Don't be that guy
or
Why you shouldn't wear the t-shirt of the band you're seeing in concert

You're going to wear the
t-shirt of the band that's playing?
Don't be that guy.

Now for those of you that have never been to a concert in your life, you'll have no clue what I'm talking about.

To illustrate, here's an all too often scene that happens at concerts:

Guy 1: Hey, isn't it cool that we got tickets to this concert!
Guy 2: Yeah, I wonder if they'll play (insert name of incessantly played radio song here).
Guy 1: I hope so. Hey look over there...
Guy 2: You mean that guy that's wearing the shirt of the band that we're about to see?
Guy 1: Yeah.
Guy 2: Doesn't he know how wrong that is?

Now I know some of you out there are thinking,
"What the hell is wrong with that?"

and others of you are thinking,
"That is wrong, but I have no idea why!"

and still others are thinking,
"Man, I wish I had a turkey sandwich right now!"

If you fall into the third category, I can't help you. But if you fall into one of the first two categories, read on.

Most of us know its an unwritten rule that you shouldn't wear the shirt of the band you're going to see. Its just as accepted as girls getting drunk and flashing the band members on stage. But I'm not here to debate the validity of this unspoken decree. I'm here to give you insight on the "whys" and "wherefores."

Now there's really only one reason you would wear a shirt of a band and/or go to their concert:

You like said band.

(Unless of course its laundry day and you have nothing to wear or being dragged by your signifigant other, respectively.)

But assuming otherwise, doing either shows support for the band. You can walk down the street, proudly proclaiming with your t-shirt, "I LOVE THE SPICE GIRLS!" or by being seen at the concert you say, "I ENJOY THE MUSICAL STYLINGS OF N*SYNC!"

So why is it so wrong to do both at the same time, you ask? Doesn't our mathematical logic state that two positives equal a positive?

This isn't your calculus class so leave mathematical logic out of this. By wearing the shirt of the band that's playing, you're trying too hard to show your support for the band. And as everyone in our generation knows, trying too hard isn't cool.

Now I'm not saying you can't wear a shirt of a band going to a concert. For example, you could be wearing a Spice Girls shirt at an N*SYNC concert or vice versa. You might be showing your poor taste in music but at least you're not violating the unwritten concert shirt rule.

So, next time you go to a concert, when you laugh and snicker at all the people wearing the shirt of the band that's playing, you'll have inner satisfaction knowing you know the reason why its wrong. For those of you that we have laughed and snickered at behind your back, rest assured when we laugh and snicker at you now, its not because of the shirt your wearing... your fly is probably open.

Oh yeah, as a corollary to this rule it is wrong (if not more wrong) for a band member to wear a shirt of the band he's in.

So now you know. And as children of the eighties, we should all know: knowing is half the battle.

Yo Joe!