Tuesday: When I realized I Had a Jersey Problem

Hi everybody. Ryan's computer is down and out for now so no concepts this week. However, I was deep in thought over the weekend after reading Caz's final post. I asked myself "When did I start to become obsessed about hockey jerseys?"

That answer is actually a video game; NHL 97 to be exact. It was Christmas of 1996 when my brothers and I got the first generation PlayStation with NHL 97 as one of our first games. Unlike the prior consols, the players on NHL 97 were more detailed, it had an actually commentator, and other things that really took it to another level.

I played that game constantly because I wanted to see all the logos and jerseys. The designs of the 90's were unique and complimented the logos that the teams used. From that point on I was in love with everything logos and uniforms.

To honor this, I'm going to give my top 5 favorites from the 96-97 season. Also, I want you guys to to share your early memories of your love for hockey logos and hockey jerseys in the comments section.

5. St. Louis Blues

I always loved the red in the Blues color scheme. Also, those thin, diagonal stripes with the angled numbers always looked really neat to me.

4. Hartford Whalers

I was more in love with the colors and logo rather than the uniform itself, but the silver was really sharp looking on such a poor 3D quality game.

3. All-Star Game Jerseys

The colors, the giant star pattern, and the division logos all screamed 90's. A true classic in my mind.

2. Pittsburgh Penguins

You might be wondering why a Penguins' fan wouldn't put his favorite team at number 1. Well to be honest, I only liked the dark, diagonal "PITTSBURGH" jersey (I have a Cleveland Lumberjacks jersey in the same style) because it was more traditional than what the white jersey was. It also looked better in my opinion. Note* Alternate jerseys were not on NHL 97.

1. Anaheim Mighty Ducks

Do I really need to explain why I chose this as number 1? Also, nhluniforms.com uses my favorite player from that era as an example.

Since Caz has left, I will take over this Sunday. It was a pleasure to write with you Caz and I hope I can do a good job of trying to distract others from the inevitability that is Sunday as you have.

Have a good rest of the week everyone.