Chris Moeller is the "M" in S&M. This brand was basically the first independent BMX company with punk rock outlook on commerce. The company has been a metaphor for fun times since 1987, sponsoring rippers, drunks, jumpers, street freaks, and even Dee Snider from Twisted Sister. The S&M shield is known for quality and core values to this day.

Back around 1990 when I ended up with this shirt, Moeller worked at BMX Action and Freestylin'. It was his after-school job for a while, pushing a broom and driving the delivery vehicle. He also was known for throwing down wicked new school dirt jumping steez as a test pilot for BMX Action mag.

It was at this time I discovered an interesting paradox: Chris is a very generous soul who will give you the shirt off his back, and at the same time he's one of the cheapest skinflints to ever walk the valley. He used to go on tour with the same Carl's Jr. refillable soda fountain paper cup and use that for weeks, helping himself to free drinks. He's the guy who collects everybody's chicken bones after the KFC bucket is empty, and he breaks the bones in half and sucks the marrow out of them for nourishment instead of actually chipping in $3.99 and enjoying the meal with the crew. He used to write a survival column in Go magazine for us.

The interesting thing about this S&M jersey is it's a team model. It has the classic S&M silkscreened logo on the back, and yet, vato style old English lettering down the backs of the sleeves. And they're iron-on letters, which makes it even funnier.

I can't recall getting a lot of use out of this jersey, mainly because it never got cold enough to warrant sporting a long sleeve T-shirt in balmy southern California. In fact, I have one memory of wearing it: On a lark, I entered and raced BMX at the Orange County BMX track. I hadn't entered a BMX race in five years, but my roommate talked me into it. In the course of an hour I picked through the BMX Action test bike/stock parts graveyard and threw together a Tommy Brackens 20" BMXer (Tommy was one of the few black BMX pros, and fast as hell). I entered 18 and over novice. I crashed and burned in the first moto, holeshotted the second moto from start to finish and made the mains. I got second in the finals that night and took home a trophy and an elbow scab.

That was probably the last time I wore this jersey, and it spent a decade in a dresser drawer. When I sold my house and went to Costa Rica in 2001, I transferred ownership of this vintage BMX item to the care of Sakebomb.