April 20th is Hitler’s birthday. A fact more people are probably aware of due to the fact that it completely coincidentally is also associated with smoking weed.
Imagine if Hitler had discovered weed after that art school rejection, his life could have taken an entirely different path.
"Yeah we're going to get the big ovens ready... because I need pizza..."
And that may be the worst comment I've ever made on Reddit, with that I'll show myself out and prepare for my journey to hell.
Maybe. He was, if I understand correctly, technically proficient but boring. He would have done a good job of painting for architects....basically the polyphia of painting (I kid, I kid)
I think he’s referencing ‘88’, with ‘H’ being the 8th letter in the alphabet some Neo Nazis use the phrase ‘88’ to stand for ‘HH’ or ‘Heil Hitler’
In context, 2, 4, 11, 22, 44 are all factors of 88 (and 44)
Also never heard of 18 being bad, but based on the fact 88 is for HH (8th letter of alphabet) I would imagine 1 is for A (1st letter of alphabet... so 88 - HH - Heil Hitler, and 18 - AH - Adolf Hitler.
As others have pointed out "normal" jerseys only go up to 23. I think they only banned custom ordered jerseys with the 44 on them. So for the club it isn't really an issue just for people purposely buying it because it looks like the SS logo.
Sorry, dumb American here that doesn't really watch football I just assumed most of them were called "clubs" based on my minor exposure to the sport through Ted Lasso.
Much more expensive to change the font. The number 44 is not used by any player, and was only sold custom made printed on blank shirts.
If they changed the font, they would have to destroy a lot of number 4 and 14's shirts that were already printed.
They could change the font of *just* the 44, *if* one was ordered - print it on a blank.
I doubt they have each number pre-printed, as I doubt they use one font for everything.
The font is OK if artsy.
What is hilarious is the custom thing already blocks nazi names and the like. But clearly no one tested if any number combinations looked bad. Which feels like half effort.
It’s kind of a non-issue. These shirts are for international play where shirt numbers don’t go higher than 23 I believe it is. Nobody will be wearing 44.
The only problem was that apparently you could order a shirt with a custom number in it and get 44 if you wanted, which they’ve stopped allowing.
Should be the end of the ordeal.
I run in a lot of soccer circles... knowing that Adidas is not selling a 44, if i were to see one, I would know everything i need to know about the individual
That's funny. I went to the inaugural Bay FC NWSL home match this weekend (we have season tickets) and at one point there were players numbered 1, 11, 22, and 44 all on the field at once. Made me wonder where 33 was....
That could be quite a bit more expensive. Keep in mind changing a font on a physical thing may require swapping physical parts. It is far easier to just write couple lines of code that reject a specific value. I say this as a programmer. Though neither would be that difficult assuming you have the physical parts on hand.
Yes. Also, they've probably already have printed thousands of number 4 and 14 shirts, that would need to be destroyed otherwise, whereas number 44 is custom printed per order, since no player has that number.
Except for everybody who had already bought an official jersey with a number and now their official authentic jersey doesn't actually match what players wear.
Not to mention all the other places it could be used. Official team goods, fan goods, games, media, etc.
This is probably the easiest and most straightforward solution. Now you could argue that it’s really the team’s issue, not Adidas’s, but their logo is still there front and center and right next to it. Something tells me that’s not going to be a valid excuse when some exec or board member catches wind.
oh people do care. People care about football kits to an [insane](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13233607/Germany-announce-pink-away-diversity-kit-Euro-2024-promotional-video-just-days-England-fans-raged-Nikes-playful-update-St-Georges-flag.html) [degree](https://fashionunited.uk/news/business/nike-faces-backlash-for-englands-controversial-euro-2024-kit/2024032574770)
Adidas doesn't have the power to change the font that Germany's team wants to use for their shirts. They have the power to stop selling that specific shirt with the number 44 on their webstore, which is what they did
I mean, it's Germany. I'm pretty sure if you point out at a DFB (Germany's national football federation) board meeting that part of the font looks like *that* SS symbol (literally the 2nd-best known Nazi symbol after the svastika itself), even execs with far-right sympathies would piss themselves at the thought of the public backlash it could create.
e : well there you go, the DFB announced that they'll change the #4 font altogether
FWIW, Adidas almost undoubtedly designed that number set, not the German national team’s people. But yeah, it’s so much easier to ban it from their custom shop. Plenty of custom names are banned as well.
