Hats off…

Well, I’m finally getting around to another post…

Many of us who live near Pasadena, California know that the Rose Parade and Pasadena Tournament of Roses is more than a January 1 event. In fact, as soon as the Rose Bowl Game is over and even before the last Rose Parade float is plucked of its petals and stored, a new President of the Tournament of Roses is elected, the next theme is announced and the well-oiled and very predictable cycle goes into play.

“Hats Off To Entertainment” was recently announced as the theme for the January 1, 2009 Rose Parade. From the looks of the logo art – which is a strip of film showing a silhouetted cityscape with yellow klieg light beams jutting into a starry night sky – it appears that the 2009 Rose Parade will pay homage to Hollywood and the film industry. (Yawn...)

The person who told me about the new theme explained that the family of the newly elected President of the 2009 Tournament of Roses runs a restaurant group that owns a local chain of pastrami sandwich eateries called “The Hat”. Fair enough, I thought, and while I have enjoyed a few of “The Hat’s” “World Famous Pastrami” sandwiches in my day, I don't think anyone would make the connection because (as I understand it) the rules of the Tournament of Roses prevents members from promoting their business through the Tournament.

My puzzlement over the theme “Hats Off To Entertainment” stems from the following thought process:

First, does anyone in this day and age really know where the phrase “hats off” comes from and what it means?

My dad tells me that hat wearing went out of fashion for men in the mid-1950s. Even though we do see a lot of guys wearing caps (brims forward and back) today, we don’t have the hat-wearing social context of the phrase “hats off”. I think it comes from a time when it was culturally and fashionably proscribed for men to wear hats when outside in public. In my grandfather’s day, a gentleman always removed his hat when entering a building. Also, as I understand it, a gentleman would tip his hat as a sign of greeting to a pretty lady he might not know and a gentleman would remove his hat as a sign of respect and admiration for someone or a group. Hat removal was done as a matter of course when reciting of the Pledge of Allegance, during a parade to honor "the troops" or on solemn occasions and events such as funerals or swearing in ceremonties and inaugurations (which is similar to a funeral and either theirs or yours depending on which side you're on -- but I digress and I promised myself never to make this blog political...)

So to translate for a few generations who might not understand it (DRUM ROLL) the new theme for the 2009 Tournament of Roses means: “Respect and Admiration towards Entertainment.”

Say what? Seems kind of out of touch for an institution struggling to find meaning and marketshare in the 21^st Century…Don't get me wrong here. I LOVE the Rose Parade and Rose Bowl Game. I am simply expressing concern that the Tournament of Roses is not going to be able to sustain itself both internally and externally for future generations...but hey, that’s me… and you probably shouldn't expect anything less from an institution who still uses the tag line: "The Granddaddy of Them All^®."

For the curious, check out Wikipedia article listing previous Tournament of Roses Themes.