I just spoke with Nate Ewell about the timeframe for the change. The Caps made the request some time ago, because the first replacement sweaters arrived in time for Brian Pothier to try one out at Carolina on November 30. Pothier’s thumb went up that night, and two weeks later a full compliment of sweaters arrived. I asked Nate if he’d been present at the unanimous vote, the one where not a single Cap opted to retain the faddish faux sweater. He said he hadn’t been. I wanted to know if in executing the vote the players’ arms shot up so fast in support of the motion that some injured their shoulders — is this what actually happened with Michael Nylander? — or if instead they merely screamed their support for dumping the dress dreck. I also asked Nate who paid for the changes.

“I don’t know whether the league or Reebok does,” he told me, “but we don’t.”

I am also thinking about the more than 6,600 men and women, boy and girls, who signed an online petition last summer to protest Gary Bettman’s profaning of hockey’s iconic look. We at OFB signed it as soon as we found out about it, provided updates and encouragement for the tradition-honoring, and took some ridicule for not genuflecting before the altar of vulgar corporate greed. Sometimes, though, David slays Goliath.

I think as punishment, Commissioner Bettman should be required, for the remainder of his tenure, to attend those swanky, offseason Board of Governors meetings — the ones that are always held in tropical temps — outfitted the entire time in a Reebok original sweat chamber. He should have to golf out under hot desert suns with the Governors in one.

5:50 p.m.: An NHL off-ice official wearing his snazzy navy blue blazer approached me at dinner and asked if he could still secure two tickets to Tuesday night’s OFB Night at the Movies. I got a kick out of that. So he’s coming, and if you haven’t signed up yet, you should as well.

6:50 p.m.: Miss New Jersey is back blogging tonight. So far, no Christmas card, no baked gingerbread goodies from her.

7:05 p.m.: The lower bowl tonight is a lot more filled than it was for either New Jersey Monday or the Rangers on Wednesday. So too is the upper bowl. It’s good to see.

7:20-ish p.m.: It’s so feel-good here at Verizon Center this week that a pair of lovebirds pledged their future lives together in high definition in a cleverly planned out surprise for the future bride. She was playing that game of watch the fast-moving puck on the big brilliant center-ice screen, and when she identified the correct puck, instead of the screen saying “You Win!”, it said, “Will you marry me?” Just then her boyfriend moved in to the screen shot and fell to one knee. Being proposed to in such a romantic setting, the young woman had the good sense to answer affirmatively. Briefly I pondered such an arrangement between Miss New Jersey and me. Continue reading ›

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Bruce Boudreau, Knee-Jerk, Michael Nylander, Nate Ewell, Olaf Kolzig, Reebok, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (28)

Summer of Change, Autumn of Return?

By Gustafsson
Friday, December 14, 2007

Washington Capitals Sweater - WhiteBuried in Wednesday’s news of the three-game home winning streak, Joe Motzko’s offensive explosion, and Mike Green’s overtime winner was this gem of a nugget:

Autumn Sweaters – Given the choice to return to using the same fabric that was used in hockey sweaters prior to this season rather than the ultra-hyped “uniform systems” that were introduced league-wide prior to this season, every single member of the Caps went with last year’s fabric. Wednesday night marked the first time the new (old) sweater fabric was made available, and every member of the Caps had the new model sweater with the old fabric hanging in his locker prior to the game.

Filed in Reebok, Sweaters, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (8)

Canes Now 9% Slower?

By Gustafsson
Wednesday, November 21, 2007

An article in The News & Observer has revealed that a number of Hurricanes, including Glen Wesley, have switched their sweaters, but not their teams. After hearing complaints from the four corners of the NHL Earth, Reebok is now offering alternate versions of the Rbk Edge.

Carolina Hurricane SweaterThe Hurricanes switched two games ago to the modified jerseys, which feature a looser fit on the arms, more air-knit fabric and less of the “bead-away” water repellency technology touted by Reebok.

“I think there were enough complaints league-wide that obviously there was a noticeable difference,” Wesley said Tuesday. “So far, it’s been a good change.”

