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Uni Watch

What’s Round on Both Ends and High in the Middle?

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ohio.jpg

Got a note yesterday from reader Kevin Mueller, as follows:

My father played football at Ohio University 1964-1967, and was a grad assistant for a couple years after. While going through some of his scrapbooks we came across the attached clipping. Not sure of the year, but based on the helmet logo it would have been 1967 or ’68. I wasn’t aware of Ohio ever having the merit decals on their helmets, and I don’t think this program lasted too long.

The clipping Kevin was referring to can be seen here. Go ahead and take a minute to read it.

Okay, done reading? A few thoughts:

• Hard for me to express how much I love that helmet logo.

• Don’t think I’ve ever seen little stripes of tape used as merit decals before.

• Very odd that the tape strips were called chevrons. A chevron design usually involves some sort of V-shaped element.

• As you can see in the photo, Ohio was also using SNOB during this period — with what appears to be fairly gigantic lettering!

• Kevin said he thinks the clipping is from 1967 or ’68, but I’m not so sure about that. The clipping states that helmet awards were “used by many schools” at the time. But most sources credit Ohio State with having come up with the first merit decals in 1968, so the advent of the Ohio tape stripes presumably came at least a year or two after that. According to the Helmet Project, Ohio used this helmet logo from 1967 through 1972, so maybe the clipping is from the early 1970s.

• Look at that headline font! Very interesting serifs on the h, m, and n. Anyone know what font that is?

• On the down side, the text and even the caption are riddled with grammatical errors — disappointing. Which newspaper was this?

Anyway, it’s all interesting stuff. Big thanks to Kevin for sharing this intriguing little chapter in college football uni history.

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colonels ball.JPG

Collector’s Corner

By Brinke Guthrie

It’s not every day that you encounter a Kentucky Colonels signed basketball. That reminds me of an old ABA story: My game program had the “lucky number” at a Dallas Chaparrals game. I got to go down on court and shoot a free throw. Win, you get season tix; lose, you get a “real” ABA ball. I was in 6th grade, no way I could shoot it that far, plus I could never go to all those games on school nights. So I missed on purpose, ’cause I wanted the ball. AND IT WAS A FAKE. Grrrrrr.

Okay, enough of my reminiscing. Here’s the rest of this week’s eBay haul:

• This is pretty much Collector’s Corner nirvana right here: Chiquita-o-rama! Not only do you get the complete set of NFL stickers, and some advertising blurbs, but you also get the yellow (what did you expect, brown?) Chiquita football. Had one of these, and probably destroyed it by playing with it in the pool. (Soaks up the water, weighs 10 pounds, tears apart while playing toss with the guys. Get benched by lifeguard Sally “The Terminator” Beach at the Terrace Park Swim Club.)

• Could the SF Giants please use this as a home alt? Pretty-please?

• Amazing how the authentic vintage NFL stuff had such an utter lack of branding. Case in point: this early-1970s Giants sideline cape. No NFL shield, no team logo, just a generic typeface on the back. By some local maker outta Philly, it seems.

• This 1960s A’s bobblehead looks to be in great shape. Same for this Cubbies model.

• NFL Sears alert! Vintage 1970s Seattle Seahawks zip-front sweater from the Sears “Put-On Shop.”

• Browns fans, here’s a 1970s helmet plaque still sealed in the cellophane.

• How about this, sports fans? A set of 27 NFL Helmet Buggies from the 1970s. Nice display case, too! Most of ’em look to be in good shape except the Bucs and the Pack. And the Browns look MIA — aren’t they always.

• And we conclude this week with a nice-looking 1968 Atlanta Falcons poster.

Seen something on eBay or Etsy that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here.

