Clippers should ditch the blue

[Guest]

I like the Clippers, but being superstitious I think they should ditch the blue and go with black instead. (I suppose the Atlanta Hawks should think about doing the same thing.)
I always liked the Clippers logo even though it was clearly derivated from the Lakers logo, and the 1987-2010 Clippers jerseys were reminiscent of Michael Jordan's rookie year away jerseys, so why not go all the way?

(Clippers court original by Weatherman)



11 teams with blue in their uniforms have made the NBA Finals and won: Rochester Royals, Minneapolis Lakers, Syracuse Nationals, Philadelphia Warriors, St. Louis Hawks, NY Knicks, Golden State Warriors, Washington Bullets, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons, and the Dallas Mavericks. Out of those teams, only the Bullets, 76ers, Pistons, and Mavs have won since 1976 (37 years); and only the Pistons and the Mavs have won since 1984 (29 years).

15 teams with blue in their uniforms have made the NBA Finals and lost: NY Knicks, Syracuse Nationals, Ft. Wayne Pistons, St. Louis Hawks, Minneapolis Lakers, Los Angeles Lakers, San Francisco Warriors, Baltimore Bullets, Washington Bullets, Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers, Detroit Pistons, Dallas Mavericks, OKC Thunder.

If you exclude the Pistons, only the Knicks, Mavs and Magic have made multiple appearances since 1984 (twice each), and of those only the Mavs have actually won.

It's interesting to note that the Lakers have both won and lost in Minneapolis while wearing blue, and have both won and lost in Los Angeles wearing purple and gold, but have never won in LA wearing blue. And while it might have been called "Forum Blue," it's still purple to me.

So basically what I'm trying to say is that, unless the Clippers are going to start wearing purple and gold like the Lakers or green like the Celtics, they should ditch the 76ers' red, white and blue and go with red and black like the Bulls. (Yeah, it's totally random and arbitrary but it's fun, no?)

[Lights Out]

As a fan, if they ever change colors, I would prefer they go back to the San Diego-era powder blue and red-orange:

At least that color scheme is tied to the franchise's history, as opposed to trying to look like another team, like you're proposing.

[Guest]

Actually, I wouldn't mind if they go back the the Buffalo Braves scheme/colors. The orangish-red ones, that is: not the blue ones, even though the blue ones look tight. Unless they changed colors, i.e., take the McAdoo jersey but make it red (orange, whatever).

My whole point was that I believe red and black is more menacing-looking than red and blue, and not that blue is bad luck, but just not as badass. (Except for the Detroit Bad Boys). Anecdotally, the Dodgers haven't won the World Series since 1988, and even the the Navy Blue that the Yankees and Red Sox wear is closer to black than actual blue. It's been 20 years since the Blue Jays won, and 18 since the Braves won. (Marlins won in wearing teal, so that's could go either way.) Mets, Royals, Indians and Cubs haven't won it all in a while (poor Cubs fans); the Rangers (who can't decide whether it wants to wear red, blue or red and blue) and the Rays have only three combined appearances but no win, while the Mariners and the current version of the Senators have yet to make an appearance at the Fall Classic.

Your jerseys look awesome, in addition to a throwback to the San Diego colors, it also reminds me of the fun colors of the Miami Marlins, Miami Floridians (not the same colors, but rather the fun factor) and the fictitious Flint Tropics of the ABA. But, based on absolutely nothing whatsoever, is that perhaps having black will help them mentally focus harder better than the blue, and while looking good is always a plus, winning and going all the way is even sweeter. (Hopefully the Clips can do both.)

[goforbroke]

There's already a few red and black teams : bulls blazers raptors. Even tough the clippers are only primary red and royal blue it happens to be a unique color scheme in the nba - (unless

I'm forgetting I think only sixers have it- just remarried pistons although they are more blue and white with red trim. Clips are a true red and blue team. . Plus the light blue is too sweet to give up.

