Just Doing My Part

The New York Yankees "NY" logo is as ubiquitous throughout Europe as it is emblematic of New York. It's up there with the Air Jordon silhouette or McDonalds golden arches or the brilliant iamtedking crown/helmet motif. People worldwide see it and just know what it means.The Yankees hats, however, often don't elicit pride from the wearer, which is sad but telling of Yankees "fans" donning the NY wardrobe. Take for example the person wearing a Yankees hat on the recent Termanillo stage of the Giro. Just looking at said wearer, I used my 6th sense on the matter and could tell he spoke English. Because we were climbing at an unrapid rate at the time, I offered what was meant as a hypothetical question, "Aww man, why are you wearing a Yankees hat?!" Turns out that he works for PezCyclingnews and we had a brief interview today whereupon I learned he went as far as to throw the hat away! Clearly not a die hard fan, yet I was amused nonetheless that the hat was immediately garbage worthy.And to ice the cake, just minutes before I had this PezC'news interview, I happened to be milling about the start area towards sign-in when I saw a rarity in Europe and a first sighting at the 2010 Giro, a Boston Red Sox hat! (Insert raucous applause here.) I approached the wearer of the hat and gave him a quick, "Go Sox!" Initially he was confused as an Italian in the heart of Italy attending a bike race might be when a random American utters this two-word phrase, but in impressively quick fashion he came to his senses, his face lit up an ear-to-ear smile, and in a pea-soup thick Italian accent he exclaimed, "Ahh, Boston! Yessss!" A high five was exchanged and that was all.So today was something of a two'fer as I inadvertently trashed a Yankees hat and made a Sox fan's day.Just doing my part. Go Sox.