Charles Curtis, Mike D. Sykes, II, Blake Schuster and Prince J. Grimes
March 29, 2022 10:50 am ET
Spring is (almost) in the air in our nation’s capital, and that means Cherry Blossom season in Washington DC is about to be upon us.
So the Washington Nationals and Wizards decided to collaborate with Nike and reveal some alternate uniforms celebrating the local flora that people around the country flock to see.
The result? On Tuesday morning, the two sets of unis were revealed, igniting Twitter with takes on which team got it right.
We had a debate of our own in our For The Win group chat, so we decided to bring it here: What did some of our writers think? See below:
First, here they are
The Nats’ threads:
Here comes the blooooooom.
Hello, bloom.
Welcome.#BloomDay // #NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/dyRFkcmuO9
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) March 29, 2022
And from the Wizards:
As eye-catching as the trees along the Tidal Basin. pic.twitter.com/zwPBUuMJp0
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) March 29, 2022
Side by side!
Washington D.C. just hit us with 2 incredible cherry blossom looks and I am here for it. 🌸 @WashWizards @Nationals pic.twitter.com/jTW2vbVVUj
— Jeff Eisenband (@JeffEisenband) March 29, 2022
Are either that good?
It’s happening 🌸
More info on our Bloom City Edition Uniform, debuting next season. 👇
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) March 29, 2022
As a native to the area, I can tell y’all DC has been waiting for one of these teams — literally any of them — to finally bring a cherry blossom look to their jerseys. So, honestly, I’m thrilled to see two teams doing it in one day.
With that being said … I don’t know if either of these are it.I mean, I appreciate the attempts. But for the Nationals look, it’s spring time. Why are we wearing grey, y’all? What’s up with that? I do love the floral pattern in the jersey but you can’t really see it because of the coloring.
On the Wizards’ end, these jerseys are solid and the pink to blue gradient in the shorts is cool, too. The pink just feels a little toodeep to me? If you’ve seen the cherry blossoms here, the shade is quite a bit lighter than this. And if these were that color, they’d be perfect. But they’re not. That’s OK though. I’ll still ride with these … I guess. — Mike Sykes
The Nationals grab a W
HERE
COMES
🌸 THE BLOOM 🌸#BloomDay // #NATITUDE pic.twitter.com/vGuXlbRc0o
— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) March 29, 2022
I’m very much of the belief that every NBA team already has too many jersey combos (shakes fist at cloud) but I’ll make an exception for the Wiz because A) those shorts are pretty awesome and B) it’s nice to give a sad fanbase something fun to enjoy even if the roster can’t.
I prefer the Nats jerseys a bit more here, though I really dislike the giant “WSH” lettering. I would’ve kept the script “Nationals”, but this might be why I’m not a designer. In any case, it makes sense MLB wants to highlight the Cherry Blossoms since, much like the ballclub in DC, they’ll only be relevant for a week or so then disappear for the rest of the year. —Blake Schuster
Wizards >>> Nationals
The Cherry Blossoms can be seen all throughout the DMV and next season, for the first time ever, they’ll be seen on the hardwood.
Introducing our 2022-23 Bloom City Edition Uniform 🌸 pic.twitter.com/L1TFIcMT77
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) March 29, 2022
If you’re going to fashion jerseys that are supposed to be all about the cherry blossoms, you have to fully lean in.
The Nats have actual blossoms printed on the tops and on the hat. Solid! I like it! But the gray just doesn’t quite land for me.
That’s why I LOVE what the Wizards did. They went full on pink, with the color on top fading into the blue end of the shorts.
I give the Nationals a B+, but the Wizards get an A from me. — Charles Curtis
The Nats win here
The @Nationals revealed their Nike City Connect uniforms 🌸
Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/oTllfVTjPm
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) March 29, 2022
I like the Wizards jersey simply because it’s aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. And in small doses, pink is a fun color. The Wizards have traditionally gone boring with their city edition jerseys, so this is a nice switch up. I especially like the way the pink fades into their traditional blue at the bottom of the shorts.
I just don’t really get strong cherry blossom vibes from the jersey. Though they do have little blossoms on the side, and the ‘i’ in Washington is dotted with a flower, if I only saw a player from the front, I’m not sure the first thing I would think about is cherry blossoms. The Nationals, on the other hand, leave no doubt about what the goal is. The gray is a little boring, but a cherry blossom branch is displayed right on the front of the jersey and the pink accents are the perfect color of pink in my opinion. So I give them the nod. — Prince Grimes