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’Skins Watch: The Twittersphere got all excited/outraged last night when Monday Night Football play-by-play man Mike Tirico referred to the ’Skins as “the Washingtons” in the midst of last night’s Bengals/Steelers game, but it turns out it was inadvertent and unintentional on his part. ”¦ Neither inadvertent nor unintentional: ESPN fantasy football analyst Matthew Berry is the latest to announce that he’ll be boycotting the ’Skins name. In his podcast yesterday (at about two minutes in), he said, “I’m actually in favor of changing the name. I’m going to do my best — I’m a poor broadcaster, so I may actually slip and say the name — but I’m going to do my best to only refer to them as ‘the Washington professional football team’ or ‘Washington’ and not use the name” (big thanks to Sam Belk). … The ’Skins controversy was featured yesterday on Outside the Lines. I didn’t see it, but Coleman Mullins did and describes it like so: “It was pretty well done. They spoke to quite a few people. … An ESPN rep was on Native grounds — I’m not sure if it was a reservation and don’t want to use the incorrect term — but he said something kinda interesting, and I’ll try to paraphrase: ‘I’m here and have not mentioned why to anyone here, but many of the people have voiced their displeasure [about the ’Skins name], and that they don’t want their children to have to grow up dealing with it.’ Very bad paraphrase, but that’s the gist. They spoke about what Goodell’s 180 on his comments seems to mean, what may be written in the sand, if you will. Oh, and they touched on all the journalists who have decided to stop using the term.” … Yesterday I linked to a story on the Indian Country Today website about the ’Skins naming controversy. That piece — and the illustration that accompanied it — provoked a strong reader response. …

Baseball News: This article about the 1977 White Sox includes the following passage: “The [White Sox] players who were still around from 1976 had to put on the same uniforms they wore last year, many of them inelegantly patched” (from my ESPN colleague Dave Schoenfield). ”¦ A reader who didn’t give his name notes that Angels catcher John Hester was wearing black catcher’s gear — including a black helmet — last night. ”¦ Roger Faso says he’s pissed to have lost the bidding for this old A’s poster. ”¦ Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Scroll about 40% down on this article to see lots of uni-related MLB superstitions. Actually, the whole article is great, even the non-uni stuff — recommended (from Adam Northenscold). ”¦ “Majestic has ended another three-year run of the current MLB dugout jacket, with the 2014 model likely being introduced in the playoffs,” says Chris Bruno. “It looks like MLB.com Shop already has them — well, for women and kids, but you see what the design will look like.” ”¦ Bizarre scene last night in Colorado, as the umpire, catcher, batter, and even batboy scoured the dirt around home plate in search of something. Eventually the umpire could be heard telling the batboy to “go get the metal detector.” Turns out they were looking for a screw that had come loose from Yadier Molina’s helmet. That’s all very nice, but now I want to know if MLB ballparks routinely have metal detectors on hand. Do they? (From Chris Callan.)

NFL News: Referee Mike Carey was wearing an outdated jersey with the pre-2012 number font last night. “I have three work shirts and work five nights a week, and I’m expected to show up in a clean, current shirt,” says Rob Holecko. “These guys work one day a week and presumably have someone take care of that stuff for them. Maybe it’s the airline’s fault.” ”¦ Scott Hord notes that Bengals kicker Mike Nugent seemed to have a different striping pattern on his helmet last night. ”¦ This is pretty funny: Fox’s score crawl/ticker thingie on Sunday was struck by a serious case of the Griffins (from Michael McBride). ”¦ Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Vikings QB Christian Ponder was wearing his wedding band on the field on Sunday. He doesn’t appear to have done this in the past (from Benjamin Page). ”¦ Although Sunday was the first time the Chiefs went solid-red, McFarlane had produced a Priest Holmes blood-clot figurine back in 2003. “I believe it was pointed out on the McFarlane Toys message boards at the time that the Chiefs had never worn that combo, and they wound up correcting it in a later run (as well as issuing a second Holmes figure that had the correct home and away uniforms),” says George N. ”¦ Dick’s Sporting Goods has produced a report on NFL jersey sales. … We’ve mentioned on the site that Chris Harris Jr. of the Broncos is going with JrOB this season, but we didn’t have a photo of it until now. Interesting that there’s no period after the “Jr” (from Chris Flinn).

