Beards are back for the Miami Marlins.
Manager Don Mattingly said he and owner Jeffrey Loria decided to lift their prohibition on facial hair after one season.
"It was a constant fight last year, honestly, with guys," said Mattingly, speaking Tuesday before the first spring training workout for pitchers and catchers. "Through the course of the season and watching the playoffs and the World Series, for me it just didn't seem like that big of a thing. The most important thing is our guys prepare and play the game right."
The Marlins will continue to require players to be well-groomed. The ban was adopted after Mattingly was hired as manager before the 2016 season.
"A little bit last year for me was being in a new situation and wanting to make sure the team was put first, and it wasn't going to be about personal things," Mattingly said.
A handful of players took advantage of the new policy, including All-Star closer A.J. Ramos and starting pitchers Edinson Volquez and Dan Straily.
Ramos acknowledged players complained last year about the ban.
"Now you feel like you're not so under control," Mattingly said. "You can fend for yourself. You can do what you want, and we can stop hearing the crying."
Among those still without a beard is outfielder Christian Yelich.
"I can't grow one, bro," Yelich said. "It doesn't affect me."
Last year's beard ban was new for Mattingly. The Dodgers allowed facial hair when he was their manager for five seasons, and he wore a mustache when he was an All-Star first baseman for the Yankees.
Bugged out
More than a week after the Falcons fell victim to the biggest comeback in Super Bowl history, an Atlanta zoo has named a cockroach after Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
Zoo Atlanta says on its Facebook page that it had a bet with Rhode Island's Roger Williams Park Zoo that called for the loser to name a baby animal after the winning team's star quarterback. Both zoos figured the loser would be pretty bitter about the game, so they agreed the animal in question would be a Madagascar hissing cockroach.
The zoo introduced a whole family of cockroaches in a video Monday, including a tiny Tom Brady.
Brady and the Patriots came back from a 25-point deficit to defeat Atlanta 34-28 in overtime to win the team's fifth Super Bowl title.
Who needs pie?
After Monday night's 132-110 loss to the Denver Nuggets, Golden State guard Stephen Curry dropped this rather cheeky remark, per Anthony Slater of the San Jose Mercury News.
"We just got served a humble slice of cupcake."
A Russian nightmare
The Australian Open featured a match between Anastasia Sergeyevna Pavlyuchenkova and Natalia Konstantinovna Vikhlyantseva.
Wrote Dwight Perry of The Seattle Times: "The match was cheered by their fellow Russians and booed by the National Association of One-Column Headline Writers."
Sports quiz
What two NBA teams were involved in the largest blowout?
Sports answer
The Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Miami Heat 148-80 on Dec. 17, 1991.
Sports on 02/15/2017