Let me weigh in on this “alternate” uniform business.
Maybe more surprising than the design and off-color of these unis is that the OU Athletic Department grossly misjudged the public reaction to it.
The alternate uniforms, expected to be donned by the Sooners on only one or two Saturdays this fall, were announced with great fanfare. Literally. On campus at Holmberg Hall, with smoke and lights and blarring rap music. The audience, which consisted of the 19 and 20 year olds on the team, went nuts. See the video here.
But if the university had done a video of the reaction of regular fans (at least those over the age of 30), they probably would have gotten something like this: Not a pretty sight.
Much of the negative talk mentions the revolving carousel of wardrobe that is spun up the road in Stillwater of all places. See this and try not to puke.
On Tuesday the OU bosses apparently saw enough negative reaction on social media that they started pulling out the big guns. Bob Stoops made a Twitter post about it. Josh Heupel. Some players. These uniforms are exciting, they said. It will help with recruiting, they plead.
Director of football operations Kenny Mossman — who, for the record is by all accounts a good dude and has done a great job for the program — tried to specifically settle down the runaway fears among fans and alums that the heresy of changing uniforms was the worst thing since the Russkies put up Sputnik. Or, worse, since Boise State pulled a fast one on us in the Fiesta Bowl on January 1, 2007.
“Things change even here. Relax and enjoy,” Mossman tweeted.
Sit back and enjoy it whether you like it or not? Those are the words of someone about to commit a felony. Which is exactly how many die hard fans are taking this messing with tradition.
What the? Did he really say “things change”? That suggested this may not be some alternative one or two game thing at all, but that the traditional Sooner look has been thrown out the window for something that doesn’t even have the correct hue of crimson.
Sit back and enjoy it whether you like it or not? Those are the words of someone about to commit a felony. Which is exactly how many die hard fans are taking this messing with tradition.
OK, we’re not saying Mossman is a felon or that he is evil or un-Sooner or anything like that (in case the head lawyer of the OU litigation team is reading this — and they probably are).
It was just a poor choice of words, Kenney.
There have been some good points made, though, that change isn’t necessarily a bad thing. After all, the Sooners who won 47-straight for Bud Wilkinson wore helmets similar to these alternative helmets. The OU marketing machine said these alternative uniforms are actually a tribute to those legendary players. (Hey, I really like the reference to “47 straight” sewn into the jerseys). And, when Oklahoma changed from a white helmet with one red stripe down the middle to the red helmet and interlocking OU in 1966, perhaps fans then didn’t like that change either, Mossman said.
Well, they probably didn’t. But, that change occurred during one of the darkest periods of Sooner football. Bud was gone. The Sooners were coming off a 3-7 year under Coach Gomer Jones. They only won six games the year before. Two years of drought during the fair in Dallas. And, to make things even worse, Oklahoma had lost 16-17 to rival Oklahoma State in 1965 — in Norman.
So, yeah, changing the uniform might have been not only a neat idea…but a necessary one.
Such is not the case now. Oklahoma is returning to the gridiron in 2014 with perhaps the greatest level of optimism among fans — and greatest level of expectation — than has existed since the early Stoops days. That’s what pulverizing Alabama in the Sugar Bowl will do for you.
Which is why all this talk about change tells me that the powers that be on campus might be more concerned about that Nike uniform contract than they may be about the hearts and minds of the fans who pay for it.
Hey, we love those kids on this football team. I thought their enthusiasm over these unis was spectacular. But, Sooner fans — some of whom have been season tickets holders since 1966 — are the investors in the program. I’m just sayin’, but when the board of directors doesn’t listen to the investors, bad things happen to management. And, it is very clear the investors do not like messing with a good thing. Especially tradition.
So, when Mossman went on Twitter with his “Things change even here”, I responded:
“I believe you just quoted the New Coke slogan from a few years ago. How did that turn out?”
I didn’t get a reply.
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PS: For you young bucks who don’t know about “New Coke”,. considered the worse advertising debacle in American business history….Google it.
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