Bay Area Sports Uniforms Get Some Love
Why are there so many professional sports teams with horrible uniforms? Perhaps the worst uniform of all-time belongs to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The flag on their helmets is obnoxiously huge, and the numbers on the jerseys look like a digital clock.
It’s honestly funny to imagine what team executives must have been thinking or saying in regards to the new uniform. Whoever gave the go-ahead for Tampa Bay’s jerseys strongly needs to reconsider that awful decision. What’s so hard about making your team look good and respectable? It’s ridiculous that some organizations think pointless flashy designs are cool.
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Speaking of pointless and flashy, the Miami Marlins are a prime example. They have way too much going on with the blue, orange,yellow, black, silver, and huge “M.” It looks like the Miami Dolphins puked and the Marlins used that as their design.
There is no way that any fan of the Buccaneers, Cleveland Browns, or Arizona Cardinals genuinely like their uniforms. Professional sports leagues want the teams to represent the league well, so they shouldn’t allow teams to wear trash.
Recently, ESPN featured a ranking on the “best dressed cities.” They interestingly grouped all of the Bay Area together and ranked it at number five. I’m sure any fan of Bay Area sports would rank the teams a little better than that.
The Bay Area group included the Giants, A’s, 49ers, Raiders, Warriors, and the Sharks. As deserved, the uniforms on the Oakland Raiders were considered the best among the Bay. At the bottom was the San Jose Sharks, and their usage of teal with a cartoon shark probably deserves that. However, I think it looks pretty cool.
Interestingly, they called the uniforms of the Oakland A’s better than those of the San Francisco Giants. It’s certain that any Giants fan would firmly disagree with that, but some truth lies in that order. The Oakland Athletics have some of the most simple, sharp, and clean looking uniforms in the MLB. They also provide a nice change from the overabundance of red and blue from most major league baseball teams.
In addition to that, there is no denying that both the Giants and Raiders have classic, timeless uniforms. When both of these teams take the field, it’s simply a glorious sight. The Raiders stark silver and black is perfectly intimidating, and the off-white, orange, and black of the giants always looks incredibly sharp.
This season, the Giants have been wearing a larger array of alternate uniforms. Their all black jerseys and gold font off-whites are awesome. However, I don’t really like the Giants’s grey alternates with the SF logo in the left chest. The A’s have also been wearing their yellow and green jerseys much more often than recent years, and it doesn’t seem like too many fans are complaining about that.
In regards to the San Francisco 49ers, their red and gold combination is beautiful. The partial sleeve stripes are peculiar, but they do add a unique flair. Also, it seems like the 49ers’ new black alternate uniforms are polarizing. Fans seem to either love them or hate them. At least their black jerseys don’t look as bad as the Cincinnati Bengals’ tiger costumes.
Let’s forget about football and baseball for a moment. The current NBA Champions from the Bay Area have crisp modern classics. The Golden State Warriors use of the bridge logo with a player’s number is brilliant. Do you remember those orangish and dark blue uniforms they used to wear prior to the current royal blue and yellow ones? They were odd but actually pretty cool looking, but the current uniform is perfect. The ocean of yellow and blue at Warriors’ games is a stunning sight.
Some people might read this and think uniforms are a pointless, non-important part of professional sports. However, the uniform is almost as essential to a team as the players. What the players wear for competition helps assert the team’s brand to the fans. Organizations need to build their brand in order to create fan loyalty and high merchandise sales.
After the Warriors won the 2015 NBA Finals, I went to their team store at a San Francisco mall. The line to enter the store to buy celebratory team gear wrapped around the floor and was about an hour wait. Fans love to show support for their teams by wearing the colors with pride. If teams have horrible uniforms, then fans won’t feel as strong of an urge to buy the merchandise.
The Bay Area has a lot of teams, and all of them know how to successfully market their brand through attractive uniforms.