Dawgs should focus on Boise, not unis

The all-powerful Nike dollar (or should I say dollars, plural. Many, many dollars) has reared its ugly head yet again, with ugly being the key word. The Georgia Bulldogs will wear, for one night only, a Nike Combat model for its opening game on national television against Boise State. Several different sketches have been making their way across the blogosphere, and while every design is different, they all share one similarity: they are hideous. Last year Nike got (read: PAID) schools such as TCU, Boise State, Ohio State and Florida to don these futuristic jerseys, only to cause fans to vomit in their mouths when their beloved Buckeyes (or Gators or Broncos or Horned Frogs) took the field.

Money makes the world go ‘round. I get that. However I would have thought that recent wardrobe issues would have made Georgia think twice about changing its classic uniforms. The last few costume changes have gone over about as well as Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction. While it was completely sublime when the Dawgs ran through the black flag/banner against Auburn in 2007 for the original blackout, the uniforms cheapened a bit in the blowout win over Hawaii in that year’s Sugar Bowl. Then the black jerseys hopefully were put away for good when Georgia found itself down 30 against Alabama in 2008.

And who can forget the black helmets and black pants that Georgia wore during the 2009 Georgia/Florida game, just one year after the rumored Code Red of red helmets, jerseys and pants that thankfully never happened! Georgia looked like Grambling State and played like them too. Richt apparently thought he needed to go to the well for a clothing change because the team needed motivation to try and beat a Florida team that crushed it the year before.

And now we need more clothes to get fired up? The players reportedly love the new unis, which is great but at the same time, I hope that the team is focusing on stopping Kellen Moore rather than wondering how the Combat uniform will look on the Georgia Dome carpet. This is an important game for Georgia and for Mark Richt. I just worry the team is losing focus to gush over some clothes.