Read it all. They turn a great story into "white guilt"-----How the ubiquitous foam finger reveals the true nature of American entrepreneurship

How the ubiquitous foam finger reveals the true nature of American entrepreneurship:
"....As Designboom tells the tale, the wooden versions of the hand were a big hit.
They sold out, earning the industrial arts club far more money than anyone had anticipated.
It dawned on Fauss that he had a product with near-universal appeal to football fans everywhere. 
He quickly put together a bunch of plywood versions of the hand (they had a hole at the bottom where people could hold them) and got a friend to go with him to the 1978 Cotton Bowl game.
They hung out all night in the parking lot in a cold camper van, nearly setting it on fire when one of their pillows got too close to the portable heater, and the next morning Fauss talked a concessions manager into letting him sell the hands through the concession stand at a 60-40 split.
He sold out before the game started.
With those two successes under his belt, Fauss quit his job and converted the old building that used to house his father's sheet metal business into an ad-hoc factory..."