The Jersey Blog Week 5
Another week, another jersey blog. Sometimes you have to grab the hard hat and lunch pail, clock in, grind through the shift, then clock out. If you want in, be sure to DM pictures of your favourite jersey to one of the Bench Life Social accounts every Wednesday night.
Jersey of the Week Submissions
Fifth Place
Andrew Wiggins Timberwolves
To Canadian basketball fans, has there ever been a more disappointing player than “Maple Jordan”? Sure Anthony Bennett was far worse. But there was no real expectation for Bennett and the basketball world was universally shocked when he was drafted first overall.
Wiggins left highschool with “the next Lebron” type of hype, but what we got was “the next Harrison Barnes”. That being said, he’s rounded into a fine basketball player and he was mentioned in a verse of “Draft Day” by Drake. So he’s, yeah, he’s alright. And the pre-Nike Minnesota jerseys, while conventionally ugly, are kind of an interesting look. A fine jersey that can inspire frustration and disappointment.
Fourth Place
Eddie Olczyk Toronto Maple Leafs
This is a sweet jersey. I love this era of Leafs jersey. Many people remember Eddie Olczyk the NBC colour commentator and don’t remember the guy had two 30+ goal, 85+ seasons that he had for the Blue and White from ’88 to ’90. Just an awesome player. Wish I could’ve had this jersey a bit higher but it was a strong week for jerseys.
The Podium
Bronze Medal Jersey
Babe Ruth New York Yankees
Babe Ruth often inspires debate among modern baseball fans. Many fans have turned a blind eye to steroids and refer to Barry Bonds as their Home Run King”. Plenty of purists ignore the Bonds era and still have Hank Aaron crowned. But as the years go on, less people have an appreciation for the Bambino as the OG Home Run King. While his husky physique doesn’t impress, and most players of his era held second jobs as mail men and coal miners, nobody can argue that the Babe didn’t absolutely dominate relative to his competition at the time. It doesn’t matter who’s on the mound, you have to respect a guy with the hand-eye and power to amass 714 home runs regardless of the era. If it was so easy to do why didn’t everyone at the turn of the turn of the 20th century hit .340+ with 700+ bombs?
As a hater, I have no time for any modern Yankees except maybe Mariano Rivera, but any jersey of a classic Yankee can’t be ignored. Something about that pinstripes. It’s like Christopher Walken’s line in the movie Catch Me If You Can:
Frank Abagnale Sr. : You know why the Yankees always win, Frank?
Frank Abagnale, Jr. : ‘Cause they have Mickey Mantle?
Frank Abagnale Sr. : No, it’s ’cause the other teams can’t stop staring at those damn pinstripes.
Silver Medal Jersey
Sidney Crosby Pittsburgh Penguins 2010 Winter Classic
These powder blues are my favourite Winter Classic jerseys. As far as I can tell the Penguins are the only NHL team I can think of that has worked in powder blue but it almost always looks good regardless of sport. The Sacramento Kings have messed around with the colour. The Tennessee Titans kept the powder blue from their Houston Oilers years (the Oilers jerseys were 100x nicer than the Titans). The North Carolina Tar Heals are one of my favourite basketball jerseys ever. Pretty much every MLB team has dabbled in the palette, most notably the Blue Jays throwing it back to the Dave Stieb era with their latest alternates.
That’s a long winded way of me saying that I’m a sucker for any jersey that can properly land a powder blue look. This Crosby jersey is no exception. Anyways, here’s a clip of Crosby coming up clutch in the Winter Classic.
Jersey of the Week
Curtis Joseph St. Luis Blues
The 90’s St. Louis jerseys with the splash of red were an incredible look. And Leafs fan bias aside (hey I went against my gut and didn’t bump Olczyk up a few spots) Cujo was one of the coolest goalies of the 90’s strictly because of his wolf mask. Seriously, check this out:
I haven’t done the research to do a real top ten goalie masks in hockey history but I think Cujo is definitely up there. Without any second thought I’ll rattle off some cool masks: Eddie Belfour’s Eagle, Marty Turco’s Gargoyles, Felix Potvin, Gerry Cheever’s Stitches, Andy Moog’s Big Bear and Olaf Kolzig’s Godzilla. Cujo is definitely my personal favourite.
Jersey of the Week Standings
Pretty much no movement in the standings. In his first ever submission, Teeter blew past Burgess in the early battle of the Camerons.
Adam continues to run up the score. He, Drew and Ben are the only three to have a submission every week, and Adam’s the only one to never miss the podium.
Jersey News Round-Up
These looked awful, but I do think that the Fighting Irish gold helmets would look a million times better when paired with Vegas’ gold jerseys.
If these jerseys were actually in production I’d be first in line for the OVO Bo Bichette jersey. Name your price.
Never loved these jerseys but they look better than I remember when Olli Jokinen suited up.
I’ve never been a fan of the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes Kachina style. Call me stubborn but I thought they were ugly when i was in elementary school and my opinion will never waiver.
This is a nice look. Where have I seen this jersey before?
As a former unofficial season ticket holder for the Brock basketball team, Ohio State wasn’t going to slide this one past me.
Can’t be worse than their all-black or mustard yellow jerseys. Teal’s a strong colour so the more teal the Jags can work in the better.
Bench Life Sports 