Prepare for a Gold Sabres Sweater
Is Buffalo ready to emphasize a new color?
In yesterday's NHL JerseyWatch mini-update, I mentioned that a trustworthy source informed me the Buffalo Sabres may be launching a gold third jersey on Friday. This is a source that prefers to be kept anonymous. I know who it is, but it's not important that you do. This source has never led me astray. So either it'll be a first or the Sabres are about to go gold.
Either way, the new sweater should be revealed on Friday — or so said the daughter of the team's owner via the team's own Twitter account on Tuesday. But having had some time to think over her exact words and some other factors, I can't help but wonder about that a bit.
Let's set the stage. Tomorrow is the Sabres Summer Fan Fest. It's the final day of the Sabres' prospect development camp, which includes the annual Blue & Gold Scrimmage. The team is promoting the event heavily online. They're touting food, music, player autographs and even a fireworks display. If you live in or around Buffalo, they want you to go.
So if they're really going to unveil a new jersey, why not promote that too?
Sure, it would make for a nice surprise for the fans who do show up, but wouldn't you sell more tickets if you told everyone in advance? And isn't that really the point?
The anatomy of a tweet
Now I'm skeptical. So let's look back at exactly what Kelly Pegula said. When asked for details about the new third jersey, she tweeted, "if you're at development camp, you'll get a sneak glimpse on Friday."
First, she doesn't say the jersey will be unveiled in so many words. She says "a sneak glimpse," which itself is vague. Apart from actually being able to see the jersey, what other way is there to take that comment? How about this? It's a "Blue & Gold" scrimmage. One of the prospect teams will technically be wearing gold. (The Buffalo News has pictures if you want to see what that looked like last year.)
It may be a stretch, but "sneak glimpse" doesn't exactly scream official unveiling. (Also the fact that the team isn't promoting it.) So I'm wondering if that was just a sneaky thing to say. Or maybe I'm reading too much into a tweet. That's very possible too.
But let's say the unveiling is happening and the jersey is gold. What then?
Photos from Don Hasey
Fan created his own gold Sabres jersey in 2010
Here's a little something to get you into that gold jersey state of mind. In the spring of 2010, jersey geeks were abuzz about the uniform changes the Sabres were planning. Finally the slug was getting salted. The classic crest was coming back and — to mark 40 years in existence — the club was adding a new third jersey.
That's where Don Hasey of Charlottetown, P.E.I. enters the picture. He actually made the gold jersey pictured above. Here's why:
Some friends of mine in Buffalo suggested that gold for the new third jersey could look pretty awesome. Since I've been doing jersey customization and cresting for myself as well friends since I was a kid, I took it upon myself to put something together just to see what it would look like.
I purchased a [University of] Michigan jersey and added a bit of old and new elements to it — the B's with swords from the slug era on the shoulders, along with the traditional logo stitched onto some off-white backing just to give it a more retro feel.
I also used off-white with navy trim for all the letters and numbers and altered the neck to include the tie-up laces.
It received a lot of negative [feedback] but some gave it two thumbs up. Either way, it was only meant to be a concept for my own collection. I wonder if the sneak peak on Friday will be anything close to this. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Indeed we will. Is it possible Don is psychic and the Sabres will actually go gold more than three years after he predicted it? I can't wait to find out.
The funny thing is these photos actually turned up in my email shortly after Don posted them online. He didn't send them; another reader did. For a while I meant to include them in a concept post. It never happened but I'm glad to finally get them on the site — and at the perfect time.
Chris
Sabres tweet "sneak glimpse" again
The Sabres have been busy on Twitter this morning. From reiterating the "sneak glimpse" to debunking Don Hasey's homemade creation, there's a need for a follow-up today.
At 8 AM, the team reminded us Sabres Summer Fan Fest is tomorrow and they are planning to give us some kind of look at the new third jersey. Though I think they used the phrase "sneak glimpse" just to mess with us. But I'm all right with that.
Of course it means you can ignore all that stuff I wrote earlier about my skepticism. Now if we don't see something, I'll be very disappointed.
A little while later, the Sabres tweeted a picture of Don's gold jersey, which has been making the rounds online. They want to make sure everyone knows it's NOT the new third jersey.
Obviously.
I'll leave you with another photo they tweeted this morning. Let that gold sink in a bit.
Photo from Buffalo Sabres (via Twitter)
I'll keep you posted if there's anything more to report. Be sure to follow me on Twitter for more immediate updates.
Reader Comments (13)
PLEASE NO!
I wouldn't be surprised if the sneak peak basically just shows that the jersey is in fact gold.
What if they had a new jersey in some case or something that they can make sure you cant take a cell phone pic of? So only the people going can see it. If that happens (weird), someones gotta go look at it and make a concept. Even if its bad, someone else can fix it.
the crest doesnt look too shabby on the gold practice jerseys. i dont think will turn out bad at all.
If it's Gold, there is no stopping it by this point. The guy who owns the team has the finally say. Plus it can't be any worse the what the Hurricanes rolled out this year.
Soooo...unless this jerseys epicly epic...I'm going to stick to my classic blue and yellow. I don't know who's had it worse the Islander fans or the Sabres fans with god awful jerseys. The black and white faze was bad, the red jersey was terrible, then they came out with the slug and the power ranger striping . The 40th anniversary jerseys were 5 outta 5 and the white retro winter classic 5 outta 5
If it looks as bad as that fan made one, there are going to be plenty of pissed off Sabres fans. ;)
A lot of fans have been screaming for a gold jersey for a little while now. If what we have heard is true, I think it'll look good. It can't look any worse than the play of the team last year, right?? That said; we should hold our judgement until we see the new duds to give a passing grade or not.
As for the fan made jersey, I don't think it's that bad. I’d maybe go with different shoulder patches and maybe a different color scheme for the numbers/letters but at least he took it upon himself to give it a shot.
When I was a kid in the early 70s I drew up a gold Sabres uniform that was just the white uniform with the white and gold reversed. Don't remember why, probably just thought it was cool. That's basically what the North Stars and Seals uniforms were for a few years, just reverse the white and gold.
I think people are looking into "sneak peek" way too much. Sure the Sabres could unveil the new sweaters tomorrow, but sneak peek could also simply refer to a teaser video or poster or anything else.
I am fine with gold. But they really should be focusing on removing the outline they added to all the graphic elements in the logo.
I wouldn't expect anything over the top...After the slug, it seems, and rightly so, the Buffalo Sabres creative services department have been listening to what the fans wanted and have been delivering. It started with the 40th anniversary jersey and a wordmark with a likeness to the Buffalo Bisons "Bottle cap" uniform. Lots of fans liked the 40th anniversary sweater (I would have preferred it become the official 3rd sweater) but a lot of other fans were looking forward to a gold sweater. I think Frank Cravotta and his team will create another winner. If that's not the case, at least it's just a third jersey and not the primary identity of the team like it was during the team's angry mollusk days.
Someone over in Buffalo must really like how the Nashville Predators look