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Have You Ever Rooted For a Team Just Because of the Uniforms?

Yesterday morning, I asked you fine readers where your fandom came from, and if you rooted for your hometown team(s), what brought about that fanhood. While that piece was uni-adjacent, it wasn’t uni-specific, so today I’d like to ask a somewhat related question: “Have you ever rooted for a team just because of the uniforms?”

I suppose, since this is of course Uni Watch, we’ll be getting a goodly amount of “YES!” answers.

While I went through a rather elaborate setup yesterday, I’ll keep it much simpler today. I already explained how I came to root for the four teams (in the four major sports), and they’re all local teams. And that still holds true. But even at a young age, when my uni watching was still nascent, I was still drawn to a few teams simply because I liked their uniforms. I wouldn’t then, and I still won’t today, root for them if they play my favored teams, but with all else being equal, there were a few teams growing up for whom I always cheered, simply because of their uniforms. This is even more true today: if I have no other preference in a matchup of two teams that aren’t one of my local squads, I will almost always root for the team wearing the better uniform.

From a very early age, I was drawn to the Oakland A’s (this was the early 1970s, as the team was beginning their World Series three-peat from 1972-1974). Although I didn’t see them much on TV — at least not until the playoffs and World Series — I did collect baseball cards voraciously, and of course, like most of you, my family had a subscription to Sports Illustrated (and my pop would occasionally buy a Sporting News). We also subscribed to several newspapers (although all the photographs back then were black and white). So I knew all the uniforms of all the baseball teams. And it being the early-mid 1970s, baseball was going through its polyester revolution, so I was seeing lots of colorful kits, with a lot of powder blue roadies.

We all know Uni Watch’s colors are green and gold (Paul’s favorite colors), but I am also a big fan. And the first team I was drawn to based on their colorful uniforms was the Oakland A’s. They mostly wore gold jerseys with green sleeves, or green jerseys with gold sleeves, but on Sundays they’d go with white jerseys. It was while watching the 1973 World Series where I realized that some on the team wore white caps with green brims, while the rest wore green/gold ones.

I asked my pop about this, and he explained that it was the coaches who wore white caps, while the players stuck to the green/gold. For whatever reason, I thought that was awesome. And so, the A’s became my “second” favorite team, and it was all based on the unis. I also found it very cool that every player had facial hair — some players had full beards, though most just had moustaches. But everyone wore something on their face. So at some point, probably around the age of seven or eight, I begged my dad to buy me an Oakland A’s cap (I think we found one at one of the concessions at Shea Stadium), and for the remainder of the summer, I wore that cap, and affixed masking tape I’d colored black underneath my nose, and pretended to be an Oakland A’s player in my backyard — throwing ball after ball against my Pitch Back.

The other uniform that I fell in love with at a young age was that of the Dallas Cowboys. This was back in the Roger the Dodger era, when the team wore gray pants, not the blue-ish ones they’d later adopt.

I’m not sure what drew me to those uniforms, but I loved them. For a spell, the Pokes became “my” team. I was just a tad to young to remember Super Bowl V, but my pop saved the SI issue recounting that game, and I saw the Cowboys in what was an even better looking uniform, since Dallas was wearing royal blue jerseys.

My father thought this was odd, that I had developed a liking for the Cowboys, explaining as best he could to a seven-year-old that the Cowboys and Giants were rivals, and I shouldn’t be rooting for a “rival.” I never did root for them when they played the Giants, but against anyone else, I was a Cowboys fan. And it was based solely on their uniforms. I cried when they lost Supe X to the Steelers, and rejoiced two years later when they beat the Broncos. It wasn’t until many years later — probably not until Jerry Jones bought the team that I began to dislike the Cowboys (who by then had changed their uniforms for the worse).

As the years went by and I became more and more cognizant of the uniforms teams were wearing, I’d frequently root for whichever team had the most visually appealing uniform. It didn’t matter whether they were a “rival,” or whether they may have had players I liked (or didn’t like), my rooting interests were almost always determined by who was wearing “the better uniform.”

I still feel this way — as you’re all likely aware, when the NFL Playoffs start, I will pick the winner based on the better uniform. Not only was I rooting for the better attired team, I began to notice I’d be rooting based on the uniform the team was wearing at the time: so if I liked a team’s home uniform, but not their roads, that affected my rooting. Back 20-30 years ago, most teams only had two uniforms, but over the years, as we all know, alternate$ have begun to be worn by more teams and more frequently.

This “better uni” actually even affects “my” teams. For example, I will never root against the Mets, but I feel a LOT less badly if they lose when wearing BFBS or their City Connects. It’s almost as if the team has affronted the uniform gods — like, they’re wearing that…no wonder they lost.

So, now it’s your turn, Uni Watchers. Have you ever rooted for a team based simply on the uniform? Or, on the opposite side of the coin, has there been a team with a uniform you so dislike, you’ll cheer for their opponents? Taking it a step further, are any of your current favorite teams your favorite teams solely because you like their uniforms? In a league or sport where you had no rooting interest previously, did you pick “your” team based on their attire? Was there ever a time (like when you were just getting into sports) that you gravitated to a certain club because you saw their uniforms and said “I like THEM!”?