Touting the company line, president of Reebok’s Sports Licensed Division David Baxter stated that the “system” complaints have not been unanimous.

“Many NHL players are satisfied with the current Rbk Edge jersey, but since the start of the season, some have expressed concern about the jersey’s moisture management and durability.”

It may be hard to tell who has made the switch as the necklines are the same with the same overall cut.

“I think everyone likes the new ones a lot better,” Carolina center Matt Cullen said. “It was just funny to go back to the old material, and it feels better.”

Now we know that Cullen and Wesley will be somewhere between one and nine percent slower. I’ll look out for others skating slower on Saturday night.
Thanks to Kukla’s Korner for the assist.

Filed in Carolina Hurricanes, Reebok, Sweaters| Permalink| Comments (5)

In Hockey, It’s All in the Family

By pucksandbooks
Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Cup'pa JoeQuality human beings comprise the vast majority of the enrollment for the great game of hockey, and so when the giants within it are called upon to offer reflections on their journeys within the game, we shouldn’t be surprised at the quality they offer in that endeavor. It’s impossible to watch the NHL’s Hall of Fame Induction ceremony and not be persuaded that the humility, character, and most particularly the connection to family that hockey players demonstrate and articulate is unrivaled in the landscape of professional sports. Baseball’s induction ceremony this past summer, by virtue of the character of its principal inductees Gwynn and Ripken, seemed to take a step back in time and grace and generate a renewal of honor for a sport badly in need of it. But the NHL, with its highest honor event every November, has it every year.

The billing for Monday night’s ceremony in Toronto was a legends’ list of inductees, the best class ever, but listening to their tales of rising within dedicated families and their unwavering support structures — ones that are extended and amplified within the larger hockey family itself — one felt that this event, seemingly a spectacle for the rare-talent individual, was actually every bit as much an exhibition for the family unit that serves as the perpetual wellspring of greatness in this game.

The cameras last night delivered to us footage of the excellence of the inductees on the ice; their poise and emotion while reflecting on their honor on stage; but also regular glimpses of their families seated nearby and poetic testimonials from their sons as to their invaluable influence. All seemed interrelated and intertwined.

And in point of fact it is. The Hockey Hall of Fame has among its exhibits a simple home’s family room circa 1950 within which family members are gathered around a broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada. It also has a station wagon honoring the pre-dawn pilgrimages to the rink, played out over years through the hardships of Canadian winter, conducted as devoted ritual.

A hockey player’s developmental journey requires nothing short of an all-out commitment of time and resources from families. They arise on weekdays with newspaper delivery trucks to make pre-school practices in frigid blackness. They become road warriors of the winter weekend to travel to games and tournaments, and in 90 percent of Canada and the upper Midwest, that’s often desolate and dangerous travel.

Becoming a hockey player is rarely a fleeting, half-hearted venture. Perhaps that’s why this sport is played with so much heart.

Al MacInnis was the first honoree last night to acknowledge the role of family in his greatness, and as the first-ever Nova Scotian to be enshrined (incredible, that), he made sure that his extended family members in Port Hood knew of their role in his career. They had a place in the Hall of Fame, too, he said.

It was heartening to hear Scott Stevens testify to the impact he felt from his eight years in the Washington Capitals’ family. He thanked David Poile and Bryan Murray from management, and his defensive partner Brian Engblom. He characterized his tenure in town as “a period of growth” and alluded to being a part of the first Capitals’ team to qualify for the postseason — the first of seven straight such in D.C. he was a part of. And he thanked Capitals’ fans for their support.

The tear machine that is Mark Messier of course had ample reflections on the role of family in his career. He had ample reflections period, obliterating the prescribed four minutes for remarks with rambling incoherence that nearly outlasted his career. What if he’d been wearing a tuxedo system designed by Reebok amid all that sobbing?

Messier’s frequent pregnancy-long pauses allowed me to rememeber that at one time his family was reputed to have included Madonna. I rather delight in hockey’s figures of towering talent, their origins in towns of hundreds, their modesty unmatched in or out of professional sports, dalliance-ing with American starlet strumpets. That of course is the exception to the more mundane extension of family in this sport. Hockey players never forget their roots, or lose their attachment to them.

