History was made last night, as the Cavaliers wore their BFBS sleeved jerseys for Game 5 of the NBA Finals. It marked the first time a sleeved design has been worn in the Finals. Ironically, the Cavs did this while facing the Warriors, who started the modern NBA sleeve trend in 2013 but have never gone sleeved in the Finals themselves.
And here’s a surprising wrinkle: Cavs beat reporter Chris Haynes is reporting that the guy who pulled the trigger on the sleeves last night was none other than LeBron James — the same LeBron James who found the sleeved jerseys so uncomfy seven short months ago that he famously ripped open his own sleeves. ’Twould appear he’s had a change of heart (or maybe they just changed the tailoring on his jersey to make his sleeves less constricting).
All of which makes this the perfect day to revisit something that came up last month. As you may recall, I asked people who like the sleeved jerseys to explain why they like them, and also asked them to describe what it felt like to be out of step with so many of their fellow readers.
More than two dozen pro-sleeves readers responded. Their reasons were really interesting, ranging from “I like things that are new and different” to “I have scrawny arms, so I always preferred to wear sleeves myself when I played,” with lots of other rationales in between.
In order to keep today’s content at a manageable length, I’ve gathered all of the sleeve-related responses together and put them on their own page, which you can see here. You can’t comment on that page, though, so after reading about the sleeves, please come back to today’s post (i.e., this page) to offer comments. Thanks.
As for the Cavs, they won last night, so will they stick with the sleeves for Game 6?
Collector’s Corner
By Brinke Guthrie
We start off this week with a real rarity: a Chicago White Sox T-shirt, still in the package! It comes with an iron-on number and letter set. Never seen one for a T-shirt before!
Now for the rest of this week’s picks:
• Check out this 1970s kids-sized Steelers bathrobe from the Sears NFL Team Shop!
• Note the hockey stick hands on this 1970s Chicago Blackhawks alarm clock!
• I like the Eagles helmet design on this pennant (from the Canteen Corp., don’tcha know). The ad says 1970s, but the Iggles only wore that helmet design — green with white wings — in 1969.
• Here’s something you don’t often see: a cap featuring the old NFL shield.
• Yes, you can bet this 1970s Pete Rose watch keeps great time!
• This eBay seller did a little DIY action on this vintage NFL gumball helmet/goalpost kit.
• This 1969 bronze medallion celebrates 50 years of the NFL.
• Here’s 1970s NFL Zippo lighter — brand-new in the box. “It works or we fix it free!” I love a company that stands behind its work.
• And we wrap up this week with a great-looking 1970s Vikings poster, showing the team’s road white uniforms.
And now a word from Phil: In case you missed it over the weekend, Phil is once again doing something very special for Father’s Day. I’ll let him explain:
The idea for our “Dads in Uniform” feature on Father’s Day began in 2013, and really took off in in 2014. last year’s edition was the best yet.
If you’d like to participate, please submit a photo (or photos) of your father (or even grandfather) in uniform, along with a short description of him in that uniform. It doesn’t have to be sports-related — it could be a trade or military uniform. I’ll collect the stories over the coming week and run them this Sunday, which is Father’s Day.
Please send your photo(s) to me at Phil.Hecken@gmail.com, along with a brief description of your dad in his uniform, by this Thursday, June 16th. Thanks!
KRC update: The latest installment of Key Ring Chronicles involves a broken key whose head — now shorn of its shaft — remains on its owner’s ring. Check it out here.
I’m always looking for more KRC submissions. If you have a special item on your key ring with a good story behind it, send your story (no more than 400 words, please) and photo (ideally showing your entire key ring with everything on it, with nothing bleeding out of the frame) here. Thanks.
The Ticker
By Mike Chamernik
Baseball News: Indians 3B Juan Uribe, who suffered a testicular contusion after being hit by a ground ball in the groin the other day, says he doesn’t wear a cup because — wait for it — they don’t have one in his size. … The Royals’ mascot, Sluggerrr, has his own championship ring. … The indie band Phantogram uses a Tigers-style Olde English “P” as its logo (from Andrew Cosentino). … Dodgers OF Andre Ethier still wears his Spring Training cap (from @BesseBoy). … Yankees fans are having issues with accessing mobile tickets to get admission into Yankee Stadium. The team banned print-at-home tickets this season. … The Blue Jays announced their Canada Day jersey. It’s the 14th time they’ll be wearing a special jersey for the holiday and the 13th different design (from Martyn Bailey). … Marlins 1B Justin Bour’s helmet decal isn’t doing so well, what with all that pine tar. .. Back in April, the San Jose Giants honored the memory of the San Bernadino mass-shooting victims with “#SBstrong” jerseys. They’ll wear a similar design tonight as a response to Sunday’s mass shooting in Orlando. Further details here (from David Taub).