And what about games between two otherwise “neutral” teams? Will you root for one based on how they dress?

Like I said, I’ll never root against my teams because of their uniforms, but I will certainly feel less bad if they lose when wearing something crappy. And I still root for the better looking team whenever my own team isn’t involved.

What about you?

 
  
 
Comments (93)

    Yes, absolutely. When I was a kid, the only soccer I could regularly watch was the Mexican league on Univision. The two teams regularly broadcast there Toluca and Pumas. I was immediately drawn to Pumas because of the gold/navy colors and the gigantic cat head on their shirt. For those that don’t follow soccer, Pumas don’t follow the usual tradition of having a small club badge on the upper part of their shirt, they put it front and center

    link

    I believe the large modern crest on the shirt started in the 60s. The color came from students at the university in the 20s listening to Notre Dame football games on the radio and becoming fans. When they started their teams, they adopted Notre Dame’s colors.

    That’s right. It started in the 40’s for the football team, and stayed for the soccer and all other sports in the university. The actual logo was designed by an art historian and amateur designer named Manuel “Pajarito” Andrade in 1973 and has become iconic.

    The football helmet is simple: the letters UM in blue over gold.

    link

    Here is a summary of the Pumas logo evolution. The cougar face over the ball is so ugly and yet so nice. (link in spanish)

    link

    In spring 1974, I was a 9-going-on-10-year-old baseball fan without a team. A couple of my friends were fans of the Big Red Machine, but I was looking for something different. In my school library, when I paged through the March 18 issue of Sports Illustrated (pp. 26-27), I was immediately taken by a spring training photo of Ron Santo, #10, in the last year of his career and only season with the Sox, wearing this powder blue and red road uniform, and I pretty much instantly became a White Sox fan. I follow the Sox closely to this day.

    In general no but in certain situations yes. I don’t spend a lot of time sitting down to watch baseball on TV. I will take the time to do this during playoffs. So I have a vested interest in seeing uniforms I want to see when I get the chance to watch baseball playoffs. In other words, go San Diego Padres! I watch to watch the beautiful brown and yellow uniforms in fall baseball.

    I picked the Buccaneers as an impressionable 8-year-old when they rebranded in the late 90s. Been a fan ever since.

    Similarly but different I was an impressionable 14 year old in 94’-95’ and the Buccaneers creamsicles (also the fact no one liked them and they started getting exciting young talent) swayed me into liking them quite a bit, the rebrand was a major bummer. While that look has grown on me and was never bad visually, nearly abandoning or featuring the orange was egregious.

    I’m with you. As a little kid, I was drawn to the kelly green and gold A’s and their white spikes. So unique. Also dug the late 70’s Pirates with all their combos and pillbox caps. Was born in Milwaukee, so have always been a Brewers fan. But found my fandom rekindled when they brought back their awesome 80’s ball-in-glove logo a few years ago.

    Grew up in Utah and never really had a team until the Oilers moved and became the Titans. Loved the logos & uniforms and have been a fan ever since.

    Similar for me as well. I’m from Ohio, but my parents were never really into football, and I wasn’t drawn to the the Browns or Bengals, even though they’re the local teams. I have family in Nashville, so I already thought it was pretty cool for them to be getting a team there. Then they introduced the two tone blue, and I was hooked.

    I regularly root for better uniforms. They are how I view matchups – especially for playoff games where my teams are usually out lol. My favorite team as a boy in the 70s was the Bucs, but when they changed uniforms I dipped. Immediately switched to my second favorite team, the Raiders. I just can’t cheer for unis that don’t work for me. The clean old looks for the Reds, White Sox, Falcons, and Steelers all made me like those teams even without any ties to the cities or players.

    The 1980s bad luck blues on the Cowboys were beautiful and my fondness for them made things a little awkward living in the same town as Gibbs, Theismann and Riggo…

    Funny that you used Oakland as the lede photo – they are the perfect example of this! They were a decent team in my youth (Moneyball era), but the main reason they’ve always been one of my favoured teams is due to their uniforms. My high school’s baseball team had Oakland-inspired uniforms due to our school colours being green and gold.

    1000x yes!! It would be easier for me to list the teams I pulled for in *spite* of their attire. (NY Jets) I could make an essay out of this subject, but instead I’ll cite two examples to show how fickle I am.
    I began rooting for the Padres in 1977 after I saw their brown road jersey with the raglan gold sleeves. Then they knocked it out of the park in 1980 by adding orange to the palette. A little bummed in 1985 when they went conservative with the pinstripes, but hey, they were still brown. Then, in 1991, they changed to dark blue: A bridge too far. (This in spite of the fact that the chest graphics on their new uniforms were actually pretty cool) I kicked San Diego to the curb and did not show interest until 2020 when brown triumphantly returned.
    The Astros caught my attention with their wild Tequila Sunrise uniforms (now considered a classic but at the time roundly criticized). In the 1980s they began moving away from it, and in 1993 the entire look of the team was dramatically changed. This happened again in 2000, and once more in 2013. In spite of the reboots and conservative taste, I have always pulled for Houston, and cheered when they took home a pair of championships.
    Logic just doesn’t apply when it comes to a subject so visceral.

