Gentlemen, Remove Your Hats

Before the national anthem is played, public address announcers at Pittsburgh sporting events say, "Please stand, and gentlemen, please remove your hats."

Why are only men asked to remove their hats?

I've been to sports events up and down the West Coast, and on the East Coast from DC to Boston. I've been to professional games, college games, and high school games, and I've heard the national anthem hundreds of times. I've heard requests to remove hats. Usually, there is an announcement that people should stand, but no reference to hats. But I've never heard a PA announcer speak to *men's* hats only -- except in Pittsburgh.

Hats don't always have to come off as a sign of respect. Traditionally, women didn't remove hats in church. Women often wore hats that were secured to their hair, so removing their hats was a big deal. Even today, members of the military don't remove their hats while the Star Spangled Banner is played. And members of the band usually don't take off their hats, either. But women -- and service members -- and the band -- know the rules, and they know how to follow them.

So why can't men (and women) at Pittsburgh sporting events be trusted to do the right thing? The gender-specific hat request strikes me as a bizarre anachronism. Is it, instead, a quaint historical relic? Am I missing some important feature of Pittsburgh culture?