I've spent a good amount of time researching every single Fresno Monsters jersey I could find in the depths of the internet and I came to a striking conclusion. The Monster's uniforms are like a fine wine; they got better with age. The absolute inverse of the Anaheim Ducks, who took their Lamborghini of a jersey and traded it for a Kia Sorento (Although i must admit while writing this I discovered the crash safety rating of the Sorento and was impressed). I stayed away from the event jerseys and stuck with examining the variations of the Monster's homes, aways, and alternates throughout their history. With a mascot and color scheme like the Monsters have, us Fresnans have been blessed with some top-notch unis. If at any point you feel like commenting about how my opinion sucks and that i'm a jackass, just remember i'm already fully aware and have a team of brain mechanics (psychologists) working on it as we speak; Let's get into it.
(The Best) 2018-19 Green Alternates
The Fresno Monsters rolled out the red carpet in their return to Selland Arena in 2018-19 with their best set ups the franchise has ever seen, including these strikingly beautiful green alternates. It was a perfect combination of green, black, and white with a touch of gold outlining the crest.
It's a simple design with three stripes alternating in color on the elbows and the lower torso with the large pad of black across the shoulder. The Monsters tried a jersey like this a few years back without the black on the shoulders but it was a flop because there was nothing to offset the green. The black and white keeps it toned down and professional while the green attracts attention. Everything comes together in perfect harmony to make an amazing looking squad of Monsters out there.
My favorite part is 100% the gold lining in the crest and shoulder patches. It's the small touch that you wouldn't notice unless you examined more closely, but it makes the jersey go from minor league to pro status in my mind. The only thing I don’t like is the the writing In the crest (I’ll get to that later) but at the very least it looks professional. Everything just works to perfection.
The Good: 2010-2011 Home & Away
There's a lot going on here, but one of the Monster's earliest jerseys were one of their best.
The design was extremely unique. We have stripes and bands galore on this piece and while usually too many stripes can ruin a jersey, in this case it works. The primary black is complimented nicely by the secondary splashes of green and white. Once again, we see the gold trim around the crest and numbers that makes them more noticeable, and by God what a crest it is.
The Monster makes the entire uniform. It's the heart and soul of this set. This logo is still my favorite Monsters logo of all time because It's an actual monster that could be imagined in a nightmare. In the hockey world, we see a lot of great mascot potential ruined by a lot of simple lettering or basic clip art logos. This logo slaps you in the face with a legitimate Monster that will have you checking your closet before you go to bed. I understand why they made the switch because the Monster can look a little too minor league and scare fans away from coming to the games, but I would love to see a throwback someday in the future. Overall, i love this uniform because of its originality and how it's so much different than the typical uniform templates we see across hockey. It flips the double bird to the typical horizontal arm and chest bands with a word mark logo by creating a unique style that draws the eye but doesn't go too far over the top.
The Bad: 2011-2012 Home & Away
In the last uniform, we saw a good example of an original jersey that worked because it had a lot of good aspects that all came together to make something awesome. This is what happens when it that originality goes too far and looks bad.
I really do like the idea of the claw marks in the jersey; I think it's cool. But other than that, there's nothing else going on here. It's just a torn up looking jersey that offers nothing else besides that fear-inducing logo. There's an insane amount of open space that's not being utilized at all.
I have a few ideas that i think would have made this much cooler. Adding black across the shoulders like we saw in the first jersey wold have looked really neat, especially if it was separated from the white with a green stripe. Maybe outlining the claw marks in gold and green could have made them pop a bit more. Even something as simple as making the collar green could have went a long way to making this bad boy scream a little bit. Overall, I like the idea, it just needs a little bit more.
The Ugly: 2016 Shield Jersey
Where's Will Smith? Anybody seen Tommy Lee Jones? If you've seen them let me know because I need the Men in Black to erase my memory after witnessing this atrocity. We could erase the last week but let's just wipe the whole damn thing just to be safe.
This is a nightmare, and not the kind with Monsters in it. Let's start with the crest; the ugliest logo in Fresno Monsters history. Anytime I see a shield, I assume it's a soccer jersey and i'm not about that life. We don't do that here, brother. I don't need a shield to tell me what the name of the team is that I am rooting for because I already know. I'm a strong advocate of keeping words and letting off of jerseys because it think its pointless and takes away from the logo. Enlarging the claw and outlining it in that sexy gold would have worked just fine.
Then we move on the the mustard colored armpit slots. Never thought I would type a sentence with that collection of words in my life but here we are. I don't know who thought that would be a good idea and signed off on it but i'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say they thought it would look a tad more gold than it turned out. They might have made a slight miscalculation and didn't think about what sweat would do to it. Thinking about someone pitching armpit slots is an all-time hilarious thought.
"You know what, I really like the jersey Bob, but these armpits are barren. I think it's missing some serious armpit accentuation; that'll take it to the next level."
Which ever way you slice it, highlighting the armpit wasn't the best idea and i'm glad it was retired after a very short stint. This jersey wasn't all bad as it started to set up the template of the rotation of Monster's Jerseys we have now which are beautiful. What's that phrase? It's always darkest before the dawn? This rendition made it pretty dark, and i'm glad we made it to the other side.
Just like all of us, our beloved Fresno Monsters have gone through plenty of different phases both good and bad. We can look back fondly on all of them because no matter how good or bad they looked, they're our hometown boys.
Send us some comments about your favorite Monster's jerseys over the years and why they are special to you. Also, if anybody is looking to sell a Kia Sorento, hit me up.
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