T-shirt #298 - Sectionals 2001 - the Yellow Calvin

T-shirt #298 - Sectionals 2001 - the Yellow Calvin

Yes, I know. Second Ultimate shirt in a row. Sue me. I want some easy stuff to catch up and get back ahead.

I created a new category today for "Shirts I Made." I included in this category shirts I designed or had some part in the design, print, and/or creation process, which includes ALL OF THE KUDL SHIRTS. It also includes shirts from my days running the CENTRALS tournament and as the Ultimate Player Association's Sectionals Coordinator for Michigan. I had the most input in the various Centrals and Sectionals shirts that I conceived and fully guided the design as well as making sure they were printed and then selling them at the tournament.

I got good at this enterprise since I could not sell shirts AND play in the tournament, so I would hire people to sit and sell stuff and help me set up and tear down. The proceeds from the shirts were used as seed money for the next tournament and to keep tournament costs low. It was not a perfect system. Granted, my participation in some of the KUDL shirts was not as fully invested as in the shirts I played a larger role at shepherding from design to sale for the tournaments I hosted, but I figured for the category's sake, I would include all the shirts that I worked on in some way.

I have just a few more things to say about this subject and then I am done with it. The Calvin and Hobbes art on this shirt and T-shirt #141 were drawn by my friend Neil Southwell. However, in 2001, we could not find a skin tone for Calvin, and for some bizarre reason, we went with yellow. I think I made this unfortunate decision, hence how I refer to this shirt as the "Yellow Calvin" shirt. Please no terrible Asian remarks. We got Calvin right in the T-shirt for Centrals 2002, which was near the tail end of my time running these tournaments. I abandoned the work shortly after the 2002 shirt featured in T-shirt #141. The tournaments had become more trouble than they were worth, and I had very little help (that I was not paying for). Sure, people would help the day of, sometimes, but generally people would just sit around and drink beer, which is what I wanted to do. We had started to grow a good group of teams in the Michigan section and that would attend Centrals. We started to get teams to Centrals from as far as New Jersey. But, eventually, it proved too much for me to run on my own. Later, when KUDL became successful, I flirted with the idea of starting the tournaments back up because suddenly we had a team of people willing to put some effort toward something for Ultimate. But for now, running the league is enough.

I liked this shirt especially because it included the text from the UPA rules for the Spirit of the Game. I was proud of this shirt despite the yellow of Calvin's face.

That's all for now. T-shirt Blogger Man is trying to get ahead now that he is caught up.

COUNTDOWN TO THE END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 67 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1401.13 - 19:36

T-shirt #297 - Centrals 1991

T-shirt #297 - Centrals 1991

Hello. Thanks for stopping by. Mr. T-shirt blogger man was in catch up mode, and so this one as originally conceived has very little text. However, I am happy to report that the T-shirt blog is current and there are no longer incomplete entries on the blog roll.

Hurrah!! Ding Dong! And so it goes. Same as it ever was.

Originally, I delayed this post to see if I had content to add, but then in a lazy day with the puppy, which involved comic books, Shwarma leftovers, and comic books as it often does, I published what I had (which is more or less this much) to the blog from my tablet, only updating the published date I keep in text (as opposed to the one generated by Blogger) before sending through the post.

I had the Panthers to win or beat a 1 1/2 point spread, so that was a bust. But I did have the Chargers to beat a ten point spread against the Broncos, and that happened. Hurrah again.

Not much to add to today's content. I have a lot of Ultimate shirts. This is an old one! It will be 23 years old this May. I wondered how my life would be now if I had conceived a child in this year rather than buying a shirt. Boggles my mind.

TODAY'S SHIRT: This is the shirt from the Centrals Ultimate tournament held in East Lansing in 1991.

The shirt I am actually wearing today: I originally featured this shirt in T-shirt #21, aptly titled "shirts you will never see on me in public." However, after an additional 276 days of T-shirt blogging, buying, and wearing, though I would not wear this shirt on a date with my wife or to teach a class or to meet a friend, it is possible to see me wearing it at other times. I was wearing it (though it was under my coat) last night when I went to pick up my Shwarma King.

COUNTDOWN TO END OF THE BLOG YEAR - 68 shirts remaining

- chris tower - 1401.12 - 19:20