My Mustache Is Fighting Cancer

Raise your eyes about 3 inches, if you dare, and you'll see it, just to the left of my byline. At least that's how it used to look.

Now, I'm a little too old and jaded (and perhaps mature) to take all my lifestyle cues from from Asylum's one-stop shop for sex tips, high-nitrate manly eating and hilarious excess in mind-bending activities.

But this time, Asylum is fighting the good fight, and I'm joining in.

Over the next month, they're joining the hirsute heroes at Movember, an organization that raises money for prostate cancer research by asking clean-shaven men to grow out their facial hair.

"The idea for Movember was sparked in 2003 over a few beers in Melbourne, Australia," according to the organization's Web site.

"The guys behind it joked about '80s fashion and decided it was time to bring the mustache back. In order to justify their Mos (Australian slang for mustache), they used their new looks to raise money for prostate cancer research ... never dreaming that facial hair would ultimately lead to a global movement that would get men talking about a taboo subject – their health."

OK, so maybe their beginnings are a little questionable. But to date, Movember has raised $47 million, making it the world's largest annual charity event for men's health.

So if my upper lip seems a little dirty next week – and I'll see if I can update my Sphere photo accordingly – you'll know why.

About 10 years ago, I sent a note to New York Yankees manager Joe Torre. My good friend Lisa Bitondo was dying from leukemia, just as he returned to baseball after struggling with prostate cancer.

I asked Joe to send Lisa a letter. And as a Yankee fan, a college softball player and an Italian-American, it was something she cherished in the last miserable year of her wonderful life. When she died, it went into her coffin.

If nothing else, I owe this mustache to Joe.

Prostate cancer is expected to claim the lives of 27,000 American men this year. And an estimated 234,000 new cases will be reported.

Contrary to what some news sites claimed last week, mustaches won't make you rich, but they might help put down one of the most lethal killers of men around the world.

When I think of it that way, I figure I also owe this mustache to Lisa.