    I don’t think I root FOR a team because of their uniforms, but I certainly root AGAINST teams with bad uniforms. As a New York Giants fan, there’s really no reason for me to have any feelings about the Arizona Cardinals, but I pretty actively rooted against them when they had the old ugly uniforms, just because I thought they were a blot on the league. Now that they have slightly better, if a little boring, set, I don’t root against them nearly as often. I’m sure pick a team for some lower-stakes games, (I’ll root for the Patriots when they wear the Pat Patriot throwbacks), but I don’t think I’ve ever let good uniforms determine how I rooted in the playoffs.

    I root against Chicago’s AL team because they don’t wear white socks.
    When they do, I will root for them.

    Those were nice, but they’re not the White Stirrups.
    Look like your logo or change your name.

    The Giants have always been my #1 NFL team (Jersey kid, fandom passed down via my family). However, back in the ‘80’s, I had a poster of all the NFL helmets. Magically, the Saints, Bucs and Chargers became my “other” favorite teams. The helmets were the gateway drug. Once I saw their complete uniforms, I was addicted. Almost 40 years later, the Saints are still my #2 team, and I still have a soft spot for the Bolts and Bucs.

    Awesome…my 2nd team is the Giants, Parcells era white unis hooked me…the Saints are my #1, and I’ve always been fascinated by their use of a black helmet in their first (preseason) game then the switch to gold (which I prefer) for 50 years…not a lot of history on that subject…
    Cool that they play in December

    I picked my college basketball team, UNC, based on the aesthetics of their uniforms.

    I love how you refer to the “polyester era” of the early 70s, when uniforms started to become more colorful and stylish. Bring back pullovers and sansabelts!

    Although I remained a Mets fan (and always wished that they would get with the program regarding more snazzy uniforms; I still do), I loved the Oakland A’s with their multicolored jerseys (and occasional forays into mono-green and mono-gold), the Pirates with their mix-and-match uni combos, the Orioles’ brief excursion into mono-orange (we have Brooks Robinson to thank for that), and of course the Astros with the Tequila Sunrise uniforms they could wear either at home or on the road.

    Ah, the good old uni days…

    I’ll always keep an eye on the Raiders simply because their uniforms are IMO the best in North American sports. I actually think of them as my AFC team because of this…

    I’m not a Raiders fan but I like them, and I wear their gear (shirt and hat) because it makes me look cooler haha

    I’ve found that I can reliably pick a football team to root for in any game I don’t have some other interest in by picking which one has the cooler helmet.

    Also, the best Little League uniforms I ever wore were based on the Oakland A’s, so I’ve always had an affinity to them because of their uniforms. Sadly, even though most of us wore high cuffed pants and stirrups, only two of us would go all the way and wear the gold sanis.

    Every two years at the Olympics, or four years when I was younger, I root for all the individuals and teams that have “USA” on their uniforms. I probably won’t know anything about 95% of those athletes, but I’m rooting for them because those uniforms they are wearing represent us.

    Celtic in the Scottish Premiere League. I bought a jersey for St Patrick’s Day and just started loving them thereafter.

    I alluded to this yesterday, but I think part of the appeal to me of the Seattle Mariners as I was growing up in the 90s were the uniforms. I was on board with every alternate and iteration that they used: the alt hats, the vests, you name it. It was kind of the perfect mix of exciting (and once in a generation, I later realized) players and really hip, contemporary uniforms. I’m glad the M’s have stuck with that look even as they’ve retreated back into obscurity.

    My dad was a SeaBee who admired Staubach and, by extension, rooted for the Cowboys. Not sure he like the uniforms all that much…but he sure liked buying me Sears Wish Book ‘Boys jerseys (had a 12 and a Danny White) -which didn’t make me very popular on my Phillt playground. I still like Dallas’s look though the pants are not shiny and the socks are often all white.
    They’renot my team per se, but I pull for the Bengals (best helmet ever?), and had a fondness for the Oilers (soft spot for Columbia Blue/Sheridan red – my high school’s colors), whose uniforms I enjoy seeing again on the field in Nashville.

    MLB: I’ve cheered for the Phils my whole life, but never liked the mod/maroon pins or away blues, and ain’t all that jazzed about anything they have now except the day game cream alt.
    1980’s ChrisH liked it when the blue-over white Cubbies and the road-pin Padres came to town…and became a closet Marlins fan until they tossed the teal aside.
    USFL: Big/Huge Stars fan, but the Breakers always looked better…I quietly pulled for them from BOS to NO to POR.
    NASCAR: Became a devoted Richard Petty fan at an early age based solely on his color scheme.

    The Houston Oiler “Uni” of NASCAR…

    link

    This car was on display in my hometown when I was a kid, no ropes, you could even lean in to see the inside…
    The King wasn’t there but some of his Pit Crew were present and handed out gobs of STP and 43 stickers…
    That unique paint scheme (Petty Blue and deep red) caught my interest as a racing fan, plus they gave me free merch? Yep, instant 43 fan.