College Football News: Virginia Tech is going G.I. Joe this weekend, including a rear helmet decal (from Phil and Andrew Cosentino, respectively). … Neglected to mention yesterday that Syracuse wore new blue pants over the weekend, and they might have more unusual combos in store (from Rick DiRubbo and Phil, respectively). … Not only does South Carolina have two players whose NOBs add up to a tasty meal, but the two players in question are the kicker and his holder — can’t make it up! (From Ronnie Poore.) ”¦The Big House won’t be getting more advertising, thankfully (from Eric Romain). … Here’s a video about Nebraska’s black unis from this past weekend (thanks, Phil). … I don’t know any of the people who work on ESPN’s home page (if I did, I’d get them to feature my work more often), but at least one of them must be a Hüsker Dü fan. Got a kick out of seeing that yesterday. … The Northwestern University bookstore has a display of vintage NU helmets (from David Firestone). … Wyoming will be wearing gray this weekend (thanks, Phil). … “SMU currently wears red jerseys, but for much of the ’80s and ’90s they wore the blue ‘pony express’-era uniforms,” says Phil Jones. “The athletic dept. has put out a video that appears to hint at SMU wearing blue again for its next home game against Rutgers on Oct. 5. The video references 1983 — maybe a throwback jersey for the ’83 Cotton Bowl team? We shall see.”

Hockey News: The Canadiens are adding diacritical marks to their NOBs this season, as you can see in these shots of was Erik Nyström and Daniel Brière (from Mike Engle). ”¦ Several good photos of the Stars’ new unis in action here. Also, the fourth photo in the slideshow has an interesting caption: “How do you feel about the third logo on the pants, the only reference to Texas? It is the only place that really gives an indication of Texas on the uniform.” That’s what it’s come to in Texas — a mere one reference to the state on a uniform is considered insufficient (thanks, Phil). … Also from Phil: New uniforms for Arizona State. ”¦ Here’s a good round-up of NHL center ice design changes for the new season (from Cory Gibson-Bath). ”¦ We had previously seen the Sabres’ new third jersey, but we hadn’t seen the socks until now (thanks, Phil).

Grab Bag: New college hoops uniforms for Tennessee (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Also from Phil: New cricket uniforms for India. ”¦ New secondary logo for Furman University (from Stanton Smith). ”¦ There’s a gorgeous-looking new book about cycling head badges (from Pete Woychick). ”¦ Two chefs who are retiring from the Culinary Institute of America were presented with signed sports jerseys (from Joe Morano). … David Firestone has written a good piece on Starting Lineup auto racing figurines. … Just what the world’s been waiting for: sneakers with scratch-off colors (thanks, Brinke). ”¦ Some kids from the Oak Hills school district in Cincinnati have been saddled with the worst pee-wee football uniforms of all time, more or less (from Jason Umberg). ”¦ Last night I attended a class on the history of meat, which entailed lots of illustrations like this and this. Definitely more fun than looking at the Bengals’ uniforms, although that’s a textbook case of damning with faint praise.

 
  
 
Comments (127)

    My best guess is that the article regarding the the OU football helmet is from the student newspaper “The Post” given the familiar tone and lack of a good edit. Nevertheless, nice to see my alma mater so prominently featured. OU – Oh Yeah!

    Interesting thing about the headline font is the ‘v’ in Chevron has a different treatment than other letters.

    There are enough similarities in line and proportion that I assume that the larger headline font is a catastrophically bad italic version of the roman headline font above it. The only thing that makes me question this hypothesis is the difference between the A forms, but otherwise it looks like a poor attempt to use serifs to mirror the curlicues that are common on traditional italic type.

    Christian Ponder was married during the off season, so that’s why he never wore the ring before this year. Didn’t look to see if he’s been wearing it all season though.

    The Priest Holmes figurine with the Chiefs red jersey and pants combination reminds me of this Kevin Brown Starting Lineup doll depicting him in a road jersey never worn by the Dodgers:

    link

    Love seeing those old helmet buggies. I remember they sold them at Sears. I bought the gumball bank there instead of the helmet buggy.

    Unsure if it’s also a slip, but Red Sox radio guy Joe Castiglione almost always refers to the Astros as ‘the Houstons’.

    And how many Yankees play in the Bronx? Old regional joke: To people who live outside the United States, a Yankee is an American. To Americans, a Yankee is somebody from the north. To Northerners, a Yankee is a New Englander. To New Englanders, a Yankee is somebody from Vermont. To Vermonters, a Yankee is somebody who eats pie for breakfast.

    Sorry. I’ll shut up now.

    And the Red Sox haven’t worn red socks since Curt Schilling in 2004.

    “Astros” is a perfectly cromulent name that embiggens the city’s ties to space exploration.

