[HN Gopher] Colors of the Court - NBA Uniforms
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Colors of the Court - NBA Uniforms
        
       Author : abe94
       Score  : 67 points
       Date   : 2024-11-08 16:45 UTC (6 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (pudding.cool)
 (TXT) w3m dump (pudding.cool)
        
       | Keyframe wrote:
       | light vs dark was in multiple sports due to early television
       | being black and white. It made easy to understand what's going on
       | on the screen.
        
         | KineticLensman wrote:
         | "And for those of you watching in black and white, the pink
         | ball is next to the green"
        
       | lnxg33k1 wrote:
       | My football team has started to do the same thing, every now and
       | then they change jersey throughout the season (without counting
       | the THREE they start the season with) in order to sell new ones
       | 
       | They're making sports really hard to follow, and to be passionate
       | about. Now I only watch it if I catch it in a bar and they have
       | it on, I am hating football, it was on free tv, now some matches
       | are on a paid TV, some other on another one, still paid, before
       | it was wednesday, sunday, now it's monday, tuesday, wednesday,
       | thursday, friday, saturday and sunday. I hope a lot of people
       | stop watching it so that we can go back to something that makes
       | sense
        
         | newfocogi wrote:
         | Wow, my initial thoughts on more jersey variation is "that's
         | kinda fun, but sometimes they're ugly". I'm surprised you think
         | it makes sport hard to be passionate about.
         | 
         | I assume you're referring to football (soccer) since you called
         | them matches.
         | 
         | Do you really think jersey changes are affecting your passion
         | for sports or is this just another example of the system
         | breaking down, but pay-to-watch is what's really hurting your
         | interest?
        
           | lnxg33k1 wrote:
           | It's hurting because they're constantly trying to sell you
           | something, even the jersey is full of sponsor in soccer
        
         | syndicatedjelly wrote:
         | The multicolored jerseys, not the incessant idiotic gambling
         | ads, are what makes sports hard to watch apparently.
        
           | lnxg33k1 wrote:
           | why not both, it's not the jersey in itself, its the constant
           | tentative of sell you something
        
         | mmooss wrote:
         | Aren't the sports generally growing their revenue and
         | audiences? It seems the reason for the multicolored jerseys,
         | gambling ads, etc. is you: 'You' (most people reading this)
         | keep watching, no matter what.
        
       | soared wrote:
       | Very cool! Also interesting the the NFL is on a similar trend
       | with color rush.
        
       | warner25 wrote:
       | It's the same story in Major League Baseball. The proliferation
       | of alternate uniforms got so out-of-hand that the league imposed
       | a limit of five different uniforms per team last year.
       | Unfortunately, one of those uniforms is the City Connect uniform
       | which is unrecognizable to the extreme for most teams.
       | 
       | I hate it. I want every team to go back to a white home uniform
       | with the team name (or logo like the classic Yankees, Cubs,
       | Tigers), and a gray road uniform with the city name, and _maybe_
       | one colorful Sunday home alternate worn sparingly.
       | 
       | It's bad enough that the rosters have high turnover every year
       | due to free agency. I've said for a long time that it seems silly
       | to have a favorite team, because you're basically cheering for
       | the uniform (i.e. because the people in the uniform are changing
       | constantly) but now that's not even true anymore.
        
         | fsckboy wrote:
         | > _the City Connect uniform which is unrecognizable to the
         | extreme for most teams_
         | 
         | but it gets even worse in gradations, compare the Milwaukee
         | "Brew Crew" uniform which is kinda cool
         | 
         | https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_16x9/t_...
         | 
         | to the similar color combination Boston "spray painted stencil"
         | font abomination
         | 
         | https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_16x9/t_...
        
           | warner25 wrote:
           | True, I'm OK with an alternate, including the City Connect
           | uniform for a few teams, that's basically a throwback
           | uniform. Milwaukee's is kind of like that, at least with the
           | colors. Also Atlanta's, Pittsburgh's, and Seattle's. The rest
           | of them... no.
        
           | dfxm12 wrote:
           | I get that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but why
           | would you describe the font as an abomination? It seems
           | unassuming and easy to read to me.
        
