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Super Bowl Uni Trivia

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[Editor’s Note: Today we have a guest entry from Super Bowl savant Jay Braiman, who’s checking in with his annual summary of insanely detailed uni-based trivia for the big game. Enjoy. ”” PL]

By Jay Braiman

The NFC is the designated home team for this year’s Super Bowl. So assuming the Seahawks will wear their solid-blue home uniforms, with the Patriots wearing their white-over-blue road uniforms, here’s a breakdown of uni-centric Super Bowl trivia:

•  The Seahawks are already the only team to have played in the Super Bowl wearing a uniform whose helmet, jersey, and pants were all the same color other than white. They did that in SB XL, which they lost. (The Colts, Dolphins, and Jets have worn white-white-white in Super Bowls, going a combined 4-1.) Seattle will also be the first to have done this with two different uniform designs and two different shades of the non-white color. And it will be the second Super Bowl played between a team whose helmet, jersey and pants are the same color and one whose helmet, jersey and pants are three different colors, the other being, again, SB XL.

•  This will be the first Super Bowl between two teams wearing navy pants and, for that matter, the first between two teams wearing dark-colored pants. We’ve previously seen games in which the pants worn by both teams were white (six times), silver/grey (five, if you count Bucs’ pewter pants as grey when they faced the silver-pantsed Raiders in SB XXXVII), and yellow (twice).

•  Super Bowl teams whose helmets were the same color as their jerseys (including white, and including different shades of the same color family) are 8-9 against teams whose helmet and jersey were different colors.

•  Teams whose jersey and pants worn in the Super Bowl were the same color (again, including white and including related color shades) are 6-9 against teams wearing different-colored jersey/pants combinations.

•  Teams whose helmet, jersey and pants worn in the Super Bowl are three different colors are 8-9 against teams with at least two of these elements being the same color. (Note: This statistic considers the Cowboys’ helmet and pants worn with the white jerseys to be the same color, even though they really aren’t. If we consider the Cowboys’ current helmet and pants to be different colors, but still allow that the helmet and pants they wore with the blue jerseys in SB V were the same color, then the record becomes 10-8 for three-color helmet/jersey/pants combos against one- and two-color combos, and three-color combos have played each other three times. That includes SB XXIX, when the 49ers wore a throwback uniform with gold helmets, red jerseys, and white pants.)

•  This is the 11th Super Bowl in which both teams’ primary jersey color is blue (albeit different shades). Blue is the only color family for which this has occurred. In the previous 10 such games, the team wearing its white jerseys in the Super Bowl has won eight times.

•  Seattle is the fourth team to appear in consecutive Super Bowls wearing its white jersey in the first and its colored jersey in the second. Seattle is only the second team to win the first in its white jersey and come back to play in its colored jersey the following year; the only other team to do that, the Steelers, won both (SBs IX and X).

(Six teams have done the opposite, wearing color in the first and white in the second, including the Packers, who did that twice. Three teams have worn the same jersey in both, including the Cowboys who did that twice. Three teams (Steelers, Cowboys, Broncos) are in more than one of these categories. Two teams, the Dolphins and Bills, have appeared in more than two consecutive Super Bowls; these stats reflect just the first two only.)

•  This will be the seventh Super Bowl in which the digits of one starting quarterback’s uniform number will add up to the other starting quarterback’s number: Tom Brady wears No. 12; 1 + 2 = 3, which is Russell Wilson’s number. In such games, the QBs with the 2-digit numbers are 4-2 against the single-digit QBs. The full list (winning QB in italics):

SB XV: Jim Plunkett, 16; 1 + 6 = 7, Ron Jaworski
SB XVII: David Woodley, 16; 1 + 6 = 7, Joe Theismann
SB XVIII: Jim Plunkett, 16; 1 + 6 = 7, Joe Theismann
SB XXIII: Joe Montana, 16; 1 + 6 = 7, Boomer Esiason
SB XXIV: Joe Montana, 16; 1 + 6 = 7, John Elway
SB XLIV: Peyton Manning 18; 1 + 8 = 9, Drew Brees

———

That there is some serious trivia, am I right? Thanks, Jay!

