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So this has been bugging me since I went to a Pens/Islanders hockey game recently. Coming back to my seat from the bathroom, during intermission some high school choir was singing God Bless America. I had on my trusty Penguins hat walking in, and immediately some old codger points at it indicating he wants me to take it off because of the song.

He goes, "this ain't Pittsburgh, this is America - take off your hat".

Realize that I had just walked back in, so I had no idea what was going on. So I reach for my hat, but then it hits me. I don't have to do shit for this song.

I tell him to fuck off, it's not the national anthem. The guy stares daggers at me and calls me shit like communist and Nazi. I flipped him the bird, tell him that Pittsburgh is more American a city than Long Island could ever hope to be, and went to my seat.

Really? Do we really have to prove our fucking loyalty to America at every whim and song? Personally, I think taking off your hat during anything other than the National Anthem or Taps is disrespectful to the gesture and symbolism behind doing it for those songs. God Bless America is just a damn song. What's next? Taking off your hat and placing it over your heart for a rendition of Yankee Doodle?

Fucking over patriotic zealous morons...
Added at: 00:30

I'm with you on this one. And I'm one of those guys who will actually sing along to O Canada at a sporting event.

Take off your hat during "Born in the USA".

figmentPez said:

Take off your hat during "Born in the USA".

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Booowwwwn in da USA.

It's not the National Anthem. Fuck that guy.

Yeah, forget that clown! Was he also berating everyone else around him?!

You only take off your hat when...

- Your in a church/mosque/synagogue/place of worship (unless it's a yahmmicca or other required headgear)
- Your National Anthem or the Anthem of another country is playing
- At a funeral
- At dinner (and at the table) in someone's home

Any other time? They can go fuck themselves.

As far as I know, you didn't need to remove your hat unless the flag was being presented. Otherwise, it was not the national anthem and the old guy was picking on you for liking a suck ass team (GO FLYERS! - Nah I can't even pretend that I am paying attention to hockey).

That's silly.

Yeah the Pittsburgh comment takes some of the edge off his argument.

I'm of the opinion that patriotism, while good, is currently a little overboard. It's been almost 10 years since 9/11. Can we please go back to singing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the 7th-inning stretch again?

On the way to work there's an office building that always has the flag in front of the building flying at half-mast. ALWAYS. Kinda diminishes the meaning of the gesture when you ALWAYS do it.

I don't know what he really meant about the Pittsburgh comment. Pittsburgh is pretty much the definition of blue-collar America.

And I was born there, so that makes it more awesome.

Wait a tick, Pittsburg ain't a part of America?

Huh.

Pittsburgh recently declared sovereignty.

I join you in saying fuck that guy.

AshburnerX said:

You only take off your hat when...

- Your in a church/mosque/synagogue/place of worship (unless it's a yahmmicca or other required headgear)
- Your National Anthem or the Anthem of another country is playing
- At a funeral
- At dinner (and at the table) in someone's home

Any other time? They can go fuck themselves.

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In the senile codger's defense it is probably too shriveled to reach, much like his mind and manners apparently are. But I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment and Ashburner thanks for posting the proper etiquette!

They don't play "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at the 7th inning stretch?! BAH. See, what I get tired of is having two patriotic songs in a row at football games. It's the anthem and one other one that I can't remember right now. You watch the players getting antsy, and of course, the singer freaking drags it out and can't just pick a damn note to stay on. Then the song becomes more about "look at how good I am" than expressing their love for America anyway. Let's just pick one song of tribute and stick with it.

In the NHL you only have to pay proper tribute to God Bless America when the game is being played in Philadelphia.

If your at a parade and the flag passes by your suppose to remove your hat or salute if your military

Cajungal said:

They don't play "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at the 7th inning stretch?! BAH. See, what I get tired of is having two patriotic songs in a row at football games. It's the anthem and one other one that I can't remember right now. You watch the players getting antsy, and of course, the singer freaking drags it out and can't just pick a damn note to stay on. Then the song becomes more about "look at how good I am" than expressing their love for America anyway. Let's just pick one song of tribute and stick with it.

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Some teams do play Take Me Out to the Ballgame, some don't. It's pretty idiosyncratic. I'm pretty sure the Cubs do. I only remember that one because I think they were playing the Yankees in interleague play and a very drunk William Petersen (Grissom from CSI) in the stands was given the microphone to sing it. He was enthusiastic and fortunately didn't try anything fancy.

ThatNickGuy said:

Wait a tick, Pittsburg ain't a part of America?

