Carolina blues will lift spirits of Bears, fans

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Retro is in. Remember those plaid bell-bottomed pants you used to wear (right after you figured out your Sears Toughskins weren’t cool enough to impress sophisticated fifth-grade women)? They’re back, along with lava lamps, Pop Rocks and every other symbol of your misguided youth.

Sports has followed suit.

The Black Bears are going retro.

At least, John Giannini’s UMaine men’s basketball team is.

All you longtime Bear-backers who have wondered who in blue blazes stole all that nifty light blue dye they used to use on UMaine uniforms, it’s time for you to stand up and cheer. It’s back.

And (editorial rant warning) it’s about time. Enough already of this blackish-blue crap the Bears have been passing off as Maine blue recently (end editorial rant).

OK. There were some mistakes made in the past. Like when someone made Bananas the Bear light blue back in the ’80s. Fans were treated to an odd-looking, prancing, bear-headed smurf at UMaine events. Bad choice.

But in general, you can’t go wrong with real “Maine Blue.” Rufus Harris wore uniforms that featured it. So did Billy Swift. But for the past several years (ranting again) somebody else decided to use this brackish bruise-blue for an official UM color (done again).

For the uninitiated, “Maine Blue” is … um … how do we describe this while claiming to be original … very, very similar to “Carolina Blue.” But, in a subtle, very nearly different way.

And starting this season, Giannini’s Black Bears will simultaneously break with tradition … and go retro.

Don’t be alarmed. The Bears aren’t doing anything radical, like wearing shorts that are actually shorts, instead of the droopy drawers that pass for shorts nowadays. They’re just wearing “Maine Blue.” At home. No more white.

“I didn’t even realize light blue was our color,” jokes senior captain Errick Greene, who was one of the players who voted for Maine Blue. “We always play in white.”

Now, Giannini already had a colorful team.

He’s got a Brown (Clayton), a White (Rickey) along with another Green (Ricky).

But now? He’s got style.

Not that he takes any credit. His captains, along with assistant coach Ed Jones, made the choice.

Giannini points out that he likes to keep others in the decision-making loop. And that may have played a part in the players and Jones playing the key roles. So does this:

“The hidden reason why I give them more input is because I’m a fashion nightmare,” Giannini says. “I don’t know what looks good. Every time I choose something, it ends up looking like something from the ’70s.”

Think he’s kidding? He’s not. For instance, there was the time when he decided that his assistant coaches at Rowan University deserved some snazzy new warmup suits.

“I thought this shiny stuff would look really good, and everyone who saw us said that it looked like we had jockey silks on,” Giannini said.

“I thought I was doing ’em a favor, getting these real nice sweats. And to this day, they only bring them out for comical reasons.”

The new uniforms are not comical. They’re sharp.

And the players think so, too.

“[They] just add a little more flavor to the team,” Greene says. “I expect to do well in ’em. Real well.”

Co-captain Derrick Jackson hasn’t seen the finished product, but did view the sketches.

“You know what they say. You look good, you play good,” says Jackson of the new, old uniforms.

Now, if the fashion committee would just do something about those shorts …

John Holyoke is a NEWS sportswriter. His e-mail address is jholyoke@bangordailynews.net