When it was announced the University of Hawai'i had signed an eight-year apparel contract and the football uniforms would be redesigned, there was widespread uneasiness and concern in Warrior Nation.

After all, hadn't we just done this? And, really, after some of what UH and other schools have been "treated" to over the years in extreme makeovers, who could blame the more nervous among us when some folks were just starting to get used to the changes?

Forget what offense the Warriors will run or whether there is a tight end. Inquiring minds wanted to know what the Warriors would wear in 2008.

Which is why a collective sigh of relief greeted the unveiling of the first set of the new, greener UH uniforms the other day. What was displayed looked pretty good — doubly so when you glance around the country and see the liberties some schools are taking with good taste.

That UH has announced it will keep the kapa designs and do away with the silver-and-white road uniform line that KITV's Robert Kekaula likened to Pop Warner duds is apparently an added bonus. Thank you head coach Greg McMackin, or whoever finally made that enlightened call.

If you've watched any college football on television the last few years, you know it isn't just what teams do with the ball that has taken things to a whole new, uh, offensive level. Between criss-cross designs that look like the wearer got run over by a monster truck or was impaled by a chain link fence, white bib-front jerseys resembling what comes with a Kid's Meal at Denny's and purple-orange combinations, the frontiers of fashion have been pushed to the limit. And, in some cases, beyond.

No school or apparel company has a lock on gosh awful ugliness, though if Mr. Blackwell ranked uniforms for yuck factor Oregon would be a perennial Bottom 10 national championship contender. Wyoming, whose yellow and brown ensemble recalls the hideous San Diego Padres uniforms of the early 1970s, could be the worst of show among non-Bowl Championship Series conferences.

Toss in Syracuse and Clemson and, between them, there are some uniforms on Saturday display that corrections officials in several states wouldn't even subject their worst inmates to.

Speaking of cruel and unusual, when the Warriors take the field this season, you'll understand why some of the UH players were both relieved and excited with the announcement that Under Armour beat out some brands they could have been wearing.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.