Two students use their 'balls of steel,' bare all on campus in the activity they say requires talent and fearlessness
When some people walk across campus at the UA, they feel like something is missing. There's a huge student union, a decent basketball team, lots of red brick and a fair amount of attractive coeds. But what the university lacks is naked men running around the campus. Well, there are two guys on campus trying to fix all that.
For the purposes of this article, the men in question prefer to conceal their real names. They will be referred to by their self-administered code names: "Redman" and "Man in Black." It will all make sense soon.
Redman and Man in Black are both psychology majors and have been habitual streakers since their high school days. They started off small by running down the street naked at night, but raised the stakes when they streaked through a high school soccer game, on multiple occasions. After that, their need for naked increased.
"High school's like the minor leagues, but you get to college and you're in the big game," Man in Black said.
They had to develop a system because they didn't want people to recognize them among other UA students. They wear ski masks and conceal their tattoos and nipple piercings with electrical tape. Redman wears a red ski mask, and Man in Black wears a black one. Get it?
Since coming to the UA, Redman and Man in Black have streaked twice (not counting their apartment complex, where they streak more frequently).
"We did the Mall, and then we did the (Integrated Learning Center) last Dead Day. We did the Mall right around noon-ish. Lunchtime. Yeah, there were a lot of people," Redman said proudly. "We thought about doing the union, but it's way too crowded. We'd just be standing there 'Uh, excuse me ... excuse me. Streaker coming through!'
"When we did the Mall out here, we were getting undressed in that bathroom near there, and we peeked over the stall at each other. And this guy walked in and saw two guys peeking over the stall in ski masks and he was just like, 'Uh ... '" Redman said.
"Every time in the bathrooms when we undress, people always look over at us thinking, 'What the hell are they about to do?'" Man in Black said.
What's their motivation?
"I think we just, one day, said, 'We have to do something crazy,' hoping that something fun would happen. Something that would, you know, make people's day," Redman said. "I think we just do it because people can't take life too seriously. And it's hilarious. There's nothing more to it. You see two naked dudes running around, and you think, 'What the hell is that?'"
"There is nothing uglier than two naked guys running around," Man in Black said.
They have never been caught at the UA, though you'd think they'd be happy about that.
"We are always trying to get into the Police Beat in the Wildcat, but it's always 'bike stolen,' 'bike stolen,' 'bike stolen.' We were gonna call the cops and be like, 'Two streakers are gonna do it at this time,'" Man in Black said.
Previous run-ins with the law off campus have limited their streaking activities, forcing them to streak with their underwear on. That, however, won't stop the pair from streaking.
"If I get really fat, I think I'd stop. But I'll probably do it up until I'm done with school. That way my kids will be like, 'My dad is crazy. He ran around naked in school,'" Man in Black said.
"It's not so much a lifestyle. It's more a choice - a state of mind. You know, you're not like, 'That's my lifestyle; that's my life.' It's just your philosophy on that one thing. You know, it's funny. It's something fun to do," Redman said.
So, if you having nothing else to do on a Friday afternoon, these guys suggest you bare all that God blessed you with, and run like hell.
"It's an art, really. You know, it takes some talent, some fearlessness,"Redman said.
"It takes balls of steel," Man in Black said.