• • • • •

February shirt lauch: The February design for the Uni Watch T-Shirt Club is now available. (Yes, I realize we just finished selling the January design, but we got a late start on that one. From now on, all designs will launch on the third Tuesday of the preceding month, so they’ll deliver early in their designated month.)

In case you missed the discussion last week: February is when spring training starts. And what do players wear during spring training? Batting practice jerseys, of course. That’s the inspiration for our February design (click to enlarge):

Thanks for the all the feedback last week regarding the NOB. As you can see, we stuck with the single-line format, which was the most popular option among those who expressed an opinion. We did tweak the NOB font slightly (thanks, Scott), so I think it looks a bit better now.

Here’s everything you need to know about ordering the shirt:

1. You can purchase the shirt on this page. (Ignore the bits about “reaching our goal” and the “hitting our minimum” — that’s for Teespring clients who use T-shirt sales as fundraisers.)

2. As you’ll see, there’s a choice of Hanes ($22.50) or American Apparel ($24.50). Their tailoring and sizing are slightly different, and the Hanes shade of gold is a smidge darker than American Apparel’s, so use the “View Sizing Chart” link and compare the colors to be sure you get the shirt that’s best for you. Domestic shipping is $3.85 for the first shirt, $1 for each additional shirt; international shipping is $9.50 to Canada, $12.50 elsewhere.

3. This shirt will only be available through next Monday, Jan. 26, 11pm Eastern. After that date, the shirt will not be offered for sale. All shirts ordered by then should be delivered by Feb. 10.

4. The March design will go on sale on Feb. 17. I’ll preview it here on the site during the week prior to its launch.

5. People who purchase all 12 shirts (collect ’em all!) will be eligible for a bonus prize at the end of the year. I haven’t yet decided what this prize will be, although I have some ideas. It may depend somewhat on how many people stay on board for all 12 shirts, and we won’t have a sense of how many people that might be until the summer, so I’ll likely wait a while before settling on the prize. But I assure you it’ll be something good.

I think that’s it. Again, the February shirt can be purchased here. If you have any questions, give a holler. Thanks for listening.

•  •  •  •  •

Put a bird on it! There are few things I like better than a vintage Durene basketball warm-up top, and yesterday I scored a really nice one. Ain’t it a beauty? Cost a bit more than I normally like to pay ($70 + shipping), but I think it’ll be worth it. The lettering on the back is chain-stitched, and so is the blue jay on the front. Nice King-O’Shea tagging, too.

This top was worn by a member of the Delphos St. John’s Blue Jays, a Catholic school near Toledo that, according to Wikipedia, “is very well known for being successful in its sports.” More photos to follow when the package arrives from the seller.

•  •  •  •  •

Click to enlarge

Collector’s Corner
By Brinke Guthrie

As we all know, I have a soft spot for anything NFL from Sears in the 1970s. So when I saw this ad, I was immediately transported back in time and space to the St. Matthews Sears in Louisville. (My go-to spot in Dallas was a department store known as Sanger-Harris, and McAlpins was my store of choice for this kinda gear in Cincinnati. Shopping the online Nike store just isn’t the same.)

Here are the rest of this week’s vintage picks:

• One more ad for you: You think Adidas had a problem with this “NBA Pro” sneaker ad? Those are just Adidas Superstars — with one more stripe!

• Not vintage, but this set of Pocket Pro Helmets shows the AFL helmets from the 1969 season.

• This St. Louis Rams jacket from Starter sure has a busy design.

• Couple of NFL Russell Athletic items here: Giants fans will make a bold statement wearing this crewneck sweatshirt, and will ya look at this NFL Films T-shirt! Too bad (for me, at least) it’s a small.

• Take a look at this 1960s Montreal Canadiens kids wool sweater. Nice!

• Obviously not an officially licensed item; but this old snapback cap caught my eye, as it features a Bengals helmet with a center stripe, which they’ve never had.

• They didn’t quite get the horseshoe right on this 1960s Colts bank, did they?

• I guess Topps considered selling these plastic baseball cap plaques back in the day but never followed through. This SF Giants one is called a “test product.”

Bring back Bucco Bruce with this vintage 1970s Buccaneers helmet AM radio.

• Don’t recall ever seeing OJ Simpson on the cover of 1970s NFL helmet kit before.