Huh.

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They seceded from the US and joined Canada. Better playoff chances that way?

What is a hat?

Jay said:

What is a hat?

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A hat is a device that is perched upon your head that conceals a flask of whisky.

Jay said:

What is a hat?

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It is like what Canada is to America.

Jay said:

What is a hat?

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How about I let a goofy song from a Care Bears movie tell you all about them:

My beautiful hair needs to be loose and free upon this world.

I only take my hat off to two songs:
"My Humps" and "Fergalicious".

Pittsburgh, long known as a haven for elitist-communist thought...

I love that the guy calls you a communist and a Nazi. Kudos to you for telling the old moron to go fuck himself.

HCGLNS said:

In the NHL you only have to pay proper tribute to God Bless America when the game is being played in Philadelphia.

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As it should be, HCGLNS, and in Kate we trust. We do, however also take off our hats to properly litter the ice for any Flyers hat trick!

Tress said:

Pittsburgh, long known as a haven for elitist-communist thought...

I love that the guy calls you a communist and a Nazi. Kudos to you for telling the old moron to go fuck himself.

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Yeah, I sat down in my seat and went, "wait a tick?"

Some people will question your commitment if you were to hesitate to get on your knees and blow a guy dressed like Uncle Sam.

Personally, I don't get the whole taking off your hat thing. I do it anyway, but even if someone kept their hat on during the national anthem I wouldn't question their patriotism.

As former military, Phil, I feel it would be like a slap in my face if you didn't take your hat off during the national anthem. On the same hand though I wouldn't say anything to you about it because that is your right not to do so and I respect that.

phil said:

Some people will question your commitment if you were to hesitate to get on your knees and blow a guy dressed like Uncle Sam.

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It's not gay if it's Uncle Sam.

phil said:

Personally, I don't get the whole taking off your hat thing. I do it anyway, but even if someone kept their hat on during the national anthem I wouldn't question their patriotism.

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It's just a custom from an older time that has stuck. It's a sign of respect, but honestly most people could never tell you why it's a sign of respect because most of them have no idea why. Myself included. It's just one of those customs. Like how we stone the person who loses the lottery every year.

A quick Google search revealed this:

The origins of this tradition happen to be the same as the origins of the tradition of saluting. Knights, wearing helmets that covered their heads, would typically lift their visors to show their faces to their monarchs and others as a sign of friendliness and possibly respect in some cases. The tradition of using ones right hand also comes from this. Most people are right handed and thus, if your right hand is exposed and busy lifting your visor, it can’t contain a weapon. This then is a sign symbolic of submission.

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Places of worship, national anthems and generally being indoors. That's when I take off my hat.
Or, I would if I could find a bloody piece of headgear that would fit my oversized noggin. I hate seeing people in cool hats because I know I can never wear one

Tress said:

A quick Google search revealed this:

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I like that half of humanities customs gestures evolved out of showing the guy next to you that you don't intend on killing him....for now.

Espy said:

It's just a custom from an older time that has stuck. It's a sign of respect, but honestly most people could never tell you why it's a sign of respect because most of them have no idea why. Myself included. It's just one of those customs. Like how we stone the person who loses the lottery every year.

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LOL!

Man, I wondered if anyone was gonna catch that.

North_Ranger said:

Places of worship, national anthems and generally being indoors. That's when I take off my hat.
Or, I would if I could find a bloody piece of headgear that would fit my oversized noggin. I hate seeing people in cool hats because I know I can never wear one

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I'll make you a nifty hat from newspaper. I'll even colour it, if you like.

North_Ranger said:

Places of worship, national anthems and generally being indoors. That's when I take off my hat.
Or, I would if I could find a bloody piece of headgear that would fit my oversized noggin. I hate seeing people in cool hats because I know I can never wear one

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I too have a plus sized noggin, but I've always had luck finding large hats at The Village Hatshop. Tons of styles, and you can search by size.

Awww, thanks, Emrys, that's so sweet.
And thanks, Ash. But looking at the prices makes me balk a little; if I plan to cough up a good deal of money for a hat I want to try it on, too. To see if it fits, and to see if I look, at a bare minimum, okay in it.

AshburnerX said:

I too have a plus sized noggin, but I've always had luck finding large hats at The Village Hatshop. Tons of styles, and you can search by size.

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I can't even wear their 2x hats.
Added at: 22:30
I take that back, Sunbody hats come in an 8.

