April 3, 2012

This Is What Champions Will Wear

"Marge, I know what I hate... and I don't hate this." -C. Montgomery Burns

Here's tons of photos of the new Nike Seahawks uniforms.

Let's get this out first: I don't like Nike. I kinda HATE Nike. They're fairly evil, even for a huge multi-national corporation. I also don't like their overall impact on the sports world, on both substantive matters and on the comparatively superficial topic of how teams dress themselves. I wear New Balance sneakers personally, and the ONLY way that I buy Nike gear is if it's Seahawks or Red Sox merchandise.

But now Nike has the NFL contract, so here we are. I'm not nearly hard-core enough to give up buying new Seahawks stuff until this contract between Nike and the NFL lapses, so I'm now Phil Knight's captive audience. So what do I think of these new unis?

In my perfect world, the Seahawks would have copied the Buffalo Bills and reverted to something close to their 1983-2001 look. Obviously, Nike and the team decided to go in another direction, and a very vocal cadre of Twelves HATE the new look. Let me tell you why I like it, and why I think I'll grow to love it.

-It's forward-looking. To some degree I see myself as a Seahawks historian, and I can be as susceptible to nostalgia as anyone else. But as Don Draper once said, nostalgia literally means "the pain from an old wound." MANY wounds were inflicted on us Twelves while the Seahawks were cloaked in those classical, comforting unis. Coach Carroll and any player on the roster would tell you this: These Seahawks are about the future, not the past. The new uniforms underline that point nicely.

-They are FIERCE. I dug the 2002-2011 unis, but let's be blunt: They inspired fear in no one. These new Nike duds look MENACING. Like I said earlier today on twitter, the new unis make the Seahawks look like an evil football team from the 2030s (who are possibly replicants or Cyberball-style robots) who have traveled back in time to lay waste to today's NFL. That sounds like a lot of fun to me.

-We are going to win, and win big, wearing them. You can sense how excited the players are about these new uniforms just by reading their twitter feeds. Add that to the reality that this is a young team on the rise, and their imminent success is going to sell a SHIT-TON of Nike jerseys. Winning is what will convert the critics of these uniforms. Even for skeptics and haters, very soon these uniforms will be intimately connected to rousing, spectacular success... Like, 1997-98-Denver-Broncos-in-new-Nike-unis success.

Personally, I hope the main home look will be blue jerseys paired with grey pants, and if I had my way, we'd ditch the whites entirely and just go all-grey on the road. Once the jerseys are for sale, I plan to get a home blue Marshawn Lynch model. If I have the means (the necessary means) I will follow that with a Kam Chancellor "Wolf Grey" alternate jersey.

I think the new uniforms are bold, futuristic, and FAR better than I had feared Nike would crap out. Despite what some are claiming, we DON'T look like Oregon now- These unis are much cleaner and more tightly designed that what the Ducks wear. I've already started happily imagining the Seahawks winning the Super Bowl in these uniforms... and I have no doubt about the fact that we WILL win it all soon, and it will be in these fancy new garments.

What do you think, sirs?

6 comments:

Unknown said...

When I first saw them I was disappointed but the more I looked at them the more I like them. I really love the blue color and the blue jerseys with grey pants or even the grey jersey with blue pants looks great. Cant't wait to see how they look on the field!

Eric Flatness said...

We agree quite a bit on the jerseys.
http://seattlebfsbh.blogspot.com/2012/04/new-hawks-revealed-judgement-yet-to.html
But I don't think you've given us thoughts on the logo change.
http://seattlebfsbh.blogspot.com/2012/04/in-which-i-create-new-better-hawks-logo.html

StLee said...

Hate the unis. Don't like the "feathers" along the side and collar.
Still love my hawks. Would love to see us stick with a look longer than 10 years.

Unknown said...

The shoulder stripes to me evoke wings -- but those of a fighter jet, not a bird. The numbers the home uniform look like they were cut from sheet metal, which seems to resemble armor.

I like how these uniforms further carve out a unique identity for a younger team from a younger, more modern city. They don't look like the Giants, because we're the ANTI-Giants and ANTI- every other "classic" uniform out there. I'd much rather be that than "Cowboys lite" etc.

It's a forward-looking identity like Oregon's but that's where the similarities end. With this I would never mistake one for the other.

And let's admit it, when Oregon stopped branding itself as a "baby Oklahoma" and did its own thing, incidentally, they played the best football in school history. I think a fearless, unique identity worked for them.

Jonathan Dalar said...

They are most decidedly growing on me.

Milhawker said...

I don't know how many players would pick a team just to wear a particular uniform, but being progressive and having a uniform young players want to wear can't hurt. Look good==feel good, feel good==play good, play good==win the freaking Super Bowl. Normally I'd think about giving up my tickets to a preseason game, but I'm looking forward to seeing our guys on the field in these new threads that I'm probably going to be there preseason week 1.