Great article today on how "The Shirt" will now be produced by a socially conscious (as opposed to unconscious?) vendor that pays living wages to employees, and how this is a great message and all of that. And it is. And congrats to the students and admins that made such a move. I love it.
But it's about time that The Shirt also serve a purpose for the football team: uniting the fans in a single color to show opposing teams that they are, indeed, playing an away game. AT NOTRE DAME STADIUM.
I rant on this once a year, and I guess it's that time again. The Shirt changes colors every year for some god-forsaken reason. To sell more. To be 'creative'. Whatever, none of them are good reasons. Because, in addition to being socially conscious and raising money for some important student funds, The Shirt should, ultimately, UNITE THE FAN BASE. It should be a way to get all fans on the same page in terms of home garb colors. Too often ND Stadium looks like a bunch of people wandered in off the street and decided to sit down.
Blue (X 30 Hues)
Gold (X 30 Hues)
Green(X 30 Hues)
Away Team Colors
Random Colors of Peoples' Jackets
Notre Dame's crowd is the Skittles of CFB.
TASTE THE FREAKING RAINBOW PEOPLE!
All of these are mixed and matched and there is absolutely no coherence to the stadium, outside of the student section. Why? Well, because not everybody will buy this year's The Shirt. And the crowd has been trained that there is no particular color that is preferred. So we end up with this mess.
Remember Nebraska? Aside from all the ND fans selling out and selling their tix to Nebraska fans, this game taught us one thing: a unified color in the stands can make a difference. That game FELT like an away game for Notre Dame, in our own beloved stadium. So do you think that having a random mish-mash of colors in the stadium doesn't have an impact? Oh it does. And it's time to fix it.
It's time to declare a home game color of choice. One color, for the entire season, for every season, forever. Fans can, of course, choose to wear something different. But maybe this will get a majority on board, and it will start a trend of displaying unity in the stadium.
This can and should start with The Shirt. First, pick a color. One color. Kelly Green. Navy Blue. Whatever, just pick one and stick with it. Permanently. This will, over time, become the 'game day color' for Notre Dame. And yeah, some folks will wear something else, and some will wear one shade of green instead of another, but the unity will be apparent. And it will be clear to visiting teams that they are at Notre - Freaking - Dame.
Yes, I understand that The Shirt has many missions. But without success on the field, it will in the long run mean very little. And while the impact may be small, every little bit helps. It's time to do that little bit and get everyone on the same page.
It's time for The Shirt to do Job #1: Support the Team.
Let's get to it, folks.
By The Subway Domer January 20, 2012 - 4:37 pm
YUP!!!!!
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By Don Fenrick January 21, 2012 - 11:05 am
You are correct social cares are wonderful but not all agree with the cause itself and the will of others cannot be forced on them. The shirt should be of one color, blue & gold with a hint of kelly green, to show support for the football team.
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By peter rumsey January 21, 2012 - 4:27 pm
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By Neil Drozeski January 21, 2012 - 5:55 pm
Amen. I concur a 110% the different colored shirts are a joke. Settle on one color and use it year after year. The Green stands out the best.
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By Jim Carey January 21, 2012 - 8:41 pm
I agree 100%. Let’s unite and wear KELLY GREEN!!! Go Irish!
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By Wayne B January 22, 2012 - 8:47 am
I fully agree with your thoughts on “The Shirt” and a unified color. Unfortunately, very few people remember that “The Shirt” was originally created and sold to help a student that was in a serious car accident and had no way to pay the medical costs. “The Shirt”‘s proceeds were to aid that student. Since it has become a tradition for other “causes” – too bad it isn’t made and produced in the poverty of the University area like South Bend or Elkhart?! YES the color of the stadium should be unified BLUE and GOLD – HONOR Notre Dame. Let the visitors know were they are!!
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By HerringBoneSports January 20, 2012 - 5:21 pm
Logic!
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By Jere January 20, 2012 - 5:43 pm
I generally agree with you. I may be giving “The Shirt” committees too much credit here, but I feel like there was an effort for a few years to have a blue shirt in the years that we played Michigan State at home and a green shirt when we played Michigan at home.
Also, I’m not sure how you’re going to get around the different color jackets. It’s not like everyone is going to run out and buy a kelly green winter coat.
Whoever was in charge of “The Spirit” should be forced to wear that shirt every day for the rest of their lives.
