Thursday, July 16, 2009

TMI Thursday: Youthful Indiscretion

Many people make mistakes when they are young. You just hope that your mistake doesn’t end up hurting yourself or someone else. You hope that your mistake doesn’t end up with you in jail. You also hope that the mistake is forgotten and doesn’t come back to haunt you. Finally, you hope that there is no visual evidence.

As a senior in high school, I did something that I regret. All I can say is that I was young, but that’s not really an excuse. I was 17 or 18, so I really should have known better. I had actually forgotten about this whole ordeal until I found a picture of me when I was back at my parents’ house in Pittsburgh a few weeks ago. I’m embarrassed to admit this, but here is the reveal: I bought and wore a New York Jets hat. The horror!



My theory is that I wanted to have a hat that was different than anyone else at school. Maybe I had a soft spot for Al Toon, Browning Nagle, Freeman McNeil or a reserve tight end named Ken Whisenhunt. (I looked up the team's 1992 roster and found that the current Arizona Cardinals coach was on the team.) Maybe I bought the hat in homage to Joe Namath, a native of Beaver Falls, PA like my dad. Actually, I think that I just liked the hat.

I am a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan and a member of the DC Steeler Nation. I have no ties to the Jets other than the fact that they had Curtis Martin, a fellow Pittsburgher, in recent years. I don't have the hat anymore and will never wear any type of Jets paraphernalia again. I hope that you will forgive me and not think of me any differently.


As always, make sure to visit LiLu for more TMI Thursdays. Plus, you can click here to see all of my TMI Thursday archives.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

for shame!!

rachaelgking said...

I've flipflopped football teams with boyfriends.

Baseball? Now that's another story.

Captain Easychord said...

y'know, it's no big deal... I have owned shirts and hats of the new jersey devils, houston astros, chicago white sox, los angeles kings and dallas cowboys... none of it has changed the primacy of my allegiance to pittsburgh sports teams, but it's ok to be a fan of other teams and athletes thereon as well...

lacochran said...

I suppose I'd lose all respect for you if I cared about sports even a little. But, nope.

tecmo said...

Jerk!

/owns a mets hat
//lives in queens, at least

Stephanie said...

See? You weren't FORCED to wear it, but you always have the picture of evidence of your decision.

Brad said...

I once saw a picture of me wearing a Flyers cap as a kid. For that I should've been executed or a least given a wedgie.

Zan said...

Wow...and you lived to tell the tale...

Sean said...

Jason - I agree.

LiLu - Even though I am a Pittsburgh Pirates fan, I actually own two Washington Nationals hats, and don't feel bad about it. I do feel bad about the Jets hat.

Captain - You're right that it's not a big deal, but I thought it could make for a funny post (especially with the intro paragraph). If I owned the Jets hat now, I think it would be a bigger deal.

Lacochran - Feel free to jump on the Pittsburgh Pirates bandwagon now so that when they get big, you can say you were a fan during their losing days!

Tecmo - You're just fitting into your current environment. However, do you have any NY Rangers, Giants or Jets gear?

Stephanie - How do you know that I haven't burned the picture?

Brad - Flyers cap is much worse than a Jets hat.

Zan - I barely made it!