NFL News: Broncos defensive coordinator Wade Phillips says his name was misspelled on his Super Bowl ring. … The Lions will have cheerleaders this year. That leaves only six teams are now without a cheer squad: the Packers, Bears, Steelers, Bills, Browns and Giants (Green Bay uses a collegiate team, though). … This story on O.J. Simpson contains an incorrect photo caption. It says that this photo was taken during the game Simpson set the single season rushing record in 1973, but the Bills still wore the standing buffalo logo on their helmets that year (from Keith Curtis). … Great shot of an old Oilers helmet cart.
College Football News: An odd Notre Dame-Auburn hybrid jersey is being sold in Notre Dame’s online bookstore (from Jeff Cox). … North Carolina’s equipment manager shared the team’s new training shoes (from Zack Pearson). … Speaking of UNC, Elena Elms visited the school’s library and snapped some photos of a 1892 football uniform, consisting of quilted pants and a sweater jersey. She also found a “couple of letter-sweaters from 1920s and ’30’s, given out to varsity athletes as members of the Monogram Club,” she says. “The navy one was for a tennis player””GT may be his initials. The white one was for a student who lettered in football.”
Hockey News: The Penguins have completely abandoned Vegas Gold. They wore the color for road games this postseason but wore Pittsburgh Gold at home. They will switch to the latter next season (from @elwreckingball). … No video, but Fred Teigen heard an unconventional ad during Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on Sunday: “There was a guy sitting directly behind one of the benches wearing a neon yellow T-shirt screaming the name and phone number of a bail bonds business,” he says. “Is this a new form of product placement douchebaggery (perhaps paying someone to wear their advertising T-shirt where they will be seen on TV) or is it nothing?” … New unis for the Janesville Jets, a junior hockey club. The blue jersey has a Minnesota Wild feel to it (from Eric Oetken). … Here’s a great graphic showing the jersey worn by every Stanley Cup-winning team at the moment they won the Cup. Further info here.
Basketball News: Here’s a video that shows how the Warriors’ logo and uniforms have evolved since their Philadelphia days in the 1950s (from @roryjayz). … Northwestern will renovate the Welsh-Ryan Arena.
Soccer News: New road jersey for FC Porto, a Portuguese team (from @mike3783). … Venezuela and Mexico went neon-vs.-green last night. Here’s another look (from Zach Wadley and Yellow Away Kit). … New font and number style for the Polish Ekstraklasa (from Ed Å»elaski).
Grab Bag: A Minneapolis bus driver got a tattoo of the Metro Transit bus she drives on her forearm (from Chris Bisbee). … An Australian collector saved a bunch of beautiful old Polish posters, including some great sports-themed ones. … A couple NHRA notes from David Firestone: Top Fuel driver Leah Pritchett worked a stiletto heel into her logo and top fuel driver Dom Lagana wore an outdated suit last weekend. The suit has a patch for Full Throttle Drag Racing Series, which was the series name from 2009 to 2013. “What makes this odd is that he has or had at lease one suit with the current Mello Yellow Drag Racing series logo, as evidenced from this picture in 2015,” David writes. … Portland has a new logo to indicate tip-free restaurants. … Artists and designers named their least-favorite corporate logos of all time. … The beautician who invented the beehive hairstyle has died. … Here’s more on the curling world’s “broomgate” controversy (from Paul Lee).
The bail bonds guy has been sitting in that same spot for Sharks games since the early days of the team. The t-shirts used to be hot pink. An absolute eyesore then, and still is today.
Beat me to it.
Yeah, here’s a story from back in 2011 when the team tried to ban the shirts from the arena
link
Concerning Juan Uribe, just use the same size as A J Pierzynski. No one’s a bigger d*ck than he is.
Lol thanks for a great morning laugh
Was waiting for that, and add another thank you for the laugh.
Proofreading: “(form Paul Lee)”
Somebody can probably fill in the details, but I’m remembering a group of people sitting near the Trail Blazers’ bench for 1990s playoff games wearing hotel chain T-shirts.
