DENVER — The shirts on display at the DNVR Bar on Colfax tell a story.
"My whole goal on Earth is to just make things that people like," Eric Wedum said.
He's the creative director for ALLCITY Network, DNVR's parent company.
Wedum crafts the look and feel for each of the network's local sports media shows.
He also designs the shirts they sell. But that's something he got into long before DNVR and ALLCITY became a thing.
"I made t-Shirts for Kenneth Faried and Wilson Chandler and I was really interested in the Nuggets," he said. "Once Nikola Jokic arrived on our doorstep, something arrived for the Denver Nuggets and he captured my heart years ago.”
He invited me to the bar and walked me through a recent history of the Denver Nuggets through his designs, starting with his first Jokic shirt.
"No Joke," Wedum said, laughing. "You can see it still has the old coloring, the old baby blue for the Denver Nuggets. The caption I put was 'The Joker must be taken seriously, catch the wave for the rebirth of Denver basketball with this supremely soft shirt.'"
From 'No Joke' to the Joker and then back-to-back MVPs, Wedum watched the Serbian superstar's rise and documented it through his wearable art.
Jokic didn't win a third straight Most Valuable Player trophy, but Nuggets fans know he deserved it. So, Wedum got to work on a shirt that would let the rest of the league know how Denver felt.
"This year we knew it was going to come down to more politics than actual play," he said "We just wanted to let the world know that we know the truth, Nikola is and should be the three-time MVP in this league."
Dunks, MVPs, and an iconic coach Malone quote about opposing fans filling up Ball Arena have all received the Eric Wedum treatment.
"As Michael Malone said, 'we’re happy for you to come, but you can take that L on the way out,'" Wedum said, holding up his 'Take that L on the Way Out' shirt. "This is all about Denver now"
And after a DNVR trip to Serbia, he put out a design honoring the growing connection between Nikola Jokic’s home country and the city splashed across his jersey.
"This was one of the most remarkable trips of my life. I’ll never forget the hospitality and the way they’ve just accepted with open arms the things we’re doing," Wedum said.
This year's Nuggets team is writing its final chapter. When the last page is turned, Wedum will be there to commemorate it with a new creation.
It’s very special, it means a lot to me," he said. "It’s so much bigger than basketball and there’s something very satisfying about being in a movement."
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