Brian Hartline Speaks Out: It’s a Great Opportunity

As the NFLPA One Team for the Cure campaign continues, several players are featured for their role as ambassadors in a series of exclusive interviews during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This week, star running back DeAngelo Williams chats with Dolphins wide receiver Brian Hartline about Hartline’s involvement in the cause. Hartline co-hosted an event in conjunction with the NFLPA honoring breast cancer survivors in Miami.

DeAngelo Williams: Why are you involved with breast cancer awareness?

Brian Hartline: I’ve become more and more aware of it every year. Women are the backbone of the country, and we have a lot of great women and mothers. It’s definitely one thing that affects a lot of women. Certain people throughout my family have been affected by breast cancer, so to have this opportunity to be involved and help giving back is definitely something really big.

DW: How has the NFLPA’s partnership with the league on this initiative impacted fans?

BH: I think it’s huge, being that we’re the biggest sport in the country, to make people aware and create the buzz about it. It gets the word out there, which is the most powerful thing we can do. Again, just wearing a wristband, a towel or a chin strap creates the buzz and awareness throughout the country, and that’s a pretty powerful thing.

DW: What do you think about One Team for the Cure (the NFLPA’s service theme during Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October)?

BH: I think it’s a great theme. It is more about the collective goal or the collective partnership and being the best possible to get the best results. To have that mentality throughout the NFL and throughout the country towards breast cancer is definitely the right route to take, and the NFLPA is definitely doing a great job with it.

DW: As a man with women in your life and family, how much does this cause hit close to home for you?

BH: It hits home pretty well. Our fans think that they’re close to you; they watch you and support you and if I can ever get a chance to give back to even one of my fans, it is a great service to those people. The NFL does care, and we’re doing the best thing possible to help fight the battle of breast cancer and taking care of what we can on our part.

DW: What’s your impression about all the pink gear players are wearing throughout the month of October to bring attention to this cause?

BH: It’s a great way to raise awareness and create the buzz for people to ask questions about why we’re wearing it. To stem off of that, creating the buzz is really is a great opportunity for the NFL, but we’re also able to sign pink gloves, chin straps, wristbands and what-not to raise funds for the awareness of breast cancer and the cause. For us, it’s a great opportunity not only to create a buzz, but to actually raise money towards fighting breast cancer.