Bench Life Sports

In this week’s Jersey Blog, I’m breaking down an entire collection of jerseys. By no means am I a professional critic but I do know a good jersey when I see it. Big thanks to Cam Burgess for stepping into the ring. Hopefully he rolls with the punches and takes my criticism constructively.

Jersey Round-Up: The Cameron Burgess Collection

Paul Pierce Adidas St. Patrick’s Day Celtics Jersey

I covered this jersey in last week’s blog. No sense in me re-examining it so here’s what I had to say about it:

As Cameron’s former roommate, this jersey has gotten a tonne of bar play and has made the rounds each St. Patties Day. “The Truth” is one of the most beloved Celtics of all-time. Paul Pierce was pretty much the only relevant guy for Boston for pretty much an entire decade of mediocre rosters before they picked up Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen. This is just a very cool jersey.

Ken Griffey Jr. Majestic Alternate Teal Mariners Jersey

In the heat of the steroid era, “The Kid” is one of the most iconic baseball players of the late 90’s/early 2000’s despite keeping his nose clean. Despite big boppers like Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds effortlessly poking home runs into the stands, Griffey was the face of the league. Ken Griffey Jr.’s sweet swing, highlight reel plays from center field, backwards hat and big goofy smile was why he’s the man.

Autographed Matt Bonner Reebok Raptors Jersey

“Won that in high school, they had this and a Ray Lewis jersey and I got stuck with this, no idea if that signature is real or not”

I’ve tried to buy this jersey off of Cam considering I feel that he doesn’t deserve it. He has the weird misconception that he got “stuck” with the Bonner jersey as some sort of consolation to the Ray Lewis jersey. Does anyone remember that Ray Lewis allegedly killed some guys? The only thing thing that Matt Bonner has ever killed is the hopes and dreams of his opponents.

The “Red Rocket” was a fan favourite in the city of Toronto and was pretty much the featured player on the 2007 and 2014 Spurs championship teams. Sure Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili were “better players” and could actually “score” or “play effective defense”. But I would argue that the Rocket’s marksmanship from downtown commanded so much attention from opposing teams that the stars could move around uninhibited. Matt Bonner is a baller and I would kill for this jersey.

Rob Gronkowski Patriots Jersey

I’ve never been a huge fan of New England’s regular jerseys. Call me crazy, but the whole grey on navy blue just doesn’t do it for me. I think that the colour scheme might be the easiest replica for a Walmart to whip up. Any of New England’s jerseys that use more red like their old Colour Rushes are a lot cooler:

Cam’s Navy Gronk jersey just doesn’t do it for me. Now this Gronk jersey would be worth my money:

Vince Carter Purple Throwback Raptors Jersey

I’ve been wanting to pick up this jersey for a while. When these were released a couple of years ago they were hot in the streets. These days 90’s nostalgia is at its peak to the point where ugly jerseys of yesterday are being re-released and selling like hot cakes. That’s capitalism baby.

Now this Vinsanity jersey loses a few points because the Nike swoosh (this jersey has only ever been released under Adidas) and the fake autograph print make this jersey an obvious fake. Now in the grand scheme of things this purchase is the perfect combo of cool and thrifty but in the jersey game this is just an intentional foul.

Milan Lucic White Reebok Bruins Jersey

Speaking of fakes. The logo and numbers a more of a highlighter colour than a true Bruins gold. Jerseys are a lot like IDs in the sense that there’s nothing cooler than an awesome fake. In terms of jerseys, an effective fake makes people believe that your $20 Larry Bird jersey is actually a $300 Authentic.

In the case with this jersey, big bad Looch gets bounced at the door.

Jerome Iginla 2010 Vanouver Olympics Jersey

I’m a big Jerome guy and the 2010 Olympics is on the pinnacle of Canadian sports moments. Iginla is not only one of the best players that has ever dressed for the Canadian national team, but he also assisted on Crosby’s Golden Goal.

Throwback Trevor Linden Canucks Jersey

In my honest opinion, this is the jewel of Cameron’s collection. The 90’s red, yellow and black Canucks logo shaped like a skate is just such a cool logo. Plus Trevor is an awesome pick for this jersey. Linden’s toughness scoring ability and leadership puts him up on the Canucks franchise Mount Rushmore with the Sedin twins and Pavel Bure.

My Grade for the Entire Collection: 5.6/10

Now before Cam attacks me, I run a very tight ship with my ranking systems when rating anything. Whether it’s jerseys to cereals I am not an easy grader. I would personally give my own collection a 5.2/10 so a 5.6 is not a bad score. This is not a “pass” or “fail” grade, I will use all 10 numbers. The ideal 10/10 collection may never be achieved. A 9.9/10 is a beautiful combination of quality, quantity, rarity, authenticity, excellence, creativity, variety with a slight wild card factor.

All in all this is a solid jersey collection. There’s a good mix of different sports, colours, with some real gems. One of the critiques I have about this collection is that it could stand to be more bold. Jerseys like the Matt Bonner and Trevor Linden jerseys put asses in the seats. At the end of the day, just buy whatever jerseys you like. But if you want to impress me, you have to bring some heat.

I specifically am coming out of the critiquing-gate hot in order to set a precedent. Throw out everything you know about grades from elementary school where 0-49 is a fail.

The Weekly Jersey Dump

If you want to show off a sweet jersey or want to put a buddy with a jersey-buying problem on blast, be sure to send your submissions to me over Twitter @twaind4