Novelty Uniforms -- A Compromise Proposal

Submitted by KSmooth on

It seems to me that the rationale behind these novelty uniforms is that they appeal to players and make the program more attractive to recruits.  I have my doubts about that but I'm not in a position to know.

Seems to me though that there's one way to know for sure: put it to a vote of the players.  So we do a secret ballot.  If they like the unis, the rest of us can put up with them.  If the players don't like them, we send them back.

Let the players decide -- whaddya say Brandon?

ADSellers

August 9th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^

How about fans under 40 get one game a year where the team actually wears something different and interesting and you olds get the other 11-14 games. Is that fair? 

ADSellers

August 9th, 2014 at 1:43 PM ^

Well I'm not concerned about how those in the minority feel about the situation. You don't really factor into the equation. College football has spoken and UNIFORMZ are here to stay. Get used to it (or don't and just continue to bitch about only getting 11 games with your preferred uniform. We don't really care.) 

LBSS

August 10th, 2014 at 8:33 PM ^

Yep. I'd be happy with...

Home: maize pants. Small block M on upper left thigh. Blue shirt. Tiny maize "MICHIGAN" over large maize numbers on the front. On the back, maize names straight across over large maize numbers. Maize numbers on both sleeves. Tiny maize manufacturer's logo upper left chest. 

Away: Maize pants, white shirt. Same logos and numbers as home, but blue on white. 

The end.

I'm actually cool with alternative uniforms and doing wacky shit from time to time. I liked the bumble bee stripes. But alternatives should be cool looking. Adidas is just consistently hideous and their preoccupation with putting the three stripes everywhere fills me with murderous rage.

woomba

August 9th, 2014 at 12:58 PM ^

By the time the players can vote the uniform's already been designed and prepped for mass production.

And you think any AD is going to say no for a chance to sell more jerseys?  Hell no.

In reply to by SECcashnassadvantage

gbdub

August 10th, 2014 at 2:56 AM ^

Citation needed. Also, what the hell else are the players going to say? You think anyone who says they suck will ever be allowed in front of a mike again?

Yeezus

August 9th, 2014 at 4:02 PM ^

People need to focus their energy on things they can change, like the student tickets or the seat cushions.

Our AD has been pumping these 'once-a-year special' jerseys for three or four years now (I've lost count). It ain't going to stop now. Feel free to bitch and whine all you want, but attempting to start a fan compromise to find a real solution is a waste of time and energy.

Bando Calrissian

August 9th, 2014 at 1:13 PM ^

Seems to work just fine for Texas. But, hey, whatever.

EDIT: And for those who say these things are for merchandising, Texas remains consistently in the top 2 to 3 merchandising schools each year. You can still sell plenty of gear without uniformz, it seems. Here's last year's rankings:

http://www.clc.com/News/Archived-News/Rankings-Annual-2012-13.aspx

slimj091

August 9th, 2014 at 1:22 PM ^

i will say this. the arguments on both sides are ridiculous. tradition is more than a uniform worn for a single game in a season, and not many recruits will pick a school based on the chance of wearing a one off uniform in future seasons.

you know what is tradition? winning football games. you know what causes recruits to strongly consider picking your school? winning football games.

DonAZ

August 9th, 2014 at 3:35 PM ^

I'm in my mid-50's ... I've been watching Michigan football since 1973.  I'm okay with the uniforms.  Don't hate them, don't love them ... I'm okay with them.  Beats the hell out of those awful throwback-to-the-40's uniforms.

I agree with slimj091's point above -- these uniforms are neither an assault on tradition, nor the game-changer for recruits.  It's a relatively small datapoint in the shadow of the key thing, which is having a winning program.

Michigan's tradition is not based on just the classic home uniform.  That classic home uniform is held dear because many of us recall the glory days when Michigan would maul opponents at home in those uniforms.  It's not the uniform, per se; it's the winning associated with the uniform.

Go ahead and wear the all-blue uniform for the PSU game.  But more importantly, go out and dominate PSU in that game.

gbdub

August 10th, 2014 at 2:59 AM ^

If winning is he only tradition that matters to you, you are a bandwagon fan, by definition. The team that wins the most games every year clearly has the best tradition, so why not just root for whoever that is?



That's obviously ridiculous, so clearly you care about something more than just winning.

ckersh74

August 9th, 2014 at 1:30 PM ^

If the alternates are here to stay, and there's no way around it, how about this: we use the alternate UNIFORMZ!! for bowl games?

(For the record, I do not like them, either.)

MGoUberBlue

August 9th, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^

Some like it some don't.

Some like blue, some like purple.

What can you say?

I was looking forward to all blue uniforms, but the pinstripe numbers not so much.