We Mus Protek Dis Hows

The University of Maryland and Under Armour announced this week that the Baltimore company will supply gear and footwear (where available) to all 27 sports teams.

Immediately my thoughts raced to the competitive cheer squad, perplexed as to whether or not the most aggressive brand ever created yet made shoes designed specifically for the needs of those who cheer competitively.

Maryland's excellent school paper, the Diamondback, answered the question in its report on the deal, here's an excerpt:

While most teams will sport Under Armour jerseys in the near future, many will need to wait on footwear. According to (Md Associate AD Chris) Boyer, the company does not yet make athletic shoes for volleyball, wrestling and competitive cheer, and men's and women's basketball, soccer, track and field, tennis, golf and cross country and won't provide footwear for those sports for the coming school year. Additionally, the company does not yet manufacture uniforms for competitive cheer, gymnastics, swimming or water polo.

The teams for which Under Armour does not provide footwear or uniforms will continue making deals for those products individually with providers, Boyer said, as teams did prior to this agreement. Under the contract, however, Under Armour retains the right to begin outfitting those teams with footwear or uniforms once Under Armour starts making them.

So as you can see, Under Armour does not yet make competitive cheer or basketball shoes, or tiny swimsuits for that matter. So I guess this means we'll see that interlocking U logo on the basketball uniforms, but the fellas will wear Nikes on their feet.

As for Gary, if he has any sense of humor at all, I'm sure he and UA could get together to make or at least joke about a moisture wicking suit, but what we'll probably see is one of those little lapel pins.

As for the water polo team, they are just going to have to wait for Kevin Plank and company to start manufacturing a moisture wicking banana hammock.