• Here’s a set of 1960s NFL playing cards. Note the ’Skins helmet at lower right — it’s the one with the feather up the back that you rarely see.

• Here’s something else you don’t often see: a mini-sized Techigraph NFL helmet plaque — this one for the 49ers. The same seller also has the Falcons and Chiefs in the same size.

•  And from reader Brian Mazmanian, check out these pattern booklet to make your own NBA sweatshirts. [“I’m 99% sure that’s former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown on the cover,” says Brian, and I think he’s right! ”” PL]

•  •  •  •  •

Uni Watch News Ticker
By Garrett McGrath

Baseball News: Jason Heyward made his first public appearance as a Cardinal yesterday and received the uniform number 22 from manager Mike Matheny. Heyward gave him No. 26 in return. Matheny has always worn 22 as a Cardinal (from Chase Martin).

Pro and College Football News: A woman with a great New England accent went bonkers during a TV interview while buying Patriots “AFC Champion” merch. … “The aftermath of the Seahawks’ fake field goal on Sunday revealed a Seattle fan in the first row behind the end zone wearing a No. 9 Seahawks jersey,” Clint Wrede says. “Number 9 belongs to Seattle punter Jon Ryan, who threw the TD pass on the fake. How many fans wear the punter’s jersey?” … Reader question: “Do you know why the Colts logo was in a red shield in the end zone of Super Bowl III?” asks John Limato. “The Jets logo was their regular logo in white.” … The University of Texas at San Antonio Roadrunners unveiled new helmet designs (thanks, Phil). ”¦ The NFL Shop was selling a Patriots jersey with the wrong Super Bowl logo. ”¦ Kurt Esposito loves this shot of Ditka wearing Ditka.

Hockey News: “The Penn State Nittany Lions are going to wear special jerseys on Saturday with auction proceeds benefiting THON,” William F. Yurasko. “THON is short for Dance Marathon, a student philanthropy that raises several million dollars to support children with cancer and their families. When my wife Erica was a student, she danced in consecutive years.” ”¦ Sharks goalie Alex Stalock has a new mask but hasn’t yet gotten it painted, so he went with plain white for yesterday’s game against the Devils.

Soccer News: Here is a confirmed leaked photo of the 2015 USA away kit as seen on Alex Morgan of United States Women’s National Team (from Conrad Burry).

NBA News: Here is Dwyane Wade modeling the best look we’ve had so far of the Heat’s “Black Tie” uni, which will debut tonight. Here is a video the team made promoting the uniform (thanks, Phil). … Most teams wore wore this logo on their shooting shirts yesterday, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It will also be worn on Feb. 1-12 for Black History Month (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Speaking of MLK Day, look at this great design that the Hawks projected on their court (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Check out what Stuart Friedel and his girlfriend wore to yesterday’s Celtics/Clippers game. “It’s a Chris Paul/Matt Barnes Star Wars mash up: CP3-O and M2-B2,” he says. ”¦ The Bulls wore their BFBS alternate uniforms yesterday for the first time this season. But as many readers noticed, the color sequence from the collar and armhole trim has been reversed. “It’s even weirder given the video that surfaced prior to the season, showing the trim unchanged but with pinstripes added,” notes Tom Juettner. Also, the old color sequence matched the sequence on the waistband of the shorts, but the new version does not. ”¦ Two of the refs in last night’s Kings/Blazers game wore the same uni number. A check of the NBA officiating roster shows only one guy wearing No. 35 — Kane Fitzgerald. So maybe one of the other refs lost his jersey and one of Fitzgerald’s spares (from Malcolm Byers).

College Hoops News: Loyola Marymount went BFBS the other day (from Dennis Ittner). … Waistband watch: “Look at this picture of a rolled up waistband in the process of unrolling itself,” Derek Linn. “That player is being guarded by someone who looks to have his waistband rolled up as well.” … “The trend of basketball players rolling up their waistbands has made it to the middle school ranks,” says Kyle Martinek. “I was at an eighth-grade game in the south suburbs of Chicago and there were a few players doing this. One was small and looked like he did it because the shorts were too big, but the others looked like they were doing it just for the style.”

