The NFL’s Nike-outfitted era gets under way for real tonight, as the Giants and Cowboys will face off at MetLife Giants Stadium. That means it’s time for my annual NFL season-preview column, which is up now on ESPN.
Two tidbits of NFL news I was able to procure yesterday:
• According to Giants equipment director Joe Skiba, captaincy patches (which weren’t worn in the preseason but will be reappear now that the games count) are the same this season as last season. Fifth-year captains get a gold “C,” and so do sixth-year captains. So, basically, after the fourth gold star and the gold “C,” you max out and your patch stays the same. Kinda lame-o. Just scrap the patches already!
• The Chargers will wear white over white for their home opener against the Titans on Sept. 16.
Meanwhile, speaking of the NFL, reader Edward Kendrick has created a spreadsheet that shows when each team has worn an alternate or throwback uni since 1994. “If there are any errors, or if there are throwbacks that were worn prior to 1994, people can contact me directly,” he says, so take a look and help ensure that all the info is accurate.
FBS uniform changes continue to trickle in. We have two more today:
• Navy has made lots of little changes: (1) Gold collar is gone. (2) Collar format is now the Nikelace. (3) Chest wordmark is smaller. (4) Anchor logo on sleeve has been tweaked. (5) Logo has been added to hip. That’s it for today.
• Pitt has gone NNOB. Further details at the bottom of this article.
(My thanks to Chris Grosse and Brian Skokowski for their contributions to this section.)
PermaRec update: An old file cabinet rescued from a Chicago radio station, shown at left, is the focus of the latest entry on the Permanent Record Blog. Enjoy.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Georgia Tech’s honeycomb helmets were supposed to be a big surprise, a big secret. But as you know, they leaked via Twitter, so now all Tech players have been banned from Twitter, which doesn’t exactly sound like a great loss for mankind (from Jeff Downe). … Fredy Guarin of Inter Milan wears these Nike shoes, but he recently used shoe polish (or a few Sharpies) to create an all-black footwear look (from Coleman Mullins). … Manatee High in Florida wore Wounded Warrior uniforms last weekend (from Chris Ashley). … No photo, but Seth Shaw says Arkansas defensive lineman DeQuinta Jones’s NOB reads “DD JONES.” ”¦ Here’s Ole Miss’s “What color you should wear to each game” guide (from Ryan Perkins). ”¦ John Sheehan spent the holiday weekend at a friend’s old house in New England, where one of the bedrooms had all these old pennants on the wall. ”¦ Olympix-related note from Gregory Koch, who writes: “My college probability textbook contains a problem that rerfers to ‘an international weightlifting competition’ in which ‘standings reference the country but not the identity of the individual.’ According to my professor, that problem used to
reference the Olympics by name in older editions, but now it doesn’t. Perhaps the IOC sent the publisher one of their angry cease-and-desist letters?” ”¦ Seth Shaw notes that Arkansas RB Knile Davis doens’t wear gloves. ”¦ The official soccer ball for the 2014 World Cup has been named (from Jeremy Brahm). ”¦ “While researching a friend’s family history, I came across this gem of a photo of a hockey team for the Williams Piano Company here in Oshawa, Canada,” says Jeff Ingalls. … R. Lucian Hamlet reports that the press box in Indy has this rather un-NFL-ish Colts carpeting. … This is pretty great: the Swinging Friar rendered as a pancake! … Nick Punto, now with the Dodgers, is still shredding jerseys (from Phillip Garza). … Yesterday I mentioned that Twins pitcher Glen Perkins is wearing “TC” stirrups when the team wears its “TC” cap but is going pajama-pantsed when the team wears its “M” cap, because he doesn’t have any “M” stirrups. That prompted Jayson Best to respond, “They must have some of these in storage somewhere. I played in the Twins system in the ’90s and they were standard-issue.” … Latest reason I love Hamilton Nolan: He’s been referring to the Time Warner Cable Arena as the Time Warner Cable Sucksâ„¢ Arena. … Mets announcer Keith Hernandez may shave his mustache. … Here’s an oddity: Tom Webster of the then-New England Whalers wearing white skates. The skates must have been holdovers from his seven-game stint with the Golden Seals, for whom he played just before joining the Whalers (from Tris Wykes). … The Minnesota Stars FC — that’s an NASL team — have uni numbers featuring photos of the team’s fans (from Levin Moch). ”¦ Aussie rules football note from Leo Strawn, who writes: “The Collingwood Magpies organization has been getting input from its players and has now located a manufacturer that will take into account a player’s body changes over the course of the season, so a uniform from late in the year would not necessarily be the same size, or possibly even the same material, as the one he wore in the opening round. Adidas, which currently makes the Magpies’ kits, will remain the footwear choice for the club.”
