A Change.org Petition for the Eagles to Bring Back Kelly Green Has Over 4,000 Signatures
I’ve always thought that the online petition was sort of like the phony Craigslist posting in the interweb hierarchy– a low-hanging fruit story for bloggers and news outlets, and a legitimization of something that is either, in the grand scheme of things, frivolous or, well, illegitimate. But sometimes, they actually make sense. And what better way to get Jeffrey Lurie’s attention about switching back to Kelly Green uniforms than by starting a Change.org petition and then having local Philly outlets write about it?
Twitterer and Zoo With Roy contributor Cranekicker has called attention to a petition for the Eagles to switch back to Kelly Green that has over 4,000 signatures already, mine included. It reads: We are not asking for throwback uniforms; a modern uniform design is appropriate, but Kelly Green should be the official color. It's more representative of our legacy, and the franchise is going through major changes that should be reflected by a change in our image as well.
The petition has already gotten some love from Philly.com's blog with a similar banner and FOX 29 (and now the best sports blog ever), and I’m sure will pick up more steam today.
The call for Kelly Green is nothing new. The Midnight Green color scheme, championed by Earth-sexer Christina Lurie, has run its course. Hell, I pleaded for the change over a year ago, and ever since the Luries announced their divorce, which reportedly left Christina with no management authority over the team, the calls – on Twitter, specifically – have gotten louder. A hurdle, though: Making substantial changes to logos or uniforms in the NFL is two-year process, which means that unless the Eagles submitted the change in 2011, we likely won’t see new uniforms in 2013. It’s possible that they did, but our uniform geek Dan Fuller* tells me that those things usually leak out and, to date, there have been no leaks related to the Eagles. So, we would likely be looking at 2014 at the earliest. [There is nothing concrete in the rule book about this, so it’s entirely possible it’s more of a “guideline” than a hard and fast rule.]
I’d like to see the Eagles get creative with Nike, who began making NFL uniforms last year. At a way-too-hyped event in New York, the company unveiled the future… and only the Seahawks made any radical changes to their design. The Eagles should follow suit. It doesn’t mean much that Chip Kelly came from Oregon, which literally had a new getup each game thanks to being Nike co-founder Phil Knight’s alma mater, but the direct connection from the coach, last name Kelly, to Knight doesn't hurt the potential for a radical shift to Kelly Green uniforms.
But no need for throwbacks. Any change should be modern and take advantage of having the evil geniuses at Nike at the ready.
*I asked Dan if he wanted to handle this post, but upon hearing about the petition, he locked himself in a dark room with a box of tissues and this SI For Kids cover. Weird.