tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Uniform Tradition? – Forgetaboutit!!

Call me old school. Call me a dinosaur. Call me whatever you want but what happened to uniform tradition??? Does it always have to be about the almighty dollar?? Last night I flipped over to the PAC-12 championship game and I had to do a double take. I determined that UCLA was on the field but who were they playing all dressed in black? It was the Stanford Cardinal. What a joke and a disgrace. I was expecting to see the traditional cardinal red jerseys with the white helmet and red S on the side. Instead I saw a team all dressed in black with black helmets. Looked like something out of a video game.

Stanford is not the only school that has thrown tradition out the window. A week ago when UCLA and Stanford met, I was appalled at the UCLA uniforms. Gone were the powder blue jerseys with gold pants. Instead we had blue jerseys and blue pants. The UCLA football uniforms were different and classy. This new version made them look like a bunch of blueberries.

I have always found the matching jerseys and pants to be disgusting. Moreover, if you have something that sets you apart, that is a symbol of your school or team why mess with it. That's why I give the Yankees, Red Sox, Notre Dame, USC and the Dodgers kudos for not succumbing to the marketing geniuses who want to screw with tradition. The real jerks are the people who go out and buy these god awful new jerseys. If people wouldn't buy them, they wouldn't try to sell them. That's why you will never see me buy an orange Cleveland Browns jersey. Not only are they ugly but they are a disgrace to the tradition of the team. There has been some talk of the Browns possibly changing their uniforms. If that happens I'm not going to be a happy camper.