When my son came home talking about a “fie-ten,” I couldn’t make out what he was talking about. Had he been fighting at school? No. You want a fightin’ necklace? No. You mean Fi – 10, like with the number ten? No! It’s spelled ”P-H-I?” It was greek to me, alright.

But Hibbett Sports knew exactly what he was talking about, since every ball-playing boy was also coming in asking for one. I looked closely at the package. It looked like a shoelace tied with a plastic fastener. ”Why do you want this?” I asked. Who knows why I naively expected a better answer than, “Because they’re cool and everybody else wears one.”

To those of you who are just starting this phase, this is a necklace  worn by “elite athletes” for “performance enhancement” based on a bit of titanium somewhere inside it.  They’re made for boys and girls and are particularly popular among baseball and softball players, but non-atheletes like them as well. A single strand is around $25, but we’ve moved on to coveting the Tornado, which is two strands wound together and priced at  almost $50. Yes, you read that right.

Like the rubber shaped bracelets, I suppose this is a pretty tame fad to endure. At least these are washable and unlikely to be banned from school for being popped like rubber bands. I must disclose that I haven’t seen a marked difference in baseball performance between Phiten wearers and non-wearers.  Oh well, the kids pin their hopes on a mineral in a necklace while we moms pin ours on minerals in our makeup.

You can find Phiten sports necklaces (as well as other brands, though they don’t seem to have the same cachet) in most sporting goods stores and online. Given the price, the necklace is a great candidate for purchasing by saving up allowance money.