The Porch, y'all. pull up a seat and kick back.

[FearlessF]

why in the wide wide world of sports is Jeff Bagwell wearing a GB Packers cap in a mexican restaurant called Irma's across the street form the Stro's ballpark in Houston????

did he lose a bet or marry a Packer Backer???

maybe the Patriots sucked when Bags was a kid, but not more than the Pack

[CharleyHorse46]

Fandom is a weird and seemingly arbitrary thing.

I listen to sports radio here in the ATX and the talk show hosts occasionally let their preferences be known.

Craig Way, the long time play by play guy for Longhorn sports, is originally from North Carolina so he's a closet Tar Heels fan but he let on last year that he's also a Dodgers fan.  Why?

Then there's Chad Hastings who grew up in Waxahachie and went to A&M.  He's a Bucs fan.  Why?

Then there's Kevin Dunn who grew up in Austin as the son of parents from Chicago who went to Notre Dame, so you can kind of see why he likes the Horns, the Irish and the Cubs.

Then there's this guy named BK who grew up in Austin and roots for the Horns but also likes Jayhawk basketball.  Why?

Perhaps the weirdest is Bucky Godbolt who grew up in Pennsylvania, went to Boston College and coached at Illinois and Texas.  He likes the Yankees and the Vikings.  Why?

And so it goes.  Nearly every "personality" on the station has some weird affiliation.

[FearlessF]

life is weird

especially in Austin

[utee94]

Ain't that the truth.

I was born and raised in Austin by two Texas grads, and I graduated from UT with an undergrad and graduate degree, and I'm a Longhorn fan.    Growing up in Austin and spending a lot of time with my uncle and cousins in Fort Worth, I'm also a Dallas Cowboys fan.

Makes no sense at all!

[CharleyHorse46]

Ain't that the truth.

I was born and raised in Austin by two Texas grads, and I graduated from UT with an undergrad and graduate degree, and I'm a Longhorn fan.    Growing up in Austin and spending a lot of time with my uncle and cousins in Fort Worth, I'm also a Dallas Cowboys fan.

Makes no sense at all!

While your choice of teams to root for makes plausible sense, there is  - nonetheless - much about you, mi amigo, that makes no sense.
Hockey for example.

[utee94]

My hockey scthick (get it?) is a bit of a joke.

But I'm definitely a huge fan of Formula 1, Ferrari in particular.  And also of international soccer, and of the EPL in particular, especially Manchester United.  Neither of those two make much sense for a native Austinite born and raised in the 70s/80s, that's for sure!

[CharleyHorse46]

Well... we do live in an F1 town.  

And Manchester United is one of those trendy things, like yoga, vegetarianism, gardens,  shelter pets, beards, online grocery shopping and e-menus.   Everybody in the ATX has to have at least one affectation like that.  Yours could be worse.

[utee94]

Manchester United is basically the New York Yankees of the EPL, so not really an affectation, more of a bandwagon thing if you want to get all accusatory and judgy about it.

And I've been an F1 fan since the early 80s, so a little bit before Austin had a track.  

I'd say my ironic hipster-style Austin affectation was wearing mesh-back trucker hats (we called 'em "gimme caps" back then 'cause they were all free), but I did it all through the 80s and 90s and never stopped.  At least, not until the hipsters started doing it, and it was no longer ironic.

[CharleyHorse46]

Bravo. Getting defensive and claiming you did something ironically long before it became a cliche has to be the most quintessential Austin cliche ever.

[utee94]

YOU GET ME!!!!!! 

[CharleyHorse46]

One of my latest Austin affectations was to buy a tin of beard balm.  I suspect it may simply be a rebranding of Crisco and I'm not exactly sure what it does other than making my hand greasy and my beard whiter, but I look damn good and get lots of compliments so I guess I'm committed to doing it for the rest of my working career.

One day I came to work in a slim fit suit and a cute 30 something female coworker said I remind her of James Bond.  I asked, "Are you saying I look like an old man trying to be cool and impress young women?"

She said, "Yes."

But she winked when she said it, so at least I have that going for me.     

[FearlessF]

did you immediately inform her how much you appreciate the "sneaky" nipple experience?

[CharleyHorse46]

Nah. They have rules about sexual harassment nowadays.  Best just to leave her wink unreciprocated.

[CharleyHorse46]

I may have mentioned that a couple of years ago I took a short term part time job at a Home Depot to bump up my income just enough that I could buy three sons vehicles wihout incurring debt. 

What I had never realized before I started working there but soon realized once I was there is that an inordinate number of people in this metro area get their jollies by doing things of a rather exhibitionary and risque nature along the back wall of the store and wihin our demo store rooms.  

A disappointing majority of the interactions seemed to be of the not-that-there’s-anything-wrong-with-that variety, followed by the  motorcycle grandma variety.  But every now and then a panner finds a gold nugget among the river rocks and gravel.  And so it was.  Ever so often you’d come across a little angel sent straight from heaven in a handbasket.   The nips weren’t so sneaky the.  Rather a single item on a smorgasbord.  But still... if you weren’t careful something like that could make you walk into the corner of a sheet of tin.