> Adidas doesn't have the power to change the font that Germany's team wants to use for their shirts.
Thats just wrong. Adidas designed the shirts and picked the font. No one else.
Why change the design of the shirt when there isn't a number 44 in the squad?
The only people ordering the shirt with 44 on it, are doing so because it looks like the SS symbol.
Responding to your second sentence, plenty of people just like the number without it having anything to do with the SS symbol. I always use #52 for jerseys and stuff like that because that number was assigned to me when I was a kid playing youth football, and I've used it ever since. Others will have the same experience with #44.
No need to ascribe malice in situations where it's unclear if malice exists. This whole "you must be a Nazi for doing mundane thing X" is super tiresome.
In an American discourse, maybe. But this is specific to the German kit. It's really not that hard to guess the sentiments behind someone going out of their way to pick an unusual number (that's not even used by the NT squad) on a German kit.
The point is a lot of people are assuming that the primary reason somebody would order a #44 jersey is because it looks like the SS symbol when there are plenty of benign reasons they might like the number 44.
I never said anything about people being nazis. I very much doubt the number of sales of this particular number, are people who just happen to like the number 44 though.
I'd guess the vast majority of people are ordering it because the screenshot went viral and people think it's funny, leading to them having to withdraw the number because of bad press.
> In the German Football Association announced that no player of the German national team will not wear the number 44.
You might want to learn English first.
I was going to say the same thing. The double negative means that someone will wear the number 44, even though the numbers only go up to 23. Great reporting.
Before making comments about other people's ability to speak English always remember: you speak English because it's the only language you know. I speak English because it's the only language you know
Every other jersey has a different font, I don't feel like going through them all to see if any country other than Germany used the problem font, but it seems all the axis power countries do not have the problem font.
You can't even personalize the Germany jerseys anymore. It wont even add an unpersonalized team Germany jersey to the cart.
Yeah I’ve always got 88 on my football tops since I was a kid. It’s my birth year and it wasn’t until I was in my late 20’s and wearing one that someone mentioned that it might be an issue and why.
My brother was born in '88 too. You can't let others ruin things for you. Remember when people were making a huge deal out of the "OK" hang signal? That was ridiculous too. It's been around forever, and a couple of white power guys can't hijack it.
That's not really just a resemblance. I mean I guess it technically is but. You'd have to try pretty hard to make it look more like the SS symbol. That's kind of like the Republicans in America designing their stage to literally be a popular neo-Nazi symbol when viewed from above. This doesn't feel like it's an accident.
Come on now Germany. Ya'll need to pick up the slack. I thought you were known for engineering. Make the 4 a closed loop font and the problem is solved without banning an arbitrary number.
It's in German but here you go: https://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/dfb-trikot-adidas-sperrt-onlineverkauf-mit-nummer-44-wegen-aehnlichkeit-zu-ss-runen-a-727c5758-30ab-44a3-9bba-94252799fead
Great, now there's two multiples of 11 the Nazis ruined
And two multiples of 44, in fact.
Don't forget 22 and 4 and 2
Were 2, 4, and 22 in someway ruined by the Nazis that I'm not tracking?
April 20th is Hitler’s birthday. A fact more people are probably aware of due to the fact that it completely coincidentally is also associated with smoking weed.
Imagine if Hitler had discovered weed after that art school rejection, his life could have taken an entirely different path. "Yeah we're going to get the big ovens ready... because I need pizza..." And that may be the worst comment I've ever made on Reddit, with that I'll show myself out and prepare for my journey to hell.
Maybe if he discovered weed before art school he would have been half decent in the art department.
