ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Good morning. I'm Ari Shapiro with sports. Things get kind of hairy in the hockey playoffs. As players pursue the Stanley Cup, shaving is a jinx. Even die-hard fans grow beards for luck. One person is not amused. Mark Lazarus, the chairman of NBC Sports, says bushy beards make players too hard to recognize on TV. Viewers might not care. Ratings for Monday's playoff game were up 35 percent from last year. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.