“The wearing my high school letterman jacket after I graduate guy”

This review is not just about this bold 20 something who I ran into last week but dedicated to “The wearing my high school letterman jacket after I graduate guy (or girl)”

Ah, the letterman jacket, made stylish in the early 90’s by a group of teenagers at Bayside High School and the pretty boy mullet sporting Alfred Clifford (A.C.) Slater. The letter jacket was also made into a stereotype in great movies such as Varsity Blues, The Breakfast Club and The Scarlet Letter.

Admit it, you either had one or hated the people that wore one. Being the athlete, naturally I had to add to the stereotype and get one. Despite how you felt on the subject everyone does this one thing when the see a letter jacket, they look at the year. Even to this day I still do this, memo to Chris Hansen Dateline NBC; I do not hang out with high school kids. (“All right, I'll ask! Ma'am, where do the high school girls hang out in this town?” -> 5 Schrute bucks to whoever gets that quote). Another thing I always looked at after the year was how they got there letter. There were two types of people that I always found funny; the Fine Arts letter people (the people that got there letter for academics or “jazz band”) and the almost athletes (the one with the weightlifting patch or the athletic team managers). I will be the first to admit that I did letter in band, BUT, I wasn’t about to be stupid and put it on my letter jacket and risk being “that guy”.

Now, no matter what you lettered in, how many “bars” or “3rd place synchronized swimming solo division (yes this is a real patch and yes I’ve seen someone wear it)” patches you had, there was one very clear unspoken rule. After you graduate you don’t wear it. But as we all know there is always a “that guy” and the rare “that girl” who dare to be bold.

Onto the individual in question, it was a fairly cold day when I ran into lets call him “Rico” I saw the basketball and football patches on the one sleeve and then looked at him, he looked older so I stealthfully moved behind him, around to the other side of him to check out what class he was. This action was foiled by the presence of only bars and no “08” as I expected to see. Now my curiosity had peaked even more. I was debating what little options I had. With no other clear identifiers, I realized that my only option was to ask him. Now this is where it can get really weird, I am 24 years old, and if I go up to this guy and ask him what class he is, he’s gonna probably thing one of two things, either A; I’m a former player from his high school who is creepy, or B; that I’m just a creepy guy.

While I was thinking about these things in my head the best possible thing happened, he turned around. That’s when I saw it glaring back at me that “03”, vindicated, amused and mildly shocked and with grin/smile on my face, I stared, and that’s when I saw him looking at me. You know that feeling you get when you get caught accidently staring at a woman’s chest, or someone’s obviously flaw (i.e. mole, birthmark, kankels)? And then that awkward few seconds when your eyes finally meet the person you’re staring at? Yea it was worse. Quickly trying to save face, I grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket and pretended I was on it; I managed to get the picture as well.

This made me wonder, what was “Rico” thinking when he woke up this morning? Were all his other jackets dirty? Did he think he was going to a class reunion? Is he trying to pick up high school chicks? Is blue his color? My guess is; no, no, yes and yes. This also got me thinking of situations where it would be ok/normal to wear your letter jacket after you had graduated; the following is the list I came up with

1. You find a time machine and travel back in time to your senior year so you can finally complete that Hail Mary to send your team to state.

I challenge you to submit to me any other valid reason to wear your letter jacket in public. Kubz21@Hotmail.com

That being said, “Rico”, and everyone like him out there cannot be taken seriously, I also challenge you to find, “The wearing my high school letterman jacket after I graduate guy (or girl)”, and try to talk to them for more than 3min without him or her making a reference to their “glory days” or to “back when I was in school” (obviously high school because that most likely the only school they ever went to).

To quote Jim Levenstein from American Pie 2, “Ok. Now, do these high school kids think that were cool, because there at a college party. Or are we those weird older guys that try to hang out with high school kids but we don't know it”. Well if you are wearing a letter jacket then you are the weird older guy and you need help before you end up hanging out with Chris Hansen.

Because of “Rico’s” boldness and fashion style I award him one flying monkey out of five.