Ye gods, will somebody please hire this man a fashion consultant before it’s too late?
… Richt asked fans to clap if they wanted another blackout.
Then he asked those to clap if they don’t want a blackout.
The anti-blackout crowd, by my ears, sounded a bit louder.
“What I’m thinking is if the seniors really want one, we might do it, but they’re going to have to earn maybe making it to Atlanta or beyond to get a blackout,” Richt said. “What I’m thinking about doing, and it won’t happen this year…it wouldn’t be a bad idea if we have red, black, white jerseys and maybe a red helmet or maybe another color helmet, I don’t know, black helmet. And then just say this is part of what we do and then maybe make them match. Not to save them for any one special game…
I mean, that Grambling look is so out these days.
Get The Picture 
No Richt No, no Richt no
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I’m not against another blackout in the future. Although I think we need to give it a rest for a couple of years. Conversely I’m 100% against ever wearing any uniforms, or combination of, which make the team unrecognizable. I do not want to become the Oregon of the south.
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Fake Juice
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Mike, if I understand him correctly, it wouldn’t be about “juice.” It would just mean having more uniform options.
In any case, I hope he sticks to the “Atlanta or beyond” rule for instigating another blackout. The the “motivational ploy” angle was beat to a pulp against Bama, and then swept up and pureed against Florida. It should be a reward for prior achievement on the field, not a tactic to produce future achievement. /my $0.02
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How about we wear the uniforms we’ve always worn and go out there win the damn games?
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…which is what the first black out was…
If you guys beat Okie State, then we’ll talk about the black jerseys.
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Please no.
CMR; If you want to play with uniform colors, do it on G-Day 2011 and take a look at the Falcons for good combinations with black helmets, for regular season, championships, and bowl games please stay with the regular colors. I don’t want the memories from Auburn ’07 to fade away (though those are stained by ‘Bama ’08 already.
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I’d like another blackout, but only if it’s a motivator and not a distraction to the team. The first blackout was something I’ll never forget, and the jerseys do really look good. It’s not like we’re wearing these weird costumes like those nike pro combat uniforms.
I do think there is little danger of us becoming the SEC’s Oregon. Florida is already wrapping that up.
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This is my position too, Irishdawg. The black jersey uni looks great, and is in no danger of ever overcoming our past tradition. I am against changing the helmet though, or any other experimental looks. Richt’s plan to use it as a reward ro be earned is the best way to use it, in my opinion. I understand the view of those who oppose also, I just think having a very limited use of this one option is appropriate…maybe every 2-3 years for some significant accomplishment.
I would prefer we never tie it into a coordinated effort with the fans again though. This makes too much of the pre-game conversation and news stories about fashion and not the game itself. Just let the players change into the jersey after pre-game like we did against Auburn. The big mistake with Bama I felt was letting the Tide get pumped up in advance. Fans can already wear Red, Black, or White as they choose to any game. (I might keep a Black sweater for Uga handy, just in case.)
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Why is he worrying about this and wasting time with it? Get the team ready for the games, not the runway.
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I think I get where Richt is going.. he’s trying to reward the players. He and Damon were saying the blackout was done after last year. At the gala I went to the first blackout year, the players were all about it. I’m sure they’ve been lobbying for a return to the black Jerseys. I do agree that as a motivation tactic, it’s done forever. But as a reward for the players, I see where Richt is going and why its come back up. He wants to reward these guys. As long as he does it after they earn it, I don’t mind it to much. On a personal note, I don’t like it when we abandon the Silver Britches, and I don’t liek the look of the away game blackout look we had at Florida. We’re the Red and Black, so Red does need to be prominent.
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With your line of thinking… black should also be prominent. It’s not.
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You’re right.. what I should have made clear is that Red is a big part of our tradition in the uniform, and it has to be prominent, and it wasn’t in the away uniforms in Jax.
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oh my god. well, you can put at least one item in the “lessons not learned column” so far.
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I thought Damon had already put this baby to bed and said that we will not be tinkering with uniforms any time soon. Why is this still making headlines? We didn’t worry about any of this from Richt taking over post-2000 to late 2007. Now it’s an ongoing saga and is already offering up the chance for distraction.
We have one of the sharpest looking uniforms in football with red helmets/red or white jersey/and silver britches. Personally, I put it up there with Penn State, Michigan, Alabama, and USC. How many of those teams mess with their uniforms? None.
