jerseys

So, jerseys. I'm a big fan of wearing clothes that tell people what team I like. I have so many Cleveland Indians t-shirts (including some of players have retired/changed teams/etc) that it's kind of funny. I have sweatshirts from most of my favorite US sports teams (DC United is the exception for US teams I like -- I would love one, but they are expensive). When it comes to football, I have two jerseys that were purchased from the clubs themselves, one that's close and a few I got off of eBay because I am only a poor librarian trying to pay off her grad school loans.

The newest jersey I have is a Michael Bradley one I got, but not from the US Soccer store. Why? It was on sale for a really, really nice price. I also have those crappy knockoffs from eBay, I have some I wear a lot (long sleeve Arsenal jersey with Walcott on the back and an AC Milan one with Kaka on the back) and some I don't wear that often (Spain with Torres on the back (which I want to get rid of) and Ukraine with Shevchenko on the back that I got for the WC). But aside from those, the two jerseys I got straight from the clubs are both Nicklas Bendtner ones. I bought a Birmingham jersey right after his loan was over because they were super cheap (like, 10 pounds). And my friend bought me an Arsenal jersey one because there's no way I could afford it, well, ever.

I'm not a collector and there are things I want but can't get (like a Heerenveen jersey with Bradley on the back). And there are jerseys I want but haven't gotten (Denmark National Team jersey with Bendtner on the back or a DC United one -- I have no idea whose name to get, at the moment it's Olsen or McTavish). And I'll get a jersey from whatever team Michael Bradley goes to this summer (in theory, since again, jerseys are really expensive for me). So, then, what's the point of this post?

The new US MNT jersey. As Amanda said to me, it's really, really fugly. As in, I would never buy it. I think Ives is right when he says it's very Tommy Hilfiger. The only possible way that this jersey could be okay is if the team modeled it while looking like Abercrombie models (as in being mostly naked, since they're already fit), because at least that way some of us would be distracted from the fact that it's a horrible jersey.

For those of you who haven't seen it, it's here. But, trust me, you don't want to see it. It's just so fugly I don't even know. At least I'm not superficial enough that I'm going to quit supporting the National Team because the jersey looks like something an accountant might wear (thanks again to Amanda for that suggestion). Mostly it's like a really bad clothing train wreck.

I wonder what the team thinks.