Jersey

[billhoward]

The jerseys look bad on first viewing. Is it possible if you're getting old or just a young traditionalist, different equals bad? It took a long time to get used to baggy basketball shorts and now it's the Bill Bradley-era shorts that look odd. The Chris Bangle BMWs of the past five years looked bizarre at first, now lots of others are aping the designs (see the tail of a Lexus), and BMW design looks, well, less weird.

Some jersey designs look good up close and lousy from a distance. Goalie helmets are like that, too.

What do the players think? Ari, you heard anything? If players and recruits like them, then they're good. Maybe the lockdown grommets help? I've seen a lot of HS hockey where the jerseys ride up so much, they're more like halter tops. Maybe the vertical stripe under the arm helps the referee notice high sticking more.

That said, they're definitely going to be an acquired taste.

[The Rancor]

umm.. the mcquaid team is wearing the Bruins colors. The ugly is IHS. :`-(

[Trotsky]

If the Opus Dei had a hockey team, they'd wear those jerseys.

[Tom Lento]

[quote evilnaturedrobot]These are hockey sweaters, not mid 80's mets uniforms.  Loose, simple with horizontal stripes please!  Does no one understand that one of things that makes a jersey classic is not constantly changing it?

And the idea that these jerseys increase performance is absolute bullshit.  The only team not to wear the swift jerseys at Torino?  Sweden, who happened to win the whole thing.  Somehow those cunning Swedes managed to do without the .000001% reduction in drag.

This is just another example of non-hockey executives butting into a sport that they know nothing about.[/quote]

Sweden won in the old jerseys, so the new jerseys must not improve performance? Wow. . . there's a leap of logic. I heard wind tunnel testing showed that the old loose-fitting sweaters were the equivalent of skating with a sail strapped to your back, so new jerseys could easily improve *skating* performance. The PR reports show a 15% reduction in drag, so I'm guessing your made up number is a little bit off - I'd take 15% with a grain of salt, but even at half that it's a pretty substantial change. The jerseys are not going to suddenly make you a magnificent puck handler or a great passer or anything, and they're certainly not going to make a big difference in team performance. There's a lot more to hockey than just wind drag and skating speed, after all.

I also heard that one of the big problems Nike and other companies doing similar research has faced is the traditional mindset of most players and fans - this thread is a perfect example - and so they've been moderating their re-designs and sacrificing some of the performance improvements for the sake of keeping the design closer to the traditional jersey. After hearing that, I'm surprised they went with the vertical stripes - that's just bizarre, and is bound to get a much stronger negative reaction than the pinched waist. I didn't see them in person, but based on the picture of the Cornell jerseys the vertical stripes are the only change I would have noticed - and yes, they're ugly. If they'd kept the cosmetic look of the jersey - the lettering, the font, etc. - exactly as it was and just stuck it on the new form-fitting sweater I suspect this would have gone over better.

I wouldn't be surprised if there was a negative reaction from the player and fan base about switching from wool sweaters to synthetic jerseys, too, whenever that happened. In my sport I always wore cotton shirts and swore I'd never change to these fancy expensive synthetic jerseys - I couldn't imagine how anyone could justify the cost, since I didn't think they'd be any more than a marginal improvement. My team bought wicking jerseys one year so I had to get one to match, and now I won't go back - roughly everything I wear when I play is wicking fabric now (yes, even the socks and underwear - and one pair of my cleats has a wicking liner, which makes no sense given the leather uppers). This gets ridiculously expensive (and smelly), but it's worth every penny. The point of this story is what you're used to plays a large role in what you think is "best" and until you get used to something different you'll think it's inferior, even if it's clearly a better option.

[saff678]

The Cornell page posted a few photos from the UNH game,

http://cornellbigred.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/recaps/122906aaa.html

Click on "photo gallery" to access the terribly organized CSTV photo gallery viewer.

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote saff678]The Cornell page posted a few photos from the UNH game,

http://cornellbigred.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/recaps/122906aaa.html

Click on "photo gallery" to access the terribly organized CSTV photo gallery viewer.[/quote]
Thanks.  

Interesting how the traditionally-fonted "Cornell" looks completely out of place with the rest of the fonts and stripes.  I guess I don't have a big problem with the cut of the jersey, just with the look of all the stripes and lettering/numbering other than "Cornell."

