The Price Is Right Fraternity Embarrassment
May 21st, 2008 by Nostalgia Guru. Popularity: 35%.As my twin sons are all set to graduate high school, they are looking forward to college this Fall, 2008. And, from the stories I’ve told them about my Lambda Chi days on campus from some 30 years ago like Watermelon Busts, singing along to Magic Carpet Ride, etc., I at least have them interested in fraternity life.
As the family plans to visit LA this summer, we are considering going to a “The Price is Right” taping. So, we’ve been Tivoing an episode or two to re-familiarize ourselves with the games. But, on the 5/20/08 episode, a young man named Joshua, proudly wearing his Sigma Nu shirt, proceeded to make embarrassing “numerical-innuendo” bids, by bidding variations of 420 and 69 on 5 different prizes. Finally, after he realized Drew was on to him, he bid $2 million on an item that was clearly around $1000. Thank goodness Drew said “You want $2 million, you got it!”, and moved on.
So, let me just say that although I can’t be for sure that Lambda Chi Alpha will be my sons’ fraternity of choice, I can now rest assured that it won’t be Sigma Nu. The episode has actually been marked “Do not Rerun” by the producers. I guess that will be an episode that young Sigma Nu Joshua won’t have to worry about explaining to his kids in future years. Conversely, wouldn’t it be nice if the producers could figure out a way to send a taping of the show to every company for which Joshua interviews after graduation.
Come on down!
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Brother:
Surely, Joshua from Sigma Nu was (or is) an immature jerk when he appeared on The Price Is Right. But I think you’re wrong in condemning all of Sigma Nu — which, like our own Lambda Chi, is a great fraternity with a strong past and noble traditions.
OK, so this particular Sigma Nu doesn’t speak well for his fraternity. Can any of us truly say that there aren’t some Lambda Chis among the many thousands of living brothers who aren’t also immature jerks?
We all grow up — some faster than others. Let’s hope Joshua reaches his maturity before he does something even more foolish. But let’s not condemn an entire fraternity because of the actions of one stupid brother. May heaven help us if others judge all of Lambda Chi Alpha because of something one immature brother did in public!
– Cornell Grad
July 2nd, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I actually have Sigma Nu friends and have met Lambda Chi jerks. But, my son is the one who has made a decision not to be a Sigma Nu. To quote from Hoosiers“: “Look, mister, there’s… two kinds of dumb, uh… guy that gets naked and runs out in the snow and barks at the moon, and, uh, guy who does the same thing in my living room. First one don’t matter, the second one you’re kinda forced to deal with.”