Grab Bag: Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Brigham Young University has adjusted its anti-beard policies. … A mud bath caused confusion in a rugby game in the UK when it was difficult to tell which side players were on (from Tom V.). … This is why I love the internet: David Firestone has written an analysis of the logos and uniforms in Beavis and Butt-head. … We have shared some of these before but here is a list of the ten biggest rebrands of 2014 (from Adam Vitcavage). ”¦ “When rookie driver Ralph Jones had a huge crash and fire at Darlington Raceway in 1977, members of many different teams jumped the fence to help put out the fire and remove Jones from the car, which showed a wide variety of the pit crew uniforms that were being worn by various teams,” says Graham Clayton.

 
  
 
Comments (119)

    Helmets matching pants is usually a pretty favorable betting trend, but true, it has not held up well in Super Bowls.

    By my count, teams playing in the Super Bowl with hats matching their britches but not their shirts, are 27-19.

    The Force is strong with such combinations.

    True. Better than I thought. I misread one of the bullet points.

    I know the helmets match pants theory had a pretty bad run for a while, but nice for the traditionalists it is pushing 60% now.

    Pretty sure those refs are Bill and Randy Mulkey, ready to swap in for one another when the REAL ref has his back turned

    Little did I realize this morning when checking into UniWatch would I see a NWA-WCW Mulkeymania reference…

    Well done, sir.

    “How many fans wear the punter’s jersey?” I see a lot of punter Steve Weatherford jerseys at NY Giant games to be honest. I still see some Jeff Feagles retro jerseys too.

    For much of the 2000’s, Brian Moorman was the Bills best player, and only star who was around for more than a few years. I’ve seen plenty of his jerseys.

    I saw a Broncos fan wearing a Britton Colquitt #4 jersey when I was at the Denver/Kansas City game at Sports Authority Field back in Week 2 of the regular season. I didn’t get a photo, unfortunately.

    Pat McAfee Jerseys are probably the second most popular in Indianapolis behind Andrew Luck.

    And I didn’t get a Hamilton Tiger-Cats jersey because I couldn’t decide between Paul Osbaldistion and Bernie Ruoff.

    Those playing cards with the feather-back ‘Skins helmet also feature chinstraps. As noted a couple of days ago here, you don’t see that anymore in helmet depictions.

    That’s a keen observation.

    I’d also say that the ‘Skins feather helmet is one of the most underrated helmets ever. It was worn by the team at perhaps their lowest points in their history. Maybe that’s why it is largely forgotten?

    A slight error in Mr. Firestone’s analysis: the uniform Butt-Head is wearing in the Butt Bowl III intro is of the Dallas Cowboys, not the Indianapolis Colts.

    He’s also kinda wrong on Butt-Bowl II… he says it’s a Chiefs/Redskins uniform for Butthead, but it’s kinda obvious that it was really based on the 49ers’ red & gold, not the red & yellow of KC (yeah, it’s a red helmet, but still). Basically for both years, they were wearing uniforms that were almost, but not quite the teams playing in the real game, presumably to avoid copyright/licensing issues.

    There was a crowd shot before IND v NE and there was a Colts fan wearing a #1. Which could be a Pat McAfee but it wasn’t clear and we never saw the name on the back. So it is either a punter or a sketchy call (either his own name or a terrible joke/pun for NOB).

    Interesting that the sole design of that NBA Pro shoe is the exact same as the Chuck Taylor. Was it common at this time to use that as a template for all athletic shoes?

    “… There are few things I like better than a vintage Durene basketball warm-up top, and yesterday I scored a really nice one. Ain’t it a beauty?…”

    Absolutely. As is the U-W Batting Practice shirt, btw, which will soon see conspicuous use in the greater Avalon/Magruder neighborhood of the nation’s capital.

    “How many fans wear the punter’s jersey?”

    According to Dick’s Sporting Goods, Colts punter Pat McAfee (aka The Boomstick, aka Living Legend, aka “Alleged” Canal Swimmer) has the #13 best selling NFL jersey.

    link

    Those Heat alternates are bad. They would be fine in a college or high school, those are not a NBA uni. Last years “Black Tie” (or whatever they were called) Uni were a better option.

