There has been SO much interest in the story behind Mike and the carrot suit that I am dedicating this blog to share the whole story once and for all. Just remember to have faith in the printed word and know that this is the TRUE story of the carrot suit.
A little background information...
Our office is no different than many others. There is talk of sports and friendly sports rivalries all year long through the basketball, baseball and football seasons. A few people are hockey or soccer fans and they are tolerated. Friday seems to be the day to wear your team jersey, although it is not an official tradition. Sports analogies are frequently used to make a point in meetings and presentations. I am sure there are some people who tire of the banter or just don’t enjoy or understand sports. I happen to love watching football, and have been a lifelong Washington Redskins fan. I dallied with the Colts when we lived in Indianapolis and I still think it is okay to have more than one team to root for, as long as they are in different divisions. I know, “that only works until those teams meet in the Superbowl!”
There are several of us who work together who root for different NFC east teams: the Redskins (me), the Giants (Dave, and Bill when he was here) and the Cowboys (David, Craig and Jeff before he moved). When our teams play each other we celebrate the winning team by having the fan of the losing team wear the winning team’s jersey all morning and take the winning team’s fans out to lunch. There is the “shirting ceremony” where we all gather in the loser’s office and watch them don the shirt (over their other shirt - nothing inappropriate for you with wild imaginations!). Photos are taken to preserve the moment and bragging rights. We hope that the loser has a lot of meetings to attend so he/she has to explain why they are wearing the football jersey of a team everyone knows they do not like. It is especially fun when we end up in the same meeting. For lunch, we always go to the same place – Frank and Angie’s Pizza. They recognize us and know who to hand the check to by who is wearing the jersey. There is usually a lot of bragging and whining by the winner and loser. It is all in good fun.
Now on to the Carrot Suit!
The 2007 NFL football season (last year) was unique because the NY Jets would play the NFC east teams Washington, NY Giants and Dallas all in one season. The Mike we know and love happens to be the sole Jets fan at the office here, probably - now that his son moved to Arizona - the only one in all of Texas. Because the Jets so rarely play our NFC teams he hasn’t been part of our regular losers lunch. But this year we were looking forward to inviting him to join. He had another idea however, which he would live to regret for a loooong time. During the summer prior to the season, Mike started bragging early about how well the Jets would do this season. The Jets would surely trample all 3 of our NFC teams with ease and many “style points” as they say in the BCS. We gave the trash talk right back to him and before we knew it a new bet was made.
There are several of us who work together who root for different NFC east teams: the Redskins (me), the Giants (Dave, and Bill when he was here) and the Cowboys (David, Craig and Jeff before he moved). When our teams play each other we celebrate the winning team by having the fan of the losing team wear the winning team’s jersey all morning and take the winning team’s fans out to lunch. There is the “shirting ceremony” where we all gather in the loser’s office and watch them don the shirt (over their other shirt - nothing inappropriate for you with wild imaginations!). Photos are taken to preserve the moment and bragging rights. We hope that the loser has a lot of meetings to attend so he/she has to explain why they are wearing the football jersey of a team everyone knows they do not like. It is especially fun when we end up in the same meeting. For lunch, we always go to the same place – Frank and Angie’s Pizza. They recognize us and know who to hand the check to by who is wearing the jersey. There is usually a lot of bragging and whining by the winner and loser. It is all in good fun.
Now on to the Carrot Suit!
The 2007 NFL football season (last year) was unique because the NY Jets would play the NFC east teams Washington, NY Giants and Dallas all in one season. The Mike we know and love happens to be the sole Jets fan at the office here, probably - now that his son moved to Arizona - the only one in all of Texas. Because the Jets so rarely play our NFC teams he hasn’t been part of our regular losers lunch. But this year we were looking forward to inviting him to join. He had another idea however, which he would live to regret for a loooong time. During the summer prior to the season, Mike started bragging early about how well the Jets would do this season. The Jets would surely trample all 3 of our NFC teams with ease and many “style points” as they say in the BCS. We gave the trash talk right back to him and before we knew it a new bet was made.
The details of the bet have been under contention, but because I am the writer of this blog, what I say is the TRUTH (at least as far as you know it).
For Mike to win, the Jets had to beat all 3 of our teams: the Redskins, the Giants and the Cowbabies. If they lost to any one of these teams, “we” won the bet and Mike had to wear a carrot suit to the next annual “vision day” meeting that Mike’s whole team attended. If the Jets won all 3 games then Mike won the bet. The 3 losers would rotate coffee-fetching for Mike, a month at a time for 3 months or a year, depending on who you ask. Mike was so certain that he would win, he started placing his coffee orders for December. Some of us started whining about how unbalanced the bet was – that all Mike had to do was wear a carrot suit for a few minutes in one single meeting and yet we had to be in coffee-servitude for months.
It turned out that the Jets really did not have a very good team that year and the whole bet was over by Oct 7th when the Giants beat the Jets 35-24. Throughout the rest of the season Mike refused to concede and continued to talk as if his team beat each one of our teams, even though in "real life" the opposite was true. An elaborate email would arrive from Mike on Monday mornings after each “win” detailing the Jets’ superior strategy and play execution while pointing out the many flaws in the opponent’s futile attempts to spoil the manifest destiny of the Jets. Meanwhile, Dave had already collected money from us and purchased a carrot suit. Mike found out about the carrot suit and asked to wear it and march along with other Whole Foods fruits and vegetables in the annual Chuy’s Children Giving to Children Parade on Thanksgiving weekend. The carrot fit right in with the corn, grapes, tomato, banana and pineapple. Unfortunately the weather that weekend was miserable and the parade turnout was the lowest in years so hardly anyone saw the carrot that year.
I am fuzzy about when, but Mike finally emerged from Jets fantasyland and acknowledged that the Jets did not win all 3 games. But he claimed that by wearing the carrot suit in the parade he had already fulfilled his end of the bargain. Much nonsense ensued through the weeks and months leading up to Vision Day in March. In the end, Mike did the right thing and wore it to the large meeting. I wasn’t there but I hear he got some big laughs. I don’t think it is just a coincidence that it was one of his best Vision Day’s ever. Must've been the carrot suit.
It turned out that the Jets really did not have a very good team that year and the whole bet was over by Oct 7th when the Giants beat the Jets 35-24. Throughout the rest of the season Mike refused to concede and continued to talk as if his team beat each one of our teams, even though in "real life" the opposite was true. An elaborate email would arrive from Mike on Monday mornings after each “win” detailing the Jets’ superior strategy and play execution while pointing out the many flaws in the opponent’s futile attempts to spoil the manifest destiny of the Jets. Meanwhile, Dave had already collected money from us and purchased a carrot suit. Mike found out about the carrot suit and asked to wear it and march along with other Whole Foods fruits and vegetables in the annual Chuy’s Children Giving to Children Parade on Thanksgiving weekend. The carrot fit right in with the corn, grapes, tomato, banana and pineapple. Unfortunately the weather that weekend was miserable and the parade turnout was the lowest in years so hardly anyone saw the carrot that year.
I am fuzzy about when, but Mike finally emerged from Jets fantasyland and acknowledged that the Jets did not win all 3 games. But he claimed that by wearing the carrot suit in the parade he had already fulfilled his end of the bargain. Much nonsense ensued through the weeks and months leading up to Vision Day in March. In the end, Mike did the right thing and wore it to the large meeting. I wasn’t there but I hear he got some big laughs. I don’t think it is just a coincidence that it was one of his best Vision Day’s ever. Must've been the carrot suit.
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