A staple under most Christmas trees are good old clothes. Sweaters, pajamas, socks, and scarves will be opened up on Christmas morning in homes around the world.

On my list this year, I’m asking Track Santa to put some clothing underneath the USATF Christmas tree, because I think it’s time that our national squad got some new uniforms. Since the Barcelona Olympics back in 1992, blue has been the primary color of our national uniforms. While we have had our share of success in “blue” uniforms, the past couple of Majors we seem to have been a bit “snake bit” with dropped batons, injured athletes and the like. The blue has gotten boring, predictable, and at this point is sort of a mark of some not so great times.

We’ve recently changed the look of the USATF logo, and we’re in the midst of a change at the CEO position. I think it’s time to go back to red as a primary color in our uniforms. It’s visible, identifiable, hot – a racing color. Think red Corvette, Porsche, and Ferrari. Think “The Flash”!

We’ve had some interesting variations on the red theme. There was the all red uniforms of the Los Angles Olympics.

Another all red theme in Seoul.

The red on top of blue of the Montreal Games.

And my personal favorite with the use of red, the Tokyo ‘91 uniforms.

Of course, my all time favorite uniforms are the black and white we wore in Munich.

And I think what I would like to see Track Santa deliver is a red bottom, white top, blue letter trim version of that. Something similar to what the Canadians wore in Montreal – updated of course.

Simple, clean, and a move in a new direction for our troops. A nice way to move into the second decade of this New Millennium. Besides what other color do you wear when defeating Superman?