An Evaluation

Tradition, pride, and loyalty. Penn State football began in 1887 and still today the university is proud of its history and where it began. One of the ways Penn State represents their legacy is through their football uniforms. This season Penn State recently made a slight change to their uniform. In previous seasons, the uniforms featured blue collars around the neck and sleeves of the uniforms white uniforms, and white collars around the neck and sleeves of the blue uniforms. However, in hopes of keeping the uniforms as old-school as possible, the team decided to eliminate this part of the jersey and make the uniforms either all-white or all-blue. This is the same way the jerseys appeared in the early 1900s.

When news broke out about the change, there was a lot of negative speculation about it. Students criticized the new jerseys arguing that Penn State should make their jerseys more interesting, and not take away any more detail than they had. However, what some students don't understand is that the appearance of Penn State's jersey is meant to withhold the tradition of Penn State. This is why I have chosen to evaluate the Penn State football team's uniforms.

These jerseys would fall under the category of a old-school uniform. An old-school uniform is one which replicates that of the team's past uniforms. It's the whole idea of the uniform being retro that makes it meaningful. It is widely used in college football and is also used by schools such as Notre Dame, Ohio State, Michigan, and Alabama. It can be compared to these school's uniforms as well as all of the new-age uniforms. A new-age uniform features unique stripes or appears flashy, and doesn't necessarily appear similar to the team's old uniforms. Uniforms are important because not only do they represent the football team, but it represents the entire pride of the school as well.

The criteria of evaluating old-school uniforms can go very in-depth. Because all of the old-school jerseys are plain in the most case, the criteria must be very specific. First off, an old school jersey must be conservative. Anything flashy or modern looking ruins the effect of trying to capture the old-school tradition. Therefore an old-school jersey should have a minimal variety of colors, and have a simple design.

Additionally, an effective old-school jersey must appear as close as possible to the way the jerseys appeared when the team first began to play. This goes back to why Penn State eliminated the complimenting color of the collars. Any jersey that adds details or elements to the jerseys also doesn't capture the retro look in the most effective way.

Thirdly, the greatest old-school uniforms must not have the individual player's name written on the back of it. The jersey's that don't include the player's last name on them encourage the idea of team unity, and that the team is more important than the individual. This attitude is something that has been forgotten in modern sports.

To build on the topic of team unity, an old-school jersey should not feature "helmet stickers." These are the stickers given for individual accomplishments and stuck onto the helmet. The more accomplishments a player makes, the more helmet stickers he receives. By avoiding these stickers, a team shows that it values all of its players equally, and that they all contribute to the same cause. Accomplishments should be shared by the entire team, not an individual.

Finally, an old-school jersey must have one detail that distinguishes them apart from other teams. In Penn State's case, its the single blue stripe running down the center of the helmet. Another example includes Nebraska's "N" on the side of their helmets. This detail must be simple but distinguishable in order to differentiate them from other teams.