subject: University Of Illinois Gifts, Sportswear & Apparel [print this page] Fighting Illini University of Illinois Gifts, Sportswear & Apparel Big Ten schools are competitive with one another. No one's denying that. So if you're from the University of Illinois, you want to be able to spot your own. Which is why giving Fighting Illini gifts is a smart -- and strategic -- idea. Even an orange and blue coffee mug in the right place might mean the difference between pleasant conversation and terrible night-long rounds of arm-wrestling.
Aw, maybe it sounds crazy, but an orange flag or a mug or a license plate cover can go a long way to telling a lonely traveler that he has people in a faraway place. I mean why do colleges sell flags, the very image of the sovereign state? Because people want to be able to find their people. Those flags hung from front porches start to look like the safety of an embassy after a while.
University of Illinois Gifts
Plus how many times do you go into a new acquaintance's house and spot, peeking out of the cabinet, the big orange "I"? It's like you suddenly know something important about this person. Like they came from somewhere familiar. The football helmet magnet as an ice-breaker. How many great love stories have started at a party in front of the fridge, sharing memories of the game? (Probably at least like six.)
And giving the Fighting Illini item as a gift is sort of like introducing people to your club. The secret handshake. The approval. The codeword. Something to give to a friend to make them welcome. Something to give your mother to prove you're still in the state, that you haven't run off to become a semi-pro arm-wrestler.
University of Illinois Gifts
Or maybe you did run away and become a semi-pro arm-wrestler. Think about the comfort and strength you can draw from sipping out of that mug before your big match. A reminder that you come from somewhere, that you're not just a ridiculously muscular arm, but also a mind and a heart that once had a mother. And friends and school besides. Maybe it's time to go home. Don't forget that mug.
All these little items with their colors and their logos: they serve to create new communities and return the wanderers to their original communities. You don't always need to fly the Fighting Illini flag to remind yourself that you are an embassy, because sometimes a coaster is enough. Either way, all those gifts are colored the color of home.