The Chargers will wear white over white for their home opener against the Titans on Sept. 16.
Lame.
…so now all Tech players have been banned from Twitter
Also lame. I mean, really. What a horrible tragedy it is for a few thousand people on the internet to know about a special uniform before it’s officially released… so lets ban the players from posting anything. Brilliant. Fuck freedom of speech, a player might tell everyone what the uniforms are going to look like a day early. Oh the horror!
That’s not what “freedom of speech” means.
You’re right, it’s perfectly okay for a school to censor things *cough*, it’s only the government that isn’t supposed to do that. It’s still ridiculous. I mean, I could sorta understand a “don’t tweet about the school or football” type of rule.. but banning them from twitter entirely? Give me a break.
This school used to have a rule that players couldn’t Tweet anything related to the team. Somebody broke that rule, and now everybody has to live with increased restrictions.
“One bad apple” and all that.
I don’t think it’s asking too much to have the players shut their mouths about it. There’s nothing wrong with some confidentiality & not everything has to be revealed spontaneously & sometimes people want things planned accordingly.
Good thing Jeff doesn’t work for Microsoft/Apple, Coca-cola or KFC otherwise he’d blab all their secrets & ruin the brand.
Oh please… even if you know all of the ingredients used by KFC, you don’t know the proper proportions to actually replicate KFC chicken.
I can understand not wanting the players to tweet about gameplans or uniforms, but for Celestia’s sake… there’s a big difference between “hey, check out the uniforms we’re gonna wear tomorrow” or “we’re gonna focus on our passing game this week”A and “check out this video of Maru the cat” or “great weather for practice today”. Go ahead and make up a few rules about what the players can say, but don’t ban them completely.
“for Celestia’s sake”
~~~
please never use this phrase again
You obviously have no respect for protocol or authority. It’s always “it’s only about Jeff & what HE wants & likes, and screw anybody or any logic otherwise or if it’s inconvenient to Jeff”.
Which makes you incredibly stubborn & conversing with you extremely frustrating.
And yes, if you knew the exact KFC ingredients you COULD replicate the recipe. In Massachusetts there’s a link (it’s not just a cooking show) that you know, does this for a link These are a team of culinary trained professionals who would test it dozens of times & figure it out.
Sorry Phil, I’ll try to stick with Odin or Ra from now on.
You obviously have no respect for protocol or authority. It’s always “it’s only about Jeff & what HE wants & likes, and screw anybody or any logic otherwise or if it’s inconvenient to Jeff”.
Which makes you incredibly stubborn & conversing with you extremely frustrating.
And yes, if you knew the exact KFC ingredients you COULD replicate the recipe. In Massachusetts there’s a business (it’s not just a cooking show) that you know, does this for a living These are a team of culinary trained professionals who would test it dozens of times & figure it out.
Did you actually read my post or did you just automatically assume I was disagreeing with you? I said I’d understand not allowing the players to talk about the school or the sport. Like I said, big difference between “nice day for practice” and “check out our new uniforms”.
“…great weather for practice today…”
Exactly, we don’t need to know every little single minutiae of these guys days. So everything from weather reports at practice to what they’re wearing tomorrow will not be broadcast.
I know what twitter is and it sounds like I’m missing exactly nothing by not belonging.
The only time Twitter is okay is when you’re overthrowing the Iranian government. Apart from that, I don’t want to know about it.
Thanks for letting us know.
Lee
“I have better things to do than worry about the 140 misspelled characters that angry and bitter people use to tweet-and-run.” – John Popovich – WCPO-TV – Cincinnati,OH
New uniforms for Arizona State women’s basketball:
link
Oh good, another black uniform. We don’t have enough of those yet.
Good to see Jeff is in his usual sunny mood today….
I’m in a great mood today… I don’t know what you’re talking about.
C’mon, you have to admit that black uniforms have sorta run their course at this point. I love hearing about new uniforms as much anyone, but when those new uni’s happen to be black, for a team that doesn’t claim black as an official color… it’s kinda hard to care.
