Throw Us a Freaking Bone, Nike

As I mentioned in a previous posting, I recently took the plunge and purchased an official US MNT jersey made by Nike. During that process I took some time over at soccer.com to take a gander at the national team jerseys of other Nike-sponsored countries. To my dismay I found that all of them used the same fabrics and technologies. More to my dismay I found that many of them were cooler looking than the US jersey. So here's my question - why doesn't Nike make super-special, super-cool jerseys exclusively for the US MNT?

Look, I know that the US is not the best soccer-playing country that Nike sponsors (anyone heard of a place called Brazil?) and I know that we don't have any upper-echelon type players in our squad, but Nike's world headquarters are in Beaverton, Oregon. Not London or Rio de Janeiro or Paris. Nike made an international name for itself in the United States. Without the initial support of the US market Nike would have never become the worldwide sporting juggernaut that it is today.

When I see photos or video of the German national team, which is sponsored by Adidas (which is based in Germany), they are always wearing crazy gear that I have never seen available online, in stores, or worn by other, non-German players. Adidas gets it. They sponsor a bunch of other countries as well, including recent World Cup and Euro winner France, but they save a little something extra for the home team. Why can't Nike do that for the US?

The US team is getting better, but let's face it - they still have a long way to go. They need all the help they can get. Why can't Nike give a little more and help the home team? They must have technologies and fabrics in development that they could test in concert with the US program. Personally, I consider the current state of affairs tantamount to treason...