Fixed.
While I have no strong feelings on the NBA sleeved jerseys either way, as the one person here who loves the 2011 Islanders black alternates I salute all of those who sent in stories detailing why they like sleeves.
The Cavs have been in the Finals for two years straight and have yet to wear a uniform with “Cleveland” on it — in other words, their standard road uniform. They’ve worn their navy, gold, white, and now black jerseys, all with “Cavs” or, in last night’s case, “C” on it. (Would that it have been a Caveman version!)
The Indians did that in the World Series in 1995 and 1997 when they wore the blue alternate road jerseys instead of the regular grey “Cleveland” road jerseys. Fans pointed out the problem of not showing the city pride and the Indians came up with an alternate blue road jersey with “Cleveland” on it in 1999. But they have never made it back to the Series.
Their wine-colored uniform is my favorite of the current set. Do they play badly wearing them?
Yeah, the Cavs haven’t worn their standard wine road uni much at all since Lebron returned. They wore those awful blue alts or the okay gold alts most of the time on the road.
I don’t care for the black sleeved uni, but I do liked the idea of sleeves unis in general. The problem is the NBA makes most of the designs minimalist (Cavs), ill colored (Bulls gray) or pointlessly muddled with shoulder stripes (Celtics/Magic).
The few designs that do work are either throwbacky (Wizards B’More Pride) or just a badassed color scheme (Charlotte’s Buzz City).
On the Notre Dame/Auburn jersey link, they also have a blue version which is a Notre Dame/Navy mix.
The jerseys also have strangely oriented ND logos. Weird all around.
And the bookstore is blowing its retargeting budget on those of us who click the link to see the Frankenstein jerseys. Got a skyscraper display ad when I came back to Uni Watch after going to the page once.
There is a guy wearing an M&M’s jacket at most White Sox games, right behind home plate. Not sure if he gets paid or just likes attention.
During last nights game somebody mentioned they rather see him pitch than James Shields.
He’s the owner of Windy City Limo, and has been coming to games with that stupid jacket for years to promote the business.
re sleeves: I have a question. It appeared that LeBron’s sleeves may have been altered… they looked wider than his teammates… kind of like Pedro Martinez did when he pitched for the Red Sox. My imagination, or did others notice?
I saw the game. I also thought LeBron’s sleeves were a touch baggy. I was looking for the scissors line, haha, but to no avail.
I’ll concur with a point I read on the sleeve defenders’ comments: NBA sleeves might be ok, but the NBA’s promotion and management of them have been horrible enough that you can’t get rid of the stench. It might be unfair, but so is decrying pullover MLB uniforms because they remind you of sansabelts, or vice versa.
I think with the “screaming bail bondsman” shirt the person who was sitting there possibly works for the business. I’ve heard about people doing this at lower level (OHL had a couple of car dealers buy sections behind the bench for their employees to attend wearing their tshirts)
The “jersey of every Stanley Cup winner” picture is awesome. I especially liked the “Influenza” and “Lockout” years.
The Influenza and Lockout pics are a really nice touch.
I do call foul on sticking a 1919 doctor in modern-style green scrubs, though. It’d be more period-accurate to depict him in a white coat. The surgical mask is fine, however, since it was that very epidemic that helped popularize them.
Needs a reflective mirror on the forehead!
The Mexico / Venezuela green v neon game looks awful in the screen caps, but I thought it looked great on live TV.
Mexico’s traditional Green/White/Red combo is amazing and I’m glad they are back to using it.
Visual note: The two teams both have Adidas kits. Venezuela’s Adidas stripes are positioned on the sleeves. Mexico has the current stripes-along-the-jersey-side, which is a prominent design element on 2016 Adidas kits (see Chelsea, Bayern, etc, 2016-17 kits).
I wonder if Venezuela had the option for the newer design element, or if Adidas has yet to roll it out for them?
Most club teams have the stripes on the sides for the home kits, and stripes on the shoulders for the away.
I did notice both Venezuela’s shirts have stripes on the shoulders, but both of Spain’s have them on the sides. No idea how those decisions are made.
So there are several current templates that Adidas is using right now: link
It looks like for the marquee federations (Spain, Germany, Belgium, Argentina, Mexico) are getting the Condivo 16 template for both home and away. The lower tier teams (Venezuela, Paraguay, N. Ireland, Wales, Ukraine) are getting the non-marquee template with the shoulder stripes.
