IT'S OVER! WE HAVE A WINNER!

THE BATTLE OF THE BEARDS
COMES TO A DRAMATIC END!

The epic battle between Rob Smith and Marc Schmid has come to a dramatic and sad end. After six months and five days of not shaving, grooming or trimming... six months and five days of agony, heartbreak, itching (and scratching)... days of tourture and many many high-fives and knowing nods of approval from other seasoned beard growers... ONE of our heroes has had to call it quits.

Say what you will... but when faced with a choice of shaving your beard and shaving your friend (out of your life if you don't shave your beard) the obvious choice is the friend. Because it's not the blood you spill that gets you what you want. It's the blood you share. Your family. Your friends. Your community. These are the most valuable things a man can have.

The beard had to go.

Rob Smith was faced with one of the most difficult decisions in his life. After all, he had endured the growing season for so long and to now, have this decision put on him was crushing. Rob (sources say) is in a wedding party of one of his great friends. The wedding is this weekend...

Marc Schmid then faced a friend/beard decision as well! He, too, had suffered at the folicles of his beard. But now his friend Rob was in a situation that he had no choice in. Marc had to make the decision... should he shave FOR Rob, so the contest ends and Rob walks away clean(shaven) OR does he stick to his guns and play the game? It was a decision that Marc had to make. Most men would be brought to tears. Do I play to win or concede defeat? The decision for Marc "Bear" Schmid was difficult... but, not having tear ducts or the ability to feel any real emotion (being German and a Schmid), the answer came quickly and easily.

MARC SCHMID HAS TAKEN THE GOLD IN BEARD FACE 9000!!!

Yes, in the end, it was Rob who shaved his beard and bid a slow, sad fare-thee-well to the facial hair that he never though that he would ever have. Marc now reigns supreme in the beard growing community of "20-somethings living in the Phillipsburg, NJ area".

The only question that now remains is... how long will our champ continue to keep the beard? Days? Weeks? Minutes?

minutes.

The beard doth grow good, my lord.

SEE the amazing beard-bodied man relax on a couch!

WITNESS how the beard has spread to our hero's upper body and arms!

TREMBLE before his undying tenacity to take this beard to the GRAVE!

Well... maybe not the grave. At least until the contest is over and a winner is declared. Where did this all begin? How did we get here? Take the journey back in time and ponder what becomes of a man who will risk it all on a single dare.

Who will come out of this with all their marbles? No one can say for sure. The one thing that IS certain: the fear of never seeing your chin again can drive a man to shave.

The weight grows ever more...

Thursday night, the bearded one lay on my couch. Confused, sad, and an air of despair surrounded him.

After we were able to clear our heads from the ridiculous Lost season finale, our hero attempted to sit up, only to topple back to the brown cushions he tried to leave. "I don't know how much longer I can go," he confides. "The beard... when this is all over. When one of us takes scissor in hand finishes the madness. This beard. It weighs heavily on my mind. It's become part of my persona. It's defining who I am and who I'm becoming... I don't know if I want to change. HAVE I changed? I don't know. How could I, after all? If it has already changed me in ways I can't perceive, how can I know for sure? Two months ago, I was full-on beard. Shaved the head. Went through the crazy looking phase. Now... now I don't know.

I just don't know how much longer I can carry it...

BIG HAIRY POSTS!

Big news is stirring in the land of the bearded.

Updates and News will be coming tonight and over the next few days...

STAY TUNED TRUE BELIEVERS!