Get ready for the game and destroy the opponent. Then you can do whatever you want after the game is over. This is getting ridiculous.
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I like how shooting the breeze with fans in Eatonton somehow means CMR is spending all his time dreaming up wild uniform fantasies at the expense of training and preparing his players.
FWIW, if you check the link, he actually did say, “I think just winning games is the most important thing.”
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I still don’t understand why people are against the blackout thing. If it was only ever about winning, then maybe I’d understand. But as far as I’m aware, it was never really about winning. It was about giving the fans and the team a greater sense of connectedness, in order to jack up the energy in the stadium a bit more. And in that sense, the blackout against ‘Bama was actually a success. I still hear people talk about the energy in that stadium during most of the second half (especially during and after Miller’s punt return).
You can say something like, “But we shouldn’t need ‘fake juice’ like that to get the energy in the stadium up.” But of course, that same logic could apply to just about ANYTHING: fight songs, face painting, t-shirts, mascots, etc. It’s all about the experience, not the scoreboard. And I think the same applies to the blackout. (Which is not to say that the scoreboard doesn’t matter, of course.)
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I don’t know about the players, but the fans I sit around could use some “fake juice” to cut the prune juice they sip on as they sit quietly waiting for the game to end.
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+1
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“We have one of the sharpest looking uniforms in football with red helmets/red or white jersey/and silver britches. Personally, I put it up there with Penn State, Michigan, Alabama, and USC. How many of those teams mess with their uniforms? None. ”
I’d opine that’s it’s a better looking uni than ALL of those. Penn State’s is boring, Alabama’s a little less so, and USC’s borders on ugly. I also think that it’s OK to do something different on occasion. I like the Braves’ uniforms, but I really like the red Sunday jerseys they broke out recently. Aesthetics mean something in athletics, like it or not, and I like the idea that UGA has the black jerseys that might come out once in a while. It doesn’t mean the team is ignoring tradition.
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I agree w richt. A blackout should be a reward for excellence given towards the end of the season. I think a blackout can be counterproductive and embarrassing if done to pump up the team / crowd and then you get crushed in the game (alabama).
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I believe there is a huge generational gap here. The players have shown some interest in this or it wouldn’t be a topic of conversation.
I suppose I haven’t been a fan as long as many of this fine blog’s readers, but I totally get the uniform options. I like it personally, but beyond my own insignificance, young men seem to like it. You know, the young men Georgia is trying to attract to its program. Why do you think teams like Ohio State are tinkering?
If anything, Richt was trying to say that uniform options were not a motivational factor outside of being a reward for a successful season. So, I would say he learned the lesson.
Finally, I don’t get this whole uniform nostalgia. Uniforms change throughout the years. Remember red pants? If the reward was for beating Florida, I would gladly let them wear whatever color pants or jerseys or helmets they wish. Winning games is what is important, right?
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i’m sure it’s partly generational, as you say. i sure as hell can’t understand why any elite athletes would need to be rewarded for winning with habiliments. to me, it just seems to cultivate the wrong values, even if generational differences explain the difference of perception.
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Umm…you mean like why do people compete for rings and medals? Or to wear the olympic jersey, or get the SEC Championship patch, or helmet stickers, or any other reward for hard work…yeah why do they do that?
If black jerseys means early December trips to Atlanta, let me know where to send the check.
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If you’re talking about the pros, then I agree.. but we’re talking about kids here who don’t get paid and put in a lot of work, many of which don’t get the ultimate reward of making it to the NFL. If this is a form of giving them a collective award for a job well done, then I’m ok with that. Like Baltimore Dawgs said, in looking back, it becomes something of a badge of honor for the team, then I’m all for it.
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pardon, I meant to say I agree with Dawgphan.
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“If the reward was for beating Florida, I would gladly let them wear whatever color pants or jerseys or helmets they wish. Winning games is what is important, right?”
I said this when I first turned the GA/FL game on last year.. why were altered unis not used as a motivation tactic for some other game, IF they won that game? I’m with you, Realist.
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hundred percent agree. players get amped, it draws us into national discussion, and i think for the most part they’ve looked good (i like the suggestion of making the G red on the black helmet, if we go down that route again).
The older traditionalists out there who “don’t like it” would get amped if we broke out the red pants every now and then.
also, i’m surprised no one has mentioned it, but it makes playing as UGA on NCAA football that much more dynamic. I personally get tired of waxing the floor with Florida on Xbox every season in the same unis.
