Everyone is a Loser, Except Me and You...and I Wonder About You

Every Superbowl, the NFL commissions 288 shirts and caps to be made for each team. Since there is only one winner of the Superbowl, one team will be completely outfitted with winning caps and shirts while the caps and shirts of the losing team are never to be seen again. Well, that's not quite true:

They will be shipped Monday morning to a warehouse in Sewickley, Pa., near Pittsburgh, where they will become property of World Vision, a relief organization that will package the clothing in wooden boxes and send it to a developing nation, usually in Africa.

“Where these items go, the people don’t have electricity or running water,”. “They wouldn’t know who won the Super Bowl. They wouldn’t even know about football.”

The gear is flown, along with school and medical supplies, into a major city. It is then driven to one of the villages where World Vision staff members work. They distribute the shirts and caps at a community center, about two per family.

There is a story in the article that is nearly identical to the one I'm about to tell you. About 15 years ago I was watching World Vision and they pan over to this poor kid who was severely malnourished and he was eating rice that had flies all over it (maybe it was flied rice..hardy harr)...anyway, the camera pans down a little more and this kid is wearing a Buffalo Bills 1991 Superbowl Champion shirt. I blew it off and blamed the whiskey for my bad vision, but now I see that I had perfect clarity. That kid was wearing official NFL loser gear. Fuck me, I say. I only remember that story now... all these years later.

That's my story. It's not interesting, it's not very good, but it's all true, and for that I should be commended.

No shirt, no shoes, no service