If you watched the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics, and if you stayed up long enough to watch Team USA enter the arena, you no doubt saw the super-snazzy knit hat they were wearing.  I immediately started scouring the web looking for it.  It took me a day until I found someone who had blogged about it and posted a link.

It’s a pretty nice hat, no?  If I had seen it in a store like Kohl’s, I would have snatched it up immediately.  But it’s not at Kohl’s.  It’s a Polo hat, and the only place I’ve seen it for sale is the official Olympic team store.  The catch?  It’s $75.

Seventy-five dollars?  For a few yards of yarn?  I mean, yeah, it’s a sweet hat, but seriously?  I checked ebay, and it’s going for well over $150.  So could it possibly be an investment as a collector’s item?  I’d want to wear it, but I’d feel really silly spending $75 on it.

It’s probably a really well-built hat.  But I could get one in roughly the same style for $10, $15 max.  While the winter has been quite ridiculous this year, I’m sure it’s almost over.  I wouldn’t even get to enjoy a hat like this probably until December.

But it *is* a really great hat, and it’s American.  I hate materialism.

-j