My Kohl's Victory

I visited Kohl's recently and purchased a short-sleeve button-down shirt for $24 and a pair of shorts for $29.99. Not the most exciting thing you'll read online today, but I rarely buy clothes, and these purchases made sense. Later that day, I received a 20% off coupon in the mail from Kohl's. Between the coupon and my wife not being a fan of the shirt I bought (I already had one that looks similar), I went back to Kohl's a few days later and returned both the shirt and shorts. I then repurchased the shorts, which were on sale for a lower price. With the 20% coupon, the cost of the shorts was $19.99, a savings of $10 in only a few days. I then bought a nice "dress shirt," something I badly need since some of my long-sleeve button-down shirts are older than my recent 6th grade graduate, for $27.99.

The total was $47.98 before tax, and Kohl's had a promotion where you get $10 Kohl's cash for every $50 spent. I went back through the store trying to find something useful for slightly more than $2. It was like going shopping on Wheel of Fortune. (Why did they always have ceramic animals?)

I found a bath towel for $3.99 (after the 20% off coupon) and earned the $10 Kohl's cash. So now, I have a new pair of shorts for $10 less than originally purchased, a new towel, a new shirt, and $10 off our next Kohl's trip, which will be soon to get clothes for the kids for camp. Good job, me!

My Brother, The Yinzer

A blog post to make fun of brother? Yes! Over the weekend, my brother attended a wedding and rehearsal dinner in the New York/New Jersey area. (Actually, I’m not exactly sure where it took place, but the key as you’ll soon see, is that this didn’t occur in Western Pennsylvania.) Here is a picture from the dinner:

Once you get passed the fact that I don’t have Photoshop and simply colored in everyone’s faces, you’ll notice that the people pictured are dressed nicely (including the waiter.) Except for that one guy on the end wearing a Steelers polo shirt. That's my brother! Look, I've heard stories about people wearing Steelers jersey to church and other more formal occasions, but an out-of-the-area rehearsal dinner just doesn't seem appropriate.

Since I'm making fun of my brother, I should probably make fun of myself too. In one of my first jobs about a month or two after moving to DC after grad school, I attended a meeting on Capitol Hill only a few days or weeks into that job. For this meeting, I wore a Steelers polo shirt similar to (though nicer than) the one in the picture above. My boss at the time made sure to tell me to wear a tie for the next meeting, though I did get a compliment or two from folks from the Pittsburgh area. I should also mention that I was only 25 or 26 during this time as opposed to 41 like my brother is now. Basically, I didn't know better then but he should know better now!

Garth Brooks' Pittsburgh Outfit

Country music superstar Garth Brooks played at Heinz Field on Saturday night. During the performance, he wore, um, this.

While I commend Brooks on wearing the Pirates jersey, having Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's name and number on the back makes no sense. You know since Ben plays football and not baseball. I understand that Brooks "is in love with Ben Roethlisberger" per his quote in this Post-Gazette article and spent time with the Pirates during spring training. However, combining these two jerseys into one make no sense. Sort of like a blog post combining Celebrities in Pittsburgh Gear and Sean on Fashion.

#SteelerNation you showed me tonight that you ARE #PittsburghStrong FOREVER! Thank YOU for the LOVE and the UNITY!! love, g #GARTHinPITTSBURGH pic.twitter.com/B0OvyOhbAM

— Garth Brooks (@garthbrooks) May 19, 2019

By the way, I wonder if Jeff King got really excited seeing Brooks wearing his old number, only see Roethlisberger's name on the back.

Photos by Bob Pompeani and Tim Williams. Video courtesy of Garth Brooks.

Throwback Thursday

My brother recently found this picture from when I was 7 and he was 4.

Adorable! What's funny is that these are the current ages of my oldest two boys, The Moose and Pedro Tulo. Hmmm...maybe I should take a picture of them in this exact same pose. (Well, except that their haircuts look better than our haircuts!)

Oh, in case you're wondering, I tend to keep shirts for a long, long time. I can confirm that I no longer have the shirt in this 35+ year-old photo, though I do have a short-sleeve red polo shirt that fits an adult male. Since it appears that I'm still wearing similar clothes to those when I was 7, I guess I should try to find a Dr. Pepper T-shirt and 1979 City of Champions T-shirt.

