Mid-Atlantic Proud

Mid-Atlantic Proud

As Kyle announced, with the wider coverage area of CB, what better time for a primer on The Mid-Atlantic’s uniforms. We’ll start with the DC professional teams, then check out the colleges after lunch, then close out with Baltimore, the Detroit of the East Coast, as we wrap up our exciting first day of the NEW Crossing Broad. As Kyle said, every city has a Broad Street.

The pro teams of Washington, D.C., despite some historical missteps (shown below), try to pull off what Pittsburgh does, using the same color scheme for all sports. Of course, it’s the nation’s capital, so, of course, that color scheme is red, white, and blue. Well, three of the four teams use that palette. The one outlier, the Redskins, uses their own color scheme and are named after and use the symbol of a group with a long, storied history of goodwill, compassion, and mutual benefit with the Federal government.

The Capitals
For most of the Capitals’ existence, they had an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” classic uniform. Bold colors (which don’t run), striking contrast, a visual pun (the “L” is a hockey stick!), and even oh-so-perfect stars on the hem of the pants. Because the 70s. In the mid-90s, they decided a team in the nation’s capital would be best represented with black, gold, and a whole lot of slightly teal-ish blue. Thankfully that design went the way of the line-item veto for the 2007 season. (ok, ok, the line-item veto was struck down way back in 1998, but let me have this one. How often does CB make political jokes that aren’t Kyle doing/saying something un-Republican then reminding everyone he voted for Romney?).

caps Click to enlarge.

The Wizards
(formerly the Bullets… in Washington, D.C… oh, to live in a simpler time, when teams could be named after firearm paraphernalia. Wait, they changed to the Wizards in 1997, not 1967? That’s around the same time as Justice John Paul Stevens delivered the majority opinion declaring the line-item veto was unconstitutional because it violated the presentment clause! I’ll be here all, day folks). Take the Bullets most iconic design, re-work it for the new team name, and boom, red, white, and blue are all back in action after a brief foray into royal blue, black, and gold/orange, which led to one of the most subtly bizarre alternate uniforms in US sports history. Of course, the blue era was also the MJ era in Washington. It’s easy to forget that he was one of the most important figures in DC sports history, and he was wearing a generally nondescript uniform during his glory years. For completeness, I’ll point out that the Wizards uniforms are so loudly screaming “retro,” the template would be better as an alternate. There’s reason the Astros tequila sunrise classics are only used an as inspiration point instead of a full-time uniform.

wizards

Click to enlarge.

The Nationals
Despite existing as The Nationals for less than a decade (we’ll omit their Canadian heritage, here), they’ve had a number of subtle uniform changes. Nothing too drastic, but slow changes that make it so only the colors and curled “W” logo remain from their launch. There’s not much to say here other than it would have a place next to “standard baseball uniform” in the dictionary. It’s iconic in its classic-ness.

natsClick to enlarge.

The Redskins
It’s not red, white, and blue, but I’ve called their maroon over yellow combination the best uniform in the NFL, so it has that going for it. Of course, with our new coverage area, I may have to compromise my principles and actually start calling the colors “burgundy” and “gold…” when they are anything but. Also, we’ll save discussion of the controversy surrounding their name closer to football season.

redskinsClick to enlarge.

What’s your favorite? Let us know in the comments! Let’s get the re-launch started off right!