The No-Hat Rule

There are certain things the rest of the world seems ok with, but I have just never understood. Mostly I'll keep my displeasure to myself, bitch quietly to no one in particular and move on. At least, I would until I started this blog. Lately, the one that has seemed to annoy me more than any other (probably because it comes up more than any other) is when I walk into a bar and a voice across the room bellows, "Take off the hat!" More and more bars have been adapting a "no-hat" policy, which is stupid. I get that certain clubs might not want you to wear a hat, as it could make it difficult to see just how much gel is in your hair (which is how men show how cool they are in techno clubs). But, I can see no reason as to why a bar would prevent you from wearing a hat.

I asked a friend of mine who still works in the bar business as to why establishments wouldn't let their patrons wear hats. He said it was for security purposes, saying that if you need to identify a person to the police following an altercation it is easier to do so if they aren't wearing a hat, because those often hide people's faces in security cameras. Additionally, he explained to me that it is a very handy place to stash a weapon and people in the bar industry always plan for the worst. I, in turn, wondered just what kind of bars my friend has worked at that would leave him to worry about such stuff. Also, I felt the need to point out that if someone was determined to sneak a weapon into a bar they'll find a way, hat or no hat. He then suggested that it has to do with people standing too close and catching other people with the bill of a hat, which is just the kind of stupid thing drunk people love to fight about. Frankly, if you're close enough for that to be an issue, then you're too close to me to begin with. You need to back up - and if you can't then this bar is quite behind on its fire-code capacity limits.

In Boston this rule can be relaxed, especially in the bars around the Garden on a game night. Having a no-hat rule on a game night would be the equivalent of hanging a sign in the window saying, "I want to go out of business in 4 months." But, I was about to walk into a bar in Dedham a couple weeks ago and not only did they want to charge to a cover fee (for a bar in Dedham... I shit you not), but they were ready to toss me if I walked in wearing a hat. We didn't even bother to go in. Honestly, why is this a big deal? Why can't you just let it slide and realise that maybe I haven't gotten a haircut in a while and my hathead will be a little crazy right now. It's not easy to pick up girls looking like Ozzy at the beginning of the "Crazy Train" video.

-What happened to Quentin Richardson? In the span of about two seasons he went from coveted scorer to the bad penny no one wants. He's now been trade 3 times in less than a month.