[ftyuv]

Personally I don't like how the new cut accentuates the shapes of the pads under the jersey, but I suppose I'm just complaining about change.  These Nike execs have been playing baseball on my front yard, gol darn it, and if they hit their ball through my window I'm not giving it back!

[marty]

If they would just ditch the stripes and use the same color as the pants it could grow on me.

The color difference is interesting.  Isn't there quite a bit of work done to stay true to a school's colors?  With all the money spent on this jersey it shouldn't be asking a lot for the color to match the existing uniform.

[dsr11]

I agree.  The jersey cut isn't awful, but the whole solid color thing (lack of horizontal stripes) is pretty bad.  The vertical stripes are just weird, lets hope they don't go with vertical strips on the socks like they had in the Olympics!

They really need more contrasting colors though, without much white, it just looks bad.

It's also pretty bad that the Nike Swoosh is almost the same size as the C or A on the jerseys....(best visible in photo 5 in the gallery).

[Killer]

[quote Trotsky]I must be getting soft-hearted.  I don't absolutely hate them.  I don't ever want to see them at Lynah, either, but there's something old fashioned / ungainly about them that I don't mind.

Now burn them.[/quote]

No getting soft-hearted here.  Burn them!

[redice]

Does anyone know, with certainty, if/when these new jerseys will be worn in the future?

[Al DeFlorio]

[quote redice]Does anyone know, with certainty, if/when these new jerseys will be worn in the future?[/quote]
I think we need a poll. Among the possible choices:  

1. Adopt them immediately
2. Wear them only against teams with outrageously ugly uniforms
3. Tell Nike where to stick them

[billhoward]

[quote Al DeFlorio][quote redice]Does anyone know, with certainty, if/when these new jerseys will be worn in the future?[/quote]
I think we need a poll. Among the possible choices:  
1. Adopt them immediately
2. Wear them only against teams with outrageously ugly uniforms
3. Tell Nike where to stick them[/quote]

Al, would you considering makig it multiple choice:
[] Adopt them immediately
[] Wear them only against teams with outrageously ugly uniforms
[] Tell Nike where to stick them
[] Let's see what the white ones look like.
[] The red top needs more (preferably horizontal) white trim so we don't look like the Red Army team.
[] Go NASCAR-look: The Nike swoosh needs to be bigger, perhaps with an anti-drug motto underneath, Nike's URL above, a list of local stores stocking Nike, and a drop-in in-memory slot for, say, a 48 patch for President Ford.

[RichH]

[quote Tom Lento]After hearing that, I'm surprised they went with the vertical stripes - that's just bizarre, and is bound to get a much stronger negative reaction than the pinched waist. I didn't see them in person, but based on the picture of the Cornell jerseys the vertical stripes are the only change I would have noticed - and yes, they're ugly. If they'd kept the cosmetic look of the jersey - the lettering, the font, etc. - exactly as it was and just stuck it on the new form-fitting sweater I suspect this would have gone over better.[/quote]

That's pretty much the only complaint most of us have.  We're a very protective fan base of our traditional look, and it's kind of neat to be able to know why our jersey is unique compared to BU, Wisconsin, and the Detroit Red Wings.

As I see it, the vertical striping and fonts are there for one reason only:  Marketing/brand recognition.  Nike is trying to get these out to as many teams as possible, since other manufacturers don't have these designs/improvements.  Therefore, they need a common recognizable symbol...like a hood ornament of a car.  So one glance from any angle will trigger in the minds of fans "hey, that's the new Swift(tm) jersey from ."  What they came up with: vertical stripes on the upper sleeve and a distinctive sans-serif font for numbering and lettering.  Every Swift(tm) jersey from made, since its introduction in the 2006 Olympics, has had the vertical striping and that font.  And corporate marketing machines are most always going to be stronger ($) than collegiate tradition.  

On most teams, there are 2 color stripes on the sleeve.  We got one.  The presence also pushes the uni numbers up to the shoulder joint, which is also strange.

I'm all in favor of improved performance.  But until they've been around for several years, I don't see the corporate branding breaking.  I booed it, but when the puck dropped, I focused more on the players.  That said, to re-stress the second sentence of my post, I'd rather not ditch the tradtional jerseys.  At least until gives us our horizontal stripes back, or another company makes a similar jersey with non-restrictive color design requirements.

[ebilmes]

There are actually close to 20 jerseys still left. Like others have said, a lot of them are probably from a while ago, but they are by no means sold out.