You may have seen the fanshot I did of the shirt that Memphis chose to officially endorse as the Ole Miss vs. Memphis "rivarly" t-shirt this year. If not, you missed out.
Memphis officials pulled the design from the internet this weekend, having figured out what it meant.
Below is a REAL e-mail that an Associate Athletic Director sent in response to an Ole Miss fan's question re: the shirt. It was also sent to the mayor of Memphis.
[Reader],
I am writing in response to your e-mail complaining about the game day t-shirt offered by Champion Awards and advertised on the Athletic Department website. Quite frankly, as an alumnus of the University, a staff member of athletics and the individual who ultimately approved the design, I am also embarrassed and ashamed.
The design for this shirt came to me through our licensing organization in Atlanta, Georgia, by way of Champion Awards. Ironically, the design was sent to Ole Miss first for their approval before being sent to me for final approval. I can honestly tell you as an older individual who has been with the university since I graduated in the early 1970s, I had no idea of the slang, street-lingo meaning of the phrase.
As soon as I was informed of the situation, I contacted the owner of Champion Awards and the shirts were pulled from the market place and have been destroyed. The ads were immediately pulled from the website.
I can only say that I am incredibly embarrassed by the situation and will make absolutely sure in the future that I check the UrbanDictionary.com if I do not know the meaning of some modern day phrase or term.
Sincerely,
Bob Winn
Associate AD/External
University of Memphis
Genius. I'm surprised there's anyone in Memphis who isn't totally familiar with "street-lingo."
Also, what is ironic about the shirt design being sent to Ole Miss for approval first? That's as ironic as ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife. This just in: Ole Miss doesn't care about you, Memphis.
Be sure to check UrbanDictionary.com. Nothing on there is totally made up and un-used. I guess that Ole Miss shouldn't have used the slogan "It's the red blue in you" because of the urban-dictionary meaning of "Red Blue Disease":
(Noun) A disease which is for no reason considered an STD, occurs when people watch the youtube video "Red Blue" by Andy Milonakis. Symptoms are randomly saying "red blue" all the time. There is no cure to the Red-Blue Disease. It can only be spread...Person 1: "REEEEEDDDD BLUE"
Person 2: "Oh my! I think you have red-blue disease! Should've used a condom."
On second thought, we shouldn't have used that slogan. Not because of the urban dictionary definition, but because it's retarded.
That is all.