Filed in Baseball, Hockey, Hockey Heroes, Hockey Night in Canada, Hockey Rinks, Hockey Weather, Morning cup-a-joe, Old Time Hockey, Other Sports, Reebok, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (2)

Home Whites in Hawkland

By pucksandbooks
Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Does anybody know the circumstances for Chicago wearing white uniform systems at home against Columbus tonight? I hadn’t seen another club do that this season. To these eyes it’s a refreshing and welcome return to what seems normal.

Filed in Chicago Blackhawks, Reebok, Sweaters| Permalink| Comments (13)

Reebok Feelin’ the Heat

By pucksandbooks
Friday, November 2, 2007

I was a bit young to recall the Chinese water torture-like progress made by the media against the Nixon administration during Watergate, but Redford and Hoffman in ‘All the President’s Men’ suggested a painstakingly patient approach to building the Post’s evidence-based claims against Nixon’s henchmen. North American water torture might be an apt description of what many NHLers are enduring these days dressed in Reebok’s equipment-ruining uniform systems. And like Watergate, it may be many, many months before justice is utlimately served. This from yesterday’s Globe and Mail:

“Just weeks after introducing its much-vaunted, sleek new NHL uniforms, Reebok is making modifications to try to mollify a growing number of players who have complained about the discomfort they’re experiencing from the scientifically-designed fabric.”

Some who are coming forward to the press with damning evidence (in dark garages?) are demanding their identities be protected:

“Obviously, the uniforms don’t get rid of the sweat,” said one U.S. hockey equipment distributor who has been hearing complaints from players and trainers. “It just goes right down into the gloves, the pants, the shin pads and the skates.”

And:

“Industry sources say the company did not do enough testing under game conditions.

“The material itself is not performing the way they originally designed,” one industry insider said. “There was not enough due diligence performed on this material prior to putting these uniforms on the entire league.”

Both Reebok and the NHL this week dispatched PR apologists to try and stem the mounting damage: “Both the league and Reebok insist the new jerseys are here to stay,” the Globe and Mail claimed. Hockey fans across the continent have got to know that the league’s administrator and corporate partners are not crooks.

The Globe continues: “Besides excess sweating, other complaints have focused on the fact they appear to rip more easily. And some players don’t like the tighter fit, which they find more restrictive.”

Capitals’ forwards in particular appear restricted in their shooting motions.

Filed in Gary Bettman, Media, National Hockey League, Print, Reebok, Sweaters, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (1)

Ovechkin: “I Go Through Two Pairs of Gloves a Period”

By pucksandbooks
Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Once upon a time, the heart of the uniform system madness-fiasco perpetrated by Reebok was the absence on the part of the manufacturer of any sense that hockey, with its sweater, had always had a novel connection between player and fan. By that I mean, those colors arranged in a particular style, and housed in an Everyman’s comfort, were a novelty in all of sport, and cherished by generations of North Americans. Whatever value brought about by the company’s fashion re-engineering — and that’s seriously under dispute these days — Reebok aptly demonstrated that it never valued the wishes and allegiances of the hockey fan. Reebok just doesn’t care.

But today the discussion is far more serious than fan preferences or trashing a significant tradition. The new jerseys are destroying gloves. The new socks are destroying skates. Other than that, Reebok’s uniform system is just dandy. Last week we noted the grave dissatisfaction with them on the part of the Boston Bruins. An executive with the Edmonton Oilers more or less told a journalist in town that he wouldn’t let any child of his be caught dead in the Oilers’ new look. And last weekend, Dmitry Chesnokov of Sovetsky Sport and I solicited the opinions on the new unis of the Caps’ trio of Russians — Ovechkin, Kozlov, and Semin.

What they told us wasn’t altogether surprising, as soaking evidence mounts across the league. Still, as indictments go, theirs was sober, frank, and unsparing.CCM Gloves

“Yes, I have a problem with my gloves,” Ovechkin told us. “They become extremely wet. I go through two pairs of gloves per period.”

