Hmmphhh. Mumble grumble. rrrrrrr.
This post is going to violate all of my sacred rules on humor, which start with "never explain". The minute you start explaining yourself is the minute you stop being funny.
But I just spent some time on the phone with Juro, whom I love like a brother, whom I've known virtually since he was still suffering coastal displacement, and whose professional endeavors support the value of my stock options. And Juro has been hearing from the choir, and the choir has been saying "what the F is up with Powers?"
First, the explication: I posted "I get the WSC, the infinity symbol, and those lost rainbow trout, but what's with the pawnshop balls?". The "lost rainbow trout" in an inversion of my favorite Juro line, "there are no rainbows, only landlocked steelhead". The pawnshop reference is, as Hawkeye picked up on, the fact that three balls hanging outside a shop are the icon of that business.
In fact, I wondered if there was a different symbolism represented by three balls in this context. Maybe the Saanich or Songhess peoples of the Pacific Northwest have a trinity concept that's relevant. What do I know? (As it turns out, they didn't mean anything).
Now, the explanation: (here's where the weight of scrutiny sinks the fragile buoancy of a #26 dry joke). A joke to me is funny if I laugh. If anyone else laughs or even gets it, that's a secondary benefit. Hawkeye at least got it. Secondly, humor is subversive. Now, the whole lot of you have had your undies in a bunch over mission statements and the fact that Juro has been drinking himself under the table every night with the proceeds of "members'" funds. Well, it's winter and it's no surprise that fishermen would act that way. My response to a lot of raw nerves and wounded feelings is to pour salt on. I think it's cathartic.
In furtherance of Things for the Official Record: I intended no editorial comment on the logo, which is pretty. I've never seen a steelhead. I neither mock nor endorse the Wild Steelhead Coalition.
If it's not clear yet, my entire online existence is a piece of performance art with the message "lighten up".
55 days, kids.