Mark in Shiga said:

I’m disappointed to see so many people not only not minding, but actually defending advertising on soccer jerseys. This is a recent phenomenon and isn’t part of soccer tradition at all.

Two words: Bethlehem Steel. Look it up.

English football actually had enacted a ban on such sponsorship in 1972, but small club Kettering Town claimed it was never written down and so struck a deal with local Kettering Tyres and wore shirts with the sponsor’s name on them in a game early in 1976 before the FA told them to stop.

In 1977, the FA relented and allowed shirt sponsorship. When top-flight teams first started doing it, they wouldn’t allow teams to wear sponsored jerseys on TV games (kind of defeating the purpose, IMHO) and eventually relented on that, too. Now it’s ubiquitous.

BTW, the whole Chivas/Chivas USA thing shows an amazing lack of understanding of the “soccer culture” that I was talking about above and why it’s different from yours. Non-soccer people think “shi-vuss,” when anyone in the soccer culture knows right away what “Chee-vuss” is – Club Deportivo de Guadalajara, nicknamed “Chivas” for “goats” (because long ago a sportswriter noted that the Guadalajara team ran around like crazy goats and the nickname stuck). The MLS team is owned by the owner of the Mexican League team and its official name is Club Deportivo Chivas USA or CD Chivas USA.

BTW, Chivas Regal is (or was, anyway, don’t know if they still are) a sponsor of Chivas USA. Recognizing an opportunity when they see it.

I take back my ignorant comment regarding Chivas USA then. I had no idea they were named after a Mexican team. There’s my mea culpa regarding the name. I did however know that the MLS team was, at one time, sponsored by Chivas Regal (which is good scotch fyi).

I’m disappointed to see so many people not only not minding, but actually defending advertising on soccer jerseys. This is a recent phenomenon and isn’t part of soccer tradition at all.

Two words: Bethlehem Steel. Look it up.

English football actually had enacted a ban on such sponsorship in 1972, but small club Kettering Town claimed it was never written down and so struck a deal with local Kettering Tyres and wore shirts with the sponsor’s name on them in a game early in 1976 before the FA told them to stop.

In 1977, the FA relented and allowed shirt sponsorship. When top-flight teams first started doing it, they wouldn’t allow teams to wear sponsored jerseys on TV games (kind of defeating the purpose, IMHO) and eventually relented on that, too. Now it’s ubiquitous.

BTW, the whole Chivas/Chivas USA thing shows an amazing lack of understanding of the “soccer culture” that I was talking about above and why it’s different from yours. Non-soccer people think “shi-vuss,” when anyone in the soccer culture knows right away what “Chee-vuss” is – Club Deportivo de Guadalajara, nicknamed “Chivas” for “goats” (because long ago a sportswriter noted that the Guadalajara team ran around like crazy goats and the nickname stuck). The MLS team is owned by the owner of the Mexican League team and its official name is Club Deportivo Chivas USA or CD Chivas USA.

BTW, Chivas Regal is (or was, anyway, don’t know if they still are) a sponsor of Chivas USA. Recognizing an opportunity when they see it.

FWIW: I think NASCAR is absolutely a sport (although not one that I’m particularly interested in). But the issue of advertising on a soccer uni as opposed to advertising on NASCAR autos (or on boxing trunks, or bowling shirts…) is an apples/oranges comparison, because soccer is a team sport while NASCAR (and boxing, and bowling…) is not. A team is a brand, it’s what you root for, and the uniform transcends the identities of the people wearing it. That’s why advertising on team uniforms is offensive. But individual sports are different — I’d still rather not see ads on boxing trunks and such, but it’s not as bad as an ad on a team uni.

And please, don’t tell me about NASCAR pit teams and all that — from a rooting perspective, it’s still an individual sport.

the team is a brand, but for soccer fans, the shirt sponsorship does not get in the way. ill use inter again because im an interista. but the pirelli logo is just a logo, actually i believe the own a part of the team as well but thats not the point. its a part of the jersey, but if you talk to any inter fan and ask them what represents their team the first thing they will say is nerazzurri (blue and black, the colors of the team). the shirt is even more respected in football than in basketball or baseball because it comes with a history. teams rarely change their first kit. it means so much more than a Cleveland cavs jersey that may change again in 10 years. the logo on the front may not be ideal, but it in no way takes away from the team as a brand, when done properly.

As a student of the University of Washington, I could not agree more. I dig the old-school uni he’s rockin’.

pic

photobucket album

Can’t say I’m too fond of them myself… other opinions?

[Oh btw... those Seattle T-Birds alts posted a week or so back are really sweet, IMO.]

There is a deal on reebok.com as of right now. There is a friends and family promo. Check out reebok for anything; kicks, jerseys, hoodies, etc for 40% off. Get Christmas shopping done. The deal is till Sunday sometime. All you have to do is put in a promotional code of 598839 and you receive 40% off on all your purchases.

i just tried the code and you will be able to find out your discount prior to final checkout.

feel free to pass along.

thanks i had been meaning to grab something off their site and was gonna wait a couple days, but that pretty much made the shipping free

thanks for the code

todd krevanchi (krvanch) said:

something that ive wondered for years…
are the jets colors a direct reference to leon hess’ gas stations?

I believe the Jet’s green/white look pre-dates Leon Hess’ ownership. Wasn’t Sonny Werblin the one who splashed the cash for Joe Willie back in ‘66?

According to Wikipedia, Werblin and Hess were both involved in the 1963 deal that turned the Titans into the Jets. The colors changed with the name change.

i just tried the code and you will be able to find out your discount prior to final checkout.

feel free to pass along.