Taking My Talents To South Beach

SoBe ⇒ is a line of beverages produced by PepsiCo; the drink had been originally been produced and sold by the independent South Beach Beverage Company based out of sunny Connecticut. Things changed with the sale to Pepsi. The price went up immediately. The use of sugar as a sweetener was replaced with high fructose corn syrup upon purchase by Pepsi before passing fancies dictated a return back to sugar. The drinks used to be sold in glass bottles that have been replaced by plastic bottles. Bottlecaps remained on the bottles under both companies, but Pepsi toned down any semblance of wit.

The logo that is shown on all three shirts in various sizes is one thing that has not changed. The design features symmetrically flipped, but otherwise identical, lizards with curled tails forming an “S”. I think that the design of this now familiar logo prompts people to give these shirts, especially Lizard Lightning, more compliments than other shirts.

In regards to the flavors described on the shirts within the Less Than Free Shirt Archive, Fuerte ⇒ was a mango and passionfruit flavored juice drink and Lizard Lightning ⇒ was a peach/orange hybrid drink. Both flavors have been discontinued. I was apathetic to the loss because I did not care for either flavor. To state the obvious, there was no Racing flavor.

A Little Extra

All three shirts arrived by mail, but two arrived with extra stuff in the envelope. I always like to get more stuff than I anticipate. The thrill does wear off, though, when the extras are of no use.

Fuerte arrived with a temporary tattoo of the twin lizards. I never wore the tattoo; I probably put it through a paper shredder years ago. The only temporary tattoo that I ever wore was when I was when I was quite young. The image was of a snake that I put on my right upper arm. Parts remained until three weeks later, even after repeated washings.

The Lizard Lightning shirt came with a hand-written in permanent marker note from the “Lizard King” and a vendor sticker for the Power drink. I was amused by the idea that someone wrote the Lizard King letter. Computers, and before that typewriters, had long supplanted handwritten corporate communication. I wish that I had kept the letter, but I probably put it through the shredder as well. Two things that I remember about the letter are that the person who wrote the letter obviously had clear handwriting and obviously had zero creative control over what they were writing.

Racing arrived without extras.

Day-e-tone-ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!

Norm Benning ⇒ drove number 84 with SoBe libery within Automobile Racing Club of America ⇒ sanctioned races during the entire 2000 season ⇒ and the first two races of the 2001 season ⇒. The vehicle was a “stock” car made by Chevrolet. Benning attempted to enter NASCAR races with this vehicle, but was unable to qualify ⇒.

Benning has since changed sponsors, numbers, and leagues multiple times throughout his career. Nonetheless, As late as 2009, Benning’s trailer still had SoBe lizards plastered on the side of a trailer ⇒.

Reclassification

For each of these shirts, I was required to send in some bottle caps that I had laying around along with shipping and handling. This set up is not free whatsoever. The convenience of already having the bottle caps laying around anyway does nothing towards making these shirt donations any freer.

Racing and Lizard Lightning were part of the Free Shirt Archive before the idea of the more accurate classification Less Than Free Shirt Archive was developed. Fuerte has always been correctly classified due to being acquired after the Less Than Free Shirt Archive was developed.