Football To Wear Pink

October 31, 2009

The Southwestern Oklahoma State University football team is going pink during the month of October in support of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. SWOSU is following the lead of the National Football League (NFL) in promoting and supporting the world's fight against breast cancer.

According to the National Breast Cancer website, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States, aside from skin cancer. According to the American Cancer Society (ACS), an estimated 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed among women in the United States this year. An estimated 40,170 women are expected to die from the disease in 2009 alone. Today, there are about 2.5 million breast cancer survivors living in the United States.

Breast cancer occurs primarily in women, but men can also develop breast cancer. Although men have less breast tissue than women, they do have breast cells that can undergo cancerous changes. Male breast cancer makes up less than 1 percent of all cases of breast cancer, and is usually detected in men between 60 and 70 years of age.

The SWOSU football team is taking major steps this month in showing support of breast cancer awareness by wearing pink socks at all their games during the month of October. Across the field of battle and in support of the cause, you will also see pink armbands on the SWOSU coaching staff.

SWOSU's hope in wearing pink is to project awareness for this most worthy of causes. "I hope that something as little wearing the color pink, will help promote awareness," said SWOSU head coach Dan Cocannouer. "Sometimes something very small can make a big difference."