Atlanta Hawks: Bearing The City On Their Chest

It’s that time of year when teams around the NBA are starting to step up their media activities in preparation for the new season, and with that comes a lot of excitement, and a couple of surprises too. Grabbing the most attention from some of the early media dates this week are jersey changes. The Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans have revealed new jerseys for the upcoming season, and the Atlanta Hawks seem to have joined them.

Although there hasn’t been an official release from Atlanta yet, we have Al Horford to thank for providing a sneak peek at this season’s home jersey. With the NBA adding gold stripes to the back of jerseys for teams who have won a championship in their franchise history, the majority of NBA teams jerseys will at least be slightly different, but rumors persisted saying the Hawks would tweak theirs even further.

Horford’s post on Instagram confirmed multiple changes to Atlanta’s home uniform, although they may not all jump straight out on first look.

If we start by looking at the shorts, as can be clearly seen on Jeff Teague, the Pac is well and truly back. That is, the Atlanta Hawks’ famed logo from 1972-1995 where the Hawk’s silhouette resembles an open mouthed pac-man. After a slight re-design, the team unveiled the revived logo during their playoff series with the Indiana Pacers, so in many ways its presence is in no way surprising.

The other difference may not stand out to those who aren’t regular viewers of the Hawks. In recent years, Atlanta’s home jersey has always bore the team’s nickname, yet as can be seen in the picture above, that has now changed. For the 2014-15 season at least, the franchise seems to have ditched the “Hawks” in favor of “Atlanta” when it comes to their home jersey.

Team’s regularly change their jerseys, at least in minor ways, so it often isn’t something truly noteworthy. Yet in this case, it’s different. After the way in which the Atlanta Hawks’ summer has unfolded, it’s only natural to analyze and question the motive behind the changes the team has made.

Of course, it could all be coincidence, and these changes may have been planned months ago, but on the other hand if it was indeed a proactive decision, it makes perfect sense.

With a race scandal having shrouded the franchise’s summer in darkness, there’s a lot of work to be done by the powers that be in Atlanta. Around the city itself, there’s a lot of anger that a team that people were supporting and putting their hard-earned money into, had men making decisions who were capable of making such derogatory and insensitive statements.

Current owner Bruce Levenson, who is in the process of selling his shares as a result of the scandal, made inaccurate and tasteless stereotypes in relation to the type of people who attend, and indeed don’t attend, Hawks games. On top of that, general manager Danny Ferry, now on indefinite leave, repeated definite racist remarks in relation to Luol Deng while referring to an independent scouting report.

These events have dampened much of the good feeling the community had for the Hawks towards the tail-end of last season, and as a result the franchise has a lot of work to do.

With the Pac-Man logo being the dominant one on the Philips Arena court for the upcoming season, and now appearing on the home uniform too, it seems like a conscious attempt to revive memories of the Hawks golden age of the 1980’s.

Beyond that, the decision to place the city’s name on the front of the jersey again seems an even more significant decision though. In the midst of an upcoming sale of the team, the inevitable relocation rumors have emerged in regards to the Hawks. The official line from the team and the city seems to be that they are going nowhere, and perhaps this jersey change is an attempt to emphasize that.

Perhaps most importantly though, for the fans who are ashamed of the Hawks, or who feel like they’ve been let down, it makes things very simple. Support the city and support the players, not the ownership.

The Hawks seem to be trying to move forward with an identity of being Atlanta’s team, so from this point on, they can’t afford to let any more people down.