    It will also be the first Super Bowl to look like it is played by two USFL teams. Argh. Could have been a beautiful Colts/Packers game. Football breaks my heart sometimes. Lately, all the time.

    It will also be the first Super Bowl to look like it is played by two USFL teams.

    USFL? Really? If you’re going to go into the whole “get off my lawn” thing over teams wearing non-traditional uniforms, then the league you want to compare them to is the XFL or Arena league. The USFL didn’t really look any different from the NFL at the time.

    The USFL had outstanding uniforms across the board; nothing even close to what these two teams are wearing today.

    While some of the colors that USFL teams used were unusual (at the time), the designs themselves were very very traditional.

    Since its obvious you don’t know much about USFL uniforms, take a look!
    link

    Lee

    (Six teams have done the opposite, wearing color in the first and white in the second, including the Packers, who did that twice. Three teams have worn the same jersey in both, including the Cowboys who did that twice.

    INCORRECT.

    Cowboys DID NOT wear the same colors in their first 2 Super Bowls. In their first Super Bowl, Super Bowl 5 versus the Colts, they wore BLUE. In their second Super Bowl, Super Bowl 6 versus the Dolphins, they wore WHITE.

    The article says the Cowboys have done it twice. They’ve been to back-to-back Super Bowls three times. They wore white against the Broncos for Super Bowl XII and against the Steelers for SB XIII, as well as wearing white against the Bills back-to-back in SBs XXVII and XXVIII.

    The Cowboys are in two categories; color-then-white and same-in-both.

    Three teams (Steelers, Cowboys, Broncos) are in more than one of these categories.

    To my knowledge, the Patriots have never paired their current jersey with gray (or silver) pants. The Seahawks have never worn their current jersey with white pants. I think the best for which we could hope is for Seattle to go with navy over gray.

    For what it’s worth, I never thought that New England’s white-over-navy looked that bad, in the grand scheme of contemporary strangeness.

    Well, at least the excessively dark portion will be inside the shoes.

    Seriously, what’s the deal with black basketball socks for so long now? Is it all just a remnant of Fab Five foolishness, or are there other factors in play here?

    The Seattle punter is also from Saskatchewan, Canada so some of the fans from there may get his jersey just for the provincial kinship.

    Only if they have forgiven him for playing for the rival Blue Bombers and you can pry the Rider green off their chests for one day.

    Mostly kidding.

    Not sure if Regina city hall will put up the Seattle “12th man” flag again like last year:
    link

    I’m curious whether the person who came up with the idea that the USA soccer away jersey should be “Like France, but uglier” was an employee of Nike or the US federation.

    The new USNT away jersey looks more like a pre-match training shirt to me than it does an actual game uniform.

    That’s a generous assessment. It doesn’t even have the visual presence I would expect for a real team’s practice shirt. Honestly looks like the kind of golf shirt that’s always on the $12 clearance rack at every sporting-goods store I’ve ever visited. Something about the fade-to-white gradient at the shoulders and all those horizontal pinstripes just shouts “off brand leisure wear” to me. Like, this is the shirt a cheap team issues to players to wear on off days when traveling with the team.

    That’s a good way of putting it.

    I like these kits to have real visual impact, bold strokes. The hoops did, the bombpops did, all the various sashes did. These details are too fussy and subtle for my taste.

    The shoulders are awful, but otherwise, not that terrible.

    I can’t get too excited over the away kit – the point of the away kit is basically to be ugly and different from the home.

    The only country that fetishizes the away kit this much is England, and that’s because of a 48-year-old historical accident.

    link An accident? I think Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, and roughly 50 million other people might disagree with you.

    What’s to disagree? The only reason the red away shirt is iconic is because the opponent was Germany and England wore the away to avoid a clash – that’s a historical accident.

    Which kinda gets to my point about all the handwringing about the perceived lack of consistency in US kits – the USNT will be iconic when the team does something great on the field, not because we stop releasing away kits for some reason. In the meantime, the U.S. has done a good job of sticking with white jersey as their primary look. It’s not like France, who can’t even pick the correct shade of blue.

    Mike Matheny has not always worn 22 as a Cardinal. When they acquired Will Clark for part of the 2000 season, Matheny switched to 44 so Clark could wear 22.