             | fsckboy wrote:
             | not gonna debate taste, but i was describing the uniform as
             | an abomination. I think the font is perfect for indicating
             | where in Fenway park the MEN and WOMEN's rooms are, but i'm
             | old skool and I miss the group trough urinals
        
           | fredleblanc wrote:
           | Those Boston stencil jerseys are the Boston Marathon ones.
           | Red Sox play a day game on the same day as the marathon each
           | April. It's a whole day of things for the city. The stencil
           | approach mimics the days of spray painting down the finish
           | line.
        
             | warner25 wrote:
             | If they only wore it on Patriots' Day, fine, but they wore
             | it _50 times_ in the last four years.
        
         | Jeremy1026 wrote:
         | > I've said for a long time that it seems silly to have a
         | favorite team, because you're basically cheering for the
         | uniform
         | 
         | You and Jerry Seinfeld have the same take,
         | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we-L7w1K5Zo
        
           | warner25 wrote:
           | Thanks for sharing; I haven't heard that clip before, and I
           | love it.
           | 
           | I was a Braves fan from the mid-1990s into the 2000s not just
           | because they were winners but because they did it largely
           | with the same core group of guys, whose playing style I liked
           | to watch, over that whole span. I wasn't a Yankees fan during
           | that same era, but I could respect Yankees fans because they
           | also had a core group of players that stuck together (plus
           | they've really held the line on their uniforms).
        
         | Larrikin wrote:
         | As someone who used to wear jerseys because I thought they
         | looked cool when I was young, I would have never bought a plain
         | white or gray one.
         | 
         | I think the city connect jerseys are only bad because they are
         | basically a collection of random colors with, often times, no
         | association to the team. But if they actually were team colors,
         | they would have definitely been interesting to me.
        
         | jgalt212 wrote:
         | > City Connect uniform which is unrecognizable to the extreme
         | for most teams.
         | 
         | Preach. The NY Mets version looks like Colorado Rockies themed
         | children's pajamas.
        
       | PaulRobinson wrote:
       | Money is the main driver, of course. I think this trend started
       | in the UK.
       | 
       | Before the EPL, most English soccer clubs had one home, one away
       | strip. It wasn't that long ago that the only writing would be a
       | single number on the back, a club crest over the front left chest
       | ("near the heart", you see).
       | 
       | Around the 1980s, it seems to me that European leagues started to
       | experiment - England taking a bit of a lead - with shirt
       | sponsorship. One side effect was that shirts suddenly aged. Show
       | me an Everton shirt with "NEC" on the front, or a Manchester City
       | shirt with "brother", well, I know roughly what season that shirt
       | is from.
       | 
       | And fans want to wear the current shirt, often. We can take the
       | piss out of the "full kit wanker", who turns up to a game in
       | shirt, kit shorts and socks, waiting to be subbed in to his
       | favourite team, but people like to show allegiance and they like
       | to show they're up to date - in the UK even your car number plate
       | tells your neighbours how "with it", and therefore how rich you
       | are.
       | 
       | Each season a club changed its shirt it would see a boost in
       | income as new shirts would replace the old. This was new. And it
       | gave them ideas.
       | 
       | First, what about changing the kit when the sponsor doesn't
       | change? Some graphic design element, a neck line, maybe a subtle
       | colour change?
       | 
       | Then the "third kit" came in. Often used in cup competitions, but
       | occasionally an option for league games. Infamously one grey
       | third kit had to get changed at half time at Old Trafford, as
       | none of the Man Utd team could see each other.
       | 
       | And then as some non-domestic leagues took more prominence -
       | European football in particular - some clubs decided to create
       | home and away kits for those competitions specifically.
       | 
       | So now we have a situation where clubs like Man City have 3
       | "base" shirts, plus goalkeeper, plus fashion variants, plus the
       | women's team...
       | 
       | If other leagues can get away with this, they will. Most European
       | leagues have a similar thing going on, and it surprised me that
       | NBA took so long to catch up, and that NFL haven't gone at this
       | at full throttle.
       | 
       | And of course, it has created a collector's secondary market,
       | special editions, anniversary shirts, "retro editions", and so
       | on.
       | 
       | Sports teams sure know how to milk passion via the wallet.
        
