Lights Out

That's kind of the whole point, though. The Heat have good ownership. The Marlins have had nothing but terrible owners running a franchise in a top-20 TV market like it's in Glendive or North Platte. Ownership and management are what make the Heat good, not the location that the other teams in the market aren't benefiting from because they're poorly-run.

The Dolphins haven't won a game that actually mattered in almost 23 years. Them, the Marlins and the Panthers have combined for one ring since the Heat drafted Wade. Same location/weather, very different results.

I genuinely don't get all the hate for the Jets' current uniforms. They've always seemed fine to me. It's their Create-a-Team logo that's the issue, but that's been the case for 25 years now.

I like that Eagles concept, but I'd reverse the colors of the helmet wings - make them white with silver outlines.

A lot of the clamoring for full-time throwbacks ignores that uniforms aren't the same now as they were in the '80s, '70s, '60s... Design elements made for long, floppy Durene sleeves aren't going to look as good on today's tiny sleeve caps, UCLA-style shoulder loops stopped being actual loops long ago, etc. It's easy to overlook these small details when they're worn once a year, not so much when they're worn for every game. Look at how the Jets' previous uniforms gradually decayed through the years as the basic construction of the jerseys kept changing. They looked good in 1998, they looked hideous in 2018. It got progressively harder to make the 1960s-style stripes work on modern templates and actually look uniform across the whole team. Even in 1998, they already had to sacrifice the bottom stripe on the sleeves because there was no room for it anymore, even though the whole point of the original design was that it was a giant Northwestern stripe with the TV numbers embedded into it. And they had to keep compromising from there. Also, it's not really about the uniforms for a lot of these people, it's about nostalgia. Even if their favorite team perfectly replicates their old look down to the last stitch, the novelty will wear off in time, especially if they aren't winning.

The #1 pick wasn't part of the trade, but it was a likelier outcome with the rebuilding package they traded for than it would have been with Pau and a treadmill team. They also got another lottery pick in the trade. No league wants to be stuck owning one of its own franchises for any longer than it has to. The optics are terrible and it's just a bunch of extra expenses they have to deal with. The MLB went scorched-earth to rid themselves of the Expos as soon as they could: threatening contraction, playing games in San Juan, refusing to make September call-ups when they were in the running for a playoff spot in 2003, discontinuing all TV coverage and English-language radio broadcasts, etc. The NBA fortunately didn't have to stoop to that level to sell the Hornets.

He was acting as the owner of a financially-distressed franchise at the time and understood that the #1 pick made it more attractive to potential buyers than a treadmill team with Pau. Very different situation than what he normally would have loved to see as commissioner. Even then, the trade that actually happened still involved a star being traded from a smaller market to a larger market.

The Texans' uniforms have existed for a long time, but have they really stuck? To me at least, they're just a visual representation of mediocrity. People look at them and think of David Carr getting sacked a million times, the Rosencopter, and blowing that 24-0 lead to the Chiefs, not any positive memories. The only thing that ever stood out were their red socks on the road and they got rid of those after 2008. Everything about their brand has always felt like a placeholder because they can't have the Oilers back, from the generic color scheme and name to the recolored USC template. Comparing these uniforms to the Luv Ya Blues is crazy, they're not even in the same stratosphere. There's a reason why UH, Rice and the Rockets have all paid tribute to the Oilers but nobody will ever do the same for the Texans. I think the Bobcats' inaugural uniforms and even their second uniform set had more character than anything the Texans have ever worn. They should have been the Apollos instead.

I actually like the sleeve stripes, weird as they are. I wish the hem stripes matched. The logo doesn't suit the design very well, though.

I also prefer their current uniforms. Even the number font - the curves give it a slight Art Deco feel that's appropriate for Miami. The throwbacks have a worse logo, the exact same sleeve stripes that the Browns and Steelers are already struggling to make work on modern jersey templates, and a glaring mismatch between the helmet and pants stripes. If they absolutely have to go full-time throwback, the 1987-1993 uniforms were so much better.

Those don't even look like the Oilers from the neck down. That would be a big-time overreach by the NFL and the Titans.

Stern was once quoted as saying that his dream Finals matchup was Lakers vs. Lakers. He would have personally traded all those local teams' stars to the Lakers if he could have.

I'm surprised at how much I like some of these courts (others, like the Bucks', are hideous) but I don't get why they all have to be the same generic template.

It's like a cross between the Nets' and Thunder's crappy logos, but for soccer instead of basketball. The cliche wannabe-Euro name also isn't helping.

I don't mind the patches being on the front like in other sports, but I hate that it's only being done to make room for jersey ads that shouldn't exist in the first place.

That would make it even worse.

I doubt Nike or the NBA would cut down the uniform rotation, but I could see them changing the prompt from city/local-inspired looks to something else.

I actually like that Wizards City except for the Blazers-esque sash.

I blame whoever decided to stop wearing silver pants on the road anymore after 1999. The mess they've made with their current uniforms was just the next step. I actually wonder if it's one of those superstitious things. The last time they wore silver pants on the road, they had a huge meltdown in Philly with four INTs and three fumbles.

It does seem like they only wear red like 5 times a year, sometimes even less. The one recent exception being 2019 where, between the standard home and Color Rush, they wore red 8 times.

If you think about it, the Patriots were the first team to get the "Reebok treatment" even though Adidas was their supplier back then. That set had all the same design elements that Reebok took and ran with for the next decade. The only difference between those uniforms and the Bills or Cardinals is that they won more.

Adidas themselves haven't bothered trying to make it work in football, or maybe they haven't figured out how to do it yet. UW, GT, BC, USF still have all the usual problems with gold.

There's no such thing as a proper look for the Bills that doesn't have red helmets and socks.

Maryland's uniforms just look cheap now. And they're using the same stupid halftone effect on the numbers that the Commanders use on their infamous road jerseys.

The only thing saving the Saints from being the Cowboys in gold is that Nike adjusted the colors on the jerseys to match the helmets and pants, as dull as it is. I will say that the whole "khaki pants" thing didn't start with Nike. It's been a consistent problem since they first reintroduced the gold pants in 1986.