    I don’t root for or against my hometown Red Sox team when they play a home game on a Saturday. I just refuse to watch them because I am offended by the City Connect uniforms they wear that day. The reason for these uniforms are to make more money with another style of hats and shirts to sell. It is in poor taste to profit from the sad memories of those who were injured or killed in a senseless marathon bombing.

    Absolutely and to the point where I feel like my fandoms have permission to change if there is a serious redesign (like the Ducks). Especially since that’s what we’re really rooting for anyway. I never understood the people who didn’t care about the way their teams looked.

    But like I said in the other thread, I have more of a list of teams I’m sympathetic too than one team where I follow closely and that list can rearrange based almost entirely on logos and uniforms.

    Like the clippers just shot way, way up.

    I grew up in a Broncos house but when I was a young kid I loved the Dolphins just because of their uniform. I cried inconsolably when they lost the 1983 Super Bowl (I was 5) and dressed in full Dolphins uniform from the sears catalog for Halloween the next year. As I got older I joined my family in Broncos fandom but the dolphins are still my #2.

    I was around 5 years old when i saw an Orange D with a white horse on it on a blue helmet and have been hooked ever sense. I like the navy and current orange colors better so the first Broncos color rush is my favorite uni of theirs.

    In the early 90s, I lived in Nashville, and would sometimes buy minor league and Negro leagues hats since there were no pro teams in Tennessee. In 1992, I found two new designs for MLB teams that would not take the field until the following year… a black hat with a teal and silver “F” and a fish, and a black hat with an interlocking silver and purple “CR.” I chose the Rockies hat for some reason. A few years later, I moved to Boulder and stayed for 26 years remaining a Rockies fan, along with the other Denver teams.

    Phil, you and I must be about the same age (I am 57), because (other than growing up in the mighty Midwest) I could easily plug my young uni history into your summary!
    In just my first week of being a UW+ member, I have written longer synapses of my uniform interests, so I won’t be full-blown here. But, yes, the multi-uni A’s caught my eye in their Series Dynasty years first because of their color schemes from TV, baseball cards and SI. We lived about 70 miles from Royals Stadium, so the Royals eventually became my forever favorites in early ’77; I loved their light blue road unis from TV games, with the arching KANSAS CITY. Then the Tequila Sunrise Astros grabbed my attention in ’76 and remained my favorite NL team until the Rockies were born in ’93. I still tried to like the Astros, but their move to the AL (and the 2017 sign stealing scandal) left a sour orange taste in my mouth.
    Moving to the NFL, I became a Bucs fan in ’77 when they debuted their orange jerseys, plus I liked their foundation of players with the Selmon brothers, Ricky Bell and Doug Williams. My KC proximity lured me into liking the Chiefs, even when they were bad in the late ’70s-early ’80s, but their home uniforms looked perfect to me and still do! (I prefer the red pants in their road kits.)
    I will add that my Bucs fandom, while filled with mostly horrible seasons during the Bucco Bruce era (1976-96), was given a huge boost of significance when they first hired Tony Dungy in ’96 and overhauled to the red and pewter unis in ’97. I had an orange Bucs jersey (#42 to honor the late Ricky Bell) that I had my mom order me via a McDonald’s offer in fall 1986, but it was relegated to my T-Shirt Hall of Fame. I got my first red jersey (Alstott #40) in ’98.
    I will leave my uni fandom influence there for now, other than seeing how other fans who “Get It” is a blast!

    My brothers are all A’s fans, and I was, too, until 1991. When the White Sox switched to their current look, the black pinstripes got me. It didn’t matter that the A’s had just come off a WS appearance or that the Bash Brothers posters were everywhere in my home. Those White Sox jerseys were the only thing that mattered to 8-year-old me. Also, it helped that WGN showed White Sox games in the Bay Area.

    My teams growing up where Anaheim Ducks, California Angels and SF 49ers.

    Beyond that I rooted for many teams and collected many hats and merch from teams that I liked their jerseys. You could say that is where my Uni obsession started.

    Was a big fan of TB Devil Rays, Colorado Avalanche, TB Bucs.

    But also had a good collections of teams that I just liked their jerseys like the Vancouver Canucks when they switched to the Orca C and the Atlanta Thrashers.

    I’ve mostly rooted for teams despite their uniforms. Among the teams I root for, the Twins and Nats have had pretty terrible uniforms most of the time. A lot of people like the Caps, but they’re bottom ten in the NHL in my book. DC United occasionally looks OK. And so on. Even the US national soccer teams mostly have uniforms I don’t like.

    The one time I did root for a team because of the uniform was as a very young boy in the 1980s when for a few seasons I was both a Pirates and Steelers fan. Loved each team’s look at the time, and had no connection to Pittsburgh. Though we lived briefly in Philly, and it was seeing people wearing each team’s merch that clued me in to how good the teams looked. The Pirates flat-top cap was a bit of a trendy fashion item in that time and place, which is how I got drawn into liking the Pirates.

    Back in the day, FC Barcelona was still “Més que un club” (more than a club) and for a while, that meant they were the only major European club team without uni ads. That plus, in my opinion, gorgeous colors and stripes made me a fan. They’ve long since given in on ads… and at this point, it’d be impossible for me to root for a soccer club based on their uniforms, since I feel like it’s rooting for billboards, often advertising sponsors that I find strongly objectionable. (I could root for other reasons, just not based on uniforms.)

