIES EXPLAIN WHY INITIATION HAIRCUTS ARE FUN</u> </b></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><b> </b></span></p>
<p>"I think it's a genuine <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em>honor</em></span> when a group of guys who have been successful in this league for a long time come and grab you and say, 'Hey, come with us. We want to initiate you,' said the shaven second round draft pick guard Jack Mewhort. “I willingly said, 'Yes, let's do it.' It's fun!!! It's something I'll remember fondly for a long, long time!!!"</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803633964?profile=original" target="_self"></a>'It was all about a sense of brotherhood," said Colts defensive end and team barber Cory Redding. "The rookies were willing to happily submit to it." </p>
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<p><b style="font-size: 14pt;">ONE OF THE FIRST NFL ROOKIES TO EVER GET HALF HIS HEAD SHAVED WAS FORMER OAKLAND RAIDERS RIGHT GUARD GENNARO DINAPOLI</b></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803634038?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="175" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803634038?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="175" class="align-left"/></a>One of the most shocking of all initiation haircuts is, without a doubt, the half-shaved head -- a full head of luxuriant hair on one side of the skull, with the other side shaved egg bald. </p>
<p>The first time most people ever saw that jaw-dropping haircut was almost 20 years ago in July 1998, when the Oakland Raiders shaved half the head of rookie right guard Gennaro DiNapoli. The photo on the left shows what DiNapoli looked like when he arrived at training camp with all his hair intact when the rookie arrived at the Raiders’ summer camp in Napa, CA. </p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803634276?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803634276?profile=original" width="167" class="align-right"/></a>But two days later, newspaper readers were stunned when DiNapoli’s initiation haircut (seen here on the right) was splashed across Page 8-D with all the hair shaved off one side of his head. </p>
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<p>Reporters asked him what on earth happened to him. “Well,” he said with a chuckle, “I can’t tell you because Coach Gruden said there’s no hazing allowed – so I can’t rat on my boys. All I can tell you is that I think they’re going to get rid of the other side Saturday night. </p>
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<p><img width="125" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803634377?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="125" class="align-left"/></p>
<p>"I'm a rookie, so I’ll have to take this stuff all year long. But next year I’ll be doing it to someone else. And I can hardly wait.”</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803634377?profile=original" target="_self"></a>Amidst his humiliation, little did DiNapoli suspect that his photo in countless American newspapers would suddenly inspire an epidemic of half-shaven heads at other NFL training camp over the next few years.</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803634377?profile=original" target="_self"></a>And 12 years later, the Raiders would repeat their half-shaven masterpiece on offensive lineman Alex Parsons, shown here on the left. </p>
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<p><b><span class="font-size-4">ONE SPORTSWRITER DESCRIBED NFL HAIRCUT HAZING THIS WAY: </span></b></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803636369?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803636369?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p>“Before we all get caught up in the important NFL issues . . . let’s take a few minutes to enjoy the lighter side of NFL training camps. I am talking, of course, about the rookie hazing, and in particular about the tradition of giving rookies absurd haircuts. . . . They won’t help you win your fantasy football league, but they’re still worth a few minutes of your time.”</p>
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<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803661128?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="175" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803661128?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="175" class="align-left"/></a></b></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-4"><b>ANOTHER SPORTSWRITER’S TAKE:</b><b> </b></span></p>
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<p>Contrary to what the anti-hazing reformers would have you believe, he says the NFL rookies themselves actually cherish the scrapbook photos of the humiliating rookie haircuts they had to endure – a prized memento, proof of their acceptance by a tough team in a tough sport."</p>
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<h1><span class="font-size-4"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803661213?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803661213?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a></span></h1>
<h1><strong><span class="font-size-4" style="color: #000000;">ANOTHER SPORTSWRITER PUT IT THIS WAY:</span></strong></h1>
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<p>“Rookie haircuts? It's just men being men. We’re talking about a sport where men punch each other in the nuts while on the bottom of piles. But initiation haircuts are bad?"</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803668912?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803668912?profile=original" width="263" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>"So the vets have to really enjoy the rookie haircuts. Of course you remember Tebow’s Friar Tuck look. It was, and still is, the most recognized rookie haircut in rookie haircut history.</p>
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<p><img width="175" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803669002?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="175" class="align-right"/></p>
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<p>"But these vets keep getting more creative by the year. Even if they go on to a long career, these guys will still show their kids and grandkids photos of their embarrassing rookie haircut." </p>
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<p><strong><span class="font-size-4"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803669052?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803669052?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a>“HAIRCUT HAZING EXTENDS TO COLLEGES”</span></strong></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">To no one’s surprise – amidst all the nationwide publicity showing jaw-dropping NFL haircuts –college and high school teams all over the U.S. soon began copying the delightful NFL haircut itual. Here are some college examples. </span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">Here’s how one sportswriter in 2010 described the spread of initiation haircuts from the NFL to college teams:</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"> “Haircut hazing has officially reached epidemic status. </span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">“Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention as closely in past years or maybe it wasn’t as well-documented, </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">but I don’t ever remember more rookies — and now freshmen — with bad haircuts leading up to the regular season. </span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803669204?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803669204?profile=original" width="283" class="align-right"/></a>“This haircut photo is a first for the college-level</span> <strong style="font-size: 12pt;">Minnesota G</strong><strong style="font-size: 12pt;">olden Gophers</strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">. Freshmen all over the country should </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">now beware: haircut hazing has reached the collegiate level.” </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
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<p><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803669356?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left" style="font-size: 16px;"/></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"> Here are two more University of Minnesota freshmen football players after they submitted to being shaved.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">What you’re abou</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">t to see below is a series of other firsthand accounts, wr</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">itten by rookie athletes and high </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">school and college freshmen, describing their experiences when upperclassmen and veteran team members took electric clippers and carved bizarre patterns into </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">their hair – and then required the</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">m to wear those embarrassing haircuts for days or weeks afterward. </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">You’d expect it to be a pretty awful experience, right? Well, get ready for a major shock.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681005?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681005?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803669539?profile=original" target="_self"></a></span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">On the contrary, almost ALL of these victims said they were intensely proud of their initiation haircuts – and intensely proud of themselves for having the guts to endure a little embarrassment wearing those mutilated haircuts in public. </span></p>
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<p><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681302?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">A surprising number of the high school and college victims described it as an exciting, life-changing experience that gave them a powerful, new, outgoing self-confidence, often turning shy young men into the life of the party.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681357?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681357?profile=original" width="191" class="align-left"/></a></span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><span class="font-size-3">Most boys growing up tend to be a bit shy – some painfully so. But after you’ve been forced to attract stares by walking around town for a couple of weeks with a humiliating haircut, hardly </span><i style="font-size: 12pt;"><u>anything </u></i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">else is </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">ever again going to embarrass you. So the initiation haircut can surprisingly be </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> a very valuable, healthy welcome to manhood. </span></span> </p>
