FanPost

Count Your Blessings, Georgia Fans

Georgia's slight re-branding at the hands of uniform provider Nike was met with some serious grumbles from members of the Bulldog Nation when the corporate giant announced a new font called "Bulldog Bold" to be emblazoned upon most UGA athletic teams' uniforms back in the spring of 2013. Bulldogs are a stubborn breed, after all. Why change to this futuristic new script when the old block letters work just fine?

After a bit of minor grumbling myself, I came to find the font makeover aesthetically appealing, especially in men's basketball, as Kenny Gaines demonstrates below:

kenny-gaines-ncaa-basketball-troy-georgia-850x560.0.jpg

Softball is another look I really like. Let Chelsea Wilkinson show you how the black letters look on a red jersey:

10020928.0.0.jpeg

I'm not one to believe that the football team lost to Alabama in 2008 because of the black jerseys or to Boise State in 2011 because of the Power Ranger costumes, but I do believe that a sports team acquires a certain aura from its uniform and that it should embrace the look for which it's known. How many iconic sports franchises can you think of that wear gimmick jerseys on a regular basis? I mean, could you see the Pittsburgh Steelers (recipients of a new jersey font back in the 90s themselves) going for the makeover that the Jacksonville Jaguars received in recent history? It gives me great pride that the University of Georgia's athletic teams sport some of the most recognizable uniforms in collegiate athletics, particularly in football, and that the Dawgs' sojourns into non-standard uniforms have been limited to one-night affairs and occur on a very limited basis.

Constantly voted as one of the most attractive uniforms in college football, the red (or white) jerseys with red helmets and silver britches (seriously, when are we getting the real silver back?), is nothing if not iconic. Something about the silver britches, which were first introduced by Coach Wally Butts in 1939, just sets the Dawgs' uniforms over the top. Sure, the uniforms have been tinkered with over the years: the Dawgs first donned their now-famous red helmets in 1964, Coach Vince Dooley's first season; that same year, the silver britches were replaced by white until 1980; the Dawgs even wore red pants on the road at times during Coach Dooley's tenure, as Buck Belue and Herschel Walker will model for you below:

herschel-walker-tennessee-red-pants.0.jpg

I love the silver britches and want them to be a constant part of the uniform, but wouldn't mind seeing these bad boys make a cameo in Knoxville from time to time.

So by this point, it's pretty clear that Georgia has played it safe throughout its illustrious uniform history, making sweeping changes only once in a rare while. For those of you who so vocally opposed Georgia's switch to "Bulldog Bold," allow me to demonstrate Exhibit A. In short, adidas has lost its mind. I suppose that explains why so many teams, including the SEC's Tennessee Volunteers, have jumped uniform ships over the past few years. These guys at adidas have been putting some classic teams in some not-so-classic duds lately.

Take a look at the list of traditional college football powerhouses being dressed up like middle school also-rans by the German multinational: Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, UCLA, Wisconsin... Thankfully, Michigan and Notre Dame came to their senses and found alternate uniform providers. Even Northwestern, a team that went all-out goth with Under Armour in 2014, found adidas's treatment of their football uniform so heinous that they found a new partner prior to last season.

If you still have Exhibit A open in your browser, do not even look at the college basketball uniforms that our friends at adidas have puked up over the past few years. Just don't. Programs like Kansas should not look like something out of a bad acid trip when March comes around.

I guess what I'm getting at is a team can look like it's 2015 without looking like drunken Dee Snider on a spopping spree in the Sports Authority.

Look at Nick Chubb donning one of college football's classic looks as he finds his way to the end zone past some adidas-clad guys who look like they just got turned down for the role of Darth Vader in a Star Wars fan film of which Chris Conley would not approve:

100wFZ.So.138.0.jpeg

Take a look at this photo and guess which team belongs in the Belk Bowl and which one drew the short straw on selection day. Georgia is a traditional football powerhouse with a timeless look. Louisville is, well, building a tradition of their own, but it's not the kind of tradition with which I want my team to be associated. At least Auburn will now have some healthy competition in their almost annual Dumpster Diving Olympics.

The winds of change will inevitably blow, and uniforms have no immunity to this. If you're still not happy with Georgia's slight re-brand and enjoy complaining about the occasional deviation from the jersey norm, think of the less fortunate. Look what adidas is trying to do to poor Nebraska. Embrace the Bulldog Bold and join me in patiently waiting for those real silver britches to return.

FanPosts are generated by Dawg Sports readers and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Dawg Sports staff or SB Nation.