What I have to put up with II

So yeah, apparently the lockout ended or something. Well, not really. There's still some stuff for the league and union to sort out behind the scenes. Then I can hopefully start bloggin' away with some relevant Ducks stuff.

But, one of the other purposes of my blog is to share with the world what it's like to be a hockey fan here in the UK. Some of it is good and some of it sucks. But something that particularly sucks and grinds my gears on a regular basis are

THESE GODDAMNED THINGS.

That's right. The Snapback style hats with the flat brims, boxy shape and garish designs that were a hit in North America in the 90's, and which have recently appeared here in the UK as a mass market fashion fad. Where the hell did these horrible things come from and why the puck would anyone want to be caught wearing them?

North American sports merchandising in the UK isn't anything new, as for years people here have been wearing the likes of the Yankees, the Raiders, Cowboys, Yankees, Lakers, Bulls, Yankees, Yankees and the Yankees as fashion brands. The Yankees especially so, by the the way. Outside of this selection of teams you would rarely see anyone wearing anything belonging to another team, and when they did they sometimes turned out to be a fan. And when someone recognised that you were a fan of their chosen team, you'd both share the most epic high five ever.

Then one day, I saw someone wearing a Chicago Blackhawks hat, similar to the Pittsburgh Penguins one pictured above which I saw only a little while later. "Oh, hey, they must be fans," I thought to myself. But then more and more of them started appearing, with more and more different team logos. And now they're everywhere. Sure, they're horrible designs and I can't stand them anyway, but I'd hate the damned things less if the people wearing them were actually fans of the teams.

So why are they now everywhere? Well, turns out the Street Dance movies were a huge hit with the UK's chav "youth" crowd. And these stupid hats were quite prominent in those movies from what I've seen of the trailers. And as soon as a certain sports retailer that I refuse to acknowledge started selling them, the kids snatched them right up. And voila, another crummy fashion fad was born. And said retailer started marketing itself as "Snapback Central".

I think what infuriates me most about these hats is that, nine times out of ten, the people wearing them don't even know that the logo they're wearing even belongs to a team. Millions of people in this country wear the New York Yankees' iconic NY logo but have no idea that they are actually an existing professional sports team, it's just another fashion brand to them, and the same apparently applies to all these other teams that have appeared. A friend of mine said "Go Wings!" to someone in a Red Wings cap and got a confused grunt in response. And then I once served a customer whose kid was wearing a San Jose hat, "So, you like the Sharks then?" I asked. The kid and his Mum exchanged puzzled glances before she said "He does now!"

Thankfully - and I use that word loosely - there only seem to be a handful of NHL teams available as part of this range. Among them are the Flyers, Blackhawks, Red Wings, Canadiens, Sabres, Kings, Oilers, Sharks, and even long departed franchises like the Whalers, the original Jets, and the Nordiques. The North Stars are available but I've yet to see anyone wearing them. The Sabres and Flyers were popular at one point, but nowadays it's the Kings who have essentially become the NHL's version of the Yankees as far as this stupid fad goes. They're closely followed by the Sharks who now have a range of clothing available from this retailer - but no jerseys - they seem to be a hit with the kids for having a "sick emblem" while the Gretzky era Kings logo apparently has more of a "gangsta" appeal.

It's not that I'm against people wearing what they want to wear - but I feel like this stupid fad is having a negative effect on the NHL's image over here, considering many of the kids that wear them are part of a nasty and stupid crowd that doesn't even care about hockey. As this fad continues to grow I continue to dread the day that I see an Anaheim Ducks one here. Or worse yet, a Mighty Ducks one. And I really, really don't want to see something close to my heart being worn by and being associated with that crowd. Thankfully black and orange are taken by the Flyers and purple and jade (well, teal) are already in use by the NBA's Hornets, another of the more common ones I've seen around. Maybe I can be also thankful for the existence of the movies too because DUR HUR HUR, DISNEY.

So, yeah. I think I've made it clear by now that I hate Snapbacks. And the other New Era fitted hats which look the same, and which I like to generically lump into the same category. Yeah, they lack the crappy plastic snappy thing that the other line got its name from, but pedantics.

Hopefully I'll be back next time without a rant over such a silly thing.