Friday, November 16, 2007

But you can't make me like it

This is a response to Meaghan’s post over at Whatever Happened to School House Rock? Like I’m sure many of you did, I found the article she posted and her own thoughts on it comforting, in a way. It certainly makes "average" not seem like a bad thing. Now that I’ve had a few minutes to reflect on it, though, I realize that, quite obviously, Meaghan is The Man and she’s once again conspiring in her subtle way to keep us all down. Damn you, establishment!

You see, I’m allergic to the status quo. Maybe allergic is not the right expression, since I’m sitting right in the middle of a hotbed of status quo right now and coping just fine. Pathologically opposed is more like it. I don’t say this in that teenage-angsty black trench coat sort of way. Or even that "I wish it was the sixties again ‘cause we’d do it right this time around, man" sort of way. I just have a knee-jerk reaction to do the exact opposite of whatever those around me think is a good idea. Unless those people are also like me, of course.

So here I sit, deep in the capitalist bowels of the headquarters of a major American retail chain, a place that plays "Rocky Top" over the intercom system every Friday during football season, and I am wearing a bright, orange shirt. What have I become? Before I end up sleeping on the couch, let me say that Courtney bought me this shirt last night so I’d have something orange to wear to the UT football game tomorrow. I love the shirt. It fits me very well and is very comfortable and I look forward to wearing it again tomorrow and many times after that. I’m just the kind of guy that would rather wear black and gold (or whatever Vandy’s colors are) and still cheer like crazy for the Vols just to screw with people. There’s already going to be 100,000 people wearing orange in that stadium. It’s just a bit obvious, don’t you think?

I digress. Tomorrow, I will gleefully join the average masses in orange (Rocky Top just started playing for a second time) and cheer for the average American’s favorite spectator sport. I will be reluctant at first, as is my nature, but will quickly be swept up in the fervor of a city and a state rooting for a team whose fortunes determine civic pride. And it will be fun.

2 comments:

Meaghan said...

You know, if there weren't people like you living on this earth, the world would be a very boring place!

Chris said...

You're the man, Mickey.

No wait. You're the anti-Man.

I can relate to your urges to buck the trend, fight the power, etc. But you should take comfort in the fact that not everything that's common is cliched. Some things are common just because lots of people genuinely enjoy them or need them.

However, wearing orange and cheering for the Vols when you live in Knoxville is, in fact, cliche. I hope you can live with yourself.