Today’s weird top 10: top 10 most gang affiliated hats in sports

On Marc Ecko’s Complex magazine web site, they presented the oddest top 10 of not only this day, but probably a lot of days to come. Ladies and gentlemen, here are the top ten sports hats based on gang affiliation:

1. Los Angeles Dodgers
2. Cincinnati Reds
3. Oakland Raiders
4. Chicago Bulls
5. Los Angeles Kings
6. Houston Astros
7. Los Angeles Dodgers
8. Minnesota Twins
9. Georgetown Hoyas
10. Oakland A’s

A couple of things jump out at me on this list, foremost of which is the author’s encyclopedic knowledge of Chicago gangs. Either this guy’s on the Chicago PD’s gang task force or he grew up in Cabrini-Green, one or the other.

Secondly, you’ll notice what’s missing: there’s only one NBA hat and only one NFL hat ($1 to Jeff for refreshing my memory on who’s in the NBA). My theory on that?  MLB’s hats feature a bunch of traditional hats where the logo is only a single letter, a letter that can come to represent anything to the person wearing it. “Do I cheer for the Red Sox? Hell no, I bought this hat because my name’s Butch.”

On the other hand, NBA and NFL logos are more mascot driven (the Celtics’ leprechaun, the Colts’ horse shoe, the Vikings’ horn, etc.) and not as open to re-interpretation.

I found the author’s take on why Georgetown hats make the list to be especially fascinating:

With the Complex list in mind, here’s my completely unscientific look at the top 10 least gang affiliated hats in sports:

1. UC Santa Cruz Banana Slugs (If it was just the word “SLUGS,” then gangs could get behind this one. But the Banana Slug mascot sewn on the side? Not so much.)

2. UT San Antonio Roadrunners (If any gangs get into cross country running, this hat will blow up.)

3. Chattanooga Lookouts (Hard to be menacing in this hat.)

4. Montreal Alouettes (Not even the most bloodthirsty gang could make this logo work.)

5. Portland Beavers (Here’s the one hat the Baseball Furies won’t touch.)

6. Aberdeen IronBirds (Shockingly, every gang in Aberdeen took a pass on this one.)

7. Miami Dolphins (Since no founder of any major gang was a dolphin lover, this hat gets no love.)

8. Tennessee Titans (Just an excuse to show how odd the Titan logo is. Lotsa stuff going on there.)

9. Utah Jazz (If a gang favored this hat, would they roll around town with Wynton Marsalis blaring from their speakers?)

10. Austin Peay Governors (A gang tried to rock this hat once but gave it up when they were all mistaken for being Associated Press reporters.)

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