We’ll get back to the trivial stuff tomorrow in this space — politics, environmental calamity, growth, economic issues — but, today, we dare to speak about something that’s really important:

Aren’t those new football uniforms for the Oregon State Beavers swell?

Lest there be no misunderstanding, we hasten to add that we’re being serious: The new football jerseys, unveiled last week, really do look great. OSU’s friends at Nike updated the look of the uniforms by simplifying them and going back to the basics.

You will not see Beaver football players experimenting with neon shades of orange or black (can you even GET black in a neon shade?) the way you might at other football programs that shall remain nameless but have a campus about 40 miles to the south.

Not for the Beavers the uniform numbers that look as if somebody scrawled them on with a Sharpie (all right, a neon Sharpie) just minutes before kickoff. The new look is classy and, yes, a touch conservative: It’s a good match for a team that Coach Mike Riley likes to tout as a hard-working, gritty, “lunch-bucket” group. (We were a little surprised that the uniforms don’t actually appear to include lunch-bucket emblems, but there might be time to add them before the first game.)

What we appreciate most is that the simpler uniform eliminates an issue that we found distracting: The most recent uniforms have included a bib around the neck and the top of the shoulders. From where we sat in Reser Stadium (a fair distance from the field, as you might imagine), the bib made it look as if the players, for some reason, were wearing sports bras over the top of the jersey. We have nothing against sports bras, but we kept wondering if this really was the kind of image that fit a lunch-bucket group of guys.

But don’t take our word for it: The photos above show the new uniforms and a selection of other jerseys that OSU players have donned over the past few seasons. You can pick your favorite in this week's online poll on the gazettetimes.com homepage.

Finally, just for your information: Last week’s story announcing the new uniforms was the most-read story of July on the G-T’s Web site. It even drew more page views than the letters to the editor.

That’s how we could tell this was important.