Chesnokov, who is reporting on this matter for his Russian newspaper and granted us access to the players’ reflections, had to ask Ovechkin again if he really meant two pairs per period. “Yes, two pairs per period,” he responded.

One of the reasons hockey trainers go to great lengths to get gear dry as soon as possible is to prevent player illness. Another is to prevent infection. Fingers in wet gloves are particularly susceptible to infections, and if not treated promptly, serious, even life-threatening complications can arise.

Chesnokov then inquired of Viktor Kozlov. “At first I explained that the Boston Bruins were not happy with their uniforms and wanted to perhaps revert to the old uniforms,” Chesnokov told me. ”I asked Kozlov whether the Caps and he in particular had any problems with the uniforms. Kozlov said: “I don’t know, no one told us anything. But what do you mean ‘problems’ ?” I started to explain it to him: “Moisture is kept on the body and drips down to . . . ” At this point he interrupted me and said “to the skates!” Actually I wanted to say the gloves, but Viktor seems to have problems with water in his skates.”

“Yeah! Yeah, I think I have the same problem!” Kozlov told Chesnokov. “Actually, I have been noticing a lot of water in my skates. But I had no idea why! Maybe this is the reason! It makes sense if other players have the same problem.”

Chesnokov then thanked him for the interview, and Kozlov said, “No, thank you for enlightening me! It all makes sense now.”

It would appear that Reebok is being less than forthcoming with the league’s players about the equipment conditions that have settled in in the league’s opening month. Or, some certainly aren’t getting word of any acknowledgment.

By last weekend Semin hadn’t skated in three full games with the Caps this season, and he didn’t express concern with the equipment. “I just focus on playing,” he said, but he did acknowledge that players didn’t complain about the “old” gear. Turns out that last weekend he also had something else on his mind — a new contract with the Caps.

“I like it here because all of my friends are here,” he told us. “I am not the kind of person who likes to move to different places. I like my teammates, the management, and the fact that we are a young team.”

Filed in Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, National Hockey League, Reebok, Sweaters, Viktor Kozlov, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (15)

“They look, uh, a little plain”

By Gustafsson
Monday, October 29, 2007

The headline is a quote from Edmonton Oilers president Cal Nichols in an article in yesterday’s Edmonton Sun. Sports columnist Terry Jones devoted his Sunday offering to “the total travesty of the Edmonton Oilers ‘pyjamas‘,” the road whites in particular.Oilers
Here’s more from the team president:

“I have to be careful here. Reebok paid a lot of money,” [Nichols] said of the project bringing the new uniforms to teams around the league and the obvious NHL memo to everybody in the game that they all must love them.

I told Nichols I was writing about the awful new Oilers silks.

“I think that would be a good article to write,” he said. “But just put me down for saying I liked our old uniforms. I don’t want to sound like an old stick-in-the-mud who can’t go contemporary.”

You can be sure the Oilers’ faithful are a little more than underwhelmed. In his column, Jones suggests that the reader should Google “Oilers” and “uniforms” where you’ll find comments such as

“Ice Capades awful!“

“I like the traditional horizontal stripes at the bottom of the old jersey.“

“Why mess with tradition?“

“Butt ugly. It looks like someone who hates the Oilers designed this one.“

Apparently, there was a method to the madness.

“We wanted change. A lot of things motivated us to look at change. We have a new locker room. A new team. We saw it as rejuvenation. A breath of fresh air,” said [Oilers' CEO Patrick] LaForge.

“It was meant to be a sort of a Baltimore Ravens look,” he said.

So how do you get your stripe back?

“We can do it,” says LaForge. “But not until 2009-2010.”

A tap of the stick on the ice to Kukla’s Korner for the primary assist.

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Alternate Jerseys

By Gustafsson
Saturday, October 27, 2007

A report in the Boston Herald is only partially correct. The Globe and Mail ran the following statement by Reebok, which in part reads:

Rbk

After working with NHL players, teams, and equipment managers to gather feedback on the Rbk Edge uniform system, Reebok has decided to provide an alternative jersey to the players who request it.

