I know we live in ironic times. Our dear leader’s soapbox is built upon speeches marking him a defender of freedom. We’re continually told that our war is a struggle against those who hate us for our freedoms, and yet he actively backs the invasion of our privacy through the Patriot Act. Strangely, he’s a leader who seems to have won the last election by actively denying a group of citizens a certain freedom. It’s real Irony, with a capital I, passing muster with Webster as opposed to Morrisette.

I see, in such a world, how much we would embrace such a term. It seems to be the buzz word of the last three or four years, wrapping up the hipster lifestyle in a quaint little bow. Irony is so often drenched in irony that sometimes one has to figure out by way of a complicated algebraic equation whether or not something might actually come out sincere by accident. So much so that Irony requires subdivisions, and invokes the prefix “meta.”

This is why, in this day and age, when I take the subway home, still half-delirious from a day-trip to CT. to see my niece baptized, I must wonder what in the hell is going on when I see the hat to the right. Says Phillies, but has the symbol for the St. Louis Cardinals. Is it redundant to ask if your head is confused? Or is that just ironic?

Did you pick out a weird hat at a Goodwill, and not know what the hell it was? Did you think it was funny? Did you make the hat? And most importantly, if it was one of the latter, we’re in New York. Who the fuck cares about the Phillies and Cardinals? (John-Boy takes a moment whilst he prepares to be spammed heavily by Philadelphia fans.) I get it when you make a Yankee jersey with the Red Sox text and colors, as kind of a fake out for the Boston fans, but really? Phil’s and Cards? Just why?

The mysteries abound…or maybe I’m just way too hyped up for baseball season.

Image from All Star Sport Shop