Hats Off to My First Blog Post in 380 Days

When I finally jumped back on the blog bandwagon – I thought I would be writing about my consecutive days of running (currently at 116 days), the fact my boy can now say four words (dada, tractor, thank you & uh oh) AND/OR explain why I haven't written a blog post in 380 days.

Nope.

This blog post – the first one since May 19th of last year – is about an old man and his ugly baseball caps.

There's no real point – just an interesting observation that inspired me to open my laptop and start typing.

It started while I was watching the Rangers-Indians game on TV. TK and the boy were at my parent's house and I was going to embrace my night of "freedom" by curling up with the American League Champions. (Ironically enough, this is how I spend most of my nights when my family IS at home.)

During the second or third inning, I noticed an older gentleman sitting in the stands, wearing the ugliest Indians cap I'd ever seen. It was neon pink with the politically incorrect – yet highly charismatic – Chief Wahoo above the bill.

Not really thinking a whole lot about it, I post a comment about it on Twitter:

Winner of Ugliest Hat Contest is at #Rangers-#Indians game. Sitting in front row near TX dugout - can't miss it on TV w/ left-handed batter

I thought maybe it would get a laugh – ha, ha....old guy with no style.

It was so awful, I snapped a photo with my Blackberry and posted the picture online. (I guess looking for additional chuckles at the expense of elderly people and their lack of fashion.)

I wish the picture did it justice, but I figured people would get the idea.

Then something interesting happened. In the next inning....the old guy switched hats. I was inspired to Tweet again:

Update on winner of Ugliest Hat Contest: He switched to a different ugly hat. Before it was neon pink w/ Chief Wahoo NOW just neon green

THEN it got CRAZY – because that old guy, sitting in the front row of Progressive Field in Cleveland, changed into a different hat EVERY inning.

It was kind of wacky and fun – to the point that the neon pink cap that initially caught my attention started to get cooler as the game went on. (Not to mention intriguing)

Thanks to the miracle of modern technology (DVR), I was able to rewind the game and capture most of his wardrobe changes.

After filling up my memory card with these random images, I wanted to know who the hell he was.

Thanks to another piece of technology that might start to catch on (Google), this is what I found out: I've been living under a rock.

This guy has been doing this for more than 10 years. His name is Tom O'Toole. Most everyone in Cleveland has seen him and/or knows about him.

The most interesting thing I found online – besides a Facebook Fan Page dedicated to him – was the fact no one knew how it started and/or why he was doing it.

If you have ANY insight – or have any friends in Cleveland with a clue – I'd love to hear his story.

About being back in the blogging saddle...I think my son Crash could probably sum it up, "Dada...uh oh."