I’d really like to have the ability to say this strip has no basis in reality, but to my complete shock and amazement, that’s not the case.

So we got our final batch of kids for the summer last week, and during their second day here, I happened to notice a kid in the cafeteria wearing a hat.  He was sitting away from me and his hat was leaning far back on his head, allowing me to see only the top and visor.

I immediately spotted the big, circular sticker on the visor that so many people seem to leave on.

I mentally rolled my eyes and this kid and his hat were about to be dumped from my memory, but then he turned around…

…and I saw it; the front of the hat: all red, with big, white letters.

Hawaiian Punch.

My mind exploded.  Every time I see one of these sticker hat things it’s always for some sports team: Yankees, Knicks, whatever.  I’m not saying that those hats are any better, but…

…Hawaiian Punch?  Really?

This means that someone, somewhere, had a desire to make a hat featuring everyones’ favorite red sugary drink.

That person then went to a business meeting and discussed with (I imagine) intelligent marketing people who liked the idea and sent a request to some statistics lab asking if there would be any market demand for such a hat.  The results must have come back positive, and then a team of artists and clothing designers got together to create a model of this thing, which was then sent off to a factory to be mass produced.

Once commercially available, retail stores would have had to purchase stock of the hat, and finally a customer must have had to look at it and say to him/herself, “Man… I really like that hat and I have the financial capital to make that hat, as opposed to any of the other fine hats in this establishment, mine.”

It blows my mind that all of those events could actually occur.

That said, I do like Hawaiian Punch quite a bit, though I can’t remember the last time I had it.

Also, if you’re a fan of hats with the stickers still on them, it’s not that I hate those hats or anything, they just confuse me.  If you’re a fan, keep wearing them and loving it!