Picture this: You turn on a random college football game; you have no knowledge of the teams or the players, but there’s one player you notice. Decked out in every piece of (seemingly) pointless equipment, double arm sleeves, those weird ankle/thigh bands, neon yellow cleats, etc., the player stands out like a sore thumb. But, as the game unfolds you are filled with an inexplicable rage as the player in question does absolutely nothing all game. Maybe this is an experience limited to me, but it brings me to the newest edition of Gear Corner: if a player wears a ton of gear, or something overly flashy, they better be good.
Now, I understand that each athlete has preferences for game day accessories. However, this does not exclude them from criticism for wearing too much gear. After all, the more gear a player wears, the more attention they draw to themselves; as uniforms are relatively homogenous, viewers naturally gravitate towards differences in players’ attire. For instance, after Steph Curry injured his shoulder in late 2022, he rocked a full-arm shooting sleeve that looked like he bought a long-sleeve compression shirt from Scheels, and cut off the right sleeve. Naturally, his sleeve garnered lots of attention from NBA fans and the media.
But, here’s the thing: it’s Steph Curry, and he can wear what he wants, because he’s Steph Curry. Fans already turn on their televisions to watch Curry play, so a piece of funky equipment does little to increase his viewership. But, say Mavericks guard Brandon Williams, averaging 1.5 points per game in only four games this year, wore the same shooting sleeve. If you do not know the NBA, or simply are a casual fan, you wouldn’t miss much if you didn’t know about Williams. Yet, if he checks into a game wearing a cyborg-like piece of equipment, you’d expect him to drop 30 points off of his attire alone. But when he doesn’t, instead logging one assist and two points, you should be nothing but disappointed, because you invested your time and energy watching him, but his investment return was nothing.
Thus, if you too are filled with rage when a player wears attire flashier than Times Square, know you’re not alone. While yes, gear is supposed to aid performance, too much can have devastating consequences for players and fans.
