APF is good as an automatic "like" for nostalgic Pats Lore, e.g., "Hey! Remember Ben Dreith and Sugar Bear Hamilton?" = core dump... and you don't want to go there alone...
But on the other hand he's still and always will be hung up on a cartoon drawn on a bar napkin. There must have been some magic in that 3 cornered hat he found... cuz when they put it on his head he began to dance around...
He would root for the old logo playing out of hartford over the flying elvis playing out of Foxborough, take it from a guy who has to drive hundreds of miles to either. Love the guy, but logo decals and unis in general play a very important part in his world. And that is being restrained about it.
It's true.
I was a kid during the Bruins' heyday, the Bobby Orr era. Words cannot express how huge they were; but it's useful to remember they banged out the Garden every night before Bobby when we were cellar dwellers. Boston was already a hockey town. But obscure little independent UHF TV-38 topped the ratings after buying the broadcast rights. Every game was appointment television. Home games, 7:35 pm start, Gallery Gods, the Screamer who wailed from the rafters during the second period, etc. etc. Lots of locals of all ages, men and women, girls and boys, who nothing at all about hockey tuned in.
The Bruins were the best, the roughest, the toughest, the flashiest, the sexiest, most intimidating team in sports, and the black and gold uniforms they settled on in 1969 fit them perfectly.
After winning a second Stanley Cup in 1972, that summer the team was decimated by the expansion draft for the Islanders and Flames, and the WHA raids. Grizzled veterans like McKenzie and Westfall and Cheevers were suddenly gone, replaced by capable but young and inexperienced kids. The big guns still remained, and made it to the final in '74 but were badly outcoached and lost. Bep Guidolin, whose disciplinarian style initially had positive results, blew up in Sinden's face as he first drove away Derek Sanderson, and then threw Phil Esposito, who deservedly was MVP, under the bus. He was out afterward, crabbing his way out the door.
Bobby won Game 1
May 19, 1974 was a bitter, sad day for us, but Art Skov aside, we had only ourselves to blame
Little did I know it was the last time the team would be seen looking cool, and great.
That fall marked a new, fresh season, with new head coach Don Cherry.
On October 10th, the season opened at Buffalo. I spent the entire evening disbelieving my eyes. Who, what could be responsible for this.
The upper half of the Bruins' jerseys was cut off. Erased.
The Bruins went from the having the most iconic, best uniforms in hockey -- to looking like a cheap knock off rag tag pickup league pack of bums.
It looked like Abington vs. Assabet Valley in Mini One-On-One, Senior Division in between periods.
They of course tweaked it over the many years since, but they have and continue to just look stupid. Meanwhile, the hated Rangers, Red Wings, Blackhawks, Canadiens and Maple Leafs - every other Original Six team - wears their classic uniforms today.
While the Bruins look dumb.
