TO HAT OR NOT TO HAT

BY DAN MILLER
May 11, 2006

I've been thinking a lot about hats in recent days.

This weekend's Iroquois Steeplechase out at Percy Warner Park seems to revolve around hats.
Oh, there's the horse racing.... but I'm fairly certain the races are just an excuse for people to be seen wearing their hats.

That’s a picture of Demetria and me during our broadcast at last year's Steeplechase.
We both wore hats.... I even took a few different hats, so I could swap every now and then.

But this year, I announced in the newsroom that I didn't plan to wear a hat this year.
Well, you'd have thought I announced I had no plans to wear pants this year.

I understand the need for men to wear hats in construction areas..... or in the military.... or when it's cold.... or for sports uniforms.... or to cover extremely ugly hair (such as early in the morning when I drive my daughter to school).
Of course, I wrote once about my older sister Sara (the prim and proper one) grabbing a hat off my hat in a little catfish joint, saying it was impolite to wear a hat indoors.

While I don't feel comfortable wearing a hat simply for the fashion statement, I'll have to admit Humphrey Bogart always looked dashing in a hat.... and he wore one almost all the time.

In making my case for not wearing a hat to the Steeplechase, I told Demetria I thought a hat made me look "old".
She said, "No more so than when you don't wear a hat!"
Ouch!

I asked my wife Karen if she thought a hat made me seem any older.
"No", she said, "but your obsession with old time movie stars might!"
Ouch!

Maybe I'll wear a hat on Saturday, and maybe I won't.
Here's looking at you, kid.

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