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We never won a game because of the blackout. We never lost a game because of the blackout. Don’t act like the blackout isn’t cool as shit though. Stop being a bunch of retards trying to blame a loss on a jersey color.
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+1
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+2
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Also, I think whatever ill will Richt may deserve for recent uniform innovations, it’s still outweighed by the decision to remove the black helmet stripe in 2001.
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I don’t see a problem with the alternate uniforms. I would also agree that there is a generation gap. I personally think switching up the uniforms makes things more exciting. I wasn’t a huge fan of the black helmets but is it really that big a deal? Getting our butts handed to us in Jacksonville had nothing to do with the color of the helmet.
I see nothing wrong with switching things up as a reward to the players one time a year. The people that get all in an uproar over uniforms need to relax.
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“Don’t act like the blackout isn’t cool as shit though. Stop being a bunch of retards trying to blame a loss on a jersey color.”
That’s what I really meant to say.
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Not saying that I’m in favor of any more alternate uniform options, but if they’re going to mess with the helmet, I would much rather see a reversed color scheme (black helmet with a red ‘G,’ such as is often portrayed on flags and license plates) than that black-0n-black offense to the senses that debuted in J-ville last season.
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I’d be fine with that, as long as the particular combination that came out vs. Florida in 2009 is banned. Just horrible.
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+100
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Can someone figure out if Richt was a Fashion Merchandise major?
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Maybe the major was Psychology with a concentration in cause and effect of short-term memory loss.
This minimalist approach seems better:
“We’re not really concerned about how they dress or what the uniform might be,” Tide coach Nick Saban said.
http://blog.al.com/chatter/2008/09/can_we_blackout_the_blackout.html
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Maybe he’s a Nike investor.
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The blackout is flat-out lame.
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Methinks the role Nike plays in all of this is being totally overlooked. Instead of putting the blame squarely on Richt, let’s divide and conquer. At least Nike hasn’t created a camo-bomination like Under Armor did for Sakerlina & Maryland. Army’s Camo jerseys = awesome sauce. Sakerlina’s camo = not enough to hide the fact that you’re a Sakerlina fan.
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Be grateful Richt hasn’t let Nike tinker with the unis like at some other schools (Miami, Virginia Tech, Florida). Some of the things I saw this past season looked like superhero costumes. I suspect they tried to get Michigan to outfit the team in yellow and black spandex with retractable claws.
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Gooooo Grambling siccem.
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Maybe it is a generational thing. I just don’t see somebody like Vince Lombardy giving the uni color much thought. One has to visualize what Lombardy’s response would be if a player or reporter came to him and suggested it. Did Susan Yoculan ever struggle with the uni issue to this extent?
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Irishdawg
Were we separated at birth?
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Sorry, I meant Lombardi.
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As a bonafide geezer, I think the occasional change is refreshing.
(Groovy? Bitchin’? Outasight?)
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Cojones,
Possibly, as if I had been a twin, the other sibling most likely would have to have been taken away to keep me from strangling it in the nursery.
One final thought for those who think the Dawg’s uniforms either a) don’t matter or b) should slavishly remain traditional; there is a reason the US military has visually appealing dress uniforms, it’s because it helps instill the wearer with pride. And those uniforms have not remained unchanged in the last 50 years. If the US Army can tweak its uniform and survive, so can the Georgia football team.
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To people who think Richt is”wasting time” with this: Do you really think it takes significant time to consider this occasionally? No.
Occasional special uniform configs are fun for the players and fun for the fans. That’s why the NFL does it with the throwbacks. That’s why college teams do it. Its fun.
Remember? Fun? What sports is supposed to be all about?
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I dunno, Muck. It takes an awfully long time for anyone, much less Richt, to make a decision when a Nike exec walks in with some mockups and a suitcase of hundred dollar bills and says, “We want to try black helmets.”
Really takes away from stuff like gameplanning and grocery lists.
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I guess no one like the “coxian” combo, or Grambling look.
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If you want to see the best looking uniform in football-high school, college or pro-look at the picture of Herschel below. Why would anyone ever mess with that?
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Richt has used just about every excuse the last few years and has failed miserably now trying to get that “extra effort” out of us
The black crap was such an embarrassment
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Black jerseys? Yes, every other year or so. If it was good enough for Sinkwich…
Black pants? No, thanks. When your teams goes by “silver britches” you don’t screw with the pants.
Black helmets? May God have mercy on your soul.
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