Spirit jersey
From USAFA Folklore
The Spirit Jersey is a bright blue, lightweight windbreaker with the words "AIR FORCE" emblazoned on it. From ____ to ____, it was issued to each cadet at inprocessing, at a cost of approximately $50 to the cadet's Magic Money account. The spirit jerseys were intended to be worn by cadet spectators to non-mandatory sporting events, but they were relatively unpopular.
Cadets frequently gave away their Spirit Jersey to a family member as a birthday or Christmas present. It was probably more suitable for civilian wear, anyway.
[edit] Commentary
- Service Smurf is more like it. One of G-Lo's better brainstorms.
- The first time I saw the dinks in Spirit Jerseys on ESPN, I thought, "What the Hell are Up With People doing at the game?"
- You can have my damn spirit jersey. They look stupid and they made us pay way too much for them. I am sure that it was just another way for the Academy to pocket some under the table money by making 4000 cadets purchase pieces of shit for about twice their worth. I can almost bet that someone in the ranks pocketed a little money from those stupid fucking things. I would much rather just wear BDU's and not some gay ass spirit jersey.
- Mandatory spirit wear was required and differed by class. During the initial "test phase" of mandatory spirit wear to all athletic games, event attendance decreased to almost nothing when G-Lo required cadets to wear their PC gear, spirit jerseys, or blues. The biggest shocker of mandatory spirit was the introduction of spirit jerseys to the public via ESPN. We were told to wear the spirit jersey under our BDU blouse, and when we were given the "secret signal" we were to take off our BDU blouse and let out a thunderous roar. For people watching this horrific event, the sea of BDUs turned into a ghastly mix of camo and a hideous shade of blue.