    Perhaps there will come a day where there’s just one team holding out on ads in the NBA or MLB that I could root for. I thought the Celtics, Lakers, Yankees, or Dodgers might be those teams, but obviously not.

    When I was 7 years old my brother and I received the JC Penney Christmas Wishbook ( Remember those ? Google it kiddos )
    in the mail and came across the NFL Merch. The moment I saw the Red and Gold of the San Francisco 49ers I fell in love. To this day in my opinion, they have the most gorgeous uni set in all of football. And I’ve been forever faithful ever since.

    Not quite in the realm of uniforms, but when I was a kid, my dad would regularly have NASCAR races on as background noise. I never paid much attention to it until one day I noticed a bright red and blue with rainbow stripes car on the screen. That day my obsession with Jeff Gordon and NASCAR began. I just happened to luck out on picking one of the most successful drivers of all time as my favorite.

    “Not quite in the realm of uniforms…”
    I consider paint schemes, number fonts (and placement!), etc. as part of athletics aesthetics – so yeah, it counts.
    Never a fan of the 24 or Gordon, but that initial chemical company car was good looking- the flames motif was lesser.

    I’m a little younger but I also have a soft spot for the Oakland A’s despite growing up as a Yankee fan. They were my first Little League team and, at that time (mid-90s), they were the only remaining team wearing white cleats. Apparently because Charlie Finley originally thought they made the players look faster. And I LOVED that fact. Then came Barry Zito and I made sure I got my stirrups low just like he did through HS.

    The A’s were FUN. And the Yankees were not. Now after 14 years living in Queens, I’ll root for the Mets as well. Queens feels different when the Mets are doing well. And as my buddy’s wife put it, everything about my personality screams Mets so it’s funny I’m a Yankee fan. Which I can’t disagree with.

    Fandom is funny. And not that serious.

    That cleat story is cool…
    Haven’t done the research on the following:
    I asked my Dad once during a Penn State game, why do they have “plain, boring” uniforms, even boring black cleats (black shoes not trendy in late 80s)?
    His answer surprised me, noting that he had read somewhere that Joe Paterno made the decision for black cleats to be standard uniform. Supposedly, Joe felt that black cleats, along with socks, made his players appear slow as they ran, which he felt could make opposing players underestimate his team’s speed, causing mis-steps by Penn States opponents. (PState does wear white cleats sometimes, these days, btw)
    Never have looked this up, it was such a cool story, though. Love you, Dad

    Like a lot of today’s comments, long ones tend to end up in the moderation bin until Phil or I can release them. Which we’ve been doing when we can, but he’s on the road right now and I just got back from somewhere.

    I’m about to free it, but a note for all readers:
    If your comment doesn’t publish right away, please be patient and don’t re-type the same comment several times over. Otherwise they end up in the spam folder. The software sees multiple copies and thinks spam.

    Thanks for your patience and sorry for the delay with some of the comments.

    I figured this was the case but I remembered comments “appearing” published even when being under review. It’s been awhile. And my first comment under the new regime. Thank you for responding and thank you for all that you guys have and are doing.

    Yeah, the software is a little different now.
    You’re welcome… and thanks!

    Never my primary teams; I grew up in NW Pennsylvania but my dad bought a satellite dish back when they were 12-ft wide so he could watch his beloved Boston teams. But I picked my other conference teams because of their unis, like the Bears, Pirates, and the NBA Kings when they wore baby blue.

    I moved to CT when I was 9 and fell in love with the Whalers’ logo and uniforms, especially when they had the navy base. I never felt badly about cheering for the Bruins’ “rival” because of that logo, and because of the fact that I’m putting quotes around “rival”.

    Growing up my exposure to any teams was from the three networks’ games of the week.

    I became a fan of the Red Sox because of my dislike for Billy, Reggie, Thurman, The Boss and the rest of the Yankees. By the time I was in high school I began to watch the Braves on TBS and became a fan. Work, family and life in general limited my baseball watching of any team but the Braves, However, in 2003 and freshly divorced, I watch the Red Sox and Yankees in the playoffs and fell in love with the Red Sox all over again. The flame was reignited by the lovely uniforms with red trim; as well as the beautiful green of Fenway Park and stands full of passionate fans in red and blue. So yes, I became a fan again because of the uniform as well as the aesthetics of the ball park.

    I became a fan of the Carolina Panthers because they were close (2-3 hours) from home and their uniforms were beautiful. Their black tops and silver britches reminded me of both the Raiders and the Cowboys (when they wore the lovely blue top without the hideous white shoulders).

    Uniforms do matter as I can’t watch the Sox in yellow, nor the Braves in a uniform from a period of such bad baseball, bumper stickers were often seen throughout the south that said, “Go Braves and take the Falcons with you. I am a big baseball fan and now that I am retired, I try to watch other teams. However, I can seldom watch a team in their CCs.

    The aesthetics of the venue great effect my decision to watch as well. I don’t watch football or baseball in domes and seldom watch games played on artificial turf.

