Phil Mushnick Has A Theory On Why So Many Teams Have Black Uniforms

Gangs!

It's gangs. And minorities "urban markets." There, I just saved you 700 rambling words of race-baiting from the Post's Phil Mushnick, who continues his one-man crusade to save the youth of America from the scourge of alternate jerseys.

Sean had some fun with this yesterday, but we must go deeper. The impetus for this Afterschool Special of a column? A black New York Giants jersey, and if you're frustrated with pro sports' tendency to wring every last potential dollar out of apparel sales, fine, that's an old-man-yells-at-cloud complaint by now, but at least it's legitimate. Not legitimate: black is a gang color. (Keep an eye out for racist scare quotes!)

And what a coincidence that dozens of pro and college teams that have abandoned their traditional colors - even schools such as the St. John's Red Storm, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Harvard Crimson - to sell their souls to Nike, which has replaced the team/school colors with black.

At least some of the sellouts have the decency to admit black appears "more menacing" and/or helps recruit "student-athletes" - those who would choose a college based on uniform colors. Hey, you don't wanna be caught dead, if you get my drift.

Significantly, these new, gang fashion-approved Giants jerseys are not knock-offs; they carry the licensing logo of both the NFL and the NFLPA. Their marketing divisions know what sells, and why.

After all, what makes gangsta rappers so appealing to sporting goods companies that they'd provide them their own lines of sneakers?

Mushnick, you should understand, has spent decades railing against expensive sneakers and sports apparel that can be used as "gang colors," despite there not being a color on the palette that couldn't qualify somewhere. When the Nets announced their switch to black jerseys, Mushnick took the opportunity to blast the "urban" connotation (there's that word again!) and part-owner Jay-Z for the content of his music.

As long as the Nets are allowing Jay-Z to call their marketing shots - what a shock that he chose black and white as the new team colors to stress, as the Nets explained, their new "urban" home - why not have him apply the full Jay-Z treatment?

Why the Brooklyn Nets when they can be the New York N——-s? The cheerleaders could be the Brooklyn B—-hes or Hoes. Team logo? A 9 mm with hollow-tip shell casings strewn beneath. Wanna be Jay-Z hip? Then go all the way!

There is no winning. If your team colors are red, you're marketing to Bloods. Release a black uniform—like St. John's, Rutgers, even fair Harvard, all example Mushnick offers—you're making "gang fashion." This is Phil Mushnick's world, where everything is black and white. Even Nike's Olympic uniforms, which are pretty fucking clearly navy blue.

No good comes from gang-inspired sports apparel [New York Post]