SoonerPr8r
4/13/2011, 01:48 PM
Translation: We want to blind the other team becuz we aint got football skillz"
New OSU chant: Owwww my eyes (http://www.registerguard.com/web/sports/26119400-46/oregon-state-uniforms-arizona-ducks.html.csp?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed)
The latest fashion is always on display in the head coach’s office, ready to be mixed and matched.
Six different jerseys. Five sets of pants. Five helmets.
Countless combinations, unlimited potential, and where do I sign, Chip?
The Ducks’ flashy uniforms are old news, sure. Being radically different has been Oregon’s identity for so long, there probably isn’t a new look — neon green socks, for example — that could shock anyone.
But what’s truly surprising is this: It turns out the Ducks are fashion forward. For evidence, check out the extreme makeovers that look suspiciously like, well, Oregon.
On Monday, Washington State unveiled new uniforms with multiple helmets and combinations. Tuesday, Arizona State did the same.
Last month, I visited Stillwater, Okla., where they’re abuzz about what the Cowboys are about to do. No one’s saying, not officially. But one highly placed official says:
“We’re going to be the Oregon of the Midwest.”
We’ll have to wait awhile to know for sure, but I suspect Oklahoma State’s football team won’t be wearing the same outfit twice (in a row) again. It’ll take a math whiz to figure out the possible combinations of orange, black, white and smoke gray (which will be added to the Cowboys’ offerings).
“This will give us something, another edge,” the Oklahoma State official says — and that’s what this is all about.
Branding and marketing, sure. Arizona State officials project their merchandising revenue to double. Washington State athletic director Bill Moos — the former Oregon AD — says he wanted to create a consistent, recognizable identity for the Cougars.
It’s not lost here that all of these schools, and several others making similar changes, wear Nike. The same guys who’ve designed all the Ducks’ uniforms designed these, and they’re pretty good at building brands and making money.
But it’s about edge.
It’s about Oregon.
Washington State’s football team will have at least 27 uniform combinations available after adding an all-gray look and two different gray helmets. Apparently, gray is the new black.
Arizona State football now has an all-black uniform accented with copper. Two helmets (gold and black). Sparky the Sun Devil has been shoved to the rear (literally, on the helmets) to make room for a new logo of a “pitchfork with attitude,” as described by athletic director Lisa Love.
“Fear the fork,” she adds.
Well, we’ll see. Winning is important here. Without it, these are just wacky uniforms.
But if you think uniforms don’t matter, consider what Arizona State defensive back Omar Bolden told the Arizona Republic on Tuesday:
“I’ve always said if Oregon would’ve offered me (a scholarship), it would’ve been tough for me to turn them down, just for the uniforms.”
Thirteen years ago when the Ducks first went radical — changing the color tones, getting rid of the Duck on the helmet, adding the “O” — the overwhelming reaction was negative.
“It was terrible,” says Moos, recalling the initial feedback. And that was just the Oregon fans.
Around college football, people heckled. Those aren’t uniforms, one guy hissed, they’re costumes.
But Oregon — and soon, most of its fans — embraced unconvention. Those initial uniforms look conservative compared with later incarnations, but eventually, being unidentifiable from week to week became the Ducks’ identity.
They kept changing designs, kept adding colors and combinations, kept gaining attention.
Kept winning, too. That’s the most important facet here. But the Ducks’ makeover played a huge role in building a 21st-century football power.
And now, others want to copy the Oregon Way.
Not everybody. USC isn’t about to change its classic look. Texas won’t. Or Alabama, Michigan or Oklahoma.
Those schools won’t change, and they shouldn’t.
“They’ve got that long, 100-year tradition and legacy of championships and winning,” Moos says. “But you don’t have that with the Timberwolves or the Clippers.”
Or the Ducks. Or the Sun Devils, Cowboys or Cougars. Or so many others we shouldn’t be surprised to see joining the trend, bucking convention.
In perfect marketing-speak, Moos says Washington State’s goal, in part, was “to create the future.”
It seems Oregon already has.
