Posted on 08/25/2007 12:57:39 PM PDT by george76
A lineup of team logo baseball caps denounced as tailor-made for gang members was ordered removed from store shelves by its manufacturer Friday after complaints from baseball officials.
"It has been brought to our attention that some combinations of icons and colors on a select number of our caps could be too closely perceived to be in association with gangs,"...
The three styles in question used colors and symbols linked to three gangs: an all-white cap with a blue bandanna, the trademark of the notorious Crips; an all-white cap with a red bandanna worn by the rival Bloods; and a black cap with a gold team logo and an embroidered crown, a symbol favored by the Latin Kings.
The New York Yankees had joined an anti-gang group, Peace on the Street, in denouncing the hats.
Both MLB and the Yankees insisted they were unaware of the symbolism in the cap designs...
(Excerpt) Read more at finance.myway.com ...
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Virgina is for gangsters.
Gosh, I wore a red bandana yesterday - I guess that makes me a Blood now?
should we enforce current gun and immigration laws and put these gangsters in prison?, no let’s just ban the hats
then we can pretend we care about the issue without having to really do anything about it
BS! They were trying to cash in on a new market.
Depends on where you live. Don’t get yourself shot.
Hats made to fit either backwards or slightly to the side?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,294409,00.html
This link has more information.
These are ***MLB Licensed*** apparel. Don’t let them get away with playing dumb and saying “we didn’t know”. They knew damn well what they were doing.
Why do you think so many sports teams have altered their logos and color designs to emphasize black and red? They are trying to sell to all the drug thugs out there and, as long as they can get a cut of the blood money, they don’t really care that their uniforms look like crap.
Do you realized that fully half the teams in the National League now market a uniform with some combination of red and black or red and dark blue? Coincidence? I don’t think so.
And these people have the nerve to sermonize about Barry Bonds and Michael Vick. Not that I’m defending either of them but the various sports leagues are waist deep in their own complicity that they come off as hypocrites when they moralize about the sins of others.
BS! They were trying to cash in on a new market
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Exactly! I guess we’re supposed to believe that the designs just came to their designer in a dream.
NEW YORK (AP) — A lineup of team logo baseball caps denounced as tailor-made for gang members was ordered removed from store shelves by its manufacturer Friday after complaints from baseball officials.Source for above."It has been brought to our attention that some combinations of icons and colors on a select number of our caps could be too closely perceived to be in association with gangs," said Christopher H. Koch, CEO of New Era Cap. "In response, we, along with Major League Baseball, have pulled those caps."
The three styles in question used colors and symbols linked to three gangs: an all-white cap with a blue bandanna, the trademark of the notorious Crips; an all-white cap with a red bandanna worn by the rival Bloods; and a black cap with a gold team logo and an embroidered crown, a symbol favored by the Latin Kings.
"We encouraged and now fully support the decision of cap manufacturer New Era to pull these caps and any others that feature offensive or concerning symbols," read an MLB statement.
The New York Yankees had joined an anti-gang group, Peace on the Street, in denouncing the hats.
Both MLB and the Yankees insisted they were unaware of the symbolism in the cap designs, with the New York team noting they were never given a chance to review the new hats until they were already for sale.
The team was "completely unaware that caps with gang-related logos and colors had been manufactured with the New York Yankees logo on them," said a Yankees statement. "The New York Yankees oppose any garment that may be associated with gangs or gang-related activity."
On Thursday, protesters demonstrated about the new caps outside several Manhattan stores carrying the merchandise. The stores were selling a version of the hats bearing the familiar interlocking "NY" logo of the Yankees.
Richard Garcia, a karate instructor who works with Peace on the Street to provide youngsters with alternatives to gangs, said he immediately recognized the hats' colors from his work with former gang members.
"My fear was that the wrong kid was going to wear the wrong hat in the wrong neighborhood and get hurt," he said.
New Era said it would increase its efforts to ensure it had a better working knowledge of gang symbols, names and locations. The Buffalo-based company has produced hats for Major League Baseball since the 1930s.
Other FR links to stories about this:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1886148/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1885993/posts
Va. Tourism Pitch Mimics Gang's Sign - RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia is still for lovers, but the state's tourism agency will eliminate images of people making heart symbols with their hands in its upcoming advertising campaign because the gesture is also used by a violent street gang.
This hat is soooo gay!
A few months later, he came in my shop very happy. He said his Dad didn't like the way his mother was raising him & was taking him away to live with him. I felt like the prayers I'd been saying for him had been answered. I hope he is doing well.
Anyway, you're right. Things like wearing the wrong color bandana in the wrong part of town can get you hurt for sure.
It's a sad society we live in now, isn't it?
Officially, you'll need to be jumped first. When can we come by?
Owl_Eagle
If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.
I mean think about it; If Jessica Biel herself stood naked before me and said "Shoot that guy and I`ll jump in the sack with you" I STILL wouldn`t do it (well maybe I would *ahem*) Yet these gang homos do it all the time! Plus they get tattoos all over themselves, even their faces, and for what? Just to impress other MEN!
I always though that there`s something just extremely gay about that whole gang mentality, that whole gansta rap scene. It ain`t about brotherhood at all like you find in cops, firemen, the military. Those guys fight for the common good for all people. These ganstas on the other hand fight solely for themselves, for attention, what they call "respeck" which to me translates as GAY! Maybe they should call themselves "Gaystas"
"Ooo..Get them yucky girls away from us!! We only hang with those who have two holes! A mouth and a butt! Mmmm!"
