When it comes to uniformity in sports, there is no black and white. Well, there is (as the Arizona Cardinals clearly just showed), but you know what we mean.
In the world of uniforms, reaction always draws back to opinion. Though there are plenty of universally loved (Las Vegas Raiders and St. Louis Cardinals) and hated (Arizona Diamondbacks and Atlanta Falcons) uniforms, there are just as many teams who have unveiled new threads and received mixed responses (Los Angeles Rams).
The Cardinals became the latest team to rebrand, unveiling new uniforms Thursday night that can best be described as uninspiring.
Now, are they bad? No. Are they anything more than an AAU basketball jersey turned into an NFL uniform? Also no.
The Cardinals had a chance to take a swing here and change the game, but instead kept the bat on their shoulder and took a walk. These just look like Ohio State’s football uniforms but monochromatic and with less character. The uniforms are so boring, in fact, that most people wondered about what DeAndre Hopkins and Budda Baker were doing more than the actual unveiling.
It’s tough to hate on these completely, because we’ve seen much worse in recent years. It’s also tough to get over the fact that anyone could have designed these using Microsoft Paint.
The designer of these new Cardinals uniforms was gifted an incredible logo, color scheme and regional aesthetic to work with and fumbled it just enough to annoy those who enjoy sports aesthetics. Arizona took a step forward with these uniforms compared to the old ones, but it was the equivalent of that second step a baby tries to take when it gets a little too cocky.
The Detroit Lions reportedly are the next NFL team to unveil a new look. Hopefully it will be better than this.
