Boston College Bookstore Catalog Review: The Boston College Maroon, Black And Heather Grey

What's funny is I was mulling over writing a whimsy Boston College Bookstore Catalog review post, but it looks like Eagle in Atlanta beat me to it the other day. Bill's post is on point and I agreed with most of his points in the article:

-- The colors, generally, are much more consistent than they have been in years past (though there's always a discrepancy between the colors you see in the catalog vs. the colors that pop when you first walk into the bookstore).

-- Agree. More Superfan gold.

-- In fact, just the other day, I mentioned that I thought BC should don a Superfan gold colored football jersey for a one-off home game. I think it would look great blending in with the Superfan section and would look a lot nicer than the Vegas gold jerseys they've worn in the past.

-- Though I think we need to revisit BC's "golds" and reach some consensus here. Is it "Vegas gold," Superfan gold or somewhere in between? A discussion for another day.

However, my main takeaway from the annual catalog review was a bit different. What is up with all the black and grey merchandise?

Now I realize that you can't produce every article of clothing in either maroon or gold. Gotta mix it up. Need variety. I get that. But if someone who had no prior knowledge of Boston College picked up the bookstore catalog for the first time, I'm pretty sure they'd come away thinking the official schools colors were maroon, black and some shade of grey.

Here are the color options for the various apparel items on pages 2-13:

Maroon or Vegas Gold
Carbon Heather Grey or Maroon
Black or Maroon
Maroon, Black or White
Black
Maroon
Maroon or Black
Black or MaroonMaroon
Black
Maroon or Black
Carbon Heather Grey or Maroon
Maroon or Vegas Gold
Maroon or True Grey Heather
Black or True Grey Heather
Carbon Heather Grey or Maroon
Maroon
Maroon/Charcoal
Black/Maroon
Black, White or Maroon
Black
Maroon
Black or Maroon
Black/Maroon
Maroon, Carbon Heather Grey, White or Black
Maroon, White, Vegas Gold or Granite Heather
Vegas Gold, Black, Maroon or Granite Heather
Grey
White or Maroon
Maroon or Heather Grey
Maroon or Heather Grey
Maroon
Oxford Grey or Maroon
Maroon or Oxford Grey
Granite Heather, Maroon, White or Black
Back or Maroon
Black
Black
Silver Grey
Heather Grey or Maroon
Maroon
Maroon
Maroon
Khaki
Heathered Black
Maroon or Black
Black
Maroon
Black, Maroon or Desert
Maroon
Maroon/White or Black/White
Black
Black/Maroon
Maroon or Black
Black/Maroon
Marshmellow or Lipstick Pink
Maroon/Grey
Black
Graphite or Black
Granite Heather
Graphite or Maroon
Maroon or Black
Maroon or Black
Carbon Heather Grey or Black
Carbon Heather Grey or Maroon
Maroon
Maroon
Black
Black
Heather Grey
Grey/Maroon
Maroon
White, Maroon, Grey or Black
Maroon or Oxford Grey
Black or Maroon
Black, Maroon or Oxford Grey
Oxford Grey
Maroon
Maroon
White or Maroon
Maroon
Maroon
White
Carbon Heather Grey
Maroon
Maroon

tl;dr:

1) I had no idea that there were that many variants of "grey." At least, seems like there's more than 50 in the Boston College catalog alone. (Will be here all week, folks).

2) Of the 85 apparel SKUs in the catalog, you can purchase all of four things in gold -- Under Armour Sideline Visor, Under Armour Huddle II Cap, a Long and a Short Sleeve T-Shirt (Champion). That's it.

Now I appreciate that the shade of gold we are pimping these days doesn't work on every piece of clothing. In fact, it makes a lot of items look terribly bland. But shouldn't BC take a bit more pride in one of its two official school colors? If we don't have the right gold that people want slapped on a piece of school gear, shouldn't we first figure out what shade of gold that is, instead of manufacturing everything in black, white and "carbon heather grey?"

Currently my favorite piece of BC merchandise is this maroon Champion t-shirt. It's simple, written in block letters and MAROON. The Boston College bookstore needs more of that, and less items in charcoal, marshmallow and desert. A more consistent and coherent color scheme is great and all, but I just wish that the school was converging on the actual school colors.