The Jersey Blog Week 6
In the span of an hour and a half I’ve had two coffees and a Diet Coke (gotta watch those calories) so I am in machine gun mode for spitting out jersey-related words. If you want in on the blog, 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
Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls Champion Brand (Thrift Shop Shape)
While it definitely loses points for quality of jersey, the nameplate is almost faded right off, we don’t thrift store shame around here. At your local Value Village you can’t find a better ratio of jersey per dollar. For a crisp $20 bill you can scoop up a lightly worn RG3 knock off jersey, a pair of used boat shoes and a slightly cigarette-burnt Hawaiian shirt. The snobs would turn their nose up at that haul but that’s simply a good deal.
Fourth Place
Hayoto Sakamoto Yomuri Giants
I can’t I can say too much about Sakamoto but check out this headline:
The “Derek Jeter of Japan”? I’m sold.
How many people in North America could possibly own this jersey? You have to respect the rarity and the respect for Japanese baseball.
The Podium
Bronze Medal Jersey
Trevor Linden Vancouver Canucks
Just an incredibly clean jersey. Here’s the (un)official and (un)authoritative list of the Canucks’ primary jerseys:
1. “The Skate” (as seen above)
2. The current blue and green Orca
3. OG green and blue “Rink” logo
3. Black/yellow/red “V” jersey
4. Early 2000’s burgundy and navy Orca
On top of that, Linden is literally “Captain Canuck”. Sure Luongo, both Sedins, Bure and Naslund are sexier names. But Linden is the type of lunch pail, hard hat captain (also people forget his 33 goal, 80 point 95-96 season), that fans rally around. What a throwback.
Silver Medal Jersey
Henrik Zetterberg 2014 Winter Classic Detroit Red Wings
One of the best Winter Classic jerseys in the game. And Henrik Zetterberg is one of the most iconic Red Wings of the last 20 years. Which is saying a lot for one of the winningest franchises since 1990. Just an awesome jersey…
Jersey of the Week
Joe Sakic 1990 All Star Jersey
…But I couldn’t help myself with this Sakic jersey. Burnaby Joe was one of my favourite players growing up, and any all-star jersey will garner a high ranking in this blog. Off the top of my head here’s a quick list of my favourite “dead puck era” players:
1. Sundin
2. Forsberg
3. Kariya
4. Sakic
5. Marty St. Louis
6. Iginla
7. Eddie Belfour
8. Darcy Tucker
9. Hasek
10. Niedermayer (Scott)
Jersey of the Week Standings
Adam continues to run up the score. The pundits have wondered if he’s a one trick pony. How many 90’s hockey jerseys could he possibly have left? On the other hand Ben by far has had the most diverse collection so far. Is his strategy built better for a long season?
Also Cameron’s dad blows past him in the standings, just one jersey into his career. You hate to see it.
Jersey News Round-Up
NBA teams are too quick to move on from awesome jerseys. I get the business model. If you’re always changing your jersey, fans will line up annually for the latest look for their favourite player/team. But when you employ this strategy you run the risk of some real duds. Miami should scrap all of their current jerseys and strictly rotate the four on the left.
Never been a fan of basketball uniforms where the jersey and shorts don’t match. My old rep team, the CW Celtics, always rocked white jerseys with green shorts. Yuck.
These are niiiice.
If the helmets change, we riot.
I’ve already done the rant where Colorado and Carolina are co-opting an old city’s history and adopting it as their own (check out our pod here). That being said I’ll always stan James Reimer. Real fans don’t forget how dirty the Leafs did him after he dragged the team to the 2013 playoffs.
Bench Life Sports 