Back to the Future

Back to the Future

I said to myself, Self…try not to do too many blogs about sports, it will limit your audience.  Now while this blog is about sports, it is more about the fashion…or lack there of.

For you see, yesterday the Steelers introduced their throwback jerseys.  If you are not familiar, it is a trend started a few years ago where teams will have an alternate jersey encompassing a look from years past.  Usually these fashion faux pas are a prime example of why they changed them in the first place.  When I saw the Steelers' press conference, all I could picture instead was seeing Gene Rayburn up there and his oversized microphone pulling out a card and asking the panel:  “When little Johnny saw the new Steelers’ jerseys, he said they are not throwback, they are more like throw…Blank”.  As the contestant, my answer would be “throw…in the Terrible Towel”.  Of course Charles Nelson Reilly would screw me over with “throw…FABULOUS!".

I thought, at first, these jerseys were designed so the billion-dollar sport could trick the fans into buying another jersey they just HAD to have.  But this seems to be an episode from a new show on cable, “When Marketing goes Terribly Wrong”.  The fans don’t like these jerseys, the players certainly don’t want to wear these jerseys…then who came up with this insidious idea?  My only answer is a Les Nessman, someone who was forced to take violin lessons instead of playing ball.  No other explanation! This is just a cruel joke from someone holding a long, long grudge (and I am somewhat familiar with grudges – coming to a blog near you).

Lets go back a bit.  As an Islander fan I recall the Famous Fisherman Fiasco of 1995.  Somewhere it was decided the Islanders needed to change their logo.  A wonderful logo design, incorporating the NY - with the Y as a hockey stick - and the outline of the shape of Long Island.  “NY” and the “Island”… New York Islanders…simple, yet classic.  Why would we want to keep that!  Anyway, 6 or 7 designs were given to the Islanders and they were to choose a winner.  What happened next was of Long Island Lore.  Apparently the ad agency inserted a logo, one so horrible - one that would NEVER be chosen, just to have the other logos stand out.  Well guess what…that backfired!  The “test” logo was picked and approved.  WHAT?!?!  The more I think about it, the more it falls into my Les Nessman theory above.  The Islander organization, the players and the fans were endlessly abused by opposing fans for this logo.  The Islanders have not won a playoff series since.  Somewhere a violin happily plays on….

This brings me to yesterday and the Steelers’ new throwback jersey.  It looks like the player was sent to bumble bee prison.  I can only imagine that the Steelers “Les Nessman” watched the Blind Melon – No Rain video the night before designing them.  While the jerseys are supposed to remind us of an era from Leatherheads, even George Clooney could not pull this look off.  Maybe they should wear the old leather helmets too, at least it would make the whole thing more interesting.

All I can say is that my taste is pretty plain…