In the continued quest to put advertising in every conceivable place, Major League Baseball teams are now permitted to sell placement on their actual uniforms. Back in April, the Padres were the first team to announce a partnership, one which will feature hilariously large Motorola patches. Sadly, my hometown Red Sox have now joined this vulgar parade.
In a word: Yuck. In an emoji: đ. Though MassMutual is a Massachusetts-based insurance company with 170+ years of history in the Bay State, they simply donât belong on the teamâs uniform. No one does. Alas, I have little doubt that this scourge is coming for the rest of the league as well.
In better uniform news, friend-of-the-site Casey L. and I were recently discussing mock-ups for alternate jersey for the Boston Celtics. He had found a fun jersey design created by a fan:
[Image via @petemrogers]
This design plays off of Bostonâs public transit system (known as âThe Tâ), including our four colored subway lines, two of which (Orange and Green) meet at North Station where the Celtics play. Itâs a very nice idea. Unfortunately, it wasnât an original one. I had actually seen and enjoyed this same image a day or two earlier, before learning that it was actually a fairly obvious knock-off of another artistâs better design:
[Image via Reddit]
Happily, when âtimbo_sportâ came to defend their honor, it led me to check out more of their work. That brought me to my favorite design yet, their âCutting Edgeâ:
This gorgeous design subtly references the cables and towers of the Zakim Bridge, which sits directly next to TD Garden, the Celticsâ home arena. Living just down the street, Iâve captured a number of decent pictures of this bridge. However, this (slightly cropped) 2013 shot from Eric Kilby does a superior job of showing both the bridge and the Garden:
[Photo credit: Eric Kilby]
Built as part of Bostonâs infamous Big Dig, the Zakim was at one time the worldâs widest cable-stayed bridge, and it remains an icon for the city. Paying homage to it on the Celtics uniform would be delightful. Maybe some day.
From an ad-marred shame, to a decent image that turned out to be a knock-off, to the original creatorâs better execution, to the above masterpiece, it was quite a uniform roller coaster. Of course, Iâll be forced to see the livery I most disliked all season next year, while the looks I enjoyed most donât actually exist. A man can dream, though. A man can dream.