Scott Young Autograph Card

The World Cup in underway, and with it endless debates about how Adidas is ruining hockey uniforms worse than Reebok did post-lockout, which is saying something. Do I agree? Mostly, yes, for their designs are a simplistic-yet-sub-par take on classics, their stripes on the side are annoying to the eye, and they lack imagination and creativity as a whole. Oh, and the whole ads on the uniforms thing.

Team Russia, the Czech Republic, Team Sweden and Team Finland are relatively true to their usual garbs, so that's fine, although the blue Finnish uniform feels like it's out of the 1990s ECHL a bit:

Team North America looks pretty decent in person, but it's nothing more than a compilation of the best bits of the New York Islanders' last two alternate uniforms:

Team USA and Team Canada are a mixed bag, and Team Europe, well, I'll give 'em points for originality, but that's pretty much it.

Which brings me to a uniform that the Mighty Ducks Of Anaheim once wore that Adidas would be fond of, what with their broad shoulder designs that go too low and useless stripes in odd places, on the signed insert version of card #143 from Pinnacle's 1997-98 Be A Player set:

That's Scott Young, who signed the card in black sharpie. Young's an international competition veteran who dressed for Team USA roughly a dozen times, including three Olympics (with silver in 2002), three World Junior Championships (with bronze in 1986), a handful of World Championships and was with the American team when they won the inaugural 1996 World Cup, posting 4 points (2 goals and 2 assists) in 7 games.