A HAIRY SITUATION: After Sunday’s win, the only ugliness coming out of the Patriots locker is Wes Welker’s mustache.
Even his parents want Welker to shave it. But the baby-faced Welker said he is committed to the fuzz after a teammate backed off from doing the same.
Before a recent couples dinner with teammates, Patriots backup quarterback Matt Cassel told Welker he was sporting a mustache. Welker decided to counter Cassel’s "surprise" by growing one of his own.
"We start talking at dinner and the next thing you know it’s, ‘We’re keeping ’em! We’re keeping the mustaches!" Welker said.
Such unity didn’t last long. Cassel shaved shortly after the dinner because of what Welker says was pressure from his wife.
"He has to go home to her every night, so he got, ‘Either the mustache goes or ‘it’ goes,’" Welker said. "He totally wussed out. I’m still rocking it, living up to my end of the bargain.
"Being a teammate and a friend, you would think he would step up. It just shows you what kind of guy he is."
Cassel, though, says there’s more to the story than what Welker is letting on.
"Like what happens with any style when someone is the originator, other people want to jump on your bandwagon," Cassel said. "After a lot of people do it, it becomes uncool. When Wes started making it commonly known among the team that maybe wearing a mustache was cool, I had to change it up again.
"The fact is, yes, maybe the wife wanted to kiss me in a different manner. But I definitely would have to say it’s more due to the fact I want to be a lone star. I don’t like to have company when I sport a mustache. I didn’t want to be that guy where people say, ‘Oh, Wes Welker has a mustache. Matt Cassel has one, too.’"
Cassel does admit Welker grew a better mustache.
"It’s probably bigger than he is," Cassel said.
