USA Hockey Jerseys: The Good, The Bad, and The Ones You Shouldn't Complain About

Earlier today, USA Hockey revealed the jerseys that are going to be worn by Team USA at the Sochi 2014 Olympics. From what I've seen on social media, people are really, really not happy about them.

(Really? People are upset about something being worn during the Olympics?! WHOA, shocker!)

Personally, my first reaction was, "Oooooh, love them!" so, uh, clearly I'm not in the majority here. I'm also not the biggest hockey aficionado, so I decided to look up old U.S. hockey jerseys for comparison -- I mean, is there a reason people are so disgusted by this jersey? Have we had real gems of sportswear in the past?

Well, to put it plainly...

No, we haven't. Thus, I present;

1. It pays homage to the golden teams of the past. This is incredibly awesome. Have past jerseys done this? Either way, I'd have to imagine it'd be pretty damn inspirational pulling this jersey over your head and being reminded that your country hasn't won a gold medal in 34 years. (Interestingly, both gold medals in hockey won by the U.S. were won in the U.S. Coincidence? Home ice advantage? What the heck happened in Salt Lake City, boys?)

2. The whole thing is a throwback, basically. American Olympic hockey jerseys rocked a crest front and center from 1920 through 1948, and featured a small crest all the way through 1964. We're essentially returning to our roots.

The U.S. Olympic hockey team in 1932. Look familiar?

3. It evokes the flag without actually being the flag. Unless you'd rather...

There are six stripes on the bottom of that puppy. That's literally half the flag.

 4. Sneaky, hidden patriotism. That's pretty much how America rolls when it comes to bleeding red, white and blue. We may not show it, but when the Olympics roll around, we all have a secret patriotic streak.

5. The U.S. played in throwback jerseys for a few games during the 2010 Olympics anyway...

Wait, is this 2010 or 1960?

So why not just go whole hog?

6. The flag logo was (and is) kind of dumb. It's uber-American, sure, but why are we so into flag imagery? Stars and stripes aren't enough? We have to declare to the world, "HELLO EVERYONE, this is what our FLAG looks like! Remember? 'Cause it's a flag!" Pretty sure that's self-explanatory.

Also, it's USA Hockey's logo. Why was this ever put on jerseys in the first place? What if other sports had the USA from their NGB's logo on its jerseys?

Uh, cute...??

 Also also, why is it USA Hockey's logo in the first place? It's rather glaringly missing, oh, I don't know, hockey imagery? Every other NGB has somehow made their sport a part of their logo. It's not like a hockey stick is a hard thing to work into a logo. Make it one of the legs on the A or the tail on the Y and you're good to go!

But thankfully, in 2010 the IOC banned sports from having their federation's logo on their jerseys and we were back to the classic block "USA" in Vancouver.

7. The stars are subtle. Plastic-y, yes, but they look almost black, and the shiny-ness is actually a really cool effect.

Does he not look star-spangled without being obnoxiously star-spangled? [x]

 Unless you'd rather...

Yowza.

These were the 1976 Canada Cup jerseys, not the Olympics, but still. The '70s were a scary time, man.

8. It makes us look like a hockey dynasty. (Which, as the new jerseys so kindly remind us all, we are not.) Something about the crest just makes it look/feel like a big deal.

[x]

I think those photos make the players look extremely impressive. These, however...

Good lord. [x]

...Yeah, not so much.

The only thing that irks me about the 2014 jerseys is the fake lacing. Kiiiinda weird. But overall, I'm a big fan of the classic look. It's very no-frills, but the stars give it a touch of special.

And hey, Team USA is going to be playing Russia, in Russia this time, with the son of a 1980 U.S. player on the U.S. roster and the grandson of the 1980 Soviet Union coach potentially on the Russian roster. Maybe we can recreate the 1980 magic? A girl can dream, right? ;)

What do you think of the 2014 jerseys?

(All info about & pictures of jerseys from the past courtesy of unitedstatesofhockey.com -- thanks for doing all the hard work for me!)

My Colorado Bucket List

It's kind of a bummer when the blog post you've been mentally planning suddenly becomes a moot point.

But you know what's NOT a bummer? When that post you were mentally planning was going to be titled, "Things To Do While I'm Unemployed."

