George Bailey's Football Sweater is the Best Jersey of All Time

It's A Wonderful Life is the perfect movie. Frank Capra's masterpiece is just as salient and affecting today as it was when it came out 76 years ago. Some will tell you it's too sappy and tidy or cheesy. But those people don't appreciate the underlying darkness in the film that taps into something primal in all of us.

How can a person who has it all think he has nothing to live for? And why does it happen so often? Heavy stuff.

On a much brighter note, posting blogs on Christmas Eve Eve has afforded me the opportunity to share an opinion I've never really pushed before, yet feel real confident in saying.

The football sweater that George Bailey wears home after the (oh yes, oh yes) Big Charleston Contest is the greatest uniform of all time.

Look at this beaut.

Bailey does not make for an imposing figure in the get-up and that's sort of the point. He is not supposed to be the most athletic, handsome, or brave person in Bedford Falls. He's simply meant to be average. Like you. And me.

At one point he even remarks how he's not the football type. He is a less accurate thrower than his date, Mary Hatch. But dammit, he just looks like a quarterback for the 1923 Chicago Staleys who tossed four touchdowns and ran for three more against some local mechanics whose team would fold once the Great Depression hit.

It's a timeless and classic fit, and the number 3 has stood the test of time as an elite football digit. How did they get it so right? And did they know they were getting it right?

Disagree if you wish, but remember the wisdom from the movie. No man is a failure who has takes.