Ranking the NHL’s Stadium Series Jerseys

7: Pittsburgh Penguins 

Why not bring back the powder blues?

Why not bring back the powder blues?

For the Winter Classic the Penguins have been known to wear their old school powder blue uniforms or some combination of the powder blues. It was a surprise when they released a jersey with none of these elements for the Stadium Series game. True it may not be as important as the Winter Classic, but it would have been nice to see the Penguins in their old school blue jerseys. What makes it worse is that they just basically rolled out a watered down version of their current jerseys. The only change is the striping on the jerseys which is boring. If anything, they could have gone with the old black and yellow color palette instead of basically the same exact jersey colors they use all the time. With so many options for the Penguins, it was disappointing that this was the best they could come up with.

6: LA Kings 

Grey and boring

Grey and boring

Even though black and grey is a great color scheme, the Kings somehow screwed this up. Instead of doing a solid black jersey or bringing back the old Kings logo during the Gretzky era, the Kings just put out a grey jersey that looks like it should be a practice jersey. With weird LA should logos, the old crown logo, there just isn’t much to say about these uniforms. They’d have been better off with more black or going back to the old school purple and gold. The would have been awesome to see the purple and gold on the ice again.

5: New York Rangers 

Really? Let's just rip off the Hartford Wolfpack

Really? Let’s just rip off the Hartford Wolf Pack

The Rangers Winter Classic is one of my favorite jerseys of all time. I had high hopes for the Stadium Series hoping they would bring back a cream colored jersey or another old school look. Instead, the Rangers created a new look that looks like a combination between their old 90s alternates and the Hartford Wolf Pack. Silver? Really? The silver makes no sense, I’d rather see cream than silver. If they were going in this direction, they should have brought back the old statue of liberty logo instead of the New York script across the chest. With better logos and colors, the Rangers struck out when it came to Stadium Series jerseys.

4 Chicago Blackhawks 

Back in Black

Back in Black

The Blackhawks had the best Winter Classic jerseys with their classic logo and design. This year, the jerseys are good, but nothing special. It just feels like a lazy attempt. Just a basic black jersey with the current logo. Sure the black looks great with the red and black, but it would have been nice for the Blackhawks to bring back their old logo or jerseys. While it’s not the worst jersey, it’s by no stretch the best.

3: Anaheim Ducks 

Orange is tough to pull off, but the Ducks do it well

Orange is tough to pull off, but the Ducks do it well

These jerseys by the Anaheim Ducks are very good. I love the orange color which both pops, but at the same time isn’t obnoxious like some orange jerseys can be. The burnt orange color is something different that you never see in a uniform and looks great with the black, gold, and white trim. The reason this jersey isn’t higher is the logo. While the Giant webbed D is good, we’ve seen  it before. True it’s better than the “Ducks” script jersey, but I would have like to see them use the old Mighty Ducks logo with the mask and interlocking sticks. I have always been begging the Ducks to bring back that logo and think that would have been a great time to bring it back. Had they used that logo, they could have been on the top of the list, but without it they stay at number three.

2: New York Islanders 

Old school and new school meet for a great combination

Old school and new school meet for a great combination

Given the Islanders’ illustrious uniform history which includes some of the worst jersey disasters in hockey history, I was skeptical when it came to their Stadium Series jerseys. However, the Islanders jerseys are incredible and the one jersey in the Stadium Series that should become the team’s third uniform. This would be so much better than those stupid black jerseys the Islanders have. With the classic blue, orange, and white colors, this jerseys looks beautiful. Add in the horizontal stripes on the arms and pants, clean white shoulder stripes and this is an aesthitically pleasing jersey. Then the logo, finally a team that tried something new. I love how the Islanders incorporated the NY part of their logo with a modern twist on the chest. Overall this is a great jersey, and I hope the Islanders keep using these after the Stadium Series.

