One of the most anticipated changes Milwaukee Bucks fans hoped for with new owners was some kind of uniform change or alteration. Unfortunately, jerseys for the 2014-15 season were planned long in advance. But, the NBA is doing something unique for the teams that have won championships -- which means there will be a change after all.
Tennessee-based graphic designer Conrad Burry noticed it while flipping through his retailer-only catalog of jerseys for the upcoming season.
It's subtle, but noticeable. He noticed a gold tab on the collar.
ESPN.com reported that the gold tabs "would be the first league-wide championship badge ever used by one of the 'Big Four' North American professional sports leagues, and it is similar to the star system used by soccer teams to denote World Cup titles."
Personally, I love this idea. Championships are hard to come by, and this is a great way to for the NBA to work in a uniform change and honor its past champions.
This opens the door for other ideas, or different ways to acknowledge teams like Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles that have multiple titles. But, one step at a time.
This is especially good timing for the Bucks, who now make sure "championship caliber" is peppered throughout discussions regarding the future the franchise under new co-owners Marc Lasry and Wes Edens.
The owners are doing it right by harkening back to those championship days in the 1970s, and the league did them an unintended solid in deciding to add this to the jerseys.
Jim Owczarski is an award-winning sports journalist and comes to Milwaukee by way of the Chicago Sun-Times Media Network.
A three-year Wisconsin resident who has considered Milwaukee a second home for the better part of seven years, he brings to the market experience covering nearly all major and college sports.
To this point in his career, he has been awarded six national Associated Press Sports Editors awards for investigative reporting, feature writing, breaking news and projects. He is also a four-time nominee for the prestigious Peter J. Lisagor Awards for Exemplary Journalism, presented by the Chicago Headline Club, and is a two-time winner for Best Sports Story. He has also won numerous other Illinois Press Association, Illinois Associated Press and Northern Illinois Newspaper Association awards.
Jim's career started in earnest as a North Central College (Naperville, Ill.) senior in 2002 when he received a Richter Fellowship to cover the Chicago White Sox in spring training. He was hired by the Naperville Sun in 2003 and moved on to the Aurora Beacon News in 2007 before joining OnMilwaukee.com.
In that time, he has covered the events, news and personalities that make up the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Hockey League, NCAA football, baseball and men's and women's basketball as well as boxing, mixed martial arts and various U.S. Olympic teams.
Golf aficionados who venture into Illinois have also read Jim in GOLF Chicago Magazine as well as the Chicago District Golfer and Illinois Golfer magazines.
