Coffee with the Caps, Monday March 30

Morning Caps fans, hope you all are staying same, happy and healthy out there and that you are coping with your quarantine setup.

Today was going to be trivia day until I realized that I would have to individually grade the entries because I’m dumb so check back for that on Friday. Until then feel free to play—its never too late for some trivia.

There isn’t much to report on the soccer front so I figured I’d concoct another relatively meaningless debate to help us all pass the time: best jersey in (modern day) Whitecaps history.

This came to me yesterday when, in mourning for the matches I haven’t been able to watch, I wore my Sea-to-Sky kit while social distancing around the house. That kit is easily my favorite, thanks to its slick two-toned blue design, although I’ve since been informed that that is a bit of a hot take.

I also think of a lot of some of the early MLS-era home kits, which made up for their lack of visual pizzazz with a simplicity that hearkened back to some of the NASL kits. They also have a fond association in my mind because they came during my formative years of becoming both a Caps supporter and an avid watcher of MLS more broadly. They represent a distinct period in the league’s history, coming right before the tide of MLS 3.0 and 4.0 and the surge of popularity that those periods brought with them. If you own a white Caps jersey with navy hoops, you can rightfully claim to have a sense of context and clarity regarding the league’s current standing, which I give you license to rub in the face of Atlanta United fans.

On a less philosophical note, I have little doubt that the Hoop Kit (TM) will be the heavy favorite here. It is one of those rare modern-day Adidas jerseys that actually builds off a historical aspect and is not a cookie-cutter design. It pops visually and, even though it will come to be associated with one of the worst seasons in franchise history, it gives those players a sense of gravitas that they otherwise would have lacked. For whatever reason I still love the Sea-to-Sky kit more but I readily acknowledge that this one has more history and will likely win over more of the fanbase—with good reason.

And last, but not least, we come to the most divisive thing in Whitecaps fan universe this side of “Was In-Beom worth the money?” and that is the Arbutus Brown kits from 2012. If you want to relive their launch, I dug up the 86F piece from that time and man is it a ride.

Reading through the comments was also a trip. Take this one, from a rather disgruntled, history-minded fan:

Brown is also the colour of...

Seriously, why in the hell does the club go on and on about how important their history is then totally abandon it with crap like this, unbelievable! I seriously want to puke the more I look at it, then I saw the other brown teamwear in the other story, oh my. Somebody has lost their mind and this brown kit is the result, absolutely disgusting to have the Whitecaps wear this bile!

A lot to unpack there.

Personally, I really like the kits—the blue accents really make it seem like a Whitecaps kit and brown is so rarely used in uniforms that it was a breath of fresh air (also can we go back to the days in which Adidas made MLS teams alternate kits?). That being said, there are no shortage of people that think the kits make them look like trees at best and ... uh excrement at worst.

But hey at least Adidas tried. Right? ... Right?

Let us know your favorite kits and maybe even snap a picture of the ones in your closet—after all, working from home means no dress code!

Onto the links...

Shameless Self Promotion

Our March Madness-style bracket rages on, with the Sweet Sixteen of best Whitecaps goals kicks off today. Follow this link to get in on the fun—it’s a worthy way to kill 10 minutes of your day.

Best of the Rest

Per the Southsiders designee, Jordan Harvey is the Whitecaps’ all-time cult hero and I will not stand for this Eric Hassli erasure

Apparently the new CBA has not been formally ratified yet, giving them something to do while social distancing I guess

More on the coronavirus-mandated bet MLS is placing on eSports

A cool story on a team of immigrants who ply their trade in Portland—to much success

Some (tongue-in-cheek) soccer-related board games to play during quarantine