    I don’t see the Nugent helmet stripe difference. ??? Nothing too egregious. I see a bit of spacing difference, but perhaps that’s because of his helmet size????

    That’s actually the one peculiarity that I’ve liked about the Bengals. The stripes are “more or less” in the same place on the helmets. No other team could boast that randomness on its helmet. Just like no two tigers have stripes in exact similar patterns. The same thing on the shoulders and pants. 1981 was good.

    Then they got restless and had to mess with the uniform to the point where today the whole enterprise is just embarrassing.

    This is in the “You Might Like:” box at the bottom of the ticker:

    “Massachusetts man plotted to kill and eat children, feds say (CNN Other)”

    Was cannibalism mentioned in your history class, Paul?

    “… The Canadiens are adding diacritical marks to their NOBs this season, as you can see in these shots of was Erik Nyström and Daniel Brière (from Mike Engle). … ”

    Now this is good news. Habs should now inaugurate affirmative action recruitment program to attract Latino players (to get the squiggly thing above the letter N, which in Spanish makes a letter unto itself, pronounced EN-yay) and Danes (to get that O with the diagonal line through it, as in the second letter in Kierkegaard’s first name) and …

    1. Couldn’t agree more about that Ohio logo. It merits a full-time return posthaste.

    2. Regardless of who Virginia Tech thinks they’re honoring, they (of all schools) should know that link reminds less of war, and more of hunting.

    3. Arizona State’s pitchfork/trident logo works better as a link than a football helmet decal, to be sure. But really, how hard would it be to throw a hockey stick in link hands? It would be like the Penguins logo, only more Satanic. What a missed opportunity.

    Gotta love Rob’s comment about the ref.

    On the newspaper thing, it was probably and Ohio University School Newspaper that no one bothered to edit before publishing. I can’t really see a major newspaper allowing grammatical errors everywhere.

    Paul, the merit decal has stripes in the middle of the decal and I have seen those “half-chevrons” called chevrons before when they are on the arm of a crossing-gate. Typically the other half is on the arm too, but in the case of the decals, who knows…could just be how they were described to the writer…or his vernacular.

    A few weeks ago you posted a story on how Alabama had to return their coaching shirts to nike so they could place a swoosh on the chest. I noticed while watching the A&M game that the Alabama coaches had blacked out the swooshes on their sleeve. I’m not sure why they couldn’t have both swooshes showing.

    Perhaps I should have been clearer — one mark per article of clothing. So Nike gets to put one on a player’s shirt, pants, each sock, each wristband, each shoe…ad nauseum.

    Some of the mens’ versions of those MLB jackets are up now.

    I like them – straightforward and clean style – but am gobsmacked that the Brewers might wear link. Guess those mustard-color jerseys are selling pretty well.

    And I’m alwsys glad to see the Orioles use their link. Mascot logos are the best.

    I don’t mean this to be the least bit sexist, but an “Authentic On-Field Women’s Jacket” just doesn’t sound right to me. How many women are “on-field” during a major league baseball game, and of them, how many wear team issued apparel?

    You’re not thinking like a marketing executive. You’re thinking lucidly and sensibly which is the reason why a womens on field authentic makes absolutely no sense.

    Ballgirls come to mind.

    Also, there could be female medics, like link (though she wears puffy jackets like the rest of the bench staff).

    Oh, and the link.

    Not that groundskeepers and medics need form-fitting performance apparel and the “authentic” qualifier is clearly added to move merchandise, but there are female on-field personnel in baseball.

    You mean my wife can wear the same thing that the head grounds keeper for the Orioles wears on-field?

    Look MLB, dress them up as you like, and sell the merchandise in the store, that’s fine. But slapping holograms on it and calling it authentic to make an extra buck is a bit overboard.

    I’ve heard Nicole Sherry speak at SABR events. She’s one of the most thoughtful and articulate baseball people I’ve ever seen speak. Her stories about Peter Angelos are priceless, and almost defy belief – especially considering he’s her boss, so she was clearly putting the best possible spin on his behavior!

    @Tom V.

    Sure, it’s overboard, but I don’t think it’s any more so than any of the other “authentics” that aren’t actually the player uniforms.

    I mean, you’re more likely to see a woman’s field jacket than the authentic interview caps.

