tBBP

Also good points. And it can be a successful strategy...when pulled off successfully. Some teams did it better than others (exhibit A: the aforementioned Twins). Others aaallllllmost got it there (exhibit B: the Kings). And I also agree about the nostalgia factor, in this way: some teams have had such a unique and distinctive look and/or have had such memorable cult classic (I'm not gonna use "iconic" here because that term gets thrown around WAY too much) that anything short of direct facsimiles will seem to always fall short (see: Ducks, Anaheim, formerly Mighty, also of, and also formerly eggplant and jade). In those instances—and let's include the Timberwolves here since it came up—a straight update of those, such as the City or whatever-they-were-called alternates from a year or so ago, would have been lovely (especially since their current primaries fall so flat). The Kings, on the other hand, have had a handful of decent looks over time—well, except for the last two rounds—but nothing that really "excited" anyone, so the direction they're going now would have been a great jumping-off point for something with the soul of their but in a brand new wineskin. It almost got got there...almost. But also feel like it'll be changing again in about five years' time.

Perhaps in the NBA it may, but that general trend has been going on for years across other sports. Personally, I've just about become numb to the whole "honor the past, embrace the present/future" line of design of reasoning—feels like ever since Nike started that line with CFB back around 2015 or so that's all I've been seeing. I know this next part is dangerous territory given what skipper is driving three of the four major pro sports ships (hint: it looks like a check mark), but I'm honestly ready to start seeing some new directions and new directions. Speaking of which... There's a part of me that wants to like this. I like the general idea of it, but something about the execution just feels off. I actually like the KINGS script as a callback to the 90s-early 2000s chest scripts worn by Mitch Richmond, Chris Webber, Vlade Divac and of course White Chocolate, but it definitely didn't need the small SACRAMENTO stuck in there. I guess I'll say I like it if only for the fact that purple is more prominent (which they should have made more of an effort to own this go-round but...whatevs). We'll see if it makes it past year one though...

If we can't get the eggplant and jade back, I think most of us will take this as an acceptable alternative...

Side note, but I greatly prefer those numbers over the current ones...that said, that unique of a number font really doesn't gel well with a script, so the [now current] ones functionally work better. (Again, depending on whether they fixed the 6 and 9 glyphs...)

Well they had the [now former] look for the past seven years, so maybe these will outlive those....

Ah, now THAT makes sense, with as big a *Caribbean* concentration of population as Toronto has...nice.

Right now I don't know whether to place fault on the Kings organization, Nike, or both for this ("this" = not making purple the primary). About the only thing I can think of is that black shirts go with just about any color/type pants/shorts so it'd be more versatile for streetwear. Beyond that, if they're trying for something else with the [relative lack of] purple prevalence, then it smacks to me of both trytoohardism and thinking waaayyy too far beyond the pale. All that said, I like the simplicity of the uniform design, the scripts, and (provided they updated the 6 and the 9 glyphs) the number font. On one side, I get the logic of separating themselves in a conference with two other purple teams, but...a/ one of those teams is so deep into the Valley thing that purple seems more an afterthought to them as well, and b/ even more NBA teams have a black jersey somewhere in their closet, so the Kings were really in between a rock and a hard place, one could suppose. That said, I still don't get why they don't flaunt their signature primary color, purple... This to me is a trytoohardism mixed with, well, mixtape edition. I get the idea (the beam + '96), but...nahhh. And as far as the original '96 versions this was based on goes, well... (I don't know why the Kings did that back then, either.)

So, I might've missed it somewhere but...is there a particular reason for this specific colorway, or is it just a flavor-of-the-season template?

Time out—whose jerseys are those? If they're not Miami's, they doggone well should be—that aqua green adds a good lil' bit of flavor to the pink & black....

Unrelated--well, I guess it kinda is related--and not that I want them to change it, but it amuses me how, 27 years later, the Pistons are still using (pretty much) the same font from the Teal Horse era. I'm actually probably more amused by the fact that in all this time since, they haven't even tried to change it...good for them, as it's one of my favorite custom team fonts in sports, quirky as it is.

