Wednesday, September 15, 2004
 
Neil Steinberg: On the Wrong Side of History

From today's column:
    The New York Times turned its attention to men's hats last month. Hats, it said, are enjoying "an unforeseen resurgence" in popularity. The "unforeseen" is puzzling, since the media have been announcing men's hats are back regularly for the past 40 years.

    "Hats are back," the Fresno Bee noted last year. "Hats are once again cool," the Tulsa World wrote in 2002. In 2001, the Chattanooga Times Free Press trumpeted "hats are back." In 2000, the Chicago Tribune suggested "the hat is making a comeback."

    "Hats," the Minneapolis Star Tribune observed in 1999, "are back." And on and on and on.

    But hats are not back, and probably are never coming back, though the reason why is lost to general memory. Everyone has seen old photographs of crowds at baseball games, and marveled at the unbroken sea of hats. What we do not realize is that many, perhaps most, of those men hated wearing hats, which were expensive, easily lost and a bother. They all wore hats because they had to.
I say hats never went out of style.

I'll hold him, Brock; you hat him.


- posted by Brian J. @ 8:47 AM
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