They may not be the Jail Blazers anymore, but two players from Portland are still committing crimes against fashion! (Ba-zing!) In this notebook column in THE OREGONIAN lies a heartwarming tale of laughter, friendship, and Rudy Fernandez pouting like a little girl because his teammates made fun of him.

Fernandez and Sergio Rodriguez had an off day in Los Angeles this past Tuesday, and did what any self-respecting professional athlete would do with free time in a den of iniquity: they went shopping for sweaters! Not just any sweaters; matching sweaters. (Teammates being a little too close, after the jump.)

Fernandez wore his out that night, so Rodriguez felt safe in wearing his to the game the next day. But Rudy must’ve really loved his new sweater, because he wore it for the second day in a row. It’s a well-established Man Law that matching outfits are unacceptable, so you can guess what happened.

Naturally, the team was relentless in their heckling. When I got in the locker room, Joel Przybilla was quick to call me over to the Spainards’ lockers, which happened to be next to each other.

“Look at this,” Przybilla said, pulling both sweaters out of the lockers. “Exactly the same. These two …”

Rodriguez placed the blame on Fernandez for wearing the same thing two days in a row.

“Rudy, he’s dirty,” Rodriguez explained. “He wore it yesterday, and now again today. That’s not my fault.”

Fernandez was less than pleased with the ribbing, getting pissed at a reporter when he tried to joke about it. We know Spanish ballers aren’t so great with racism, so maybe homophobia’s an issue too.