Also, someone on Twitter pointed out that maroon vs green would’ve been a mess for color blind viewers. But neon yellow vs green is tough (though not impossible) to see, and the “fair” option of both teams wearing their aways (neon yellow vs white) wouldn’t have been much better.
That only leaves us with Mexico in white and Venezuela in maroon, but that makes too much sense.
The Neon/Neon/Neon popped on the TV, while Mexico’s standard scheme was more muted. It was fairly easy to distinguish the teams for me.
Observation from kid watching: Mexico’s green shirt blends in with the grass a bit too much. I find this to be the case with green kits, too. Thankfully they weren’t mono-green. The white shorts and red socks help.
Yeah, it was probably less about a color clash and more about the garishness of the neon combined with the green blending in.
And that explains why Mexico’s toyed with moving away from the green primary kit in the last decade.
If the Cavs are superstitious, there is a chance game 6 could be color on color. Warriors could wear their road blues or throwback yellows.
I like the Stanley Cup team jersey graphic, only one team since the 1994 New York Rangers team has not had black in their uniform, that being the Detroit Red Wings, who have won twice since then.
The Red Wings have won four Stanley Cups since 1994. Also don’t see any black in the Colorado jerseys.
In the numbers and the NOB’s on the white jerseys, but also very obviously in the equipment: breezers, gloves, and helmets.
The Avs also have black on the logo (the puck) and the piping on the burgundy jersey is black and white (the piping on the white jersey is steel blue and silver).
I forgot about the piping slash my mental image wasn’t too sharp, good call. But for colors in logos, that’s a slippery slope, because I don’t care what color feathers Chief Blackhawk wears–the Chicago Blackhawks are red, black, and white, with no other acceptable answers for team colors.
The Avs just need to choose either black or navy as their third color to clean up their set either make the third black instead of navy or replace the black on the home/road with navy,
The evolution of the Golden State Warriors logo is a perfect example of how wrong Marquette University was in abandoning their Warriors nickname. The San Francisco Warriors had the Indian head logo, but that was phased out, and many years later Golden State used a futuristic type of warrior.
Marquette could have easily done the same thing, transitioned to either another idea, or tried a different type of Warrior unrelated to the Native American issue.
PBS logo link is dead.
A couple of thoughts on sleeves:
After decades of watching basketball players in tank tops, sleeved jerseys look strange. What makes them much worse is the gimmicky, retail-wagging-the-dog way they’ve been introduced. When they’re just one of the six jerseys a team has, and they’ve been designed to fit a bland template, they feel wholly unnecessary.
As a couple of the sleeve advocates suggested, it would work better if one team just announced that their unis, home and road, would be sleeved. If they proved to be more functional on the court (or even, as unimportant as I’d like it to be, more popular at the merchandise counter), that could spur a move toward sleeves. At the very least, they’d provide a team an identity.
But when a team comes out for a Finals game in hard-to-read red-on-black that a casual fan would have a difficult time identifying as the Cavaliers, sleeves just seem that much sillier.
when a team comes out for a Finals game in hard-to-read red-on-black that a casual fan would have a difficult time identifying as the Cavaliers, sleeves just seem that much sillier.
The sleeves didn’t bother me…the hard-to-read factor (and the fact that black isn’t a team color) did. Boy, did it ever. I was already in a mood for something else. When I found out they were going to wear those I actually got ticked off. It was the least enjoyable victory I’ve ever enjoyed.
IF they make it to game 7, I really really hope they wear the wine tops with CLEVELAND on them. It would be nice for a city that hasn’t celebrated a title in three days to have their name displayed proudly for the world to see, especially if they win.
Does anyone wonder if we’ll see any kind of American flag hijinks with our MLB teams on Flag Day?
Seems unlikely, at least on a team basis. It’s conceivable that individual players could do something (wristband, compression sleeve, that kind of thing), but I doubt it. For better or worse, MLB has never made a fuss over this holiday, and there’s been no advance buzz of anything being afoot.
June 14 is also the birthday of the US Army. Almost surprising to see MLB teams pass up an opportunity to wear soldier-dress-up camo.
The Sharks actually changed their rules to try to get the owner of Bad Boys Bail Bonds to stop wearing the shirt. I guess it didn’t work.
link
Not a fan of the sleeved unis, but it’s remarkable how much they change the profile of the players on TV. LeBron looked like half his actual size in the upper body – a virtual stick figure.
