Aug 4, 2008 3:15 pm US/Pacific
Was That 1,000 People Running By In Their Undies?
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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About 1,000 runners and walkers -- from all walks of life -- dropped their pants to help raise money for the City of Hope to fight the social stigma of below-the-waist cancers Saturday in Los Angeles.
Erik Oginski
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They came young and old, rich and poor, straight and gay, famous and not famous, hunky and chunky, Playboy-ready and boy-are-you-kidding?, but all the 1,000-odd (and some were very odd) runners and walkers at City of Hope's first ever 10K and 5K Underwear Affair held Saturday, August 2 had one thing in common... they were all there to raise awareness and raise money to fight cancers below the waist.
There is something very unifying about seeing 1,000 people in their underwear stretching, smiling, trying to keep various body parts from showing. Basically, having a good time. Knowing they are doing something very worthy. Each runner/walker had to raise a minimum of $300 to participate.
Web managing editor Erik Oginski and I spoke to many people who left that figure in the dust. One very proud runner showed us the (temporary) tattoo on his back announcing he made more than $4,580 alone.
And most of the people we stopped -- whether they be in tighty-whities, or bloomers, or corsets, or bras and panties and Jockey brand undies (a sponsor of the event) -- were happy to tell us why they were braving public scrutiny in next-to-nothing. Many of the participants were personally affected by cancer...most spoke of knowing someone who died from a cancer from below the waist...and how society has to fight the stigma of the disease.
Except for one muscular man who admitted he was "a bit shy" and unwilling to talk to us on camera.
Shy? In your drawers? In front of several thousand participants and gawkers up and down Wilshire? O.K., if you say so!
Forgetting the shy one, and he was about the only one, we also ran into Adrian Grenier, who plays Vincent on HBO's "Entourage" (running in his first undies race and even looking handsome while he sweat all over our mic), the Flash, a bunch of Wonder Women, women in togas, a few guys in Batman regalia, some women in Viking garb, some professional roller derby queens, a few grown men in Sponge Bob Square Pants undies, and a man dressed in fur and rabbit leggings (did we mention it was 100 degrees outside?). One woman put "For You Uncle Fred" on the back of her panties. There was even (cleverly) a guy done-up like Tom Cruise from the famous undie dance in the movie "Risky Business".
And, last but certainly not least, a definite crowd-pleaser, the race team from Aussie Bum, comprised of a few of Janice Dickinson's hunkiest models. (If you aren't aware of Aussie Bum, it's a brand of underwear -- tiny, form-hugging -- that basically only ripped male models should try to wear.)
You name it...we saw it -- fun, entertaining and all for a good cause. We can't wait till next year!
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
SLIDESHOW: 'Underwear Affair' Raises Money For Cancer Research
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