From Boston.com...

Next to Yankees caps and Giants jerseys, the pink Red Sox cap has become the most polarizing piece of clothing a Bostonian can wear. Fans of the hats think they're simply a cute way to show their love for the Sox. Haters say pink-hat owners are latecomers who only support the Sox because it's suddenly cool - even fashionable - to do so. Pink-hat wearers haven't suffered sufficiently, they reason. No one suffers in pink.

If local sports blogs, fan sites, and talk radio are any indication, the sniping is approaching fever pitch, now that the Sox have two recent Series wins to their credit. Message boards at local sites like Barstool Sports fill up with vitriolic comments - most of which are unfit for publication - on both sides of the issue whenever pink hats are mentioned.

Is this piece overstating the case? I think they are. I mean, I've used the term "Pink Hats" as a slur. Like in 2004, I know I mocked the 19 year old college nitwits from Long Island who ran in front of the TV cameras and yelled "I've waited my whole life for this!!!" with the epithet "Pink Hats." But I think I'm like most Sox fans in that to me it's just kind of a metaphor. I don't recall ever sitting in the stands grumbling because some chick in front of me was actually wearing one and I was offended by it like she was Mrs. ARod with the F-bomb on the back of her t-shirt. I suppose you can resent them if you think the wearer is by their very nature a newcomer fan, but why would you? The Sox are the most popular team in baseball by a long distance, of course they're going to have new fans. I'm not going to hold a grudge because some of the newbies didn't suffer through '86 with me.

I guess the bottom line is that as long as the majority of Pink Hats are hot girls, I'm not going to have a problem with them. If you're looking looking enough, you could wear a "Thornton: Tell Me How My Ass Taste" t-shirt and I'd be OK with it.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do you really hate the pink Sox hat?