Free Hats

Despite attending the U.S. Sand Sculpting Challenge I had to feature this image of the beach hats given away at the San Diego Padres game. My daughter has been talking about going to the game and getting a free beach hat since we arrived (she actually decided way back in April, when the team announced its giveaway schedule). 


We entered the park extra early to ensure the Padres wouldn’t run out of hats before we got ours. Needless to say, our 27 year old “kid” was ecstatic as we passed through the turnstiles and were each handed a beach hat! That euphoria changed in the seventh inning when team personal came to our seats (in the nosebleed section) and told us we would have to return the hats we were so proudly wearing. We were incredulous, but we, and everyone else in attendance, were forced to part with our much coveted hats. Turns out some microscopic beetle had been discovered in the hats and the manufacturer was recalling all 20,000 hats sent to the Padres, including the ones already distributed. And to top off the disappointment, the team lost the game to the Rockies.