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<p><strong style="font-size: 1.5em;"><span class="font-size-4">BASEBALL FRESHMEN GET NEW TRIMS</span></strong></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><b><i>[Here’s a student newspaper account of baseball team initiation haircut fun at a Southern church-affiliated university]</i></b></span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681460?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681460?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681613?profile=original" target="_self"></a>“There is definitely a new faux pas on this<a href="http://www.lipscomb.edu/" title="Lipscomb University"> </a>campus. Two words: bad haircut.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">“Having a hard time imagining some big, macho guys that all have coincidently bad haircuts? Allow me to explain.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">“Every year, the university baseball team does a form of “freshman initiation” where it thinks of the worst possible do’s for the new players. This year, the seniors did not take their task lightly in embarrassing the poor freshmen.</span></p>
<p><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681613?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-right"/></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">“According to the older players, this tradition is a part of the freshmen gaining the respect from their veteran teammates and handling it with a smile, whether it is genuine or not.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">“They all knew it was coming, but on Monday the eight youngsters walked in the locker room to find several hair trimmers lined up, and they automatically knew what was about to happen. Nervously, they took their seats and allowed their teammates to go to work on their hair with complete freedom.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681711?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="650" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681711?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="650" class="align-center"/></a></span></p>
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<p class="wp-caption-text" align="center"><strong><em><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All eight freshmen with their new haircuts.</span></em></strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">“While there were laughs and jokes on the older side, the freshmen bit their tongues and toughed it out.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">“These horrid hairstyles only had to last a little over 24 hours, yet they had to be worn around school for a full day (with no hats allowed) as well as flaunted at <a href="http://www.lipscomb.edu/campuslife/chapel/" target="_blank" title="LU Chapel" rel="noopener">chapel</a> in front of the entire student body.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681814?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681814?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a>“Conveniently, the baseball team sits in the front row, allowing their hair to be on display for everyone to see. From pictures trimmed into the backs of their heads, to Mohawks, to “old man cuts,” the boys wore it all.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3">“From what I have heard from the guys, they had a good attitude about it and knew that it is simply a part of being on the team.".</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">The girls on that campus think the initiation haircuts are very sexy. One posted this comment: </span>"<span class="font-size-3">This was great!!! Its always a fun day when the freshman boys have this done to them.. I like it best when they have long hair…because then their “do’s” are even more hilarious!" Another girl posted this comment: "I SO wish I would have gotten to see that shaving. Good for them for biting their tongues and doing it," <span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></p>
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<p><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681893?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="175" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803681893?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="175" class="align-left"/></a><span class="font-size-4"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803682074?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803682074?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a>AND HERE'S ANOTHER CHRISTIAN COLLEGE IN THE SOUTH THAT DOES A REALLY GREAT JOB OF CARVING UP THE HAIR OF FRESHMAN BASEBALL PLAYERS</span></b></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"> </span></p>
<p>Haircut initiations seem to be especially popular at church-owned colleges. Which I guess proves that church schools enjoy a good initiation as much as any secular school. Good for them!!!</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803682442?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803682442?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>HERE'S THE PHOTO THAT PROVES INITIATION HAIRCUTS ARE GREAT FUN FOR <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">BOTH</span></em> SIDES -- THE FRESHMAN VICTIMS & THE UPPERCLASSMEN MANNING THE CLIPPERS</strong></span></p>
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<p>One freshman baseball player at the same religious university shown in the initiation photos above, upon emerging from beneath the clippers, gets a big welcoming hug from all the upperclassmen who have just shaved him -- a hug thanking him for being man enough to prove his devotion to the baseball team by voluntarily submitting to an embarrassing haircut.</p>
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<p>Most freshmen everywhere say they openly welcome the initiation head shavings because they bring precisely this kind of powerful bonding with other team members. . </p>
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<p>Part of the ritual is for each victim to show off his initiation shave to the upperclassmen after they finish shearing him -- as seen in the photos above. Judging by the big grins on the faces of <em><span style="text-decoration: underline;">everyone</span></em>, it's hard to tell who's having more fun with the ritual -- the victims or the barbers</p>
<p><a width="300" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803682539?profile=RESIZE_320x320" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803682539?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-right"/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803682669?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803682669?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150" class="align-left"/></a></p>
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<p>This freshly-shaven rookie on a Brazilian soccer team likewise gets a big welcoming hug from veteran team members to thank him for submitting to an initiation haircut.</p>
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<p>That's a really nice part of the ritual. Shave 'em first -- then a welcoming hug to thank the rookie for being man enough to take one for the team...</p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803682899?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803682899?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-left"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803683074?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803683074?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a></p>
<p>The freshman victims in this swimming team initiation have voluntarily gone without haircuts for several months, just to give the upperclassmen a lot more hair to have fun shaving off. </p>
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<p>As one college girl put it: "<span>My favorite is when the boys have long hair…because then their “do’s” are even more hilarious!"</span></p>
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<p><strong><span class="font-size-4"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803683097?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803683097?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a>'RUGBY HAIR TRADITION BONDS TEAMMATES"</span></strong></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">“The time has come again for of spotting unconventional haircuts and finding out who is new to the men’s rugby team.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">“Every year, the rugby team has a tradition for the incoming freshmen. They can get their heads shaved in a comical way as a <i><u>voluntary</u></i> initiation rite, and as a way to bond with their teammates.</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">"'We wake them up in the middle of the night, and we have hair clippers waiting," said one of the team's captain. 'And, with their consent, we shave weird designs into their hair. </span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">"'And then all the upperclassmen get to sign their names on the bodies of the shaven freshmen in indelible ink. . </span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803683255?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803683255?profile=original" width="183" class="align-left"/></a>“’The haircut makes them feel like a vital part of the rugby team, because it's so visible. It’s a part of joining a real brotherhood, and a way to connect with people. Having this experience that other people had is just something that brings people together,’ the captain of the rugby team said.</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803683315?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803683315?profile=original" width="182" class="align-right"/></a>“Players say the tradition has created some fond memories. ‘You’ll probably be surprised to hear this,’ said the freshman player on the left, ‘but sometimes it’s a really great experience to make yourself look like an idiot, and be really proud of it.’”</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">“’I actually had a job interview two days after the seniors carved up my hair. I wore a suit jacket; I got all dressed up for this interview, and I slicked down the fragments of hair I had left. Fortunately, one of the guys who was interviewing me was a former rugby player, and he knew the tradition, so he found it quite interesting.’</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">[Presumably he got the job -- because his boss really liked his initiation haircut.]</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803694844?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803694844?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></a>“Players said the tradition is a positive way to bring the rugby team together as a community.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">“’You bet your bippy it’s good for the team,” said one freshman, after allowing seniors to mutilate his haircut. ‘It was voluntary,’ he said. ‘I wanted to feel more like a part of the team. Actually, I really enjoy it.’