Fake Champions in Leon!

Today as I was walking around CIDS, I saw an older gentleman with another 2003 Oklahoma Sooners Champions hat. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera on me. I think it might have been a slightly different style hat than the one I saw earlier, but it had the same message. Like the last hat I saw, this one looked surprisingly new, leading me to think that the NCAA might have had them distributed around here recently.

Fake Champions Sighting!

Okay, I'm probably the only one who actually finds this sort of thing fascinating, but yesterday while in Jinotega, Edgar, Luis, and I stopped to ask a gentleman directions to a nearby health center. The guy was wearing a 2003 Oklahoma Sooners Championship hat. I instantly began mentally scrambling to determine who won the BCS championship that year, but I wasn't really sure. Meredith later confirmed my suspicions and found out that it was in fact LSU who won in 2003, defeating Oklahoma. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a picture due to the brevity of the encounter. One thing that surprised me is that although the hat was 4 years old, it looked brand new. Nothing in Nicaragua seems to stay new-looking for very long, so I wonder if the NCAA waits a while before distributing some championship gear. That way, by the time it is being used, there is probably less black market demand for it and most people, even sports fanatics, can't quite remember who won so it goes unnoticed. Just a guess.

Anyway, I'm glad to finally have a fake championship sighting! I'll be on the lookout for more.

Nicaragua and the Superbowl

Sports championship games always have a winner and a loser, but they always make championship apparel for both teams so that the winner can be decked out in merchandise as soon as the game is over. There is still the championship apparel for the team that just lost, which most leagues donate to developing countries.

I've been keenly aware of this fact as I've traveled around the world lately; however, I haven't seen any Buffalo Bills Superbowl Champions hats or anything of the sort yet. Apparently, last year the Chicago Bears Superbowl gear was donated to many countries including Zambia and Zimbabwe, but I didn't see any while I was there.

This year, the losing gear will be donated to...Nicaragua! (Romania too, but I'm not going there). The sponsoring organization is called World Vision. I checked their website and probably will not visit any of the locations where they usually send donations (Nicaragua is large), but if I see anything, I'll be sure to let you know and I'll try to take a picture if possible. Don't get your hopes up too much though; it's pretty unlikely that I'll find any Patriots 19-0 shirts, and by blogging about it, I've completely jinxed that possibility. However, there's always a chance...