The Van Buren Boys

"The Van Buren Boys" is the 148th episode of the sitcom Seinfeld, and name of a fictional New York street gang. Their sign is one hand with all the fingers and thumb 'up' and spread out. The other hand has all but the thumb and pointer finger up, for a total of eight (8). The gang is named for the 8th President of the United States, Martin Van Buren (who was the first president from New York). This was the 14th episode for the 8th season. It aired on February 6, 1997.

Jerry's girlfriend, Ellen (Christine Taylor) seems perfect in every way, but Jerry notices that she doesn't seem to have many friends and becomes concerned that he may be dating "a loser." George interviews candidates for The Foundation's first scholarship. All the candidates seem over-qualified and cocky, until one comes in who is a lot like he was, a below-average student and underachiever. Elaine is going to ghost write Peterman's autobiography.

Kramer goes to Lorenzo's Pizzeria, where he has an encounter with "The Van Buren Boys," a street gang. He accidentally flashes their gang sign (the number 8, as Martin Van Buren was the eighth president and the man they most admire) and saves himself. Meanwhile, Peterman wants his day-to-day life covered in his bio; the exotic adventures are for the catalog. His day-to-day life is very boring. Elaine tells Peterman about Kramer's encounter with the gang and he suggests buying the story for his autobiography.

George's choice, Steven Koren, makes a change in his plans that causes George to disqualify him from the scholarship. Steven had been telling people he wanted to be an architect, the very dream George fictitiously tells people is his occupation. One day, however, Steven decides he could do better and remarks to that he'd like to be a city planner. George is outraged that this slacker feels he could do better than an architect, George's dream job.