And a keen grasp of the obvious to boot!
Just to clarify, the black is not new. For better or worse, black was introduced to all the teams’ unis when ASU rebranded in 2011. The women’s hoops unis have different striping from last year (an upgrade IMHO).
2011 uniforms:
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Ha! I thought Paul was referring to the KFC comment.
For the Williams Piano hockey team, I love the “MASCOT” jersey!
Beat me to it. I laughed out loud (LOL, sorry) on that one! But that’s a great picture that NEEDS to be colorized.
noun \ˈmas-ˌkät also -kət\
a person, animal, or object adopted by a group as a symbolic figure especially to bring them good luck.
I wonder what that kid did to bring them luck.
I could be wrong, but I think the Whale briefly flirted with white skates as well. Colour/white skates were a minor trend in the mid 70’s (Blues wore blue skates with gold trim, and rumour has it the Kings wore purple – although the later I’m less sure of)
New York Golden Blades (second season of WHA; had been New York Raiders the year before) wore white skates, too.
Regarding Mr. Webster’s skates, that image was something I remembered vividly when researching an article. Sure enough, I found the picture again with ease as link and used in the book The Hartford Whalers, written by Brian Codagnone.
The Whale never wore white skates at any time. The Blues did wear blue skates for a short period of time, but the vast majority of players hated any paint on their skates because it made them much heavier. After skating hard for 60 minutes, you can imagine how tired their legs would have been.
A fine book, if I do say so myself. I say that because I wrote it. ;) Thanks for the mention!
The white skates were a Charlie Finley thing, as were the Seals green, white and gold colors. The white skates didn’t last, luckily. Funny how the Seals uniforms were bold and garish for the era, but look subtle and understated compared to some of the clown outfits we’ve seen in recent years.
And didn’t the Golden Blades actually have gold colored blades on their skates?
You’re the same guy? WAY TOO COOL!!! BrianC, I may be contacting you in the future for a new endeavour I’m embarking on. I’d love to have a chance to speak to a published historian. :o)
I think that was just on the logo.
But I couldn’t prove it.
Never saw them play in person.
Sure, Teebz, maybe I can scare you straight about writing a book! ;)
And Ricko, I did see them play but I think you may be right. Of course, it WAS the WHA.
Scott Bair is wrong when he says that “for the first time” the Chargers will wear white over white for their home opener. I was at the 2001 Chargers season opener against the Redskins and the Chargers went white over white. Yes, they had blue helmets then (so not the whole “stormtrooper” look), but they were definitely wearing white jerseys over white pants.
It’s still the first time they’ll go white over white in this current uniform set – which is the whole point of mentioning it.
And, if we go back far enough…
link
First AFL player ever to appear on the cover of SI, btw.
Details, details. Still not the “first time” they’ve worn a white over white uniform for a home opener.
The first season when the Chargers switched to navy (away from the look associated with Air Coryell) they wore white pants home and road…
link
That was the one year the numbers were cheddar (actually were close to flat-out yellow) on the navy jerseys. Tough to find a photo cuz I think they still wore white at home that year. Ah, here were go…
link
Ricko, you may want to check out that link to freefootballwallpapers.
The link worked for a couple hours.
But, hey, if they don’t want people to know the kind of thing they have to offer, I guess that’s their choice.
most important parts of the Nick Punto story:
“Ellis was easy because his jersey isn’t sewn,” Punto said as he pointed to the lining of the buttons on the jersey. “Adrian’s is sewn all the way up, so it’s a tough shred.”
“He did in Boston and he did last year,” Gonzalez said. “Everybody knows that about him now. My jersey is stitched up, but he ripped it. I let him get in there.”
…interesting!
Excellent point. I gotta find out more about that.
I remember a Uni Watch post (or a comment) a while ago where it was hypothesized that Adrian Gonzalez’s buttons were merely decorative because his jersey was sewn all the way up (as the article describes). Seems that that article lends some credence.
Wow… Pitt burying the lede as far as NNOB. The game was only on ESPN3 and I didn’t see any highights.
Bad enough losing to a FCS team, but this is even more of an issue in my opinion. I’m sorry, and I may be in the minority here, but I think that in 2012, NOB should be mandatory in the FBS.
