I miss "Authentic jerseys"

[Discrim]

On 10/24/2017 at 10:23 AM, sc49erfan15 said:

NFL game jerseys tend to be extremely tight around the stomach (because players tend to want a tight fit), loose in the shoulders (y'know, shoulder pads and such), and very long (to tuck in the pants) or very short (with elastic around the bottom hem).

 

This has been the case for a very long time. Off the top of my head, I know that HOF defensive end Bruce Smith wore a size 42 jersey for most of his career

Not sure how prevalent this practice is below the college level, but it wasn't too common on my HS team.  That said, I had a teammate who wore a tight jersey in freshman and sophomore ball...come junior year, he needed his grocery job more than he needed to play, meanwhile I'm still playing on Thursdays, so for our first handful of games I decided to take his old jersey for a spin.  Damn that thing was tight, I'm still a bit bewildered as to how the hell I even managed to cram that thing over my pads, let alone wear it (and these are 80s style porthole rags I'm talking about).  So it was a bit of a blessing in disguise when another lineman grabbed that jersey before I could, which convinced me to go with the number I'd worn the previous season.

 

9 hours ago, C-Squared said:

 

Its funny you say that! I own a size 42 Rob Johnson Raiders jersey from '03, and even though Rob was 6'4", 220 lbs, the jersey is skin tight on my 5'10", 175-pound frame. The sleeves aren't even stitched past the armpit because the cuffs would be so tight. I also noticed the number font is slightly different on the front vs. the back of the jersey, which is a cool little quirk you don't see in retail authentics.

It's more noticeable with some teams (and some numbers) than others...with the Bears' regular set, for instance, it's most noticeable with 4's: the back version has a much longer stem than the front version.  The differences between the front and back numerals are much more obvious on the throwbacks.