Bad conduct | What’s the worst sartorial faux pas you’ve seen in sports?

Every week, sports journalists from Press answer a question with pleasure, and a little insolence as well

Our guest of the week: Maxime Van Houtte

With great power comes great responsibility, Uncle Ben told Peter Parker. With big pads comes a fashionista duty, I would say to young goalkeepers. Ed Belfour and the eagle, Patrick Lalime and Marvin the Martian, Martin Brodeur and the Heaton leggings with inverted colors. Even Dominik Hasek had style, in his funny way. But of all the keepers of the early 2000s, one refused the fashion card privilege that came with the role of masked man: Arturs Irbe. All-white “gamer” helmet. Obsolete equipment more stored than Dave in Slap Shot (legend has it that he was driving his SUV over it to “break” it), all paired with the ugly Hurricanes logo. It was an eye disaster night after night. I still blame old Arturs who would have deserved a hefty-style ticket if he had seen Jean Airoldi at the Carrefour de l’Estrie.

Mathias Brunet

New Expos manager Tom Runnells had big shoes to fill. He succeeded an immensely popular man in Montreal, Buck Rodgers. After a disastrous first season in 1991 – last place in the standings, a first since 1976 – Runnells decided recess was over and he had the brilliant idea to show up on the first day of training camp the following year. in his best military uniform, to show everyone that he was the leader. Not only did his masquerade cause immense unease within the team, but his wacky decisions, including that of transferring Tim Wallach from third to first, also left players, media and fans speechless. There was an internal revolt a few months later, and Runnells was replaced in disaster by a certain Felipe Alou, who had been rotting in the minors for two decades because we did not dare at the time to hire blacks or Dominicans for positions of power. And again, he was appointed on an interim basis, to give himself the time to assess him… Felipe Alou did not need an outfit to impose his leadership and become the best manager in the history of this organization.

Miguel bujold

Who says yellow says sartorial faux pas, unless it is an accent. See LaMelo Ball, Cam Newton and Michel Therrien to be convinced. I like yellow. My car is yellow, to add a little color to the grayness of the vehicle fleet, 90% of which are black, white or gray vehicles. But the yellow clothes? A little less. That said, I’m going to go for good ol ‘Bill, who has spent over a decade skirting the sidelines with his hoodie with cut sleeves, which he had probably cut himself with the chisel that was used for the gummed tape of the players in the locker room. It was shortly after the famous spygate that Bill Belichick appeared with this new “style” and I always thought it was his way of saying, “I’m not hiding anything up my sleeve.” We have certainly seen worse than the hoodies of the great Belichick, but let’s say that we are quite far from the suits and the felt of Tom Landry.

Simon drouin

Even from the top of the press gallery, Michel Therrien’s yellow jacket flashed. The hot Canadian head coach had not chosen the best time to release the new piece in his wardrobe. Game 5 of the series against the Carolina Hurricanes On May 9, 2002, the Canadian went 2-1 in the series and 3-0 in the game. In the third period, Therrien vilified good old Kerry Fraser after a questionable penalty to Stéphane Quintal. Bench penalty! The Canes scored five to three before they tied the game and won in overtime on a goal from Niclas Wallin. Therrien had sent Bill Lindsay, center of the fourth line, for this crucial face-off. The discord took in the locker room, an anonymous player blamed Therrien in a column by Réjean Tremblay, Michel Blanchard nicknamed him the Rat and the Canadian lost the series. All because of a yellow jacket. Difficult to do better as a sartorial faux pas.

Simon-Olivier Lorange

Allow me to go against the grain of my colleague Simon Drouin and defend what, in a large proportion of the population, is seen as a textbook case in the area of ​​sports clothing missteps in Quebec. . Michel Therrien has made a lot of people talk about him with his famous yellow jacket. However, I wonder if he was not, in reality, a victim of the police of the conformism of the NHL. Twenty years later, a few teams are just beginning to relax the dress code imposed on players on match days. Therrien was, at the time, one of the youngest head coaches on the circuit. He was not even 40 years old. And he stood out, voluntarily or not, from his colleagues when he took out a mustard yellow jacket from his wardrobe. Was it a lack of taste or a precursor, even provocative gesture? I have chosen my side. Thank you, Michel, for being a pioneer.

Alexandre pratt

In 1976, Chicago White Sox tickets weren’t exactly the most wanted in town. There were a few crowds of less than 5,000 people, and one of just 1,144 spectators. It was then that owner Bill Veeck came up with the idea of ​​making his players wear shorts. Yes, yes, short panties. Hyper tight. And it worked. Over 30,000 people attended the game. Veeck was very happy. Except that the fashion effect quickly passed. Two weeks later, the shorts were returning to where they should have been from the start: in boxes.

See Chicago White Sox players in shorts

Richard Labbé

There is no good reason for the Burger King jersey the Los Angeles Kings chose to wear in the 1995-96 season. None. This third sweater was so poorly designed that it became known as the Burger King sweater even though it had nothing to do with the famous fast food chain. In fact, when we see this, two questions come to mind: who thought of this, and above all, was this person fired? There are teams that have moved for less than that.

Jean-Francois Tremblay

The Canadian is not a misstep in its rich history. But the 2009 barber costume isn’t far from the top. One, the uniform was hideous. A level of hideous that survives generations. Two, it’s in this uniform, the 1^er February 2009, that everything fell apart for the Canadian. Robert Lang, then a prolific marker, cut his Achilles tendon. A few days later, faced with chaos within the team, Guy Carbonneau organized the legendary bowling afternoon. Bob Gainey was going to walk with Alex Kovalev in the Old Port. And the highlight of the show: the columns of the temple which shake with the revelation by Press of the connection between a criminal and the Kostitsyn brothers. Gainey fired Carbo in March, a few weeks after he said his hiring was his best shot as GM. The beautiful Centennial celebration was dead and buried. Hard to put it all on the back of the barber’s uniform. It was also difficult to exonerate him completely, he was so hideous. At least, the event allowed Guillaume Lefrançois, then a journalist at Radio-Canada, to offer probably the best title of the sporting decade: “Lang à terre”.

Calling everyone You too can participate in our Bad Conduct for the week. Dig into your sports fan memories and send us your suggestions