    Is it fair to call the Bulls’ black alts BFBS? I’d say it’s pretty clear from their standard uniforms that black is the second team color after red.

    Since they didn’t go to a black uniform until BFBS was a ‘thing’, yes I consider them BFBS, despite having black as part of their color-scheme.

    Lee

    they have been wearing black uniforms for 20 years now… they arent BFBS. they are altenates for moneys sake. theres a difference. black is their color.

    That’s ridiculous. In the 90s when lots of NBA teams started doing alternate jerseys using their secondary color, the Bulls came out with a black jersey because their color scheme is and always has been red and black. What other color could they have used? The Hornets had a purple jersey, the Pistons and Heat had red alternates. The Hawks, Suns, Timberwolves and Jazz had black alternates that were not really part of their color scheme. You can call those black for black’s sake, but you can’t really call the Bull’s alt that.

    How is a Bulls black jersey BFBS? They’ve had black in their color scheme since they started playing. A black uniform is a natural progression.

    Since they didn’t go to a black uniform until BFBS was a ‘thing’, yes I consider them BFBS, despite having black as part of their color-scheme.

    Lee

    That four stripe shoe isn’t an exact duplicate of the Superstar as it doesn’t appear to have a shelltop.

    Four striped Adidas knockoffs were common in the 70s and 80s… mostly off brand or no-name (we called those “bobos”)

    I like those UTSA helmets, except that the school colors are blue and orange, not black and orange. Too much to hope for in this day and age that team uniforms utilize their colors, I realize, but still…

    Yeah calling the Bulls black jersey BFBS is crazy. Black is their second color and they have had a variation of the jersey for 20 years going back to Jordan. Give it a rest hoss. I will say perhaps the off-piping, non-pinstripe jersey was a MLK day thing? Perhaps the pinstripes really are the third jersey? Hope so because the mismatch piping is stupid.

    Since they didn’t go to a black uniform until BFBS was a ‘thing’, yes I consider them BFBS, despite having black as part of their color-scheme.

    Lee

    BFBS is unpopular around here, so I’d like to show some love for the black Bulls’ uniform. Beautifully detailed, lots of curb appeal, red pinstripes add a smidgen of texture. I’ll allow that all the trim should be consistent, though.

    The original Bulls’ black alternate (with the pinstripes) debuted in 1995, I think. Would we consider that the era of BFBS, or simply the era where some teams with black in the uniforms inadvertently *inspired* the trend of BFBS?

    Anyone?

    I always thought of the roots of the BFBS trend as going back to the Los Angeles Kings’ switch from purple and gold to black and silver prior to the 1988-89. By 1995, black was pretty ubiquitous in sports uniforms. The White Sox switched to black in 1991. Several expansion teams of the early ’90s – including the San Jose Sharks, the Colorado Rockies, the Florida Marlins, the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Carolina Panthers – all featured black prominently in their color schemes. And other teams, like the New Jersey Devils, switched out colors from their previous team palettes (e.g., green) to make room for black. So by the time the Bulls broke out their black uniforms, it felt more like they were responding to the fad rather than doing something original.

    That said, the Bulls’ various black alternate uniforms over the years don’t seem to qualify as BFBS based on the Uni Watch Glossary’s own definition of the term:

    “BFBS: Stands for “black for black’s sake,” a reference to teams that gratuitously add black to their uniform design even though black was never one of their team colors.”

    link

    Since the Bulls have always had black as part of their color scheme, perhaps BFBS is the wrong term for it. Maybe “SCFSCS” (secondary color for secondary color’s sake)?

    Agreed. The Bulls did nothing worse than any other team that made an alternate uniform in their secondary color. In this case, the color in question just happened to be black.

    Marketable? Yes. BFBS? Not really.

    I had an idea for May 17 (obviously purple amnesty day as well)… A sale on the May shirt design, as well as any shirts you have leftover from Jan-April. I’d love one of these shirts (especially this months design) but 22 bucks is a lot to spend on a shirt (I think for anybody, but especially a student like myself). Anyway that you could get it down to 10-15 ish, even just for the one day?

    There will be no shirts “left over” from Jan. thru April. All shirts are available for only one week, period, and are being produced on demand. There were 206 January shirts ordered, and that’s exactly how many were produced.

