As far back as I can remember, I have hated the New York Yankees. I hate the joyless corporatism of how the organization is run and how their fans act like they somehow also won all the teams’ World Series titles. But one thing I do love is how I’m not the only one, and apparently, one of the most prominent haters to ever exist is Calvin from the “Calvin and Hobbes” comic, who I’m always delighted to see featured pissing on the Yankees logo of many an 18-wheeler mudflap when I’m driving along the interstate.
Well, curiosity got the best of me, so I decided to finally read the comics to see how much Calvin pissed on (figuratively and literally) the Yanks and their grossly overrated players. Well, I’m sorry to report that all those truck mudflaps were brazen lies because not once in the strip’s 10-year run did Calvin piss on a Yankees logo.
I was clearly misled into thinking Calvin was some devil-may-care, Dennis the Menace type who reveled in desecrating storied, insufferable baseball institutions. Because after dropping $250 for the complete “Calvin and Hobbes” collection, I found that at no point did he whip it out and urinate on the Yankees logo, or anything for that matter. There isn’t even so much as a ‘fuck the Steinbrenners’. What a waste of time!
If you would believe it, the comic’s entire premise is about Calvin and his toy tiger navigating life through the unbridled joy of imagination and exploring the beauty of the world, and sometimes he’s a superhero.
Look, I’m a simple man, and the mudflaps I stare at on the back of tractor-trailers during my commute up and down I-95 convinced me to believe the philosophy of Calvin and Hobbes is that he smirks and pees on things I don’t like. What’s next, Garfield liking Mondays and Lucy letting Charlie Brown kick the football?
Then I thought maybe the creator, Bill Watterson, licensed Calvin’s likeness to pee all over logos because he couldn’t get away with it in print, but no, it turns out he is famously not a sellout and all the comics’ merch is technically bootleg. Someone needs to answer for these lies!
Anyway, I guess what I’m trying to say is, go Red Sox.
