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“OUR HAMLET”
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Why NFL Pro Football
Players Wear Baseball Caps....
It
Started in Hamlet?
by: Albert Thompson
If you have
ever watched an NFL professional football game you will notice that often the
players on the sidelines have adopted an unusual practice of putting on
baseball caps (with the team's logo and colors). Lately the teams have
gotten more creative and have added caps bearing special designs with the team
logos or have special caps made up when they know they have won the division
title or the Super Bowl, donning these caps in the waning minutes of the game
as a symbol of victory. If you have ever wondered why football players
would use baseball caps or even when the practice started, I believe it may
have just started in Hamlet. I know because I was there when it happened.
When I was in the ninth grade at
I tried out for the team with great hopes of being starting
halfback. I remember when we first started to practice the drills were
run in slow motion so each player on offense could learn where they were to go
during each play. The defense basically stood in place while the offense
went through this slow motion learning process.
I was assigned to the right halfback position. After
several plays, there was a play where I was to take the ball between the right
guard and tackle. Coach Pruitt was standing behind the defensive
linemen. As I went through the line in a slow trot, he reached on top of
my head and grabbed my baseball cap and removed it from my head. I turned
around to him and he firmly but gently instructed me, "Son this is a game
of football and not baseball. Leave your baseball cap behind in the
future!"
Needless to say, I never wore my cap during practice
again. But I always kept it close by to put on as soon as practice was
over. By the way, we never practiced very long because the school could
not work out plans to provide uniforms for the jv squad. The team was disbanded in a few weeks
that year.
Now you may ask why I was wearing my baseball cap. Back
then, my cap was a regular part of me as it is with most boys back then and
now. I also wore it to keep the bright son out of my eyes. Now
baseball caps are collectible items, and most organizations, civic, social, as
well as athletic, will have baseball caps with an identifying logo for its
members or to sell. I recently bought me a new red baseball cap with
"
So, I guess pro football players like something on their
head other than a helmet when they are standing on the sidelines. And a
baseball cap fits the bill. Back when I wore my cap on the practice
field, I remember being embarrassed at first. Now I remember this
experience with pride and laughter. After all, I remember starting a
trend in football (even though I never again tried out for football!!}
Most of all I remember Hamlet.
--- Albert Thompson
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