Olympic Hockey Uniform Outrage?

Here's very rough draft of a piece I had written as a guest writer for another blog. Still needs to be polished up, but I thought I'd share it here as well. 

I’ve always been proud to be an American, but I'm not sure where my sense of national pride has come from lately, I've been much more vocal about my patriotism than ever before. First my rants were directed at people up in arms with the President visiting us here in Buffalo, because whether you are a fan of the man or not, the position of  President of the United States commands respect. Now, my ire is directed at people upset over the design of the 2014 American Olympic hockey jerseys. 

When the jerseys were released today, my initial reaction was that I liked them. But, with the general consensus I was witnessing on twitter, I was in the minority. To my surprise, the majority of people did not seem to like the new US Olympic hockey jerseys... I didn't realize there were so many fashion critics amongst us.

With the backlash I was observing on social media, it made me think about a quote from ‘Miracle’ where Herb Brooks said to his team “When you pull on that jersey, you represent yourself and your teammates. And the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back! Get that through your head!”

The mindset of the all about ME generation that exists today pisses me off with the I don't like it, I think these jerseys suck, I want the Miracle on Ice jersey, I think it should be blah blah blah, I, I, I, I, I... Etc. What these people complaining about these uniforms fail to remember is that it's about what the jersey represents, which is our country, the United States of America, not what it looks like. 

I'll guarantee this; all 20+ players who get the PRIVILEGE of wearing that jersey will love it unconditionally because it is about the honor of representing their country. I'll also guarantee that each and every one of the bar league players with an opinion would love to wear that "ugly" sweater as well... So please, shut up, people. Your opinion doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.

Please, let me continue and try to spin this to a local point of view. We as Buffalo hockey fans have fans have cheered for and purchased awful jerseys adorned with a goat head and a slug… It is well known that we were not fans of those designs, but we looked past it because it was about the city those monstrosities stood for, who it represented… Not the artistic merit of the crest that was on the front of the sweater or the fashionable appeal of the design. 

We are talking about the most prestigious hockey tournament in existence where the best players in the world are donning a jersey represents their home countries, playing for national pride instead of a paycheck. It's not a fashion show! I am really not sure what these people expected. The sweaters are red, white and blue with Stars and Stripes incorporated into it.... That is as American as it gets.

No, these sweaters are not the 1980 Miracle on Ice jersey that people of this day and age have an emotional attachment to, and seem to want installed as the current uniform. But, what I see in this sweater is that it pays homage to the 1960 team that ALSO won a gold medal. Follow me here, if you look at images of the 1960 jersey, you’ll notice a patch on the front of the left shoulder that resembles the current crest. A similar crest was also on the white sweater of the last Olympic uniforms. Also, to take my homage theory a step further, it also tributes both the 1960 and 1980 gold medal winning teams with a gold circle next to each of those years on the inner neckline.

I agree that there may be some better concepts out there or that people have a longing for jerseys of the past, but I really don't recall backlash after the last Olympic jersey was released. For example, the Wounded Warrior Project jerseys that resemble the jersey the team wore during that last Olympic Games, but have a camouflage pattern on it. I am absolutely in love with that design, but realize that camouflage is representative of the military and completely respect the fact that those jerseys and that design are reserved for heroes that have made sacrifices while serving our country.

The point I am trying to make here is, to relax, people. It is just a sweater, a sweater that represents something much bigger than us and our opinions on fashion. The uniform is about what the jersey represents, and that is the United States of America. As I said previously, the sweaters are American, red, white and blue with Stars and Stripes incorporated into it.  I only wish that it had just one more piece of American symbolism on it… And that is a small patch on the shoulders with a bald eagle on it. That is my opinion on the sweater.