My goofy Holy Cross College cap

One of the oddest caps in my collection isn’t a baseball cap but this circular, beanie-like cap. I bought it at the Holy Cross College bookstore while I was in school there in the mid 1970s. I rarely wore the thing, which my friends routinely referred to as my “douche cap.” I once asked why. “Because you look like a douche wearing it,” somebody answered.

I trotted the cap out today in the wake of the Crusaders’ 25-24 loss to Harvard last night in Cambridge. The term “douche bag” has also been in the news this past week, thanks to whoever at the Baltimore Sun decide to do a story on guys who can be described as such.

I’d never heard the term until I went off to college. It was in common use by New Yorkers and Jersey guys. Still is.

Its vulgar sobriquet notwithstanding, I still get a kick out of my floppy Holy Cross hat — even if I still don’t have the nerve to wear it in public.