Much to the distraction of those who simply just want to watch the game, one of the greatest thing about sport is how fans can fall into the rabbit hole of super niche details. One of those would be a personal fascination - soccer kits, their color combinations and specifically, how it is decided what a team will wear against another - aka: "The Kit Nerd".

MLS has proven to be very confusing because of the inconsistencies in how kits are assigned from week to week. One would think each team just looks in their soccer dresser and pulls out whatever they want. Not the case, there are rules with the goal to create games with kit conflict or contrast.

"Kit contrast" (not an official term) is the concept games have clear differences between field players, goalkeepers and referees. It is a little considered but important aspect of game management. The point is simple: Make it as easy as possible for the referee to be able to tell the difference between everyone on the field. In kit contrast the biggest issues are the shirts and socks. Yes, socks. Refs spend a lot of time focused on legs for foul recognition, so ease of identity is a big deal. Shorts tend to be the flexible garment.

An example of an official MLS kit assignment sent to teams in the days before the game (MLS Soccer)

There was a perception MLS was focused on the "light vs dark" concept largely because of the emgerence of white secondary kits across most of the league's teams in the last two seasons. This would be consistent with FIFA's move to this same concept for international tournaments.

But this season we've consistently seen MLS allow for primary colors to face off with red vs blue or green. For the record, that is a good thing for those of us who care about the tradition of clubs wearing their primary kits as often as possible. The league claims the goal is to get all clubs to have both a light and a dark kit, but they're not there yet. So in the meantime, these primary color match-ups are allowed, but that creates another issue - for the colorblind.

Earlier in the season Dallas hosted Portland. Both wore their primary kits Dallas in red/white/red and Portland in green/white/green. Turns out 6% of the male population suffers from red/green colorblindness. Any of those so afflicted watching saw this below (use the slider to reveal the effect). While we're here, Dallas at San Jose will cause a similar issue for those with red/blue colorblindness.

The league cops to the issue and Portland is a particular problem because all of their kits are dark in nature. MLS recognizes the matter of colorblindness and, "are working with our uniform provider to create uniforms that provide enough contrast to minimize those types of issues."

Complicating matters is each MLS team's matrix of available kits. Some teams even have a third kit, but many can chose from two shirts and a pair of options for shorts. Some teams limit themselves to a primary and a secondary (Orlando), while others will mix and match garments and end up with four or five combinations (FC Dallas).

2016 has been different for FC Dallas fans because of the club's decision to wear white shorts with their red shirts/socks as their primary kit. In addition, the club announced it would be flexible in what color shorts with red being an alternate (and then the one time appearance of blue!). Personally I was delighted by this decision because in the world of Kit Nerds, I fall in to the group where mono-colored kits (think Liverpool's all red) aren't my jam. What I love even more is the concept of proper kit contrast in games. So the idea FC Dallas could choose between white and red shorts to insure the best contrast was a victory for those of us who care about such nonsense.

(click on right arrow to view FCD's 2016 game by game kits)