    As a kid watching Aussie Rules football on ESPN in the early 1980’s, I cheered for the team whose Unis were like referees, in black and white vertical stripes. That team is the Collingwood Magpies.
    link

    As a kid in the 80s living in flyover part of the country and bad college football, I gravitated to the Florida schools (mainly Miami, Florida St) STRICTLY for how bad ass they looked in their uniforms on TV. Then we would go nuts when we’d see more in our weekly Sports Illustrateds. When these schools eventually switched to Nike jerseys (think Warrick Dunn years for FSU) it was game over. At 45 years old I still follow the Noles, still have love for Miami. Yea it’s a bit weird.

    I became a Michigan fan because I liked the maize and blue. Much better than the scarlet and gray of Ohio State. I’ve always been a Cardinal fan in baseball, and I love it when they wear their blue caps on the road. My first set of baseball cards was 1972 (I was 9) and I loved the Minnesota Twins button down jerseys that said “Twins” on the front in navy blue. Those photos were from 1971. Then they switched to red in 1972, I never cared for them.

    When I was 10 years old I walked into a sports shop and set eyes on a Charlotte Hornets t-shirt, just a plain grey T with the Hornets logo. It was love at first sight – the logo, the colours – and I spent the next few months spending all my money on whatever American sports magazines I could get my hands on in the hopes of finding some pictures of the uniforms.

    That was almost 35 years ago and I’m still a fan to this day.

    I am (and was) not a Hornets fan, but I definitely recall the allure of their branding when they were freshly created. I was already locked into my Dubs fandom due to my dad having season tix, but I did wish I could wear the Larry Johnson teal jacket that was so popular.

    I also recall a similar experience when the Panthers and Jags entered the NFL- I went into a sports card shop with my dad and somehow they had full-size replicas of the helmets for both teams already, despite them not having played any games, and was immediately struck by how cool and exciting they were.

    October 7, 1990 was the day I fell in love with a uniform.
    It was my first year following the NFL in the UK (Mick Luckhurst on Channel 4) and pre-internet, the only teams I knew were the big popular teams, so I was discovering new teams each week without having an allegiance.
    It was often the mighty 49ers on, going for the threepeat, and that night, I switched on to that fantastic oil rig logo, the white, light blue and red combo in perfect ratios, the Astrodome (wow!) and the run and shoot offence with Warren Moon spraying it around and the Oilers streaking into a 14 point lead.
    I had found my NFL team and it was a heady relationship through an Al Del Greco field goal miss vs my best mate’s Washington team and a certain playoff loss at Buffalo before I went to Uni and it proved too difficult to follow the sport closely.
    It was the full package I loved, but mainly the logo and the unis.

    As a post script, I got back into the sport in 2007 and with the Oilers no more and feleling no affinity to either Nashville or a team calling themselves the Texans, and having then spent time in California ended up the 49ers I am today: the other team on the field that day!

    I’m waiting for Jimmer to confirm that The Houston Oilers is the only correct answer to the question!

    All my favorite teams growing up in Southern California all had great uniforms. USC and UCLA, especially the rivalry football game where they both wore their colored home jerseys. The Dodgers with their classy uniforms, and not electing to wear the pullover/sansabelt look during that era. I loved the Rams blue and white era, and also their blue and yellow. And I loved the Lakers purple and yellow. Even the Angels had great uniforms back when they had the halo on the hat. It’s been more of a mixed bag with the Arizona teams since moving here in 1990. The Cardinals weren’t terrible, until they were. I loved the Suns uniforms when I first moved here, and also tge Barkley era flaming Suns. After that it’s been up and down. The Diamondbacks uniforms haven’t been good, though I now long for their past purple and teal vest uniforms.
    The one team I think I gravitated towards because of their uniform are the SF 49ers. Partly this was because the Rams ownership sucked, Montana was fun to watch, but also I loved their red and gold uniforms.

    I anticipated today’s question in yesterday answer about my early love of the A’s and Steelers. I’ve been fortunate to have all my teams well attired, though the Seahawks are a little more divisive in the Uni-verse, and I tolerate but don’t love the Pittsburgh italic numbers. I have always said that if my team can’t BE good at least they can LOOK good. But I could never be a Titans fan unless they came to their senses and reverted to the Oilers look.

    collecting hockey cards in ’84 as a 9 year old living in toronto area. i became a new jersey devils fan and still am today.

    whew, i lucked out that i never fell for the leafs!

    Kids have the ability to perform some quite unique mental gymnastics, one is having multiple favorite teams was one of mine. I’ve been a Royals fan for as long as I can remember but the “Tequila Sunrise” Astros jerseys was all a child of the 80’s needed in their life, and I quickly adopted them as my other favorite MLB team.
    The Tequila Sunrise jerseys seemed to be made for people who either didn’t care or weren’t old enough to appreciate the classic qualities of traditional baseball jersey styling. It was more than enough to capture me, that and. Nolan Ryan.
    I still have photos from a visit to Cooperstown with me in front of the Astros locker display
    Any and all interest in the Astros quickly faded when the Tequila Sunrise designs were retired, childhood fascinations are a strange thing!