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By The Biscuit January 20, 2012 - 7:44 pm
I don’t think you can completely get around jackets. But over time, people would start to understand what ‘the color’ is, and they would start to wear jackets in that color. Not everyone, but more and more over time. Look at a Nebraska game when it’s cool out – Red.
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By trey January 20, 2012 - 8:10 pm
This is a ridiculous argument. The Packers, Giants, Patriots fans all manage in their climes. Theres no reason ND cant either
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By Jeremy January 20, 2012 - 6:08 pm
Exactly! Pick a color already and go with it! I would even wear that ugly yellow/gold shirt from a few years ago if it was at least the same every year.
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By Gimber January 20, 2012 - 6:59 pm
Not to sound callous here, but, does anyone actually care that The Shirt is now socially conscious?
Agreed on the point you’re getting at though. I have four different colors of The Shirt for my four years, including that god awful yellow shirt “bottling the light of ND or whatever” Yuck!
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By Andrew January 20, 2012 - 8:11 pm
I totally agree. But many people gives this advice every year. I don’t think the Shirt powers-that-be will ever heed this advice. They are driven by too many other concerns and voices. The head coach could make a difference here and mandate a united color, but I doubt he will.
And as a result, our stadium atmosphere will continue to suffer.
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By Hipster January 20, 2012 - 8:12 pm
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By Pat January 20, 2012 - 10:56 pm
I’m with you, Biscuit. My vote is for Kelly green. And more Irish flags should enter the Stadium, be waved, and demonstrate general rowdiness and passion on national TV.
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By trey January 21, 2012 - 12:28 am
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By kyndfan January 22, 2012 - 8:57 am
Well, field turf anyway. Let’s stay on topic
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By SH January 21, 2012 - 9:16 am
I completely agree with you. I have no doubt that 100% of the driving force behind different colors is money. They know that if you sell The Shirt in the same color as the prior year, sales go down. How do you combat this? Change the color every year…
Unfortunately I don’t see this ever changing. More concerned about the bottom line than about uniting the fanbase.
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By Rob January 21, 2012 - 10:34 am
If you can pay $70+ for a ticket I am sure you could scrape together enough money to buy a KELLY GREEN shirt, jersey, jacket. I am on board with one color. Isn’t Michigan state forest green…..not kelly green. Kelly green works for all of the games. To me there is only two choices kelly green and blue(not that light blue either). I guess gold too, but that would be my third choice.
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By Bruce January 21, 2012 - 10:39 am
I was very disappointed with the color of the shirt, but wanted to buy one to help support the student’s efforts!
I was told two home games from the end of the season that all the sizes where sold out except small & Medium!
The clueless lady in the Bookstore told me this was the last home game!
Next year I will buy it online if I don’t get to an early game not matter what the crappy color is!
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By The Ghost of Paul Failla January 21, 2012 - 11:48 am
I think ND would need to decide what its colors are before The Shirt can decide on a color. What are ND’s colors? Are we the Blue and Gold? If so, are we more blue or more gold? If we make such a big deal of the magic of the green jerseys (especially where we now wear them once a year as opposed to once in a players career for a truly big game), do we not expect fans to also buy green jerseys?
Years ago, I went to the SEC basketball championships in Atlanta. As fans poured in and out of the bar near the arena, you could tell who was who. All of the Tennessee fans were in ugly bright orange. All the Kentucky fans were in a ugly bright blue. They looked ridiculous, but united.
ND doesn’t have a color. I think that fans will drive that, not The Shirt.
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By The Biscuit January 21, 2012 - 12:13 pm
You can easily train fans that gameday color is one of the three. KeepIng the shirt constant is step 1
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By Peter January 21, 2012 - 1:13 pm
I get on my soapbox annually as well, and I completely agree.
Not that it matters (for all the reasons you mentioned and others already commenting), but I’m in the kelly green camp.
True any united color stands out, but when you think of those schools who;s fans are immediately recognizable, what are the colors? Tennessee in that hunter’s orange. Nebraska in their red. Texas in burnt orange. and so on and so forth.
Navy blue would simply not accomplish this. We’d be united, but wouldn’t stand out. Also, blue goes for Michigan, Navy, Pitt, and many other schools as well that will be on the schedule from year to year.
Gold would stand out. But you know what, I easily recall three other schools who’s fans adorn themselves in bright yellow and I’m not fond of any of them – Southern Cal, Michigan, and BC.
