Who needs a blanket with sleeves? Try a sweater

You go ahead and pick your dumbest "As seen on TV" product.

The Presto salad shooter that shreds veggies like they've been blasted with an AK-47?

Mighty Putty, "the super-powered epoxy"?

The Get-A-Grip bath handle?

I've got one that makes those look like they were designed by NASA scientists.

This would be the Snuggie, the ridiculous "Blanket That Has Sleeves!" featured in that goofy commercial that airs all the time now.

If you haven't seen it, picture various smiling people talking on the phone, watching TV, working on their laptops, etc., all while swaddled in a robe-like fleece that makes them look like a cult of blissed-out friars.

There's even a shot of Snuggie-wearers cheering and high-fiving at what could be a youth soccer or football game.

Sure, that's all you need when you're a self-conscious kid: Mom and Dad in the bleachers, wearing blankets with holes for their arms.

The commercial is so schlocky you can't take your eyes off it.

Never have so many people looked so joyful about wearing a blanket.

So, naturally, I had to go out and buy one.

Why? Because some things are so inane you have to experience them yourself in order to write about them.

I picked up my Snuggie - that doesn't sound right, does it? - for $14.99 at a Bed Bath & Beyond, where they were stacked on a huge pallet just inside the entrance.

Maybe Snuggies are selling like hotcakes - the marketer, Allstar Products Group, says 4 million have been sold since their introduction last August.

But you could get as many as you wanted at Bed Bath & Beyond, provided you were OK with the only color they had, a shade of royal blue not seen since the Smurfs. (The Snuggie also comes in sage green and burgundy, if you really feel like going wild.)

Oh, you can get two for $19.95, plus shipping and handling, if you order through the TV number or online.

But then I'd have to wait six to eight weeks for the Snuggie to arrive. And by that time, the Snuggie craze could be over, and the staff at Allstar Products might all be working at a Denny's.

Did I mention it comes with a cheapo little book light? Well, it does. The beam of light is so tiny that it would be helpful for night reading only if you enjoy reading one letter at a time, then taking a five-second break before going on to the next.

In other words, you'd be lucky to get a paragraph in before your eyes started to close.