"Worst State Ever" Shirt at the Airport
This past Saturday I was flying home from a nice (but too short) ski vacation. Since it was a ski vacation I only brought 2 or 3 shirts, and one of them was my "Worst State Ever" shirt. It also happened to be the one I threw on as I was heading out the door. I must have gotten 10 to 15 comments on the shirt throughout the day, but here are a couple of my favorites:
* We had to fill up our rental cars before dropping them off; as I was paying the guy behind the counter, he asked "What state is that?" I told him. He got a huge grin on his face and responded "Niiice," in such a way that he might as well have said "Yeah, that is a horrible state." Mind you, this is in Montana.
* While in Atlanta for the layover, I was waiting for the rest of my friends to deplane. As I was standing there, the lady behind the counter waves me over. She asks, "Where did you get that shirt?" I tell her, and ask her why she wants to know. She responds "Because I loooove it!"
* Also while in Atlanta, I noticed that the gate next to mine was flying to Columbus. So I made sure to keep my shirt very visible as I walked by slowly. I got some great stares.
* Joining me on the final flight of the trip from Atlanta to Raleigh was the NC State Basketball team. One of the players (well, probably a manager, he was very short and white) noticed my shirt, and we struck up a conversation. He actually used to go to West Virginia, and he mentioned that he had the same shirt. He wasn't a tool, either, like some most WVU fans are.
Moral of the story: Wear your "Worst State Ever" shirt whenever you go to the airport, because the vast majority of people will love it, and those that don't, well, they suck anyway.
February 10th, 2010 at 3:13 PM ^
"Ron Artest Wants to Punch Your Mother" shirt
February 10th, 2010 at 3:34 PM ^
through krogers with a shirt that says 69ers on it(its the team name of my old coed softball team and its in the form of the old 76ers logo)... guys will look at you and smile or laugh, some women will smile... but come across a woman that is there with her kids, you'll get the dirtiest look ever...
February 10th, 2010 at 3:14 PM ^
Thanks for the story! I love that shirt...
February 10th, 2010 at 3:15 PM ^
that is all
February 10th, 2010 at 3:17 PM ^
A state as shitty as Ohio? Probably all residents of 48 states of the US...
February 10th, 2010 at 4:57 PM ^
I supplement the point the discussion topic is making and get negged for it. Very interesting...
February 10th, 2010 at 4:58 PM ^
from the state you left off are negging you?
February 10th, 2010 at 5:02 PM ^
I assumed Michigan and Ohio residents could recognize it. Maybe that was a bad assumption.
February 11th, 2010 at 1:45 PM ^
Yup, bad assumption. People ask me frequently what state it is. I live in West Michigan. It makes me want to back hand them for being so stupid. If you don't recognize the state, use a little bit of logic in looking at the colors of the shirt. People are stupid.
February 10th, 2010 at 3:18 PM ^
In this case, a guy working in a gas station in a small town in Montana. Kinda makes sense, if you ask me.
February 10th, 2010 at 3:38 PM ^
from 2007 Miss Teen USA
I personally believe, that U.S. Americans,
are unable to do so,
because uh,
some, people out there, in our nation don’t have maps.
February 10th, 2010 at 3:46 PM ^
like such as in South Africa and the Iraq?
February 10th, 2010 at 3:50 PM ^
such as...
February 10th, 2010 at 3:41 PM ^
You'd be surprised. Outside the Midwest, you'll get a lot of puzzled looks. Once you tell them it's Ohio, though, they understand.
February 10th, 2010 at 4:34 PM ^
oh*o is pretty generically-shaped.
at least our chief rival isn't in wyoming or colorado.
February 10th, 2010 at 5:00 PM ^
Worst state ever? What even comes close?
February 10th, 2010 at 3:19 PM ^
I wore mine at a couple different parks while at Disney World a couple months ago. I heard people laughing out loud around me and I even had some Buckeyes come up to and want to take a picture with me because I had it on.
'Tis an epic shirt.
February 10th, 2010 at 3:20 PM ^
Great story. General rule is to always wear your Michigan gear when traveling outside of Michigan for those of us residents. And for those living out of the state always show your pride: flags, block M sticker on the car, shirts to the gym, go blue!