    Doesn’t look like a new design for the Mets is floating around yet, but I can see them adding orange to the side panels of the link considering the orange brimmed cap and the orange Los Mets jerseys that have debuted this year. I also really hope they increase the size of Mr. Met on the sleeve, has always been far too small.

    Also, interesting that the Rays went with the link instead of their chest wordmark. Wonder if they’ll finally phase the actual manta ray they’ve been wearing on the sleeve? Weird that the uniform contains both a sunRAY and a manta RAY.

    Doesn’t look like Chief Wahoo’s been phased out as a sleeve patch, as the Indians’ jacket seems to indicate.

    See DC has ‘Nationals’ scrawled across the front as opposed to the Curly W. Wonder if that means we might see a new home jersey?

    link

    Same here – I much prefer the road jersey with the script “Washington”. The current home uni has a curly W overload.

    Gosh I hope not. For one thing, the Nationals script gets the N completely wrong. It’s clearly not even in the same font family as the curly W. Should be link, since that would be a curly N to match the curly W. (Though the rest of the Nationals script is one of the best in the big leagues – it’s the rare jersey script whose lowercase lettering is not a Dodgers retread.)

    But mainly, the current home uni, with a W on the chest, ties perfectly into DC baseball history in a way that no script-team-nickname-across-chest uniform ever could. A baseball team in Washington should no more wear “Nationals” on its chest than a team in New York should wear “Yankees” across its pinstripes.

    I could live with the Nationals script on a home alt, especially if it means retiring their current navy star-spangled clown suits.

    That Natinals looks so much better than the “W”. I’d like to see that change made. Not a fan of the Tampa one but I’m not a big fan of them in general and I still call them the Devil Rays.

    It was a replay of Sunday’s episode. I mentioned it in yesterday’s comments. The guy your talking about is Mike Wise from the Washington Post, he was at the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

    Ah, thanks for the info. I saw your comments on Sunday, but I thought you were referring to the first segment they did a week or so ago. Lots of coverage apparently.

    Hey, ConnieDC – I was away from my computer most of the day yesterday, and didn’t see your question until late. I did respond. Check yesterday’s comments.

    Suffice to say uniform aesthetics plus a house full of insomniac teenagers is not a recipe for romance.

    Paul – thanks for posting that newspaper clipping! I based my guess of date on the years when OU used that helmet, and the year my parents moved out of Athens (spring of ’70), so the latest it would have been is the ’69 season.

    Interesting. The Twins jacket has the “Minnesota” script and the old-school throwback patch. Might that mean an end to the 80’s style Twins lettering and a return to the 60’s style???

    Even if NASCAR and (in)action figures aren’t up your alley, Firestone’s column is still worth checking out for the Chicago-themed “Tailgating Time” section.

    They remind me of a Chicago St. Patricks Day unis.
    Good for them for going with some pant striping, but why couldn’t they have gone with green helmets? The black helmet seems like too safe of a choice these days, though perhaps it’d end up looking too much like Minn?

    I saw pink socks, pink eye black (yes), pink wristbands, and NFL pink towels in a sporting goods store yesterday.

    History of meat images?

    Here are some posters that, well, are a bit amusing in hindsight. Amazing what they used to do, especially in Europe.

    (Note: These links are also not for everybody!)

    link

    link

    link

    Disappointed to see the Reds going with a black dugout jacket. Does this mean that there is no chance of a “Ditch The Black” movement for at least three more years? Say it ain’t so!

    I don’t think the Reds are getting rid of the black anytime soon. While other teams are ditching BFBS, the Reds seem to be embracing the non-color. Which leads to one of two conclusions; 1. The Reds, by waiting out other teams’flirtation with black, will now own the black as the club’s secondary color, or 2. The Reds are simply too far behind the times to understand that black is now out of style.

    It’s likely the latter. Mark Twain is alleged to have once remarked that if the world was going to end, he was going to move to Cincinati because everything there happens twenty years later.

    The reds have had a “dark” accent color as part of their uniform for many years. When they added it a few years back, it seemed like it was just going with the fad…in actuality, they were going back to their roots.

    Story on ESPN.com’s front page featuring the Seattle Seahawks and Oregon Ducks uses a photo featuring the current Seahawk uniform, but a very outdated Duck uniform

    link

    The “Outside the Lines” episode from Monday was a repeat from Sunday. I mentioned it in yesterday’s comments.

