Government Senator Jeff Baron will be sending a fresh pair of Bermuda shorts to the Houston Chronicle, following an online post by the Texas paper which said Olympian Tucker Murphy was upholding Bermuda’s “tradition of looking like idiots” by wearing Bermuda shorts.

“You see the original post about the tradition of looking like idiots, and then subsequent redaction, and obviously you can look at it in two ways,” said Sen Baron of the ruling OBA.

“You can take exception to someone suggesting there’s an island of idiots walking around in shorts, or you can look at it as an opportunity.

“If Tucker [Murphy] was wearing a tracksuit nobody would be talking about it. But whether you love or hate the shorts, people are talking, and talking is a good thing.”

Sen Baron said he wanted to send the Bermuda shorts — which will be provided by Becci Handson, owner of The Authentic Bermuda Shorts (TABS) www.authenticshorts.bm — to show the staff at the Houston Chronicle another side of Bermuda, adding that he will be purchasing them with his own money, and not out of the taxpayer’s pocket.

“I think contemporary politics requires folks to be agile. I saw an opportunity to show the Houston Chronicle and their readership our tradition is not looking like idiots, it’s our warmth, passion and resilience. I think the more we’re talking about Bermuda the better.”