The new Nike uniforms have gotten mixed reviews. According to a recent Seattle Times poll, most fans like the modern, Oregon Duck-inspired look. Others are less thrilled; a vocal minority has expressed horror at the change.
I neither love nor hate the new look. I like some elements and dislike others. I know I'll get used to them eventually.
However, here are my concerns:
1) All of my Seahawks gear is now obsolete or, at best, "classic." I'm sure Nike is voting for "obsolete" in the hope that I'll mindlessly dash out and pay through the beak to buy new jerseys, T-shirts, hoodies, etc. I won't, both because I like the old look better and because I am not a tool.
2) Seattle overhauled their jerseys more thoroughly than any other team in the league. The Seahawks' willingness to do that betrays both a lack of confidence and an impious refusal to honor the franchise's past achievements.
Long-established teams with distinguished histories retained their classic look, whether that look was excellent (Chicago, Pittsburgh), uninspired (Indianapolis, both New York teams), or downright ugly (Green Bay). Even teams with recent histories of sustained futility, like St. Louis and Oakland, have clung close to the look of their glory days.
The jerseys Seattle just ditched were worn by the greatest teams in franchise history. They adorned the athletes who won a conference championship and five division championships in seven years.
In their two years with the team, Pete Carroll and John Schneider indiscriminately and perversely purged the roster of players from Seattle's Golden Age. They sought not just to upgrade the talent on the field, but--in the spirit of Mao Zedong--to kill off the old team culture and usher in Pete Carroll's Cultural Revolution
Most of the athletes they cut needed to go to make way for younger and better players, but the Great Collaborators erred when they replaced leaders like Hasselbeck and Burleson with inferior players with inferior leadership skills. Moreover, the Cultural Revolutionaries were wrong to assume that there was nothing of value in the team traditions of the Golden Age.
Wise reformers preserve what is good and improve what is deficient, instead of burning an institution to the ground and starting from scratch.
What do we have to show after two years of wholesale roster churn and a clean break with Seattle's past? Two 7-9 seasons, and a team that may be ready to compete seriously next year.
A less radical approach would have yielded success faster. Seattle would have posted a winning record and made the playoffs last year if Carroll and Schneider had simply retained the services of Matt Hasselbeck.
The radical decision to ditch the Golden Age uniforms reflects the same Maoist mentality that has tainted the team's recent personnel decisions.
Pete Carroll and John Schneider could learn a lot about football, life and being a good human being by studying the examples of past Seahawk greats like Dave Brown, Steve Largent, Chuck Knox, Curt Warner, Dave Krieg, John L. Williams, Cortez Kennedy, Walter Jones, Mack Strong and Mike Holmgren.
No comments:
Post a Comment