The Ties That Bind

I just watched No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson, the latest documentary in ESPN's fantastic 30 for 30 series. Directed by Steve James, director of the great Hoop Dreams, the film tells the story of how Allen Iverson's controversial 1993 arrest tore apart his hometown of Hampton, Virginia. The film was excellent and there were plenty of memorable moments, but one piece of archival footage really jumped out at me:

Jimmy Eason, mayor of Hampton, Virginia from 1982-1998. Check out the tie he's wearing. Now check this out:

That's my tie! This shot appears fifty-nine minutes into the film, and before that I enjoyed the film, but couldn't quite relate to the issues at hand. However, seeing my tie up on the screen made the movie's dissection of race and class in America immediately resonate with my own experience.

The only question is: how did Jimmy Eason's tie come into my possession? I inherited the tie from my former roommate about two years ago, but I'm not sure how he came into possession of it. We can only speculate on this subject, but by applying Occam's Razor (the principle that the simplest explanation is usually the correct one - thank you, Lisa Simpson) it becomes clear that upon leaving public office in 1998, Jimmy Eason moved to Waukesha, Wisconsin, had a lot of plastic surgery, and changed his name to "Todd Lillian."

That leaves only the mystery of the tie's origins - the archival footage proves that it has existed since at least 1993, but I suspect it dates back even further. Indeed, after some serious Googling, I have discovered that the tie has led a very interesting life:




This post is starting to feel more like a dream blog post, so I guess that means I should say good night.