Team Colour Meanings

[Korkie]

I'd love for an owner to just be like: "We picked these colors because I am the owner and I like them. Next question..."

[hecticbro]

I love some of the goofy, contrived explanations teams come up with for their color schemes.

[Gothamite]

Getting back to a real reason for choosing team colors, the Brewers inherited their blue and gold from the Seattle Pilots. Bud Selig bought the team one week before Opening Day, and there was no time to change anything more than sewing new letters across the front.

The story goes that the trucks, on the way back from Spring Training, were waiting in Idaho for a phone call telling them to turn east or west....

If Selig had time to make changes, or if he had been granted an expansion franchise, he would have chosen the traditional navy and red of the minor league Brewers team.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

The Denver Nuggets have their current colors because GM Kiki Vandeweghe went to UCLA and wanted to instill winning colors on the Nuggets.

I think co-opting another program's colors is kind of lame, but seems to happen very frequently (the Packers, as mentioned above, etc.).

[ColeJ]

I'd love for an owner to just be like: "We picked these colors because I am the owner and I like them. Next question..."

again... that's exactly what bud adams did with the houston oilers.

[Gothamite]

Atlanta Midnight Blue: "Inspired by the nighttime sky of one of the nation's premier cities."

UMBRIEL: No! Ancient Atlanta was more than just a Delta hub. It was a vibrant metropolis, the equal of Paris or New York.

FRY: That's right, honey! Whatever you say.

</futurama>

[roxfan00]

The Colorado Rockies use purple because of the mountains....they look purple with the sun beaming off of them.

[Gothamite]

You mean above the fruited plain?

[cleckie]

The Canucks original white, blue and green jerseys represented the white snow capped mountains, blue for the ocean, and green for the forests.

[Korkie]

I'd love for an owner to just be like: "We picked these colors because I am the owner and I like them. Next question..."

again... that's exactly what bud adams did with the houston oilers.

Sorry about that, I am at work and didn't get the chance to read every post in depth. In that case, Bud Adams has good taste in colors, since I love the Columbia/Red combo for the Oilers.

[EatSleepJeep]

The Sharks teal white and black reflects the fickle taste of the times and pays homage to miami vice...

[powersurge]

I'd love to hear a story like:

The Cleveland Browns got their colors because the owner loved eating chocolate and drinking orange juice on game day...

That would be humorous.

[KevinMcD]

I'd love to hear a story like:

The Cleveland Browns got their colors because the owner loved eating chocolate and drinking orange juice on game day...

That would be humorous.

Well, I think the Browns are called the Browns because of their forst coach Paul Brown. But I don't know why they use orange.

[powersurge]

I'd love to hear a story like:

The Cleveland Browns got their colors because the owner loved eating chocolate and drinking orange juice on game day...

That would be humorous.

Well, I think the Browns are called the Browns because of their forst coach Paul Brown. But I don't know why they use orange.

ORANGE you glad they're not called the Pauls?

UGH! That was horrible!!! but I couldn't help it.

[Discrim]

most teams wear their colors because they think they'll sell merch. lol

...

stars wear green, gold, and black, because the north stars did... and they only added black, because black is fashionable.

that, and they'd intended to switch to black jerseys about a decade before they actually did, but decided to keep their green jerseys around after they surprised even themselves by making it to the 81 Cup finals. The home whites did change, however, adding black striping and trim.

and now some soccer kit origins...Mexico's CD Guadalajara, the Chivas, are well known for many things, among them their policy of only hiring Mexican players. Their kit consists of a red and white striped shirt, blue shorts and white socks, which ironically were modeled after a foreign team, Club Brugge of Belgium. Why them? Simple, the founder of Chivas' original incarnation was Belgian. Brugge later changed its kit to one similar to Inter Milan (blue and black stripes).

And then there's the famed story of Juventus' bianconeri...Juve's first uniform included pink shirts, but the color faded so badly that they asked one of their players, who happened to be from England, to find new shirts that would better withstand the elements. The Englishman had a friend in Nottingham who was able to supply Juve with Notts County's black and white stripes, and you know the rest of the story.

Atletico de Madrid, like Chivas, wears red and white stripes, though not for the same reason. their supporters call Atletico "the mattressmakers" due to the most popular legend of their shirt's origin legend has it that they needed new shirts, and simply bought scrap material from a mattress company on the cheap. said material happened to consist of red and white stripes. before then, they had worn blue and white stripes, as they were originally a branch of Athletic de Bilbao, who would later make the same change.

and Gothamite, I can't believe you forgot to mention Arsenal anyway, the story of their red shirt with white sleeves is well known in England...when Arsenal was formed, some of their players were former members of Nottingham Forest, and they were able to convince Forest to donate some red shirts to the new club, then known as Dial Square (basically they were the redcurrant shade they used last season). In the 1930s, Arsenal's manager Herbert Chapman happened to notice a groundskeeper who was wearing a red vest over a white shirt and got the idea to dress his players in similar fashion. Except for last season and a one-year switch to solid red, Arsenal has worn the white-sleeved red shirts since 1934.

Goin back to Mexico, I turn my attention to las Pumas de la UNAM. The Pumas' colors and name were inspired by the school's football team, los Pumas Dorados, who wore blue and gold in homage to Notre Damers who introduced UNAM to football. Pumas' shirts are unique in that instead of a small club crest and a sponsor front and center like everybody else, theirs has their puma logo on front, hockey style, to remind their opponents they aint playing a normal team. UNAM's uniform styles change often, but the big puma head's the constant.

[winghaz]

North Dakota State has green and yellow -- green for the prairie grass, yellow for the waves of grain.

I believe all the Universities of California (Cal, UCLA, UC Davis, etc.) have a form of blue and gold as blue for the Pacific Ocean, gold for there's gold in them thar hills, leading up to the name Golden State.

Other colleges have colors of minerals found in their states. The University of Montana has copper and silver. The University of Colorado has gold and silver (where the black comes in, I don't know).

[Shumway]

The Detroit Lions are now are black and blue because they got served by the Forty Niners this weekend.

Actually, I'm gonna throw out a guess and say they're blue and silver because of the ford logo?

[hecticbro]

Do all the UC schools also use some form of bear as their mascot? I know about the Bruins and the Golden Bears, but I can't remember any others.

[IceCap]

Capitol Copper: "Inspired by the warmth and friendliness of the 'Capitol of the South'."

Richmond?

[Shumway]

Do all the UC schools also use some form of bear as their mascot? I know about the Bruins and the Golden Bears, but I can't remember any others.

No, Irvine is the Anteaters, Santa Monica or Barbara is the Banana Slugs. Those are the only two branches I can think of, although I think there are other non-bear mascots.