Two years ago we made a t-shirt about the tamale guy in Chicago. At the same time we were looking for a way to give back to our community. Over a couple of beers at this great little bar in our neighborhood called Sheffield’s in Chicago, Scared Panda was born and we haven’t looked back since. Thank you to all of our amazing supporters, nonprofit partners, friends and family – we couldn’t do it without you!

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see the action go down first hand but was updated via Twitter through-out the night. The mighty duo unapologetically annihilated the “competition” during the first few of rounds to grab the top spot. But eventually were over taken to end the night at #8.

When asked about the match our golden boys had this to say. “We’re numero uno in our hearts, man. We came in strong and they were scared (pandas). My dog could sense it, for real. These guys better start training for next year, consider them on warning.” said Andres. Matty O had this to say: “We came in with these tees and we had Claudio on our backs. The faith, the power, the talent. It was all there. I think the key element was not having the tamales in us to start the match.”

Matty and Andres of Team Tamale! Tamale! flanked by the support team of Carlos and Ximena

If you have a few seconds be sure to check out their website. Normally I’m not a big fan of flash sites but I really like the look and flow of this one. Leo Burnett.

The picture isn’t awesome, but you get the idea.

The inspiration behind the shirt

Proudly sporting my new Scared Panda shirt

Hi, my name is Kate. I’m part of the Scared Panda team and thought I should introduce myself. I moved to Chicago about two years ago and absolutely fell in love with the city. I love the buildings, the people, the music, the parks. But most of all, I love the food (you’ll be hearing more about my food adventures in future posts, or you can check out some of the posts I’ve written for Gapers Block). I’m particularly excited about the Tamale! Tamale! shirt because I love, really love, those tamales – partly because they are delicious, but also because how happy Claudio’s presence makes everyone. When he enters a bar, everyone cheers, he offers smiles to every single person and the atmosphere in the place tends to get a little more energetic. Because no one ever knows where he’ll show up on a particular night, you get the sense that you won some contest when he enters the bar YOU chose to go to that night. You’re one of the chosen ones.

Happy Tamale searching, folks. If you happen to run into Claudio, let him know we’ve got a t-shirt for him.