In a few short weeks, your fearless editor will finally be attending her very first Wizards game, and I’m getting more excited by the day. I’ve reportedly got a great seat (thanks, Matt!), the Wizards are having a fantastic season, and the game in question will find the boys facing down the Los Angeles Lakers — a team I would be hard-pressed to despise more. Awesome. So of course, in preparation for the big day, I started doing what any girl does when she knows she’s got a special occasion coming up: Shopping!
But lo, what dreadful news I soon discovered once I began looking around for the perfect Agent Zero jersey — the Wizards are one of the few NBA teams who don’t have official jerseys cut for women, nor do they seem to have any acceptable T-shirt alternatives. The first option I found was a tragic embroidered polo shirt, named the “Remarkable Polo”, pictured above. Remarkable, indeed, but not exactly for conveying either of the two things fan apparel ought to (style and superfandom), rather more for looking like something one would wear to a polite golf party. The second and only other official Wizards T-shirt cut to fit a woman is this pink baby T. Because girls all like to wear pink, apparently. And wear baby Ts to basketball games.
And that’s pretty much all the Wizards are offering their female fans in the way of apparel. Sure, I could get a hat, I suppose. And yes, I thought of ordering a regular men’s T-shirt, but there are few if any styles which come in something smaller than an X-Large. But what I really want is one of those hott official jerseys cut for women, like the hated Lakers, and many other NBA teams already offer. Are we female Wizards fans somehow less worthy of looking good? Do the Wizards players themselves want to see dowdy, shapeless women in the stands during games? I think not.
Luckily, DCist Kyle quickly pointed me to the much more fashionable MotheringHut, via the fantastic Wizznutzz, for fun and funky Wizards T-shirts made specifically for ladies who don’t want to look stupid. Hooray! But still. My heart wants what it wants, and it longs for an official jersey. So Wizards merchandise management, take notice. The ladies of D.C. demand better fan apparel. And we shall not be silenced.
UPDATE: I’d also like to say that I completely agree with Mary Buckheit at ESPN.com, the whole Pink Fan Apparel craze must be stopped. My cry for ladies Wizards apparel has only to do with size and the cut of the shirt. I would never in my life wear a pink team jersey.
