Christmas in April "B- Ball Fans": Greyflannel Auction

[encinorick]

B-Ball Fans, especially "Both-Teams:"

I mentioned before that I have a bunch of unique Laker items which will be auctioned by Greyflannel this April and they've finally gone on line. This is just one of the items:

1. Premier Lot 866: This is Kobe's Christmas warm-up from 1999-00. It is my understanding that this is the first "white" warm-up/uniform ever used by the Lakers. They first wore this on Christmas day, and then wore it or a similiar one for the following X-mases.

The Fans liked the "white' so some time later the Lakers went with white (alternative) uniforms on X-mas day Again, the fans liked the uniforms, so the Lakers went with white (alternative) uniforms every Sunday game at home.

As we all know, the tradition has developed that every Christmas game day each team, including the Lakers who always play on Xmas, now wears a "white" snowflake (thanks Barry Meisel for making it available to us all).

As best as I can tell, this warm-up started two great NBA traditions: White (Alternative) Laker uniforms and X-mas "Snowflake" jerseys.

[both-teams-played-hard]

Nice Lakers stuff! Grey Flannel always has incredible basketball items. I especially like the Jeff Lebo North Carolina jersey and the Dennis Johnson All-Star jersey.

[nickacs]

Yea, I looked at the online catalog yesterday for about 20mins skimming every page and LOTS of great stuff this time around. GFC really stepping it up with some quality items.
I love the Kobe warmup you put in there and likewise the DJ all-star jerseys (both!). I'm still looking for that one MJ game worn jersey that screams real and I still don't see it in this auction... Oh wells... The Dec '09 one had a real one with CharitaBulls letter, but not the rookie or '91 in this April auction.

Can't wait to start bidding!!! Woo hoo

[encinorick]

If you think I'm tooting my own horn here, well, I am. I've collected some of these items for over ten years, when my son was born. I still have a bunch of Laker items at home, but, after viewing "American Pickers" on the History Channel, I realized it's time to move on.

My only issue with Greyflannel is that I gave them a ton of information (Getty images, LA Times articles, etc) about each item, which may have not been included.

For Kobe fans (no haters, please), please consider tiem #874. The Kobe infamous "throw-back" short-shorts worn against the Celtics. While throw-back jerseys are fairly common, to the best of my knowledge, only the Lakers did the short-shorts.

They had to go back to Tiernan to get them, however, Tiernan was sold to another company in Orange County and it's a long story (LA Times article). Anyway, they played the first half with them against the Celtics and they were miserable, Fisher said his "junk" was all over the place. Kobe said he wouldn't play the second half with them, so they tossed them. Kobe (and the Lakers) said they'd never wear them again.

I could go on, but, I got them the following day. Also I had a friend who attended the game and he sold me the T-shirt the Lakers gave out that night to the Staples fans.

Greyflannel agreed to call my items the "Jake Murray Weissfeld Collection" after my son (who I adore) and who was named after his grandfather (my father) who died before he was born.

[Sonny25]

I saw the shorts & am very intrigued in them (Along with many other items).

I have that Lakers game somewhere on DVD, need to see if I can't locate it.

[encinorick]

Please do. Also, look at the great Gettyimages of the game. The key is that Addidas couldn't make the "short-shorts," they didn't have the template. So the Lakers went back to Tiernan (in Glendale, CA) and asked them to make it from their template from days gone by.

However, Tiernan (which was a clothing manufacturer in addition to making the Laker gear for years) was sold to another company in Orange County, CA (Anaheim for you out-of-towners). the company was Unilete, so the brand is "Unilete" on the shorts. Ask to see the DC Sports LOA, I asked Dan to put all the information in the LOA. In addition, the LA Times did an article about, which I gave to Greyflannel along with pictures, et al.

Like I said, you'll never see a pair again.