[ad_1]
The Arizona State football team looked good against Southern Utah on Thursday night at Sun Devil Stadium.
This isn’t about their play on the field.
It’s about their uniforms.
ASU came out in maroon jerseys, gold pants and gold helmets emblazoned with a gigantic pitchfork.
Which is exactly how the Sun Devils SHOULD look!
They were immediately recognizable.
When Jayden Daniels highlights flash across TV screens and smartphones in a blitz of images cut together so quickly it seems like hypnotherapy, there will be no mistaking which program he represents.
In a world of quick hits and hot takes, there’s value in consistency and recognizability.
This hasn’t been the case at ASU in recent years.
The Sun Devils have worn gray and camouflage and black and white and gold, and if I’m not mistaken, they had a Halloween-themed uniform that came complete with tails and horns. (OK, I made that last one up, but you get the point.)
Can you imagine turning on a baseball game and seeing the Yankees come out in polka dots instead of pinstripes? Part of the mystique is in the uniform — the consistency of the uniform! When the damn Yankees take the field, they look about the same as they did when Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth were out there.
We all get it.
More jersey alternatives mean more jersey alternatives to sell.
If a team wears only two jerseys (one for home games, another for road games) there are fewer replicas for fans to purchase.
And money matters in big-time college football.
Programs that want to compete at the highest levels need fancy facilities, updated stadiums and good coaches. None of that stuff comes cheap.
Plus, changing uniforms every week hasn’t seemed to hurt Oregon. The mighty Ducks usually look like they’re trying to win Project Runway instead of the Pac-12, and every year they look like contenders to do both.
There’s also supposedly recruiting value in having a lot of uniforms. Having lots of uniforms apparently dazzles high schoolers who’ve never seen so much equipment in one place, enticing them to come to Tempe, where they’ll have a locker stuffed with more athletic wear than they have in their closets back home.
Although sticking to one look hasn’t seemed to hurt Alabama, Clemson or Notre Dame. Oklahoma, Texas or Georgia. Michigan, Ohio State or Penn State. Those programs look about the same every time, and they seem to get plenty of high-quality players.
And that goes back to the value of consistency and recognizability.
If ASU is going to announce itself as a regular power player in the Power Five, a perennial 1 or 2 in the Pac-12, it might help to have the kind of look that fans across the country recognize as soon as they see it.
Maroon and gold. With gold helmets. And a gigantic pitchfork on the side. (Although, I could be persuaded to accept Sparky or that cool, old-school sunburst logo.)
The Arizona State football team looked good against Southern Utah on Thursday night at Sun Devil Stadium.
And that was before the game even started.
They looked good coming out of the locker room.
Maybe they can look like that every week?
Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @SayingMoore.
There’s plenty Moore where this came from. Subscribe for videos, columns, opinions and analysis from The Arizona Republic’s award-winning sports team.
[ad_2]
Source link