Cincinatti Enquirer Article

Want to show whose side you're on in the Jessica Simpson-Nick Lachey split? Now you can pledge your allegiance with a T-shirt.
Shortly after the stars of MTV's "Newlyweds: Nick & Jessica" announced their separation on Thanksgiving Eve, "Team Lachey" and "Team Simpson" T-shirts went on sale online, no doubt targeting the same celebrity-obsessed crowd that snapped up "Team Pitt" and "Team Aniston" shirts after Brad and Jen's marriage broke up earlier this year.

Kristen Smith, a 22-year-old college student in Vancouver, Wash., says she was first out of the gate with her shirts supporting Lachey, the former 98º frontman who grew up in North College Hill.

She's selling T-shirts, hats, underwear, bumper stickers and mugs through a site on CaféPress.com, which allows anyone to create and sell customized merchandise (www.cafepress.com/teamlachey). Sayings include "Team Lachey," "Future Mrs. Lachey" and "I'll Marry You Nick."

"I guess I just felt really bad for him," the "Newlyweds" fan says. "I thought he seems like a normal guy trying to make things work. And (Simpson) seems kind of spoiled."

Smith says her "Future Mrs. Lachey" shirts are the most popular.

Another T-shirt seller, Nick Lambert, says his Team Lachey shirts are outselling his Team Simpson shirts by about 3-1 (www.cafepress.com/buzz_shirts). Not surprisingly, he says, the women's shirts make up the majority of those sales.

By Lauren Bishop

SOURCE : http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051207/LIFE/512070321/-1/all