</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">“The freshmen aren’t the only ones who get their yearly haircuts. Since last year [in order to get around the college’s rules against freshman hazing], the team captains and often some of the older members of the rugby team volunteer as well to submit to the initiation ritual, as a way to bond with the freshmen and keep it from becoming something negative.” [That means the co-captains and some of the older team members volunteer to go through the haircut initiation every year for four straight years, getting their heads shaved every year. What a great team tradition!!!]]</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803695078?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803695078?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a>“’I think the haircuts are a really cool tradition,’ said one freshman rugger with a whacked-up haircut. ‘I know you won’t believe this, but I really take pride in the initiation haircut – and pride in the team.’</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3"> “’It doesn’t only happen to new members of the rugby team. We gave our captain a monkey tail beard, that goes from his sideburn, down his chin, and up around his chin, so that it looks like a monkey tail was on his face,’ said a senior team member.</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">“’I think it’s a lot of fun, and it’s a good bonding experience,’ said another freshman sporting his new haircut. </span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">“Although the tradition is optional, the majority of rugby players participate. ‘When they see the haircut,’ said another freshman, ‘people around me know I’m part of the team, which is really awesome, because the haircut identifies me as a rugby player. It just makes me more outgoing and social, even though I have a crazy haircut. Maybe <i><u>because</u></i> I have a crazy haircut. It’s a very communal thing. It creates a real brotherhood.’”</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803696045?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="400" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803696045?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="400" class="align-left"/></a>A junior rugger who submitted to the initiation when he was a freshman player put it this way: "There's definitely something to be said for teammates going through something awful together, like embarrassing haircuts." He said it's a great way to create ties with other teammates. "</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I think it’s a really fun and important part of the rugby team to have some sort of initiation. It creates bonds and memories.”</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">Another upperclassman rugby player on the team, recalling his own initiation haircut, said while he did not exactly enjoy it, nevertheless getting his hair cut by the club’s returning members was definitely something that created a very deep bond. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“I got a really bad haircut,” he said. “I think it was a fun thing to go through because it built real class unity… You’re always hanging out with these guys, and you’re all going through the same head shaving together.”</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">Here’s how the student newspaper described the haircut ritual:</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803697021?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="259" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803697021?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="259" class="align-right"/></a>Freshman Joshua sat in his room working at his computer just like any other weeknight when Chris, a senior rugby player, walked in and said, “Hello.” Joshua shut down his computer and walked out to find twenty of his teammates waiting in his suite.</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">“You know what we got to do,” the senior told him.</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">"The freshman followed him into the bathroom, took off his shirt and knelt in front of the trashcan. The sound of clippers buzzed in his ear as his teammate took merely seconds to shave his head. With his haircut complete, his teammates took turns writing their names on his chest in permanent marker. To a casual observer, the haphazardly shaved heads and marked up chests closely resemble hazing, but the rugby players quickly point out it is all in good nature.</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803697357?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="259" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803697357?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="259" class="align-left"/></a>“We shave interesting designs into people’s heads,” said Kent, the rugby team captain. “It’s a fun thing and it encourages them onto the team. We don’t make it mandatory. If they say no…that’s fine.” Chris, the freshman, rubbing the bristly tufts on his shaven head, said he valued the identity and public recognition that came with being formally initiated onto the rugby team.</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">“You walk around and you know people are looking at you and they think it looks goofy, but they know who you are,” he said. “It identifies the rugby players.”</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803697637?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803697637?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-right"/></a>The team captain said the few freshmen who refused to get their hair cut told him they wished later they had gone through with the initiation.. The captain said some incoming freshman players had even contacted him at home during the summer vacation and were excited about their upcoming in initiation, asking when they would get to have their heads shaved. “It lets people know that we are a part of the rugby team,” he said. “Sure, it doesn’t look good and we’ve got a bunch of skinheads around here, but we’re rugby players. We’re not pretty.”</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">The rugby team’s faculty adviser, while cautioning against hazing, agreed that there’s a part he likes about the positive initiation scenario. “Part of me loves the concept of rugby players saying ‘we’re unique, we’re different and there is a little bit of a sacrifice to be one of us.” He commended last year’s captains for joining the freshmen and shaving their heads, too. He said the shaven heads of the two captains showed a collective sacrifice and a sharing of the embarrassment to be seen as one group."</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3"><strong><span class="font-size-4"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803697743?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="350" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803697743?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="350" class="align-left"/></a>ANOTHER RUGBY TEAM SHAVES ROOKIE HEADS</span></strong></span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">Haircut hazing is very big in the rough and tough sport of rugby. Here's the way a professional rugby team in France.shaved the heads of two new rookies. They shaved an "H" into one grinning guy's head to stand for "hazing." And then they required them to wear the mutilated haircuts in public -- no hats allowed -- for several weeks until the official opening of the new season.</span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803697901?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803697901?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a></b></span></p>
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<p class="p1"><span class="font-size-3">Surprisingly, the victims say they actually enjoy having people kid them about the humiliating haircuts – because it’s a great way to strike up conversations with total strangers, meet new people, and have fun. </span></p>
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<p class="p1"><b> </b></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><b><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803698015?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803698015?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a>A CALIFORNIA SENIOR CITIZEN FONDLY REMEMBERS HIS FOOTBALL INITIATION HAIRCUT WITH GREAT PLEASURE:</b></span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">In a 2017 letter to the editor of his local newspaper, he says a recent newspaper article critical of the hazing of high school football players “immediately took me back to a 1947 event that involved me and several friends. We were inducted into our high school’s Block Letter Society in a ritual that could only be described as Hazing 101.” It included forced Mohawk haircuts.</span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803698048?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803698048?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a>But, disagreeing with the anti-hazing critics, he said in his old age he now has delightful memories of his initiation haircut – because it meant acceptance and bonding with the older players. “That day was truly memorable even though our group of inductees were thoroughly humiliated and subjected to degrading and brutal treatment from our friends because we were found good enough to be included in the Block N Society. The initiation was the realization of a goal we all sought.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803698237?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803698237?profile=original" width="244" class="align-right"/></a>“Our initiation included a Mohawk haircut that for some of us was just a butcher job. A couple of guys had beautiful Mohawks, one was shaved bald and mine looked as if my barber was drunk.” Regretfully, he says “the 1947 initiation, to my knowledge, was the last year such haircuts were allowed, probably because the father of one of our initiates was a member of the school board.</span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"> </span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-3"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803698606?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803698606?profile=original" width="184" class="align-left"/></a></span></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3">“Our mothers were in tears,” he said, but the initiates loved their haircuts. “With our new hairdos we became immediate celebrities at school. Girls who never noticed us paid attention."</span></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803698677?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803698677?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-right"/></a></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>AUSTRALIAN INITIATION HAIRCUTS:</strong></span> At one dormitory at this Australian university where incoming freshmen eagerly volunteer for a consensual initiation, upper classmen give the "freshers" matching head shaves. </p>
