The Deadman Night Rider

A forum for evening students of the SMU Dedman School of Law and other outlaws..

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Another reason I'm not much of a sports fan...

Well, UT won the whatever Bowl last night, so Dallas is awash today in orange, while the usual OU and A&M gear is nowhere to be found. The Deadman actually saw some of the game last night since it was on at the gym (I am a Longhorn, after all). If the other folks working out last night ever got that worked up over a national election or jury duty, we might one day have a functioning democracy.

Anyway, check out this article from Slate on what happens to all the T-shirts, caps, and other crap that got printed up in the event of a USC win. There's something about this that's vaguely...wrong. It's like that scene in 1984 where they're having the big Hate Rally against Eurasia, then in the middle of the speech the guy reads an order from Big Brother telling them they're now at war with EastAsia instead, so they start tearing down all the signs, convinced they've always been at war with EastAsia and that spies put up all the wrong banners and posters (as a teenager, I thought this was a great simile for pep rallies). Then again, I've always been amazed at the number of grown men I've known (some of them highly-paid executives) who have good days and bad days based on the outcome of college football games. I mean, I like CSI Miami, but it's all the same to me whether the methed-up, secretly-pregnant hooker got killed by the aspiring rap star or the white-collar criminal in his SUV once the show's over--you let it go.

It seems a little patronizing to ship off-champ product out to the boonies, like they don't have satellite TV or newspapers. Gather 'round little childerns, Uncle Homie's got some Cotton Bowl caps for ya's! The folks back home wouldn't wipe their fat asses with 'em, but they're good enough for you! After all, it ain't like you can read or anything.

The flip side of this is that to an American, a 10-cent silkscreen printed on the exact same T-shirt decides whether it's worth $25 or $0. Proof positive that the ability to read does not equate to intelligence.

3 Comments:

Blogger Andria said...

This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

11:37 AM  
Blogger Andria said...

Interesting stuff. I don't mind that the clothing is being donated to people who need it. When I was previously employed by the big non-profit pediatric healthcare facility in Dallas, which shall not be named - we had tons of shirts left over from an event. I suggested that we donate them to an area battered women's shelter. I rec'd an emphatic "no." The reason shared with me was that "we" really didn't want our event "advertised" within a certain element. #$%$^! Such elitist crap - and from a non-profit healthcare facility!?!?!

11:39 AM  
Blogger rattlerd said...

You're right, A - there are some kinds of charity that degrade the receiver, and some that degrade the giver, and alot of times they overlap.

5:03 PM  

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