Show Your True Colors

Let's say you're a Cavs fan. You're happy. You like your team this year. You have a chance at locking up LeBron and having a guaranteed Most Beloved And Celebrated Athlete Of All Time for your city. You decide you want to wear your team's colors to celebrate.

Let's take a quick look online at what those colors are, shall we?

http://www.nba.com/cavaliers/history/logo_uniform_history.html

Uh oh. Well, it looks like your current colors are red and white, with a little dark green mixed in there, so you could go with that. But, if you want any connection to your team's history (maybe you grew up as a Cavs fan in the 70's or 80's), you'll have to wear black and light blue as well. And orange. And a different shade of blue. And there's some tan in there. Also gold. You might as well just get one of those rainbow afro wigs and cover your bases.

The point is quite simply this: teams change their uniforms around too much. For me, a big part of sports is history. When I watch a sports team, unless it was recently added to the league, I'm witnessing the latest chapter in a long and storied history of the franchise. Sure, some teams (Yankees, Celtics, Packers, etc.) are thought of as being more "historic," but most teams have their history, and they're proud of it. And along with the timeless feel of a team comes the timeless feel of their uniform. Celtic green. Yankee pinstripes. Green Bay green and yellow. They're iconic, just as the teams they represent are iconic.

Even for teams that may have a little less history, it's still important to maintain an ongoing connection to their franchise identity. For the Cavs, for example, the biggest chapter in their history may be going on right now. If they change their uniform again in five years, the Cavs of the future will look nothing like the Cavs of yore, the quintessential Cavs. Sure, uniforms, logos, etc., they're all ultimately superficial. But they're still part of your history, and team colors are still a part of your pride, and you shouldn't throw that away and start from scratch just because some guy from marketing suggests that it's a good idea to "rebrand" and make everyone re-buy their LeBron James jerseys. When even the classic Red Sox logo is getting a facelift, it's time to rethink our obsession with reinventing the wheel. If the Yankee pinstripes turn into polka dots, you'll know things have really gone too far.