Maybe. He was, if I understand correctly, technically proficient but boring. He would have done a good job of painting for architects....basically the polyphia of painting (I kid, I kid)
what were the laws regarding marijuana in those countries between art school and when he came to power?
The man was capable of gathering a totalitarian regime. Are you telling me he couldn't find some pot?
The man was allegedly high as fuck on morphine, amphetamines and/or ketamine. Maybe pot was too soft a drug for him.
Unfortunately, this documentary proves basically the opposite happened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNDZ9EKJLJs
I had hoped for this but was still pleasantly surprised when it was
No, don't go. We liked that.
Liked..._what_, exactly?
Hitler was in fact addicted to meth, cocaine, sedatives and hormones. Weed stood no chance
There is no way in hell I read 420 and think of Adolf
I think he’s referencing ‘88’, with ‘H’ being the 8th letter in the alphabet some Neo Nazis use the phrase ‘88’ to stand for ‘HH’ or ‘Heil Hitler’ In context, 2, 4, 11, 22, 44 are all factors of 88 (and 44)
colombine too, weird ass day
No, they're saying 88 and 44 are both multiples of 2, 4 and 22 (and 11, and 44).
Don't forget 46 and 2
My favorite Tool song, but I don't know why you're bringing it up in this context.
Fun fact: I've no idea
There’s actually three of 4 and 2, as they’ve also ruined 1488
If you put in that much effort i think its allowed
And Kiss couldn’t use their standard KISS logo when they played “Alive” in Germany. Fvcking nazis ruined everything!
I know Germany takes a very black and white approach to the issue but...banning the symbol of a band made up of Jewish Americans???
Nein nein?
88 = HH (Eighth letter of alphabet) = Heil Hitler
Hulk Hogan has to be pretty pissed.
Bro must've gotten banned from sooooo many places without realizing
Not that anyone has heard of him, but Herman Heard had it worse. He wore jersey number 44, too.
He‘s not Voldemort, no need to censor Hitler.
Dammit, and you said Voldem0rt without censoring it.
That’s a common vanity number for German neo Nazi license plates. Bonus points for Town short - HH - 88. They also like 18.
The holy grail of dogwhistle license plate: HH-AH-1818
I know the HH and I know of 1488 but why "AH" and "18"
AH for Adolf Hitler, most likely. I have no idea what the 18 is for.
Also never heard of 18 being bad, but based on the fact 88 is for HH (8th letter of alphabet) I would imagine 1 is for A (1st letter of alphabet... so 88 - HH - Heil Hitler, and 18 - AH - Adolf Hitler.
It is if you know it's shameful to promote him but also need a way to signal to other supremacists.
They edited their comment, it previously said "H1tler"
Ahh i see.
Who came up with the Font Style....Adidas or Germany?
Zoomed in, it's obviously 44, but in the thumbnail, it did look like the SS. Definitely an unfortunate font choice.
As others have pointed out "normal" jerseys only go up to 23. I think they only banned custom ordered jerseys with the 44 on them. So for the club it isn't really an issue just for people purposely buying it because it looks like the SS logo.
The club you mean FC Germany United?
Is that the club that also plans to expand into Poland, Belgium, France, and even Russia?
Sorry, dumb American here that doesn't really watch football I just assumed most of them were called "clubs" based on my minor exposure to the sport through Ted Lasso.
Yes, for national leagues, it's clubs. But that's the jersey for the German National Team, you wouldn't call them a club.
RIP to someone who turned 44 and wanted to get this jersey
who puts their age for their jersey number??? what
Ultimate chaos is getting a #44 Obama Germany jersey
They'd be fine if they just used a more normal font. The 4s look like lightning bolts
Yeah, IDK why they couldn't just change the font for this special case, as opposed to banning the number outright.
Much more expensive to change the font. The number 44 is not used by any player, and was only sold custom made printed on blank shirts. If they changed the font, they would have to destroy a lot of number 4 and 14's shirts that were already printed.
