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From 1962-1971, the Golden State Warriors were the San Francisco Warriors. From 1966-1971, the Warriors wore the above jersey— my all-time favorite NBA jersey. It’s simple without being boring, and it’s complex without being too busy (okay, the cable car back might be a bit much, but I like it). It’s unique and unmistakably San Francisco. It has character.

Once the Warriors moved to Oakland in 1971, their uniforms went steadily downhill. Here, you can judge:

This summer, the Warriors unveiled a new look for the upcoming season. Instead of doing the sensible thing and adopting the classic “The City” look as-is, the Warriors chose to reference the old look and completely destroy it with a hip, modern update. I hold the Bay Area to high design standards… and this is heinous. Hideous. Horrendous:

Please tell me this is a rough draft, Golden State.

The old bridge-in-a-circle works because it was designed with purpose. There is adequate room for numbers. It is not cluttered. It can breathe. The new bridge-circle? FORCED. The bridge is too big within the circle to accommodate two-digit numbers.

Next, I suspect that the people who designed the new jersey told the Warriors the new bridge is fierce and intense, just like the Warriors brand! Architecture doesn’t have to be aggressive on jerseys! It’s okay to have a docile bridge! You don’t have to over-design every single element!

Finally, convince me the designers didn’t go to town with WordArt on the jersey. Convince me this jersey was designed. Convince me text and numbers weren’t just dropped on top of a logo.

Ugly ugly ugly. I don’t know why so many sports franchises go out of their way to ruin a good thing. The Lakers, Celtics, Yankees, and Cowboys don’t make radical changes every decade, but that might be an effect of winning championships.