talby tuesday

Yes, today is tuesday and you all know what that means..... The first actual Talby Tuesday. Well, if no one else is excited about Talby Tuesday (I doubt this is the case) I know one person for sure who is. Talby. Yesterday, as I was watching the Wisconsin/ Oregon game with my wife, my cell phone received a text message from Talbott reading, "Bro, do you know what tomorrow is?" Yes, Talbot was texting me about his own blog, making sure that I did not forget to write about him. Also, much to the dismay of many, this post is coming late in the day. It is now 5:15. I know that many of you have probably been checking in on the blog and checking Facebook to see if there is a new post up. But there was only one person who actually called me. Yep, you guessed it... Talby. I had one missed called from Aaron at 11:15am. Talby really likes his own blog.

Well, Talby, I will give you what you have been waiting so long for. Today is going to be a little more Talby history. First, why he is called Talby. Second, how we became so obsessed with Talby.
So why is Aaron called Talby? This is not much different from his last name, so it might not seem like a very witty nick name. But there is a story. Aaron is from a suburb outside of Pittsburgh. I happen to have grown up just miles from Aaron's house. Therefore, I know where Talby is from. However, despite being raised in a middle-class suburb, Talby is dead set on insisting that he is a red-neck, southerner, and a cowboy. He own many flannels, cowboy hats, and John Wayne memorabilia. Talby thinks that his life is so similar to the great country Western movie star that he named his new dog Duke (John Wayne's nickname). I picked up on Talbot's desire to be a country boy, right away at college. I would often joke him about it and remind him of his true identity. One time our football team had a road trip up to New York for a football game and we had a lot of time in the bus. I started calling Talbot, Talby the Cowby. I know it doesn't really rhyme or make sense, but it was funny at the time and it made him mad. I made up a song to go along with it and sang it with this obnoxious slow southern accent. Talby was so mad that he told severely people how "not funny" I was and vowed to punch me if I didn't stop. And, from those moments, on the nickname Talby stuck.

CO Gregg Studio

The other thing that I wanted to touch upon today is how huge Talby is. Talby is a mammoth of a man in plain dress and when he gets his football pads on he basically looks like Paul Bunyan playing football. This truth was confirmed by my sister one Saturday afternoon in Pittsburgh. We had just lost a close football game and was riding home with my parents. After talking about the game my sister could not control herself any longer and excitedly asked Lissa, "Who is number 56? He's HUGE!" She didn't know so they asked me. I said, "Oh that is Talby." She replied, "He is seriously huge! I mean, he is just so thick!" Yep, all those arm bands and the ridiculous cowboy collar made Talby out to be a Giant. Talby, of course, loved this story. So, from that point on, whenever we talk about Talby, we always use this deep voice and say stuff like, "My name is Aaron and I am soooooo huge, nobody is as big as me. My cowboy collar is so sweet." These were the beginnings of Talby folklore. So, the big lesson to learn from Talby today is, even if you are a suburbian cake eater, you can still paint yourself as a gritty country boy. Just make sure that your crowd does not know where you are truly from. It makes it a harder sell and you might earn yourself a nickname that you will never lose.