    One minor clarification: The point about the 49ers’ SB XXIX ‘throwback’ uniforms is to state that the win-loss statistics include that game, viz., it counts as a win for a three-color team over a two-color team (Chargers, blue/white/blue).

    Technically the 1994 49ers were a two-color team (home gold/red/gold, road gold/white/gold), but they wore the NFL-75 throwbacks for the whole season, through the playoffs and Super Bowl, after they first appeared around week 4. The hope at the time was that the Chargers would do the same, but alas….

    Somebody already touched on it, but I don’t think punters/special teams jerseys are that uncommon. Pat McAfee might be the most well known special teamer in the country. In Cleveland, Phil Dawson was one of only three jerseys you could regularly find prior to the Nike takeover and Johnny Manziel (the others being Joe Thomas and Josh Cribbs – a sad situation honestly). And, if you’ve ever seen the “Factory of Sadness” video by Mike Polk, Jr, I find the funniest part to be that he was wearing a Ryan Pontbriand jersey – a long snapper – who was cut literally the week after the video came out.

    This is the 11th Super Bowl in which both teams’ primary jersey color is blue (albeit different shades). Blue is the only color family for which this has occurred.

    This really isn’t very surprising considering how few combinations there are for the other colors. Assuming I haven’t fudged any match, there’s currently only 1 possible matchup for purple, 2 for green, 6 for red, and 8 for black, vs 36 for blue, even more if you consider the Dolphins aqua to be a “blue”. The numbers for not-blue go up slightly when you factor in the uniform changes of the past 50 years, but not by much.

    It’s not just blue: This year’s Super Bowl features two teams that wear blue and silver. They really only differ on red versus neon green. Have there been previous instances of two teams that share not only blue but also another team color?

    Without digging too much, the Giants/Bills certainly come to mind. The two teams looked nearly identical both home & away from the neck down.

    I’m not sure that the Seahawks actually have any silver remaining in their uniforms at this point…just gray.

    The Patriots still have silver helmets, though the pants lost their metallic look some time ago.

    Sorry Scotty, but I am with Chance here. That “Wolf Gray” may be close in tonality to the “silver” the Raiders (for example) wear, but it’s gray. To me, silver “shimmers” — think of almost pre-nike days when the pants had more of a durene texture. All of the “silver” pantsed teams today (Cowboys w/blue jersey, Lions, Pats, Raiders, even the Panthers) seem to have become more gray (in appearance) so the two are close. Teams with darker gray (Giants) didn’t seem to be too affected by the switch to Nike.

    But the gray worn by the Seahawks is most definitely gray now, and even back to first generation uniforms, was always a gray, not a silver.

    And you may call “athletic gold” yellow … for all intents and purposes it is “yellow” but the Packers and Steelers wear Green and Gold and Black and Gold respectively. Not yellow. Sorry, buddy.

    To be fair, by the late 1990s, the Seahawks’ pants had a more silvery look to them:

    link

    Dallas is a bit odd. Even this past season, their “mint” pants retained a distinct metallic appearance:

    link

    Their other silver pants (the ones worn with the dark jerseys) have become flatter and grayer:

    link

    Hmm.

    Ok, in that first picture’s URL, change the multiplication sign back into a lower-case x, and it’ll load properly.

    /sigh

    Interesting stats. And I do count the Dolphins’ aqua as a blue rather than a green; it’s varied over the years but to me has always been closer to the former. Especially in Super Bowls.

    link

    link

    link

    The Dolphins were a bit greener from the late ’90s up until their recent re-design. No Super Bowls during that period, though.

    Also, does this factor in the Browns, Steelers, Colts, Seahawks and Bucs switching conferences? Or the various expansions since ’66?

    That’d be an interesting study to go year-by-year and figure out how many potential SB combinations there were for each color each year.

    I only count 5 possible current red-on-red matchups: Kansas City-Washington, KC-Atlanta, KC-Tampa Bay, KC-San Fran, KC-Arizona. Am I missing one?

    For the years New England and Atlanta both wore red, Tampa Bay didn’t, so there would be 8 (KC-Was, KC-Atl, KC-SF, KC-StL/Phx/Az; NE-Was, NE-Atl, NE-SF, NE-StL/Phx/Az).

