I went to Comerica Park today for a meeting about the Detroit Police Department's security concerns for the upcoming World Series games, and I just happened to stop by the overpriced Tigers shop. Since I don't know whether I will be willing to afford any tickets for the upcoming series, I decided to buy a hat. I wanted a world series one, but those have not been delivered yet, as they want to have the logo of the Detroit opponent to be embroidered on them. Right now, we don't know who that is. I am hoping it will be the Giants, but I think it is more likely to be the Cardinals.
When I got back to the office and took off the tags, I noticed that the item was "Made in Macau". I knew it would most likely be manufactured somewhere in Asia, because it has to be made quickly and cheaply enough to have nearly half of the items dumped for a mere fraction of the cost that I paid here in the US.
It reminded me of shopping for sporting apparel in the garment district near the big soccer stadium near Seoul. When I visited my friend Jon in Seoul after attending a fisheries meeting a few years ago, there were quite a few Utley Phillies jerseys, and a bunch of other baseball and football related items that didn't make sense to me. There were hats and t-shirts festooned with sporting facts that I knew were not true.
At first I thought that I had misremembered who had won a specific series or Super Bowl or division championship, but when I asked Jon for some confirmation, he explained that people like to buy items with english characters on them, and it doesn't really matter what it says on the shirt or hat.
I remember buying a japanese baseball jersey at a street fair in Chicago, having no knowledge of what the characters indicated about its former wearer, so I can relate to that phenomenon.
I wonder how much in advance MLB and other sports teams order their playoffs paraphernalia? I wonder if the teams have to order these themselves, and if they are required to destroy the ones that do not reflect reality?
Do they look at the betting odds when they decide how many to order of each outcome?
So many unanswered questions.......
Go Tigers!!
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| [borrowed from http://media.mlive.com/sports_impact/photo/tigers-celebrate-alcs-620x400jpg-32b8382536a1dcdc.jpg] |
When I got back to the office and took off the tags, I noticed that the item was "Made in Macau". I knew it would most likely be manufactured somewhere in Asia, because it has to be made quickly and cheaply enough to have nearly half of the items dumped for a mere fraction of the cost that I paid here in the US.
It reminded me of shopping for sporting apparel in the garment district near the big soccer stadium near Seoul. When I visited my friend Jon in Seoul after attending a fisheries meeting a few years ago, there were quite a few Utley Phillies jerseys, and a bunch of other baseball and football related items that didn't make sense to me. There were hats and t-shirts festooned with sporting facts that I knew were not true.
At first I thought that I had misremembered who had won a specific series or Super Bowl or division championship, but when I asked Jon for some confirmation, he explained that people like to buy items with english characters on them, and it doesn't really matter what it says on the shirt or hat.
I remember buying a japanese baseball jersey at a street fair in Chicago, having no knowledge of what the characters indicated about its former wearer, so I can relate to that phenomenon.
I wonder how much in advance MLB and other sports teams order their playoffs paraphernalia? I wonder if the teams have to order these themselves, and if they are required to destroy the ones that do not reflect reality?
Do they look at the betting odds when they decide how many to order of each outcome?
So many unanswered questions.......
Go Tigers!!
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