The Super Bowl: Ode to consumerism

New iPhone in hand, I went to the grocery store with my family the other day to pick up a few provisions for dinner. Near the checkout aisle was row of Super Bowl caps done up in blue and orange in what is either homage to the Denver Broncos, a jab at them or mere […]

Jeff Kent: Hero or villain?

Jeff Kent announced his retirement from professional baseball today, ending an outstanding career as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kent has always brought out mixed feelings in me, and a lot of memories were dredged up today as I heard the morning guys on KNBR radio in San Francisco talking about him. I […]

Which cap for Rickey in the Hall of Fame?

Players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame no longer get to choose which cap they’ll be depicted wearing in the bronze plaque that enshrines them. There’s no question that Jim Rice, who played his entire career for Boston, will be wearing a Red Sox cap. But what about Rickey Henderson? In a 25-year major […]

Capping off the NFL season

Steelers Saints Hall of Fame Game Football Originally uploaded by mfarago.pittsburghsportsweekly At the risk of alienating a work colleague who is a die-hard San Diego Chargers fan, I hereby link to this year-old photo of Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. The Steelers whacked the Chargers this afternoon at snowy Heinz Field in Pittsburgh, setting up […]

Baseball cap outlook for 2009: The audacity of hats

Political and fashion lore has it that by not wearing a hat on inauguration day, John F. Kennedy killed the haberdashery industry. From then on, American men stopped wearing hats. While JFK and his fashion-conscious wife certainly influenced American style, I suspect the growing dominance of the automobile in our culture did more to hasten […]

A not-so-fond farewell to 2008 from the newspaper industry

The year is drawing to a close, and I daresay for most of us in the newspaper industry it’s time to say “good riddance” to 2008. According to the trade journal Editor & Publisher, the U.S. Department of Labor estimates that 21,000 newspaper jobs disappeared over the past 12 months. That report totals 3,000 jobs […]

A new cap for the Big Unit

Randy Johnson has signed a one-year contract with the San Francisco Giants, and that’s good news for baseball fans by the bay. Even at 45, The Big Unit has some good games left in that 6’10” frame. The move to the Giants will be a bit of a homecoming for Johnson, who grew up nearby […]

Presidents and baseball caps, 18th Century division

This isn’t, technically speaking, a cap in my collection. But it’s too cool not to count. My mother-in-law and I have traded gag gifts at Christmas over the years, and yesterday I received a University of Virginia T-shirt with the crossed-saber logo on the front. But the back is what really matters. It depicts our […]

Leukemia patient gives the gift of hats

Here’s a delightful story from North Dakota about a 3-year-old boy battling leukemia who, as a Christmas present for those working at and being cared for at the hospital where he’s been treated, donated about 500 hats that people all over the world had mailed to him. According to the AP story, the boy’s illness […]

Caps I have known — and lost

I’ve been a bit lax in posting of late, so to get back on the board I leave a short note in tribute to my old Weyerhauser “tree-killing” cap. I always wore it when I did yard work around our Seattle home, especially when a tree needed killin’. The cap was simple: a green crown […]