I'll say this for UCF and that uniform specifically: at least they're using actual brassier metallic gold. All that said...as much as I've personally always wanted to see what straight gold and white looked like together—which that uniform does give me, for what that's worth—there ain't no way that's gonna fly on the field. It's gonna need the black—well, the jersey numbers will, anyway—for both legibility and readability. (Did they not learn from Florida State's kerfuffle back in 2015??)

And to be specific, the pewter hue itself—though, to be fair, a/ Wilson produced the original '97 uniforms, and b/ I believe the pewter was a custom swatch at the time which made it irritatingly difficult to match across certain media. All that said, yeah, the dark gray masquerading as pewter in the Nike reproductions may be easier to match across media, but is a definite downgrade from the previous pewter. All that said, in certain instances I feel like the dazzle fabric "adds something"—and at any rate, I DEFINITELY miss metallic fabrics in the pants (looking at you Raiders, Saints, Niners, and yes, even you, Buccaneers).

I knew I forgot one...that Marlins Sugar Kings (?) inspired CC is pretty nice on its own. Beyond that, though...yeah, a whole bunch of somewhere between "meh" and "naww dawg".

If anything, I'd say they should stroke the inside of that yellow circle...form a rim around those spokes. From there I could take or leave keylining the exterior of the wheel, but yeah...defintiely needs that black inner stroke.

I hereby christen that as the Waffy Duck...

They need to quit playing around with people and just bring back the original [Mighty] Ducks sweaters and be done with it already.... Ish ain't difficult, Anaheim...stop tap-dancing/pussyfooting around with folk and give us all what we REALLY want back!

Not that anyone cares but since we ratin' City Connects thus far...I gotta say that so far, given what this whole rigmarole is/was supposed to be about, I say the Rangers have the best one. Behind them, probably the Mariners...after that, a whole bunch of "naw, dawg" from me.

Mind you, I know nothing about IU's football history prior to the Randle El brothers, but is that an era worth throwing back to? (Legit curious.)

Now THAT is NICE!!! And also, did they change up the crown logo from last year? I don't recall those two cut lines being that obvious. Looks like they aimed to subtly evoke the mountains...which is sneakily clever if you ask me. Oh and...SO glad they're keeping the purple. The gray really isn't even needed; either they should go back to silver or 86 it entirely. The rest of this logoset is top notch. I wanna see the new unis and especially the new number set now...

Are those supposed to be a relic to the Antwaam Randle El days? (Is that the throwback they're talking about?) Whatever the case, definite downgrade—but it also seems like this one falls on IU, not their supplier.

I may be/have been living in an alternate universe about this, but wasn't there something a good number of years back about the league switching home jersey designations halfway through the season (WAH first half/DAH second half)? I don't know, I may be totally off about this one...just something I think I thought I remember hearing or reading somewhere once before.

So then what are the lines in the KINGS logo for, then?

You and @Sport have something to carry y'all for the rest of your [sportsfan] lives...and I'd imagine your fellow Cincinnatian probably won't be able to speak straight for a couple days due to de la Cruz-induced hoarseness. Just how Nike intended it.

I don't disagree about that last part, but you may also be missing the greater point: that PGH across the chest is for THEM (the city denizens), not everyone else. (To be real, there could have been cheesier alternatives, such as "the Burgh", which would have been even worse, so all in all it's probably better they went the way they did.) I'm not the biggest fan of all these new Nike-helmed one-offs myself, as they effectively fucntion more (to me) as billboards to satisfy their own creative agends than something purposefully for the teams; however, I also try my best to be as objective as possible, as a graphic designer myself, to understand as much as I can about why certain design decisions were made (i.e. the research and development part), which is why I try to dig into whatever explanations/infographics I can find on all these new designs (and sometimes I find inspirations from digging into those details), and when the design is more focused on the city/team itself, it's highly obvious to me. All of which is to say I completely get where the PGH thing came from...it also helps that I lived there for seven years, my daughter still lives there, and I can understand all the references. Given Nike's overwhelming love of all things anthracite, I honestly don't know how they didn't try to shove some of that into this design. (Or maybe they did and the Pirates just wasn't having it--I don't know.) That said, I'm also glad they didn't, and just kept it to the core colors of black and yellow.