bammer encounter

FWD from my friend Bob: 

So this past Sunday, my wife and I go to the mall to do some Christmas shopping, pretty boring task, but things you have to do now that Im in my mid 30's and have two kids. So as we are walking through the mall which has apparently turned into less entertaining downtown New Orleans, with vendors having shops in the middle of mall and constantly asking you questions like, "Are you married?", "Does your wife like gifts?", or "Don't you want a portrait with your child?" Its not enough that Im actually in a mall on a Sunday, and all I want to do is just pretend Im having a good time, while thinking about how I had 10 times as much as money and half as much debt 5 years ago, and could do pretty much anything I please. Thinking about how I used to wake up at 11 am on the weekend and my biggest decisions of the day were deciding between Keifers or Pizza Shack, or playing cash games or tournaments on Pokerstars, and Im now making decisions like Disney Store or Striderite? 

So while striding through the mall, trying not to make eye contact with anyone that is standing near a "We Buy Gold" stand, I notice a long line of individuals near the Bama Fever/Tiger Pride store. Now I've seen this store and always wondered how it stayed in business, I mean just selling AU and Bama gear? I had never seen more than 5 people in that store on any given day, but today it was a different story. Flyers were out all over the outside of the store announcing, "2009 SEC champions T-shirts will be on sale Sunday" Evidently people were worried they would sell out, because there was approximately 35 -40 people just hanging around waiting to hear the good news. Of course I thought it was pathetic, but I had to admit I was was also jealous of the fact that Bama was one of the best programs in the country, so I walked by and made a comment to my wife who thought it was ridiculous as well. If she only knew what would happen 1 hour later. 

As we are leaving the mall, we are walking once again past the Bama Fever/Tiger Pride store, this time no line, just a flurry of activity, which I knew meant the T-shirts were in. I slowly walked by the mass hysteria of people buying 2-3 different T-shirts all announcing Bama as the SEC champions in some capacity. At that point I noticed a family of Bama fans, all holding their T-shirts out staring at them like they just found the golden ticket, and then I noticed the Dad, weighing about 3 bills, tearing off the receipt, which I found odd, but then I noticed him untucking the shirt he was wearing, and I stopped dead in my tracks and watched this 300 lb man, take off his shirt in the middle of the mall, and stand there shirtless while he calmly put on the Bama SEC championship T-shirt. I was stunned, my wife had walked probably 15 feet ahead of me before she realized I had stopped to see this event. Of course watching his 8-10 year old son, follow suit didn't even cause me to blink an eye, and I was calmly watching the wife, wondering if she would go for it. I then realized she was wearing a one piece dress, and I thought, no way she would take the entire dress off in the middle of the mall, and of course she didn't, she was clearly a lady, so she calmly put the T-shirt on over her dress and she was estatic. I didn't know what to do or say. I told my wife what happened and she didn't believe me. I looked around for someone else to confirm what I saw, and I saw a guy about 35 years old, stopped dead in his tracks looking like death, and I simply mouthed the words to him, "Did you see that?" He gave an approving nod and that was that. 

One thing for sure though, I will be at the Bama Fever store if Bama wins the National title, and I will be bringing a video camera.