E-mail [email protected]. Follow at twitter.com/GeorgeSchroeder
New OSU chant: Owwww my eyes (http://www.registerguard.com/web/sports/26119400-46/oregon-state-uniforms-arizona-ducks.html.csp?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed)
The latest fashion is always on display in the head coach’s office, ready to be mixed and matched.
Six different jerseys. Five sets of pants. Five helmets.
Countless combinations, unlimited potential, and where do I sign, Chip?
The Ducks’ flashy uniforms are old news, sure. Being radically different has been Oregon’s identity for so long, there probably isn’t a new look — neon green socks, for example — that could shock anyone.
But what’s truly surprising is this: It turns out the Ducks are fashion forward. For evidence, check out the extreme makeovers that look suspiciously like, well, Oregon.
On Monday, Washington State unveiled new uniforms with multiple helmets and combinations. Tuesday, Arizona State did the same.
Last month, I visited Stillwater, Okla., where they’re abuzz about what the Cowboys are about to do. No one’s saying, not officially. But one highly placed official says:
“We’re going to be the Oregon of the Midwest.”
We’ll have to wait awhile to know for sure, but I suspect Oklahoma State’s football team won’t be wearing the same outfit twice (in a row) again. It’ll take a math whiz to figure out the possible combinations of orange, black, white and smoke gray (which will be added to the Cowboys’ offerings).
“This will give us something, another edge,” the Oklahoma State official says — and that’s what this is all about.
Branding and marketing, sure. Arizona State officials project their merchandising revenue to double. Washington State athletic director Bill Moos — the former Oregon AD — says he wanted to create a consistent, recognizable identity for the Cougars.
It’s not lost here that all of these schools, and several others making similar changes, wear Nike. The same guys who’ve designed all the Ducks’ uniforms designed these, and they’re pretty good at building brands and making money.
But it’s about edge.
It’s about Oregon.
Washington State’s football team will have at least 27 uniform combinations available after adding an all-gray look and two different gray helmets. Apparently, gray is the new black.
Arizona State football now has an all-black uniform accented with copper. Two helmets (gold and black). Sparky the Sun Devil has been shoved to the rear (literally, on the helmets) to make room for a new logo of a “pitchfork with attitude,” as described by athletic director Lisa Love.
“Fear the fork,” she adds.
Well, we’ll see. Winning is important here. Without it, these are just wacky uniforms.
But if you think uniforms don’t matter, consider what Arizona State defensive back Omar Bolden told the Arizona Republic on Tuesday:
“I’ve always said if Oregon would’ve offered me (a scholarship), it would’ve been tough for me to turn them down, just for the uniforms.”
Thirteen years ago when the Ducks first went radical — changing the color tones, getting rid of the Duck on the helmet, adding the “O” — the overwhelming reaction was negative.
“It was terrible,” says Moos, recalling the initial feedback. And that was just the Oregon fans.
Around college football, people heckled. Those aren’t uniforms, one guy hissed, they’re costumes.
But Oregon — and soon, most of its fans — embraced unconvention. Those initial uniforms look conservative compared with later incarnations, but eventually, being unidentifiable from week to week became the Ducks’ identity.
They kept changing designs, kept adding colors and combinations, kept gaining attention.
Kept winning, too. That’s the most important facet here. But the Ducks’ makeover played a huge role in building a 21st-century football power.
And now, others want to copy the Oregon Way.
Not everybody. USC isn’t about to change its classic look. Texas won’t. Or Alabama, Michigan or Oklahoma.
Those schools won’t change, and they shouldn’t.
“They’ve got that long, 100-year tradition and legacy of championships and winning,” Moos says. “But you don’t have that with the Timberwolves or the Clippers.”
Or the Ducks. Or the Sun Devils, Cowboys or Cougars. Or so many others we shouldn’t be surprised to see joining the trend, bucking convention.
In perfect marketing-speak, Moos says Washington State’s goal, in part, was “to create the future.”
It seems Oregon already has.
E-mail [email protected]. Follow at twitter.com/GeorgeSchroeder