A Little Off Topic Fun: Ugly Unis

None of the photos on today's post were made by me. I "borrowed" them to illustrate one of my pet peeves: ugly football uniforms. In recent years, many college football teams have tried to outdo each other with the most outlandish designs and color combinations. In my opinion, they are usually complete disasters when compared to the more traditional uniforms. Do you want to look good at the next big game? Then just follow my few simple rules:

1. Uniforms should incorporate only your school colors. This rule sounds basic enough, but we see it violated every week. If your school colors are scarlet and white, then don't wear unis with pink, black, burnt orange, etc. Stick to scarlet and white.

Right

Wrong

If black is one of your school colors, wear it. If black is not a school color, forget about it.

Colorado's colors are black and gold. Black looks good!

TCU's school colors are purple and white. Black looks terrible!

Some teams have gone to adding pink to their color scheme to support breast cancer awareness. Bad move. If you want to help a cause or charity, write a check. Wearing ugly gear is not helping anybody.

Write

So wrong

2. Helmet logos should be simple, and easy to discern from the stands. If the first response to your helmet logo is, "What in the world is that?", it's a fail. Football helmets are a team's primary identifier on the field. They should be distinctive, but easily recognizable by friend and foe alike. Again, simple and traditional usually works best. 

Last year, TCU tried to get cute with putting a red slash on their helmet to represent the blood that comes from a horned toad's eyes. The problem was, nobody got it. If you have to explain your helmet logo, it's a fail.

Right

Unbelievably Wrong

School colors are important with helmets too. Yesterday, Texas A&M lost their minds and thought chrome was one of their school colors. In the bright October sun, it may as well have been white on white. Maybe that's why they got housed by Mississippi State.

Uh, that would be  a "no".

3. Pants and jerseys should be contrasting colors. Some may argue with this one, but, hey this is my blog. I can't think of one example of a team who wears matching pants and jerseys that doesn't make me want to hurl. Even my NFL Saints look like a high school team with a small uniform budget when they wear all black. Contrast always looks better.

Looking Good

Pass the sickbag, please.

4. Don't try a new uniform every week. There's a reason why some uniforms have stood the test of time. Did you ever notice that the traditional football powers don't have a new uniform every week? Alabama (9 national championships in football) may have rather dull uniforms, but they are distinctive and recognizable because they've worn them for years. As soon as you see that crimson helmet adorned only with a number, you know it's Alabama. Likewise, schools like Ohio State, LSU, Oklahoma, USC, and other winners all stick with traditional uniforms with very few exceptions. On the other hand, Oregon (0 national championships in football) has a new (and ugly) uniform every week. Do we see a pattern forming here?

Winners

Identity Crisis

Looking good on Saturday is not hard. In fact, you have to work hard to look bad. Nike, UnderArmour, Adidas, etc. spend countless dollars and design hours making teams look awful. Just stick to a few simple rules as I've outlined here, and your team can look like a champion!