Like a little boy who lost his security blanket, Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon has lamented Major League Baseball's crackdown on his beloved hooded sweatshirt.
In Boston for a four-game series with the Red Sox, Maddon was told he could no longer wear the dark blue Rays hoodie that has become his trademark. Perhaps needing a little love, he turned his lonely eyes to Foxboro and New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, the trendsetter of the hoodie generation.
"Being as we're in the same neck of the woods right now … He's probably a little busy right now, although I really could use the support," Maddon said.
Maddon was sporting the outlawed clothing item as he spoke with reporters in his office in the visiting clubhouse at Fenway Park on Saturday. He has used sarcasm to play off the ban, which instructs all coaches to wear official team jackets or Majestic brand tops, and continued to do so while discussing Belichick's style.
The Patriots coach is known for his cutoff sleeves and a generally frumpy look in a hoodie. While Maddon admires the path Belichick has blazed, such style is not for the Rays skipper.
"That's part of the problem is the bastardization of the hoodie," Maddon said. "Whereas people trim the sleeves or the bottom of it off…you gotta wear the hoodie in its full, as it's woven, as it's cut.
"I'm not into creating a different form of hoodie. The bastardization of the hoodie, I'm not into that."
With that, Maddon smiled and stuck his hands in the pocket of his blue Rays hoodie. There was still over an hour before gametime.
