Vikings P Chris Kluwe will be alone Sunday. While his teammates don pink shoes to honor Breast Cancer Awareness month, Kluwe will use the black ones he always wears. He says there's not enough time to break in pink ones. (US Presswire)

On Sunday, the Vikings will be donning pink shoes, gloves and other apparel in recognition of October as Breast Cancer Awareness month. At practice on Friday, a number of the players were wearing the new shoes to break them in for the game.

Wearing the new shoes on such short notice is not good for all the players.

“For me and Blair Walsh, it is a big deal to change shoes,” said P Chris Kluwe, “because our shoes are like a baseball player’s glove. They’re something you want to be broken in and you want molded to your foot. Usually we won’t use a brand new pair of shoes in a game. We’ll break them for three to four weeks beforehand so it becomes accustomed to our foot.”

Kluwe said the majority wear the new shoes to break them in to ward off blisters, but other than that, wearing a new pair doesn’t affect their performance adversely. The league doesn’t mandate wearing the shoes, but the players do because of their support for breast cancer awareness.

For Kluwe, it still comes down to performing, and he knows what shoes are the best fit.

“I am using my punting shoes, because they don’t make the brand of shoes that I use anymore,” said Kluwe. “They discontinued them about three years ago. So I have the four pair in my locker and that’s it. Hopefully, they don’t wear out before I am done punting.”

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