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<p>They take clippers to the heads of the "freshers," carving a bald swath right down the center of their hair in reverse Mohawks which the "freshers" proudly wear around campus for a week or two.until it grows out, cheerfully enduring the stares.. </p>
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<p>Wow!!! Nice haircuts!!! </p>
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<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="font-size-6">(CONTINUED . . . CLICK <a href="http://www.mohawksrock.com/profiles/blogs/part-two-the-fun-of-initiation-haircuts?xg_source=activity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">HERE</a> TO GO TO "PART TWO -- THE FUN OF INITIATION HAIRCUTS") </span></strong></span></p>PHOTO GALLERY OF GREAT MOHAWKS!!!tag:www.mohawksrock.com,2016-11-11:1501994:BlogPost:8322332016-11-11T09:30:00.000ZScalped 442https://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/Californian442
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<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><br></br></strong> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510506?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510506?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200"></img></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513555?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-right" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513555?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200"></img></a></strong></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><br/></strong> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510506?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803510506?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513555?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803513555?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-right"/></a></strong></span><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong>PHOTO GALLERY</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 24pt;"><strong>OF GREAT MOHAWKS</strong><strong> </strong></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>THE WORLD'S SEXIEST</strong></span></p>
<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-size: 14pt;"><strong>HAIRCUT!!!</strong></span><strong><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> </span> </strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>AND OTHER FUN HEAD-SHAVING</strong></span><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">PHOTOS</span> </strong> . <strong> </strong></span></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><strong>If you're trying to decide what type of Mohawk to wear atop your shaven skull, peruse the photos below. Pick the style you like best. Then hand the clippers to your buddy or your girl-friend . . . submit . . . and enjoy the hell out of it!!!</strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><strong><strong>Come on -- admit it. Deep down inside, every guy's secret wish is to have his head shaved into a Mohawk at least once in his life. If only he can screw up enough courage to submit to the clippers -- and have balls enough to get stared at. </strong></strong></p>
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<p style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803514290?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803514290?profile=original" width="396" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p><strong>Over the past two or three decades, Mohawks have become much more acceptable -- thanks to a huge explosion in the number of star athletes sporting awesome-looking team Mohawks. Guys want to look like their favorite athlete -- and increasingly that athlete's head is shaved bald with a prominent strip of remaining hair running down the middle.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>At some professional soccer games these days, it seems as if the really unusual players are the ones who DON'T have a Mohawk. Same thing with MMA fighters.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Another huge factor in the exploding popularity of Mohawks is the surprising and rapidly growing popularity of head-shaving for fun.</strong></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803528108?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="460" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803528108?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="460" class="align-right"/></a></p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803529662?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="266" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803529662?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="266" class="align-left"/></a></p>
<p><strong>Over the past two decades, more than 4,200 charity head-shaving events every year in almost every American community have raised a staggering $200 million for charity. </strong></p>
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<p><strong>A quarter-million people so far have gleefully lined up for the sheer fun of submitting to a public head-shaving -- usually before large, appreciative audiences in shopping malls -- in a fun-filled, carefully choreographed ritual that has come to be a cherished tradition. </strong></p>
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<p><strong>A quarter million shaved heads!!! Amazing!!!</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Thirty years ago if you had predicted that many shaved heads, people would have said you were crazy. And that's only the ones shaved at charity events.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Every spring, TV cameras and newspaper photographers flock to those events to chronicle the delightful shock effect of seeing scores and sometimes hundreds of respected local citizens emerge from the clippers totally bald -- or Mohawked. </strong></p>
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<p><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803530937?profile=original" width="346" class="align-right" height="198"/></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541255?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="244" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803541554?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="244" class="align-left"/></a></strong></p>
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<p><strong>And once people got used to the fun of seeing their friends and neighbors shaved bald on the evening news . . . including an astonishing number of incredibly brave women (Wow!!! Sexy!!!) . . . then Mohawks, which are basically just a partial-shave, suddenly became much more acceptable . . . and sought after. </strong></p>
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<p><strong>Thanks to all those public events, people have finally come to an amazing conclusion that hardly anyone would have believed three decades ago . . . that head-shaving is actually great fun!!! Surprise!!! It's turned out to be the hottest thing going. </strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542012?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="261" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542012?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="261" class="align-right"/></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Friends and family members come to watch your shocking transformation and take videos as your precious hair tumbles into your lap and you emerge completely bald. Or Mohawked. Utterly shocking . . . but strangely intriguing. </strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542039?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="241" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542039?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="241" class="align-left"/></a></strong></p>
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<p><strong>For this photo gallery . . . we'll focus primarily on the most awesome-looking Mohawk photos we can find . . . with an occasional passing glance at other types of head-shaving.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Since I'm a guy, I'll concentrate on guy-type Mohawks. I love Mohawks on girls too -- but I'll leave it to the women to handle that.</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542130?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="316" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542130?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="316" class="align-right"/></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>I think the shorter, so-called "jockhawks" that you see on football players and soccer teams look really great for the athletes among us, who have to worry about helmets and sweat messing up their scalp lock during games . . . and for motorcyclists who have to wear helmets.</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542199?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="440" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803542199?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="440" class="align-left"/></a></strong></p>
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<p><strong>But if you don't have to worry about your scalp lock getting messed up in a scrimmage -- or on a motorcycle . . .</strong></p>
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<p><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563580?profile=original" width="196" class="align-right" height="257"/></p>
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<p><strong>. . . then my personal preference </strong><strong>(as you will see from these photos) is for leaving a substantial amount of hair atop your shaven skull -- enough hair to give it plenty of heft and make a real "statement" . . . enough hair to attract a lot of attention and scream: "Hell yes -- of course it's a Mohawk!!! Get used to it!!!"</strong></p>
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<p><span class="font-size-3"><strong>. . .</strong> like </span><strong>the delightfully hefty, fluffy and loose-cut scalp lock on the right . . . or, better yet, the standing-tall "quiff" below,</strong></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><img width="300" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803563863?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="300" class="align-left"/></span></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span></p>
<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span class="font-size-5">A DARING NEW TYPE OF MOHAWK -- THE MOHAWK MULLET, THE "MULLHAWK:</span></span></p>
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<p><strong>I think the standing tall quiff on the left is one of the all-time greatest Mohawks I've ever seen . . . anywhere!!!</strong><strong> </strong></p>
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<p><strong>I really shouldn't like it. But dammit, I can't help myself. I love it!!!</strong></p>