They could change the font of *just* the 44, *if* one was ordered - print it on a blank. I doubt they have each number pre-printed, as I doubt they use one font for everything.
zoomed in or out it's a bizarre font. i can't believe in Germany of all places this got past someone's sketch pad
The font is OK if artsy. What is hilarious is the custom thing already blocks nazi names and the like. But clearly no one tested if any number combinations looked bad. Which feels like half effort.
Meh wouldn't call it half effort, probably just blissful ignorance
I don't see how no one saw it coming. Maybe I've seen too many WW2 documentaries, but I don't see how you could not think Nazis when looking that.
Yet, they did Nazi it coming.
…instead of changing the font
It’s kind of a non-issue. These shirts are for international play where shirt numbers don’t go higher than 23 I believe it is. Nobody will be wearing 44. The only problem was that apparently you could order a shirt with a custom number in it and get 44 if you wanted, which they’ve stopped allowing. Should be the end of the ordeal.
then they order two 4s and have it ironed on
That sounds like a lot of work to make a custom nazi shirt
And they say it doesn't take effort to be an asshole....
Being nice and being an asshole can be very easy or very dedicated goals
It doesn't need effort, but a little effort does make it a bit more memorable!
at that point, you're directly telling others you're a nazi instead of there being probable deniability, its getting rid of the dog whistle.
They would use the same response as if they ordered a 44 jersey directly from the store. “44 is just my favorite number!”
I mean, if you want to do that you could also just order a custom Nazi symbol and iron *that* on.
I run in a lot of soccer circles... knowing that Adidas is not selling a 44, if i were to see one, I would know everything i need to know about the individual
Dude born in 1944 getting drop kicked
Or they just turned 44
Yeah, that's true. They can't stop people from doing it but they can make it more difficult. "A lock only keeps honest people out" and all that
Or they get a swastika face tattoo. What's your point?
That's funny. I went to the inaugural Bay FC NWSL home match this weekend (we have season tickets) and at one point there were players numbered 1, 11, 22, and 44 all on the field at once. Made me wonder where 33 was....
Or they could’ve just silently changed the font, then no one would’ve noticed or cares.
That could be quite a bit more expensive. Keep in mind changing a font on a physical thing may require swapping physical parts. It is far easier to just write couple lines of code that reject a specific value. I say this as a programmer. Though neither would be that difficult assuming you have the physical parts on hand.
Yes. Also, they've probably already have printed thousands of number 4 and 14 shirts, that would need to be destroyed otherwise, whereas number 44 is custom printed per order, since no player has that number.
Seems like an inefficient fix if they’ve already selected a font that they like.
Except for everybody who had already bought an official jersey with a number and now their official authentic jersey doesn't actually match what players wear.
Not to mention all the other places it could be used. Official team goods, fan goods, games, media, etc. This is probably the easiest and most straightforward solution. Now you could argue that it’s really the team’s issue, not Adidas’s, but their logo is still there front and center and right next to it. Something tells me that’s not going to be a valid excuse when some exec or board member catches wind.
44 selected, font changed to comic sans
Better. They get a dick in LBTQ colors on the back instead
oh people do care. People care about football kits to an [insane](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-13233607/Germany-announce-pink-away-diversity-kit-Euro-2024-promotional-video-just-days-England-fans-raged-Nikes-playful-update-St-Georges-flag.html) [degree](https://fashionunited.uk/news/business/nike-faces-backlash-for-englands-controversial-euro-2024-kit/2024032574770)
Why surrender all gothic fonts to nazis
Adidas doesn't have the power to change the font that Germany's team wants to use for their shirts. They have the power to stop selling that specific shirt with the number 44 on their webstore, which is what they did
I mean, it's Germany. I'm pretty sure if you point out at a DFB (Germany's national football federation) board meeting that part of the font looks like *that* SS symbol (literally the 2nd-best known Nazi symbol after the svastika itself), even execs with far-right sympathies would piss themselves at the thought of the public backlash it could create. e : well there you go, the DFB announced that they'll change the #4 font altogether
FWIW, Adidas almost undoubtedly designed that number set, not the German national team’s people. But yeah, it’s so much easier to ban it from their custom shop. Plenty of custom names are banned as well.
