Bench Life Sports

The Round-Up

Steve Nash Santa Clara Broncos Jersey

I’ve had my eye on this jersey for a while and it came in from DHGate just in time for March Madness. As the greatest Canadian basketball player of all-time, Santa Clara is where Steve Nash put his name on the map. He wasn’t recruited by a single Division 1 program so his highschool coach started mailing out letters and highlight films which got him a tryout with Santa Clara.

In his four seasons at Santa Clara, Nash led the Bulldogs to three of the school’s eleven NCAA tournament appearances, two West Coast Conference regular season championships and the 1993 WCC tournament championship. In four years Nash went from a Canadian highschool player not even worth recruit to playing his way to being the 15th overall pick in the 1996 NBA Draft.

Kyrie IrvingCleveland Cavaliers Jersey

Here’s a quick power ranking of Cleveland’s first overall picks:
1. Lebron James 2003
2. Kyrie Irving 2011
3. Brad Daugherty 1986
4. Austin Carr 1971
5. Andrew Wiggins 2014
6. Anthony Bennett 2013

Any Kyrie jersey is a cool one since he’s got the most gifable handles in the NBA. On top of that I’d the Cavaliers look over the Celtics considering Kyrie hit the biggest shot in the franchise’s history.

Ken Griffey Jr. Seattle Mariners Jersey

Baseball’s back! Technically. The MLB is one of the few leagues that opens their regular season a week before the official Opening Day. The Japanese series between the Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners has come and gone with very little fanfare with only the most diehard fans getting up at the crack of dawn to catch the action.

With Ichiro retiring yesterday, it begs the question as to who’s the greatest player in Mariners history. They both played 13 seasons in Seattle with Ichiro totalling 56.3 WAR in that time and The Kid racking up 70.6. But I think Wins Above Replacement sells the greatest Japanese player ever a little bit short. The guy batted .311 for his career while playing Gold Glove defense and possessing 30 steal speed. There has never been a player like him and I can’t imagine there ever will be.

Los Angeles Kings 1998-02 Light Jersey

These jerseys were in a bit of a transition phase from the Robitaille and  Gretzky era to the brutal era post 2005 lockout that preceded the championship stretch with years of lottery picks. I like these jerseys better than LA’s current look in my opinion.

Here’s some of the hits from this four year 98-02 stretch:
-Luc Robitaille (on his second of three stints with the Kings
-Rob Blake
-Ray Ferraro
-Olli Jokinen
-Ziggy Palffy
-Glen Murray
-Jozef Stumpel
-Mathieu Schneider
-Lubomir Visnovsky
-Felix Potvin
-Jason Allison
-Adam Deadmarsh

Chris Paul New Orleans Hornets 2008-13 Away Jersey

Imagine having Chris Paul and Anthony Davis for 13 total seasons and only making the playoffs five times in that stretch. The basketball Gods have been cruel to the city of New Orleans.

I was close to springing on this jersey for the Jersey of the Week. Any jersey of a Hall of Fame calibre player on their original team always plays. I’m sure New Orleans fans go to sleep dreaming of Chris Paul-David West pick and rolls. Probably not.

Nonetheless, awesome jersey.

Robert Griffin III Redskins Ugly Sweater

This is one of the best Christmas sweaters I’ve seen. All RG3 wants for Christmas is a new set of knees. His 2012 rookie season was simply electric. 102.4 quarterback rating fueled by juke-stepping for first downs and tossing bombs downfield. Sometimes the brightest stars burn the fastest.

Jersey of the Week

Mo Mamba Texas Longhorns Jersey

If he weren’t childhood friends with rapper Sheck Wes, the average person probably wouldn’t have any idea who Mo Bamba is. The 7 foot big man with the 7’10” wingspan hasn’t done much other get drafted 6th overall in 2018 and becoming a frat party anthem. Last year in his freshman season the Longhorns got bounced first round by Nevada in the first round of March Madness and this season Bamba has only played 16 minutes a game with the mediocre Orlando Magic before fracturing his tibia.

Regardless, this jersey is greater than just Mo Bamba’s resume. It’s a cultural phenomenon the same way as a #6 Cory Joseph OVO jersey or a Charlie Conway Mighty Ducks jersey (he didn’t lead the team in goals and he was a healthy scratch during the gold medal game of the World Championships at the end of D2).

 

Jersey of the Week Scoreboard:

1. @Acooksy19: 6
T2. @beamerr9: 2
T2. @wilsondrew17: 2
T3. @jefftrahan13: 1
T3. @phillydip4: 1

Adam is starting to lap the competition.

The Weekly Jersey Dump

Shoutout Patrick Lalime

Coolest jerseys in the AHL?

I’m petitioning to making these the full-time jerseys. Simply the best.

This is a no from me dawg.

 

Worst player to have his jersey retired?

 

Who would’ve thought we’d get a Nascar-Machine Gun Kelly-Cleveland Browns crossover?