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<p><strong>It's one of the greatest examples I've ever seen of a daring new type of Mohawk -- the "Mohawk Mullet" or "mullhawk. I especially love the delightful mullet in the back . . . the hefty, full-blown "tail" that spills over his collar and dangles enticingly partway down this dude's back.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>I don't think a traditional "pony tail," -- the kind that's tightly bound together with a rubber band -- looks quite right with a Mohawk. But when the long tail in the back is left loose and fluffy and totally free to tumble down the back like on this guy . . . wow!!! The effect is spectacular!!!</strong></p>
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<p><strong>What an absolute masterpiece!!!</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564056?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564056?profile=original" width="243" class="align-right"/></a></strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564285?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803564285?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="200" class="align-left"/></a>It's the same shocking look that Brian Wilson, World Series winning pitcher for the San Francisco Giants (and later the L.A. Dodgers) perfected beautifully. Love it!!!</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Just when the shock effect of the traditional Mohawk was beginning to wane just a tad, the mullet tail hanging down the back kicked it back up a couple of notches on the Richter scale.</strong></p>
<p><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803531566?profile=original" width="209" class="align-left"/></p>
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<p><strong>High fives to Brian fo</strong><strong>r having the balls to sport that daring new look!!! Nice 'do!!!</strong></p>
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<p><strong>On the left is </strong><strong>another guy who showed up at his local bar with the Brian Wilson mullhawk. Hey, it's spreading, folks.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Oddly enough, a lot of people who never much cared for the traditional<a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803569282?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803569282?profile=original" width="247" class="align-right"/></a> mullet, nevertheless think the mullet works spectacularly well with a Mohawk. The long tail in back just seems to go perfectly with the Mohawk scalp lock. The long tail and the scalp lock were made for each other!!!</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Here's a young college student (on the right) who has guts enough to sport the daring new look. Love it!!!</strong></p>
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<p><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803569140?profile=original" width="257" class="align-left" height="257"/></p>
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<p><strong>What creates the real Mohawk effect is <span style="text-decoration: underline;">contrast</span>. The shocking, daring contrast of a considerable mass of darker hair plunked atop a skull that is shaven egg bald on the sides.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>I love the fanned Mohawks like the one on the left. They look fiercely masculine and sexy as hell. </strong></p>
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<p><img width="214" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803569614?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="214" class="align-right"/></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803543473?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803543473?profile=original" width="209" class="align-left"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803569614?profile=original" target="_self"></a></strong></p>
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<p><strong>But, to me, what looks even sexier is the shock effect of a huge mass of tousled hair piled loosely atop a freshly shaven skull, like these two dudes. Stunning!!! I think leaving a heavy mass of loose, messy-look hair on top adds to that sexy contrast -- and to the delightful, in-your-face shock effect. </strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803570008?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="322" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803570008?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="322" class="align-left"/></a></strong></p>
<p><strong>Wearing a Mohawk takes real guts, so </strong><strong>half the fun of it is attracting attention and letting people know you have balls enough to wear one. So unless you're a football player, leave enough hair to really attract attention. If you don't like attracting attention, then you shouldn't have submitted to the clippers.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Here (see below) is how one professional barbershop Website explains the stunning, super-sexy effect created by leaving an extra-large mass of hair atop a cleanly shaven skull. The whiteness of the shaven scalp throws total attention on the mass of contrasting, darker hair above it -- like a stage manager throwing a spotlight on the star performer . . . with everyone watching in fascination to see what you do with the hair that escaped the clippers.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Here's how the barber's Website explains that startling effect:</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803570257?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="520" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803570257?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="576" class="align-center" height="600"/></a></strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803570371?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803570371?profile=original" width="330" class="align-right"/></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803570970?profile=original" target="_self"><br/></a> So enjoy the photo gallery below. If you're still trying to decide what type of Mohawk you'd like, then peruse the photos below . . . pick the one you like best . . . print out a hard copy.....and show it to your barber. Go for it!!! </strong></p>
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<p><strong>Each to his own . . . but personally I nominate the one on the right as another of the all-time classics -- -- proudly worn by gospel singer Colton Dixon. Wow!!! Keeping it shaved egg bald on the sides makes his scalp lock stand out like a searchlight. </strong></p>
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<p><strong>His barber (who may be his new wife) has somehow discovered a way to make each hair stand perfectly upright at attention -- while still looking loose and fluffy. I'd be intensely proud to be seen in public wearing that Mohawk. Nice job, Colton!!! That's one for the ages.</strong></p>
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<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803574936?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803574936?profile=original" width="164" class="align-left" height="312"/></a></p>
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<p><strong>Along the way, I'll also occasionally toss in a photo of other types of head-shaving fun, just for variety </strong><strong>. . . including a few shots of the jaw-dropping "reverse Mohawk," which, so far, is mainly an initiation haircut inflicted on freshmen and rookies on athletic teams. But that could change. Stay tuned.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>And the increasingly popular half-shaved head. That's where half the guy's head is shaved completely bald, but the hair on the other half of the head is left long and intact . . . a brand new style with the delightful fun of total shock value . . like the guy below who's totally delighted with his new shave job.</strong><strong> I have a hunch the style just might turn out to be the new Mohawk. Wow!!! Looks like fun.</strong></p>
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<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803575242?profile=original" target="_self"></a><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803575242?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="696" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803575242?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="696" class="align-center"/></a></strong></p>
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<p><strong>For bikers, who have to wear a helmet, the half-shaved head (above) is the perfect solution -- the same shock value as a Mohawk, but the helmet doesn't mess up the hair that's left, because it lies flat against your head.</strong></p>
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<p><strong>Like the Mohawk itself, the half-shaved head started out as an initiation head shave inflicted on unlucky freshmen and athletic team rookies. But then a few Hollywood stars saw it on hazed NFL rookies and decided they really liked the look -- and the fad took off like gangbusters. Go figure.</strong></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803575371?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="250" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803575371?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="250" class="align-right"/></a></span></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">THE MESSY</span> <span style="text-decoration: underline;">MOHAWK:</span></strong><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> When done properly, with lots of extra hair, like this masterpiece, nothing is sexier.</span></span></p>
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<p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803575805?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803575805?profile=original" width="221" class="align-left"/></a></strong></span></p>
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<p><a href="https://youtu.be/hXxxrXFqzTA">https://youtu.be/hXxxrXFqzTA</a></p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/hXxxrXFqzTA">https://youtu.be/hXxxrXFqzTA</a></p>Charge 69 - Rock Star Attitude -Live- (Avec les deux guitariste des Butters)tag:www.mohawksrock.com,2015-09-25:1501994:BlogPost:8220102015-09-25T08:25:07.000ZThe Buttershttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/TheButters
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/KaW2JHQNzWc">https://youtu.be/KaW2JHQNzWc</a></p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/KaW2JHQNzWc">https://youtu.be/KaW2JHQNzWc</a></p>Charge 69 - Patchwork -Live- (Avec les deux guitariste des Butters)tag:www.mohawksrock.com,2015-09-25:1501994:BlogPost:8220082015-09-25T08:21:41.000ZThe Buttershttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/TheButters
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/_Nqu8jq7SHs">https://youtu.be/_Nqu8jq7SHs</a></p>
<p><a href="https://youtu.be/_Nqu8jq7SHs">https://youtu.be/_Nqu8jq7SHs</a></p>The Butters - Citoyen Ordinaire ( Montage Photos)tag:www.mohawksrock.com,2015-09-25:1501994:BlogPost:8220932015-09-25T08:18:07.000ZThe Buttershttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/TheButters
