PLAYOFFS

The playoffs start today and with them we will see the rise of some new playoff heros.  Having a heroic playoff run can really lift the stock of a players jersey and make it a collectible for years to come. 

As I was recently shopping for some classic playoff jerseys for the Jersey Club, I turned to the Hockey Hall of Fame assuming that they would carry them.  Since the NHL and RBK have a liscensing deal, the HHOF only carries RBK jerseys.  Well RBK only makes current jerseys with a few classics in their roster.  So obviously I was disappointed when they told me they don't make the away version of the 1994 Messier Rangers, nor do they make the 1998 or 2002 Yzerman redwings.  How long until they stop making the 2010 Toews or a 1993 Roy?  So here's my suggestion to RBK and the NHL, come out with a line of "Playoff heros".  Every year before the playoffs you re-release jerseys of some classic playoff heros and you release them for as many teams as possible that are in the current playoffs.

Obviously you have the staples Gretzky, Messier, Yzerman and Gilmour every year so here is my list of playoff heros for this year.  

J.S. Giguere - 2003 Ducks

In 2003, the Ducks did not sport everyone's favorite jersey, but there is no denying that any loyal Ducks fan has to appreciate Giggy's Conn Smythe winning performance that year.  He went 15 - 6 with 5 SO, a 0.945 sv pct. and a 1.62 GAA.  Not to mention he only gave up 1 goal against Minnesota in the entire series and set a then record shutout streak of 217 minutes and 54 seconds (since broken by Bryzgalov)





Patrick Kane - 2010 Blackhawks

Normally I would pick Toews, but Kane does score the cup winning goal and I sort of feel bad for him.  Kane fulfills his dream of scoring the winning goal, to bad he was the only one that knew he scored and had to celebrate by himself, like how I used to do it in my basement.

Pavel Bure - 1994 Canucks 

The Canucks made it to game 7 of the cup finals as a 7th seed.  I mostly remember hating Kirk McLean for shutting out the Leafs twice in the conference finals, but it was really Bure's 31 pts in that playoff run that lead them to being one win away from have the stanley cup.

As for the rest of the teams in the western conference this year, Nashville does not have any playoff heroes to date, neither do the sharks and the redwings is always going to be Yzerman which should be released every year no matter who's in the playoffs similarly, LA will always be Gretzky.  So I'm calling in a wild card this year and going to honour my favorite playoff goal of all time.

Nikolai Borschevsky - 1993 Leafs

Oh man, some good memories with this one.  I bruised my achilles celebrating while on vacation in florida.  Yes Leafs hockey was broad casted in southern US once upon a time.

 Stay Tuned as tomorrow I will look at the Eastern Conference.  Who will represent Boston, Orr or Bourque? 

Jersey Game

Hey here's a fun game to play to test your knowledge on Jersey popularity.  Try to name the 20 most popular baseball jerseys (by sales volume) in 2010 in 2:00 minutes.  I know the site looks sketchy but I tried it and it didn't kill my computer, obviously as I am using it to post this blog.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/pamrhein/the-10-best-selling-mlb-jerseys-2010

My score was 15/20.  The person with the lowest score has to give me a jersey.

Let's Go Blue Jays

There are a few things in life that I will never understand. Why Gary Bettman got a contract extension, how UPS has managed to take away everything convenient about home courier delivery and finally why the Blue Jays ever changed their logo from the classic that we all love.  I'm all for trying new things, but if they don't work it's okay to just give up and go back to the classics.

The classic jay is simple but intricate.  They encompass national pride, the team and the sport all in one.

I might be bias, partly because it represents the World Series years and partly because I spent countless hours drawing it in school and partly because everything that has come after pales in comparison.  

Much like the jays themselves, we saw a steady decline that started in the mid to late 90's when they unveiled the new look.

This logo received 7.5/10 rating on Chris Creamer's sportslogos.nethttp://www.sportslogos.net/index.php

This wasn't the only bad decision made by the Jays during this era.  They also fired Cito and hired Tim Johnson as manager who used to tell made up war stories to the players about being a Vietnam vet.  Oh and this was the beginning of Roger Clemens steroid era.

The decline continues in 2003 when they switched to this most hanus logo.  This lasted only one season, one season too long.  Basically they stole the Texas Rangers T logo and stuck sinister looking Blue Jay on it. 

This Jay is clearly on steroids.

I will admit I own a jersey from this logo year, but I bought it at Value Village for $2.99 and got it signed by Lloyd Moseby at my local Rogers Video before posing for this pic. 

The lady couldn't work my camera making this a drawn out process.  Lloyd then made a gay joke about having his arm around me for that long.

That brings us to the present or what I like to call the Tampa years.  When unveiled in 2004, it reminded me too much of something the garbage Rays would wear.  Fittingly in '04 the Jays went 67-94 and Tampa went 70-91.  

As it turns out, modeling the team after Tampa not such a bad idea as stock piling young talent actually does work, a foreign concept for Toronto franchises (Burn). 

The jays new season starts today and there is hope in the direction the team is going.  If these logos are any indication of the direction the franchise is in, the worst is behind us and the best is yet to come.