To a Tee

 I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt.  They are the foundational garment of my life.  My day starts with selecting a t-shirt and it ends with sleeping in one.  Once thought of as under garments, t-shirts are now original art and no doubt, a billion dollar business.  

You can get a t-shirt with anybody's picture displayed.  You can commemorate an event, a birthday, a death, even a specular play in any sport.  Family reunions usually have a commemorative t-shirt.  Also, any organization that solicits your support in the form of a donation is likely to offer you a t-shirt.

Where once I only had the basic white t-shirt, my drawers are filled with all manner of colorful choices.  Some recognize major events in my life, some, spectacular performances or plays I have witnessed, and some unforgettable places I have been.  

I say I'm a sucker for a good t-shirt because I have taken the bait on what I perceived as a must-have only to be disappointed.  A recent example would be the Willie Mays shirt I recently bought.  It portrays what has come to be called "the catch." Of course I'm speaking of Mays catch of a drive off the bat of Vic Hertz in the 1954 World Series.  Make no mistake, I like the shirt, but when it arrived, the person depicted looked less like Willie Mays than I expected and the image was a bit blurry.  No Matter. It's clear enough for any baseball fan to get the point and it lets the world know I'm a fan....a very big fan.

Another sports image on a t-shirt I have is probably a rare and collectable tee that I chanced to buy while attending a basketball game on the Cal campus. (UC Berkeley)  Titled "The Play" it depicts the most famous play in all of college football when Cal beat Stanford on the last play of the game with multiple handoffs and lateral passes.  The last Cal player storms into the end zone and crashes into the trombone player of the Stanford band who had occupied the end zone thinking the game would soon be over.  It's all depicted on the t-shirt with arrows and lines, x's and o's.

In 1982, when I went to the Kentucky Derby with full press credentials, I brought home a couple of t-shirts as souvenirs.  Over the years I wore them out.  That happens with clothing you love.  My New Orleans t-shirts enjoyd the same fate.  I sure do miss my Neville Brothers shirt, but it served me well.

Sometimes a t-shirt can serve other purposes.  I play harmonica with a group of old guys who meet frequently to jam.  I need to know the key of the song we're playing so I can use the correct harp.  That's why I jumped at the chance to buy the t-shirt I saw advertised with "What Key We In" written on the front.  Int sometimes works.  

T-shirts are like bumper stickers.  They advertise our beliefs, interests, and passions.  In my 3+ decades in the classroom, I've seen kids wear many t-shirts.  Once, a kid got sent home because his shirt depicted a cartoonish character with his head up his ass...literally.  Made me wonder if any parent saw him leave for school that morning.  I could just picture him walking out the front door waving good-bye wearing that shirt.  I don't think so.