<p><a href="http://youtu.be/pOj3qKxKFcI">http://youtu.be/pOj3qKxKFcI</a></p>
<p><a href="http://youtu.be/pOj3qKxKFcI">http://youtu.be/pOj3qKxKFcI</a></p>The Butters - La Poisse (Court-Metrage)tag:www.mohawksrock.com,2015-09-25:1501994:BlogPost:8220062015-09-25T08:16:59.000ZThe Buttershttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/TheButters
<p><a href="http://youtu.be/4dREDki8x0U">http://youtu.be/4dREDki8x0U</a></p>
<p><a href="http://youtu.be/4dREDki8x0U">http://youtu.be/4dREDki8x0U</a></p>The Butters - La Poissetag:www.mohawksrock.com,2015-09-25:1501994:BlogPost:8218222015-09-25T08:14:58.000ZThe Buttershttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/TheButters
<p><a href="http://youtu.be/EAvpUvXEK14">http://youtu.be/EAvpUvXEK14</a></p>
<p><a href="http://youtu.be/EAvpUvXEK14">http://youtu.be/EAvpUvXEK14</a></p>The Military History of the Mohawktag:www.mohawksrock.com,2014-09-11:1501994:BlogPost:8109422014-09-11T20:00:00.000ZScalped 442https://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/Californian442
<p><em><strong><span class="font-size-4">[THIS IS JUST A BRIEF <span style="text-decoration: underline;">PREVIEW</span> OF THE ARTICLE, "THE SECRET MILITARY HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK HAIRCUT." TO READ THE <span style="text-decoration: underline;">COMPLETE,</span> MUCH LONGER ARTICLE WITH A HUGE ARRAY OF RARE, HISTORICAL PHOTOS OF MILITARY MEN WEARING MOHAWKS, <a href="http://www.mohawksrock.com/group/military-mohawks" target="_blank">CLICK HERE.</a></span></strong></em></p>
<p></p>
<p>Many…</p>
<p><em><strong><span class="font-size-4">[THIS IS JUST A BRIEF <span style="text-decoration: underline;">PREVIEW</span> OF THE ARTICLE, "THE SECRET MILITARY HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK HAIRCUT." TO READ THE <span style="text-decoration: underline;">COMPLETE,</span> MUCH LONGER ARTICLE WITH A HUGE ARRAY OF RARE, HISTORICAL PHOTOS OF MILITARY MEN WEARING MOHAWKS, <a href="http://www.mohawksrock.com/group/military-mohawks" target="_blank">CLICK HERE.</a></span></strong></em></p>
<p></p>
<p>Many Americans will be amazed to learn that it was courageous U.S. Army paratroopers who first popularized the Mohawk haircut more than 70 years ago during the Normandy Invasion on D-Day -- long before it was copied by punk rockers, football teams, and gutsy teenagers.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Just Google "Mohawk airborne" or "Mohawk D-Day"and you'll see a.lot of photos of those Mohawked paratroopers making history -- saving the world for democracy. I've posted a few of those historic photos on this Web page. Half of the men in these photos were either killed, wounded or captured in that combat jump -- but they accomplished their mission. They are legendary American heroes. </p>
<p><img width="300" height="200" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2693140819?profile=RESIZE_320x320" alt="Mohawk D-Day 2"/></p>
<p><img/></p>
<p><img/></p>
<p><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">As a former paratrooper myself in the 82</span><sup style="background-color: #ffffff;">nd</sup> <span style="background-color: #ffffff;">Airborne Division (a sergeant) ten years later during the Korean War, let me see if I can hopefully lend some clarity to the long-running debate on many Internet forums as to which individual airborne unit did -- or did not – introduce the Mohawk as a daringly distinctive (non-regulation) haircut for American paratroopers. I seem to be one of the few veterans still alive who remember the early military history of the Mohawk. So I guess I’d better write it down before we’re all dead. (The profile photo of me on this Web page shows me with a Mohawk shortly after I left the Army in 1955 when I was in my twenties.). </span></p>
<p>Back in the summer of 1954, I did an official, in-depth feature story on the military history of the Mohawk for the 82<sup>nd</sup> Airborne Division’s official radio program over a local civilian station in Fayetteville, NC, where Fort Bragg is located (home of the 82<sup>nd</sup>). What triggered the radio feature was the fact that summer maneuvers were underway at that time in the vast “pine barrens” of Fort Bragg’s back-country – and suddenly Mohawk haircuts began showing up on large numbers of 82<sup>nd</sup> troopers whenever they took their helmets off. People started asking: "What's the story behind the haircuts?" That made it suddenly newsworthy, resulting in my radio story. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>In addition, I was recently asked to explain the history of paratrooper Mohawks when I was interviewed for the Library of Congress collection of videotaped interviews with veterans of American wars.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The bottom line is that – regardless of which airborne unit first adopted the startling haircut – it has, over the years, become as closely identified (unofficially) with Army paratroopers as the “high-and-tight” haircut is with U.S. Marines, despite the fact that it is not allowed by Army haircut regulations. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>My old outfit, the 82<sup>nd</sup> Airborne Division, is sometimes erroneously credited with introducing the Mohawk to the military. It’s true that 82<sup>nd</sup> troopers periodically sported non-regulation Mohawks over the years when out in the field on maneuvers, including the years when I served with them. But photographic archives leave little doubt that the real credit for first introducing the Mohawk to the military belongs to another paratrooper outfit -- the legendary “Filthy 13” demolition unit of the 101<sup>st</sup> Airborne Division that parachuted behind Nazi lines in the pre-dawn hours before the Normandy Invasion on D-Day (June 6, 1944) in a courageous suicide mission. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Numerous D-Day photographs of that 101<sup>st</sup> Division demolition team show them boarding planes for the D-Day jump while wearing freshly shaved Mohawks and Native American war paint, supposedly designed to frighten the Nazis. Those eye-catching photographs were plastered across newspapers, movie newsreels and news magazines, including a famous photograph in the military newspaper, “Stars and Stripes” – introducing the entire world to that startling haircut and indelibly associating it forever with U.S. paratroopers. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>One member of that 101st“Diivision demolition team was a Native American, and he has said that his mother suggested the haircut for the Normandy jump. Like most Americans, his mother was obviously aware that for the previous three or four years, American paratroopers had already been yelling “Geronimo” (the name of a famous Indian chief) as their colorful battle cry every time they jumped out of a plane. The haircut obviously fit the battle cry. His mother presumably figured if her son’s unit was going to yell like Indian warriors, they might as well look like Indian warriors. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Almost a year later, in March 1945, historic photographs show some paratroopers in a different division -- the now-defunct 17<sup>th</sup> Airborne Division – wearing similar Mohawks during a combat jump over Germany’s Rhine River. They undoubtedly had seen the earlier photograph of the 101<sup>st</sup> Division haircuts in “Stars and Stripes” and copied them – further cementing the haircut as a paratrooper tradition.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>When the D-Day jump was recently re-enacted for the anniversary of the Normandy Invasion, the young paratroopers re-enacting that historic jump likewise shaved their heads into Mohawks for the sake of historical accuracy – a touching tribute and a tacit admission by the Army that this non-regulation haircut played a colorful role in military history.</p>
<p><img width="329" height="450" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2660460293?profile=RESIZE_480x480" alt="Mohawked reenacters 2"/></p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have never found any photographs showing any 82<sup>nd</sup> troopers with Mohawks during World War Two. But by the late 1940s or early 1950s, many 82<sup>nd</sup> paratroopers had likewise adopted the haircut as a strictly non-regulation, unofficial Airborne tradition when they were out in the field where commanders were less stringent about haircut regulations. (Mohawks were forbidden when in garrison.) It was a well-established but strictly unsanctioned tradition with the 82<sup>nd</sup> by the time I left the Army more than half a century ago.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>As stated above, I saw hundreds of Mohawks among 82<sup>nd</sup> troopers during field maneuvers in the summer of 1954 when I served with them. I assumed that the commanding generals openly winked at the haircut regulations and quietly tolerated them while their men were out in the field. Otherwise the men would have been ordered to shave them off immediately. Actually, I strongly suspected that the generals secretly liked the Mohawks because they were a huge morale boost and added greatly to paratrooper esprit de corps – during the grim years of the Korean War when a morale boost was urgently needed. But the haircuts immediately disappeared when the troops returned to garrison. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>In addition, I had a copy of an official Army souvenir booklet showing 82<sup>nd</sup> summer maneuvers a year or two prior to that, which amazingly had page after page showing entire regimental companies in large group shots – all of them with their heads shaved into Mohawks. That 1950s souvenir booklet even showed some company commanders (captains) with Mohawks, which seemed to give the haircuts a limited degree of semi-official sanction. Even more amazingly, the official Army booklet said the various companies in that particular regiment of the 82<sup>nd</sup> had held a contest to decide which company had the best Mohawks. That probably will surprise Veterans familiar with strict Army haircut regulations, but I can testify that it actually happened.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>In addition, I also had a copy of an official Army yearbook of the 82<sup>nd</sup> participation in the April 1952 nuclear test at the Nevada Proving Grounds, which showed 82<sup>nd</sup> paratroopers crouched in foxholes as the nuclear device was exploded – many of them wearing Mohawks.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So even though it wasn’t the 82<sup>nd</sup> that introduced the Mohawk, nevertheless 82<sup>nd</sup> troopers quickly adopted the haircut as an unsanctioned paratrooper tradition after the end of World War Two. And judging from the following photo, I gather the 101st must have done likewise. Here's a recent photo of modern-day paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division at a remote combat outpost in Afghanistan carrying on the tradition by shaving Mohawks into each other's heads. Good for them!!!</p>
<p><img width="500" height="333" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2660460512?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" alt="Mohawk Afghanistan"/> </p>
