On Friday, I wrote about how ABC News used ‘Twin Peaks’ character Laura Palmer as an example of the dangers of cheerleading (she was murdered, wrapped in plastic and dumped in a river … but, you know, on television). I thought that was going to be the last time I saw modern sports tied into 90s pop culture, but now we’re doing it in reverse.
Amy Heckerling’s seminal 1995 comedy Clueless was on TV this weekend, and my good friend and Tampa Bay Rays fan Lex Lybrand (of directing me in a feature film fame) noticed something weird. Near the end of the film, when Alicia Silverstone’s Cher and the late Brittany Murphy’s Tai are making up and settling in to watch Breckin Meyer do some l33t 90s skateboarding, Tai is wearing a what appears to be a Tampa Bay Rays polo. In their current colors. No, seriously, look at it.
The problem with that is that the Rays didn’t exist in 1995, and didn’t switch to that font or color scheme until 2008. There’s an easy explanation — it’s a coincidence, and the TB could represent anything. I’m not an encyclopedia of mid-90s clothing brands, and they could’ve just whipped up a random fake brand logo for a long-forgotten polo in a throwaway scene. Better theory: Brittany Murphy is a time-traveler, which explains the Rays gear and why the girls in gym class look so much like the Brooklynettes. It’s bat-shit, sure, but at least in this theory, Brittany Murphy wouldn’t be dead. She’d just be in the future.
Further evidence (and more 1990s Alicia Silverstone) is below.
