I really tried to keep an accurate count for the Great American Sports Team Licensed Gear Race while I was in Italy and Germany, but I just never got around to tallying up the totals and have since lost track, so we'll call that over. A few general observations though:
Other than the disqualified Yankees, I think the clear winner is their arch rival Red Sox. It took a while, but Red Sox stuff has been coming out of the woodwork lately, and there were tons in Italy (most of which, I'm quite sure were actually worn by tourists from Boston, unlike 80% of the faux Yankees crap that you see over here).
Over time, I have to concede that Notre Dame won the college division, though it was hardly decisive. The Michigan stuff sort of dried up for a while, though I spotted a sweatshirt the other day. Oregon actually might have had the highest total count, but I began to pick on the fact that they're at a bit of an advantage not unlike the Yankees, due to their proximity and unique relationship with Nike. I'm very certain now that Nike markets a lot of more stuff with "Oregon" on it over here than any other school (founder Phil Knight is an alum, and the company is based in the Portland area) and that the bulk of the "Oregon" shirts I saw (most of which were the exact same shirt, but with different color combinations) were bought because they were "Nike" shirts, not because they were "Oregon" shirts.
The biggest surprise of the whole thing, though? To date, I have not seen a SINGLE Ohio State item. And, for that matter, I have not seen a single thing from the reigning football and basketball champs, Florida, either.
I did see a Pistons shirt in Venice, and another Tigers hat in Florence. But to date, I still have not seen any Lions stuff. Unlike the OSU and Florida observations, that one's not such a shock.
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I'm still waiting for the Hawkeyes to make it on the board. You won't forget to tell me if you see one, will you?
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