:)

Now that I have about four more months in Colorado (side note: seven consecutive months in the same bed is the most permanent living situation I've had since high school), I decided it was high time to plan out my Colorado bucket list. Because in the almost three months I've been here, I haven't done nearly enough! Granted, this is largely due to the fact that I make minimum wage and spend $27.08 per day to live at the Olympic Training Center (and then there's gas for my car...), but I've been majorly slacking on affordable outings too. That needs to change!

1. Go ice skating at the World Arena. It might not be the old Broadmoor World Arena, where Olympic skaters trained (and where tryouts for the 1980 Olympic hockey team were held!), but I'm going to pretend it is. Either way, when Olympic skaters/hockey players do happen to be in town, this is where they train. So it may not be Peggy Fleming's ice, but I guess Evan Lysacek's ice will do. :) (And apparently Badger Bob used to coach Colorado College, so Mark Johnson learned to play hockey at the Broadmoor? Okay, awesome.)

Peggy Fleming at the Broadmoor! [x]

2. Go to a concert at Red Rocks. Technically this shouldn't even be on the list at all because it's going to be crossed off imminently, but I just want to brag that Ingrid and I are going to see OneRepublic and Sara Bareilles there THIS WEEK and I'm SO EXCITED!

Is this not the coolest venue EVER? [x]

3. Visit each Colorado Springs-based NGB. There are about two dozen sport national governing bodies in this city. Call me a nerd, but I really want to go to each one and take a picture in front of the sign. I don't even have a picture of myself and anything that says USA Volleyball yet! That needs to be remedied ASAP.

4. Visit Denver (and go to a Rockies and Avalanche game!). I've heard nothing but good things about Denver from other interns that've been there, and why not work in the pro sports teams while I'm at it? Hopefully I can squeeze in the Rockies before the baseball season ends! And I'm finding it kind of bizarre that I was in CO for the end of hockey season and I'll be in CO for the start of hockey season. But hey, I'll take it!

[x]

5. See the University of Wisconsin women's hockey team play in Vail. Okay, this one's kind of a stretch since Vail is almost three hours away, so it might have to become a weekend trip. But Mark Johnson coaches this team, which means that hoops will happily be jumped through to get myself there! I'll probably be the only person in the arena watching the coach more than the team. Oops? :P

It's okay, just leave me alone with my Miracle on Ice feelings. *sniffle* [x]

6. Hold an Olympic gold medal. I don't want to jinx anything, but suffice it to say that there's a particular gold medal displayed in a museum here that I would probably sob over if I got to hold it. And I have a friend who said she can hook me up. Stay tuned.

Your only hint. [x]

7. Go to a brewery. Honestly, I think beer is kind of disgusting. But there's no way I can live in Colorado for seven months and NOT go to a single brewery. I mean, Colorado is basically the Germany of America, and I suffered for the sake of experience when I was in Munich (and Copenhagen, for that matter) and choked down some whiskey in Edinburgh, so...

Look how excited I was to be drinking Danish beer!

8. Tour the Celestial Tea factory. This one is also kind of far away (damn Colorado, why do you have to be so big?), but if I'm touring a brewery, I'm also touring a place where I actually LIKE the drink they make! Talk about tea heaven!

[x]

Pretty sure that's everything that's super important. I'm determined not to let my first full winter in four years turn me into a hermit! I'm going to make these few months productive and awesome (so when I do have to write that "Things To Do While I'm Unemployed" post in December/January, I at least won't be mad at myself for not taking advantage of everything that's out here.) :)

If any Coloradans are reading this, is there anything fantastic that I'm leaving out?

Favorites Friday: Moments From the London 2012 Closing Ceremony

I sort of missed the boat on this one, guys. The one year anniversary of the London 2012 Closing Ceremony was earlier in the week -- whoops! But considering this week has been a whirlwind both at the OTC and at work, I'm giving myself a break. And besides, there's really no wrong time to watch the closing ceremony! It's basically one giant, "what the HELL? Wait, this is kind of fun," moment, which made narrowing down my favorite moments extremely difficult!

I would've had the extinguished torch and, "See you in Rio!" as my final favorite moment, but actually I kind of hate that moment. That moment marks the beginning of my post-Olympics depression that I suffer from for at least a year.

Gotta say, I loved this ceremony. Like I said before, it was basically a constant WTF, but it was so incredibly entertaining. Doesn't hurt that British music is basically the greatest!

Happy Friday!