Cubs fans react to Nike officially revealing Wrigleyville jersey

Nike unveiled a new Cubs alternate jersey, otherwise known as the Cubs Wrigleyville jersey, and fans are very ‘meh’ about it. 

The baseball winds are shifting in Chicago from north to south. Despite the fact that the Cubs are having an early season revival after a tough start to the year, national hype continues to focus on the southside White Sox.

Nothing seems to personify this more than the reveal of the Nike City Connect uniforms, of which the White Sox are the clearcut winners. On the heels of the Sox showing off uniforms that are not only cool but seem representative of the community the team calls its own, the Cubs released predictably sanitized one-size-fits-all uniforms that truly represent what the Ricketts family has done in commercializing the historic neighborhood around Wrigley Field.

The leaked Cubs uniforms, dubbed the Cubs Wrigleyville jersey, initially drew ire from fans who couldn’t believe their team was releasing a uniform that looks like a discount store knockoff.

Well, they’re officially official. Both the Cubs and Nike revealed the City Connect jerseys on Tuesday and they appear to be only a marginal improvement on what we saw in the leaked photos.

Cubs fans reiterated as much while digesting the official uniforms, giving off big time shoulder shrug emoji energy while coming to grips with the fact that this is indeed what the team rolled out.

The consensus issues seem to be one or many of the following:

• Having ‘Wrigleyville’ sprawled across the front
• The general blandness of the design
• A color design that doesn’t represent the Cubs, Wrigleyville, or Chicago
• Things like ‘Cubbie Culture’ supposedly representing the fanbase despite the fact that this is the first time most Cubs fans have ever heard or said that phrase
• How these compare incredibly less favorably to the other City Connect uniforms
• The simple fact that the White Sox did it better

Cubs fans react to Wrigleyville jersey reveal

While the reaction to the official release was far less intense than the reaction to the leak, it wasn’t much better.

The pushback seems to embody much of the disgust fans have had toward the Ricketts family and the commercialization of the Cubs. Once the loveable losers, much of Cubs appeal was found in the team being a relic of a bygone era where teams didn’t play in massive superstructures centered in the middle of a flat asphalt desert otherwise known as a parking lot. The Cubs were a team that, even in the modern era, played across the street from apartments and homes that had been there since the dawn of Wrigley Field.

Now, with a luxury hotel, a McDonald’s, and an overpriced taco joint across the street, a once unique and historic setting has become Diet Coke Baseball Disneyworld. In that regard, these bland Nike City Connect jerseys are perfectly representative of what ‘Cubbie Culture’ has become.