<p>The wildly popular video combat game series "Call of Duty" played a huge role in forever associating the Mohawk with paratroopers. One of the main characters in that game series, Captain John "Soap" MacTavish, a fictional Special Operations paratrooper, sports one of the most military-looking Mohawks in the history of that distinctive haircut. As a result of that video game, this version of the haircut quickly came to be known as the warhawk:</p>
<p><img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee136/suwarnaadi/hair/john-mactavish-warhawk-hairstyle_zpsdbd12475.jpg" alt="Photo of John MacTavish warhawk hairstyle."/></p>
<p>Soap MacTavish quickly became one of the most popular characters in the "Call of Duty" game series:</p>
<p><img src="http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee136/suwarnaadi/hair/john-soap-mactavish-haircut_zps4c146bb6.jpg" alt="Photo of John Soap MacTavish warhawk haircut."/> </p>
<p>Soon the enormous popularity of the "Call of Duty" game series led to the creation of highly popular miniature reenactment figures of Soap MacTavish:</p>
<p><img src="http://i496.photobucket.com/albums/rr330/kotoreparch/3.jpg"/> Pretty soon, came the ultimate tribute to the military Mohawk, as some young American video gamers began copying what they called the "MacTavish Warhawk" -- like the following Soap MacTavish fan:</p>
<p><img src="http://fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/180/c/8/mactavish_mohawk_by_silvereyedsurfer-d3kgkld.png" alt="mactavish mohawk by silvereyedsurfer"/></p>
<p></p>
<p>Let’s be perfectly clear. When it comes to the military, we definitely are <i><u>not</u></i> talking about the more extreme Mohawks now fancied by some civilians. If a Mohawk can ever be considered “conservative,” that’s what military Mohawks have always been. Regardless of the unit or the decade, all of these military Mohawks – without exception – have been short, usually less than one or two inches tall (it's hard to fit a steel helmet over anything taller). They are very neatly trimmed, Spartan style Mohawks, sometimes called “flattop Mohawks” or “jockhawks,” cut to resemble a roached horse’s mane or the tooth-brush bristles of a Spartan soldier’s helmet in ancient Greece – a bristly style that has conveyed a warrior image since ancient times. </p>
<p><img src="http://images.clipartof.com/small/1109272-Clipart-Black-And-White-Ancient-Corinthian-Or-Spartan-Helmet-Royalty-Free-Vector-Illustration.jpg"/></p>
<p></p>
<p>The military-style Mohawk goes all the way back more than 2,000 years to ancient Greece, when fierce Spartan soldiers wore these helmets modeled after a horse's mane. Fifteen hundred years later, Native Americans, who obviously had never seen a Spartan helmet, independently invented a strikingly similar haircut for their Indian warriors. So logic suggests that there must be something about a bristly tuft of hair atop a shaven skull that somehow inherently suggests the warrior culture -- whether it's the military Mohawk of the paratrooper or the Recon haircut of a Marine or Army Ranger.. Go figure.. </p>
<p></p>
<p>Military Mohawks are basically just a flat top with shaved sides. A recon is essentially a Mohawk without a tail. Military Mohawks are always flat -- never pointy, spiked, or colored. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>I can’t say from personal experience what happened to the Mohawk tradition after I left the Army in 1955. But I can tell you that when, as a civilian, I recently got a Mohawk just for old time’s sake, not one but THREE different military men accosted me when they saw the haircut and said, “You must have been in the 82<sup>nd</sup> Airborne Division – right?” The first time it happened during a visit to a war memorial, my wife was stunned. “How could you possibly have known my husband was in the 82<sup>nd</sup>?” she said. “You’ve never met him before. “ The veteran said, “It’s because of the haircut. It’s a tradition in the 82<sup>nd</sup>.” I was as surprised as my wife, since, as I said, it was the 101<sup>st</sup> that introduced it. I figured that first encounter was just a fluke – perhaps an old veteran who got the 82<sup>nd</sup> confused with the 101<sup>st</sup>. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>But then, over the next few weeks, two additional military men stopped me to say exactly the same thing. One was a former Green Beret captain who saw my haircut and stopped me in a department store. The other was an active duty enlisted man in camos in an airport on his way home from Afghanistan. Both of them said the same thing: “With that haircut, you must have been in the 82<sup>nd</sup>.” Again, my wife was stunned – as was I. </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Perhaps part of it may be attributed to the fact that a wildly popular “action figure” doll sold to collectors of military memorabilia shows a World War Two paratrooper with an awesome Mohawk, looking like some fierce Spartan soldier from the ancient Greek wars:</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So next time you see a gutsy youngster with a Mohawk haircut, try not to see it as a sign of rebellion. Try instead to see it as an eye-catching tribute to those brave paratroopers who, three quarters of a century ago, volunteered for hazardous duty to jump behind enemy lines and win the war – to keep America free – even if the youngster doesn’t know the real story. The real secret is that the Mohawk is as all-American as baseball and apple pie. </p>
<p> </p>
<p><em><strong><span class="font-size-4">[AS STATED ABOVE, THIS WAS JUST A BRIEF <span style="text-decoration: underline;">PREVIEW</span> OF THE ARTICLE, "THE SECRET MILITARY HISTORY OF THE MOHAWK HAIRCUT." TO READ THE <span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">COMPLETE</span>,</span> MUCH LONGER ARTICLE WITH A HUGE ARRAY OF RARE, HISTORICAL PHOTOS OF MILITARY MEN WEARING MOHAWKS, <a href="http://www.mohawksrock.com/group/military-mohawks" target="_blank">CLICK HERE.</a><span>]</span></span></strong></em></p>
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<p> # # #</p>
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<p> </p>Dropkick Murphys and MMORPGtag:www.mohawksrock.com,2013-10-20:1501994:BlogPost:7925642013-10-20T18:00:00.000ZKobaloshttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/kalos
<p>Today I spent a lazy morning fishing Rocktails in RuneScape with video from Sandman here. I even made three avatar pics from it they can use.…</p>
<p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511312?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511312?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="268"></img></a> <a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511806?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511806?profile=RESIZE_320x320" style="vertical-align: top;" width="235"></img></a></p>
<p>Today I spent a lazy morning fishing Rocktails in RuneScape with video from Sandman here. I even made three avatar pics from it they can use.</p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511312?profile=original"><img width="268" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511312?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="268"/></a><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511806?profile=original"><img width="235" style="vertical-align: top;" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803511806?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="235"/></a><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512236?profile=original"><img width="180" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512236?profile=RESIZE_320x320" width="180"/></a></p>
<p>That's one of the things I like about RS, you can play it while working on something else. Though, I don't like what RuneScape 3 has turned into. It's become too accessible, over-easy and lacks challenge. However, they have introduced an interesting thing in it called 'Bonds', which you can get with in-game money to let you exchange them for 14 days free membership.</p>
<p>Since I have a very high-level character with access to high-level resources, it's easy for me to make gold pieces not only to fund my own membership, but to have spare enough to double the price. Luckily, although RS3 is boring to me now, I also get access to Old School RS 2007, which is much more challenging and fun! Though takes a while to start from fresh again. I was happily ranging Big Chompy Birds last night. haha</p>
<p></p>
<p><a target="_self" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512983?profile=original"><img width="320" class="align-right" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2803512983?profile=RESIZE_480x480" width="320"/></a>I also worked on getting my farming plants in my long-term hobby MMORPG project. These now grow over a number of stages, depleting water & nutrients in the field and sometimes wilting from lack of and for the ripe plants/flowers & fruits you can harvest a variety of different things. This is something I think more games need - variety and depth.</p>
<p></p>
<p>So, from growing potato tubers, you can get tiny through to (rarely) big potatoes, with better ones the higher your farm level gets. Plus, you have a rare chance at getting a tuber to let you plant more. Also, I've tied it in with giving some worms too sometimes which can be used for fishing certain fish types in the game, along with a rod & hook.</p>
<p></p>
<p>Then I plan on having different fertilisers giving different Nitrogen, Phosphorous & Calcium proportions (from decomposed collected plants like Nettles/Comfrey & Fish bones - gutting fish). These are used to rebalance the soil and I've added 13 soil types too(gravelly to heavy clay) that different plants will grow better or worse in and affect how the take up of nutrients based on the water amount in the field. Eventually I want to tie in a cloud and weather system to add rain water and dry soils up making you need to think carefully where to plant and how often to water. Too much and you could waterlog the plants and make them sick.</p>
<p></p>
<p>All-in-all, I'm enjoying adding many diverse things now. I've got over 4000 objects, which I've started moving into 3D as you can see from the trees and furniture. I'm planning on making (nearly) everything from resources, so that players can fix and improve buildings and fences (blocking monsters from damaging buildings in the future).</p>
<p></p>
<p>It's a lot of work and balancing, but I do it and also play RS on another screen, so it keeps going and I keep making gps to buy bonds to get free game time in the background. :)</p>Ladies!tag:www.mohawksrock.com,2013-08-21:1501994:BlogPost:7885702013-08-21T04:01:49.000ZBooglehttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/Boogle
<p>Hey someone recommend me some good bands with lady vocals. I'm getting tired of hearing guys sing all the time. Thanks.</p>
<p>Hey someone recommend me some good bands with lady vocals. I'm getting tired of hearing guys sing all the time. Thanks.</p>SON OF A BITCH :Ctag:www.mohawksrock.com,2013-08-03:1501994:BlogPost:7862962013-08-03T20:05:40.000ZSarahhttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/SarahGordon
