Sports

The Arnold Palmer Polo

June 13, 2013

First things first, I know nothing about golf. I have never in my life spent a clear Saturday out on the links, and it’s probably been just about a decade since I last picked up a club, and even then it was probably just to play a round of putt putt. Despite my glaring lack of hands on experience, I’ve always found the sport fascinating. There’s something about the singularity of golf – how one player, one stroke, one slight shift in the wind can change everything, that I can’t help but love. For a sport that relies so heavily on decorum and it’s methodical pace, I’ve also always enjoyed watching golf. So this weekend, I like so many others will be watching the U.S. Open live from Ardmore, PA. While I do relish a good match-up, the one thing I do abhor about today’s golfers is their regrettable attire. In my opinion style is never more evident than in sports, when a player’s internal feelings are most outwardly perceivable, which is way I’ll always revere Arnold Palmer.

An Homage to Jai Alai

March 4, 2013

Bygone Week, France, Jai Alai, Sixties, Spain, Sports, Spring

A.S. Castel Rigone – The Only Soccer Team That Wears Cucinelli

June 14, 2012

Futbol, Soccer Week, Sports

150 Years of the Soccer Jersey

June 13, 2012

Futbol, History, Soccer Week, Sports

3 Comments

Royal Engineers FC 1873

It’s hard to argue with the purity of soccer. Two halves, ninety plus minutes, rabid fans, no pads, twenty two players. There’s something about that stripped-down nature of the game that puts the emphasis on what’s in front of you. There’s no frills, it’s just two teams and the moment. Yet the game wasn’t always this clear cut or streamlined.

County Carlo FC 1900

Although soccer wasn’t always this orderly, initially it was just groups of friends that came together to play the emerging game. During this period clubs didn’t have set uniforms which lead to mass confusion on all sides of the ball. These players would wear either cricket shirts if they had them, or just throw on whatever they could piece together, and were separated into teams by small items such as hats or scarves. As soccer went professional in England during the early 1870′s both spectators and the press called for some uniformity in the sport (sorry I had to.) As soccer was largely an upper class sport, early jersey colors were mainly based on school or club colors. For players that weren’t lucky enough to be on wealthy squads, they were left wearing plain white shirts, as the expense fell upon the team itself, not the individual players.

Southhampton FC 1927

This worked for a while, but it couldn’t keep up with the sport’s expansion, and pretty soon soccer outgrew this simplistic uniform system. Around the start of the twentieth century clubs were becoming more legitimate, and their uniforms followed suit. Low quality soccer shirts were replaced with tough, slimmed down jerseys, and clubs began sporting full matching unifoms. The details of the shirt were still largely up to the club itself, with many teams opting for laced crew necks (think Michael Bastian’s rugby shirt without the collar) and various stripes to make the players more noticeable.

Argentina National Team 1930

Professional soccer was shelved at the start of World War One, and when it returned after the war, the laced neck was gone, replaced by a straight collar with a v-neck. Over the next several years teams continued to tweak colors and patterns to set their players apart. In 1939, this ingenuity reached a new level as British teams began putting numbers on the back of their jerseys for the first time. Unfortunately, just as this move was being made, World War Two began and it was over half a decade before numbered jerseys actually became prevalent on the field. After the Second World War, the numbers and details that had become an integral part of British jerseys spread throughout Europe, allowing teams to create jerseys that represented their respective regions.

River Plate (Argentina) 1940′s

Around the mid twenty first century teams began experimenting with new materials, shifting away from cumbersome cottons to lighter synthetics that allowed for greater movement. Long sleeve shirts were replaced by short sleeves, the v-neck was switched out for a crewneck, and the modern jersey shape was finalized. During the next few decades, more technical materials were introduced, and sponsors began slapping their logos across the jerseys. The jerseys of today are loud and in your face, covered in brash colors, big logos, and unmistakeable patterns. While on the field jerseys shift further into becoming intense statement pieces for the players, the influence of more the traditional soccer jersey can still be seen in menswear today. The long sleeved, striped cotton shirt can still be seen in many collections today, harkening back to the early English clubs and their primitive unis.

1950 U.S. National Team

Italian National Team 1982

Arsenal FC 2007-2009

Unforgiving and Unforgettable – Tennis Pros of the Seventies and Eighties

May 10, 2012

History, Sports, Tennis Week

1 Comment

Björn Borg

There was a time, during tennis’ early days, when the entire sport could be described as simple. Casual games were played between friends on country clubs’ grass courts during the weekends. They dressed in basic white shoes, wide legged pants, long sleeve button downs, or the occasional polo shirt, and tennis sweaters in the cooler weather. The competitive sphere was fragmented and difficult to make a living off of, which kept pro tennis is relative obscurity. And then in the early seventies, the sport experienced a major shift. The professional circuit became more organized as “The Open Era” was ushered in, allowing players to travel along the tour circuit and live off their tournament earnings. As tennis was legitimized, public interest in the sport rose sharply, and television networks began broadcasting matches.

John McEnroe

These televised games introduced the modern tennis star to the American public and by the late seventies, tennis was dominated by players that were noteworthy not merely for their prowess on the court, but for their larger than life personalities. It was a time when players were unforgiving and unforgettable, when pros proudly wore Fila headbands, striped polos, long hair, and Nike sneakers as they won championships. Players such as John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg were idolized not only for their skill, but for their personalities as well. This was an era when audiences would sit on the edge of their seats, as games would come down to that final point. And then as that last hit would land just so, turning pro into champion, that player would fall to his knees and let out a defiant victory cry. It is those moments that define the golden years of tennis - extraordinary athletes playing the once simple game with legendary style.