The comedian/actor and all round clever dick Stephen Fry once commented that shell suits we’re the greatest leveller of class. From High Court Judges to chavs, everybody looks equally as bad. the same can be said for baseball caps. I always think a baseball cap on a man of a certain age looks undignified, but out here, anything goes.

Young, old, fat,thin, poor, Mitt Romney, they all wear them. Now don’t get me wrong, there is a time and place for a cap. My dad has a Lancashire Cricket Cap which he wears with pride when we go to watch the cricket at Old Trafford or Ormskirk. But he doesn’t wear it indoors wearing just a vest drinking a beer whilst watching the Test Match. (Well I don’t think he does. Note to self: ask mum about dads attire arrangement whilst watching sport on telly). Out here, caps seem welded to peoples heads at all times.

Now a cap is a very practical thing, especially if you have an expanse of forehead like mine. A few years ago there was a gimmick of using people’s foreheads to put advertising on (I think only trendy people who went to all the right places were chosen for this honour). Myself, Ant McPartlin and Sven Goran Erickson could clear up with the amount of “real estate” we have between our eyebrows and hair line. I bought a cap with me (my Middlesbrough FC Carling cup winners 2004 cap. Come on, it’s the only thing we have ever won, I had to buy something to commemorate the event). It has served me well on the drive when we had the roof off (see yesterdays blog) to make sure that my delicate pate didn’t burn. Well I now have a new addition to my cap collection.

After going to the Athletics game last week (see “whose on first base” blog) I purchased an A’s cap. I have been wearing this for the past few days and it has been serving me well. (I do however take it off when I go indoors. I was raised with some manners). Now the only problem with peaked caps is when you want to take a photo the peak gets in the way. So what do you so? Spin it around of course. Many caps have details on the back so they can be worn this way (mine has a little elephant). The other day Karen took a picture of me with my cap in this arrangement. Did I look like Fred Durst from Limp Biskit? Errr, no, not really. I looked more like a pot bellied middle aged man trying to look cool (actually perhaps me and Fred do have something in common).

So will I be wearing my new cap when I get home? Possibly. Let’s put it this way, at least I would get less stick wearing it then I do when I go out with my Middlesbrough cap on!