Message to anyone ever asked to be among the first to model a Vancouver sports team's new uniform design.
Say thanks, but no thanks. If you do, you won't wear it for long in competition. If ever.
When the National Basketball Association expansion Vancouver Grizzlies launched their jersey design, it wasn't a basketball player who wore it first. It was professional volleyballer/supermodel Gabrielle Reece on May 18, 1995. Her husband Dean Cain was a Hollywood North star of Lois and Clark. She obviously never played a game for the Bad News Bears.
When the Canucks unveiled the jerseys for the full-time return to the blue, white and green colour scheme on Aug. 29, 2007, Markus Naslund, Trevor Linden, Mattias Ohlund, Willie Mitchell and Kevin Bieksa were the first to skate on then-GM Place ice in the new unis.
Linden and Naslund are both retired. So are their jersey numbers in the rafters of Rogers Arena. Ohlund and Mitchell became free agents elsewhere. Only Bieksa remains a Canuck.
On June 10, 2010, the Vancouver Whitecaps unveiled their Adidas-made, Bell-sponsored Major League Soccer uniforms. Models were then-captain Martin Nash and women's club star Kara "Clubber" Lang.
Nash, a 15-year pro, retired Oct. 27, 2010 to become a staff coach and scout. National team veteran Lang, 24, ends her competitive career Wednesday with a news conference in her hometown, Oakville, Ont. Repeated knee ligament tears in her right knee have forced her to call it quits.
