October 28, 2007

I cannot in good conscience vote for the Habs, but the Blackhawks logo... euch.

You know who has the best jerseys in the NHL? The Phoenix Coyotes. It's one color, the logo is strong, the lettering and number fonts are fantastic, it would look good in any sport, in any league, anywhere in the world. (Shame about the team wearing them, but you can't have everything.)

(I was at the NHL store in Midtown today, and I came very close to buying a Montreal Maroons jersey. That was a good looking sweater. Once my poverty situation clears itself up, I may go back and follow through. Not that that has anything to do with this. Just thought I'd share.)

posted by chicobangs at 9:56 PM CDT on October 28

I think I'm partial to the Habs shirt, but really just can't get over the fact that the Wings lost to the Stars in the first round. Maybe the old North Stars shirt with the N* logo, but not the current shirt.

Not to derail the thread, but anyone want to volunteer their most regrettable hockey shirt purchase? I'm going to have to go with a Slava Kozlov Wings jersey purchased a season or two before he got traded to Buffalo. It got put in a goodwill bin in Cambridge, MA some years later, so if you see some homeless dude with a Kozlov Red Wings jersey in Cambridge (not necessarily unlikely considering all the commie sympathizers there), there's a large chance I'm the responsible party.

After that purchase, I came to the decision that the only appropriate lettered jerseys to get are:

1) Retired players (no danger of trade there);

2) Current players unlikely to be traded or to leave as free agents (Yzerman for much of his career would have been an example, someone like Albert Pujols may fit in this category in a different sport now -- but note that this is much more difficult in hockey now with the salary cap and more player moves); or

3) Something delightfully goofy or ironic or that communicates an insider joke to select on-lookers (like the way my Bob Probert jersey says "What are you looking at, jackass? Wanna go in the bathroom and snort some blow?")

posted by holden at 10:58 PM CDT on October 28

SDD, the location is great. It's almost across the street from Rockefeller Center, and there's plenty of foot traffic. What it doesn't have is a huge amount of merchandise yet. All teams are represented, but in comparison to (just frex) the NBA store on 5th Avenue, it's not quite there yet. I hope they'll be loading new stuff in and filling the racks and space up over the next couple of months. I mean, a third of the store is devoted to Reebok material that has nothing to do with the NHL, and there's a Starbucks in the back. A friggin' Starbucks. Partitioned-off, even, not as part of the store. That has to change.

Their vintage and defunct-team section was pretty good, though. Aside from the Maroons jersey, I was sorely tempted by a Cleveland Barons t-shirt, and there was a mess of Pittsburgh Pirates, Detroit Cougars and Toronto St. Pats stuff as well. It's tough. They'll have to figure it out. The space is big enough, but it's not big. Maybe they can take over next door, or add a second floor downstairs, or something.

I'll go back for pics. You know, I'm free tomorrow afternoon. I could go down there in my SpoFi t-shirt, even though it's the tennis one. (I have three jerseys, none of them numbered, so that's an option as well.)

posted by chicobangs at 11:36 PM CDT on October 28

Not yet, but again, there's room if they wanted to go there, and the demand I think would follow. (I for one would wear a Metallurg Magnitogorsk cap until it disintegrated into its component alloys.)

(To continue the comparison, I wonder if one could get, say, any Maccabi Tel Aviv merch at the NBA store?)

posted by chicobangs at 11:47 PM CDT on October 28

Take a look at www.sportslogos.net to see the evolution of logos in all sports. They have the original in most cases and the major changes up to how it looks today. I promise a lot of "wows." Check your University for some laughs too.

Hope someone can link this to make it easier.

posted by gfinsf at 7:19 AM CDT on October 29

That's easy, the Game Worn Blackhawk "Rookie Savard" Home Sweater now in the hands of my ex........

sdd -- is there anything hockey-related your ex-wife didn't get? Man, that's just harsh to lose the season tix and the Savard sweater.

posted by holden at 10:12 AM CDT on October 29

I'm now not free this afternoon. But this week sometime. I'll let you know.

posted by chicobangs at 10:21 AM CDT on October 29

From the article (about the Red Wings logo)

Too plain. It looks like a wing on a wheel. (The guy: I told her that it's supposed to be like that). Oh, that's kind of creative. But it has nothing to do with a Red Wing. What is a Red Wing anyway?

Correct me if I'm wrong but a logo of a red, winged wheel has much more than nothing to do with a Red Wing.

posted by Ying Yang Mafia at 2:07 PM CDT on October 29

Toronto lost to Vancouver? The classic Leaf falls to Shamu? Riiiiiiight.

At least they didn't have to compete against the jersey that looks like a technicolour vomit streak.

posted by grum@work at 7:33 PM CDT on October 29

I would have to say my vote is for the 'Hawks. Been telling my friends for years it is the best uni in sport. If I were running this bracket it would be down to the 'Hawks and Leafs. The Final Four would have had Montreal and Detroit . Across all sports:
1. Blackhawks
2. Yankees (Home and Road) classic
3.Maple Leafs
4. Penn State
5. Dallas Cowboys
Enough from me for now.

posted by chuck'n'duck at 9:59 PM CDT on October 29

Where are all the PC freaks condemning the Blackhawks crest? Just wondering.

I have thought about this myself, if in slightly different terms. It is notable that the Blackhawks are absent from many discussions on these matters (at least in my experience). I have to think that it's largely due to some combination of the following:

(a) they don't have a team name that is an ethnic slur (e.g., Redskins) and they have a regularly-used nickname ('Hawks) that doesn't even draw attention to the Native American connection;

(b) they don't use a depiction of their mascot on their gear that plays to racial stereotypes (e.g., Chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians);

(c) they don't have a history of fans doing the tomahawk chop or otherwise playing off of the Indian theme (e.g., Atlanta Braves, Florida State Seminoles);

(d) hockey is not really susceptible to suited mascots running around the playing surface dressed in warpaint (e.g., Chief Illiniwek at U of I), riding a horse with a spear (e.g., the Florida Seminoles mascot), or doing other things that perpetuate stereotypes about Native Americans; and

(e) they don't use "fighting" (or some type of war-like word) in the name and don't suggest a warring image of Chief Black Hawk in the depiction on the sweater (I suppose the instruments on the shoulder patch are probably tomahawks, but they could just as easily be primitive hammers, right?).

There is also perhaps a better case to be made for the Blackhawks than many other teams that the team's choice of name was meant to honor a certain tribe/individual. From the team's wikipedia page:

McLaughlin had been a commander with the 333rd Machine Gun Battalion of the 86th Infantry Division during World War I. This Division was nicknamed the "Blackhawk Division", after a Native American of the Sauk nation, Chief Black Hawk, who was a prominent figure in the history of Illinois. McLaughlin evidently named the hockey team in honour of the military unit, making it one of many sports team names using Native Americans as icons.

posted by holden at 12:24 PM CDT on October 30

The chicks comments on the Flyers' logo are pretty funny actually...

I don't even know what that symbol is. It's not flying, it's not a P; it's a meaningless circle. It's a circle with a mullet.

You're saying a circle with a mullet is meaningless? You've got some nerve!

posted by tommytrump at 4:18 PM CDT on October 30