I sent this cartoon to a relative of mine because he’s a runner and participates in marathons. I thought he’d get a kick out of the poke at modern sports psychology. He wrote back saying, “Sadly, I have entered a race, got the t-shirt, and then not actually ran in it. Just once though! And I always felt guilty wearing the shirt!” But it reminded me of a couple of stories from my own life.
Marie buys me shirts at the local Good Will. She buys most of our clothes there because they have some nice, brand name, barely used clothing and it’s really inexpensive. One of my favorites is a dark green polo shirt with “Food City Racing” embroidered in red and white on the left-chest. I wore it when we went to tour the Bristol Motor Speedway. The speedway was closed but we were supposed to be attending a race soon with a friend from another state and we wanted to scope it out and get a feel for the parking and seating so we wouldn’t be complete Nubs when we went for the race.
There were some staffers there as we poked around and peeked into but did not enter places that looked to be off limits. One fellow stopped us as we were looking over a map board. He started out kind of gruff, but became friendly and helpful quickly. He was talking into his walkie-talkie as we moved on. Staffers kept waving us into places and telling us “Just look around all you want, it’s OK.” So we did. I shot a great video tour and it was while I was fooling around in victory circle that I figured out why everyone was being so nice. There on the sign boards atop the scoring pylon – where they advertise the major sponsor of the next race, was FOOD CITY. I had no idea, I swear!
I have another from Rural Access Medical. I wore it when I went to help at a spay and neuter clinic in Newport. I wore it because I like the shirt and it’s a good color. Helping with this clinic was a veterinarian from out of state (Ohio I think) who operates a mobile surgery suite built in a motor coach. Very snazzy! The staff of the shelter commented that they wished they had his the space and equipment in their medical room.
When I met him, he asked me “What do you do for R.A.M.?”
“Excuse me?”
“Rural Access Medical: only managerial personnel get those shirts. What do you do for them?”
“I have volunteered for them a time or two, but my wife bought the shirt at Good Will. I like the color.”
He glowered at me…
Turns out this guy was the head of RAM veterinary services until recently when RAM decided to eliminate veterinary and focus their resources on human health. That was when he started building mobile clinics to carry on that sort of work.
They say, “the clothes make the man”, maybe there’s something to that!