    I could go on with this, but my brain hurts…. :)

    PAUL!
    How surprised I was to see something from Delphos St Johns on Uniwatch! I’m from New Bremen, OH and DSJ is in our conference, the Midwest Athletic Conference (MAC). This is probably from the era before they joined the MAC (1982) and they were probably in the Western Buckeye League (WBL) at that time.
    Beautiful piece, no doubt.
    DSJ holds the longest winning streak in football in Ohio with 57. They’re now in the MAC, one of the best small-school conferences in the US. Look into it sometime and you’ll be blown away at their successes.

    I think that picture of the guy in the Jon Ryan jersey celebrating might be his brother Steve. In this article he was at the game and wearing a Jon Ryan #9 jersey:

    link

    I’m not really sure how this year’s could be any better, unless by some chance, the Seahawks go with light-colored pants.

    Besides, didn’t you like the Broncos’ orange jerseys?

    The Pats’ uniforms are much less offensive than the Broncos’, although the Seahawks do look better in white-over-anything than in blue-over-blue.

    The Seahawks’ uniform is polarizing. If you dislike them, then I see your point. If, like me, you love them, then this match-up with the Pats is far from the worst. {Note: I was not as big a fan of the Seahawks’ previous set. OK, but not great.}

    That helmet radio…
    My grandma got me one for Christmas one year. A Pittsburgh Steelers helmet. I’m a Browns fan. I despise the Steelers. So one of my older brothers disassembled it and painted it up to look like a Buckeyes helmet. The antenna runs through the face mask and can be moved up and down to get better reception.
    Loved seeing this! Brought back some memories. Thanks for sharing, Paul.

    Pretty sure there are actually 2 fans wearing #9 in the picture, look in the front row just to the right of the fan that is circled. He has a blue jersey with a neon undershirt.

    Seattle Mariners have announced a new alternate jersey for Sunday home games. Official unveiling Friday at 10:30AM…

    link

    I really hope this isn’t the start of the dreaded Goldening and inevitable re-brand to follow. Now that the Marlins have adopted proper Miami colors the Mariners have a unique look with the teal and navy, a look that has held up for twenty-two years without looking the least bit dated. Let the ghost of the Pilots rest; keep the teal!

    Totally agree – I am really dreading a potential gold jersey, given how much it has popped up lately in-stadium (the King’s Court shirts/K-cards are always gold). Let the A’s do that – they are in the same division! Long live the teal!

    (I do miss the trident, though, so my fear could be lessened by a return of that logo)

    To me the Trident just isn’t cool enough to make up for the mediocrity it represents. 16 years we wore it and we never mattered for a second. Maybe I’m complacent but if we never changed our uniforms again (except for teal brim on all hats again) I’d be a happy man.

    RE: Rolled up waist bands:
    I have another perspective on it. I don’t know if it’s been mentioned as a possible reason yet.

    My daughter played High School volleyball during the middle part of the last decade. She, and most of her team, would roll down their waist bands. Obviously with volleyball spandex, rolling down the waist band will not make the shorts shorter. They did it strictly for comfort. They felt the waist was too high, so they rolled it down.

    With regard to the Seahawks’ Uniforms, I think that more likely than not we will see the blue/blue/gray look. Since the new uniforms came out in 2012 the Seahawks have only ever worn all-blue in Seattle; when they wear blue on the road it has always been paired with the gray pants. Even though Seattle is designated the home team I think they will treat it as a non-Seattle game and go with the gray pants (A great look IMO).

    Are the Patriots triple striped socks that they wear on the road a leftover from their Adidas days? If I remember correctly they designed their current unis.

    RE: Delphos St. John’s warmup.

    DSJ was coached for over 40 years by Bob Arnzen, whose 676 wins from 1951 to 1993 still ranks fourth all-time in the state of Ohio. The warmups look to be 1970s-era St. John’s when they were in the Western Buckeye League. (1971-82). The Blue Jays were the smallest school in the WBL, but went 81-18 in league play during their tenure and won eight WBL titles (including consecutive titles from 1975-1978 and 1980-82).

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