NBA Christman Jerseys: Yay or Nay?

As many may know, the four major sports each have their own special holiday games. The NHL has the “Winter Classic” played on New Year’s Day, the MLB has the Fourth of July, and, of course, the NFL has Thanksgiving. Each team playing on these holidays usually roll out special uniforms to be worn by players, and they are also a big hit with fans. The NBA is no exception. The NBA has been playing games on Christmas for quite some time, since 1947 to be exact. It was not until recently, though, that “The Association” started producing special Christmas jerseys. Last year was the first that the teams playing on Christmas wore these special edition uniforms. How did the NBA kick off their first attempt? Plain, monochromatic jerseys with just a little bit of stitching in a different color to produce the letters and numbers For instance, the Los Angeles Lakers jerseys were all white with purple stitching, while the Boston Celtics uniforms were all green with white stitching. Those jerseys were met with, well, barely any response. I mean, what can you say about the most simplistic “special occasion” jerseys these eyes have seen? I did not hate them, but I did not instantly go online to buy one either. They were simply “Meh.” This year, though, the NBA and their official outfitter, Adidas, went big. They introduced the 2013 “BIG Logo” short sleeve jerseys. Now THOSE are some jersey that you can have an opinion on. First off, they have short sleeves. All of them. That would be my first complaint. Last year, the Golden State Warriors experimented with short sleeve jerseys, and that came with a mixed response. The fact that Golden State is not the most relevent team in the NBA may have helped spurn negative feedback. Something about the tight fitting, short sleeves just does not feel right. It was speculated this might be an attempt to mov these jerseys off shelves, as people may be more inclined to where a short sleeve jersey than a sleeveless variety. But that segways into the second problem I have with the jersyes: the giant logos. The combo of the big logos and the sleeves make the jerseys look like something the Houston Astros of the MLB would wear in the 1980’s (short sleeve, button less, uglies). I may be in the minority, but probably not, when I say that regardless of the sleeves, those big logos are a major turn off when shopping for jerseys. Also, while the jerseys from last year were only available for the teams that actually played on Christmas, this year the NBA made Christmas jerseys for every team. So while the Boston Celtics are home on Christmas, you can still get yourself the jersey that the players (never) wore! There is concern from the players as well. Miami Heat superstar LeBron James told The Miami Herald that there is concern among the Heats top shooters that the short sleeves will be uncomfortable, unnatural, and overall impede their shooting. I don’t see why the NBA does not just go the route of the other sports leagues in these games and just toss some throwback uniforms on the players backs.  So this is my plea to the NBA: please, just do less.

What do you think? Do you like the NBA’s short sleeve jerseys?

PS-I had pictures with this that I am too lazy to add in right now. Look them up if you want...