Many NHL players are satisfied with the current Rbk Edge jersey, but since the start of the season we have received player feedback about the jersey’s moisture management and durability. Based on this feedback, Reebok will provide players with the option to wear a version with slight sizing and fabrication adjustments.

In the alternate version, one fabric has been replaced with an air-knit fabric and the bead-away water repellency technology has been removed. Both jerseys will continue to offer up to four performance materials, including Reebok’s PlayDry moisture-wicking technology and a stretch mesh for increased range of motion and ventilation.

There will be no visual difference between the jerseys. The newly designed comfort necklines, jersey cut lines, anatomical fit and team designs will remain identical. Retail versions of the jersey also will remain unchanged.

Filed in Reebok, Sweaters| Permalink| Comments (1)

Update: Reebok’s Designer Duds Are Donesy

By pucksandbooks
Friday, October 26, 2007

A tip of the hat to Mr. Eric McErlain, he of Off Wing Opinion, who just excitedly rushed into my office to inform me that the Boston Bruins have returned the entirety of their uniform systems to Reebok, because Bs’ players are drowning and suffering heat stroke in them, and Reebok is agreeing to replacing the entirety of the uniforms, made . . . of the old material.

(Eric and I actually man-hugged over the news.)

Well done, Commissioner Bettman, well done indeed. That experiment sure lasted a long time. NHL Commissioners don’t quite get libraries like U.S. Presidents do, but Bettman needs an Area 51-type hanger into which can be stored scores of Glo-pucks and now Reebok uniform systems.

The Bruins, friends, will be skating soon in those good old fashioned, lovely loose hockey sweaters. Bank on it.

The news broke buried in a story in yesterday’s Boston Herald. Take a lookey:

“According to sources in the B’s dressing room, Reebok has been unable to correct problems with the new jerseys introduced this season across the NHL and will replace them at the company’s expense with new uniforms made of the old materials.

“Players have complained since training camp that the new jerseys, which are supposed to be lighter and allow sweat to evaporate out through the shirts, have instead trapped water inside and gotten heavier. . . “

Now then. The Bruins most assuredly will not be the only team returning its players to comfort. But what will Reebok do for replacement uniforms for teams — such as the Caps — who performed wholesale redesigns predicated on the Reebok uniform system at least making it to Halloween? You may have noticed: The Caps’ new crest and nameplates are sized for smaller, tighter sweaters. This is going to get real interesting.

As is Reebok’s next shareholders’ meeting.

Update: After tonight’s game I had a chance to listen in on the opinions of three very prominent Washington Capitals about the conditions they’re enduring because of Reebok’s uniform system. You will find them interesting, I promise. Will be publishing them later this weekend.

Filed in Boston Bruins, Gary Bettman, National Hockey League, Reebok, Sweaters, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (6)

Is Sidney Crosby the New E.F. Hutton?

By Gustafsson
Friday, October 5, 2007

“When E. F. Hutton talks, people listen.“

Sidney Crosby may have never heard that famous catch phrase since E.F. Hutton’s last commercials were right around the time of his birth. However, Sidney Crosby is talking, and Reebok is listening. Crosby is talking about the complaints of waterlogged equipment the new RBK Edge “uniform system” has caused. From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Reebok officials have tweaked the jerseys of their new Edge uniforms being used across the NHL this season, in part because Penguins captain Sidney Crosby spoke with company officials and expressed some concerns.

Crosby, who has endorsement deals with Reebok, conveyed his and his teammates’ problem with the water-resistant material, which traps perspiration and forces it to run down and pool in players’ gloves and skates.

Apparently, the two plus years Reebok had the “system” in development was not enough. Perhaps there was too much wind tunnel testing and not enough on ice game testing?

Darren Dreger at TSN is reporting that Reebok has developed a treatment to allow sweat to escape the “system” while keeping them reasonably dry. Well, that was quick. Were the Reebok engineers the same guys that fixed the air scrubbers on Apollo 13 some thirty-seven years ago?

