Woody: In the NFL, real men wear pink

Walk into any crowded room and you will find someone who has experienced the ravages of cancer, either first-hand or through PAUL
WOODY
a family member or friend.

Cancer never is far from anyone's mind. No one is surprised to receive the diagnosis. Shocked. Saddened. Frightened, perhaps, but not surprised.

The disease is too prevalent, an equal-opportunity scourge.

The NFL is making an outstanding gesture over the next four weeks.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and many NFL players, manly men, will wear pink cleats, pink sweat bands, pink gloves and pink caps during games.

The players and coaches want to make everyone who watches NFL games aware of breast cancer in particular and the heartbreak of cancer in general.

In Washington on Sunday, Redskins tight end Chris Cooley, running back Clinton Portis, wide receiver Antwaan Randle El and linebacker Rocky McIntosh are set to wear pink cleats. Other players will wear pink wristbands.

Tuesday, Cooley and guard Derrick Dockery served as hosts for a luncheon at Redskins Park for a number of area women battling breast cancer.

Tanya Snyder, wife of Redskins owner Dan Snyder, spoke at the luncheon.

Both Snyders have battled the disease, Tanya breast cancer, Dan thyroid cancer.

Cooley's mother underwent treatment for breast cancer last year. Dockery's mother is a 15-year breast-cancer survivor.

"I know what women have to do, what anyone going through chemo or cancer has to deal with," Cooley said. "It's extremely hard. The little things I can do to give back and help out mean a lot to me."

And while the NFL is to be commended for taking up this cause on a month-long basis -- Major League Baseball players use pink bats on Mother's Day -- someone in the NFL should take this a step further.

Someone should ask some hard questions of the congressmen who are attracted to pro football and who determine funding levels for cancer research.

Why, after all this time, after all this suffering, will an estimated 40,000 women die of breast cancer in 2009?

Why, as of 2006, are breast cancer death rates 38 percent higher in African-American women?

Why are African-American women more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage when the cancer is less treatable?

These are not acceptable numbers or circumstances.

Nor is it acceptable that federal funding for breast cancer research dropped from $584.7 million in 2006 to $572.6 million in 2008.

Citibank received $45 billion -- billion -- in government bailout money. AIG was given $150 billion -- billion -- in taxpayer dollars.

At the VCU Massey Cancer Center, the largest source of funding, 48 percent, comes from charitable contributions.

It is magnificent that people give so much to Massey.

But a top research center should not have to rely so heavily on philanthropy to search for cures for cancer.

Watching NFL players wear pink cleats, gloves and sweatbands for four Sundays and Mondays in October will serve as reminders of loved ones affected by cancer.

And it will remind us that much remains to be done.

Contact Paul Woody at (804) 649-6444 or . Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/World_of_Woody