Georgia Bulldogs in 2011 - Post #5

There are rumors circulating that Georgia may wear one of those God-awful Nike Combat uniforms in the Chic-fil-a opener against Boise State. For those who don't remember, Boise St. and Virginia Tech worn hideous uniforms in their opener last year. Rumor is that a stipulation of playing in the game is that the teams have to wear the new Combat uniforms. I find this to be highly unlikely because neither Chick-fil-a (who sponsors the game) and ESPN (who airs it) have formal relationships or agreements with Nike. In every other Chick-fil-a opener, none of the teams work the atrocious Combat uniforms.

There are two reasons why we shouldn't wear the Combat uniforms, assuming that they exist somewhere out there.

1. I'm sick of Nike's profiteering on ideals that, frankly, are more deserving than a sports-related context. "Combat"? Really? Granted, sports is nothing if not overstated and embellished. We watch our favorite teams, but we're truly moved by the stories. But can't the stories rest on themselves without all the adjectives?
I think allusions to "combat" are entirely inappropriate given the fact that tens of thousands of Americans are in actual combat, real combat.
So often the word "courage" is used in sports. The team showed COURAGE on that 4th down conversion. That player must have had real COURAGE to come back into the game after hurting his arm. Etcetera and etcetera.
"Courage" is going on a midnight raid into an insurgent-held city in south Afghanistan. "Courage" is patrolling a road in Iraq known to be filled with IEDs.
So let's just stop with all these war references because they're at best lame, and at worst a slap in the face of all those men and women who know what the word means because their job isn't courage-optional.

2. Georgia's uniform is one of the most classic visions in all of college football history. Munson would always say, at the start of the game, "Ok now, Georgia. We're wearing a red helmet, red jerseys, and silver britches. Get the picture?"
There are some programs that don't have the history, the tradition, that we have. It's not a big deal for them to wear some ugly uniforms that get 11th grade recruits all excited. But we're the Georgia Bulldogs. We aren't THEM.
I fear that Richt has decided he will pull out all stops this year in hopes of bringing back some hype to the program. But I think that would be misguided. I'm hoping that he's decided to bring back the TRADITION of the program. I hope that he's realized that winning and excellence trump showmanship every day of the week and twice on Sunday. When you say "Alabama" or you say "Texas," you don't think about hip jerseys, you think about what those names mean -- they mean success, tradition, prestige.
Speaking of Bama, I seem to remember the last time we wore different jerseys. Sure, we wore black jerseys against Auburn and Hawaii and won big. But they were inferior opponents. We then wore black jerseys against Alabama, and they made good on their promise to turn the game into a funeral.
I honestly believe that we are STILL recovering from that game. It was such a demoralizing experience. After starting out as the preseason #1, we were dominated in every facet of that game and it was obvious that we weren't just the inferior team that NIGHT, between those two TEAMS. We were beat so thoroughly that it was obvious we were a fraud, and light-years away from being a true title contender. Lest us not forget, Alabama didn't even win the SEC or the NC that year. Nope. After our blackout debacle, we were thoroughly destroyed by Florida on their way to another national championship.
We need to come out in our classic uniforms against Boise St. and proceed to administer a colossal beat down. Winning by 20 will do far more than any stupid uniform will.
After all, it's not the jerseys that make the team, it's the players wearing them.