By Alexandra Salerno
Editor-in-Chief
Unfurl the brown and white … and yellow.
Following almost a decade of the student section representing a sea of brown during game nights in the Reilly Center, the WolfPack has transformed to a blob of yellow.
Now in my junior year, my previous two WolfPack shirts look almost identical except for the slogans on the back. Both are Bonaventure brown colored and sport the Bonnie logo and WolfPack wording in white on the front. The 2010-2011 shirts read ‘Be Loud. Be Proud.’ Last year’s shirts were emblazoned with the ‘Defining our Legacy’ slogan encompassing a legendary season.
This year’s shirt is completely redesigned from past years. The yellow shirts are decorated with the piercing eyes of a wolf staring from behind slashes of a wolf’s paw swipe. It’s edgy for sure.
“This year we wanted to mix it up,” said sports information director Jason MacBain. “We wanted to do something different mainly because it had been six or seven years since we’ve done anything different than the brown. We wanted something different coming off of last year’s win to keep that excitement going.”
According to MacBain, there is an important reason for the color change.
“We knew we had a lot of scheduled TV games, so we wanted something to really stand out, and the brown just looked kind of blah,” he said. “We understand brown is our primary color, but we were looking for something to pop on the TV screen for all of our home games that are nationally televised. We wanted to make a little bit of a statement.”
MacBain’s reasoning makes perfect sense. However, there are a few flaws with such a drastic redesign.
The introduction of a new color to the WolfPack is messy. Each year, a few students miss the pep rally (where t-shirts are distributed) or they can’t find their WolfPack shirt buried in a heap of laundry. What does a loyal Bonnie do when he can’t find his shirt before the game? He wears an old version or a different brown shirt instead. Most of us likely have enough brown Bonnies shirts to start our own school store.
The yellow shirts make it more difficult for everyone to blend in with the crowd. Last Tuesday’s Franciscan Cup game is a prime example. Sure, the yellow may have popped on TV, but so did the pockets of brown in the midst of the yellow.
Gold is part of Bonaventure’s color scheme for official branding, according to MacBain. But to me, Bonaventure is about bleeding brown, not yellow.
I flashback to a faithful Sunday last February when Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City erupted into hysteria as hundreds of Bonnie faithful watched their beloved team win the Atlantic 10 Championship. The weekend and game may be a blur, but there’s one thing I definitely remember.
Through the hugs and high-fives and tears of Bonnies everywhere, I only saw one thing — brown.
After months of no sleep, here’s to hoping the Bonnies invade Brooklyn in brown, not yellow.