         | 101008 wrote:
         | Great summary. My dad had only one or two jersey when he was a
         | kid / teenager, because without sponsors they were all the same
         | (maybe minor details)?
         | 
         | Now I am usually one of those who get a new jersey every new
         | season, or maybe two if I like both home and away designs.
         | There were years when I didnt get any, but those were the
         | exceptions.
        
         | abe94 wrote:
         | A friend works at an english football (soccer) club on the
         | sponsorships team and yes money is definitely a big driver
         | here!
         | 
         | Part of it is creating more sponsorship inventory - some brands
         | can opt in for space on one of the jerseys that fit their
         | budgets over others, or play around with sizing.
        
       | asdfasvea wrote:
       | Jesus Christ almighty give me a site I can use if you want me to
       | absorb your content.
       | 
       | I'm not using a screen reader, I have javascript enabled, I have
       | up to date chrome, yet somehow I can't navigate your artsy site.
       | What do you think your non-standard navigation is adding that is
       | worth the cost of pissing users off?
       | 
       | What do I click on? Where's the content? Why am I guessing how to
       | use your site? Actually, I'm done guessing and clicking the back
       | button to get off this horrible thing.
        
         | teach wrote:
         | I didn't downvote you, but I suspect others did because your
         | comment goes against one of the guidelines for HN:
         | 
         | "Please don't complain about tangential annoyances--e.g.
         | article or website formats, name collisions, or back-button
         | breakage. They're too common to be interesting."
         | 
         | These sorts-of comments always come up whenever The Pudding
         | makes the front page, since their visual essays have a style
         | that some find offputting. (Personally I think they're
         | delightful.)
         | 
         | Almost always, you navigate their essays by scrolling.
        
         | stevage wrote:
         | Hey buddy, I love to complain too, but honestly I find the
         | Pudding extremely easy to use. What could be more simple than
         | keep scrolling down?
        
       | littlekey wrote:
       | The implication is that this is a bad thing, but I don't really
       | see why. If you're not sure who's playing can't you just look at
       | the score overlay and see? I don't follow sports but when I see a
       | game on at a restaurant it only takes me a few seconds to
       | determine which team is which.
        
         | warner25 wrote:
         | I think for a lot of us it's not a practical issue of
         | determining which team is which, it's that sports are wrapped
         | up in a lot of nostalgia. One grows up watching their team(s)
         | as a kid and can continue to do so through the seasons of life
         | even as everything else is changing. So it's sad when tradition
         | is thrown away and it no longer feels like you're watching the
         | same thing anymore.
         | 
         | In my case, I was obsessed with baseball as a kid but I stopped
         | playing and stopped following the professionals when I went to
         | college, met my wife, started my career, had kids, etc. Now I'm
         | coming back around to follow baseball again and I'm often like,
         | "What is this? This isn't what I remember." The uniform changes
         | are part of that.
        
       | dzonga wrote:
       | blame nike for that uniform nonsense.
       | 
       | and in the mlb quality of jerseys has gone down as well.
       | 
       | for soccer nike kits for some teams have been an abormination or
       | copy/paste jobs.
       | 
       | in the nfl - meh.
        
       | derfnugget wrote:
       | this is an exceptional example of modern website. very nice job.
       | may i ask what framework you are using for the UX?
        
       | duxup wrote:
       | There's so many alternate uniforms they many seem like low effort
       | spam.
       | 
       | My team Timberwolves, some of their alternates are so simple they
       | look like something you'd buy for your rec league at some small
       | town screen printer...
        
       | crgk wrote:
       | As a Chicago Bulls fan, this site seemed like a lot of effort to
       | explain a very small shift in their jerseys. I'm happy to see the
       | Bulls are a low-flair outlier, and it was cool to be able to
       | switch teams to compare.
        
       | stevage wrote:
       | Great data collection, nice data vil but somehow it fails to
       | yield any interesting insights. I wish they had gotten into the
       | why a bit more - are teams forced to choose jerseys that contrast
       | with their opponents?
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2024-11-08 23:00 UTC)