Sink the Pink, or A funny thing happened while picking up Pop Warner uniforms...

My oldest son (7) is playing his first season of Pop Warner.

Saturday was his first scrimmage and was also picture day. We had to get there at 7 am to pick up the uniforms.

When we get there, we see the stacks of all the different uniforms, most are pretty similar to NFL teams, one looked like Bears jerseys, one like the Ravens, one like the Falcons, one like the Cardinals, but what stood out when we looked at the table where they were handing out the uniforms was in addition to the traditional-looking uniforms, there was also a pink team.

People started freaking the fuck out.

To be fair, this wasn't pink ribbon on the sleeve like you see during Breast Cancer Awareness month in the NFL. This was a pink jersey and pink socks.

One of the fathers comes up to me and says, "If they're the pink team, we're quitting..."

I showed him our schedule and said, "That's not for our league." because it listed our full schedule for the season and there was no pink team listed...

He said, "Thank God..."

As it turned out, it was for the league above my son's. Each team was sponsored by a local business and the business has some say in which color uniforms they're paying for. My son's team was red and black, most like the Falcons...

When a team of 9 and 10-year-olds got the pink uniforms, the kids were not happy. It wasn't even something manufactured by the parents, because the kids looked so deflated when they found out they were on the pink team. Imagine watching one of your friends get a jersey that looks similar to what RG3 wears and then being handed a big pink jersey. As one of the moms said, "Wow, that's just a lot of pink..."

Apparently, the story behind it was that Pop Warner participates in the Breast Cancer awareness month and for one game in October, all the boys are supposed to wear pink socks. No big deal... One of the local business owners liked that so much that they requested pink uniforms for the team that they were sponsoring. As someone who lost my favorite aunt to breast cancer and has a cousin who is about to undergo a double mastectomy, I'm sympathetic and I think it's a great cause.

But I still wouldn't want my kid to have to wear a completely pink football uniform.

Do people have a right to be upset? Should they just STFU?

Thoughts?

 

I think that the players should be paid if they are going to be used
to promote a commercial enterprise.

 

I think the parents of the kids on the pink team would have paid any amount to switch colors. The lady who was taking team pictures said, "I'll bet we get a lot fewer orders from that team..." and then said, "Wow, that's a lot of pink..."

 

If the pink jerseys are for breast cancer awareness, then participation should be voluntary like it is at every other level.

As usually happens with "cause" people, someone got overzealous.

 

Yeah, I think there was a lapse in communication or something. There is no way if someone had seen these uniforms that they would have been ordered for a team of 9 and 10-year-old boys.

 

Dude you have to turn this into a meaty story for an outlet somewhere. There's a lot to discuss -- a lot that SHOULD be discussed here. A helluva story.

 

That would be the worst. My little league team had jerseys like the Los Angeles Raiders - down to the helmet stickers and socks. Whenever the Raiders adjusted their uniforms, we changed ours. No other teams in our leagues and anything remotely resembling a pro-team so we were the cool kids. Until of course we played. I played five seasons and we won 10 total games.

But, we looked good doing it! Also, my brother was a few years older than me. He played LB and even kick returner until a 13-year-old Chester Taylor (yes, the NFL one) blew him up on a squib kick. I'm pretty sure that's the first time I found out what a concussion was.

 

For my son's high school team, they had to institute rules to STOP kids from wearing pink. Their colors are black and gold, but they get to wear pink socks once a year for the aforementioned breast cancer awareness. But some kids wanted to go longer, and include more stuff.

A story, here, though, is that your team's sponsor gets to pick the color? I've never heard of that.

 

Most of the pairings made some level of sense... The pizza place got the red team. Local metal shop got Steelers colors. Another sponsor with Blue in the name got a Broncos colors... The Pink one came from a huge local company.

 

I hope they didn't give out Packer colors.

*shudders*

 

I agree with Bob ... at a certain level, it's cool for junior high/high school boys to bust out a pair of pink Nike Elites once in a while.

But all-pink unis for a Pop Warner team? I can see why the kids would be upset.

As a parent, I'd probably laugh and tell my kid, when he gets picked on for his uniform, take it out on the other team.

 

The most unfortunate aspect of this is that this league is the best youth sports league my kids have ever been a part of. It's an amazing league that is incredibly positive and everything about it is just what you want out of a pop warner league, so the thought that 15 kids are probably upset because some idiot either though pink uniforms for boys is a good idea or if someone made a mistake, I feel bad for those kids..