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Article: LONG LOCKS EXPOSE HAIRY DILEMMA\ TACKLING BY HAIR WITHIN NFL RULES.(Sports)
- Article from:
- The Cincinnati Post (Cincinnati, OH)
- Article date:
- October 18, 2006
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Byline: Robert Dvorchak Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The NFL does not regulate how long a player can grow his hair -- and courts since the 1970s have said that hair length is a personal choice protected by the U.S. Constitution -- but the interpretation of tackling by the hair dates to 2003.
NFL director of officiating Mike Pereira, in a videotape distributed to the teams and made available to the media, ruled that the hair flowing out of Ricky Williams' helmet was fair game to a tackler after the former Miami back was yanked down by his dreadlocks.
"You've got the hair being pulled, and the locks are like the shirt, I guess," Pereira said in the ...