It seems to us at OFB that Reebok and the league has 87 days or so to fix the problem. In 87 days, #87 will playing at an outdoor game in Buffalo where waterlogged gloves and skates in average temperatures of 24 degrees could lead to a serious case of pneumonia. Two teams unable to compete due to illness? New York/Toronto, we have a problem.

Thanks to Sean at PopJocks.com for the assist.

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Reebok’s New Uniform System: Drowning in Disaster

By The OFB Team
Monday, September 24, 2007

An ocean of perspirationNHL players and equipment managers might have tolerated their new unforms being unsightly relative to their predecessors, but what if they not only don’t work as marketed (repelling moisture, making players more comfortable) but actually make player performance worse? That would appear to be precisely the case. Last week’s Pittsburgh Post Gazette alerted its readers to the disconcerting development that some Penguins have nearly drowned while dressed in Reebok’s new threads.

“They do what they were designed to do, as far as repelling the water,” defenseman Mark Eaton said. “But we’ve found, the last three or four days of wearing them, that, when the water’s repelled, it has nowhere to go but into your skates and gloves.”

Water that is repelled has to go somewhere. Apparently it’s all going from uniform tops into players gloves, and from the form-fitting socks directly down into players’ boots. “By the end of the second [period] or the start of the third, your skates are sloshing around and you have to change your gloves because they’re [soaked],” Eaton added.

Here’s Gary Roberts’ take:

“My hands are soaked, my feet are soaked,” he said. “I feel like it’s May, in the playoffs, I’m sweating so much. That seems to be a complaint with a lot of guys.”

Mark Recchi also isn’t being quiet about the new mess. He noted that the remarkable amount of moisture now inundating players’ skates is likely to lead to their breaking down sooner, requiring replacement. Elite boots commonly worn by NHLers cost more than $500 a pair.

“Recchi suggested that, although some complications caused by the new sweaters will be evident immediately — like how some players will have to alter their in-game routines to deal with unduly wet equipment — others might not be apparent for a while.

“My gloves never got soaked like [they do now],” he said. “They’re literally drenched by the end of an hour[-long] practice.

“I’m going to have to have two pairs of gloves ready [for games]. I’ve never done that. I’ve always used one pair a game. Some guys are used to that, but that’s going to be different. Maybe I’ll have to change my socks between periods, which I don’t like doing. You start sloshing.

“I think you’ll see skates break down quicker because of it; they’ll absorb more [perspiration], because it’s all going down into your skate and your socks.”

Back in the good ‘ole days of tradition, hockey equipment managers had heavy lifting to do at games’ end each night loading and hauling wet gear from arena to bus to airport back to arenas in new cities — in the middle of the night. So from the sounds of things this fall, Reebok has actually managed to make the jobs of some of the hardest working men in hockey harder. If Mark Recchi’s right, equipment guys could soon be faced with a doubling of their gear packing gigs each night. Additionally, the increase in moisture about gear and rooms is an increased health risk to the players, especially in winter.

Filed in Gary Bettman, Morning cup-a-joe, National Hockey League, Prospects, Reebok, Sweaters, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (9)

Change is Coming: 22 June 2007

By Gustafsson
Monday, April 23, 2007
Change is Coming

Per the Washington Capitals:

The Washington Capitals will unveil their new uniforms at a special Draft Day Party on Friday, June 22, held at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington, Va. The event will be held in conjunction with the live broadcast on Versus of the first round of the 2007 NHL Entry Draft, which takes place that evening in Columbus, Ohio.

The new uniforms will mark a return to a red, white and blue color scheme — the colors the Capitals wore from their first season in 1974-75 through 1994-95. The Capitals are the first team in the NHL to announce their plans to unveil their new uniforms, which are produced by Reebok and feature the Rbk EDGE Uniform System technology that was introduced at the 2007 NHL All-Star Game in Dallas. The Capitals are the first team planning to have their new uniforms on hand at the NHL Entry Draft.”

