Just To Freak You Out XIII

It's lucky number 13 tonight on Freak Out Friday. Hope you guys get weirded out by what I have to share here.

I don't quite know where to begin.



Wow, I don't know what you did to deserve that, but it must've been pretty bad. Now if you're thinking that looks somewhat familiar, consult a post from last month.



And the hits just keep coming. Flames, take a clue from the Thrashers. This is how you do it up if you really want your provincial/state flag on your jersey. The scary part is that half of it is what seems to be the Confederate flag. Yeah, 'cause rednecks and hicks just dig hockey.

All right so let's head up north where they can really claim the sport. Scary thought alert. Imagine the Rangers and Flyers swapping colors.



On second thought, don't. It's too horrible. Speaking of horrible, check out this Rangers jersey concept.



That's what scary is. I know the new EDGE jerseys are supposed to have larger crests, but somewhere a line's been crossed.

Anyway, let's head west. Here's a color combination that doesn't work on a jersey.



The Nashville Predators are a hockey team, not a figure skating team.

Right?

Yikes! That logo. And while we're on the topic of bad logos, consider the following.



Oilers fans, you think you've got it bad now with your half-a-stripe elbows and practice-jersey looks. What if this happened? Don't even think about it too much. Your head will explode.

We'll wrap things up in California now, if you don't mind. And sometimes you have to reintroduce a winner — like the 1996 Mighty Ducks third jersey. Only the Ducks have new colors now.



That is something.

What we're finishing the night off with might be hard to look at. Remember the old Lightning third jerseys from the mid-90s? They had the rain pouring down, lightning bolts down the arms and — the selling point — the wild waves of the bay around the bottom. Well Sharks live in the water.



The waves have been stolen. And so has what little dignity might've been left in the new Florida Panthers uniforms when an attempt to create a San Jose concept went horribly awry. This is what happens when folks have too much time on their hands.

Well I hope you all got freaked out enough on this Freak Out Friday. If not, accept my apologies. Better luck next week. Until then, I'm waiting to see what you guys have in store for me next in terms of crazy artwork. Email it along.

Recolor This

Today's concept post will deal strictly with recoloring things. Yes, that's right. For instance, let's suppose the Florida Panthers had opted for the more traditional red home sweater over the blue one they actually went with.



Not bad, but despite the fact that I loath the Stinkin' Panthers, I prefer the blue. The old red sweaters were nice, but I don't care much for this one pictured here. But that's just me.

Speaking of me being a Lightning fan, someone remade the Sharks' and Habs' sweaters with Bolts colors.



I don't know. No. They'll always be a teal team. That's just who they are. Don't question it. As for the Habs, you can't have that jersey in anything but red. Even blue would be weird.

Here's something else that might make you question whether this is the Freak Out Friday post. Not quite yet. Just a misguided attempt at giving the Canucks new colors.



I'm all for the return of a green team to the NHL, but this is not how that is achieved. No, no, no. I know I'm sounding very negative right now, but just no.

Anyway, here's something I like. The Blue & Bronze Age of the Washington Capitals was my favorite. Even though it fits them perfectly, thematically speaking, the red/white/blue combo is so overused in this sport. Check out the current EDGE unis in the old colors.



It may not be the most brilliant thing you've ever seen, but come on. That's not too shabby. I like the white "capitals." Very sharp, right there, if you ask me. I'd just like to see the black jersey in blue instead. I was more a fan of the blue '90s jerseys for the Caps. I like the black one as a third jersey — not so much a primary home sweater.

And finally, we'll finish off with something a bit different. This is the Islanders uniforms recolored — but for a different team.



Wow, no. I'm sorry, but those sleeves don't look good on any team if you ask me. The more I see it, the less I like it. Granted it looks better in black and orange than blue and orange, but still, I'll pass on this one.

What do you guys think? Any winners here? Or should we go back to the paint bucket?

Fantasy Update: In The Dumps

I know I haven't updated you guys on the status of the NHLToL fantasy team in quite a while — not that you care — so here goes. We suck!

We're presently in 9th place in an 11-team league. Things were looking good early on but that was before the Lightning started sucking. And if you remember, I stupidly stocked the team with Lightning players. I'm going to have to rectify that because obviously having Lecavalier, Prospal, St. Louis and Kuba is just not working. A 4-0 loss to the Isles? Really? Shameful.

Anyway, I'll let you know how things go this weekend and maybe you guys can offer some advice. Who to drop, who to add, etc. Look for that by Sunday.

Mailbag: Sens Replace Sweaters

Things just keep getting more and more interesting with these Rbk EDGE jerseys. I posted some info last week about the possibility Reebok would be replacing the new "hi-tech" fabric with the old stuff. Here's an email I received earlier.

Hey Chris,

Just thought I’d pass this on. Today in the Ottawa Citizen, it had a brief clipping about the Senators-Thrashers game last night. The Sens wore ‘modified’ versions of the new jerseys and are the first to do so. They look the same, but they did look baggier, or looser when I watched the game last evening.

I still wished they had put horizontal stripes on the bottom of the sleeves and jersey. I loved the contrasting number they had on the white jersey of last year (white jersey had white numbers on the sleeves, red jersey had red numbers on sleeves against white material) That’s just me. But these new ones are starting to grow on me.

I agree with you, the Sens are a black team first, the red was adopted later. I think its time for BACK IN BLACK!

Nevill

First of all, partly I just wanted to show that someone actually agreed with me on the black thing. Seriously, the Sens were black from the beginning. "Be Red" is a new-fangled thing — like the Rbk EDGE jerseys.

Here's a pullquote from that article in the Citizen.

November 2, 2007

Sweat Surrender

Ken Warren
The Ottawa Citizen

The Senators last night wore modified Reebok game sweaters, becoming the first NHL team to wear the new models. Countless NHL players have complained that the overly hyped Reebok re-design, which included a moisture-repelling substance, was a disaster.

Turns out that players' sweat was dripping off the sweaters into the players' gloves, socks and skates, making them heavier than before — the polar opposite of what was intended. Egg is now dripping off the faces of the sweater designers, and all the NHL and Reebok officials who promoted the "uniform systems" in the first place.

Raise your hand if you saw all this coming.

This failure by Reebok has caused me to realize something depressing. More and more I'm losing faith in the things that I love. First, the hockey players get locked out and lose an entire season in 2005. Now, as a lover of scripted television — my shows are Lost, 24, The Office, and now Pushing Daisies — the writers in Hollywood are striking. Hopefully they get their issues resolved quicker than the hockey folks did.

Anyway, in the meantime I have my Wii and Super Mario Galaxy will arrive at my door in 10 days. All is well.