Plus, I hate when teams that DON’T have that tradition do it because some coach comes in with their hokey, cliched, played out “we play for the name on the front of the jersey not the back”
Penn State put NOBs…. the world didn’t end, that should be a sign.
After that debacle, the Pitt players don’t *deserve* to be recognized by name.
Or, OTOH, leave them on, so you can assign blame individually.
Douggie’s going to come out with a “Gotta have an N.O.B. if you wanna be with me” video…
The TV graphics are so pervasive these days that NOB isn’t really needed. Well, it was never *needed* but even less so now.
The Friar Flapjack: FABULOUS!!
It’s amazing.
I wonder if he link link?
Three words: Om. Nom. Nom.
Keith Hernandez to shave his mustache?
Two words: John Oates
Exactly.
Shave off the source of all his power? Bad move.
According to Hebrew legend, there are a few dozen saintly, unknown men whose secret role in life is to justify the purpose of humankind in the eyes of God–they are the sole, unheralded reason we keep existing. WHAT IF THERE’S A GROUP OF MUSTACHES LIKE THAT?! If so, we’ve already lost Oates; Keith *must* be talked to.
I thought he was born with that mustache.
It’s just like his mother’s.
(Hey-OH!!)
So I guess Charger fans are supposed to wear white shirts and white pants to the game?
After Labor Day?
Hey, it’s San Diego.
Rules are slack in southern climes.
I doubt any football coach cares if players leak new uniforms to the public. This is probably a case of GT staying on good terms with Russell Athletic. Maybe the leak caused a contract violation with RA? After all, the new design was more about promoting RA than outfitting GT.
I’m not sure I can agree with you. Sure, most coaches probably don’t care, but there are some who are media-savvy enough to want to keep the announcement to themselves.
But even if they don’t care much about it, rules are rules. And every coach I’ve even known cared a lot about rules. You don’t tweet team secrets, even seemingly inconsequential ones.
RA had nothing to do with that decision, compare the Russell pics to the actual uniforms and you’ll see that GT has a different look.
Synjyn was not supposed to leak the helmets, nor was any other player who was allowed to see them.
People wondered if the Gold helmet would be replaced and several made their judgements on the helmets without even seeing the finished product.
It raised several questions that would have been answered had they first been seen on the field monday night.
It makes sense to ban twitter, people say stupid things on twitter, and taking away that forum eliminates the possibilities of saying something stupid that reflects negatively on the school/team.
And Russell is in no position to reprimand us, we are their highest profile team in all of college sports (perennial top 10 Baseball team, only ACC team (i.e. best representation of Russell in basketball), and only football team in a BCS conference using Russell). Besides its not even their design.
Amare Stoudemire is on Live with Kelly and Michael right now. They’re shooting basketballs but all three are wearing the (apparently) new Knicks jerseys. The same ones shown in the video games shots you’ve posted (sans black)
Hows that for confirmation?
Also of note, Michael Strahan is wearing 92 on his jersey with Strahan on the back.
They’re really doing their best to make tomorrow’s unveiling completely irrelevant. Maybe I won’t attend after all…
Can you get any screen shots from the TV?
Didn’t get a chance but they put clips up online I’m sure, I’ll keep an eye out on the site and post here
actually… speaking of twitter leaks, here’s a good shot of the back:
link
link
…And a look at the front
So pretty much what was expected. Looks like the shoulder stripe really doesn’t go all the way around, which is dumb, but overall much better no?
They went from a decent uniform with unncesseary black trim to a really nice uniform with stupid detailing.
I guess it’s an upgrade.
That New York wordmark looks too small! Why are NBA wordmarks & numbers getting so small lately?
RIP Regis (even tho he’s not dead yet).
Crappy job on that wordmark.
Why are NBA wordmarks & numbers getting so small lately?
Making extra room for all the ads that are coming.
Ugh, that half-trim around the armholes is horrible. I can only hope that it doesn’t catch on with other teams…
It is inherently dumb BUT upon a second look at the jersey being worn, it’s not as bad.
Also, kind of odd that the stripes are blue, orange, and gray. Seems like an unnecessary replacement for the black.
Truncated stripes are no good & serve no purpose. Make them go all the way around.
“Hey, here’s an idea. What if the stripes just…stop. Y’know, for no reason, just stop? That’d be different. And new.”
“Yes. That will show what inventive and original uni designers we are. Great idea.”