    “What’s round on both ends and high in the middle?”

    Oprah Winfrey, Charlie Sheen and Rosie O’Donnell?

    Brinke, I had to have an ABA ball when I was a kid also. My dad got me one, but he wasn’t too happy after I bounced it off the white bedroom wall a few times, leaving red and blue marks!!

    -Jet

    May have been covered already, but there is a controversy in the UK roughly analagous to the Redskins debate here.

    link

    If this is all new to anyone, look up the history of Tottenham’s identification with the Jewish population in North London and by extension, their similarities with Ajax Amsterdam.

    From the article:

    “The Prime Minister’s entry into the debate follows a Football Association statement last week which warned that fans chanting the word ‘Yid’ could face criminal charges.”

    It’s always a bit of an eye-opener to see that another western democracy (particularly one that most Americans think of as pretty closely analogous to our own from a legal perspective (Revolution notwithstanding)) has speech crime laws on the books.

    I think the Dallas Stars unis look sharp! The overall appearance is enough to counteract the crummy logo. About time we had pure green unis in the NHL again, and a nice historical nod to their previous Minnesota incarnation.

    Actually, that Texas logo on the pants looks pretty cool! I would love to see that without the “D” – just the star inside the state outline, as their main jersey logo! What do ya think?
    link

    -Jet

    Is Tennessee using some sort of merit decal? Every helmet had these two stickers (possible 1 sticker that looks like two?) just above the numbers on the left side of the helmet stripe on the back. Also The helmet bumper is now a 3D power T logo.

    link

    Hey Faso,
    I have that exact poster rolled in a box of my kid stuff from the early 70s

    I’m not sure specifically about the Rockies, but I can think of a couple of reasons why a ballpark would have a metal detector on hand.

    One would be to find irrigation lines and heads; high end irrigation systems often have wires for the controllers integrated into the pipes. This has the side benefit that you can use a metal detector to pinpoint where the lines are if you need to repair them or want to avoid them when aerating the field.

    Also, sometimes groundskeepers bury small pieces of metal in the field to use as reference points when painting markings.

    New Man City away shirt for cup matches was officially unveiled today:

    link

    They are asking for thoughts. It’s not bad, but judging from the photo, Stefan Jovetic has either just been resurrected, or he’s been released from a hostage situation.

    I swear this is true: This morning, on my way to work, I saw a homeless guy on a battered bicycle, wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and maroon stirrups.

    He got out of view before I could take a photo.

    The Revolution, it do go to some unusual places…

    There was a sign attached to his bicycle basket that said, “Homeless. Please help.” That was my tip-off.

    Any info on these? Note “Designed in the same styling as the gear your favorite players will wear on the field in the 2013 Blackout Game…” Doesn’t sound like something Alabama would do.

    link

    I’ve gotten a ton of emails about this. Surprised everyone (or anyone) is taking it seriously. The text is clearly boilerplate text that’s been copied/pasted, and they couldn’t wear that jersey even if they wanted to (and I’m sure they don’t want to), because the number doesn’t contrast with the background fabric.

    Everyone chill.

    I think “the same styling as” are hedge words here. Given how much lip service Saban gave to Alabama’s “tradition”, I’m guessing the blackout is for the fans, not players. link, and the folks at the school know nothing of it.

    Don’t have a photo uploaded, but ESPN’s mobile site, for the infamous “TMQ” articles has the “pacific northwest” featured aka Oregon and Seattle. Interestingly enough, it seems as though their Oregon part of the image seems to be the “diamond plate” style jersey.

    You have got to be kidding me, NFL. Teams can likely no longer have throwback games in which they use a different-colored helmet, beginning with the Bucs this week:

    link

    Interesting, it says “strongly encourages” which suggests they could still do it if they really wanted to….

    The final paragraph says that what the Bears & Bills did was fine because it was the same helmet, just changing the decals: “In Week Two, both the Bears and Bills wore throwback uniforms, but with the same helmets. For Chicago, the “C” logos were removed. For Buffalo, the current Bills logo was replaced with the stationary buffalo from the 1960s.”

