Crew unveils new primary kit
Crew fans often refer to their favorite club as the “yellow soccer team.” The Crew won’t completely look the part for the next two seasons.
In a new season with a new trophy to defend in a new stadium, the Crew will wear a primary kit that deviates from the gold jersey that has been synonymous with the club since its inception in 1996.
Unveiled on Tuesday with jersey sponsor Nationwide at the new Crew Stadium that’s scheduled to open in July, the Crew’s primary jersey for the next two seasons features a gray and white pattern matching the seating pattern and other design elements currently be- ing installed in the new 20,000-seat sta- dium.
Gold is not featured anywhere on the jersey outside some trim around the neck and sleeves, as well as the club’s crest that is now topped with a second star after winning the 2020 MLS Cup.
The Crew is not completely throwing out the gold for the next two seasons, however. The shorts and socks with the new “community kit” will both be gold.
Crew co-owner Dr. Pete Edwards and general manager Tim Bezbatchenko said the Crew will continue to be black and gold.
“The Crew will always be black and gold,” Edwards said. “I think being new, being innovative, celebrating the new stadium is what this new jersey’s about.”
The alternate jersey will be the black tops with gray accents that the Crew wore last season.
Rumors of a potential third yellow kit that would roll out around the opening of the new stadium were reported on Twitter were squashed by the Crew.
Club spokesman Tim Miller said kit with the gray jersey and yellow shorts, and last season’s black kit, are the only two kits for 2021.
When asked if the Crew is ruling out wearing gold in the future, Bezbatchenko was unequivocal.
“Of course not,” he said. “As Dr. Pete said and (chief business officer) Steve (Lyons) and I talk about quite a bit, we’re still black and gold. Some day the banana kit will come back.”
This is the first year for the insurance giant Nationwide as the club’s jersey sponsor. The Crew struck a deal with Nationwide
before the 2020 season, but Nationwide donated the rights for that year to Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
MLS teams are not in complete control of their jersey design. Under the league’s contract with Adidas, the popular sports apparel company has some say on what the kit will look like.
It has been reported that Adidas will begin to exert more of its influence on the actual finished product beginning in 2022.
Bezbatchenko said MLS and Adidas allows clubs to direct the design of the jersey, and the focus for this kit was how
to incorporate aspects of the new stadium.
While the new kit is a deviation from past jerseys and will displease some fans, there’s more gold in the complete kit than the 2016 “For Columbus” jerseys that are still widely disliked by the fanbase.
“Unlike the jerseys of the past, which are solid yellow, which are great, beautiful jerseys, we want something that’s wearable, something that’s a little bit different in terms of the color pallet, and then obviously the designs — it’s really cool,” Bezbatchenko said. “It’s something that you can wear in the street that’s maybe a little bit different than the canary yellow, which are great as well, but it’s about the future.”
With a new stadium on schedule to be opened in early July, the Crew decided to take a bold, but risky, approach.
“It’s where we’re going in terms of taking more risk and not apologizing for what we want to be,” Bezbatchenko said. “We’re going to respect the past, respect our roots, obviously. But with a championship from last year, we want to push our roster forward, we want to push our business, our ties to the community. And I think the way that we look is important in terms of being outwardly facing, reflecting the attitude.” jmyers@dispatch.com @_jcmyers
Lebron James was 27 years old when Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager who was wearing a hoodie when he was shot and killed on Feb. 26, 2012 by George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer.
James thought about it – 10 years earlier he could've been Martin, who was 17 years old. James also considered his two sons, who in 10 years from that point could be in Martin's shoes – teens wearing hoodies walking through the neighborhood.
The moment resonated with the NBA superstar.
Martin's death impacted him in another way, too. It helped James find, refine and then define his voice on social and racial issues.
“From that point on, I knew that my voice and my platform had to be used for more than just sports,” James told CNN in 2018.
Shortly after Martin's death, James and his Miami teammates posted on Twitter a photo of themselves wearing hoodies, heads bowed in support of Martin.
Consider the time: Early in the life of Twitter, which was taking off as a platform, and before viral posts were commonplace.
It was a major moment, introducing an era of NBA player activism that is more 1960s than 1990s and 2000s. It continues today.
James realized how he could use social media to communicate directly not just to his “followers” but to his community. It was empowering, and it emboldened him. It was a seminal point in the way James used his voice.
James got it. He discovered more than an opportunity. He had a responsibility to use his voice which has since grown larger, more powerful and more influential.
