I mean, come on!

Seriously? This? :

No, really.....this? :













Sigh........ :













A lot has been written on the magical interweb about these monstrosities already, so I'll just sum up what everyone (and I do mean everyone) has said about them :

• Practice jerseys
• Apron strings
• Stupid stripes that don't go all the way around the arm

I mean, seriously? Look at that last photo. If you're gonna be stupid enough to have a partial stripe on the arm, then at least have a reason for the gap in between. You know, like the number appearing on the sleeve. But look at the number. It's above where the sleeve stripe is!

What really bugs me is that the template used for the new Oilers jersey is almost exactly the same as that of the Florida Panthers. Compare the two :



It reminds me of that Simpsons episode where Mr. Burns loses control of his nuclear plant and is forced to live with his lickspittle Smithers. In order to earn his keep, Burns heads off to the grocery store. When looking for cereal, he sees Krusty the Klown in the aisle, selecting a box of Krusty O's. Noting that the box has a picture of Krusty himself on it, Burns instantly believed that everyone in the real world has a breakfast cereal named after himself. Burns looks vainly for a box of "Burns O's" until he finds a box of Count Chocula and, on the slight similarity between the Count's visage and Burns's own, comments, "I suppose this one looks a bit like me...".

And that's what it looks like happened here. It's like the Oilers, about three minutes before the RBK designers were about to head home for the weekend, were given two or three choices of templates for their new jerseys, none of which really looked like their current set. So, they chose "Default Template 2" to brand themselves with, walked out the door just before it was locked up for the weekend, and instantly regretted not looking into this whole new jersey thing sooner, instead of being left with the last turkey in the shop.

I mean, the Oilers could have stuck to their guns and stayed with something similar to their classic set. The New Jersey Devils did. So did Minnesota. Nobody held a gun to the Coyotes' heads and told them to remove anything resembling good taste and class.

And before you think that I'm against change, I personally think that the RBK experiment is worthy. I like the slim cut of the new jerseys, and I think that teams like Washington, Dallas, and Boston now have the best jerseys they've ever had. The Oilers could have done so much better, but, like last year's total collapse after the team's magical Stanley Cup run in 2006, this is the second big disappointment for the Oilers in as many years.