1 / 19FC Dallas debuts white shorts despite Philly also wearing them(Stewart F. House / Special Contributor) 2 / 19At Houston vs FCD in secondary kit(Scott Halleran / Getty Images) 3 / 19FCD vs Montreal in perfect contrast(The Dallas Morning News) 4 / 19At DC United vs FCD in secondary kit, note use of white shorts, not blue for better contrast(Brad Mills) 5 / 19FCD at home vs Columbus(Matthew Visinsky / Icon Sportswire) 6 / 19FCD on the road in San Jose, wearing all red despite idea white shorts would be better contrast and its primary kit(Kelley L Cox) 7 / 19FCD at home in white short even though so is Portland. So confusing.(The Dallas Morning News) 8 / 19Dallas in KC in all red, but wouldn't white shorts make more sense?(Orlin Wagner / AP) 9 / 19Dallas at Vancouver in all red - here making sense because home team is all white(Anne-Marie Sorvin / Anne-Marie Sorvin-USA TODAY Spor) 10 / 19The now famous FCD game at Red Bull where Dallas blew everyone's mind by wearing blue shorts with the red shirt for the first, and because of the 4-0 defeat, probably the last time 11 / 19FCD on the road, against Toronto's all red, in proper all white(2016 Getty Images) 12 / 19Again, in Dallas vs Portland, this time in Frisco, but both in white shorts(The Dallas Morning News) 13 / 19Home agaist Seattle, proper contrasting matchup(The Dallas Morning News) 14 / 19Dallas in New England wearing all red. Interesting they didn't go with white/blue/white in this case(Winslow Townson) 15 / 19Dallas at home vs Houston(Ashley Landis / Staff Photographer) 16 / 19Dallas at home as KC sports their all blue secondary kit(Stewart F. House / Special Contributor) 17 / 19FCD at home vs RSL - Full kit contrast(Stewart F. House Photography) 18 / 19FC Dallas midfielder Victor Ulloa (8) battles for position with Rapids midfielder Juan Ramirez (15) during the second half as FC Dallas hosted the Colorado Rapids on Friday evening, April 10, 2015. (Special Contributor/Stewart F. House)(Stewart F. House - Special Contributor) 19 / 19And most recently, Dallas at home vs Orlando who wore its all white kit(Stewart F. House Photography)

Ok, now that the table has been set, let's get to the point. The lack of consistency in what teams wear from game to game has been frustrating. Using FC Dallas as an example, the above picture gallery represents each of Dallas' 2016 games (click on pics to see each). A scan reveals little rhyme or reason. Each time you see a game where there is proper contrast the next game it's gone. There's the game Dallas unexpectedly wore blue shorts at Red Bull. Then you've got the example of both Dallas and Portland wearing white shorts in both of their games. *bangs head*

After an exchange of a few emails with the league and with FC Dallas, it's clear kit assignments are a mix of league rules and club requests.

Provided by MLS there are a set of guidelines the league follows in making the assignments:

1. The home team always has the priority to choose the kit they wish to wear.

2. The visiting team will then adjust to provide maximum contrast.

3. The home team goalkeeper will choose his kit, that does not conflict with either of the two uniforms of the field players.

4. The visiting team goalkeeper will wear a color that is different from the other three colors already in use.

5. The officials will wear a color that distinguishes them from all other participants.

Now, we've been running under the claim MLS made all elements of kit assignments but this reveals that isn't wholly the case. There is a new piece of info which easily explains most of the inconsistencies. That new thing is "team preference". Yep, turns out the teams themselves are playing a part in what they don from game to game. So in that notable example of Dallas at Red Bull -Dallas asked to wear blue shorts and the league obliged. Now, in the case of Monday's FCD and Orlando, if Dallas had wanted to wear white shorts, shouldn't Orlando have to wear purple shorts? No, it seems two caveats come into play here. Some teams, unlike FCD, don't have alternate options for shorts. Odd considering they actually do have other color shorts but have established they won't combine them. In 2015 FCD had white shorts, and they wore them with their white secondary kit - but as a rule would not wear them with the red jerseys. So, in this case Dallas chose to wear red shorts at home to provide contrast. On the other hand that doesn't explain Portland & Dallas both wearing white shorts. Confused? Don't worry, everyone is.

Just to demonstrate the amount of little hidden details, after being assigned to wear all red in San Jose, Dallas asked the league to allow them to do the same in their following game in Seattle so they wouldn't have to travel with 30 extra, different pairs of shorts.

If somehow this peaks your interest, know you are not alone. Over at the BigSoccer forum board there is an entire thread dedicated to tracking kit match-ups for each and every MLS game. There is a running table adding up the percentages of color combos, details and a pic documenting each game and this nifty graph defining what each team wore for each game. aka: Kit Nerd Heaven.

This does not even touch on the issue of brand identity and how consistency is a big part of establishing brands.

So, what have we learned? A lot of time is spent worrying over such a seemingly silly matter. But if you got all the way to this point, you are a Kit Nerd too.