It has made him one of the most important athletes off the playing field.
James has an acute understanding of his platforms and has leveraged that massive reach to support causes, big and small, in which he believes.
He has 49.1 million followers on Twitter and 79.8 million followers on Instagram. James and his business partner Maverick Carter founded the athleteempowerment site Uninterrupted, and his roundtable talk show his talk show “The Shop” is on HBO. He has a savvy PR team and access to traditional media such as TV and print/dot-com.
Early in the bubble last season – before Jacob Blake's killing in Kenosha,
Wisconsin – James spoke about Breonna Taylor, wanting justice for those responsible for her killing.
“It's just who I've been for a while now,” James said. “Never afraid to speak about things that I was knowledgeable about, that I had insight on, and that I was up to speed on.”
He has backed up words with action, too.
His recent More Than A Vote campaign – aimed at driving voter registration and reducing voter suppression among minorities in the 2020 election cycle – probably wouldn't have happened 10 ago.
Today, James has the stature and resources to pull it off. More Than A Vote helped turn sports and music venues in voting centers, partnering with teams and Live Nation. It also linked with Lyft to provide free or subsidized rides to polling centers, and helped would-be voters create a game plan to ensure they followed through on voting.
He can contact former presidents and former first ladies, and he partnered with Michelle Obama's When We All Vote to promote and provide access to early voting.
More Than A Vote was a success, especially its efforts in Georgia where a senate runoff tilted congressional power in favor of Democrats.
“Change isn't made by sitting on the sidelines,” James said in September during the 2020 playoffs. “That's one of our slogans, and we're very proud of that. Getting the people that want to join us, getting them gear and wearing the Tshirt and wearing the hats and wearing the hoodies, because when they go in their community, that's something that they can continue to enlighten, continue to educate, continue to make people empowered about this movement.”
Just this week, when former teammate Kendrick Perkins sent a tweet critical of the lack of Black front-office decision makers in the NBA, James responded with “1,000% !!!! ”
No matter the topic, his voice is heard. James also has the leverage to combine grassroots efforts with corporate America. Some of his philanthropic endeavors – which crossover into racial and social equality – wouldn't be possible without that help.
He has created a school for at-risk students, college scholarships for his Lebron James Family Foundation students, transitional housing for families, food banks, job training and other educational resources in Akron, Ohio, where he was born. That financial support is necessary, and companies want to be a part of what James is doing.
Now 36 years old, James' voice is established, and it appears he plans to use it long after he finishes playing basketball.
CLEVELAND – Manager Terry Francona said no one in the Cleveland organization “covered up” for former pitching coach Mickey Callaway, who is under investigation by Major League Baseball following allegations of sexual harassment.
In a story Tuesday, The Athletic reported that 12 current and former Cleveland employees have come forward in the last month to say the team was aware of Callaway's inappropriate behavior while he was their pitching coach from 2013-17.
“Nobody's ever deliberately covered up for anybody, I can tell you that,” Francona said on a Zoom call from the team's spring training complex in Goodyear, Arizona.
Francona was asked if he was troubled by the report.
“I have never worked in a place where I have more respect for people than here,” said the two-time World Series winner, starting his ninth season with Cleveland. “And I've been very fortunate to work for some wonderful people. I believe that in my heart.
“I don't think today is the day to go into details, things like that. I do hope there is a day, because I think it would be good, and I think it's necessary,” he said.
Francona said Cleveland plans to release a statement further addressing the matter.
Shortly before Francona spoke to the media, his son, Nick, posted on Twitter that he had read the new story on Callaway and confronted his father. The younger Francona said the team is “clearly in the wrong.”
“Their behavior is unacceptable, and even worse, it's hard to have faith in them to improve and learn when they seem more concerned about covering up wrongdoings that addressing them honestly,” Nick Francona wrote.
The 61-year-old Francona, who managed only 14 games last season because of health issues, said his son's comments were painful.
“I love all my children unconditionally,” he said. “As you can imagine, that's a very difficult thing to see. So to deal with it publicly is hurtful.”
Last month, Cleveland president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti said he wasn't aware of Callaway's behavior until he read about it in a story by the Athletic, which detailed Callaway's pursuit of women over a five-year period with three teams.
Callaway was Cleveland's pitching coach from 2013-17 before he was hired to manage the New York Mets. He's currently suspended as the Los Angeles Angels pitching coach, pending the MLB inquiry.