…”Then tie will,” said the little red hen.
Alright, I’ve got a lot to get to here tonight. First, last soccer bit…well, until August, when the English league begins.
I must say that yesterday’s World Cup final match was crap. Total crap. In my mind I have awarded Germany the trophy, and Uruguay the 2nd place wages, for having the nuggets to play to score. 3-2 beats the holy hell out of 1-0 in just short of two snoring hours. Yeah, yeah, Spain were the better team, but you can’t spell ‘Neanderthal’ without N-E-T-H-E-R-L-A-N-D (wow, how’d they let that happen?). Sorry, Nigel de Jong, but your cleats should make marks in the turf, not Alonso’s boob. The mighty Oranje erased their beloved total voetbal concept in one South African night, and it ruined the end of the quadrennial show more than the vuvuzelas. Thank GOODness Diver Iniesta’s goal was good and legal–unquestionably onside, over the line and barely touched by human-goalie hand–or I would have sworn off World Cup soccer (for 3.9 years, he did not sheepishly add). I will add that the winning manager, Vicente del Bosque, wore a tie, while Dutchman Bert van Markwijk did not. Coincidence? I think not.
So, I mentioned my orange tie (the Friday Freebie from 10 days ago) which had an ‘outdoor’ weekend, in the street it turns out. My Dutch friend Dirk den Ouden was the winning commenter, and he wore it for the semi-final match (along with these specs, which come from the Elton John collection). Unfortunately, he had the tie (and all its guttered glory) dry-cleaned, and when he wore it on Sunday, its luck ran out. You can see him here with his son, Victor, who did his best to imitate the vuvulezists.
There was another tie that came back into my life, sort of, this weekend. My good friend, former French teacher, and oft-contributor to 100 Days, 100 Ties, Dan Murrell emailed this picture. He is wearing a Beau Ties of Vermont bow tie, that he sent back there to be re-sized to his preferred 2″ max width.
My Tie du Jour is another from Liberty of London, and one of my favorite parts is the hidden colors within the blue and white floral pattern. I doubt you can see it in the photo, but there are small bits of pink (that I’m pretty sure do not come from spaghetti sauces past) that matched this TdJ perfectly with this shirt. I got a lot of quick comments on this tie, and I’m almost ashamed to admit that I think I had only worn this tie once before. I’ll definitely wear it again, beyond the century (I’ll explain more of that later).
Wow, still a lot to get to…we have a couple of Guys With Ties to get to.
GWT I is Will, who was my waiter at the brand new Pensiero Ristorante, which is the reprise of the much loved Va Pensiero, which shared space with the Margarita European Inn for over a decade before closing this past spring. I was able to be there on a soft opening, as they put their kitchen and wait staff through their paces before opening tomorrow, July 13. Will was definitely a big reason it was such a great meal…
I met GWT II today at the Fifth Third Bank branch in Evanston, on Maple. Nate Zureikat was sporting this awesome purple paisley tie, and I just had to get this one into 100 Days, 100 Ties. Nate also manages the Niles branch of Fifth Third, and we hope to get him to some Chamber events soon.
Well this next fella is a GATWT. Guy About To Wear Tie. My friend, and former neighbor, Eric Schneider asked a couple weeks back if I could do him a favor. He asked to borrow a tie. It seems that he will be attending a wedding next week in Atlanta, and he does not own a single tie. Hasn’t worn one for, oh, maybe ten years or more. I guess that’d make him the anti-GWT. So, he came over and I plucked about 5 or 6 off the Hanger of the Worn (as you can see in the background) for him to choose from. Chose well Young Skywalker did. Two paisleys…a green and an orange. He cannot go wrong. And the price of such rental? Merely a photo of him, wearing it to the wedding. Eric’s family business, Huron Paper Stock, has been recycling waste paper since 1955, before Al Gore had ever invented the internet so that he could invent Power Point so that he could win the Nobel Peace Prize, which he invented.
Whoa, I did have a lot to cover. This is my longest post yet. Thanks for reading, even if you had to do it in two sittings…Brooke
100 Days, 100 Ties 
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