As many of you know, I own a lot of baseball caps (although I don't necessarily wear them as much as I used to), but I think I've discovered that outside of a couple of my favorite teams, I'm more drawn to the novelty of getting stuff of teams I wouldn't see anywhere else. Hence, that's why I have a bunch of minor-league caps and retro caps (thanks to Distant Replays).

It hit me this week in California when my brother was looking around for some stuff of L.A.-based teams at WalMart. He ended up with $5 hats of USC and Chivas USA, while I went more coastal and got Gonzaga, Washington State and San Diego State. Granted, the $5 price tag each was too hard to pass up -- but I also realized that if confronted with the same deal at a WalMart down here, I don't know if I'd be as quick to jump on, say, Florida State or Tennessee. (Or for that matter, other Big Ten school besides Northwestern; on the other hand, a former co-worker and Penn State alum made it a point to have a hat from each conference foe, so to each his own.)

Who knew I could be such a snob for scarcity and uniqueness? Could that be the reason that I'd be more likely wear a Rome Braves or Myrtle Beach Pelicans hat to an Atlanta Braves game than an actual Braves one?