I do like the sleeveless jerseys with the semi-tight collars and wide “military” shoulders as an alternative to the usual look. I’d have to check to see which teams favor those jerseys the most, but I recall it being kind of a Big East thing at one time. Back when Syracuse et al were still in the conference.
It cracks me up that Bum’s Son actually has the Twitter handle @sonofbum. Though his mentioning Jostens just reminded me of how I lost my high school class ring several years ago…
Bearing residual frustration for the poor results when he was head coach of the Broncos, I’ve long called him “Son of a Bum”. Of course the job he did last year pretty much made up for the crummy 1993-1994 run.
Oooh – the car nerd in me loves the cross-branded key in this week’s KRC. That Pontiac Key is for a Pontiac Vibe – AKA Toyota Matrix. I love seeing the ‘wrong’ logo on a standard manufacturer’s key blank – in this case a GM logo on a Toyota key.
I might just need to submit a photo of mine one of these days…
Regarding the Black sleeved unis, I think Cavs wore them because they just wanted to wear Black as a sign of how serious the were about the elimination game, and the only black unis they have happen to be sleeved.
Most of the team (most people except JR Smith) had on matching black shoes, so Nike was definitely prepared or informed of the unis. I think this isn’t the tail wagging the dog in terms of Nike pushing the Cavs to wear black, but they were probably told after game 4 to have some black shoes ready.
LeBron had a black motif going on in the days leading up to game 5. He wore a black Undertaker t-shirt and all-black Supreme Air Max ’98s to practice and his pre-game press conference.
Will be interesting to see if they wear them again at home in Game 6.
Most of the team (most people except JR Smith) had on matching black shoes, so Nike was definitely prepared or informed of the unis.
Do all of the Cavs wear Nike sneakers?
I highly doubt it’s at all official on a team level, but since both LeBron and Kyrie Irving are Nike poster boys, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some kind of informal deal. Douchebaggery alert, Nike could benefit from as many swooshes at the game as possible, for game shots and the like. Slightly more altruistically and less cynically, I’m sure LeBron and Kyrie have permission to order enough stuff through their Nike accounts to hook up their teammates with anything they want, and I’d bet they do just that.
Shumpert might be the only one who wears Adidas, maybe he was wearing maroon instead of black. Dellavedova is getting a shoe deal with the Chinese brand Peak, but I believe that begins next saeason.
I found this slideshow from February, which doesn’t include all Cavs but confirms most wear Nike.
link
Just some thoughts I had while reading:
“Much better than the sleeved compression shirt under a sleeveless jersey look that some players are going with (e.g., Anthony Davis), in my opinion.”, but those are fore medical reasons.
“I think these sleeved designs allow consumers to purchase jerseys of their favorite NBA player/team without having to look quite as dumb as they’d look wearing the tank tops.” shirseys. And they are cheaper.
“First off, how do people not like these?” I could ask you how can you like that…
“These jerseys take chances. They are different than the boring old standard NBA jersey. Charlotte became “Buzz City,” Houston became “Clutch City” (and before that, something written in Chinese), Portland became (on a jersey) “Rip City,” New Orleans became “NOLA” you don’t need sleeves for that.
BTW, why people feel the need to say “I’m not into NBA/basketball”? Am I missing people saying they don’t like soccer/baseball/football hockey because I’m mainly a basketball guy?
It’s not just you. I notice it too… more than any other sport, people here go out of their way to express their indifference or disdain for basketball.
I think you’re mischaracterizing that, Jim.
In the case of the sleeves, people were specifically asked (by me) about this particular sport. And some of them wanted to respond but felt the need to qualify that — just as a way of full disclosure — by saying that there weren’t big hoops fans.
It’s not surprising that a lot of the pro-sleeves people aren’t big hoops fans. The less of a fan you are, the less of an emotional investment you have in the sport’s history and the more open you are to changes from the norm (like sleeves). So a lot of those people responded — and were honest enough to qualify their responses by admitting that they aren’t big hoops fans.
Similarly, I’m more open to non-traditional uniforms in sports like soccer, rugby, and cricket, because they mean nothing to me emotionally.
I meant more than this particular piece. Going through years of UW comments, it seems as if basketball gets this disclaimer more than the others. Soccer may be a close second.
Juan Uribe…speaks softly but, apparently, carries a big stick.