[McCall]

So are you seriously saying they should change simply because a blue team hasn't won as many championships recently? Like the color actually has something to do with it?

[aph7824]

So are you seriously saying they should change simply because a blue team hasn't won as many championships recently? Like the color actually has something to do with it?

look good, feel good, do good.

okay. okay. i joke.

I'm with the others. dig deep into the franchise history and doing something with that.

[roldy54]

I think the only thing that looks reasonably well with the black replacement is the Clippers script. The rest just doesn't seem to work for me.

The Dallas Mavericks just won a championship 2 years ago, so I don't know why the blue color is such a superstition. Seems much more like a very minor stition if anything

[BrandMooreArt]

i don't believe you can ever go wrong with black, red, and white. but in real world application i'm sure everyone would say "oh no, we look like the Bulls!". you dont want to change it so it looks like another team in the same league, but this package on it's own looks really good

[Guest]

There's already a few red and black teams : bulls blazers raptors. Even tough the clippers are only primary red and royal blue it happens to be a unique color scheme in the nba - (unless

I'm forgetting I think only sixers have it- just remarried pistons although they are more blue and white with red trim. Clips are a true red and blue team. . Plus the light blue is too sweet to give up.

I agree, though I like the LA Stars ABA throwback even better.

So are you seriously saying they should change simply because a blue team hasn't won as many championships recently? Like the color actually has something to do with it?

Couldn't hurt to try. Good players/coaches/owners, few/no injuries, no blackmailed referees and a hot shooting streak can all lead to a title run. It might be a coincidence that many of them happen to not wear blue. LeBron's blue jersey in Cleveland was great, but he lost against the Spurs. Chalk it up to bad refereeing or LeBron choking or the Spurs simply being as good as the Spurs are, but they did wear blue. As the funny Bud Light commercial goes, "it's only weird if it doesn't work." Notable exceptions off the top of my head: UCLA basketball (though not in recent years), Duke Blue Devils, NC Tarheels, Florida....I take that back, I guess it's easier to win in college with just one superstar that the color doesn't matter. New England Patriots, NY football Giants and that's all I can remember.

I think the only thing that looks reasonably well with the black replacement is the Clippers script. The rest just doesn't seem to work for me.

The Dallas Mavericks just won a championship 2 years ago, so I don't know why the blue color is such a superstition. Seems much more like a very minor stition if anything

My bad. Poor choice of words. I guess it's not as much a superstition as much as an observation of patterns of past performance and outcome, which may or may not predict future outcomes, even if such prediction coming true is purely coincidental in nature. If you subscribe to this silly theory (another being that teams that have introduced new or special uniforms sometimes do well, but I'll save that silly theory for another day), then it's ironic that when the Mavs swapped the light and dark blue on their road jerseys they went on to defeat the Heat. Or chalk it up to LeBron choking. (Or Dirk wanting it more. Or Terry getting hot.)

i don't believe you can ever go wrong with black, red, and white. but in real world application i'm sure everyone would say "oh no, we look like the Bulls!". you dont want to change it so it looks like another team in the same league, but this package on it's own looks really good

Thanks. I think the red, white and blue they wear is pleasant to the eye and have a calming effect, but I just wondered what it looks like if it's red, white and black instead. I remember all the hoopla in Miami when LA traded Shaq to "South Beach" (just poking fun at "The Decision") and how everyone was excited and "back in black" was in full effect. And they won a title! But I'm sure Wade + Shaq + Pat Riley had more to do with that than the black jerseys. Still, they looked sharp in black.

[gibbsb24]

That's a big HELL NO to the black and red Clippers Jerseys, sorry.

[illwauk]

As a fan, if they ever change colors, I would prefer they go back to the San Diego-era powder blue and red-orange:

At least that color scheme is tied to the franchise's history, as opposed to trying to look like another team, like you're proposing.

This, please!

[WSU151]

This thread pretty much tells me that every team should wear black, which is probably the dumbest thing I've ever read.