Couple weeks back, some old photos of the mid-1960s Senators sparked discussion of cap embroidery. The red curly W seemed to be much higher than the white outline, making the outline look like a drop shadow in some photos. Ricko hypothesized that it was the result of a two-layer stitching process, with the red sitting atop the white. Seemed reasonable, and I believe that is how some older caps I’ve seen were made. However, with regard to the Senators in particular, I came across this old auction listing that shows a 1963-67 Senators cap in bad disrepair, including much of the logo stitching coming off:
link
Expand the first photo to see in detail. It looks to have some kind of thick white substance under the red stitching, much like the foam that’s used to puff up modern MLB cap logos. You can see it extruding between some of the still-tight red stitches as well, again just as tends to happen as modern foam-core MLB caps age. Might this be the first documented instance of a filled puffy cap logo in MLB?
Alternately, some of the show-through looks like it could be composed of an extra layer or two of white stitching, with the red applied on top. Sort of the Ricko hypothesis on steroids.
I think random 3-D cap embroidery has been going on since the 1950s & maybe even further back with the Yankees & Cardinals coming to mind. I wrote to New Era years ago & they told me they used cardboard back in the day & stitched right on top of it or used thread stitched over it multiple times.
I wish they would stop the 3-D embroidery. I really don’t like & it distorts logos and you can’t get sharp fine points like on the Tigers, White Sox, Mariners, 1994-99 Astros, etc. It was some gimmick that became popular in the mid-1990s & just another reason to charge a buck more for a cap.
Thanks for the info!
Except for “another reason to charge a buck” – that’s not how economics works* – I totally agree. If a few teams wanted to make puffy logos their thing, great! But New Era seems to have just decided circa 1995 that every team in baseball, majors and minors, would thence and henceforth always have slabs of quarter-inch foam inside their cap logos. It’s the standardization & forced conformity to non-team dicta that bothers me. Plus, as you mention, while some logos look just fine all puffed up, many do not.
*Since New Era has a monopoly on authentic and a few other types of MLB caps, its price does not depend on the cost input. The price depends entirely on demand; with a monopoly, New Era can charge the highest price consumers will pay regardless of what it costs to manufacture the cap. If New Era stopped doing foam-core embroidery, or only did it for some teams, it would not charge $1 less for each non-foamy cap. It would charge the same price and pocket the difference as profit.
I just remember paying exactly $1 more in 1995 for 3-D New Era caps & the price remaining the same a few years before & after that. I don’t think they would introduce a new perk like 3-D embroidering without charging more for it because of the cost of materials, that extra step in the process & extra threading which I’m sure they had to recalibrate the embroidery machines to do that.
kind of difficult to see, but my hat has a mix of both puffy and flat. didn’t have a ton of input on the process, but thought it was interesting:
link
link
better pic:
link
Opening the NFL season… on a Wednesday night. I don’t think so.
Stick to Sundays & Monday nights (tho not for my team).
I actually agree with you on this point. The NFL needs to get over itself. We don’t need Wednesday games or Thursday games or 2 Monday Night games on the same day. It’s just stupid. I totally get the “Yay! It’s football season!” feeling, but chill the fuck out, NFL.
Who is it around here who always reflexively opposes traditionalist protocols like “the NFL should only play on Sundays and Monday nights,” and who always says we need to open up our minds to new ways of doing things?
Wait a second, it’ll come to me….
I’m not 100% opposed to tradition. I’m only about 90% or so opposed. Some aspects still make sense and thus I’m ok with those.
I think the NFL has grown in large part due to their Sunday domination. Every fan can plan to spend Sunday sitting on the couch watching games. I think that approach is one of the reasons they have taken off in popularity. Spreading out the games dilutes the Sunday experience, imo. In the fall you look toward your weekend and think, I get to spend all Sat/Sun watching games. After the summer where weekend afternoon television is golf/nascar, it is refreshing.
I think the NHL should look to capitalize on the Fall Football Sat/Sun format and schedule multiple games on one of those days in the Spring. How about waking up on a Saturday in February to 12p (9a PST) Devils@Capitals, 2.30p Rangers@Canadians, 7p RedWings@Blackhawks, 8.30p Flames@Canucks, 11p Kings@Sharks
“Stick to Sundays & Monday nights (tho not for my team).”
~~~
so…you don’t want your team to play on sundays or monday nights? that leaves, what? wednesday? thursday?
