ARTHUR:
With the recent leak of the Ducks' third jersey by online retailer FansEdge, the Anaheim faithful have gotten a glimpse of what the team was hoping to unveil in their day after Thanksgiving tango with the Blackhawks. You'll still have to wait that long to buy the jersey (and for EA to release the code that allows you to wear the jersey in NHL 11), but if you want to see it, you can go to any of a number of sites that still have the official Reebok photography posted.
So, Daniel, now that you've seen the official product, what do you think of Anaheim's new third jersey?
DANIEL:
I don't want to say that I hate it. That would be too harsh. However, I'm very disappointed. I think it's the orange on the bottom of the sleeves. It looks more like a regular home jersey than an alternate jersey. Minnesota, Nashville, Florida and St. Louis are perfect examples of how a jersey should be different from the original home jersey. This looks a lot like the jersey that's already in my closet. The color scheme is a little different, and the giant logo is certainly different from the words currently on the Ducks' chests. But I feel a little robbed.
Every time I look at it I think of what could have been. I've followed the Ducks since they were created and I've been a fan since the 96-97 season. I've witnessed some of the worst jerseys ever created. Hell, I own one of those awful jerseys, and it's full of autographs now. I want management to give me a legit hockey sweater. The closest they ever came was the black jersey with the lace up collar and handwritten crest. That was a solid sweater. I'm glad there's an alternate. I'm ecstatic that it isn't as horrible as it could have been. I just don't understand why our third jersey needs all that orange. All I see is ORANGE!!!!!
ARTHUR:
Well, first, of the jerseys you listed, Minnesota's looks like Neal Broten's 78-79 high school jersey, and the general use of green works with their Northstars history. The Florida and St. Louis jerseys look like copies of the Penguins' recent third jerseys, which are reproductions of their 1968 jerseys. In fact, the use of blue with that design makes it a complete copy to me. And the color blue brings me to Nashville, whose new jersey is pretty much the same as their last awful third jersey, only it's not in mustard yellow, it has laces and the feline is in profile again.
So the theme there seems to be muted colors (even if your organization doesn't use those colors), especially blue. Oh, and laces. Honestly, I don't really want to wear a blue Ducks jersey. I know I'm not in the same boat as a lot of Ducks fans because I own a lot of jerseys. If I want to wear a sweater with muted colors or laces, I can just choose one and wear it. I don't have to wait for Anaheim to design one. Still, these are our colors.
Is it an ugly shade of orange? Of course it is. It's the kind of bright orange that only works on piping. Is it an unimaginative grouping of the team colors? Hell yes. They've been relegated to stripes. This jersey looks like it's made out of bad Father's Day ties. However, orange, gold, white and black are the colors. The bottom of the old sleeves were jade for crying out loud. I know that was charming while 90210 (the real one) was still on the air and everyone owned Coogi-made Cosby sweaters, but it looks pretty awful today. Doesn't stop me from wearing it. Because those were the colors.
I'm not a fan of an NHL team that was founded in the 60s and can fall back on some blue lace-y sweater or classic color scheme. I'm not a fan of a team that's willing to hire Tinker Hatfield to design its jerseys. I'm a fan of the Ducks, the eggplant and jade turned orange and pitch-black Ducks. I don't wear a Ducks jersey to be stylish. That's what my Coogi sweater is for.