When I was in Afghanistan, I bought the Battlestar Galactica series on DVD from one of the shops on our FOB. Discs looked legit, came in the box that looked legit and everything. The set also came with a figurine of a Cylon. Except this one had a figurine of Megatron instead. lol
I've seen a lot of current name/number jerseys. Player friends/family sit right behind the team benches and they all get those, but these are in other sections.
I found a jersey on eBay years ago. The price was too good to be true, but I loved Guille and took the chance. While it has a stitched Crew logo, there are some clues that it may be a knockoff... note that this is meant to be Adidas, yet only has two stripes on the sleeve LOL!
A few years back I read an article on counterfeit Premier league shirts that claimed the quality was very good because the knockoffs were being produced in the exact same factories as the genuine article. The day shift would leave, the owners would lock the door and then a second crew would come in the back, fire up the machines again and crank out another batch for black market distribution. The profit margin for the manufacturers was pretty much the same in both cases; it's Nike, adidas, et al who mark it up 1000% and more. The factory owner was making his five bucks a shirt, or whatever, either way. What did he care? This being China, the whole thing was entirely plausible. And as others have noted, I too have seen some stuff from back channels which was indistinguishable from the real deal, including sales tags.
I don't know what any of that means. Is Battlestar Galactica one of those european Derbies people speak of? La Liga? Was this Cylon a star player that scored lots of goals? Assuming Megatron was the nickname for a famous goalie and perhaps by your comment didn't even play in the Derby?
Chinese companies have no regard for Copyright or Patents. They knock off every major international brand. I'll admit I've bought a few things over the years including hockey and baseball jerseys. They are of generally good quality but not always perfect matches. Check out the WISH app. It's basically a Chinese knock off retailer. Just be careful ordering sizes of clothing. Basically a US Large is like XXXXL in China. I prefer to support US companies though but man it is sure tempting to save the $$ - even if it take several weeks to arrive.
I actually have long sleeve yellow jersey I got from one of the after season team sales over at Obetz. It has one sleeve of dark blue stripes and another sleeve of black stripes and as official as a source one can get.
I recall getting a Cunningham one there for a friend that was a long sleeve that had the arms cut off to make a short sleeve--because Cunningham wanted one for a game and they didn't have one with them.
A few years ago I worked for adidas. adidas set up their US headquarters in Portland, down the road from Nike in Beaverton. So in 2015 for MLS Cup, adidas as a league sponsor sent a delegation consisting of Timbers fans to MLS Cup. Since I was there to root for the Crew, I avoided my colleagues. Anywho, the counterfeit issue is quite real for the brand names. The factory owners can make more on the knockoffs than the same item produced for adidas or Nike. So the brands try to control supply of parts, ie soles, stripes, swooshes, etc. Yeezy knockoffs were a particular problem when I was there. The LA Times had a long piece at the time on the debate among sneakerheads about whether there was such a thing as a knockoff if it came from the same factory as the official version.
Where were you ten years ago? 22 people voted on the outcome of this decision. Of those 22, 15 are now either banned from FIFA for life, suspended, imprisoned or fighting extradition to the USA to face federal charges. Only, one still actually works for FIFA. https://t.co/yoshhohEG3— Eli (@ElMengem) December 2, 2020 .... and where are they now?
I have a photo someplace of the entire CONMEBOL Board posing together at a meeting in 2014. There are 14 men in the frame. Of that number, 13 are currently either in prison, under indictment, under house arrest or busily fighting extradition by the US DoJ. The 14th man is dead. But so-called journalists like - to pick name entirely at random - Grant Wahl, who know perfectly well what went on and is still going on, refuse to say a thing about it lest they lose the incredible perks one gets when FIFA and CONCACAF favors you. Trips, tickets, hotels, meals and, if one believes the stories, money, broads and snow. ( I can attest to the fact that they routinely invite lowly bloggers to be "guests" at overseas tournaments all expenses paid. It was never offered to me but I know several guys, including our own Dan Loney, who got just such an offer at least once. All I ever got was letters from lawyers threatening to sue if I didn't shut up. No, I am not making that up.) Its as much of a scam as being a FIFA bigshot. It's all payoff from the top down. And the guys who aren't plugged in yet don't say anything either because, duh, they're hoping to be plugged in someday. FIFA is a vicious den of greed, hypocrisy and thuggery. And nothing changed in 2014 except that a bunch of other guys moved a rung or two up the ladder.
World Cup 2030 Final: Mos Eisley Spaceport. The den is already there. [IRL, Tunisia, a fliming location, is considering being a co-host.]
I remember wanting to find a way to go to WC’14 in Brazil. But that couldn’t happen, so I thought maybe in 2018, depending on who’s hosting. I was surprised and disappointed when I found out the hosts would be Russia and Qatar. That was a sad day. (But not as bad as the day we didn’t even QUALIFY![emoji35])
I wanted to go to Italy in 1990. Didn't happen, but I got as far as trying to learn some Italian ("Una Birra per favore!" was about as far as I got). We didn't actually get there until last summer. I expect 1994 will have been it for me, World Cup wise.