Black Is Beautiful, But C'mon...

It was with great sadness a few years back when I watched the Atlanta Falcons sidleline their bright red uniforms. The NFL granted much leeway regarding such things and Atlanta had a new coach and he, along with management, apparently decided it was time to "reinvent" themselves. So they benched red in lieu of black.

Atlanta wasn't the first team to don black jerseys. The Chicago Bears have always worn black. They should. They're Bears. And for years the NFL's resident "bad boys" - the Oakland Raiders - wore black. Their notoriety as cheaters (and being very successful while doing so), made the color black a color to be "feared."

Of course all teams are forced to wear white, a a very light colored jersey for their away games. This dates back to the early days of lucrative television deals and since most or all of TV was broadcast in living black and white, it was the way in which teams could be easily distinguishable to viewers in their living rooms. But the colors the teams are known by are the ones on their home jerseys. And more and more they are becoming colorless in the name of macho posturing.

The Denver Broncos were once a lively orange and were even nicknamed the "Orange Crush". Now they've switched to a blue so dark it looks like black at first glance. And recently, following the lead of many teams, the Detroit Lions, laughably, have gone to a black jersey. Along with their standard and beautiful Caribbean Blue, it becomes very unpleasing to the eye. Sorry Detroit, you can't be tough and feared by simply putting on black jerseys. You get that by winning games.

Alas, this ugly trend has even slithered down to the high school ranks. Even the Greenville Yellow Jackets have gone from a once great look to the "go-to-when-you're-out-of-ideas" color black (or a reasonable facsimile thereof). Another victim of a coach's perceived need to "reinvent" a team and possibly desiring a "bad boy" label. I, for one, sure miss the beautiful and very eye pleasing complimentary colors of the purple jersey with the yellow numbers. They are the YellowJackets after all. Maybe the coach should have stopped by one of the most important departments in the school - the art department - before making the decision to opt for boring.

But this is what happens when not enough attention is paid to the arts in school. Today's architects design buildings that are just square boxes. Automobiles today all look alike. And all of the beauty and color, delight and pagentry of football is going dull, colorless, and flat. And we don't even complain.

Hopefully someday this disturbing trend will cycle out and color and a little joy will return to football. I think it should start now. Bring back color to the game and leave the overly dramatic black to Johnny Cash and Darth Vader. They pull it off. But anyone else, as often a not, come off looking like Snidley Whiplash.