In a ceremony last Saturday night, Terrence Shannon’s jersey was unveiled upside down during the jersey retirement and honorary ceremony.
But, truly capitalizing on the situation, Gameday Spirit is selling shirts that embrace the mistake.
Here is the link to purchse: https://www.gamedayspirit.com/collections/illinois-tsj-upside-down-banner
Here is the Instagram post from Illini Men’s Basketball: https://www.instagram.com/p/DGOqHdfv5ZG/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
The phrase “WHEN LIFE HAS YOU UPSIDE DOWN, TURN IT AROUND” is essentially similar to the well known phrase, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” This is a phrase of optimism, meaning that even though something unfortunate may have happened in life, you still have the agency to make the best of it. Making the best of a situation involves being proactive and figuring out what good can come out of it.
Why lemons?
Well, the phrase could stem from the fact that lemons are sour, so they represent a ‘sour’ situation.
Used cars that are sold and then quickly breakdown are also referred to as ‘lemons.”
For example, “I just bought a car from Bob’s Car lot. But the transmission just blew out.”
“Oh, you got a lemon.”