Caps

One of my favorite things to wear is baseball caps. Not sure why, maybe it's a Canadian thing, but I started wearing them as a teenager and never looked back. I recall years ago I was with a bunch of people, playing some card games in a game store where I been hanging out for a year or so, and I had removed my cap to scratch my head when a girl there suddenly said, "Hey! You're not bald!” . . . . No, I’m not (see picture - - - ->), but it turns out I wore a baseball cap every time she saw me so she assumed I was bald and trying to hide it.

So of course here in Doha I wear caps in the evenings and weekends. I was out with some friends a little while ago and one asked if I was wearing a new cap. I said no and he was a bit surprised. “I haven't seen that one before -- how many baseball caps do you have?”. Good question.

It turns out, 11.

I was a bit surprised myself that I had that many. Granted, there are some I don't wear that often (for example I try not to wear the Corona one in Qatar) but I had more than I thought.

More surprising was just how many were distinctly Canadian:

Have you ever heard that old stereotype that Canadians sew little Canadian flags onto their backpacks and jackets so that people won't think they're American? I didn't think much of the stereotype, though in truth my father did do that when traveling, but I was surprised at just how many caps I had that either screamed "Canadian!" or would have been recognized by a Canadian because they were Canadian sports teams.

Not that wearing the caps is a bad thing. Occasionally people will recognize whatever logo is on the cap and say hi. I remember when I was at a gelato stand in Bergamo, Italy and the store owner recognized my Vancouver Canucks cap! Turns out he was a big fan and was telling me how lots of people in northern Italy follow the NHL. Who knew?