Those unis really are terrible.

Well isn’t that clever? Spanish soccer team Getafe debuted their new uniforms earlier this week. While the design is fairly ho-hum, save the gigantic Burger King logo splashed across the front, the team’s hamburger-peddling sponsor has really scored with another marketing gem. On the inside of the jersey. That’s right. The inside of these Joma-designed duds come equipped with an inverted image of the King. No, not Elvis — we’re talking about that crazy one from all the BK commercials that somehow freaks a lot of people out. I love him. And I love the fact that Getafe’s goalscorers this season of flipping their shirt up and donning the King’s visage over their own. What a classy blue-blood move on the team’s part.

Brilliant!

I think they are on to something.

The amazing Swede for Inter Milan was the highlight of my Saturday of soccer watching with this amazing pass that simply must be seen to be comprehended.

The US men’s soccer team was far from impressive, echoing the performance  of the women’s team the day before, but they managed to get the three points against Japan on the strength of a goal from Stuart Holden. What I found more interesting, though, was the fact that the team was missing the official team crest on the jerseys and shorts, another way that they mirrored the women’s showing. See how they normally look here. Still looking for a reason why, so any insight would be greatly appreciated.

It all happened so fast.  Today in Beijing the Olympics quietly kicked off with the first round of women’s soccer matches.  Sorely missing their star Abby Wambach, who suffered a broken leg last month, the US team gave up two goals in the first four minutes to Norway and struggled the entire time en route to losing the match.  Let’s hope that they get their act together because they now sit in last place in Group G.

Something I found extremely interesting, though, was the fact that the United States team was playing without the US Soccer badge that is usually worn over the heart.  Looks like the logo was also missing from the shorts (see official game shorts here).  As a matter of fact, there was not a US crest to be found on the field of play today, not even by the goalie, which left the American team looking, ummm, naked.  But not like this or this, which I’m sure all of you are upset about. Surely this omission had something to do with the team losing its mojo today.

Anybody have any clue why the team went crest-less today?  Let me know in the comments.

The Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho, who won FIFA World Player of the Year in 2004 and 2005, will sign with the Italian giants AC Milan on Wednesday according to the club.  The deal is believed to be worth €21 million (about $33.5 million).  Milan is hopeful that Ronaldinho will pass his medical examination, especially after a 2007-08 that was plagued with injuries and a percieved lack of interest in his previous club Barcelona. [via ESPNSoccernet.]

With the announcement last week that the SMU football team would be sporting “new” uniforms, I felt the need to bring up the Mustangs’ schizophrenic handling of the color blue.  Now I’m not old enough to remember, but I can’t recall ever seeing the SMU athletic teams wearing anything but royal before the mid to late 1990s. But navy was the preferred hue of blue that the football team adopted in 2003. And there seems to be no explanation for this at all. For a school with as rich an atheltic heritage in the city of Dallas as SMU, it is a sad tale how much apathy has surrounded its programs since the NCAA dropped the Death Penalty on them in 1987.

Look at the school’s official colors and you’ll see that they are “Harvard Red and Yale Blue.” WHY?  That automatically dooms the Mustangs to aspire to be a copy of another school, AT BEST!  I’m sure schools with such strong ties to their colors as the University of Texas look at SMU and just laugh.  Who can tell me where the non-official usage of navy came from?

Its not just the football team, either.  In recent years the soccer teams, basketball teams, and even the cheerleaders have been seen clad in navy. Let’s hope with the introduction of these new football duds, which hearken back to the Pony Express days of Eric Dickerson and Craig James, we are now seeing the abandonment of navy, which is not even a sanctioned school color.  Oh, and by the way, with the new June Jones-era unis the school has introduced are in a shade called “SMU Blue.”

Looks like hoops are back in royal now, though.

Why oh why SMU do you play fast and loose with your colors?  What other sports team, at any level, does this?  Southern Methodist University — pick one color and stick with it. Please.  Maybe you’ll see that people care about your teams when they think that you actually do.

What do you think? Please tell me what you think in the comments.

Thanks to hombre de steel for the vintage banner photos.

Well, looks like I can add another item to the list of Reasons I Should Move to New York City.  This past Wednesday, our favorite NBA player with a prolific background in the beautiful game of soccer, Steve Nash, co-hosted a charity pick-up game in Chinatown with American soccer great Claudio Reyna.  In a display that proved that he may indeed have more pull in the world of soccer than the entire MLS, Nash was able to secure the services of such prolific international stars as Thierry Henry, Robbie Fowler, Salomon Kalou, Steve McManaman and Rob Jones.  Add to that such NBA standouts as Nash, Raja Bell, Jason Kidd, Leandro Barbosa and Baron Davis (who played in a fly pair of Reebok Pumps!) and this became one of the more amazing instances of synergy that ever was between my two very favorite sports to watch and play.

The action was expectedly light-hearted with many less-than-proficient players on the pitch (see: Baron Davis, ESPN writer Marc Stein), but a thrilling display was put on by Henry that dazzled all who were lucky enough to be steal an unobstructed view of the affair.  By all accounts of this well-documented event that I have perused online, it appears that the highlight of the show was Baron Davis, whose athletically-proficient mind outpaced his skill for the sport.  He had loads of fun, trying in earnest at times to show skill in a game not native to him and doing a surprisingly good job at times.  Let’s just say that it’s obvious that he is a professional athlete.  Both Henry and Davis were actually involved in one of the day’s more memorable moments when the Beard slapped a goal-bound shot that the Frenchman had deftly chipped on target.

My favorite thing is still the fact that Baron Davis scored a goal in a pair of Pumps, which may be the first time that has ever happened in the history of the sport.

Interested parties should check out some of the media coverage this event has generated after the jump:

***Best video I’ve seen yet of the event***

This is American Soccer

Can’t Stop Bleeding

ESPNSoccernet

Unprofessional Foul

ESPN video

Simply brilliant. Especially for an Arsenal fan.

Once again, the Hoops have made a tweak to their uniforms.  This time they have ditched the alternate gray hoops that they had last year in favor of a new blue look.  The N. Period is not really into these, let us know what you think in the comments.  Among my beefs: 1) I don’t like how the top red hoop merges with the red on the shoulders, would rather have it contrast like on the away uni. 2) The shorts, with their broad colored stripe across the bottom edge, seem like they come from another kit altogether. 3) What’s with the downcast stripes? 4) I’d like to see a collar, even if it’s a small one like Brazil has worn.

We just can’t recall a classic design like the hoops being made to look so dismal, and this is coming from fans of FC Dallas.