Or maybe the more you talk about having a big stick, the more you’re actually confirming the opposite…
I don’t remember people getting very excited back when the University of Evansville Aces wore sleeved basketball jerseys… In fact, they were usually skewered for them. I think this shows that it depends WHO is in the jersey, because those Cavs jerseys were absolutely awful.
The link for the ND/Auburn just goes to an ND jersey. Am I missing something or have they changed the picture?
Andre Ethier is likely still wearing his Spring Training hat as he has been rehabbing at Camelback Ranch (the Dodgers Spring training facility), and hasn’t been with the big club all season.
link
Indeed, the LA Times article discusses the Spring Training cap.
— As for that spring training cap, Ethier might just use it until he is able to make his regular-season debut.
“Basically, all I have is what was in my locker on the day I got hurt,” he said. —
#votenats has been added to the dirt behind home plate at Nationals Park. When my dad saw it, he got upset haha but then he added “Why don’t they just put it on their uniforms?” It got me wondering if anyone will ever add small social media phrases to pro uniforms. While traditional fans would hate the clutter, young fans and socially savvy people could be intrigued.
A few years ago the Yankees had #oldtimersday on the caps the returning players wore for the ceremony. Ever since then, I’ve felt like it’s an inevitability.
I’m not a fan, but I’d rather see this rather than the undershirts. IMO it’s BS that players are allowed to wear these compression shirts for “health” reasons. And if you are allowed to wear these, then they should match the team jersey color.
I have a bigger problem with the black uniforms, when black isn’t an official color of the team. Especially when a team has navy blue as one of their colors. If you want to wear black, then add this color as an official color. I know some consider black as a non-color, like white, but I disagree. White is primarily used as a contrasting uniform for home teams, or as a “color” used for names, numbers, or trim. And if it is a color, then just add white as an official color to all teams. I believe most teams who only have one color, like Nebraska, lists white as an official team color.
Broomgate in Curling? I thought Curling was an excuse to pass the time while one keeps a keg of beer on ice in a hockey rink…
Vegas all but confirmed for 31st NHL team! Sorry Wings fans hoping to shuffle back west with another east city getting a team (like other finalist Quebec City)
Interesting the timing with the Penguins no longer using Vegas gold.
I would say if you are a betting man, the odds are good that the Las Vegas Black Knights may wear their own variation black and Vegas gold.
I think I agree with the opinion expressed above to offer two uniforms like soccer, where players on the same team can have long and short sleeved jerseys.
ESPN did a segment last night about the sleeved jersey. An insider in the Cavs organization took “all 40 jerseys” to a seamstress and had them altered, especially LeBron’s jersey to make it fit more like a “quarterback’s jersey.”
Officially launching tomorrow, but available now for anyone reading this: the Uni Watch T-Shirt Club’s basketball design. We have two separate versions — home and road — both of which are available in four different colors and two different styles.
Home:
link
Road:
link
I like the sleeved NBA look for one reason – I have NO desire to see the sweaty armpits (including deodorant marks, pit hair, etc.) of 6’8″ 250 lb men. Just find some kind of sleeved jersey that is comfy and sleeve ’em up!
I can see the arguments for why people like the sleeved jerseys, but my biggest problem with them is that, since we already know the NBA plans to pimp their brands out for spare cash, adding sleeves gives them more room to plaster with ads.
This is a common argument, but it’s probably misguided. The NBA plans to put ads on the upper-left chest, and that makes sense, because there’ll be a clear view of that spot whenever a player steps to the free throw line. That is literally the money shot.
TV shots won’t routinely provide good views of the sleeves. Not a good exposure point, and therefore not a good candidate for ads.
Several pro-sleeves folks made comments about Utah. “It’s more like a soccer jersey!” They said. I agree. That uni set (kit) is sharp. But what’s the biggest feature of soccer kits ?!? FULL CHEST ADS! I can’t help but think that this had something to do with the fact that tank tops have limited ad space. The shoulders are too narrow and too busy to support a full team logo (badge) so you can’t move it from the chest to mKe to for the full chest ad. No sleeves means no sleeve “sponsors.” All of this (bland, sleeved templates league wide to prepare the public for a visual shift) feels like a preemptive strike for makingbasketball unis like the soccer unis they wish they were: billboards for corporations that make the teams millions of dollars per year, and millions more on merchandising because you wouldn’t want to wear last year’s “sponsor.”
Yuck.