when geeks & jocks interact

I've been dining out on this story for months, so it's only right that I finally record it here.

I've been seeing a personal trainer for a few months to help me out with some weight training and general accountability ("If you pay him, you will get your over-scheduled ass to the gym"). His name is Troy, and he used to play Division 1 football for UCLA until he broke his back. Today he's a web designer and personal trainer and kind of the quintessential Popular Jock--handsome, easy-going, way into football. I figured out early on in our trainer/trainee relationship that we didn't have much in common. In fact, were I not paying him to help sculpt my arms, shoulders & abs into the toned limbs I now possess (ha), we would never have met, never hang out. We have very little in common, aside from a shared desire to turn my fat into muscle.

Anyway, one day we were in the weight room and I was lifting free weights while he was regaling me with one of his stories from the Good Old Days of college football. I'm listening and trying to follow along--I'm not really a football fan, so a lot of his story is new information to me. Anyway, he's telling me his football story, and about halfway through, he asks me in what I presume to be a very weird question, and this is what went down.

Him: "You know what the Red Shirts are?"

Me (confused): ".... You mean from Star Trek?"

Him (more confused): "...No. From football."

Both of us, looking at each other, totally confused: " . . . . . ?"

This is what happens when geeks & jocks interact. You can become friends, but you might not always speak the same language.