February 10th, 2010 at 4:12 PM ^
I used to work with a guy who decided to go to U-M grad school. He had to go up to the MSU library for some research. At first he wondered why he was getting dirty looks as he walked through. Then he realized he had on a U-M sweatshirt, and we had just beaten them in football (might even have been a comeback victory).
He walked a bit taller then.
February 10th, 2010 at 4:36 PM ^
I should also include anytime you go into ohio, indiana, or lansing rocking the Maize and Blue if fun. Even in these down times it never fails to get their panties in a bunch.
February 11th, 2010 at 1:45 PM ^
I had to go to East Lansing for aome school event with a bunch of other kids in my grade. One of the kids brought a Michigan blanket, and stood at some intersection waving it. We heard a lot of swearing, got flipped off, etc. (remember, we were in seventh grade, too). Pretty funny.
February 10th, 2010 at 3:22 PM ^
When I wear it where ever I am traveling I always hear people shouting "Go Blue". Even in the airport in Rome, I heard it from people wearing other schools gear. The Maize and Blue is always recognized.
February 10th, 2010 at 5:46 PM ^
your '97 National Champions shirt in 1998 while outside of Lincoln, Nebraska...death stares all over the place!
February 10th, 2010 at 3:25 PM ^
Mind you, this is in Montana.
Your comment implies that Montana's inferiority to Ohio is implicit. I suggest to you that Montana has mountains, snow, clean air, and is an awesome place to ski and hike. Ohio is, well, Ohio. The accuracy of your T-shirt is absolute. The Montanian was correct to acknowledge it.
February 10th, 2010 at 3:27 PM ^
I suggest to you that Montana has mountains, snow, clean air, and is an awesome place to ski and hike.
I completely agree. I go to Montana at least every other year, it is an awesome place.
My comment was more meant to imply that a guy living in Montana, which is remote and quite far away from Ohio, still knows Ohio sucks. But I do understand the confusion.
February 11th, 2010 at 4:35 PM ^
Would have liked to see Montana.
February 11th, 2010 at 4:42 PM ^
Capt. Vasili Borodin, that is.
February 10th, 2010 at 3:29 PM ^
I don't think I've ever worn the shirt and been out in public and not at least gotten one comment.
One of my personal favorites was while I was with my girlfriend at Foot Locker (in Atlanta, mind you) and she asked to try on some Nike Shox. The dude wouldn't go get them until "your boyfriend leaves the store with that hideous shirt on", because apparently his Buckeye feelings were hurt. Naturally, she laughed and walked out and we went next door to Foot Action, bought the $120 shoes, then went back to Foot Locker to show him the commission he missed out on for being a little bitch.
February 10th, 2010 at 3:32 PM ^
I saw one at Sinclair CC in Dayton, Ohio
February 10th, 2010 at 3:38 PM ^
to purchase several "Worst State" t-shirts and covertly hang and leave them on racks in shops along the Ohio Turnpike. Who wants to buy a Cleveland Browns shirt anyway now that Braylon isn't there anymore?
February 11th, 2010 at 1:33 PM ^
Reminds me of a time when my friends and I went through Niketown in Chicago and put Umich shirts/hats/jackets in front of all the OSU merchandise. Good times.
February 10th, 2010 at 3:41 PM ^
Funny you mention that glorious shirt. Right as I was walking out of Central's Student Rec center I saw someone walking in with it on going to go work out. Gave me a little chuckle...
February 10th, 2010 at 4:09 PM ^
That's quite creepy, considering I saw the same person wearing the shirt in Central's rec center the other day.
February 10th, 2010 at 4:02 PM ^
I wore mine to a Cardinals baseball game last summer - one of my brothers is a broker for Wells Fargo and he scored the company suite for a family reunion weekend. So we stayed late after the game and were virtually the last group of bodies leaving the stadium. Walking out, the security guard at the exit sees my shirt and yells "Go Blue" and smiles. Awesome. . . . .
February 10th, 2010 at 4:10 PM ^
Yeah, alot of people ask me about what state it is when I wear the "Worst State Ever" shirt; guess no one pays attention to geography class anymore...
February 10th, 2010 at 4:22 PM ^
Disney World and waiting to get on a ride when another guy about my age struck up a conversation about Roller Coasters. I talked to him about how my family went to Cedar Point just about every summer. He asked where Cedar Point was (I think he was from Colorado) and I replied "Ohio". His response.....wait for it...."where I'm from we call it 'Iowa'". I was like 14 at the time and realized I met the dumbest person in the world.
