My Little Project: NBA Championship Goggles
So, I was watching the NBA Finals last year, you know, the whole celebration scene at the end. Confetti everywhere, guys yelling, and then the champagne starts flying. And there they are – the championship goggles. Always kinda struck me as funny looking, but also, kinda cool in that moment.
I got thinking, what’s the deal with those specific goggles? Are they like, super special NBA-issued gear? Or just some random ski goggles they grab?
This thought kinda stuck in my head. It wasn’t just about blocking champagne. Some guys keep ’em on for ages. Became a bit of a mini-obsession for a weekend. Decided I’d try and figure it out, maybe even make a replica pair just for kicks, stick ’em on a shelf or something.
Okay, here’s what I did:
- First, I hit the internet, obviously. Spent a while just looking at pictures from different finals. Lakers, Warriors, Bucks… zooming in on the goggles. Trying to spot brands.
- Saw some that looked like Oakleys, yeah, but a lot? They just looked like basic ski or even safety goggles. Like the kind you get at a hardware store. No fancy logos most of the time.
- Then I thought, “Okay, I can make this.” Seemed simple enough.
- Went down to a cheap sports store. Found some basic, no-name ski goggles for like twenty bucks. Black frame, clear lens. Looked close enough to the generic ones I saw in photos.
- Got them home. First problem: they had this dumb little logo glued on the front. Tried prying it off with a screwdriver. Bad idea. Scratched the plastic frame right away. Ugh. Had to use some goo remover stuff, took ages.
- Then the strap. It was just plain black. Some teams have custom straps, right? With the team logo or “Champions” written on it. I thought about getting crafty.
- Tried using some white fabric paint I had leftover from another project. Wanted to write “CHAMPS” on the strap. Looked terrible. Like a kid did it. The paint bled, letters were crooked. Total fail.
- Tried again with masking tape and a marker. Better, but still looked really homemade and kinda cheap. Which, I guess, it was.
So, what did I figure out?
Well, mostly that the goggles themselves usually aren’t anything special. Seems like teams just buy them in bulk, probably cheap ones. Sometimes players have deals, maybe they wear a specific brand like Oakley. But often, it’s just practical gear to keep booze out of their eyes during that one crazy moment.
And my own little project? My replica goggles? They’re sitting on my desk. The frame’s scratched, the strap looks kinda sad with my failed marker attempt. Definitely not fooling anyone.
But you know what? It was kinda fun messing around with it. Took me back to being a kid, trying to customize my bike or something. And it answered my question. They aren’t magic goggles. Just regular goggles for a very specific, very sticky, job. Still makes me chuckle when I see them pop up after the final buzzer.