Video Week: Macklemore Wears Clemente Jersey

This is a late surprise entry to Sean's Ramblings video week. If someone wears a Pittsburgh sports jersey on national TV, I'm going to blog about it. On Thursday, Macklemore went on Good Morning America to perform his new song with Skylar Grey, Glorious, wearing a Roberto Clemente Pittsburgh Pirates jersey. It's an awesome jersey.

(I'm having trouble embedding the ABC video of the performance here, so you can see Macklemore being interviewed by the Good Morning America crew instead. The point of the post is the jersey, not the song itself.)



A little critique though. I don't like the tucking a jersey into jeans look. Yes, baseball players tuck jerseys into their uniform, but they aren't wearing jeans.

In addition, I noticed that Macklemore is releasing Glorious as part of a solo album. What happened to Ryan Lewis? (I found the answer here.) Is this the equivalent of Hall leaving Oates? Is this George Michael leaving Andrew Ridgeley and Wham?


This post is a little of everything. It's Sean on Fashion, my series of Celebrities in Pittsburgh gear, and Sean's Ramblings video week!

The Red Shirt

For the past few months, my two year old (Pedro Tulo) prefers to only wear red shirts. And when I write "prefers," what I mean is that he freaks out when we try to put on any shirt that is not red. Even a red and gray stripped shirt can cause some unhappiness since apparently this is not red enough. A happy two year is a preferable way to start the day, especially when trying to get to work during the week, so we usually acquiesce and let him wear red shirts. However, with the weather getting colder, we found that we don't have many long-sleeve red shirts. Therefore, my wife took a trip to Old Navy and bought several shirts including this one for $5.

As a fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins, I was initially horrified that this shirt was in our house and that Pedro Tulo would wear this regularly. Then, I thought about the freak outs and found this shirt as a much better option than fighting with Pedro Tulo at 6:20 on a Wednesday morning.

Besides, like the hockey team, this shirt will be one of his best shirts through the winter and into April, but by May, this shirt will be relegated to the closet only to be useful again during the following fall and winter.

Weekend Review

- Virginia had no sales tax on clothes this weekend, so I ventured to Kohl's with dozens, if not hundreds, of my closest friends. After trying on probably eight pairs of pants, I settled on exactly one pair along with a few shirts. Then, I ventured upstairs to buy some kids' clothing. I happily found 3 pair of size 4 boys pants. They seemed a little big, but I figured that my older son would grow into them. Apparently, the growing into them could take a long time. I needed to buy size 4T pants not size 4. Who knew there was a difference between the two? I later returned them to Kohl's but did not stay to search for 4T pants. I had my fill of shopping for the week month day.

- I own two suits but wear them only a few times per year. However, between a conference, a wedding and Rosh Hashanah, there's a period in September when I'll need to wear a coat and tie nearly every day for a week. I tried on both of my suit coats recently and noticed that they are huge. They were slightly big when I first purchased the suits, and then I lost about 30 pounds over the years. So I went to Men's Wearhouse over the weekend to see if they could help me. They refused. I had the same result at the place where I take my dry cleaning. In both cases, there would be too much to do, and the arms and shoulders would still look awkward. So now I'm stuck looking like this:

Of course, the Men's Wearhouse guy offered to sell me two suits for $500. I declined.

- Another weekend highlight was my driver's side car window going off track. I was able to close the window but now it won't open. You can hear the power window mechanism trying to work, but the window doesn't move. I called the dealership to get an estimate, and they believe that they need to replace the regulator. (Who knew there is a car part named after the legendary Warren G song?) The estimated repair cost is $491 or the cost of two suits. I guess I'll just open my car door if I go to a fast-food drive-thru or ATM or when exiting the Metro parking garage.

- My 4 year-old could be a photographer one day judging on how much he likes taking pictures with my phone. This picture of Ziggy came out rather well.

Of course, then there are dozens of pictures of the TV and floor like this one of the remote, so he still has some work to do before becoming the next Ansel Adams.

(Though perhaps there's some meaning behind this picture. Maybe it's a post-modern reflection of society's need to have the remote control and how lonely things can be with the remote on the floor. Or something.)