    “…has there been a team with a uniform you so dislike, you’ll cheer for their opponents? “
    I was prepared to join the ‘anybody but Cleveland’ camp when they opted to re-brand…but I think they did a nice job with the Guardians look and have come to like their uniforms quite a bit. Plus I learned to think harder.
    Always thought the Nationals were lazy, scooping up essentially the leftovers the Senators abandoned – but when they dressed that 1 time as the Expos, all was forgiven. Hey, I’m easy.
    I used to not hate the Texans attire…but once they started in with the ‘hey, can we be the Oilers? A few people on social media want us to!” stuff and then invented the whole “H-Town Blue” mythos… I root against them.

    Can’t say I’ve rooted for a team due to their colors and uni’s however… if I’m watching a game that I have no rooting stakes in, o tend to root for the better looking one lol.

    90’s Orlando Magic did it for me. Being from Memphis when Penny got there I was absolutely obsessed

    Being a small child in Mexico I chose the Eagles because they wore green, which I have decided was my favorite color.

    It definitely alters who I root for. For example if a team I like isn’t doing well, but they dress well, I’ll still watch, but if the unis aren’t great and the team isn’t great, meh. Likewise, I wanted to root for the lions because I moved to Michigan a few years ago, but until this year, I found it difficult to actually watch the games because they aren’t my team and the unis sucked. Conversely, if a team comes up with a great new look, I’ll probably root for them or look into getting some merch. Example: the Mets original BFBS inspired me to get not only a black Mets hat but a blue one as well and start to follow the team as best I could from the west coast. The sharks also convinced me to root for them when they showed up in San Jose, despite me generally not caring about hockey.

    I live in Midwest Illinois near U of I. In the late 80’s I sort followed the Chicago Bears at elementary age. In my area for television a lot of Colts games were televised and occasionally they were playing the Bengals. That is where I saw Boomer, James, Icky, Munoz, and Collinsworth. The tiger stripes helmets caught my attention. I began to follow them. My uncle was a Bengals fan until he switched to the Cowboys when they got Troy Aikman. Followed Cincy to Super Bowl 23 and saw the Joe Montana drive that ended the Bengals season. Stuck with the Bengals ever since through all those losing seasons afterwards. So the striped helmet made me switch.

    I love this article Phil, the fact that you had conversations with your dad about uniforms and hats made me happy. Just like you I feel less bad when my mlb team losses in cc.
    But…to answer the question my formative years I saw Tyrone Willingham’s team play on natural grass with the perfect shade of gold and a small shamrock by the neck v. I am from michigan, but was in awe of nd.

    Think about this when I was a kid, I always felt like uniforms attract fans first and second the product on the field. Uniforms attract the fan I say. Think about a cute popular girl is school, cute attractive, but mostly is a heartbreaker, I’ll use that metaphor. When I was about 4 years old and up I was obsessed with the New York Mets, logos, uniforms, and colors. Even when they did the all white in 1997 and then black in 1998. I felt like that was my crush in High School that is very attractive and keeps breaking your heart missing the big World Series win. Then I loved the Marlins colors from the beginning, they were so sweet, but like I said really attractive but breaks your heart after the fact that the team is not consistent. Obsessed with the New York Cityhawks jerseys and logos from Arena Football, still my only favorite to this day in football. The New York Rangers Third Jersey I think 1997 or 1998, became a fan temporarily and then I moved to Tampa where I became a lifelong Lightning fan. My go to is the New York Yankees even though they are traditional and dull, they didn’t break my heart, they kept me happy all these years on the field, through the Mid 90s to now. Didn’t disappoint and was very faithful throughout the good and bad.

    My go to is the New York Yankees even though they are traditional and dull

    Penn State on the road is traditional and dull. Yankees at home are traditional and awesome.

    Overall, though, I like your metaphor.

    I forgot about the Cityhawks. I was a NY Knights guy myself.
    link

    Born in 87. Never really cared much for the NBA beyond Jordan, but as a previous poster shared, Charlotte freaking Hornets.

    How did they do that?

    I’ll also add this, definitely the “Uni-Watch” in me: if I don’t have much of a dog in the fight, I will almost certainly root for the team that made the better uniform DECISION on a given night! That follows my own rules, of course, but the best example I can give you is the NFC Championship: I’ve always appreciated the Lions colors, and when I was a kid growing up they were always the team I beat in the Super Bowl in the back yard because I felt they looked so good. But the second I saw those dreaded and hideously boring plain white pants, I switched and wanted to see the Niners win that game, quite literally for that reason alone.

    Maybe not as a favorite team, but I’ve always had secondary teams because of uniforms I liked.

    The earliest I can remember is the early-1990s Salt Lake Golden Eagles IHL minor league hockey team (link). A farm team of the Calgary Flames, they shared a design based on those gorgeous red-and-yellows that the Flames have been recently been using. Now that’s a hockey uniform.

    Looking back, I’d now say that their crest was lacking, but they were my favorite team to see as visitors to the Peoria Rivermen when I was a kid.

    In baseball I root for good monogram hat logos (St. Paul Saints), especially “Old English” (Tigers, ChiSox). In gridiron football I root for good stripes, helmets, and color blocking. In hockey I root for good crests, good stripes, and good colors.

    I will root against teams wearing uniforms that I really don’t like, especially alternates, in hopes that they’ll be seen as bad luck and avoided.

    There were no professional sports in Seattle when I was a little boy, so I definitely had to look elsewhere for a team to root for. I’ll give credit to the Sears catalog which included vast pages of mostly NFL gear for influencing my allegiance. Those Minnesota Vikings uniforms and helmets were, to me, the absolute greatest. Thus began a lifetime of rooting for laundry as has so aptly been noted here before.

    Baseball cards in the 70’s opened up an entire world of colors and looks etc. I lived near Cincinnati as a kid and they dominated TV games alomg with The Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox etc. But cards allowed us to find out about other teams and other players. I also liked the A’s quite a bit because of their aesthetic, but the team that blew me away was the Milwaukee Brewers. Their uniform sets looked fantastic but they literally never made game of the week. It would only occasionally be This Week in Baseball when you could see them in action. When they later switched to the wheat outfits I was super disappointed, and lost track of them for years. Now they are back (mostly!) and naturally I have paid attention once again.

    This is how I became a Mets fan. I’m from Minnesota and grew up loving the twins, but their uniforms are so so so boring.

    My grandpa—who grew up a giants fan in the 50s when their minor league was the Minneapolis millers—took me to my first Mets game when I was 16. I loved how they looked on the field and learned more about Mets lore. I was hooked. Now I tend to favor the Mets more than the twins, but Still love both.

    I started rooting for the L.A. Raiders in 8th grade, partly because of the uniforms (and disappointment with the Jets after another 5-INT performance by Richard Todd), when I watched a MNF game in Dallas which they won. Then they went and won the Super Bowl that year, so I became a Raiders fan for about 10 years until I finally couldn’t take it anymore. In college I started rooting for the San Antonio Spurs because of their uniforms, but gave up on them (and basketball in general) around the same time. I went back to being a full-fledged Jets fan when they changed their uniforms in 1998.

    When the PLL started the teams did not have city affiliations so this is how I became a fan of the (now) California Redwoods despite living in Boston!

    Yes absolutely! My local Boston big 4 teams have always been my favorites, but I certainly picked my secondary teams based on uniforms (& not having a rivalry with my main 4)
    In my youth I picked NL teams like the Astros Tequila Sunrise & the Mets racing stripes because I loved their look and at the time they weren’t in competition with my Sox, until the devastation of 1986.
    Football wise I always liked the Eagles & Seahawks as a kid because green was & is still my favorite color. Hence I also liked the Northstars back in the day.
    NBA wise the Celtics were my team, they had both Boston & Green covered, so I just liked the Hawks Dominique era uniforms, & later the Hornets look.
    As for college, I always liked FSU based on their great football style & UNC first for a great color combo & then later even more so when they added argyle pattern in the uniform.

    Thanksgiving 1987. Vikings @ Cowboys. Being a Cleveland Browns fan, my fandom wasn’t (and still isn’t) really up for grabs, but that year, with the smell of turkey and mashed potatoes in the air, I decided that I needed a “#2 team” to root for when the Browns weren’t playing. It made sense to my 10-year old self. So I watched the Purple Gang crush the holiday spirits of Cowboys fans, and I decided, “those uniforms are cool. I’m going to root for them except when they play the Browns.” And more or less, that’s been the case ever since.

    I have brothers who as kids picked their NFL teams strictly by their helmets. We had a Cardinal and Viking fan in the family because of it. I learned early on that I was born in Cleveland and went strictly geography and adopted all the teams.

    As a kid it was the Oakland A’s and Raiders, California Golden Seals, the green Atlanta Hawk unis of the Pistol and the 88 Gatorade NASCAR. Oh, I still loved my Cubs, NFL Cards, and NY Knicks, but I really loved a great uniform.

    I saw the Raiders on TV when I was a tyke and fell in love with the uniforms and logo. They are still my favorite team and I live in Cincinnati, Ohio

    Did I?! Absolutely!
    I grew up in the Philadelphia area. Mom is from NYC and is still a Yankees fan. Dad wasn’t much into sports but I fell into the fandom with the local teams. Neighbors were from Pittsburgh and almost got me to like the Steelers. But while I was settling into my fandom, the uniforms of the late 1970s and early 1980s got me.
    MLB (in no order): A’s (green/gold!), Expos (pinwheel caps!), Padres (brown/gold/orange!), Blue Jays (the number font!), Orioles (cartoon bird FTW!)
    NFL: Dolphins (aqua/orange), Rams (all the horns), Chargers (lightning bolts, royal/gold), Bengals (tiger stripes)
    NBA: Sonics (green/gold again!), Suns (purple/orange, weird font), Trailblazers (sash)
    NHL: Nordiques (fleurs-de-lis), Canucks (black/gold V sweaters), North Stars (green/gold again…)

    Original Recipe Expos, the Parc Jarry years. I gritted my teeth through the ’70s over the Cubs road uniforms. (I hate powder blue.) I like that the Bears have had the same uniform for 75 years. For that same reason, even though I don’t follow hockey, the Canadiens.

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