My cool Coca-Cola shirt

 I was in the 6th grade at a basketball tournament in one of the nearby towns.  The tournament was over and we changed out of our basketball uniforms into street clothes.  The team was in a side room or hallway next to the gym.  The basketball floor was visible from where we were, because I remember there was still a game being played on the court.  The team was all changing together as our games were all over and we were getting ready to go home.  

My coaches were two young guys that I remember watching play basketball for the high school team.  One coach had black, feathered hair that was the perfect look for the 80s.  He was a nice guys and I thought it was neat that we had such a nice young guy as a coach.  I liked and respected him.  The other coach was a bit more intense and it seems like he would be the one to get onto us more if we needed more of a heavy hand to play or practice harder or better.  He had sandy blond hair and was a bit shorter, but was a decently strong guy.  I remember thinking it was also cool to have him as a coach be he wasn't like the other coach, I don't remember him being a nice guy.  He was out of high school and was working for the big Pepsi plant that was located in our town.  If I recall right, he was a driver for the plant.  

One of the fashion trents of the mid-eighties was wearing clothes with the Coca-Cola emblem on them.  I had a green and blue long-sleeve collard shirt with a big white stripe across the chest that said Coca Cola.  I thought that shirt was so cool.  It was one of my favoites.  As a recall, Dana also had a Coca Cola shirt that I thought was pretty cool.  

I had decided to bring my Coca Cola shirt with me to change into after the game.  While I was changed I began to panic because I put two and two together that I was wearing this shirt, and my coach, who I was somewhat intimidated by, worked for Pepsi.  Now I felt I had a major delimma because I didn't want him to see my Coca Cola shirt and shame me because I was going against the company he worked for.  I had not choice but to put on my shirt.  I kept my eyes on him and tried to hide that Coca Cola emblem that was blasting from my chest.  I was sure that at any moment he was going to see it and point it out.  I just wanted to get out of that room so he wouldn't see me shirt and recognize me.  

He never did say anything about my shirt.  But that moment caused me a lot of anxiety.  I was so worried that I was going to create conflict with my coach over this shirt.  I felt like I was challenging what he stood for and I did not mean to send that message by wearing the shirt.  I just thought the shirt was cool since these Coca Cola shirts were a trend and Coke was more exotic than Pepsi, afterall, we had a Pepsi plant literally in my back yard, so that's not very exotic.  But there was something about wearing that exotic Coca Cola label in front of my coach that really made me stressed out.  


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