- If you're a fan of all Pittsburgh sports, I hope that you watched the Pirates regular season game on Sunday evening rather than the Steelers pre-season game. The Steelers didn't even play Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, Le'Veon Bell, Maurkice Pouncey, James Harrison, and Martavis Bryant. Meanwhile, the Pirates scored 9 runs in the 7th inning to defeat the Dodgers 13-6. Naturally, I fell asleep with the Dodgers leading 5-1, so when I later woke up to see the Pirates leading 12-5, I was shocked. Let's Go Bucs!

Ziggy Vs. My New Clothes

Although I desperately need new clothes, I rarely go shopping. By rarely, I mean maybe 2-3 times per year. Last weekend, though, I had 20 free minutes, so I stopped by Kohl's to look for some long-sleeved shirts. Although I didn't have time to try things on, I was successful in finding 3 new shirts to bring home.

Ziggy loves plastic bags. While Target bags are his favorite, he has no objections to chewing other plastic bags. Therefore, I smartly put the clothes, still in the plastic bag, in my closet. On Monday morning, I noticed Ziggy in the closet near the bag, so I moved everything to the dresser while Ziggy remained in the closet for a morning nap.

Fast-forward about 14 hours and my wife said that she saw Ziggy chewing the bag, so she moved everything back into the closet. Sure enough, Ziggy did more than chew the bag.

The holes aren't noticeable, are they?

I'm not sure how or if I can return this to Kohl's. My wife suggested that I should just tell the store that the shirt has a hole. Um, it has more than "a" hole. If Kohl's doesn't take back the shirt, it might be okay. A shirt with the holes could still be in fashion!

Peyton Manning Dresses Terribly

While much of the sports world is praising Peyton Manning today for breaking the NFL record for most career touchdown passes and for leading the Denver Broncos in an impressive win over the San Francisco 49ers, I find it necessary to bring up something no one wants to discuss. Why is Manning wearing a jersey tucked into jeans?



Is this how Peyton Manning dresses or was this the idea of someone at Papa John's? I also question wearing a black belt with an orange jersey and jeans. A brown belt may be more appropriate, though it might depend on the type of shoes he is wearing. A tucked in football jersey, jeans and black shoes doesn't seem like a good outfit.

This has been another edition of Sean on Fashion!

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Update: The video above doesn't seem to work anymore, so here's another Papa John's commercial showing Manning with his jersey tucked in.

The Sweatpants

Picture it. Pittsburgh. 1992. I was a star player on my high school soccer team. On a late October evening, we had a rare match under the lights instead of the usual afternoon start time. With the temperatures dropping into the low 40s, either my school wanted us to look more like a team traveling to an away game or they actually worried about us freezing in our thin long-sleeve jerseys and shorts (or both). Therefore, they issued us sweatpants and sweatshirts from the track team. As a substitute, I wore these clothes on the bench for the entire game. Although we were supposed to return these cloths, I kept the sweatpants and still have them today.

Despite weighing about 125 pounds in high school, I received this pair of XL sweatpants. There was a drawstring inside that allowed me to tighten the waist, and they were slightly long. I took the sweatpants to college, with me when I moved to San Diego, to Columbus for grad school, and they stayed with me during each move in Northern Virginia. The drawstring is now long gone and there is a hole on the right leg, but they have always been dependable. Of course, I primarily wear pajama pants in the house during winter now, so I rarely if ever wear sweatpants. In addition, while the days of being 125 pounds are long gone, I've lost about 35 pounds from my all time high about 10 years ago, so the pants truly don't fit anymore. I basically keep them up through will power.

So after 22 years, it's time to say goodbye to these sweatpants. It's time to retire the old 109er. Thank you for making me feel like a superstar athlete and for keeping me warm.



This could be the first in a series tentatively titled "Goodbye Old Clothes." Once my infant clears the "spit-up" stage, I have a lot of T-shirts to go through.

