Fanatics Puts The Wrong Name on San Jose Sharks Goaltender's Jersey
Fanatics seem to always be in the news for all the wrong reasons, and in last night's San Jose Sharks game, they misspelled goaltender Vitek Vanecek's name.
It was a tough night both on and off the ice for the San Jose Sharks, and whoever does their jersey nameplates, likely Fanatics is involved somehow, as usual. The Sharks remain winless after six games, joining only Nashville at 0-5 in the winless column. Adding insult to injury, San Jose is without first-overall draft pick Macklin Celebrini. Sunday's 4-1 loss to the Colorado Avalanche put things into perspective that when Celebrini does return to the lineup, the Sharks have a long way to climb.
The problems with the Sharks run deeper than on-ice product. Little things, such as game-used jerseys with misspelled names, are minor mistakes; nonetheless, they attract scrutiny when they happen in the pros. A jersey error visible in a game adds to one's frustration of viewing, most especially when the team has not gotten into its good strides early in the current season. It's a small but memorable mistake, one that says a lot about the attention to detail that fans want, even with elements of the game that, arguably, are ancillary. Take a look at how Vitek Vanecek's name was spelled in last night's game.
The more interesting part, though? That kind of mistake doesn't only happen to role players or teams mired in mediocrity, such as the Sharks. The NHL is like any other professional league in that it has certainly had its fair share of jersey boo-boos, even with the biggest names in the game. There is, in fact, such a rich history of these kinds of errors. They have even involved some of the most iconic faces of the sport, one of the greatest being no other than Wayne Gretzky. These have become memorable moments and are often more amusing in hindsight than frustrating, but still somewhat puzzling at the high stakes and visibility of professional sports.
Given that such a mistake on the jersey would be apparently easily repairable, it astonishingly gets repeated in league after league and sport after sport. Whether the mistake was in preparation or in the rush to get them ready for game time, errors like these do just hint that even in highly professional settings, human error is not avoidable. Even apparently minor oversights, such as misspelled names, can still cause waves when the eyes of avid fans are always watching.
But the misspelled nameplate is just one small symptom of a larger problem, and this rocky start for the Sharks has really taken its toll on the team. It's marginal compared with a six-game losing streak, but it speaks to the overall sense of trying to get it together in the context of a professional organization. Little things make a big difference, and when the big things aren't working out for a team, even the small ones feel magnified.
