Is it time to bump black from our uniform colors in all sports, and stick to what Oregon school colors actually are? I was having some NBA gaming fun on expert picks when it got me to pondering about the directions of Oregon uniforms, and not just for football. Now I grant you that the black football uniform above is cool, and we have many renditions over time of black uniforms–but is it time to set a new trend in uniforms?
Like so many of you–I thought it was incredibly cool when Oregon began the national trend of incorporating a black version in the football home unis, and boy did we get flack and denigration in the media and from other school’s fans. The mocking and put-downs occurred for a year or two…until the other schools quickly followed our example because the players wanted it. Now they were cool too…
I know that black uniforms are now routine for an Oregon fan, and it is fun to know we started a trend, but that trend began back in 2008–nearly 14 years ago! Isn’t it time to set the new bar and return to our roots and be different than the crowd again? When I see a black uniform–I do have the occasional uncomfortable reminder in the back of my mind that this is not an official Oregon color.
Not enough beautiful Oregon colors for Baseball and Softball uniforms in my opinion!
Football has done a great job of using the all-yellow uniforms to mix it up and they are sharp, but more of the other sports need to make that leap that football has. I hate seeing our basketball teams wear black for a home uniform, instead of alternating the green with a yellow uniform combo. We can have tons of cool uniforms by simply having retro uniforms mixed in for interest and fun, and varying the colors of green or yellow. Goodness know that going from Forest Green to Apple Green is perfectly Oregon, yet offers amusing variety.
Baseball and Softball are supposed to wear grey uniforms on the road, yet they often use it as coordinating with a black uniform. It often looks too much like an Oregon State or Iowa team on the field, and not Our Beloved Ducks. Again, they have not done anything with a yellow uniform yet, as they could be a new, very cool look for both teams as the football squad has done. It just seems that there has not been an attempt to be creative with our official colors and set new trends in doing so.
Yellow can be beautifully combined with Silver/Grey as we see Darron Thomas passing to De’Anthony Thomas for a touchdown in 2011.
Softball and Baseball could have yellow batting helmets and caps with yellow jerseys and grey pants–that could drift to the silver side for a great look as we saw over a decade ago in photograph above. I am not advocating for bringing grey into the football or basketball uniforms, but where you must have grey–such as Softball and Baseball, using yellow much more prominently with it can really look sleek and cool. At this point the Old Fart in me surfaces to say that thin stripes or trim of yellow and white on the legs would create an attractive pant for both of the spring sports.
I could rant about the ugly grey uniforms worn by football and basketball in the past, and I have in articles on FishDuck and in the Our Beloved Ducks forum, thus do not categorize me as a “new color” advocate. No, let’s stick to green, yellow and white and where they have to wear grey–do it with yellow instead of black. There is so much that could be done with yellow that we have not thought of or attempted, and it could be a proud new look for Oregon athletes.
As it is, there are very few teams that have green in their official uniform colors, and I’m sure the ubiquitous red and blue uniform teams were grateful to Oregon for a chance at mixing it up with black. In our conference, we are the only school with green, thus we should focusing on what makes us unique, and enhancing that niche’ we reside in. Throw in a press release about where Oregon is going with this? Watch them copycat us in uniform strategy, but other teams could never duplicate our colors and originality. (Thank you Nike!)
Let’s focus on and celebrate the incredible colors of our school, and leave black uniforms to the sheep who follow our lead.
Good gosh…look at the uniform above that Noah Sewell and Jeffrey Bassa are wearing! Is there a more perfect sight? That is Oregon my friends, and let’s stick to our official colors and branch out within all the opportunities within those great colors. While for some–this is not an important topic, but for a few of us, (since this is the off-season) it is the ideal time to discuss this change because…
“Oh, how we love to ponder about Our Beloved Ducks!”
Charles Fischer (Mr. FishDuck)
Eugene, Oregon
Top Photo by Craig Strobeck
Related Articles:
Charles Fischer has been an intense fan of the Ducks, a season ticket holder at Autzen Stadium for 35 years and has written reports on football boards for over 23 years. Known as “FishDuck” on those boards, he is acknowledged for providing intense detail in his scrimmage reports and in his Xs and Os play analyses. He and his wife Lois, have a daughter Christine, reside in Eugene Oregon, where he was a Financial Advisor for 36 years and now focuses full-time on Charitable Planned Giving Workshops for churches and non-profit organizations.
He does not profess to be a coach or analyst, but simply a “hack” that enjoys sharing what he has learned and invites others to correct or add to this body of Oregon Football! See More…