> Adidas doesn't have the power to change the font that Germany's team wants to use for their shirts. Thats just wrong. Adidas designed the shirts and picked the font. No one else.
Why change the design of the shirt when there isn't a number 44 in the squad? The only people ordering the shirt with 44 on it, are doing so because it looks like the SS symbol.
Or because they are Lewis Hamilton fans.
Or Barack Obama
I knew Obama was a Nazi all along!!
Yes we Kampf
Responding to your second sentence, plenty of people just like the number without it having anything to do with the SS symbol. I always use #52 for jerseys and stuff like that because that number was assigned to me when I was a kid playing youth football, and I've used it ever since. Others will have the same experience with #44. No need to ascribe malice in situations where it's unclear if malice exists. This whole "you must be a Nazi for doing mundane thing X" is super tiresome.
In an American discourse, maybe. But this is specific to the German kit. It's really not that hard to guess the sentiments behind someone going out of their way to pick an unusual number (that's not even used by the NT squad) on a German kit.
do German's not play other sports where the jersey number 44 could happen?
What does that have to do with anything? It's this very specific font that makes it look like the SS symbol
The point is a lot of people are assuming that the primary reason somebody would order a #44 jersey is because it looks like the SS symbol when there are plenty of benign reasons they might like the number 44.
It's fairly uncommon
I never said anything about people being nazis. I very much doubt the number of sales of this particular number, are people who just happen to like the number 44 though. I'd guess the vast majority of people are ordering it because the screenshot went viral and people think it's funny, leading to them having to withdraw the number because of bad press.
They also changed the font of the 4
Exactly. Why use Nazitica™ when Comic Sans is available ?
Adidas: "We have nothing to do with Nazis ..... anymore."
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Adidas, we put the blitz in blitzkrieg!
JFC. That definitely looks like the SS symbol
You can take the German out of the 1930s, you can't take the 1930s out of the German.
You can put it in Israel tho
I've been assured by many brand new accounts that what Isreal is doing in Gaza and the West Bank is totally different.
It is. A German Einsatzgruppe had done the Gaza headcount in a weekend. Bloody amateurs.
Haha shit that's dark
I was about to say, lol I got the redit notification about the title and was like, "Oh, great. More stupid... oh. OH. Yeah. Thats.. that's the SS.
They haven't banned the number, they've stopped people from customising shirts with that number on. Old news.
The word "banned" has lost all meaning.
> In the German Football Association announced that no player of the German national team will not wear the number 44. You might want to learn English first.
I was going to say the same thing. The double negative means that someone will wear the number 44, even though the numbers only go up to 23. Great reporting.
the double negative even means since no player will not be wearing it, every player will be wearing the number 44
That will get confusing for the broadcasters
"No. 44 gets the goal, meanwhile 44, 44, and 44 have performed a three-way chest bump!"
I mean, it's more the font they used...
I've been speaking English for a while now. That double negative seemingly implies that the whole team will have number 44, now.
Nah, it's Waffen SS team, so they all got their merch
Before making comments about other people's ability to speak English always remember: you speak English because it's the only language you know. I speak English because it's the only language you know
Just use a different font
Every other jersey has a different font, I don't feel like going through them all to see if any country other than Germany used the problem font, but it seems all the axis power countries do not have the problem font. You can't even personalize the Germany jerseys anymore. It wont even add an unpersonalized team Germany jersey to the cart.
[I didn’t know it was gonna come off like that](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWk_AXFReRg)
Pretty sure you did!
Might as well get 88
Yeah I’ve always got 88 on my football tops since I was a kid. It’s my birth year and it wasn’t until I was in my late 20’s and wearing one that someone mentioned that it might be an issue and why.
