Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Not My Fault

I have t-shirt designs on my mind lately. I don’t know why, because my favorite t-shirts have nothing on them at all, much like the inside of Molly Ivin's brain.

Still, I like to read the words and phrases on t-shirts because sometimes they are funny, sometimes crass, and often stupid and sometimes I don’t get them.

For example I kept seeing the t-shirt “Vote for Pedro” while watching Red Sox games and I thought they were made special for Pedro Martinez, until I actually saw the movie ‘Napoleon Dynamite’. The movie left me grinning like Bill Clinton at a divorcees convention. And of course after seeing the movie, then I ‘got it.’ Now I actually want a ‘Vote for Pedro’ shirt, eschewing my normal attraction to blankness.

You’re still imagining President Bill at a divorcees convention aren’t you?

Some of you know, but new readers will not that I ran on a gold medalist 4x100 relay team at this years’ Penn Relays in Philadelphia. (I try to mention this as often as modesty allows, approximately every five minutes) Naturally I was a little nervous since I was running at Penn for the first time. There were 39,000 spectators and I had to hand the baton to a teammate that is widely accepted as the world’s fastest human over 50 years old.

When the race was complete I was feeling very relieved that the task was over and the victory belonged to Houston Elite. Do you know that feeling where something has gone well and you had been very nervous beforehand? We always breathe that big bundle of fresh air of relief and say something like “thank goodness that’s over?”

Well that was the feeling I had that day afterward and also of course some happiness.

After all the photos with teammates and clothing reps I headed off to a restroom. Right behind was my teammate Mark Hastings who had run the first leg on our team. While standing at the urinals, Mark looked over at me with a wry smile and issued the following remarkable phrase………”well, we won, but it wasn’t my fault.”

I began laughing so hard while in mid pee stream that the patrons adjacent to me began to hurriedly zip and back away from the urinals. I will leave the sight of a full grown man collapsed into giggles at a full bank of urinals to your imagination. I think it was the release of the tension that had been building for days before the race.

Mark was making reference to the fact that our other two teammates are enshrined in the USA Track and Field Hall of Fame. Both hold World Records in the sprints. Mark and I are on the team of course for good and fast reasons, but compared to our other two teammates we would be considered the ‘less than Hall of Fame’ members of the team.

That is what Mark was addressing and what made the phrase so funny to me.

Now, unless I rearrange this little t-shirt joke of mine I suppose it is probably not funny to you. I have also sworn off discussions of politics here, because frankly it's just too easy.

So, here’s the deal. I have found the perfect application for this t-shirt. And it tells you nothing about my politics because it fits and it is funny. (To me)

Have a great day of American Courage.

8 comments:

~grey said...

I giggled that you didn't know what "vote for Pedro" meant, neither did I , till I asked my son.
I just shook my head when you described how you were going and laughing.... MEN!

I am impressed that you are a runner.... and that you obviously are a fast and good runner. Thanks for mentioning it.....

and Thank you for your comment today....very wise words!

Seven said...

Silent One,
You're welcome. There is so much on your posted subject that we could share! Maybe some day we can enlarge that conversation.

Grant said...

I wonder how the xtians would react if I got a t-shirt saying "Jebus was crucified...but it wasn't my fault."

Seven said...

13
I think the confusion that the hard baked christians have with 'no effort repeat after me love of jesus' v. 'understanding of the signifiance and meaning of the life of Jesus' would result in a typical knee-jerk negative reaction.
When we find someone that challenges our belief system, that is often the case. At least it's what I see around me with my limited vision. Being a dumb jock is not always easy.

Steve said...

Lovely post. Congrats on the medal and funny pee.
How perfect that the T-shirt is tye-dye. Maybe a missile and a smiley fact on the back? Hey, if this takes off and you use my idea I want a cut of profits.

Seven said...

Steve,
Thanks for having a sense of humor about it all. I was a little worried people might get wadded into an anger ball on this one; the reason I don't do politics.
I was actually thinking about an ACLU logo on the back....:-)

~grey said...

Yes Seven... there seems to be alot that we could share and discuss. I know there were a few questions that I wanted to ask of you.... but for the life of me, I can't remember them. One day my mind will return.

but yes... someday!

Seven said...

Silent One,
Well, just pray that it is not lost in the dang US Mail, they will never find it.