No Monday night games for my team. I don’t like late afternoon or Sunday night games either. Sunday Noon is what I vastly prefer.
All this different scheduling turns me off on the NFL.
I love Sunday and Monday night games – I don’t often get to watch my Packers live otherwise.
Worst is when the Packers get a national prime time game against the Giants, which I would get anyway. Like this season.
There is a valid reason to be opposed to Wed/Thurs/Mon games, as it means that one team has a longer/shorter week to prepare for the next game. But, opposing late afternoon games? Give me a freakin break. You’re a fruitcake.
STFU, Jeff.
I have other things to do & watch on Sunday afternoons, evenings & Monday nights. Maybe I don’t want a stupid football game on nights where I have to get up early in the morning the next day, or maybe I want to watch something else instead.
The NFL thinking I’ll just drop whatever I’m doing & plan my life around to watch their precious game & to be grateful for the opportunity & their flex scheduling is bullshit. This is exactly the kind of egotistical crap I hate about the NFL and its #1 superiority complex.
And that’s enough of that.
Jeff: Go walk around the block a few times.
Mark: Go in the corner and think pleasant thoughts.
Thanks.
NBC and ESPN do not have games in Week 17. So they get an extra game (NBC Thurs, ESPN extra Mon) in Week 1.
Because the president is speaking at the DNC Thursday, the NFL moved the opening game to Wednesday.
NBC has a Sunday Night game, the final week of the season. NBC also took the Thanksgiving Night game away from the NFL Network.
link
NBC also took the Thanksgiving Night game away from the NFL Network.
Good. Those games should be as widely available as possible.
What’s wrong with Sunday September 9th? (or MLB having all its Opening Day games on you know, the SAME opening day?)
When did sports become so stupid? The NFL basically wants to shove games down our throats every single day of the week. I don’t see how a short week is beneficial the players at all, either.
So you want 16 games being played at the same exact time? I – along with a fairly huge contingent of people that do love the NFL – would hate that. We don’t pay the outrageous money we do for Sunday Ticket to only be able to pick out a few games to watch.
Don’t like football after 4:00 PM Eastern on Sunday? Don’t watch it. However, enough people are watching all of these games that the NFL feels it’s okay to keep these schedules going.
Bottom line is, if the games on “off” days didn’t get the audience numbers they wouldn’t continue to schedule them.
The “only game on tonight” numbers must be substantial enough to warrant expanding such scheduling.
So, while the NFL’s self-importance annoys the crap out of me, I don’t know that this is “forcing” anyone to do anything. Rather it’s recognizing the demand. “Hey, the numbers show you apparently like more games on more nights, so we’ll give ’em to you.”
So you want 16 games being played at the same exact time?
It wouldn’t bother me one bit.
Don’t like football after 4:00 PM Eastern on Sunday? Don’t watch it. However, enough people are watching all of these games that the NFL feels it’s okay to keep these schedules going.
I know it’s a time zone thing. But the NFL’s initiative is to get as many games on TV in as many time slots as possible, and it’s frustrating. Let me show you my team’s schedule:
9 Sunday Noon (5 games eligible Week 11-17 to Sunday 3pm or 7:20pm due to flex scheduling)
3 Monday 7:30pm
2 Sunday 3pm (1 game eligible Week 11-17 to Sunday night due to flex scheduling)
1 Sunday 7:20pm
1 Thursday 7:20pm
It’s just too much. I need more consistency. My team is expected to be competitive so flex scheduling is inevitable.
So, while the NFL’s self-importance annoys the crap out of me, I don’t know that this is “forcing” anyone to do anything. Rather it’s recognizing the demand. “Hey, the numbers show you apparently like more games on more nights, so we’ll give ‘em to you.”
If anything, the NFL hates 1pm/Noon games. They get the most bang for the advertising buck in primetime. The NFL is gravitating towards getting games on almost every single night. What I don’t like is the NFL moving starting times around solely so it can maximize ratings. That has to annoy those with tickets to the game; especially those who traveled by plane.
It’s frustrating when you’re used to games being on at a certain time, and instead you get stuck with a game with hated division rivals or ones from another conference whom really don’t matter.
I like having some variety in scheduling, but it’s gotten a bit heavy. I’d be for fewer Thursday games (one on opening night and three on Turkey Day), a return to some Saturday games after NCAA season is over, a limit of one MNF game/week and restricting the Sunday morning kickoff games to those that involve only teams from points east of Dallas.
