As we jogged down to M street on Sunday morning to cheer on a friend of Ms. Abstract Citizen’s in the Marine Corps Marathon, we pretty much decided that we would attempt a marathon before the end of 2009. I think it is a decision we will regret.
However, there’s another, bigger decision to be made: being there to cheer on a racer in particular isn’t an exact science. You’ll probably be standing out there for at least 30 minutes, maybe over an hour, waiting for your person to run by. The best way to make use of this time, if you don’t want to be a total prick, is to cheer on other runners.
You start out a little stiffly…sort of like the first song or two on the dance floor: it feels wrong, mechanical. Then things start to click. Your meek “Go runners!” becomes, “Alright people, you’re all looking fabulous out there. Team Asha, keep it up! Big Daddy, you got this! Shirley and Kate, keep it coming!” Of course, this is only made possible when people wear names or team info on their shirts – something I never do. It had never occurred to me that a runner might do this as a courtesy to the spectators – to give them something to do – rather than out of a desire to hear your name screamed out by strangers.
It is funny, though – especially when you can tell people have forgotten that their names are on their shirts, and they are startled to hear their own names being called out by strangers.
So, name on the shirt? Or go anonymous? I feel like this is crossing some sort of line – not as grave as, say, starting a facebook page, but perhaps more akin to using odious abbreviations when sending text messages. Is wearing my name on my shirt in conflict with my insistence on using proper punctuation and spelling out whole words when sending a text? Curse your upwardly contagious narcissism and love of convenience, Gen Y!
2 comments:
Weirdly, I just had a similar discussion along these lines, about how to view rock bands that name check themselves in songs a la rap / hip hop artists.
I put this less in line with texting grammar, and more in line with starring in a porn film. You can always go back to regular grammar, but you can never say you haven't been in porn.
Just like you can never say you haven't worn a tee shirt with your name on it. Without the VD issue.
I remember an amusing tale about someone from your class auditioning for a porn...
But you can get an absolution for that, right? Like, "Oh, it was the smack that made me do that." I'm not sure smack absolves reckless self-promotion. Or a facebook page...
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