Sorry Cleveland Browns Fans

I feel bad for Cleveland Browns fans. I really do. Sure I want the Browns to lose to the Steelers, but the team has been so terrible for so long that you feel for the passionate and devoted fans. This week's Parade cover seems to rub salt in the wounds for Browns fans.* Take a look:

On the left, you'll notice Michael Symon wearing a Browns shirt and the words "Super Bowl Smack-Down" on the top of the page. Meanwhile, Mario Batali has a Seattle Seahawks jersey which looks terrible with orange shorts and Crocs. (Sean on Fashion!) While the Seahawks are in next week's Super Bowl, Cleveland is not. However, if you don't follow football, simply seeing this cover would make you think that the Browns really are in the Super Bowl. Of course, Cleveland has never made the Super Bowl and haven't come close since the Bernie Kosar days.

I think that Parade owes Cleveland Browns fans an apology.

For shame Parade. For shame.


* Does this expression make sense when Epson Salt is designed to help? Actually, you probably aren't supposed to rub Epson Salt on wounds, so nevermind.

Sean On Fashion: Does This Match?

I have a simple question for you, but is there a simple answer? (Probably, yes.) Does the shirt match the shorts?

What are your thoughts on this outfit in general? (Please try to avoid comments about the Penguins. This post is all about fashion!)

$450 Shorts! (Sean On Fashion)

Today's Express featured former(?) Georgetown University student and soon-to-be NBA player Otto Porter. One page discussed why Porter would make an excellent pick for the Washington Wizards while the second page showed Porter at a fashion shoot.

Let's take a closer look at Porter's outfit. From the comments on a previous post, I learned that spending $195 for a shirt is nothing. From the Great Belt Search of 2012, $52 for a belt is more than what I'm willing to pay, but reasonable. I have no idea of the going rate for a leather bracelet, so $115 might be appropriate. However, spending $450 for a pair of pink linen shorts seems ridiculous. Unless shorts were made of gold, why would someone pay so much for shorts? You're not going to wear shorts for a job interview or a wedding. Perhaps you might wear shorts at a golf course to impress a client, but wouldn't a pair of shorts that cost $50 or even $100 be sufficient?

You'll be happy to know that Porter is wearing his own shoes.

Steelers Swimwear

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in the Eastern Conference Finals and the Pittsburgh Pirates are tied for the second best record in the majors. Therefore I'm writing about, um, the Pittsburgh Steelers today. I recently received an e-mail from NFLShop.com selling Steelers swimwear. Now I own several Steelers jerseys, T-shirts, a Steelers jacket and even a pair of Steelers slippers, but I think I draw the line at Steelers swimwear.

Would this woman wear a Steelers bikini if she wasn't getting paid to wear it? On a related topic, why is MLB.com selling a Pittsburgh Penguins bikini?

So have you ever seen anyone wear swimwear with a professional sports team's logo? Have you ever seen a woman wear swimwear with a professional sports team's logo?

Sean On Fashion: How Do You Wear a Scarf?

Temperatures reached the teens in DC yesterday, the coldest it has been here in two years. In other words, it is freaking freezing! (Now I wait for comments from people in Minnesota and Canada telling me that 17 degrees isn't cold.) Despite growing up in Pittsburgh, going to school in upstate New York and spending the past 12+ years in Columbus and DC, places not to be confused with tropical islands, I never owned a scarf before purchasing one last year. When I brought out my scarf yesterday, I simply put it around my neck with the sides hanging equally outside my jacket. When it got windy, I took one end and threw it around my neck meaning that the scarf was extremely uneven - one side ended around my waste, the other just past my shoulder. While I'm probably doing a terrible job describing this, I feel like this is not the proper way to wear a scarf. Although my main priority is to try to not freeze or to drop or lose the scarf. do you have any suggestions as to how to wear a scarf?

Please tell me that this isn't the expected scarf look.

In case your wondering, I wrote about scarves nearly six years ago. I am on the cutting edge of fashion!

Why Is Louis Lipps Wearing Zubaz Pants?

The Pittsburgh Steelers celebrated their 80th anniversary over the weekend by inviting former players to Heinz Field. Fifteen Steeler greats, including multiple Hall of Famers, posed for this picture prior to the Steelers-Ravens game.