It’s just too much. I need more consistency…It’s frustrating when you’re used to games being on at a certain time, and instead you get stuck with a game with hated division rivals
Said the man who also said,
It’s always “it’s only about Jeff & what HE wants & likes, and screw anybody or any logic otherwise or if it’s inconvenient to Jeff”.
;)
I have no dog in this fight, but just wanted to throw that in there…
Love the throwback chart. Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t the Jets the first NFL team to wear a link against the Bengals?
I dont remember the 1993 iteration but you may be right… I was thinking of this: link
but that’s from 1994
He’s right. The Jets wore the fauxback in 1993 to celebrate the anniversary of their Super Bowl III victory. It was the ’68 uniform worn with a stripeless green helmet. In ’94 they added white stripes to the still inaccurate green helmet.
Evidently they couldn’t find an images from Super Bowl III.
Well, it WAS before the Internet got really big, of course.
I think they were just lazy, Ricko. You know, the whole “not wanting to break in another helmet” thing. The Bills did the same thing with that utterly ludicrous red helmet with the white buffalo logo on it. I’m not sure what the Raiders’ problem was though, with them inventing the white shield logo for some reason.
Obviously it was the helmet thing. That’s a given.
But it did make them look they couldn’t find their butt with both hands.
I think the Raiders just got it wrong; they just thought the shield was white. There aren’t a lot of photos from the early AFL and even fewer in color or high resolution. Maybe they didn’t keep good records back then either, let alone have any 30-year-old decals on hand. OTOH, maybe they thought the white shield would look better than a silver shield.
The Jets and Bills had no excuse to get the helmets wrong in ’94; plenty of teams (the Chargers, Oilers and Falcons leap to mind) went with different-colored helmet shells for the throwback games. I think, but don’t have confirmation, that the NFL wouldn’t let the Jets use a white helmet for the ’93 throwback game, as there is (or was) a rule that teams couldn’t use different helmets (or different-colored helmets) in different games. This may have been a post-merger rule; didn’t the Eagles have to stop doing that vis-Ã -vis their green and white helmets in the early ’70s?
Maybe the Jets liked how the old logo looked on the green shell; it did look good, even better with the white stripes, and would have been a great throwback but for the inaccuracy. But really, there’s no reason why they couldn’t have gone the full nine and used white helmets.
“it did make them look they couldn’t find their butt with both hands.”
~~~
perhaps that’s why there is this new emphasis on uniforms highlighting the gluteus maximus and pelvic areas
Now that I think about it, the one-helmet-only rule is probably still in place. IIRC, the Seahawks when they did their last redesign wanted to use both silver and metallic-blue helmets, and when the NFL said no, they asked the fans to vote on which one they wanted.
I don’t know the history, but if I had to guess the NFL adopted a “throwback waiver” for this rule in 1994 when they decided to do the league-wide throwback uniform thing, but wouldn’t grant a waiver for the Jets’ one-off in 1993 when no one had ever worn a throwback, or even an alternate uniform, in the NFL before. I’d also be interested to know if it was the Jets’ 1993 throwback that gave the NFL the idea for the 1994 throwbacks.
(BTW, for the record, the Chargers, Oilers, Falcons, Broncos and Patriots, five teams, used different-colored helmet shells for their 1994 throwbacks, so the Jets, Bills, Cowboys and 49ers had no excuse.)
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Also, this could confirm it
Hopefully the Chargers will come to their senses and realize that those white pants are the only ones they should ever use.
^^^ THAT ^^^
But we all know they won’t. Instead, they’ll go the other “logical” route — navy over navy.
NOW you’ve done it.
Paul,
Any plans by the Giants to wear a Super Bowl Commemorative Patch tonight that you know of?
Kinda like to know if I’m going to have to scramble to put one together tonight.
Because your night will be ruined if you’re not wearing exactly what the team is wearing??
I look forward to seeing a photo of you in your football pants….
No, so we can update the Week 1 images in real time as we’ve been doing since last season. I take it as a personal shot to my pride if we have to put up an un-patched Giants jersey on GUD instead of the real deal patched one – if they wear a patch.
Ah, gotcha.
To my knowledge, no patch. But we shall see….
