Diesels and Sevens were the hot ticket metrosexual jeans for dudes when I was in school. I have no clue if they're still hip or if metrosexual is even kosher to say; my jeans are Wrangler. And I swear allegiance to all things Favre.
I don't care for $250 blue jeans and I certainly won't pay for them. But some people will, I suppose, otherwise Barry Zito wouldn't be modeling for True Religion, a designer brand of jeans for dudes. (Gracias to 'Duk for reminding me that I heard this on television the other night.)
The Zito ads will appear on the sides of buses in Japan. In San Francisco, a True Religion billboard is planned for a building near the intersection of Bush Street and Van Ness Avenue.
"It's crazy,'' Zito said. "I got a text message from (former A's teammate) Eric Byrnes that said, 'Dude, my wife just saw you on a billboard in Vegas. You've got to be (kidding) me!' "
Zito did not seek out this second career. He told his publicist, Kathy Jacobson, to refuse any endorsement offers - especially when he had an 0-8 record after nine starts.
"I can't be the `Seiko guy,' none of that," Zito said. "That just looks bad, like I'm not focusing on baseball. But Kathy said, `No, it's not an endorsement. It's not because of who you are or that you play baseball. This is a modeling gig.' "
Wow. What a humble guy. $126 mil is enough; 0-8 doesn't deserve any more money or endorsements. Gosh. Zen, like, really.
I do kind of respect, though, his willingness to take on a second career, even if said career is male modeling. It's pretty similar to what I've got going on right now, what with the office job that pays big bucks and the blogging on the side. Less glamorous, maybe, but similar nonetheless.
