The Feel-Good, Look-Bad Hit of the Summer

The Tampa Bay Rays continue to be the most compelling story of the MLB season, and manager Joe Maddon has emerged as something of a star; he's eccentric, but not in the sense that "eccentric" is a euphemism for "a guy whose decisions are based on nothing beyond pure whim." Even with the increased scrutiny that comes from a months-long division lead over the 800-pound gorillas of baseball media -- the Yankees and Red Sox -- Maddon comes off as a bright, interesting guy.

While, for example, his outside-the-box decision to walk the Rangers' Josh Hamilton with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th inning was defensible and turned out to work perfectly, I don't see the same positive outcome from his recent decision to insist that all his players and coaches wear Ed Hardy clothing on all road trips.

If you're not familiar with Ed Hardy, it's a clothing line that features tattoo designs by a guy named Don Ed Hardy, and it's apparently popular among (1) people who enjoyed Nike's Andre Agassi line of the early '90s but thought it just wasn't busy enough, and (2) people who would like to self-induce vomiting onto the front of their shirt because it looks totally cool, but they can't tolerate the odor.

Trendy clothing has always been a little attention-grabbing, such that it starts to look pretty silly not long after it goes out of style; Ed Hardy, however, looks silly now. Really, really silly.

(Note: The only reason I even know about Ed Hardy apparel in the first place is because, a couple weeks ago, when I walked into my local speakeasy, Snizza was in there talking to Slim about how atrocious it is. Apparently there's a new Ed Hardy store at the local upscale shopping mall. I had seen these nauseating designs on various uptown buffoons, but was unaware who was responsible for designing them.)

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