Arkansas's Michael Sanchez Growing Hair Long Just For Attention

by Brandon Sneed

You'll probably see Arkansas Razorbacks guard Michael Sanchez—yes, that guy in the picture with the smile and the hair—on TV or something at some point this college basketball season and be all like, "Dude, this guy's hair is uglier than Kyle Singler's, he needs to get himself a trim, STAT!" 

Well just so you know, good sir or madam, that would make you a very large jerk. 

Sanchez, a 6-foot-8, 238-pound senior forward and two-time letterwinner, (1) could totally take you DOWN if you met him in person, so don't be the wimp mocking people from your couch when they can't even hear you, k? Also, perhaps a bit more importantly, (2), he's growing his hair long just to get attention. Oh, wait. I didn't word that right. He's growing it long because it needs to be eight inches long so he can then shave it off to donate it to Locks Of Love, which makes headpieces for cancer-stricken kids losing their hair to chemo. 

So there. 

You can read all about it in this nicely detailed piece by Dana O'Neil at ESPN.com. There be all sorts of tearjerking backstory to why he's doing it. Good stuff. A snippet: 

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- They use little red wagons to tote the sick patients around the Arkansas Children's Hospital, a nod to childhood innocence and fun so often lost amid the sterility of the hospital.

Zoe didn't need the lift. The toddler instead stuffed her wagon with stickers, fake tattoos, whatever she thought might bring a smile to the sick kids stuck in the hospital.

That she was one of them, suffering from cancer, didn't seem to matter. Her bald head may have signaled that she too was sick, but it was no match for her sunny disposition and eternal optimism.

Zoe was bringing her wares from room to room when she first spied Michael Sanchez.

Within seconds, she fearlessly scrambled onto his lap to play with his wavy hair. 

"She kept saying, 'Oh, I really like your hair,'" Sanchez said. "I know it sounds corny but I kept thinking that if I could just do something. She was so sick and here she was, trying to help the other kids. I just wanted to do something to make a difference, to maybe make people more aware."

That something now grows quite literally on the Arkansas senior.

Inspired by Zoe, Sanchez is growing his hair out for Locks for Love. 

He needs to have eight inches of his hair to make the donation to the organization, which makes hairpieces for children with cancer. That will make for some seriously bad hair days during the Razorbacks' season, not to mention some merciless ribbing from his teammates. Rico Suave and Tom Brady already have been mentioned.

But Sanchez is determined and will go to whatever lengths -- hair gel, headband or ponytail -- to get his tresses to the proper length.

"Trust me, this isn't about style points," Sanchez said. "People might think I want attention, and I guess in some ways I do. Just not for myself."

Also cool: Zoe is Greek for "life."