Contrary to what you may think, you cannot just walk into the bank and cash an oversized check--those checks are just for PR purposes. I'd be interested in learning the history of the oversized check. I know it wasn't just created for Happy Gilmore.

I was tempted to bring the check to the bank with me today and try to cash it--and videotape the experience. But we had some technical difficulties.

Today we got an email from the Dignman Center and BB&T informing us how to collect on the prize money.

What will we be using the money for?
1)You know what I would do if I had a million dollars? I would invest half of it in low risk mutual funds and then take the other half over to my friend Asadulah who works in securities...
2)Making more funny t-shirts
3)Making more graphic t-shirts
4)Revamping our website to make it more Google friendly (when you google funny t-shirts, we want to be first).

Labels: BBT, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, funny t shirts, Office Space, Oversized check, website stuff

Crooked Monkey was established in 2005. In May, it will celebrate its 4 year anniversary. We've accomplished a lot in our short history--featured in magazines, picked up by department stores and trendy boutiques, and put a smile on over 120,000 happy customers. And now, finally, we can add, "receiving an oversized check (a la Happy Gilmore) to our list of accolades."

Starting in 2006, Kevin Plank (the founder and CEO of Under Armour) has hosted an annual business competition for the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland, called the Cupid's Cup. In its first year, Crooked Monkey was nominated for the award and finished as a runner up in the competition. This year, Crooked Monkey could not compete for the award because our annual sales volume exceeded the upper limit.

Luckily BB&T launched the BB&T invitational--which features companies connected with the University of Maryland. It allows us to showcase our businesses, and invites students, alumn and other entrepreneurs to get a taste for each company. The attendees then vote for their favorite company and the winner is announced at the Cupid's Cup, in front of the entire Under Armour Executive team. There was stiff competition from a list of other strong, thriving entrepreneurs. But in the end our Funny t-shirts were a fan favorite and we took home the prize money and an oversized check!

Than you to: Kevin Plank, Asher Espstein (from the Dingman Center) and BB&T.

Labels: Accolades, Awards, BBT, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, Entrepeneurs, Free Money, History, Kevin Plank, Micha, Oversized check, Press, Recipient, UMD, University of Maryland

We met Greivis Vasquez last week at a business competition put on by the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship and Kevin Plank, CEO of Under Armour. I'll tell you more about that competition when we get pictures (for now, i'll just have you know that Crooked Monkey received one of those big oversized Happy-Gilmore checks).

We gave Greivis one of our University of Maryland shirts--and he loved it so much he wore it the next day. Greivis, the star Point Guard on the Terrapins basketball team, probably gets a lot of free stuff--so we're honored that he loved our shirt enough to wear it!

He's wearing our Terrapins shirt Men's shirt. Other UMD t-shirts include:
Fear the Turtle Newspaper University of Maryland shirt
Testudo rubbing Testudo's Nose University of Maryland Terps Shirt

Labels: As seen on, Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, Greivis Vasquez, Kevin Plank, Maryland T-shirts, Press, terps, Terrapins, Under Armour, University of Maryland, University T-shirts