Yesterday was Black Sunday in the NFL, as the Saints and Jags went mono-black for their respective playoff games — not the best look for either team — and won.
Realistically, it’s highly unlikely that either of these clubs will make it to the Super Bowl. And even if the Saints make it, they’ll be the designated visiting team and would presumably end up wearing white. (Yes, it’s possible that the AFC team could opt to wear white as the designated home team, but none of the remaining AFC teams have any history of wearing white at home, so it’s highly unlikely.) There’s a vague chance, however that the Jags could make it to the Supe and end up wearing mono-black.
If that happened, it would be a Super Bowl first. No team has ever gone mono-black in the big game. In fact, I’m pretty sure no Super Bowl team has ever gone mono-anything except for the Seahawks, who wore their scuba suits in Supes XL and XLIX. (I’m leaving out the teams that have gone mono-white, obviously, since that feels like an entirely different category.)
I’m in no hurry to see a mono-black Super Bowl team (or a two-tone Super Bowl helmet, for that matter), so I’m hoping the Jags get picked off next week.
A few other notes from yesterday’s games:
• Although the Saints/Panthers game was played indoors, Panthers defensive back Daryl Worley wore a balaclava. If you look at photos from recent games, it turns out that he’s been doing this for at least several weeks now, and this wasn’t the first time he’s done it at an indoor stadium. Weird.
• Doesn’t it seem a bit odd to see a former player wearing the jersey of another player? Former Bills running back OJ Simpson apparently watched yesterday’s Buffalo/Jacksonville game while wearing a LeSean McCoy jersey, and former Saints running back Reggie Bush showed up at the Saints/Panthers game wearing a Will Smith jersey.
• This whole thing with Bills fans and Andy Dalton has really gotten out of hand.
Meanwhile, the Rams lost on Saturday, so we won’t have to worry about seeing their mismatched uni set in the Super Bowl.
(My thanks to all contributors, including Moe Khan, Frank McGuigan, and Josh Stewart.)
Vicis update: On Friday I published an interview with Vicis CEO Dave Marver. If you missed it, I strongly recommend reading it — Marver had lots of very interesting and informative things to say.
Several readers responded by posting comments about something that I neglected to ask Marver about, namely that the Vicis helmet has an unusually large front bumper plate. This is particularly evident on Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith’s helmet, because the Chiefs are one of the two NFL teams that wear blank bumpers (the other is Washington). Why did Vicis make this design element so large?
I followed up with Marver by email and got this response:
We designed it to be relatively large and flush in order to make it easier for equipment staffs to affix their teams’ custom 3D bumpers. This was a design decision based on equipment manager feedback and driven by our desire to deliver a helmet that was convenient and efficient for EQMs to customize and maintain.
So there you go.
NBA Uni Tracking
By Collin Wright
On Friday the Knicks became the final team to participate in a color-vs.-color game, wearing blue in Miami while the Heat wore red. I’m surprised we made it all the way to January with a team managing to avoid a color-vs.-color matchup.
The latest game stats can be seen below (click to enlarge):
This past week was the first time all season that traditional matchups (i.e., with the home team wearing white and the road team wearing color) were not the most common format across the league. In 19 games (41%), the home team wore dark while the visitors wore white, meaning that traditional matchups fell to a season-low 16 total games (35%).
There have not yet been any sightings of any teams’ fourth uniform. Since only four of those are white, I think we can safely assume we’ll continue to see more teams wearing dark at home as those designs begin making their on-court debuts.
Membership update: Four new designs have been added to the membership card gallery (including Keith Seminerio’s card, shown at right, which is based on the old midfield logo at Giants Stadium — an interesting request that turned out quite nicely). The printed/laminated versions of these cards should ship out in a day or two.
If your New Year’s resolution was to finally sign up for a membership already, there’s no time like the present. And remember, a Uni Watch membership card entitles you to a 15% discount on any of the merchandise in our Teespring shop. (If you’re an existing member and would like to have the discount code, email me.) As always, you can sign up for your own custom-designed card here, you can see all the cards we’ve designed so far here, and you can see how we produce the cards here.
Wooly bully: Sometimes you hit the daily double while shopping for vintage clothes. That’s what happened to me on Friday night, when I visited my local vintage outlet and found two excellent Woolrich items, beginning with this very nice brown-check shirt, which I scored for only 10 bucks (click to enlarge):
It’s really nice and warm — perfect for winter.
