The Mitchell Shirt

As the camera was pointed at me, I titled my head until I was told I had the right angle and calmly stared off into the crowds of families walking in the distance. I normally would smile for pictures but I was normally not in front of a green screen.

A few seconds later and I looked over at the monitor and saw the picture that would follow me for the next 14 years of my life: the body of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Neil O'Donnell with the face of the seven year old me. I instantly became captivated by this image and knew that I had made the right selection for my one gift from our family vacation to Sea World. I don't know what Neil O'Donnell has to do with Sea World, but I am happy the two are somehow related.

To this day I am still thankful that I chose to get this image on a shirt instead of a mouse pad, but at the time it seemed like a tough choice. In my many years of playing eeny meeny miny mo this selection from the miny mo divines has certainly been their best. The shirt fit loosely over my young frame, but I always wore bigger shirts back then. The shirt looked just like any poorly designed shirt you can make online now, but back then I thought it was amazing. The shirt was plain white with the image of the Neil/Mitchell hybrid just about throw the football down the field placed right in the center. My selection of the image stemmed from my love of football over the three seasons I had already played and I swore that day to wear this shirt for every football game I played in for the rest of my life; I assumed this shirt would last me until I retired from the NFL.

It looked very gimmicky but I made it my gimmick. The following football season for the Finley Bears, I wore what came to be known as the Mitchell shirt underneath by shoulder pads and my teammates loved it. I told most of them that yes, that was all me and I used to play for the Steelers and some believed my story and others just thought it looked good. The fact that I also played quarterback helped me persuade some people that my arms really used to be the size of the 30-some year old NFL starter. The shirt was with me for the rest of grade school and even made it through high school with me. In high school I had a few people who would give me a hard time for wearing the shirt and the once solid white now appeared almost see-through. As I became a starter by junior year, some teammates would actually make me double-check that yes, I did have the shirt with me. I knew the shirt wasn't truly lucky but I also knew the placebo affect is pretty amazing. Now that I no longer play football, I have the shirt hanging in my room with all my old jerseys. I treat most clothes as if they wronged me before but I treat the Mitchell shirt like it's been blessed.

Neil O'Donnell will always be remembered as the man who lost Super Bowl XXX for the Steelers, but I like to think of him as the guy who let a seven year old live out a dream if only for a second and then 14 years after that.