Wednesday, February 28, 2018

MLS Jersey Preview 2018

Major League Soccer is kicking off their 23rd season (also known as the Jordan anniversary) this Saturday, and it is set to be one of their biggest yet. Based on past experience, it is blatantly obvious that trying to make predictions of who will make the playoffs is basically useless in this league that prides itself on parity. In lieu of a more traditional preview, Head in the Game's Grant and Troy (aka the Branding Boys) are going to give their definitive ranking of this year's MLS kits. The rankings were an average of the two's ranks.


Tied for 22: Philadelphia Union

Grant - 22 - Thoughts: I don't mind the patterns and color combos on the kits, but the "BIMBO" logo across the center kind of ruins it for me. Is "BIMBO" an actual company?

Troy - 23 - Thoughts: These kits aren't fresh, fit for a prince nor worthy of being worn in Bel Air. They also hit my pet peeve that if you want to do stripes, they can't be basically the same color. 

Tied for 22: Los Angeles FC

Grant - 23 - Thought: I expected more out of the new LA team. First of all, I'm not feeling the red Youtube logo with the black, gold and white. Second of all, try harder.

Troy - 22 - Thoughts: Come on LA! You've had over three years to do something cool with your first kit, but instead, you just didn't try.  

21: Chicago Fire

Grant - 18 - Thoughts: I'm not a big fan of the primary. I don't like the stripe in the middle. I do like the gray secondary, though. 

Troy - 21 - Thoughts: I honestly don't have any problems with this. I just think they are meh in relation to the other kits in the league. 

20: New England Revolution

Grant - 17 - Thoughts: Go ahead, call me a hater. I hate America. These kits just don't do much for me. They're okay.

Troy - 20 - Thoughts: I just don't care for the blue on blue action going on in the primary, and I despise the side-by-side look of the secondary. 

19: Orlando City

Grant - 19 - Thoughts: Simplicity can be good. I love the elegant simplicity of the all purple primary, but the secondary is too simple. 

Troy - 17 - Thoughts: Much like Grant I too really like the primary except for that stupid collar. I'm also in agreement that the secondary kits are just too plain. 

18: Montreal Impact

Grant - 15 - Thoughts: The striped primary looks good, while the secondaries don't live up to the club's name. 

Troy - 15 - Thoughts: I'm actually a big fan of Montreal's primary, it's just that the secondary kits aren't impactful in the slightest. 

17: Seattle Sounders

Grant - 16 - Thoughts: I think I like the new primary with the digital camo (or whatever that is). I don't think I like the simple secondary. 

Troy - 14 - Thoughts: I honestly don't know how I feel about the pattern on the primary jersey. I like the color scheme on the secondary, but again, why do people think collars look good? 

16: LA Galaxy

Grant - 10 - Thoughts: I liked the old primary more, but the new one still looks sleek, and I do like the dark blue secondary. 

Troy - 19 - Thoughts: I enjoy how they didn't stray too far from tradition with the new primaries, but I do like the colors of the secondaries even if they are kind of boring. 

15: Minnesota United

Grant - 20 - Thoughts: For a team with the colors of loneliness and death, the Loons did alright. Also, someone explain the red dot to me.

Troy - 9 - Thoughts: The red dot is a reference to their crest where the Loon as a single red eye. I may be swayed by my fandom, but I really like the new primaries. I'm a big fan of grays in general, which maybe says more about me than it does these kits. 

14: DC United

Grant - 11 - Thoughts: I like the new primary (although I think the stripes should go all the way around, instead of just the front). The secondary isn't amazing, but it's also not bland. 

Troy - 16 - Thoughts: I enjoy both these jerseys very much. Red, black, and gray are just a good combo. 

13: Toronto FC

Grant - 14 - Thoughts: The striped red and black primary looks nice, but the secondary is a little bland for my taste. 

Troy - 10 - Thoughts: I don't really care for the secondaries, but the clean nature of the primary makes up for it. 

12: New York Red Bulls

Grant - 5 - Thoughts: Red, red, red. I like red. Red is a good color.

Troy - 18 - Thoughts: Counterpoint to Grant, there is such thing as too much red, which New York has seemed to cross. 

11: Vancouver Whitecaps

Grant - 21 - Thoughts: If you like color, these are not the kits for you. However, I do like the blue specks on the primary.

Troy - 2 - Thoughts: I love the raindrop primary kits, and I'm a big fan of the secondary jerseys if you're going to only do one color you need to have such a lovely shade of gray as the Whitecaps did. 

10: FC Dallas

Grant - 12 - Thoughts: The primary isn't much, but it's not bad. The starry night secondary looks kind of cool.

Troy - 8 - Thoughts: I thought FCD put together two of the best jerseys in the league. I like how they tied their state flag into the primary and the night sky secondary are just cool looking (even if it's a little minor league baseball-ish).

9: Portland Timbers

Grant - 7 - Thoughts: Yes, the secondary is a bit bland, but there is just something about the green with gold lining. 

Troy - 13 - Thoughts: I'm a fan of when the secondary is basically the same color as the primary but in reverse, such as here. 

8: Sporting Kansas City

Grant - 6 - Thoughts: The blue-and-white primary looks wonderful. I like black-on-black, although I would've liked to see a little more color in the secondary.

Troy - 11 - Thoughts: I too would have liked more color in the secondary. Sure, the primary looks nice, but please stop the collars. They're footballers, not frat boys. 

7: San Jose Earthquakes

Grant - 9 - Thoughts: Patterns are fun, and I like the combination of colors (blue-on-black, gray on white) used with those patterns. 

Troy - 7 - Thoughts: I love how they took risks with the patterns. It works a little better for me on the secondary, but the primary does look good too.

6: Atlanta United

Grant - 4 - Thoughts: The primary is beautiful, and although I'm not in love with the secondary, I do like its homage to the fruit the state is known for (peach is the fruit I'm talking about, in case you were wondering). 

Troy - 12 - Thoughts: I don't love the primary, but I really like the King Peach secondaries. 

5: Real Salt Lake

Grant - 13 - Thoughts: Real Salt Lake's kits remind me of Real Madrid (huh, I wonder why...), which isn't necessarily a good thing or a bad thing. 

Troy - 1 - Thoughts: I absolutely love these kits. The blue sleeves on the red and yellow primary and the Ice blue on top of the white works so well. 

4: New York City FC

Grant - 8 - Thoughts: The light blue primary looks good, and I kind of like the "thingymabobers" on the secondary. 

Troy - 5 - Thoughts: I like the sky blues of the primary, but I really love the pattern on the secondary. 

3: Houston Dynamo

Grant - 3 - Thoughts: The primary looks good, and I'm a fan of the secondary, which makes me think of the Houston Astros (in a good way).

Troy - 6 - Thoughts: The primary is nice and clean, but the true star is those secondaries. 

2: Columbus Crew

Grant - 2 - Thoughts: I might be biased, but I love the checkerboard look and the combination of yellow and black. 

Troy - 4 - Thoughts: Black and yellow, black and yellow. I like how they are both clean yet interesting and love how the checkerboard carries over to the secondary. 

1: Colorado Rapids

Grant - 1 - Thoughts: The maroon-and-blue primary is sexy, and the yellow-and-blue secondary pays homage to the state flag. 

Troy - 3 - Thoughts: I really like these kits. They are simple yet elegant. The color scheme of the primary is fantastic, and I love how they drew inspiration from the state flag for the secondaries. 




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