They are walking personal billboards that define us and tell our story. My friend Derrick calls them, “Good conversation pieces.” Take two minutes to go through anybody’s t-shirt drawer and you learn quite a bit about the owner.
People can glean a variety of things about one’s passions and dislikes when they observe these simple articles of clothing. From athletics to politics and everything in-between, we are a country of t-shirts that often struggles parting ways with them, even some from decades ago.
Growing up about ten minutes from downtown Cleveland in suburban Lakewood, Ohio, there was no shortage of t-shirts. Those of us that participated in rec league sports had various colored shirts from Daffy Dan’s that sported our numbers just below the all caps LAKEWOOD RECREATION on the back. Teams were identified by their shirt color since every team usually had the same sponsor (shoutout to Steve Barry Buick).
One of the kids I competed against in those days was a hard-working athlete named George Vlosich. Like many of us Gen Xers, George played a sport every season, very different from today when so many young athletes specialize from a young age. George’s true talent was creating art with an Etch-a-Sketch, and his drawings have been featured by the likes of Oprah, Jimmy Kimmel, and David Letterman. Eventually, the fusion of his incredible artistic talents and comfortable cotton tees would take t-shirt wearing to the next level.
Along with his brother Greg, a former Cleveland State basketball player, George has transformed the industry and made it much harder for me and countless others to part with these beloved adornments. I would guess more than half of the shirts I have owned over the past decade have had the GV Artwork label on the back. For Cleveland sports fans they are the best of the best. My favorites include:
A blue shirt with a 1990s vibe that sports the words “The Jake” in reference to the only name I will ever call the home of the Cleveland Indians.
A Cleveland Cavaliers team-colored shirt with the city’s iconic Terminal Tower.
A brown shirt with an outline of the state of Ohio resplendent with that beautiful Cleveland Browns helmet design.
A wine and gold shirt made to honor the Cleveland Cavaliers historic World Championship that says, “You Can’t Spell Miracle without CLE” in reference to coming back from a 3-1 deficit in that series.
Finally, a shirt that seems to have summed up the state of our professional football team since their return in 1999 that states, “We Almost Always Almost Win.” Here’s hoping this season I can finally get rid of it—or at least move it to the pajamas section of my ensemble.
Like many Americans I can never shut the drawers that hold my beloved t-shirts with ease. They are crammed in and no matter how often I “purge” the collection I have accumulated, the number never seems to deplete. Kind of like Mary Poppins’ bag, there seems to be no end to the number of shirts I can pull out. Of course, this clearly shows a strange sort of loyalty/attachment to something as simple as a shirt that makes me feel as though I’ve betrayed someone or something when I do “recycle” or part ways with one. Good news is I am not alone.
A few weeks ago, while running a 6 AM workout for some local college basketball players, I learned that one of them has five t-shirt drawers filled to capacity and separated by color. FIVE! When I asked her to explain why she dedicated such a large amount of space in her wardrobe, there were no signs of a hoarding problem. Nope. Just someone that, like me, enjoyed the loyalties and memories associated with putting on that special piece of cotton clothing. Long live this innocuously peculiar American addiction!
-Tommy O’Sionnach
You need help, Tommy.
At Denison I had a lot of friends with WMMS BUZZARD fun T-Shirts .