Sun Devil Spin On Uniforms
The new basketball uniform for the Arizona State University Sun Devils as modeled by Ruslan Pateev.
By Bob Goodwood
Modern Times Magazine .com
April 19, 2011 — Now that was some hoopla over at Arizona State University last week. As old fashioned, professional public relations stunts go, it brought ASU, out of a bowl in football and the NCAA tournament in Men’s Basketball the last two years, to captivate the public’s attention for a weekend in April.
Kudos all around to the marketing team. The “Its Time” campaign was brilliant. But now that the time has come, where is the university’s athletic program? The same damn place they were before the media event: mediocre.
But at least they got sweet uniforms.
The pitchfork on the helmets is a nice change — a bit reminiscent of the Florida State Spear — and definitely unique in the PAC-12. The addition of black to the color scheme is nice, but should be used sparingly. Maroon and gold are unique.
Outside of the football unis, though, the response is, meh. It seems like the football team was at the center of this whole thing, then Lisa Love was able to finally reach her goal of a consistent brand across all ASU Athletics, a goal she had, it seemed from her first day on the job.
“When I arrived at ASU six years ago I noticed we were an athletics program which featured different shades of maroon and gold, different logos, multiple fonts and
uniforms,” Love said. “There was a lack of real consistency with regard to our brand. This partnership with Nike, which began nearly a decade ago for uniforms, will springboard us to a new level of branding, giving us a coordinated university-wide focus that will support our aspirations as a high-performance athletic organization.”
The one interesting omission at the press conference was the future look of the baseball uniforms. ASU has won five national championships in baseball. That was one brand that was instantly recognizable. Anyone who follows college baseball knew the Arizona State Sun Devils were on the field when they saw the interlocking “A” and “S” and “Devils” across the chest. No baseball uniforms at the news conference, though. Interesting.
A softball player was there and those uniforms looked a bit like the Houston Astros from the 1970s. It can’t be helped: its the yellow. In the past, the softball and baseball uniforms evolved along similar paths. That leaves one to guess that the baseball uniforms are probably still being developed. Anyway, even in the promotional photos, there was no logo on the softball batting helmet. Seems a bit odd that there was not a pitchfork logo pasted on it.
Sure, many scoff at the notion that uniforms can determine the outcome of games, but as anyone who regularly reads Modern Times Magazine knows, at the pinnacle of athletics, belief makes champions. Such an ethereal concept as belief can have any of a myriad of inspirations, and uniforms are definitely a candidate.
After the last two years, aren’t ASU fans ready to try just about anything to win again?
Who can a Sun Devil sell their soul to for a Rose Bowl berth and a trip to the Sweet 16?
New Fiction
Path To Pottersville
