Ryder Cup and Stupid Hats

What is it with these one-size-fits-all baseball-style caps that are so the rage, even among professional athletes? There is not enough hatband material to make it around the head ear-high and make it down to the eyebrow; in the front the band rides up across the forehead and pulls the bill down in an idiotic curve. The hat itself has so little material that it lays flat against the hair, like a beanie that a three-year old might wear. The logo on the hat is lost because the material is plastered down on the head. Even on a rail-thin guy like Furyk, the hat is glued to the head. And if you are anything but rail-thin, forget it; you look like an idiot. I remember Hal Sutton wearing one of these hats a few years ago; let's not go there.

Either we let these cheap manufacturing companies get away with it, or we ourselves are complicit because we pay for this crap. One would think that for the money being spent on the Ryder Cup, each team member would have a fitted-hat made to their head size, like a baseball player. That way the crown would stand up and proudly present the logo above the bill, and the bill would be of a size that didn't make the whole hat look stupid. There would be enough material on top to provide space for air circulation, and the golfers wouldn't look like they just peeled off a plastic bathing-cap after removing their cover, with the forehead rubbed red and the hair matted down with sweat.

The more I think about it, this hat speaks volumes about what passes for quality and style in America today.

Laudizen