03-23-2004, 12:34 PM
It’s good to be a Nimrod.
Quote:
Thanks to an ESPN commercial, the approximately 1,400 citizens of Watersmeet, a township in Gogebic County in the western part of the Michigan Upper Peninsula, in the Central Time Zone, have become renowned for the nickname of their high school, the Nimrods.
The attention has been overwhelming at times, but it is welcome just the same.
George Peterson III, the school’s principal, athletic director and boys basketball coach, is featured in the commercial, a tongue-in-cheek look at a high school basketball team in rural America with a particularly unusual nickname.
Watersmeet meets all of the criteria.
When Peterson and his family first watched the commercial — filmed during the week of Dec. 6-13, including highlights of the Nimrods’ basketball game against Bessemer — it caught them by surprise.
“We laughed so loud,” he said. “We didn’t hear a word of it.”
The more the commercial was aired, the more it caught on. It promises to start more of a craze than that caused by Eddie Murphy when he wore the (Detroit) Mumford High T-shirt in “Beverly Hills Cop”.
Nimrod T-shirts, at $15 a pop, have been rolling out of Watersmeet swiftly. More than 600 have been sold, and with ABC, NBC, CBS, USA TODAY and CNN diving in on the fun, sales are sure to skyrocket.
“We’re enjoying the ride,” Peterson said. “We didn’t think it would get this big. But it’s bigger than we ever imagined.
The more the commercial was aired, the more it caught on. It promises to start more of a craze than that caused by Eddie Murphy when he wore the (Detroit) Mumford High T-shirt in “Beverly Hills Cop”.
Nimrod T-shirts, at $15 a pop, have been rolling out of Watersmeet swiftly. More than 600 have been sold, and with ABC, NBC, CBS, USA TODAY and CNN diving in on the fun, sales are sure to skyrocket.
“We’re enjoying the ride,” Peterson said. “We didn’t think it would get this big. But it’s bigger than we ever imagined.
“We have snowmobilers from Chicago and Indianapolis here, and they say they can’t go home until they get a T-shirt from Watersmeet. I just got e-mails today from people in Florida and Tennessee. USA TODAY called today and they want to do a story.
“It’s crazy around here. I even got an e-mail from a guy named Rod Chay. He said his first name is Nimrod. That’s the second one with the first name, Nimrod.”
OK, OK, enough already. A Nimrod is a biblical term with its origin the book of Genesis.
By definition, a Nimrod is “a mighty hunter and a king of Shinar.” According to biblical accounts, a Nimrod was “a mighty hunter before the Lord.”
Watersmeet took the nickname for its high school in 1904 because, Peterson said, the township sits in the shadows of the Ottawa National Forest, an area well suited to hunting and fishing.
“We’re proud of it,” said Peterson, a 1979 Watersmeet graduate. “People are laughing with us, not at us. You cannot believe the fun we’ve had.”
Even one of the most famous Yoopers, Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo, is laughing it up. According to Peterson, Izzo is well versed in Nimrods lore and proved as much in a recent speaking engagement. For a price, Peterson and other Watersmeet entrepreneurs sent some of their T-shirts to East Lansing and threw in a free one to be auctioned.
A Web site? Of course there is one: http://www.watersmeet.k12.mi.us.
You see, everyone wants to be a Nimrod.
Now that you know more than you thought you could about Watersmeet, wouldn’t you rather be known as a Nimrod and not just a mighty hunter?
The attention has been overwhelming at times, but it is welcome just the same.
George Peterson III, the school’s principal, athletic director and boys basketball coach, is featured in the commercial, a tongue-in-cheek look at a high school basketball team in rural America with a particularly unusual nickname.
Watersmeet meets all of the criteria.
When Peterson and his family first watched the commercial — filmed during the week of Dec. 6-13, including highlights of the Nimrods’ basketball game against Bessemer — it caught them by surprise.
“We laughed so loud,” he said. “We didn’t hear a word of it.”
The more the commercial was aired, the more it caught on. It promises to start more of a craze than that caused by Eddie Murphy when he wore the (Detroit) Mumford High T-shirt in “Beverly Hills Cop”.
Nimrod T-shirts, at $15 a pop, have been rolling out of Watersmeet swiftly. More than 600 have been sold, and with ABC, NBC, CBS, USA TODAY and CNN diving in on the fun, sales are sure to skyrocket.
“We’re enjoying the ride,” Peterson said. “We didn’t think it would get this big. But it’s bigger than we ever imagined.
The more the commercial was aired, the more it caught on. It promises to start more of a craze than that caused by Eddie Murphy when he wore the (Detroit) Mumford High T-shirt in “Beverly Hills Cop”.
Nimrod T-shirts, at $15 a pop, have been rolling out of Watersmeet swiftly. More than 600 have been sold, and with ABC, NBC, CBS, USA TODAY and CNN diving in on the fun, sales are sure to skyrocket.
“We’re enjoying the ride,” Peterson said. “We didn’t think it would get this big. But it’s bigger than we ever imagined.
“We have snowmobilers from Chicago and Indianapolis here, and they say they can’t go home until they get a T-shirt from Watersmeet. I just got e-mails today from people in Florida and Tennessee. USA TODAY called today and they want to do a story.
“It’s crazy around here. I even got an e-mail from a guy named Rod Chay. He said his first name is Nimrod. That’s the second one with the first name, Nimrod.”
OK, OK, enough already. A Nimrod is a biblical term with its origin the book of Genesis.
By definition, a Nimrod is “a mighty hunter and a king of Shinar.” According to biblical accounts, a Nimrod was “a mighty hunter before the Lord.”
Watersmeet took the nickname for its high school in 1904 because, Peterson said, the township sits in the shadows of the Ottawa National Forest, an area well suited to hunting and fishing.
“We’re proud of it,” said Peterson, a 1979 Watersmeet graduate. “People are laughing with us, not at us. You cannot believe the fun we’ve had.”
Even one of the most famous Yoopers, Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo, is laughing it up. According to Peterson, Izzo is well versed in Nimrods lore and proved as much in a recent speaking engagement. For a price, Peterson and other Watersmeet entrepreneurs sent some of their T-shirts to East Lansing and threw in a free one to be auctioned.
A Web site? Of course there is one: http://www.watersmeet.k12.mi.us.
You see, everyone wants to be a Nimrod.
Now that you know more than you thought you could about Watersmeet, wouldn’t you rather be known as a Nimrod and not just a mighty hunter?
podunk my ass! :lol: :lol: