When Under Armour revealed Cincinnati’s uniforms for this past football season, most fans had mixed emotions.
Personally, I liked the design. UA kept many of the aspects of the Bearcats’ Adidas uniforms in place, such as the italic font and the numbers on the shoulders, although they moved them to the top and put the C-Paw on the sides. It was sleek, yet simple, and essentially everything we were expecting from the apparel giant.
One aspect that fostered deep debate within the fan base was the usage of triangles along the knees, neck, shoulders, and down the middle of the helmet. This was, of course, UA’s way of paying homage to the windows along the Lindner Center, UC’s command center for Bearcats athletics that towers over Nippert Stadium. And, like with the rest of the uniform, I was OK with it. The triangles formed the trim of the jersey and wasn’t necessarily the only thing that drew anyone’s eyes.
But now it looks like they’ve gotten a little carried away with it.
It started with Under Armour smothering triangles on nearly every inch of Cincinnati’s homecoming jerseys. While that was a one-time thing and they continued to keep it simple with the Bearcats’ regular basketball jerseys, it appears they’re going ultra-triangle yet again with UC’s special season finale uniforms against SMU next Sunday.
Ok, a couple of things.
Firstly, what was Under Armour thinking with these uniforms? How exactly are they “special”? They added triangles at the bottom? Really? I mean, I’ve been one to praise UA for not going over the top like Adidas and their zubaz disasters. But was adding a layer of triangles at the bottom of the uniforms the best thing the the brain trust working with Cincinnati could come up with? Man is that disappointing.
Secondly, the Lindner Center is certainly an athletics monument in the middle of UC’s campus. But in no way is it the cornerstone of both programs. It’s not the one thing that defines Bearcats football and basketball. It is what is it; a building. It’s not like the bricks surrounding the football field that have been there since the early 1900’s or the Oscar Robertson statue outside of Fifth Third Arena.
The Lindner Center just happens to have a unique design on its exterior and sits next to Nippert Stadium. We don’t need to be constantly reminded of it by Under Armour plastering it on literally every single thing UC’s teams wear. Even more so, it doesn’t need to be their go-to design for special jerseys. Use the bricks, use the Leonard Baehr statue again, use the Oscar Robertson statue, bring back the cat scratches or blocks. Use all of them at once on a single jersey, I don’t care!
At least for my sanity stop with all the triangles!