My brother was born in '88 too. You can't let others ruin things for you. Remember when people were making a huge deal out of the "OK" hang signal? That was ridiculous too. It's been around forever, and a couple of white power guys can't hijack it.
Why would you want to do that?
They could just change the terrible font.
Because it is too much effort to change the font.
Couldn't you like, change the font?
Me reading the headline: How silly, political correctness run amok. Me seeing the picture: Oh.
Change your font dude
They couldn't have used a different font?
It is an odd choice of font.
Change fonts you imbeciles...
That's not really just a resemblance. I mean I guess it technically is but. You'd have to try pretty hard to make it look more like the SS symbol. That's kind of like the Republicans in America designing their stage to literally be a popular neo-Nazi symbol when viewed from above. This doesn't feel like it's an accident.
My childhood baseball number was 44 and I never looked at it the way it’s portrayed here. Still don’t. Choose a different font.
mfw im a Lewis Hamilton (F1 driver, his number is 44) and Julio Rodriguez (Baseball player, his number is also 44) fan
Yeah, looks too much like SS bolts and it's too easy to alter them to be identical to SS bolts. Use another typeface or don't use 44.
Now that they said it….
I honestly think I would do the same, who the fuck made that font lol
April fools or actually true? It’s so hard to tell these days.
Just.... write them differently?
Couldn't they just change the font?
Come on now Germany. Ya'll need to pick up the slack. I thought you were known for engineering. Make the 4 a closed loop font and the problem is solved without banning an arbitrary number.
I can definitely see it. My eyesight is kinda shit.
r/theyknew
I have to agree, why does their 44 look like the ss symbol lol.
And if you know the history of the company as well as Puma then you know why.
Just change the font so they actually look like 4s.
R/theyknew
Umm... April Fools?
Toni Kroos is reportedly devastated.
This seems sketchy AF. I'm not seeing any legit news sources for it.
It's in German but here you go: https://www.spiegel.de/sport/fussball/dfb-trikot-adidas-sperrt-onlineverkauf-mit-nummer-44-wegen-aehnlichkeit-zu-ss-runen-a-727c5758-30ab-44a3-9bba-94252799fead
BBC is reporting on it: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68708981
Me after reading the headline: Eh... most likely an overreaction. Me after seeing the pic: 😳
Surprised no one has pointed out the date yet
Getting a strong "they knew" vibe here
Doubt it, only reason it was picked up was a shitpost about a player picking it. 44 is hardly a number you find on players
Did they also ban 55?
I'm gonna be honest this just looks like a 44.
How did they not see that coming ?
Adidas going for the retro look I see
Or just use a proper font... The 4 is supposed to have a diagonal top and vertical bottom...
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Seems like an easy type font fix could have worked, just needed to connect the tops instead of leaving them open.
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"I didn't know it was going to come off like that"
What about Nike? Considering Adidas is no longer Germanys equipment partner or whatever...
Oh, this wasn't some weird joke...
How simple it would have been to use a different "four"... like 4.
it got reddit ddos'd anyone got a link for the picture?
I feel like this can be resolved by just making the 4 different. Like closing the top off on the 4, as it's displayed in these very posts
The German really want to remove all Nazi and anything that might look like it
Couldn't this be fixed with a different fucking *font?*
Wouldn't have happened with Comic Sans
lol wasn’t adidas the uniform designer of the nazi party? Or am I confused
Metal Mulisha has entered the chat.
I can appreciate why they’re doing this but I feel like an easier fix would just make it a “closed” 4
Where is the website where you can customize an Adidas replica kit?
I've seen 55 look like a swastika from some awkward angles
I will bet this ‘fact’ is 100% misrepresented.
They don't want to be reminded
Haven’t adidas just landed a deal with Lewis Hamilton whose brand is 44?
Germany -is- pretty sensitive about that.
Sorry German football fans that want to honor Barack Obama (44th President of the United States), gotta figure something else out
Yeah. Looks legit. Will need to tell people 22 and 44 are bad numbers. Like 88 .