Get the Black Out, New York

During the basketball offseason, the New York Knicks unveiled an updated version of their 1995 logo that was totally devoid of black. See the changes.

Left: 1995 New York Knicks logo, with black as accent color

Right: 2011 New York Knicks logo, without black

The Knicks, however, have yet to unveil a new logo based on their new identity. Either that or keeping the previous year's uniform set, I don't know.

At the commencement of the baseball offseason, the New York Mets followed suit. The Mets unveiled 'retro' uniforms to commemorate the franchise's 50th anniversary, which means that the black drop-shadows that have been a part of the uniform identity since 1998 were removed. The Mets' black alternate uniforms, however, were retained for limited use next season, before possibly unveiling a new blue alternate similar to the Latin-inspired threads they wore last year.

For the 2012 season, black drop-shadows were removed from the Mets uniforms to give it a 'retro' look.

While the Mets and Knicks removed the color black from their color scheme, the New York Islanders, another blue and orange team in New York, decided to focus towards the future by unveiling new black alternate jerseys.

New York Islanders alternate uniform, unveiled November 2011

Now we wonder why do the New York Jets and the New York Giants of the NFL don't wear orange and blue, the colors of New York City? It is simple. Even though they represent New York City, they actually play their games in nearby East Rutherford, New Jersey, at the MetLife Stadium. The Jets wear green and white uniforms, while the Giants follow the colors of the NHL New York Rangers, which are the patriotic red, white and blue. The Jets did add black to their color scheme at one point.

Now the trend of going retro continues to grow amongst all professional sports teams. It began in the NBA, where teams like the Hawks and Bucks adopted retro colors to their team identities, and continued when the NHL's Oilers and Kings returned to their colors associated during Wayne Gretzky's time. I only wonder, when will this retro fad fade? Only time will tell.