Hat's on to the Seahawks

One advantage to being late is bargains. I picked up a Seahawks NFC Champions beanie today for only $10 (they were going for $15-plus before the Super Bowl). Actually, they were still going for $15-plus at Seattle Team Shops, but I looked at the hole-in-the-wall memorabilia store a few doors down, and yahtzee!!!

The bargain store did not have a functioning front door, but it did have several beanies for me to choose from. A couple just had a Seahawks logo. A couple had the NFC Champions logo, with different details. All were cuffless except for one. Being old school, which is really just a euphemism for "old," I was going to go with the cuff kind. But then I rethought it. The cuffless did seem cool .... and the dude working in the store said the cuff didn't seem to have a reason for being (not like I thought it was for carrying a pack of smokes or something, but OK). I listened to the dude. And I remembered how much I enjoyed wearing a cuffless Seahawks beanie on Super Bowl day, when I was at the office attempting to be useful.

That beanie was never really mine. It belonged to our classical music critic, who won it in a raffle. Since he wasn't there, I claimed it on his behalf. I knew he wouldn't want it, but I hadn't gotten around to asking him if I could have it. Or to asking him if he minded if I wore it. Details. Formalities. Plus, I was trying to figure out how to ask and not seem ridiculously gauche. Silly me.

When I finally saw our classical music critic/hat winner, days later, he amazed me by acting like he wanted the damn thing. Fortunately, I had only worn it once, for a few hours, and not sweated or anything. It still had the crease of newness about it. I handed it over, then found out that classical music guy only wanted it because our books writer had asked him for it. Curses!

I thought little about the hat I never knew I wanted until a few days ago, when in my usual obsessive way, my mind returned to the topic and I considered my options. Ebay had surprisingly few Hawks beanies available, for not anything resembling a good deal. Except for on the ugly one.

Then came my brainstorm: The Super Bowl is history! Winter is almost history! The souvenir types will be selling these beanie hats for a song! It wasn't quite the case, but I can live with $10. On to the next obsession. It won't be jerseys for the boys -- at least not for a while. Those things are still going for something like $50 each. But I'll keep my eyes open. There may never come as happy a day as when I found Seattle Storm merch for 70 percent off (a sad commentary on the lack of widespread public support for my gals). But the thrill is in the chase, after all.