The Terps held their annual Spring football game on Saturday, but the biggest news was the unveiling of thier new threads. I first heard about the change from loyal reader E. Nelson of Baltimore, MD on Sunday, but wasn't able to confirm the change until today. The biggest difference between these new unis and the old (which are actually only a few years old; the news uniforms coming as part of a new apparel contract with Under Armor) is the change from stylized numbers to traditional block numbers, the loss of the throwback (and very cool) shoulder stripes and a more extensive use of black.To be honest, when I first heard that the Terps were changing their unis I feared that black would make more of an appearance, possibly as the main jersey color or the color of the helmet. So I was somewhat relieved by these new duds. In fact, I like the black and gold piping on the jersey, and the addition of the black seam stripe is not bad, just ordinary. Note the addition of a MD flag on the shoulder, also a good move. The jersey looks alot like Miami's jersey's, which isn't bad in and of itself, but I'd like to see something more original. The change from red to black pant stripes (which remained modern) is okay, probaby because of the gold piping around the stripe. I do lament the loss of the shoulder stripes, which I felt, coupled with the modern pant stripes, helped to create a fresh look. I'm generally oppossed to stylized numbers, but these block numbers just look boring on such a dynamic unfirom.
Most importantly, perhaps, is the fact that no change was made to the helmet, which is one of the cooler helmets in college football. So, all in all, these are changes that I can live with. And considering how often uniform changes go from bad to worse (see Bengals, Cincinnati), the new Terps unis are actually pretty good.
Tony
