Most view the game of football to be aggressive, macho and many times very brutal because of its habit of featuring bone-jarring hits. Impressively, the league breaks away from its norm for the entire month of October. The NFL goes pink to commemorate cancer survivors, raise money for research, raise awareness and honor those who have lost their lives to breast cancer. The players, coaches and referees take the football field in pink—that’s right, I said pink! Even the equipment is adorned. For the past 10 years, the NFL has supported the fight to stop breast cancer by doing its part. The theme of this year is called Crucial Catch, which promotes early detection so that the disease can be prevented and eventually cured.

Breast cancer affects all of us simply because we all have a lady in our life whether it is a wife, mother or sister. In fact, breast cancer is not a disease just for women. Men can even develop the disease too. One example is Richard Roundtree from the hit 70s television show “Shaft”. He was diagnosed with breast cancer in the early nineties and is a public spokesperson and advocate for the awareness of the disease. The disease has no preference to gender, race or age—we can all be affected and we can all show support.