So I heard a "friend" talking about me to his girlfriend. She was jealous of him hanging out with me. He told her "Look at that girl I wouldn't even know what to do with that do you fuck her or read her like a comic book." I assume he's referencing my tattoos. I asked him if he had a problem with the way I look and if he did why are we friends. We've only been frinds for about three years. He actually said "At first I was worried about being seen with you girl, you look a site." I said WTF why…
So I heard a "friend" talking about me to his girlfriend. She was jealous of him hanging out with me. He told her "Look at that girl I wouldn't even know what to do with that do you fuck her or read her like a comic book." I assume he's referencing my tattoos. I asked him if he had a problem with the way I look and if he did why are we friends. We've only been frinds for about three years. He actually said "At first I was worried about being seen with you girl, you look a site." I said WTF why are we even friends and he trys explaining how he got used to me the way I dress still embarrasses him....Idk I don't fucking get it. Its really hurt my feeling and I'm wondering who else I fucking embarrass.....its bullshit its fucking bullshit and its also bullshit that I let this bullshit hurt my goddamned feelings....bullshit!! :'( People suck! I suck for being such a sensitive fucking crybaby but damn man I thought he was my friend. Anyway that's my fucking complaint today....Ugh :/ having problems with the site or just technology on my stupid phonetag:www.mohawksrock.com,2013-05-09:1501994:BlogPost:7760222013-05-09T06:34:13.000ZSarahhttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/SarahGordon
So, shouldn't have traded my laptop for ink. Now I use my phone for internet. My email is screwed! No notifications from MR :( so if you wanna get my attention you're gonna actually post directly on my comment wall. Sucks! Really just a problem with the setting for this site. They look fine, should be fine. Hopefully resolved soon. Lol if anyone wants to get ahold of me my email is s.l.29.gordon@gmail .com
So, shouldn't have traded my laptop for ink. Now I use my phone for internet. My email is screwed! No notifications from MR :( so if you wanna get my attention you're gonna actually post directly on my comment wall. Sucks! Really just a problem with the setting for this site. They look fine, should be fine. Hopefully resolved soon. Lol if anyone wants to get ahold of me my email is s.l.29.gordon@gmail .comSmall Towns OMGtag:www.mohawksrock.com,2013-05-01:1501994:BlogPost:7753942013-05-01T10:35:41.000ZSarahhttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/SarahGordon
Well since I seriously know nothing about technology this is my absolute first blog lmao. Anyway I live in The States in an area called by some the Bible Belt. Not that I hate Christians or anything. Just not particularly religious. So I've always gotten looks from people when I was young people thought I was a witch I was called gothic a lot, freak lol and other things. Lately though I feel quite alone and wish there were more people here like me. Sadly my friends "grew out of it" as if "it"…
Well since I seriously know nothing about technology this is my absolute first blog lmao. Anyway I live in The States in an area called by some the Bible Belt. Not that I hate Christians or anything. Just not particularly religious. So I've always gotten looks from people when I was young people thought I was a witch I was called gothic a lot, freak lol and other things. Lately though I feel quite alone and wish there were more people here like me. Sadly my friends "grew out of it" as if "it" were a stage everyone goes through or something. Friends I've known most my life told me that I have a family now why do I still look and dress like when I was a kid. I'm like whatever dude we're just different people now I guess. Not going to change to fit in though that's never been me. So I love this site, don't feel quite as alone. but. still do feel the pressure to conform especially when I feel like its my fault we get harassed by the police when we do go out. Anyway yep that's just my thoughts before I pass out about five hours too late. Ohhh man its gonna be a long day tomorrow and tomorrow is always tomorrow until I go to sleep its still today to me lol. Sorry if I bored ya or rambled on about nothing in my sleep deprived state. Goodnight. guys :)my new punk social network/community/much more, is now onlinetag:www.mohawksrock.com,2013-04-14:1501994:BlogPost:7739332013-04-14T20:28:08.000ZKustmerhttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/Kustmer
<p>hey, my site i have spent a lot of time working on is now finally live online, it may not be perfect yet but its certainly useable, it just needs to have some more members, so I would really really appreciate it if anyone wants to make a profile and join in, It is partly a punk social network with member and band profiles,photo albums,blogs, forum, and a detailed discography of punk albums with lyrics and videos! go to …</p>
<p>hey, my site i have spent a lot of time working on is now finally live online, it may not be perfect yet but its certainly useable, it just needs to have some more members, so I would really really appreciate it if anyone wants to make a profile and join in, It is partly a punk social network with member and band profiles,photo albums,blogs, forum, and a detailed discography of punk albums with lyrics and videos! go to <a href="http://punkonline.net" target="_blank">http://punkonline.net</a> thanks :)</p>Fresh outfit boy, came to shut it down. And it's only gon be worn once, like a wedding gown. Somebody tell the town Short Dawgs in the annex. Pistol on my hip and I pop it like Xanex.tag:www.mohawksrock.com,2013-03-21:1501994:BlogPost:7724592013-03-21T13:54:54.000Ztiffany suttonhttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/tiffanysutton
<div style="display: inline;"><a class="mainquote" href="http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/Fresh_outfit_boy%2C_came_to_shut_it_down._And_it%27s_only_gon_be_worn_once%2C_like_a_wedding_gown._Somebod/252971/" title="Fresh outfit boy, came to shut it down. And it's only gon be worn once, like a wedding gown. Somebody tell the town Short Dawgs in the annex. Pistol on my hip and I pop it like Xanex."><span class="firstword">Fresh</span> outfit boy, came to shut it down. And it's only gon be worn…</a></div>
<div style="display: inline;"><a class="mainquote" title="Fresh outfit boy, came to shut it down. And it's only gon be worn once, like a wedding gown. Somebody tell the town Short Dawgs in the annex. Pistol on my hip and I pop it like Xanex." href="http://www.searchquotes.com/quotation/Fresh_outfit_boy%2C_came_to_shut_it_down._And_it%27s_only_gon_be_worn_once%2C_like_a_wedding_gown._Somebod/252971/"><span class="firstword">Fresh</span> outfit boy, came to shut it down. And it's only gon be worn once, like a wedding gown. Somebody tell the town Short Dawgs in the annex. Pistol on my hip and I pop it like Xanex.</a></div>what to dotag:www.mohawksrock.com,2012-11-15:1501994:BlogPost:7622572012-11-15T05:19:22.000Zjacob 'purple' bolinhttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/jacobpurplebolin
<p>okay i have had one other mo hawk when i was a kid and it wasnt a big deal because it was like 2 inches now its half a foot so any ideas on different styles i could do. i have done fan and liberty spikes and the basic fan but they lost there shock value that i loved to see on the faces of my friends so any other hawk ideas? </p>
<p>okay i have had one other mo hawk when i was a kid and it wasnt a big deal because it was like 2 inches now its half a foot so any ideas on different styles i could do. i have done fan and liberty spikes and the basic fan but they lost there shock value that i loved to see on the faces of my friends so any other hawk ideas? </p>Ummm yeah so many questionstag:www.mohawksrock.com,2012-11-14:1501994:BlogPost:7621682012-11-14T07:21:16.000ZMarie Raven McTavishhttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/AlandasMcTavish
<p>So, I know I've been wanting to do this for a while. I also know that there are even more drastic measures that I am doing to my hair for leukemia. I like my mohawk , it was self done. I was like, I'm not paying for a salon dumb ass cut. Waste of money , I will need to keep it looking nice so better to buy my own and do it myself. so I did. I know you all typed or read this before. :) So yeah after I had the razor kit it my bag. It dawned on me that first experiences are everything, even…</p>
<p>So, I know I've been wanting to do this for a while. I also know that there are even more drastic measures that I am doing to my hair for leukemia. I like my mohawk , it was self done. I was like, I'm not paying for a salon dumb ass cut. Waste of money , I will need to keep it looking nice so better to buy my own and do it myself. so I did. I know you all typed or read this before. :) So yeah after I had the razor kit it my bag. It dawned on me that first experiences are everything, even if it seems like a fuck up. I enjoy it so much that I did it the first time-er to myself than a hairsalon. :D I have no friends with mohawks. I shaved my head once for no reason. I seem to like coloring my hair. I love reptiles. I can conform to society but love being different. ok so there is an inbetween stage somewhere. so I can do both. :) anyone I want my hair to be a light turqoise just for fun. so many questions and thoughts. Colors!!! what more to say.. Oh ! I wanted a thick mohawk from front to back. ended up thin in back. I like the skinned army look. Anyone try a tank girl hair?</p>Its been a whiletag:www.mohawksrock.com,2012-09-26:1501994:BlogPost:7541282012-09-26T01:31:49.000ZJonathan Rioshttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/JonathanRios
Im havent been on in a while nd id like to meet new ppl with mohawks
Im havent been on in a while nd id like to meet new ppl with mohawkswhy in the fuck are people telling me nirvana's not punk....tag:www.mohawksrock.com,2012-06-08:1501994:BlogPost:7394422012-06-08T19:22:23.000ZAlexandera Vanityhttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/AlexanderaVanity
<p>look i understand it not fast and drunk ass fucking lyrics but really i fucking love them yes there fucking crazy herion addicts and kurt cobain is dead but there music rocks <3</p>
<p>look i understand it not fast and drunk ass fucking lyrics but really i fucking love them yes there fucking crazy herion addicts and kurt cobain is dead but there music rocks <3</p>Blurp dead pigeon stewtag:www.mohawksrock.com,2012-06-08:1501994:BlogPost:7394402012-06-08T19:15:06.000ZAlexandera Vanityhttps://www.mohawksrock.com/profile/AlexanderaVanity
<p>dead pigeon i killed u but now your on the side walk and soon some hobo will make stew out of you silly fucking pigeon dont fly under my boot....</p>
<p>dead pigeon i killed u but now your on the side walk and soon some hobo will make stew out of you silly fucking pigeon dont fly under my boot....</p>