Washington Wizards to Pay Homage to Baltimore Heritage with Throwback Alternates
Well, here we go again.
Another NBA season nears, and another batch of experimental throwbacks and alternate kits emerges from the marketing oven for fans to pan or embrace.
And I'll say one thing about the Washington Wizards' latest attempt: They went for it.
The team tweeted out a picture of the new gear on Wednesday.
The uniform combines sleeves, a V-neck and the Baltimore Bullets' old-school swoop-stripe to make a "Baltimore Pride" uniform celebrating the franchise's roots in its former city:
Those roots include the basis of the alternate: a vintage Bullets uniform with a "J" design that drops down from the left shoulder, traverses the unmentionables and disappears around the hip.
I don't know, man. It was the 1970s:
According to a Wizards press release, the team will don these kits for six games sprinkled over the course of the 2015 season while also intermittently mixing in the blue alternates from 2014-15.
Washington will play its first alternate-kit game on November 25 against the Charlotte Hornets, although it won't don the "Baltimore Pride" uniform until a December 19 game against the Hornets.
As ever, people have opinions on the new design:
"Nooope RT @Ananth_Pandian The Wizards will wear "Baltimore Pride" jerseys for 6 games this season pic.twitter.com/xmo17usXVI
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) September 30, 2015"
I know where I've seen it before:
As noted GIFsman CJ Fogler mentions, this isn't the first time the Wizards have dug into the attic to reimagine the swoop kit—they've done it before, but in the original orange, white and blue:
"Wizards also brought that jersey pattern back a few years ago, here's all 3 pic.twitter.com/BEqBu09fF8
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) September 30, 2015"
Whatever you think of the Flying J jerseys, they're better than the 2014 Christmas Day kits, which were one bad brainstorming session away from featuring long johns with butt flaps (probably).
So, silver lining there.
Dan is on Twitter. Laugh all you want, but you'll stop at a Flying J if it's the only thing there.
