Mizzou, the 'M', and the Uniforms

Saturday was the day Missouri uniform geeks waited for. Saturday was the day the new Nike uniforms would be unveiled for the first time. There was excitement and fear. Excitement because it would be new, probably would be slick, and it would appeal to 21st Century tastes regarding sports uniforms. Fear because it probably would be slick and appeal to 21st Century tastes regarding sports uniforms.

We were given a warning early and it was probably wise to give it. The 'M' was leaving the helmet. This is bad news to me. It is a very classy look, as far as I'm concerned. I would have liked to see a return to a more traditional uniform, but I knew this would not happen.

Here's what we were afraid of. Another Oregon mess. Nike made the uniforms for Oregon and well, you can see what happened:

Four or five helmets, feathers on the shoulders, and why not the most obvious combination here? Yellow jersey and green pants? You know, the actual school colors? This was the fear.

As it turns out, our fears were mostly unwarranted. After being prepared for the disappearance of the 'M', the actual uniform was, in my mind, a nice presentation that is definitely up-to-date, yet has a traditional feel. I am not crabby about these:

I think the black jersey and gold pants is the best combo. It pleases my eye the most, and, yes, it does look more 'traditional'. But I can live with any of it. The all black is terrible, I think. There is a lot of black in uniforms these days and mostly that's a bad idea. Some teams have black as one of the team colors, Steelers, Raiders, Penguins, Bulls, Heat. Even so, all black just looks terrible, I think. And if it's not one of your colors - leave it alone.

Overall, well done Mizzou and Nike.