While everyone in the picture is wearing jeans or black pants, #83 wide receiver Louis Lipps, one of my favorite players of all time, decided to make a fashion statement by wearing black and gold Zubaz pants. I don't understand this decision. While I guess the pants match the hat and jersey, why did Lipps feel like these pants were appropriate for this (or any other) gathering?

Regardless, I'll still wear my Louis Lipps jersey this Sunday.

Photo from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

The Belt Story

Whenever I go away, I always tend to forget something. Hopefully, the something is minor like toothpaste, which I can pick up at my destination, rather than something significant like my cell phone, glasses, or spleen. On my trip to Florida this weekend, I thought I had everything when I left my home. I knew that I didn't have a fantasy football magazine but figured that I would find one at an airport newsstand.* After arriving at the airport on Friday but prior to going into the security line, I realized that I didn't pack a belt. While this wasn't a problem for the shorts I was wearing, I definitely needed a belt for my jeans and another pair or shorts I had packed. Fortunately, Washington National Airport has several clothing stores. Unfortunately, I couldn't purchase a belt at Brooks Brothers, Jos. A. Bank or even the PGA Store for less than $50 or $60. Therefore, I departed from Washington without a belt.

When I arrived in Charlotte, I had a clear mission: eat lunch and find a belt and fantasy football magazine in the one hour before my next flight. Mission accomplished thanks to Burger King on the lunch front, but the belt situation looked dicey with more stores like Brooks Brothers. However, after finding a fantasy football magazine, I stumbled into something called Bijoux Bellagio. While the store looked to sell only women's clothes and accessories, I inquired about men's belts. Amazingly, they did sell men's belts and the cost was only $10. Success! I was so excited about finding a reasonably priced belt that fit I didn't even care about the look. I only slightly regretted my purchase after putting on the belt.

I really hope that this belt becomes fashionable soon! By the way, since this belt is both brown and black, can I wear this with brown and black pants? I'll probably just wear this with jeans and make sure my shirt covers the belt.

What is the most random and/or obvious item you forgot on a trip?


* This turned out to be extremely difficult search. Although every airport store had dozens of magazines, none had any fantasy football magazines. Fortunately, I found one fantasy football guide at the EA Sports store (?) at the Charlotte airport.

Sean On Fashion: You Decide

While I've shared my opinions on fashion multiple times over the years, I haven't actually written about what I wear. Since it's supposed to be around 100 degrees in the DC area today, I plan on wearing shorts. My shorts closet* contains your standard selection of khaki, navy, green and blue solid colored shorts. To shake things up a little, I purchased the shorts pictured below. While they fit fine, I'm not sure if I like the look, or equally important, what I would wear with them.

So what do you think of the shorts? Should they stay or go back to the store?

In addition, please click here for more Sean On Fashion posts.


* You don't think I have a closet just for shorts?

Sean On Fashion: Theatre Edition

When I was younger, I remember men wearing coats and ties and women wearing fancy dresses to attend plays or musicals. With the high price of theatre tickets, folks wanted to get dressed up for a nice night out of dinner and a show. While I understand that times have changed and people are more casual about dress, I still expect a certain level of attire to see a show. For example, while I would never wear jeans to a show, I’ve come to expect that other people will.

So last night, I saw Avenue Q at DC’s Lansburgh Theatre. While I don’t attend plays or musicals as often as I like, I witnessed something I’ve never seen in a theatre: someone wearing bike shorts!



The horror! There is only one place where bike shorts are appropriate. On a bicycle!


Click here to see previous Sean On Fashion posts.

Sean On Fashion: Former Prime Minister Edition

Let me preface this post by stating that I have no fashion sense. I think that’s what makes my infrequent Sean On Fashion posts so much fun (even if some people don’t feel the same way). With that, let me introduce you Japan’s Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and “The Hatoyama Shirt.”



When this picture was taken on May 26th, Hatoyama was the Prime Minister of Japan; however, Hatoyama resigned earlier this week. While Hatoyama claims that he resigned because he broke a campaign promise to close the American Marine base in Okinawa, I think that’s a cover. He was forced out because of this shirt. You can’t be a respected leader and wear this shirt!

Apparently, you can now buy a replica of “The Hatoyama Shirt” for only $500. Then, you too can pretend to be a former Prime Minister!