What you see vs. What they want you to see pic.twitter.com/QmSK8aJrtj
— Jared Hilbers (@jaredhilbers) September 24, 2016
Oregon has new football uniforms. This is not a new thing. The Ducks get new uniforms all the time. But these new uniforms are different, because the Ducks have decided to make themselves look like ACTUAL DUCKS.
— Zito (@_Zeets) September 24, 2016
The school doesn't want you to miss the parallels.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7158465/Screen_Shot_2016-09-22_at_12.07.44_PM.0.0.0.png)
Let’s zero in on a couple of things here, because this is one of those jokes that takes a second to land if you, like me, are not an avid duck watcher.
It seriously looks like there are a bunch of #GoDucks mascots on the field in shoulder pads and helmets. pic.twitter.com/l9zJMo7GLW
— Aaron J. Fentress (@AaronJFentress) September 24, 2016
Is that face mask ... an orange duck bill!?
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/7146363/slack-imgs.com.jpeg)
The math here seems to check out, folks, at least sort of. The color shading is not perfect, and skepticism might be well founded, but we can generally take Oregon at its word that its color scheme sort of, kind of mimics the physical features of certain species of duck. There are also drawings of ducks on the Ducks’ shoulders and pant legs.
This is part of an Oregon initiative called "Once a Duck, Always a Duck," which the program is using to teach some history lessons about its amazing mascot and uniforms.
Credit to Oregon for finally taking the one step it had yet to take in all its years of regularly unveiling new uniforms – making football players look kind of like real ducks.