1: New Jersey Devils 

A Classic

A Classic

The Devils jersey may not be new or innovative, but it’s nice to see at least one team honor their heritage. Sure Christmas colors may not sound like a winning combination on a hockey sweater, but the Devils make it work. The red, white, and green is simple and beautiful. These jerseys pop with their red color scheme and the green and white highlights are crisp and mesh well together. Sure it may look like Christmas on ice, but who doesn’t love Christmas? Finally the Devils have one of the best logos in hockey, so why mess with perfection? Great logo, great jersey, clearly the winner. Do you agree or disagree? Which was the best Stadium Series jersey and which was the worst? Comment and like below!

 

 

 

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Jingle Balls: The NBA’s Christmas Jerseys Disaster

It's beginning to look a lot like a Christmess

It’s beginning to look a lot like a Christmess

Christmas is here! The trees, decorations, and yuletide spirit are everywhere this time of year. On the 25th of December the NBA will be unwrapping some presents that frankly should have a sticker that reads “Do not open ever”! That’s right, the NBA has established a new merry tradition that is the equivalent to the gifting of a holiday fruitcake. Nobody wants it, but we get it anyways. Talk about a mess. The NBA has tried to establish Christmas day as it’s own holiday. What I mean by this is that football has Thanksgiving, so naturally the NBA wanted it’s own holiday in the spotlight, in this case Christmas. Now the NBA has five games for 2013 and like all great Christmases decided it needed its own traditions. However, whoever came up with this idea should receive a mountain of coal for Christmas.

The NBA has made it a tradition to wear new uniforms on Christmas day. Last year I thought the NBA couldn’t do worse than hideous one color uniforms with just outlines of the team’s name. Well one thing I can say about the NBA is that it never ceases to surprise me. When the new uniforms were revealed I laughed thinking oh they must have gotten the pictures mixed up. Those are ten-dollar t-shirts from the gift shop. Boy was I wrong. Ok are you sitting down? Because I am about to go on a rant about these eyesores.

Where to begin? Hmm let me see I know I’ll start of with the sleeves. Why do you need sleeves in the NBA? You play indoors! Why do you guys need freaking sleeves are you really that cold inside an NBA arena? Come on these aren’t NFL linemen who have rolls of arm fat or baseball players trying to avoid the sun. If it was just the sleeves on awesome uniforms I could give these a pass, but it’s more than just the sleeves.

Next it’s the colors. True these colors are not as terrible as last years, but certain team colors don’t make sense. The Lakers, who have a great white home uniform, don’t need a white Christmas jersey. They have purple and gold. Where is it? The Knicks, for the love of god stop wearing all orange. First this isn’t Halloween, and second you look like a bunch of pumpkins. If there was more blue then maybe, but these uniforms are just plain orange. The Knicks chant should be no new york no new york no. The spurs plain grey? or the Rockets all red? Come on guys I bet a five-year old could come up with something better. Sure the colors are bad, but it’s also that these uniforms are just one color. There are no accent or secondary colors to add some details to these uniforms. Even minor accent colors or designs would offset the main colors nicely. However, with just one color except for around the collar and sleeves. Without these other colors these jerseys just look like plain t-shirts from the NBA store that I could easily buy.

The final nail in this uniform coffin has to be the logos. These are the worst logos on a uniform I have ever seen. Sure they are the team’s regular logos, which are great, but for some reason they thought forget the script or original let’s put a giant silver logo on the chest. Come on why silver? Are you just trying to put a bullseye on what makes these jerseys awful. Sure it looks good on the Nets jersey, but who else has silver in their color palette? These look like metallic versions of each logo. It as if they decided let’s put a futuristic logo on the plainest jersey possible. That makes no sense.

In conclusion the only good thing these jerseys have given us is this fantastic commercial (link here). Other than that these uniforms are just an awful representation of the NBA. Come on these look like pajamas. Hey maybe that’s what they were going for the pajama Christmas morning look. If not for the so-called “Christmas morning pajama look” these uniforms are some of the worst to ever be presented on the hardwood. Maybe Santa will make a last-minute stop and give these teams new uniforms, unfortunately I think he’s a little too busy. Dear NBA, please get new Christmas uniforms next year. Heck, do green and red uniforms. Those would be better than these atrocities. Either way let’s hope the NBA delivers on Christmas. Happy Holidays!