February 10th, 2010 at 4:26 PM ^
I've gotten some other fun comments from the same shirt. A woman in North Carolina told me I wasn't very nice after I told her it was Ohio. I don't she understood my reasoning when I explained I was from Michigan.
Alternately, I wore mine to the Big Ten Bar Crawl in Boston recently. I had nine teams who loved it and one team who tentatively admitted they thought it was funny. One demanded I take a picture with her.
February 10th, 2010 at 4:39 PM ^
I have 2 T-shirts that I wear that cause some good reactions.
1. I have a shirt that says "I Will Mess With Texas". I wore this in Texas. It was awesome and I didn't get shot.
2. I was on of the lucky ones to buy the t-shirt with Bo as a Che Guevera type silhoutte. I wear that to games a lot and get great feedback.
February 10th, 2010 at 4:47 PM ^
I met a rare native gringo working as a cabbie in Costa Rica who asked me about my shirt and what state it represented. He then mentioned his father was from Kansas, which led to a debate about whether Ohio could possibly be worse than Kansas. Surprisingly neither of us had ever actually been to Ohio, but we agreed that Kansas thoroughly sucked, and if Ohio was indeed worse it must be a truly terrible place.
February 10th, 2010 at 4:58 PM ^
Wore 'Tressel Drinks Wine Coolers' to a bar on High Street in Columbus the Friday night before the 2006 game. Every person, seriously every one of them, thought it was funny if they said anything at all. I was shocked, but also (honestly) impressed.
/osu love
February 10th, 2010 at 5:04 PM ^
My friends and I had some custom shirts made for the MSU game last year. Ironically enough, most of the UM people thought it was hilarious and a lot of the MSU people didn't understand what it meant. It reaffirmed a lot of beliefs I had developed throughout my life.
February 10th, 2010 at 6:09 PM ^
I have the same shirt but it might be a slightly newer model. It actually says "Ohio" along the bottom. That's a little embarrassing when you have to spell it out.
Anyway, it's poker night at my house. I'm playing with a Spartan and a few Nittany Lions. I'll have to break that shirt out. I'm sure that they'll enjoy it.
I also live in Raleigh. I'll look for you and your shirt at RDU sometime.
February 10th, 2010 at 6:54 PM ^
The one you have is a ripoff of Brian's design. The street vendors sell that one on gamedays. It's irritating.
February 10th, 2010 at 6:13 PM ^
I have a t-shirt with a bride and groom cutting their wedding cake with, "Big Mistake" written underneath it. Something similar to this but it is yellow and black.
February 10th, 2010 at 6:44 PM ^
I've been telling my wife that for years. where can I get one? I think I'll get one and wear it on V-day.
February 11th, 2010 at 10:20 AM ^
My brother-in-law has a similar shirt, but it says "Game Over."
February 10th, 2010 at 10:48 PM ^
Try wearing your Michigan jersey to the Ohio State fair. I got quite a few dirty looks and rude gestures...
February 10th, 2010 at 11:09 PM ^
Always wear my Michigan gear when I head down to Ohio. Last year I was at Kalahari, which is this indoor water park down in Sandusky, and I went to Walmart to get some food or something. As I'm checking out, the dude working there asks me, "Who dunked you in a bottle of gunk?" It's funny because he was 25 or so and working at Walmart.
February 11th, 2010 at 8:08 AM ^
my wife wears the "Worst State Ever" on Casual Fridays to work at the county building and she gets more shit than if you wore a swastika to the Hirschbaum bris. Once had a client actually walk out without finishing her welfare application after my wife told her it was Ohio on the shirt... maybe this is a way to bring the deficit in check?
Best though is I make custom onesies for my new daughter with the ol' iron on t-shirt transfers... Made one for the Notre Dame game that said "God Loves Me" with the "M" in the block M style and the score of the game below. Priest at my church who's a BC grad loved it when he saw it on her in the communion line.
February 11th, 2010 at 9:25 AM ^
I wore mine to Disney World over the Thanksgiving break. I got plenty of stares and positive comments (some negative as well). The shirt really is a great conversation starter.
I also wore it to the UM/MSU game at Crisler. Sat next to a die hard Buckeyes fan. We jawed back and forth during the game about UM's recent struggles and OSU's recent success. Needless to say, I love the shirt!