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Out with the New Look, Back in with the Beloved Old

By pucksandbooks
Tuesday, March 27, 2007

cupajoe.jpegFans of every team sport enjoy owning and wearing the uniforms of their heroes, but the relationship between the hockey fan and the sport’s sweater is distinctive in the sporting landscape. We’ve documented this in some detail at OFB, and so to us the news yesterday of the Caps overhauling their look for next season struck us as significant indeed. It is not of course on the order of a major trade or free agent acquisition or management shakeup, but it is not inconsequential either. And it might not be uninteresting to examine why.

I was able to find a YouTube link to the entire “Hockey Falls” series of superbly amusing television commercials that ran during ESPN’s coverage of the NHL years back, and two things stood out to me about the litany of spots. Every one featured the puck-crazed enthusiasts in their hockey sweaters, in every setting at every hour. And one spot, titled “April,” magnificently illuminates the sweater’s enduring lure for its owner. It takes place over a bar’s bubble hockey game and is predicated on an ex-girlfriend presenting herself and her new boyfriend before her jilted sweatered mullet, to flaunt her new dalliance.

“That’s just wrong,” the mulleted friend tells his stunned and sullen playing partner.

“And he’s wearing my sweater, too,” replies the cross-checked to the heart . . . “That’s really wrong.”

It would be really wrong, in my judgment, if the Caps didn’t get their new look really right. I’m pretty sure that last summer the Ducks didn’t (although admittedly they had nowhere to go but up with their look), and I know with their BuffaSlug the Sabres didn’t, either. I hope the fashion bar set by Caps’ management is considerably higher.

You see, we in hockey D.C. have had so little to be fantastically enthusiastic about over the past 30-plus years. Spasms of victory and achievement book-ended and blunted most often by enormous struggle. With the present darkness yielding to a new and far more promising dawn, it would be wonderful if Hockey Falls, Nation’s Capital style, could march into Verizon Center next autumn outfitted in fresh new threads that were the talk of the entire league. And perhaps beyond.

When enemey fans whose teams are outfitted in the finest, Original Six look roam our arena concourse they are entitled to a fashion haughtiness that we as Caps’ fans, at long last, I think deserve. It’s funny how what was once taken for granted as moderately good looking sports fashion (the original Caps’ and Bullets’ jerseys) regain popularity when juxtaposed by forgettable replacements. Clearly the Caps can’t and won’t return all the way back to their original look, but I hope the redesign captures much of what was good about it.

But what specifically drives the profound attachment a puckhead has with his team’s and or favorite players’ sweaters? I’d love to hear from OFB readers their own rationale for the size and quality of the collected hockey garb they possess — to learn of the significance the collection has for them. I know that among the four of us at OFB we could fill a First Lady’s closet with game worns, practice editions, and novelty sweaters (I’m ever angling for OrderedChaos’ Guinness sweater).

I can think of two prime motivations fueling the enduring appeal of the hockey sweater. The most primal is what I think is a shared yearning to be visually associated with the rugged warrior ethos and culture of our great game. In wearing a Scott Stevens’ sweater, for instance, a puckhead is clearly expressing his appreciation for the future Hall of Famer’s brutal bravado.

But I think it’s also likely true that sweatered hockey fans also want to advertise their basic love affair with this niche game, what is akin to patronage of the underground rock band while your big brother rocks out to Bon Jovi. The Sporting News’ Steve Wulf puts it this way: “Part of the joy of being a hockey fan is knowing you love something that not everybody gets.”

Here’s what we know already about the new look: it’ll be produced by Reebok and carry the controversial “slimmer” look. We’re no fans of that, as you know, and last autumn we joined thousands in adding ourselves to an organized protest against it, but Gary Bettman’s flawed vision and attacks against tradition once again won out. So it is what it is. We do know that the Caps will return to their original red, white, and blue colors, which I cannot imagine eliciting protest from anyone in this town. We never should have ditched them. Count me among those who’ll never miss the dour and drab black look that blurred names and numbers from the view of every upper deck (and many lower ones too). We don’t know what manner, if any, of emblem change might accompany the new look.

