Lights Out

I simply can't understand how the most valuable pro sports franchise in the world is okay with looking like a low-budget Pop Warner team that can't afford matching equipment. Even the "tradition" argument doesn't work anymore since there's an entire generation of fans who weren't born yet the last time the Cowboys won anything.

Those TNT graphics oddly feel like something from a video game rather than a professional TV broadcast. I'm assuming this look must be coming to the NBA too.

I think they made the right choice. The top-left option is the only other good one.

It's not orange that's "cursed" for the Knicks, it's Dolan. They could wear pink jerseys with purple polka dots and it wouldn't matter.

It's weird how often jersey sponsors change in the NBA, even for cash cows like the Lakers and Celtics. You'd think corporations would be jumping at the chance to develop a longterm association with an NBA team like soccer sponsors tend to do.

The real reason the Big East lost out on Boise State (and SDSU) wasn't anything the MWC did. It was because TCU backed out, then other schools started getting poached, then the Catholic 7 spun off into their own conference, and then they failed to deliver on their promise of a western division to ease travel concerns. It was just hit after hit after hit that made the conference fundamentally less attractive than it was when those schools first agreed to join.

Nobody's ever happy in a G5 conference. That's just the way it is.

ESPN's support. That's pretty much it at this point, but it's a big advantage considering how much power ESPN has over this sport. I don't see it happening, though. Boise State (alongside Memphis) has already been widely reported as the favorites for the next round of Big 12 expansion, whenever that happens. No athletic department in their right mind would be on board with paying the MWC's exit fee, dealing with the travel expenses of having to fly all the non-revenue sports to Philadelphia, Tampa and Greenville on a regular basis for a few years, and then having to pay the AAC's exit fee on top of that when the Big 12 comes calling. And if they don't make the move, it's hard to see CSU, Air Force or SDSU doing it either.

It's not that simple. These schools would arguably lose even more money by dropping down to FCS. When Idaho did it, they lost around half of their contributions and ticket revenue overnight (and they were already struggling at the FBS level). It turns out that the actual choice for most of these schools is to either keep treading water at the FBS level and trying to find the most stable home whenever realignment happens, or to drop football entirely. And because football is by far the most important college sport, you can understand why they're reluctant to drop it.

CUSA, the MAC and the AAC are all dumpster fires, the MWC doesn't make any geographical sense for these schools, and they're obviously never getting called up to the P5, so the Sun Belt is the only real option.

Am I the only one who thinks the PAC should be very worried right now? They already have a huge geography problem being on the west coast in a sport that's dominated by the south and the east, they don't have ESPN in their corner, and they've been way too inflexible when it comes to realignment. All they have to show for it now is a scheduling agreement with two stronger conferences that don't need the PAC as much as the PAC needs them. I'm not even sure they're in a better position than the new Big 12, especially if the rumors of a second round of Big 12 expansion come true. At least the Big 12 is being aggressive in trying to stay afloat. The PAC is just sitting on their hands and watching college sports change around them. All those wasted years with Larry Scott in charge are looking really bad right now.

This is apparently a Dolphins prototype from 2007. All I can say is yikes: https://www.ebay.com/itm/114809408582

The Jets' current uniforms are okay. It's their logo that still sucks.

I don't buy this "rumor" either, but to be fair, the MLB's City Connect program has left out a lot of the biggest fanbases too (the Yankees, the Mets, the Cardinals, the Phillies, and the Braves come to mind) while including smaller fanbases like the Marlins and Diamondbacks. That's clearly what the troll is modeling their fake "leak" after.

It's less objectionable on the current uniforms because the drop shadows are so much smaller and thinner, but yes, the contrasting numbers were better.

It reminds me more of Louisiana Tech, or even Fresno State. I don't particularly like any of the Pat Patriot uniforms, but this strikes me as a more professional look than the collegiate '80s uniforms: Sure, there were some bizarre inconsistencies with the home jerseys' shoulder stripes (just look at Babe Parilli's jersey in that first photo compared to Jim Nance, Len St. Jean, and Charley Long), but that's an easy fix. Regardless, the 1993 uniforms were still a lot better.

Red pants would make the Patriots' uniforms even more of a mess than they already are, incredibly.

They wore orange socks with the brown-over-white combo sometimes with their last set: IMO, it works really well, but the socks should have stripes to match the helmet.

I don't like white pants on the Browns at all (the orange pants are the only ones they really need) - but if they have to have them, brown-orange-brown stripes are definitely better than the alternative, which just looks off. Theoretically, they could also do Florida Gators-style "floating stripes" (orange-brown-white-brown-orange) to match the helmet and that would look better too.

In fairness, that was before the era of HDTV. Since this is allowed with no issues in today's league, I don't see how the '93 Patriots look would be problematic anymore:

And this is perfection:

Yuck. New Balance would have literally been a better choice for their football program than this. It's also only for three years, so it doesn't even line up with the New Balance deal. This tweet seems to imply that they're downgrading to the 1962-2000 logo and presumably bringing back the throwbacks full-time. Pretty unfortunate since their last Under Armour set was one of the best looks in the ACC. On the other hand, the promotional graphic for this deal on their website uses the current logo, so...

I guess I'm in the minority in thinking that the Cavs' current uniforms are pretty nice (and an upgrade from the previous set). While it does make sense for them to simplify their color scheme, I'd rather see them just adopt the Browns' colors. Brown and orange is always a nice combo and it would stand out. In contrast: eliminating black from their current color scheme makes it roughly the same as the Nuggets' and Pelicans' colors, whereas eliminating navy would make them look like the Heat.

The Habs' and Leafs' logos aren't nearly as boring as a plain Times New Roman O. Unlike the Senators, those teams also never came up with more appealing alternatives to their classic brands.