Pretty lame in pink

A few weeks ago, I ventured up to the Bronx to catch one of the last regular season Yankee games. In the sea of fans dressed from head to toe in navy blue pinstripes, I noticed a strange color: pink. A group of teenage girls was wearing pink Yankee products in the rows in front of me. One had on a jersey with rosy pinstripes. Another had on a blush-colored cap. There was pink everywhere.

This isn't just happening with Yankee merchandise. All sorts of vendors, including the MLB.com team stores, are selling pretty, pastel caps with the logos of any and all teams. In some stores you can even buy a pink team jersey. But unless you're wearing a faded St. Louis Cardinals or Cincinnati Reds cap, you shouldn't be wearing pink in the ballpark.

I understand companies are marketing these new girlie items to tap into the growing female fan base. Fifty million women avidly follow professional sports, according to a study last year by Scarborough Sports Marketing. Twenty-eight percent of those women are loyal fans of Major League Baseball, second only to the NFL at 31 percent. You can't blame them for wanting to make some cash off an emerging audience.

Yet I can't help but be somewhat offended that vendors are producing pink sports apparel specifically for the female fan. Sweet, blush hues are used to represent women in everything from baby clothes to bathroom stalls. Now, the stereotype of girls as 'pretty in pink' and Barbie dolls has somehow manifested itself in the form of feminine sports gear.

Like bathrooms and baby clothes, the new pink merchandise creates an unnecessary separation between sports fans. There is absolutely no difference between male and female fans, so there is no need for bubble gum alternatives. Women, like their male counterparts, wear sports apparel to show pride in their team, not in their sex.

Along with logos, certain colors are associated with sports teams, and that's part of what makes the team what it is. So, when you're wearing a pink Mets cap with an interlocking 'NY' on the front, who exactly are you supporting? The Pink Mets? There's absolutely no distinction between a Red Sox fan and a Yankee fan wearing pink and white, besides the team logos. Colorwise, they might as well be rooting for the same pink team.

It's unfair to have one color unify all female sports fans and separate them from those wearing team colors. Root for your team, not for what you are. Fans are a united front. There shouldn't be rosy subdivisions.

But these suckers are priced to move. When my friends and I left Yankee Stadium, we came across a small vendor who was selling pink caps, charging $12 for 'regular' navy blue caps but only $7.50 for the pink 'girls' caps. One of my friends snickered, 'Of course the girls caps are cheaper.'

Official vendors set their prices the same way. All the non-blue and non-traditional women's items the MLB.com Yankees team store offers, including a red 'Women's Cherries Tiny Tank with Bra,' cost under $30. The price jumps to over $50 for any women's items that feature more traditional patterns and colors. The Women's Replica Home Jersey, which has authentic Yankee pinstripes and is completely devoid of pink, costs $79.95.

So, not only have they chosen a trite color for new women's products, but they have also decided that the products should be much cheaper. Companies don't need schemes like cheaper, pretty, pastel caps and 'Cherry Jeter Cheerleader' T-shirts to get women to like sports and wear the merchandise. Women don't need special treatment in sports fandom.

What's nice about merchandise is that no one is forcing you to buy anything. You can still make a choice, and pink is one option to which you can say 'no.' So when you're ready to whip out your wallet, be the fan who sticks by his team's colors in the playoffs. Don't endorse those pretty pastels. Don't think pink. There were female baseball fans long before there were pink jerseys.