Saturday, November 22, 2008

Jersey Girl

This was a game that the Los Angeles Kings should have won. 18 year old Drew Doughty is a total stud. Blah, blah blah let's talk about that awesome new jersey!

Kings 3, Av's 4


Midway through the 2nd period,
Raitis Ivanans realizes that the Kings are wearing a new jersey.


Wow, what a great looking jersey. Even my Half Season Ticket Holder Buddy couldn't stop talking about it all night. But even better than the jersey itself, was the amazing show the Kings promo staff put on tonight.

First off, the main store, Team LA, was closed and this is what was outside:


You may be back in black. But I'm in red. So back away please.

A line had even formed outside the store to be the first to buy the jersey.


"Oh, no. This is for the 3rd jersey. The iPhone line is down there."

They were not letting anybody into the store until 7:34pm, the time that the Kings would skate onto the ice. Even the Kiosks stationed around the Staples Center were covered up.


Up in our seats, at 7:34pm the lights were dimmed and AC/DC's "Back in Black" came on the loudspeaker.



And then the Kings came out in the new jersey as Bailey waved a flag with the new logo feverishly.



The 3rd logo was everywhere. Including the scoreboard...



And on the Ice Girls...



And on Cartman...



Even the scoreboard graphics were treated with a black hue instead of the normal full color.



The 2 Kiosks around Staples opened... and were filled to the brim with 3rd logo merchandise.


Hmm, do you have anything with "Louisiana" on it?

The Team LA store was overloaded with new logo items. And yes, that jacket that was leaked online last week is real.


Perfect for rollerskating and chillin out in the 80's. Or in the 00's but with irony.

The store was filled with other merchandise that one might actually consider buying.


That's right. 18 year old Drew Doughty has his own player t-shirt.
You have arrived my friend. You have arrived.


And as far as the arena celebration... what is classier than an ice sculpture???


Answer: A chandelier is the only thing classier than an ice sculpture.

The jersey looks so great on the ice. Especially the white stripe at the bottom of the jersey. But the really great part is in the details. Check out Michal Handzus's helmet:




They are wearing the old "Kings" wordmark logo on their helmets from the Gretzky era. This is what the helmets look like normally:



A huge improvement. My one criticism is the number on the back. It's very big and even thought it has a silver trim, seeing it in person, the numbers looked very flat on the back of the jersey.



But that certainly didn't stop fans from buying the new 3rd jersey. It seemed like they were buying them by the dozen. Every few minutes fans would walk up to their seats in one of the new jerseys. Some already had custom numbering jobs. Like this one.


Wow, that woman's brand new jersey is already outdated.

LaBarbera? Really? Could there be a worse Kings player right now to put on the back of a brand new $300 jersey?


Found it!

That's right. She has seats right on the glass... and hands of stone on the back of her brand new $300 jersey. I really hope that is Kyle Calder's sister. Finally, as the fans exited Staples Center... we all got a little souvenir to take home.


This may be the only banner the Kings are raising for a while.

It was a fun night. It could have been better if the Kings had won, but with Phoenix and Dallas losing... I'll take the point. The jersey and all the celebration associated with it came together great. And I guarantee that the 3rd jersey will be the Kings main jersey within 2 years. Guarantee.

4 comments:

Jargon said...

The helmets and socks and basis of the jersey were great. I just think for all of the style and diversity and hutzpa that L.A. has, the logo falls short of being in the radius of capturing that.

I find it hard to believe that it received the almost 100% approval that Luc said it did. Then again, if Robitaille comes to you with an idea and asks what you think, I wouldn't expect anyone to question it.

Chris Kontos said...

What should an LA logo look like then if it needs to have diversity and "hutzpa"? I think simpler is always better when it comes to jerseys otherwise you end up with sunglasses on lions. That is what the radius you are talking about would have.

Anonymous said...

You mean Bailey? They'll throw a pumpkin suit on him for a Halloween game if that's what it takes to sell tickets in L.A. Same concept with this third jersey brouhaha.

Chris Kontos said...

No, the Kings logo after they switched from the Gretzky era had sunglasses on the lion. That is what I think some designers think of when they think of "L.A Glitz!"