Sporting Chug Along In the Caboose of the Kit Train. Choo, Muthaf’ing Choo.

By: Greg | July 11th, 2008

Sporting unleashed their new kits on the world today, along with new signings in the defense Fabio Rochemback and Marco Caneira as well as attacker Helder Postiga (see more pics of these dudes in the duds here). One guy who probably won’t be back in Sporting garb next year is keeper Vladimir Stojkovic. He is reportedly going to be training with Everton soon with a view to a permanent move. Sporting appear to be putting a great deal of faith in Portugal’s third keeper from this past Euro, twenty year old Rui Patricio. For some reason keeper transfer news just doesn’t have the same secks appeal as outfield players. With that in mind, enough guarda-redes BS, let’s get on to the fashion show!

The home kit is almost exactly the same. The green and white hoops, Puma logo and team crest remain in the same spots. Last year’s top had some added black accenting on the collar and down the sides which is gone now. The edges of the sleeves appear to be rubber-bandized with black ribbing and the collar is a bit higher and also outlined in black. The smaller “tmn” sponsor logo is a plus and makes the shirt more “buyable” in that respect. Overall I’m not blown away enough to tab over to the online store or head down to Newark to buy one just yet. Once Postiga has his first hat trick, then maybe I’ll slap his number on my back.

The alternate kit is fucking horrendous. The horrendosity (go screw, I’m still a wordsmith) of the top is compounded by the presence of the frog with the shit eating grin making his third appearance on a shirt this season. This particular camisola is a sheer, almost glossy white color with a big collar. The only accent on it from what I can tell is a piece of fabric right underneath the neck that hints at the hoops of the home jersey. I like this subtle touch, but other than that this particular top just looks plain boring and brings back memories of the shitty late-80’s polyester huge collar tops that were so prevalent at that time. Blech.

Now that the Big Three have rolled their kits out, they don’t have to worry about playing in the nude and can get down to business. Hopefully the debacle over Champions League spots will be decided soon and we can move into the season full steam ahead. Have a lovely weekend and keep it real for the ‘08.