Yay Or Nay?
Bruins dress like old-time Red Sox for Winter Classic walk-in: Awesome or the cheesiest thing ever?
If you've clicked on this post, you're probably just realizing that the Winter Classic is being played on Monday afternoon, which is the most NHL thing ever. Marketing one of the league's marquee events has never been Gary Bettman's strong suit.
But the show will go on at Fenway Park, where the hometown Boston Bruins welcome in the Pittsburgh Penguins for a classic Eastern Conference tilt. Speaking of classic, the Penguins gave fans a first look at their uniforms for a New Year's Day practice skate. Unfortunately, the Peaky Blinders hats will be ditched once the puck drops:
No, those are not Purdue hockey jerseys, those are a call back to the original uniforms for the Pittsburgh Pirates, the steel city's first NHL franchise and first franchise to wear black and gold. The Bruins will also be in black and gold, rocking a sweater inspired by a number of different looks the franchise has sported in its long history
Before the Bs slipped those on on Monday, they arrived outside Fenway in completely different uniforms from a completely different sport. Here's captain Patrice Bergeron leading the boys off the bus in old-timey Red Sox uniforms, complete with gloves, bats and stirrups. Yes, seriously:
Upon first watch, it's legitimately hard to decide if this is really cool or the cheesiest thing ever. The more I watch, the more I lean with extra, extra cheesy, especially when you notice that the footwear ranges from cleats to sneakers to dress shoes.
Having said that, it appears these guys actually did use the gloves, which makes it a touch less corny:
OK, this photo is pretty sick, too:
It's possible this was both cool and cheesy, right? That seems to be confirmed in the reviews, which, as you might imagine, were MIXED:
One might call it a stroke of genius by the NHL now that debate is being fully embraced. Others (myself) might not give the NHL that much credit knowing the league's inability to market. Either way, chalk this up as a rare W for Bettman.