About three months ago I saw the documentary Crumb, about the life of the cartoonist Robert Crumb. Even though it is a little sick, it still is a great movie and I urge anyone with good movie taste to rush out and rent it.

However, this is sports, so I’ll quit the “boy on film” routine and get to my point. In the end of the movie, Crumb takes exception to people who sell out.

He says people go around wearing company logos all over their clothing, as if the company owns them.

Even though I am more guilty than most people, I had to agree it is a shame that we all do wear so many logos nowadays.

Let’s face it, the situation is getting even worse!

Now people are getting tattoos with corporate logos, especially in the sports world, where the Nike swoosh is a common tattoo.

The worst example would be Kentucky player, Anthony Epps who had the Shaq symbol tattooed on himself.

However, soon after Crumb complains that his daughter asked for a Raiders jacket and that she, too, had been inflicted by the selling out bug. At this point, I was finally a little offended.

I don’t believe that just because a person wants to wear the sports team of his choice as a symbol of whom he is, it should be considered selling out.

It is the rare person who wears clothing logos as a symbol of whom he is.

Who wears Mossimo because they believe they are a Mossimo guy or gal?

However, the second I put on my Panthers sweatshirt, I know I am a Panthers fan and I am telling the world about my fandom.

I have one person a week ask me about the Reds, just because of my hat (which is strange, because it really is a Chattanooga Lookouts hat). However no one ever asks me about Guess clothing even though I have 7 or 8 Guess shirts.

Sports teams define whom a person is. I always have been an Orioles fan, and as far as I know I always will be.

The players change, the stadium changes, and sometimes even the name and city change, but people still stick by their sports teams.

At first, I wondered how Crumb could take such a viewpoint. Then it occurred to me that Crumb has never had a job.

Cartooning is all Crumb has done. He always has lived his life by his own rules.

However this is not true for everyone. At one point or another, we all must work for another person or company.

At this time we must wear what the company wants even if it is ugly, or not entirely what we think looks good or feels right.

When we wear clothing with athletic logos on it, it makes clothing more our choice, more fun, more of whom we are.

Sports clothing is a choice, it is not a blatant advertisement. No one goes to see a White Sox game just because he saw me wear a White Sox shirt, and said to himself, “Oh yeah, they exist.”

If Crumb’s daughter truly wants a Raiders jacket, I doubt she wants it because it is the latest fad, but rather because the Raiders are her favorite team.

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CADE REMSBURG is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Ames.