North_Ranger said:

Awww, thanks, Emrys, that's so sweet.
And thanks, Ash. But looking at the prices makes me balk a little; if I plan to cough up a good deal of money for a hat I want to try it on, too. To see if it fits, and to see if I look, at a bare minimum, okay in it.

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They range from 20-50. I think that's pretty reasonable. Hell, a good baseball cap is 35 bucks.
Added at: 18:12

sixpackshaker said:

I can't even wear their 2x hats.
Added at: 22:30
I take that back, Sunbody hats come in an 8.

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Yeah, I think 8 is as high as most hats go without some special order shit.

sixpackshaker said:

I can't even wear their 2x hats.
Added at: 22:30
I take that back, Sunbody hats come in an 8.

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They have LOTS of hats, so you should be able to find something. And yes, they can be expensive but it's hard to find places that sell them in a larger size.

I guess what would help is to know what kind of hat styles you like. Baseball? Fedora? Newscap?

Big dudes tend to look good in fishing hats and newscaps.



Fedora's too...



Actually fuck it, NR. I want you to try your best to look like Brett Keisel.

Mathias said:

I guess what would help is to know what kind of hat styles you like. Baseball? Fedora? Newscap?

Big dudes tend to look good in fishing hats and newscaps.

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I second the flat cap recommendation. I have an okay cotton one from Dorfman Pacific Company's Scala Classico line (3XL) and an excellent wool one from Dockers that both look great on me.

Then again, considering North's location, maybe an ushanka is more in line?

Best winter hat I own:

...





































Canada eh...

My winter uniform hat looks like that, only it's black leather and has the emblem on it.

Who the bloody hell is this Brett Keisel you speak of?
Added at: 01:57

AshburnerX said:

I second the flat cap recommendation. I have an okay cotton one from Dorfman Pacific Company's Scala Classico line (3XL) and an excellent wool one from Dockers that both look great on me.

Then again, considering North's location, maybe an ushanka is more in line?

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...
Did you just offer a Finn to wear a Soviet hat?
Also, no thanks. There's a reason why those hats are sometimes called karhunvittu ('bear pussy'). I'm imagining the smell after a winter or two will prove worthy of that name. Also, it's almost summer here so that's way too hot to wear.

AshburnerX said:

I too have a plus sized noggin, but I've always had luck finding large hats at The Village Hatshop. Tons of styles, and you can search by size.

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They have sections for Indiana Jones hats, viking helmets, and top hats.

I can buy an indiana jones hat, and declare that my viking helmet belongs in a museum.

This is a thing I could do.

You need a friend wearing a Belloq hat to shout it too. That would be awesome.

Hell yeah

North_Ranger said:

Did you just offer a Finn to wear a Soviet hat?

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I'm fairly certain there was no shortage of them lying around after the Winter War... well... as long as you didn't mind ones with a single bullet hole going through the front and back of them.

Mathias said:

I guess what would help is to know what kind of hat styles you like. Baseball? Fedora? Newscap?

Big dudes tend to look good in fishing hats and newscaps.

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Yeah just look at how great George R. R. Martin looks in his fisherman's hat!

Wasabi Poptart said:

Yeah just look at how great George R. R. Martin looks in his fisherman's hat!

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He looks like pure AWESOME is how he looks.

Ravenpoe said:

He looks like pure AWESOME is how he looks.

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Pure awesome is a cross between a Unix programmer and a sea captain?

figmentPez said:

Pure awesome is a cross between a Unix programmer and a sea captain?

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"Arrr, this compiler be buggy, it is!"

bhamv3 said:

"Arrr, this compiler be buggy, it is!"

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"Arrr be a free statistical programming language."

Wasabi Poptart said:

Yeah just look at how great George R. R. Martin looks in his fisherman's hat!

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You know what's scary? My dad has that exact same hat.

Wasabi Poptart said:

Yeah just look at how great George R. R. Martin looks in his fisherman's hat!

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God damn, I guess that's my future. I grow a beard exactly like that....

SIGH.

So not only do people look like their pets, they start to look like their forum-mates?

North_Ranger said:

You know what's scary? My dad has that exact same hat.

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Well tell him to finish the dang book already.

Mathias said:

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And Dom could cook like a sumbitch too...

I used to wonder why Dom started affecting an LA accent when he cooked on TV... then I heard some one call him Paul... wtf?

Just do me a favor and bend the bill and take off the labels before you wear it.

Dear douchebags,
keeping the stickers on your baseball cap doesn't make you look tough, it makes you look cheap.
signed,
A Baseball fan.