Clippers in black and red is an awful idea.

Thanks for LO for posting the better concept.

[NDFreek]

Black for the sake of black strikes again.

[Guest]

Black for the sake of black strikes again.

Not BFBS, black for luck's sake. I'm glad that the Knicks/Mets/anybody else that added black for no reason got rid (or minimized the use) of black, but if I were a Knicks fan, I might've suggested black replacing blue if it meant winning, even though it's probably blasphemous. On the other hand, Knicks wear lots of colors (green week, St. Patrick's Day, Christmas color games, etc.) so it's not like an alternate jersey is going ot alienate fans. (And yes, I'm aware that I'm suggesting the Clips eliminating blue and not just adding an alternate black jersey.) Heck, many people probably disliked the OKC unis until they started winning then it became less annoying all of a sudden.

Many people clamored for a black Lakers jersey (and many people rooted against it) and now they got it. I don't like it because Lakers have always been successful wearing purple and gold and made the most trips to the most NBA Finals, and it didn't help that when the Lakers first introduced the "Sunday whites" they lost to the Pistons in the Finals with 4 future hall of famers (even though it was meant to pay tribute to Chick Hearn). It's one thing to come up with BFBS (or any-color for any-color's sake) just to sell jerseys; it's another if psychologically it might benefit one team's chance to go further in the postseason--at the cost of sacrificing good looks and heritage.

This thread pretty much tells me that every team should wear black, which is probably the dumbest thing I've ever read.

No: just not wear blue.

Thanks for LO for posting the better concept.

That's obvious and well-deserved praise, but aesthetics wasn't the reason for my concept/thread. I must say, that until illwauk quoted LO's concept, I didn't notice that he made the wording on the front solid-colored instead of white. That makes it look even better than just choosing the colors alone. Wonder if he'd post his take on the front of the home jersey.

[Kryptik]

Yeah, this is pretty ridiculous superstitious stuff, not to mention that, as many have said, we're already bogged down with Red & Black teams in the NBA. Also, need I remind that, for a team with 'Red' in their name, the Sox just won a WS while wearing plenty of blue on the way there?

I'm just not seeing where blue is some super-jinx preventing any success for anyone wearing it to the point that NO teams should wear it, like you suggest.

[Guest]

Yeah, this is pretty ridiculous superstitious stuff, not to mention that, as many have said, we're already bogged down with Red & Black teams in the NBA. Also, need I remind that, for a team with 'Red' in their name, the Sox just won a WS while wearing plenty of blue on the way there?

I'm just not seeing where blue is some super-jinx preventing any success for anyone wearing it to the point that NO teams should wear it, like you suggest.

Au contrair, EVERY TEAM other than the Lakers or Clippers can wear blue and only blue! But yeah, Red Sox, Yankees, Cardinals do well in the Fall Classic, but they wear midnight navy, which might as well be black. Just like the Clippers, the Cards look good in baby blue.

[JJHoser]

The blue should not go anywhere. A clipper is a ship, they are located in LA and used to be in SD. I think it is safe to say that they might use blue because of WATER. If you take it away then it kind of ruins everything.

[Guest]

Good point. But alternately, you could think of them as scissors. Lakers used to be blue because of lakes, but now they're purple. It doesn't make sense, but it is what it is. Thanks for your input!

[Discogod]

If you're going to put the Clippers in black, how about using orange & white with it, as a nod to the old Buffalo Braves unis? Otherwise, I think blue's fine - the Clips have been around for 44 seasons and used blue in all but 2 of those.

[MDGP]

In summary...

"Based on bull I am making up as I go along, I think that black replacing blue will make players tougher, faster, and try harder to win games. It will also make them luckier, but blue won't make them any less lucky, it just makes them not win Championships... And this applies for everyone who wears blue, just kidding, only the Clippers, and only this exact shade of blue, because other shades disprove my point. Oh, and it doesn't apply to college either, because that disproves my point too."

Drugs are a terrible thing, kids.