Dear Old UVA
January 28,
2008 | Kevin Zdancewicz
Uniforms
are one of the most
recognizable aspects of sports, but it’s amazing how often they go
overlooked. The
average sports fan seems content to give only a passing acknowledgement
of team
jerseys, leaving appreciation for or debate about how a team looks
frequently ignored.
I’ve been fascinated with logo and uniform design since I was a kid and
would create
expansion teams with original logos or rebrand existing sports
franchises with
different marks. I think it’s a shame that so-called “athletics
aesthetics” go unnoticed
when jerseys encompass the very identity of a team. With this new
feature on
Fanatic, the idea is to present an interesting jersey – whether it be
good-looking, innovative, controversial, ugly or wacky – each week and
give you
a little insight into it. Maybe after some time it will start to change
the way
you notice and value sports uniforms.
I figured we would
start off with a jersey
that is close to home. Featured above is the road jersey of the University of Virginia
football team in 1998 and 1999. This is probably my favorite U.Va.
football uniform because it has a distinctly college feel, with the
lack of helmet and pants stripes, as well as the low socks. Some might
call it too plain; I would call it classic and clean-cut. The border around the collar and sleeves was a
really cool design, featuring
the Lawn’s Colonnades in white with a navy shadow – a layout similar to
the Class
of 2008 logo.
When Al Groh took over as head coach in 2001, he brought along with his
NFL experience a pro-style look for the Cavalier uniforms. I’ve never
liked the recent use of white on
navy uniform combo,
which I think should have darker navy pants with orange stripes (if
any) rather than white. The orange numbers in a stylized font on the
older jerseys were a nice touch. It always seemed odd that Groh never
incorporated more of that color into the team’s uniforms even though he
urged the fans to become the “Sea of Orange.”
Photo
Courtesy of ViewImages.com
Jersey of the Week Archive
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