Crimson

No pics only because the musicians are so ###### obscure, but Matt Laporte and Shane French out of the Tampa area are/were/might still be guitarists involved in some incarnation or another of bands that stemmed from Savatage, whether it was Circle II Circle or Jon Oliva's Pain (horrid name, but what're we gonna do?). They only played small clubs and Europe, but both Matt & Shane were frequently seen on stage wearing jerseys (especially the old Mighty Ducks sweaters). And to add another log onto the fire: radio play/Billboard charting does not a "good" band make. Otherwise, I'd not hate Weezer, Smashing Pumpkins, and Nirvana to the core of my being. SOAD was the most unique and creative band to come out of the new/nu-metal explosion of the late '90s (and when the drek at the time consisted of the aforementioned whine-core bands, even Korn was refreshing). Of course it wasn't of the Metallica/Megadeth/Testament Bay Area Thrash genre -- that stuff fell out of favor once the '80s ended. SOAD was more musically diverse and subtle in their construction and arrangement, and in a way defined what prog-metal was supposed to be (after it became nothing more than jazz-influenced keyboard-driven operatic rock with tenor singers...aka Dream Theater clones): progressive. Never mind that Daron's grammar in song-writing sucked and the last SOAD album was pretty much System of a Daron, which contributed to the band effectively splitting up and Serj releasing his solor album...which was even MORE musically odd, if that's possible. Progress beyond the norm, the accepted, the standard. And when I mentioned that SOAD was the definition of prog-metal for the 21st century, a whole bunch of my metal cohorts wanted to string me up for such blasphemy....except one guy, who was actually an accomplished musician with a diverse range and expertise, but was still a metalhead at heart. Once he and I discussed why we thought that way, that was when I knew that most of my metal brothers & sisters were stuck in the '80s and would probably never emerge.

I rather like them, actually. And to me, it's rather amusing that we're sitting here griping about how everyone's going to that vintage look when I believe it wasn't that long ago (oh, like when RBK introduced the EDGE system) when we started complaining about the piping, the lack of stripes at the waist or elbows, the color panels, etc. and the egregious lack of any acknowledgment of tradition. And now that we have it, we still find things to nitpick and be dissatisfied about! Goes to show that teams will never be able to do right by the jersey snobs

Probably not. The Premiers they sell in stores are awful (the customizing) -- the Detroit ones are all on namebars (blech) AND the bars are too long, on top of it! Looking at the on-line price for authentics, I can't imagine how it'd be remotely worthwhile, even with the "free" customization since D's is selling the authentic for nearly $100 more than the going rate (maybe that's where the "free" customizing comes in...).

They are a good company. I've ordered from them many, many times and because they're a local Michigan company, though they don't have a retail storefront anymore (otherwise, I'd just drive there ). They can sell jerseys cheap because of that -- no retail overhead, small operation, and they rely on Yahoo to provide their Internet presence, so their costs in maintaining their Web site is also comparatively low.

Same as everyone else, just about. Turn 'em inside out to protect the crests and patches, then wash cold, air dry.

Good to hear. Thanks!

Gotta give a + to xcdude. Bought his Rangers & Bruins, he e-mailed promptly and I received the jerseys within days.

I own a Premier for the Red Wings and Bruins, and an EDGE for the Bruins. I definitely like the EDGE better just in material construction and weight. The Premier is okay, but I really feel gypped with the shoulder patches on the Bruins one. I don't mind the Red Wings one since they don't have shoulder patches anyway. I removed the tag on the Wings one with a seam ripper and less than 5 minutes. I just haven't bothered with the Bruins one since I might just get rid of that one anyway. If given the choice between two Premiers or one EDGE, I'll still go with the EDGE. Better to have fewer high-quality products I can be proud of than just filling out the numbers with mediocre items.

Big time local news for us. Overheard it while out at dinner with my wife on Monday night.

Here's the problem with reacting emotionally to a perceived problem. It's not eBay's job to police every market and pick out the counterfeits. That's why they stay hands-off until/unless the intellectual-property owner steps up to make a claim AND provides proof. It's not just restricted to eBay, and it's also easy to cast a disparaging eye against them simply on the basis of their size and reach. It's easy to express dissatisfaction against a giant, nameless, faceless corporation that will have zero chance of interacting with you personally. Hell, not all of US know the exact details of the fakes and reals. It's not reasonable for eBay to maintain a staff of experts for every possible item that may ever possibly exist. Finally, how are they to distinguish the authenticity of the complaint itself? In that similar vein, anyone can claim counterfeiting and draw up a number of convincing reasons, but how is eBay to know that the complaint is legitimate or coming from a disgruntled customer or vendor whose motives aren't necessarily pure? Too many questions and loose ends for this sort of venture to make any sense. Being a Star Wars costumer, we get this sort of thing in our field just as often. Lots of overseas and offshore costume makers who make absolute garbage, but sell them for cheap. Then we get applicants who get mad when we tell them that those costumes aren't acceptable for our groups because they're not accurate or will fall apart at the first event they wear them to. Then WE'RE the bad guys for being "elitist snobs." Whatever.

I wear my jerseys all the time -- even in the summer because it does occasionally get cold at night Replica, authentic, custom, doesn't matter. During the season, I'll check which teams are playing, and if one of my favorites are on or one of the teams of which I own a jersey is playing a team I dislike more, I'll put on the appropriate jersey for that evening (for example, I own Nashville and St. Louis jerseys but neither team is a favorite -- but if they're playing Colorado or Montreal, I'll throw on one of those two ) And if none of my favorite teams are playing but I feel like throwing one on, it'll be one of my customs (Transformers, Star Wars, etc.), international, or college. The only jerseys I will never wear in public anymore my autographed Alex Delvecchio and autographed Martin Lapointe. The Lapointe jersey was the first one I ever had, so it's already worn and stained to hell BEFORE I got it customized then autographed. The Delvecchio -- well, that's particularly special since I actually went personally to have him sign it. Otherwise, I'm puttin' on the jerseys, spillages be damned (my wife takes pride in getting spills and stains out of my jerseys if it happens).

Skipping the "repeat teams" thing for a minute, the Red Wings could totally host it at Ford Field. It's not going to be in use during the NFL playoffs anyway.....

I've always been a manual sniper. Going on well over 10 years doing that. The countdown clock that eBay instituted really helps for that -- previously, I'd turn off loading all images in my browser, then wait while refreshing.

And that's the 2008 Finals patch, not the '07.