FASHION SENSE

Barry Laminack: NBA city edition uniforms are (mostly) awesome

Barry Laminack
Dec 28, 2017, 10:52 am
The Rockets city edition uniform. Courtesy photo

First of all, no I don’t plan to turn this weeks column into a fashion blog. That said, Nike and the NBA have released their “City edition” uniforms, and most of them are pretty badass.

Nike’s Houston City Edition Jersey.

After looking at all the bad ass designs, you have to tip your hat to the NBA for trying to stay “cool” and “relevant’ and fresh when it comes to apparel and jerseys. Which is pretty much the complete opposite of the NFL. Other than the color rush uniforms  that are used on Thursday night games (which I really like and think should be adopted full time – and updated often), the NFL uniforms are old, boring and quite frankly they all pretty much suck.

Each NBA team has FOUR different jerseys they can choose from, and to take it a step further this year, the NBA is no longer requiring a team to use their white uniforms. Teams can choose whatever colors they want, so long as they opposing uniform isn’t close in color (in other words, the Rockets can’t wear their black unies if they are playing the Spurs, who also plan to wear their black jerseys).

Like the NBA, the NFL needs to embrace this new era of modern and ever changing uniform designs. In the NCAA, teams like Oregon are able to recruit better because they have so many different variations when it comes to their uniforms. And don’t think for one second other colleges didn’t see that and follow suit with updates and more uniform options.

The NFL is already watered down enough. It’s game play is actually getting kind of boring, if I’m being honest. So they might as well be appealing in other ways.

I’m not sure why the NFL has to be so stiff with everything they do. I guess it’s the good old boy network still running things behind the scenes? They should embrace these kinds of changes. Surely there’s a way that they can capitalize on it monetarily?

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Houston's celebration has to wait

Rangers get walk-off win over Astros who continue to wait for playoff berth

Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

UPDATE: With the Angels loss on Friday night, the Astros have secured their playoff berth. They will be part of the MLB postseason for their fourth-straight season.

After the big offensive showing to take the opener on Thursday, the Astros entered Friday's game at Globe Life Field against the Rangers just one win or Angels loss away from securing their spot in the playoffs. Here is how the game unfolded:

Final Score (10 innings): Rangers 5, Astros 4.

Record: 29-29, second in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Brett Martin (1-1, 1.98 ERA).

Losing pitcher: Enoli Paredes (3-3, 3.05 ERA).

Urquidy goes seven while allowing two

The Rangers would strike first in Friday's game, getting a two-out solo home run against Jose Urquidy in the bottom of the second to grab the early 1-0 lead. Urquidy did relatively well on the night, though he would allow another solo homer in the bottom of the fifth. Those were the only two runs he allowed, working in and out of some trouble throughout the game on his way to finishing seven innings. His final line: 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 2 HR, 98 P.

Houston grabs their first lead late

Unlike their hot night at the plate the night prior, it took the Astros until the fifth inning to get on the board. It came after Carlos Correa hit a leadoff single, then came all the way around to score on an RBI-triple by George Springer, making it a 1-1 tie at the time.

After the Rangers went back in front 2-1 in the bottom of the inning on their second solo homer of the night, Alex Bregman would tie it up again with a solo home run of his own, making it 2-2. Houston would get their first lead of the night in the top of the eighth, with Altuve working a leadoff walk before scoring later in the inning on an RBI-single by Yuli Gurriel.

Rangers get the walk-off to keep Houston waiting for playoff bid

After Urquidy, Blake Taylor would take over on the mound in the bottom of the eighth, retiring the Rangers in order for a scoreless inning to hold the one-run lead. Still 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Houston turned to their closer, Ryan Pressly. After two quick outs, he would allow a game-tying solo home run, making it 3-3 to postpone Houston's celebration at least another inning as the game headed to extras.

In the top of the tenth, Jose Altuve was placed on second as the free runner. He advanced to third on a groundout to start the inning, then scored on a sac fly by Alex Bregman, making it a 4-3 lead for Houston. Enoli Paredes would load the bases before Texas would tie the game on a sac fly in the bottom of the inning, keeping runners on second and third. Houston made the change to Brooks Raley to try and extend the game another inning, but instead, the Rangers would get the walk-off win, spoiling Houston's chance to clinch their playoff spot themselves with a win.

Up Next: The third game of this four-game set will get underway at 6:05 PM Central on Saturday. On the mound for Texas will be Kyle Gibson (2-6, 5.87 ERA), and, as of now, the Astros still have Lance McCullers Jr. (3-3, 4.24 ERA) listed as their starter.

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