Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Modernized Retro Strikes Again

Some big news on Tuesday....well, at least for the last Tuesday for August anyway-- was the Los Angeles Kings putting out a release saying that they are ditching the purple from their color scheme and going with a "modernized retro" version of the Gretzky era black/silver motif. At the Draft, they introduced the white jersey to go along with the black jersey, which used to be the third jersey.

These jerseys are (I believe) the fifth "modernized retro" edition behind the Capitals, Penguins, Sabres, Flyers, and Oilers. They harken back to the Wayne Gretzky era and how they brought the Kings to higher levels of notoriety. Of course, it brings up the unnecessary piping issue again, but at least they don't have front numbers to them all.

However, I have an issue with ditching the purple out of the scheme. Not only is purple a regal color-- something you'd think the Kings would want to have-- they couldn't have gone with a more bland combination of black, silver, and white. The purple and black were unique combination and something that you didn't see much in sports. Hell, I don't believe purple has been used in the NHL prior or since (Mighty Ducks wore plum, Avalanche burgundy; so calm with that chatter). It's bad enough that we have teams going to navy alternate in the past couple of years and before that-- all black everything. Now, we lose a very unique color in the lexicon of sports.

Granted, I could be saying this because I'm a Mount St. Joseph alumni ('01), where our colors were purple and cream-- but I liked the look the Kings already had. It make things pop uniform wise and was something that went with their whole theme of their identity. People fawned over their purple and yellow retro jerseys-- but they can't go ahead and embrace the purple as it was already?? It's confusing, people.

In the end, it's all about nostalgia nowadays. If people clamor to one style over another-- a team will eventually turn to that. Look at all these "Turn Back The Clock" nights and yearn for the past, even though they were probably horrible decisions then and now. But, I'll miss the purple on the jerseys and hope that the Baltimore Ravens, Minnesota Vikings, Sacramento Kings, Phoenix Suns, and Colorado Rockies can hold down the purple reign (HA-- PUNS!!) in sports.

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