Today’s ESPN column is up:
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The link to the Atlanta Falcons uni schedule page is broken, just redirects to their homepage.
I’m looking forward to seeing the Bills’ blue pants.
yeah, um…
no
Just noticed the Saints’ color changes (gold numbers matching gold pants). Would have preferred they go the other way, viz., make the pants a darker/richer gold to match the numbers.
Absolutely. My main gripe for many years. The newer shades of Gold (Vegas, Cat Piss, Whatever) simply do not contrast enough from the White jerseys or other elements.
Sorry, I didn’t get the memo that that disgusting blue cement toilet bowl was raised from the ashes
It’s MET LIFE STADIUM now
got it?
Wow, makes it a tough call.
Do we wear a Giants jersey to the game tonight, or our Snoopy costume?
How about a Cowboys jersey?
I still don’t understand the fascination with being the first to reveal a new uniform or change. Why not just wait for it to be shown publicly?
New to America, are ya?
At the US Open, doubles partners Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani are playing against each other in the quarterfinals wearing what appear to be identical clothing. link link
This is a shame. Killer stripes!
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Paul,
I thought Joe Skiba said the Giants wouldn’t wear the red jerseys Nike offered them, but that they were considering an alternate for next season? Is that no longer true? Did they get pressure from someone to bring out the reds? Pretty sure their record in them was horrible…
Great article today!
At least the nfl schedules their ggoofyy times ahead of sched.
One reason ive been hesitant about taking an EPL vacation trip is fear the games i want to see will be moved from sat to sun (or maybe even postponed) only with a few weeks notice.
Anyone seen this ridiculousness yet?
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If I were the coach, I’d say ‘screw them’ & play in them anyway!
Already referenced yesterday and today as well.
Damn, I looked around for…guess not hard enough.
I wonder if any team will ever draw the line in the sand, and say “we’re keeping the uniform/mascot/ineligible player, and scheduling informal scrimmages this year.” Not practical, but a guy can dream, can’t he?
I’m a ‘no jerseys after age 30’ fellow, but this article provided me with some insight:
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Confirmation from a Chicago Bears beat reporter, the Bears will not wear orange pants at all this year but will wear the monsters of the midway throwbacks a couple of times this year, but no game dates as of yet.
It was on the radio, I’ll rip the audio when I can.
It wouldn’t surprise me if they got some of the pants, had a few of the players try them on and when they saw how they looked in real life, decided to stick with the white and blue ones.
I was hoping the Bungles would be wearing white when Dallas comes a-callin’, I’m interested in seeing the Cowboys blue unis after they’ve been Nike-ified. Did the Cowboys go blue at all in the pre-season?
No.
Dallas avoids the blue like the plague, as we all know. I’d mention the score tonight but Phil will get all over me for it.
why would i get all over you for mentioning the score?
it wasn’t 20-17 in OT was it?
Several Giants wearing gray shoes.
what kind of helmet is eli wearing?
a blue one
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I wish the Giants picked the other gray pants.
Was queen Latifah wearing the “wrong Manning” jersey??
That was my first thought, maybe someone in her family (perhaps the Queen of Hip-Hop herself) wore the number in sports?
No 18s are retired by the Giants, nor have any made the HOF or their Ring of Honor.
It has to hold some kind of importance to her
Romo has a very unusual neck bumper — it doesn’t extend very far horizontally, and it seems to extend upward a bit more than usual. Also, he doesn’t have the blue Dymo label.
thats the new rawlings style helmet. not sure which version tho.
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Good call. Thanks!
it also did look like the Dymo label was just peaking out above the neck bumper.
I noticed this during the preseason but haven’t mentioned it until now: The Giants’ NOB lettering looks huge. I think this is due to two things:
1) They wore the super-stretchies for the past few seasons, and those jerseys had much thinner NOB lettering.
2) As I noted in today’s ESPN column, the space between the numbers and the NOBs seems to have collapsed for several teams, including the Giants.
Has The Jeff gotten back from that walk around the block yet?
Wait. He doesn’t live on a houseboat does he?
i believe he lives in a shack in montana
That’s not very fair to Mr. Kaczynski…
who?
The — wait for it — uni-bomber.
the “team colored” cleats are a disaster on the Giants… so much for uniform uniforms…
Skypoint to Eli for that passing TD, though. Keep it up you extra-chromosome having sonnova bitch.