Friday, May 19, 2006

Life is weird.

Really weird.

Oh, wait, you're here for funny stuff, not soporific musings on life.

Fair enough.

After all, as so many j-school teachers tried to beat into The Ford's head, we should "show, not tell."

(Of course, try and spring that little maxim on that girl at the bar, and you're liable to wind up with martini-soaked underwear. And not in a good way.)

But The Ford digresses.

On with the weirdness.

Last night was spent in a not-particularly heated discussion with The Official Gal-Whose-Nickname-Is-Pending of The Official Blog of The Ford over whether the high-five is still in vogue.

Y'see, The Ford comes from a time (the early 90s) and place (Western Washington state) where high-fives were very much in vogue, thanks to the efforts of the High Five'n White Guys.

He has a hard time accepting the presumed death of the High Five, replaced as it seems to have been with the "dap" or the "pound."

But, as the saying doesn't go, it takes two to high-five. And those two have been few and far-between lately.

Which brings us to the present day.
The Ford's leaving the Tigers game, one of many baseball fans abuzz with the glory of the Motor City Kitties. ("Another win! Tigers win! Tigers rule! Best record in baseball!")

He's climbing the stairs onto the concourse, when this dude approaches him, girlfriend in tow, and starts extolling the Tigers' "best record in baseball. Whoo!" and accompanies the "Whoo" with a high-five. An honest-to-goodness, real damn high-five.

Which The Ford, of course reciprocated. One cannot leave a high-five hanging out there like that.
High-five accomplished, The High-Five'n Dude walks away, with embarassed girlfriend still following, leaving The Ford to turn to his buddy -- ignored in the high-five'n frivolity -- and start discussing whether said high-five actually happened, and whether the high-five is still alive and well. The buddy, well, he's equally incredulous.

The Ford's walked maybe another 10 feet when Random Dude 2 approaches, exults in "best-record," and proffers another high-five, again, reciprocated, naturally.

For those of you scoring at home (even if you're alone), that's two high-fives in the span of 30 seconds, after several years sans non-ironic high-five.

On another weird note, immediately after the serial high-fives, The Ford was approached by a random female fan -- while still inside the park, not 5 minutes after the end of the game -- and asked whether the Tigers had truly won. When told they had, she responded, "Best record in baseball!" But no high-five.
Let's give her some time.

But why were so many folks eager to get a piece of The Ford? He'd like to believe The Official Blog is causing that sort of groundswell, but it seems unlikely, even in a tiny town like Detroit.

Of course, it may have been that between his Olde English 'D' ballcap and his slightly wrinkled khakis, The Ford looked like a true Detroiter, albeit a slightly Disneyfied one. And just as everyone loves Micky, Donald, Goofy and the gang, so too is The Ford beloved, at least for 60 seconds.

As for this spate of high five'n, The Ford has no explanation other than perhaps, with the apparent return of the Tigers to their glory days of 1984-93, perhaps, too, the fans are returning to those lighter days when Eddie Vedder was young, Courtney Love was just the girlfriend, and Jim Leyland was winning in Pittsburgh.

Weirder things have happened. Though probably not on Thursday.

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