It’s more American than apple pie. No, I’m not talking about baseball, the nation’s one-time favorite pastime; I’m talking about corporate cross promotion. This past weekend, the New York Yankees and rap impresario Jay-Z announced a new line of “co-branded clothes that will be sold exclusively at Yankee Stadium.”

The threads will include the signature Yankees cap, among other head gear, hoodies, and T-shirts that will feature Yankees and Jay-Z logos. Personally, I blame your girlfriend and her stupid pink hat. That innocent act of feminism spawned an awful, awful trend.

With that, Jessica Simpson donned a pink Tony Romo jersey, ESPN stopped covering sports and Ben Affleck sat behind the Red Sox dugout with a permanently surprised Jennifer Garner and her green Sox hat, seriously, she was always caught off guard by the cameras.

Alyssa Milano also jumped on board and reinvented herself from an out-of-work actress who dates baseball players to an out-of-work actress who dates baseball players who ALSO designs female-friendly fan apparel. And don’t forget about Lady Gaga who forgot to wear pants into the Yankees clubhouse.

Today you can walk into any stadium in this once great land of ours, purchase a Giants hat in blue and white, a Dodgers hat in orange and black, or a red Cubs cap; how confusing is that having a red cap with a ‘C’ on the front. Isn’t that supposed to represent the Cincinnati Reds?

Not a fan of your team’s crude, traditional logo? Class it up with an argyle print and if that’s not your style, there’s always plaid.

Still not sold, jazz up your city’s team with a bedazzled skyline embroidery on the front of your cap in place of the declasse logo, or even just add random colors and designs so it looks like an unsupervised pre-schooler got his hands on it. There’s even a line of hats specifically designed for Elmer Fudd as shown here.

Tradition, schmascmission. Who needs it in a country where cash rules over tradition.

Was it Jay-Z who rapped, “I’m not a business man, I’m a business, man,” or was that Bud Selig?

Used with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. In addition to his contributions to Sports Climax, he is a columnist for Examiner.com and is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

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