    So basically we’ve come full circle, back to the 1994 Jets & Bills throwbacks that had the throwback logo on their current shell, which resulted in very sucky, inaccurate throwbacks.

    I guess the Bucs (and the Patriots for that matter) would want to put a Bucco Bruce decal on a pewter shell. Maybe they could put a Bucco Bruce on a as large as they can fit white circle decal that would cover most of the helmet. Nah, that would suck even more.

    Leave it to the NFL to screw up a good thing.

    So does this mean that NFL players have only a single helmet that’s properly fitted?

    Not only that, but it’s too much of a hassle to get good fit on a new helmet for a single game. Why? Is it too time consuming? Too expensive? For the NFL?

    So if changing helmets and getting them properly fitted is so expensive/time consuming, and dangerous if not done properly. . .then what does that say about college teams that use four or five different helmets in a season?

    This is total crap! Even I like the occasional throwback games (as long as it’s kept to that and not brought back full time it’s fine). But to see something like this come down is just terrible. Just another way this commissioner is destroying the game we love. Can we get him run out of office before he does any more damage?

    Agree that it seems silly to think that the NFL can’t manage to properly fit its players in helmets for one game.

    The good news, though, is if this idea trickles down to college, it would tame the ongoing gong show with multiple helmets.

    That Griffin thing on the Fox ticker was either:

    1. Operator had RGIII on his mind or;
    2. It was some sort of Family Guy stunt by Seth MacFarlane (main character: Peter Griffin)

    Someone please please tell me what the object to the left of the orange in the Syracuse blog is! It is totally unclear to me.

    link

    It’s suggesting a player dribbling a basketball, with the ball replaced with an orange, symbolizing Syracuse. Part of SB Nations unified system of graphics, logos, and layouts across all their team websites.

    Just seeing this news report about the Bucs planning, but not being allowed to follow through on their throwback game:

    link

    Already not a good start to the season, and now this. Not easy being a Bucs fan

    Also interesting, back in July Florio reported that the Pro Bowl was considering having players not wear their own helmet because with the new format players from the same NFL team may be playing against each other.

    link

    But with this new policy players have to wear the same helmet all year, looks like the NFL has some conflicting policies here.

    Oh well, guess they’ll just have to cancel the Pro Bowl.

    I’d predict that the helmet colors would be “corrected” with those spandex over-helmet caps that are worn in special teams drills.
    But will it enhance the TV viewing experience? Let’s ponder whether a fallen tree in the forest made a sound if nobody were there…

    In the ESPN article on superstitions, there is a uni error! The catcher John Baker is wearing a Florida Marlins cap from 2 years ago. Odd that ESPN would not have used his real player pic, since he now plays for the Padres.

    “This offseason, we communicated a recommendation from the Head, Neck and Spine Committee and the Player Safety Advisory Panel to those teams planning to wear throwback uniforms for at least one game this season,” NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said via email Tuesday afternoon. “They recommended that players no longer wear different helmets as part of a ‘throwback’ or ‘third’ uniform.”

    link

    Now that throwback helmets are apparently a no go, I vote that the Falcons adopt the red helmets full time and modify their look accordingly. I’m talking wider pants stripes, keep the socks, update the jersey template to the Nike Speed one (with or without the flywire collar, doesn’t matter, because the collar will be the same color as the jersey), and add some striping to the sleeve, or just keep it the way it is.

    So the new combos would be:
    Home:
    Red Helmet
    Black Jersey
    White Pants

    Away:
    Red Helmet
    White Jersey
    White Pants

    Alternate:
    Red Helmet
    Red Jersey
    White Pants

    I wasn’t a fan of the black jerseys when they made the switch back in 2003, and was so happy when they switched the reds from the alternates to the main jerseys. But in my opinion the issue with the black jerseys was the design, not the color itself. I still would like to see the red jerseys but they don’t work as well with the red helmets.

    Because of the gold used on the helmets I feel that the logo should either have the silver swapped for gold or the silver removed entirely (so it would resemble the old logo but with the newer design elements that separate the 2 still present).

    As a Falcons fan since the 80’s I say NO!!!!!!! They should be in black jerseys with black helmets. Preferably the 1st version of the 90’s Glanville ones with the current logo. Red jerseys and/or red helmets should never be worn ever again. UGH!!!

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