This year, as many bundle up with friends and family to celebrate the winter holidays, the Denver Broncos will be traveling to Los Angeles to battle the Rams on Christmas Day.
For years, the NBA has owned Christmas, and in the past, the association rolled out special ‘Christmas’ jerseys for the teams that earned a slot in one of the marquee games. Tipping their hat to this tradition, the Broncos decided to prank some of their players and coaches by unveiling an intentionally garish Christmas jersey to the team, and capturing their reactions on hidden camera.
🚨 NEW CHRISTMAS JERSEY REVEAL 🚨
(lol jk but we joined @CBSSports in making our guys think these were real) pic.twitter.com/Sn5uNionyN
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) December 22, 2022
Upon getting a closer look at the jerseys, team captain Justin Simmons was quick to protest.
“I’m not wearing them, man,” the All-Pro safety said, with a slight hint of disgust.
It’s hard to blame him.
The faux alternates feature an orange-and-blue striped pattern across the chest, dotted by the standard, cookie-cutter pine tree design. Meanwhile, the helmets have replaced their demonic white Bronco with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, wearing a Santa hat, and have replaced their orange center stripe with a pine tree.
“This is what we’re wearing?” Randy Gregory asked, his question brimming with judgement. “The jersey, I don’t know. The helmet, I f–k with.”
K.J. Hamler wasn’t as big a fan of the Denver Broncos’ jersey design.
“That’s not real. Y’all put a f–king reindeer on it,” Hamler said in shock and horror. “And a tree as the stripe? I ain’t even going to sugarcoat it. That ain’t it.”
Tim Patrick also had some strong pushback for the mock-up.
“They’re going to have to give everybody bonuses if we’re wearing them,” Patrick suggested.
Fortunately, the Denver Broncos won’t have to wear these abhorrent uniforms on Christmas Day, and hopefully, the team’s on-field performance is much more appealing to the eye.