I used to work right on the edge of Detroit and drive a ‘81 Olds Delta 88 2-door (a car ideally-suited for drive-bys). The kids in the ‘hood would flash me gang symbols as I drove to and from work.
There is obviously an entire cottage industry marketing hats with or without licenses to street gangs.
Thankfully, gang scum are not fans of America's greatest baseball organization - the New York Mets.
One of the main recruiting points of a gang is that you will not be raped in prison if you are a member.
LOL!
Now if they could only make a hat that cannot be worn backward or ridiculously askew.
The one with a crown is a major alteration of the logo. I find it hard to believe this didn't get vetted by MLB licensing at some point.
OMG, that's unbelievable. MLB is going to sit there and play stoopid about something like this? Just what made them choose styles and designs like that if not to appeal to dumbass white suburban kids who want to wear this crap to go along with the "fight the power" music while they're cruising around in daddy's Escalade? (I'm sorry, I just wanna smack those kids, I really do... thinking they identify with a poor black kid growing up in a war zone... but that's another rant.)
But then there's this - what if aforementioned white suburban dumbass finds himself lost on his way home from a ballgame with the wrong colors on and gets his dumb ass shot for it? Do mom and dad get to sue Major League Baseball?
It wasn’t just the color, these caps were clearly gang-related. And New Era is on crack if they think anyone is going to buy that line about it “just being brought to their attention”.
And now that they are being pulled the ones that sold will be big collectors items.
And in a somewhat related story, wearing a Texas Longhorns shirt into the wrong bar can be hazardous to ‘da boyz’, if you catch my drift.
The Yankee’s logo is even off center on the bloods and crips versions to encourage that lame, dated off-kilter style!
Right. The black cap and uniform are for their Oakland Raider fan contingent.
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Look again and you’ll see Kitty Dukakis and Elizabeth Edwards in the background, plotting.
Amen! Yankees fans= gangs, gays, and goils.
OMG Monk you are out of control that funniest photoshop LOL!
No gang member in NYC wears black and orange or black and royal blue as his colors.
As you ride the subway it is quite noticeable that almost no black male under the age of 40 wears any Met gear at all - while there are various color schemes of Yankee gear for both Crips and Bloods to wear. You will see ten black teens wearing a Nationals jersey before you see one wearing any Mets gear of any kind.
White Yankee caps with the Yankee "NY" symbol in cobalt blue (not navy) are a dime a dozen.
Bright red Yankee caps with the Yankee "NY" in white are even more common.
And matching jerseys.
Also, the Mets have been wearing black uniforms for home games since the 1998 season - the black jerseys and caps have actually been used for league play for almost a decade, five years before the current resurgence in street gangs in NYC began.
The only Mets hats you see on the street that are not actually worn by Mets in league play are the orange and green ones that they give out on Irish Day at Shea and which have been widely bootlegged throughout the suburbs.
Last year I watched a teenaged Dominican Met fan (wearing the classic royal and orange cap, actually) get ragged on by his Yankee-gear-sporting friends for supporting a "whiteboy team" (Jose Reyes? Jorge Sosa?).
By that point you're just giving it up willingly.
Anyone claiming to not recognize these as deliberate marketing to gangs is living under a rock, or is the biggest liar since Bill Clinton. The use of red or blue bandannas has been the #1 most recognizable gang symbol over the years. The closest of these three to being "ambiguous" is the Yankees hat with the gold crown. But, as the photo caption says on FoxNews - it is an exact rendition of the "Latin Kings" gang symbol, down to the slant of the crown.
Except that none of my fellow Raider fans—that I know anyway—are Mets fans.
(Unless you’re among those that have been brainwashed about the Silver and Black courtesy of your drive-by media.)
I’m horrified at those Yankee caps. Here I was thinking it’s simply a black uniform trend going on across all sports (like my beloved Duke Blue Devils wearing black jerseys) and I was poking fun at you with the Raider fan comment. It’s appalling what I’ve learned about this.
absolutely ridiculous. those are tailor made for those gangs. whoever green lighted those hats should be beaten...by gang members.
Best
Photoshop
ever.
You want to look cool, you get yourself the newest caps, which have a giant almost absolutely straight brim that is worn facing full frontal. And, it must be squeaky clean. Baggy long shorts and a team or NASCAR Shirt complete the ensemble along with long white socks, clean sneakers, and a gold chain about the size of destroyer's anchor cable.
Tattos and a 3-day beard are also mandatory. If I have to correct you again, it goes to the moderator.
Sneakers? They's called "kicks," homes.
lol....a NASCAR shirt? Dayum, I am behind the curve.
Considering that there doesn’t seem to be much difference in the behavior of gangs and sports team members, who cares? It seems many players come from the streets and gangs.
I stopped watching sports probably ten years ago because of this.
Half of the New Era product line is sold to the rap and hip hop folks. Everyone knows that’s their primary market for at least a good percentage of their product.
If they would go back to making quality baseball caps, they might find a better market for things like college team caps. New Era used to make the team caps for Texas A&M when I was there (still have one, in fact), but in the last 10 years or so, A&M and other schools have been forced to go with the crappy Pro Line or other brand.
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The truly dumbest in that category is the upside-down and backwards sun visor. Do you suppose these rappers get together and make bets about who can start the stupidest fad among their lame fans?
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