My wish list for the new sweater is brief:

  • That it achieve durable and classic distinction. As a fan, I’m not interested in change for change’s sake, and being back on message boards in seven or nine years’ time reading full-throated fan appeals for an improved look. Shifting looks virtually by the year are for the NBA. It seems to me that you overhaul your look to improve it but you do so with the expectation that you get it so right with the remake that you arrive at a realm akin to the durable distinction of the Original Six appearance. If you’re not striving for this rarefied realm, why bother?
Filed in Morning cup-a-joe, Reebok, Sweaters, TV, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (10)

SweaterGate Update: Outraged Fans’ Voices Grow Stronger

By The OFB Team
Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Obviously not the real design, but still...Here’s where we stand: the league is no longer hiding its intent to obliterate the classic and novel look of its athletes in action and replace it with something grotesque and profane and indefensible and never to be purchased by its fans. Gary Bettman, confirming hockey fans’ worst instincts about him, recently told Reuters that he was genuinely excited about the sweater redesign, despite the fact that everyone who’s viewed them judges them worse-looking than Bjork at the Academy Awards.

And a league “insider” sent this gem to ESPN recently:

“I recently viewed a promo DVD of the new NHL uniforms. From what I can tell, traditionalist fans are going to be pissed. The tucked-in jersey style looks weird, especially because the new pants from Reebok ride up real high on the sides of the back to help protect players’ kidneys – so high, in fact, that it creates somewhat of a V shape on the back, and almost obscures the bottom of the uniform number.

“The coolest thing about the new unis was actually the new technology in the socks. They’ve kept the horizontal stripes, instead of Nike’s shinguard look. What’s interesting is that they’ve added reusable compression into the sock itself. No more need for poly tape around the socks to ensure a tight fit.“

Fine, tinker with the socks if you must — genuine technological advances are welcomed. But for the love of the Charlestown Chiefs, leave our beloved sweaters intact! Caps’ owner Ted Leonsis fielded chat questions with Washington Post online readers last week, and one irate inquisitor pointed out the harming effects the slimmed-down sweater would have on more portly fans . . . which is to say, most of us in the stands.

About the “snug jerseys”: Ted,

Have you seen the typical hockey fan? To put it politely, “snug jerseys” won’t fit well. Stick with the loose fitting ones or I think you’ll have problems in selling them to the fans . . .“

During the same chat session, another irate fan chimed in:

The Phone Booth, D.C.: Please, Ted, is there anything you can do to stop Bettman’s upcoming snug-jersey plan? I love the idea of the Caps changing colors to some sort of red-white-blue combo, but the idea of tight, tucked-in jerseys seems ridiculous.“

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Grassroots Uprising Against Gary Bettman’s Ugly Sweaters

By pucksandbooks
Saturday, November 18, 2006

A reader this week shared with us word of an online petition up and running to combat the NHL’s plan to jettison its time-honored sweaters for something markedly uglier, produced by Reebok, beginning next season. More than 1,000 have signed it, OFB signed it, and if you value the classic and distinctive look of our heroes on the ice as they battle now, we’d urge you to too.

It’s a tall order — little ‘ole fans uniting and thwarting the seven-figure (at least) investment by a corporate American behemoth, with the blessing of the NHL brass. But we’re mindful of grassroots campaigns besting the power structure in the recent past. Think Harriet Miers.

We were struck by the passion signatories published at the NHL Sweater Redesign Protest and thought we’d share samples of it with you:

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Those ridiculous tight-fitting sweaters are rumored to be moving forward

By pucksandbooks
Sunday, October 29, 2006

I am a big fan of Gary Bettman’s general handling of the most significant challenge on his watch — the lockout of ‘04-’05 — but it’s his handling of the smaller things that are still near and dear to the puckhead’s heart that really roils me.

Remember the Glow-puck?

The fresh assault comes at one of the things that truly distinguishes hockey from all the other sports: its sacred sweaters. (Perhaps hockey’s most enduring and beloved piece of literature is Roch Carrier’s The Hockey Sweater.) Continue reading ›

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