Dear Santa,
You probably aren’t used to getting many letters on December 26, but I need some help. Rather, the New Jersey Nets do.
In the Nets’ attempt to wipe out all things “New Jersey,” they did something really bad a while ago that needs to be fixed. Since they’re moving to Brooklyn in 2012, they decided a few years back to awkwardly refer to the team only as the “Nets” on all TV scoreboards, media guides, advertisements, etc. When a longer name is needed, they go with “Nets Basketball,” as though they’re some traveling minor-league team that doesn’t have a home. They think this strategy will help “regionalize” the team and make people forget that they actually play their games on the “wrong” side of the Hudson River.
With all this scrubbing, they completely eliminated their navy blue road uniforms. The Nets have always been a primarily blue and white team, with red trim, but now, because their blue jerseys said “New Jersey” on them, they disappeared into thin air. Now, every road game puts a strain on the pixels in my TV and my retinas by featuring bright red jerseys that, for whatever reason, look like the worst red uniforms in the league (the Bucks’ don’t count, they’re kind of fuchsia).
Couldn’t they keep the blues and just change them to say “Nets” or “Panasonic” on the front (sponsorship deals could help offset low attendance), you might ask? Exactly, Santa, exactly.
The Nets don’t have much in the way of history and tradition, so why eschew uniforms that they went to their only two NBA Finals in? It really doesn’t make any sense, and makes me think that there are bigger changes headed their way that could really destroy the team I’ve followed since childhood. Could you please track down some blue uniforms for them and bring them back? You can probably still find a few on the clearance racks at Marshall’s.
Your pal,
Kyle