And so we come to kelly green. Like Rob mentioned, MSU is a dark forest green. A good kelly green (not too neon lest we look like Tennesee’s cousins) would stand out, and doesn’t overlap any schools regularly on our schedules.
And if I could be permitted to take a trip to crazy land (anyone know where the Crazy Train is?), for 5 years or so, let’s offer the shirt with any ticket purchase through the lottery for an additional 5 bucks with a letter from the coach encouraging folks to wear the shirt to the game. In a couple years you’ll start to see the green coats and with a few more years later than that you’ll have plenty of green coats. Mix half the folks in green coats with a student section that either has green coats or toughs it out with green worn over a few other layers and we’re golden…except green.
/soapbox (but we’re all up there)
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By John C January 21, 2012 - 1:48 pm
I agree Biscuit. Let’s pick a color and stick with it (I would vote for Green). If I recall correctly, after 3 years of green during the Ty years the unified color was actually starting to work. And then they went and changed the colors again each year. Also, maybe someone could explain to the people in charge the fact that not every fan is going to buy “The Shirt” every year because the color changes. If that were true, then every year most people would be wearing the newest “The Shirt”, which is clearly not the case. I have bought “The Shirt” almost every year since 2003 and will continue to buy “The Shirt” even if it is the same color because I like supporting the charities, it adds to my ND apparel collection, and it is the cheapest t-shirt at the bookstore.
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By Joe January 21, 2012 - 1:58 pm
What do you expect from something that was created to try and cut down on the students buying the catholics vs convicts shirts in 1990. From its inception it has been about sucking the life out of the stadium.
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By RoamingDomer January 21, 2012 - 2:01 pm
I would like to add my 2 cents here, and state that there are only 2 official school colors for ND:
Royal/Navy Blue
Gold
I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing shirts alternating with these two colors (personally, I think the whole Blue-and-Gold look throughout the stadium would work well).
But no more Green — it isn’t a school color! I get the whole “Irish/Shamrock/Leprechaun/Kelly” angle with it, but seriously, if one wanted to, one could make Brown shirts to represent the color of shillelaghs, or Black to represent the color of Guiness.
Blue and Gold. Two colors, one message: We Are ND.
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By Lordy January 22, 2012 - 9:20 am
You are actually wrong. The official color for Our Lady’s university is Madonna blue. It’s a light blue like Air Force wears.
Kelly Green – we would own the color – no one else uses kelly green.
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By BruceB January 21, 2012 - 2:57 pm
Who cares if Navy/Mich/Pitt fans wear blue in OUR stadium – they’ll just look like Irish fans. If that upsets them, they can wear white or gold or anything else. Heck, it’s our home field. And our colors are blue and gold.
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By Jim Blase January 21, 2012 - 7:19 pm
I file the exact same complaint, every year, in the Notre Dame Observer.
But I finally gave up last year, when the power blues came out.
You MUST somehow be able to get hold of the FACULTY person in charge of shirt committee. The student members just think it is cool to be members of the Committee, and do whatever the faculty person tells them to do.
The faculty chairperson THINKS they make more money by changing the color each year, and, as you suggest, that seems to be his/her SOLE focus, as opposed to the welfare of the team.
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By Jim Blase January 21, 2012 - 7:36 pm
Sorry, “powder” blues.
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By Steve January 22, 2012 - 8:40 am
May this find a way from your mouth to the eyes and ears of those making THE SHIRT decisions. Our team deserves a united fan base in both devotion and attire for all home games.
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By kyndfan January 22, 2012 - 9:01 am
You’re right. The student section always looks unified and intimidating. The rest of the stadium needs to imitate that. The skittles reference is so true it’s sad. Kelly green gets my vote, not that it’s worth anything.
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By Rottie1003 January 23, 2012 - 4:30 pm
One color, absolutely. Don’t care which one. Prefer kelly green if given a choice.
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By Frank Cooke January 24, 2012 - 4:19 pm
I guarantee you the Shirt will still sell just as well for the charity if it is just one color. It’s such a huge deal every year. Maybe it would sell better if it wasn’t such a bizarre cut.
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By Time to #FixTheShirt! | Her Loyal Sons January 26, 2012 - 4:05 pm
[...] a reaction to my post the other day, and a few LTE's in the Observer supporting my stance….And after the project's leadership [...]
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