Nats Uniform Changes Coming Nov. 18

[BallWonk]

A source at the Nationals' team store has told the Nats Fan Club that the team will be "switching around" its uniforms and debuting them on Nov. 18.

Anyone know whether "switching around" means something minor like new patches, or something major like swapping home/away colors or new scripts?

[DG_ThenNowForever]

I bet they'll go to all blue. That should satisfay the DC politicos.

[Blackjack76]

Nothing at all major. Removing patches, focusing on the "DC" cap a bit more, adding alternates. Everything most teams do. The primary caps, logos and uniforms all stay the same.

[Chiefster2000]

Lets hope they look more like the Senators uniforms.

[fiasco!]

they should go with red aways when they play in red states and blue aways when they play in blue states, imo.

[RickV]

I just hope they "become" the Senators, when the new ownership group is put into place.

[teenchy]

I hope they don't lose the pretzel "W" caps; I bought a road one before Opening Day and I'm still rocking my old Senators red one from the '70s. ("Nasty Nats," indeed. )

Even moreso, I hope the franchise continues forward. The continued foot-dragging on naming an owner (really, how far does Reinsdorf have his hand up puppet Selig's arse?), the suggestion to the coaching staff to seek jobs elsewhere, Bowden's overtures to the Red Sox (not that I'd miss him) - it all makes me wonder whether the Nationals will ever be sold or if MLB will recoup as much money as possible from DC fans before folding the tent.

[Cyclopsis Joe]

they should go with red aways when they play in red states and blue aways when they play in blue states, imo.

That is an awesome idea.

[pcgd]

Personally, I'd like to see them drop the Red look All together. The Angels too.

If you've been here for more than a month you'll know why I feel this way.

[Blackjack76]

they should go with red aways when they play in red states and blue aways when they play in blue states, imo.

That is an awesome idea.

Agreed. That's why I am sad that the New Hampshire Fisher Cats didn't stick with the "Primaries." The possibilities were endless. For instance, copying the Modesto Nuts, one cap with Democrat Donkey (for Blue states games); Republican Elephant cap in Red states.

[BallWonk]

they should go with red aways when they play in red states and blue aways when they play in blue states, imo.

Keeping track of which states are which might be hard.

My preference has been that they wear red at home, blue on the road when a Republican is in the White House, the reverse when/if there is a Democrat in the White House. It would be a great local tradition that would completely mystify non-Nats fans.

And hopefully the TV news networks would oblige the Nationals and make that tradition even more mystifying by returning to the age-old practice where blue stands for the incumbent party, red for the opposition party, not for Democrat or Republican. (Thus Reagan painted the map red in 1980, but painted it blue in 1984, and in 1992 the red states were the ones that voted for Clinton.)

[Roger Clemente]

they should go with red aways when they play in red states and blue aways when they play in blue states, imo.

Keeping track of which states are which might be hard.

My preference has been that they wear red at home, blue on the road when a Republican is in the White House, the reverse when/if there is a Democrat in the White House. It would be a great local tradition that would completely mystify non-Nats fans.

And hopefully the TV news networks would oblige the Nationals and make that tradition even more mystifying by returning to the age-old practice where blue stands for the incumbent party, red for the opposition party, not for Democrat or Republican. (Thus Reagan painted the map red in 1980, but painted it blue in 1984, and in 1992 the red states were the ones that voted for Clinton.)

What if the Green Party wins? (Hey...it could happen! Hell, Ludwig Scotty is still in power.)

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

My preference has been that they wear red at home, blue on the road when a Republican is in the White House, the reverse when/if there is a Democrat in the White House. It would be a great local tradition that would completely mystify non-Nats fans.

Wow. That's genius. I never considered how much potential was inherent in an intensely politicized city like DC. Seriously, that is a wonderful idea and anyone in charge of the Nats should pay attention.

That said, I read on some website yesterday of Democrat floating ideas about sponsoring a NASCAR. Could you imagine? A DNC car with a pissed-off (or cowering, depending on the week ) donkey would be too much.

The Nationals have always been politicized and always will. Perhaps they should have chosen different primary colors, huh? It's worked for the Wiz, Caps, and Skins.

[DrBear]

And hopefully the TV news networks would oblige the Nationals and make that tradition even more mystifying by returning to the age-old practice where blue stands for the incumbent party, red for the opposition party, not for Democrat or Republican.

What if the Green Party wins? (Hey...it could happen! Hell, Ludwig Scotty is still in power.)

If the Green Party wins, the Nats break out the St. Patrick's Day uniforms

And when Ross Perot ran against Bush and Clinton, the networks were going to use green if he won any states.

And it was different in the past - when NBC was the first to use the big map with the colored states in 76, Ford ® was blue, Carter (D) was red, which enabled Ford, a Michigan alum, to yell "Go Blue!" whenever he won a state.

I think the current red/blue is because Republican starts with R.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Wow. A thread involving political symbolism that hasn't descended into partisan bickering. I'm really impressed by this board and its residents.

[BallWonk]

I think the current red/blue is because Republican starts with R.

No, it's because the incumbent president was a Democrat in 2000, so states that voted Democratic were blue. States that voted Republican, the non-incumbent party, were red. Then, when a near tie put the popular-vote loser into the White House, commentators latched onto the colors on the map to describe deeper political/cultural divisions in America, where somehow the 2 percent of Americans who don't believe in God make up half the electorate and the 20 percent who live in the countryside make up the other half. It's all a bunch of hokum and nonsense, but the labels "red state" and "blue state" stuck, so most networks broke with tradition and kept red for Republicans, blue for Democrats on their 2004 maps, even though blue traditionally represents the incumbent. (Thus Ford was blue in 1976, Carter in 1980, and Reagan in 1984.)

If, say, Bob Dole had won in 1996, and then Al Gore finished second in a nearly tied popular vote but won the electoral college in 2000, we'd be talking about all the "liberal red states" and the "conservative blue states" right now. The idiomatic assignment of color to party was an accident of peculiar historical circumstances.

Of course, the real problem with the whole thing is that white gets no respect. White has 50 stars and 6 stripes on our flag, but does anyone make white their team color? Does anyone talk about "white states" at election time? Noooooooo. It's all red this, blue that, and green if we need a third color. But we don't need a third! We've already got white! Maybe the Nats need more white. In fact, white is the only truly American color on the flag: the first national banners were made by taking the British ensign and sewing six white strips on the red part to make 13 stripes. The red and blue are just English hand-me-downs. Might as well just take up cricket, snooker, and crumpets as ignore the white in the red-white-and-blue.

(Kidding about that last bit: cricket is no more mind-suckingly dull than American football, televised snooker is actually more addictive than crack cocaine, and whatever crumpets are they're probably better than biscotti.)

[Gothamite]

Interesting.

I'd say that the Cowboys and Redskins have made white their team color after a fashion, since they wear it for home games.

[ElwoodCuse]

I saw posted on another board a while ago that they are going to have a third jersey that's all red with DC on one breast and a number on the other. The hat will be red with the DC logo.

[leopard88]

The idiomatic assignment of color to party was an accident of peculiar historical circumstances.

The real irony about the "peculiar historical circumstances" mentioned by BallWonk is that the Republicans are now associated with the color of COMMUNISM!!

[The_Admiral]

I saw posted on another board a while ago that they are going to have a third jersey that's all red with DC on one breast and a number on the other. The hat will be red with the DC logo.

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