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Maryland Debuts New Uniform And The Country Cringes

Holder Michael Tart #29 celebrates a late fourth quarter field goal with kicker Nick Ferrara #43 of the Maryland Terrapins against the Miami Hurricanes.
Rob Carr
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Holder Michael Tart #29 celebrates a late fourth quarter field goal with kicker Nick Ferrara #43 of the Maryland Terrapins against the Miami Hurricanes.

We're not Anna Wintour, so we'll refrain from making a judgment. But, there are plenty of people who expressed their dislike of the uniforms the Maryland Terrapins debuted during their season opener Monday.

Here are some of the reviews, which came fast and furious from sports celebrities on Twitter:

Basketball star Lebron James said:

OH GOSH! Maryland uniforms #Ewwwwww!

Talk radio's Jim Rome referenced Miami's recent illicit gifts scandal in his tweet saying:

Whatever the NCAA does to Miami, it should double for Maryland. Those helmets truly demonstrate a lack of institutional control.

Major League Soccer player Freddy Adu said:

Man university of Marylands football team have some ugly jerseys lol

Paul Lukas, the founder of uni-watch.com, a website dedicated to the aesthetics of sports, wrote that the uniforms seemed intent on calling attention. Lukas, who was clearly disgusted by the look said these weren't uniforms, they were "costumes."

Here's a video in which Under Armour explains where the inspiration for the uniforms came from:

The New York Daily News took all the public cringing to the school and the Under Armour for some reaction:

A spokesman for Maryland didn't deny that the goal of the uniforms were to create some buzz, but said that they were just a nod to the state's heritage.

"Really the uniform itself is more of a branding thing from our side of things," he said. "We're the flagship institution in the state."

...

In an emailed statement to the News by Walker Jones, the Under Armour Director of Sports Marketing for college and grassroots' program, he echoed the Maryland athletic department's response.

"Bringing the unique and iconic characteristics of the state flag to the uniforms was a great way to define Maryland pride and to differentiate. The public response to last night's unveiling tells us that the game was an effective platform to show people what Maryland football stands for," he said.

That much is true: This morning people are talking about Maryland football even if they are less focused on their 32-24 win over Miami.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.