Hair, we go 2

We continue with our hair vanishing acts which were condensed and updated from an online newsletter The Athletic, written by Amelie Claydon.

During his early years in the NBA, Kobe Bryant sported a mini afro but in the 2002 playoffs, he shaved it off to make him “a lot quicker”. The LA Lakers went on to win their third consecutive title, sweeping the New Jersey Nets with Kobe averaging 26.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists in the championship series.

Last January, after a 2-game losing skid, Victor Wembanyama shaved his head. The next game, he was central to their victory over Milwaukee with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Fast forward to June, hairless was no match to the braids of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Jordan Clarkson when San Antonio lost to the Knicks, 1-4, in the Finals.

The most enduring case of bald-headed greatness goes to Michael Jordan, when in 1989, with a receding hairline, decided to go hairless and went on to become one of the most recognizable and successful athletes on the planet.  After 15 seasons in the NBA, MJ won six championships, 6 Finals MVPs, 5 league MVPs, 14x NBA All-Star, 2x Slam Dunk champion, 10x NBA scoring champion among other individual awards. The GOAT debate is still in the air with LeBron James now going bald, but with a hairy face. 

Tadej Pogacar has dominated professional cycling and in the recent Tour de France, he sported a cropped haircut which he said in jest made him “more aero”. The 27-year-old Slovenian won 5 stages in the TdF and went on to win his fifth Tour, joining cycling legends Jacques Anquetil, Eddy Merckxx, Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain with the most overall Tour victories. At the Vuelta a Espana last week, he blasted away for a 50-kilometer-long solo ride, 6 kilometers longer than his solo finish in the TdF. “More aero” indeed.

But misfortune struck Stage 8 of the Vuelta with 32 kilometers to go. Pogacar suddenly swerved, lost control, crashed, landed on his shoulder and collided with other riders in the peloton resulting in a collarbone fracture that required surgery. With his entire UAE team stopping and waiting, Pogacar tried to get back on his bike but was in obvious pain and was put on an ambulance.

Before the mishap, Pogacar was leading in the general classification by almost 4 minutes. Of the three Grand Tours (Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana) he was aiming for his first overall victory in the 21-stage Spanish race.

Meanwhile, the short hair jinx for Haaland was broken when he found the back of the net twice in their second EPL game, winning 4-1 over Crystal Palace a few days ago.

I guess going bald can be a plus for evasive tactics when a stout and hairless lawmaker, with all his misplaced bravado, was a “lot quicker” and “more aero” huffing and puffing up a flight of stairs to elude agents out to arrest him.