At the same shop, I found this gorgeous Woolrich jacket. It was a bit more money — $30 — but totally worth it:
The jacket isn’t heavy enough for winter, but I look forward to wearing it in the spring, and then again in the fall.
The Ticker
By Jamie Rathjen
Baseball News: The Japanese team Hiroshima Carp and the local volleyball team, JT Thunders, put together this T-shirt featuring the baseball team’s mascot, Carp-boya, wearing the volleyball team’s jersey (from Jeremy Brahm). … Carp-boya previously got a makeover for each of the Hiroshima area’s 23 districts to capitalize on the Carp’s first Central League pennant for 25 years in 2016. … Kevin Clark found these Phillies- and 76ers-themed fight song recordings. … A’s president Dave Kaval hinted that the team might wear 1968 throwbacks on April 17, which is the 50th anniversary of the team’s first game in Oakland (from Richard Paloma).
College Football News: Here’s a shot from a 1969 game showing two Ohio State players wearing mismatched TV number styles. Also, note the hip pad on No. 52, something you don’t see anymore these days.
Hockey News: In the KHL on Saturday, Dinamo Riga goalie Jānis Kalniņš had a shot from Salavat Yulaev defender Maxim Goncharov break through the webbing in his glove and land in the net. Luckily, that was Salavat’s first goal of the game instead of the overtime game-winner (from @TheGoalNet45). … The British Columbia Hockey League’s Vernon Vipers (a Junior A league, one tier below major junior) hosted a throwback game in several senses of the word: They played at their old arena (having moved out in 2001) on the 80th anniversary of its opening and wore uniforms inspired by the 1938 edition of the minor-league Vancouver Lions. Submitter Wade Heidt also sends us an article in the local media leading up to the game. … The AHL’s Springfield Thunderbirds wore 1990s Springfield Indians throwbacks on Saturday night. “The team was the affiliate of the Hartford Whalers at the time, and the color scheme reflects that,” says Josh Tremblay.
Basketball News: Color-vs.-color game between Wichita State and South Florida yesterday (from @Paturn). … Cincinnati, which is sharing Northern Kentucky’s arena because of renovations to its own arena, installed its own court there yesterday (from our own Alex Hider). … Cross-listed from the baseball section: Kevin Clark found these 76ers and Phillies-themed records.
Soccer News: Here’s a look at the ball and sleeve patch for England’s FA Cup, which the top two tiers entered at this weekend’s 64-team third round. However, it didn’t look like many teams wore the sleeve patch; only those in the seven games on TV and a few others, perhaps. Most — including Swansea City and both second-tier Reading and fourth-tier Stevenage — still wore their league’s patch. … West Ham United goalie Joe Hart wore a cap thrown to him from the stands. More pictures here (from multiple readers). … Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho moved to Barcelona this weekend in one of the most expensive transfers in history. Liverpool are offering anybody who bought a Coutinho shirt this season a £50 voucher (from Josh Hinton). … Mexican team Club América’s forward Darwin Quintero wears FNOB, or maybe we can call it the opposite of FIOB (from Gar Nunce).
Grab Bag: Cross-listed from the baseball section: The Japanese baseball team Hiroshima Carp and the local volleyball team, JT Thunders, put together this t-shirt featuring the baseball team’s mascot, Carp-boya, wearing the volleyball team’s jersey (from Jeremy Brahm). … Northern Districts, one of New Zealand’s regional cricket teams, outfits the Knights, their team in Twenty20 competition, in mono-pink (from @dhyatt). The team’s colors are otherwise maroon and yellow. … Alan Kreit was late-night channel surfing and stumbled upon a darts tournament with interesting outfits. (It appears to be the BDO world championship in England, which just opened this weekend.) “The fans were interesting as well,” he says.
Click to enlarge
What Paul did last night two nights ago: A few weeks back I mentioned how much I loved Some Gauls, the new album by the NYC indie-rock band Scupper. I went out to see them at the Gutter on Saturday night, and holy shit did they tear it up. Great tunes, great band. Granted, they’re friends of mine, but I became friends with them because I like their music, not the other way around. They’ll be playing again on Jan. 20 at Muchmore’s and on Feb. 3 at the Cobra Club, and you should totally be there.
I shot a bit of video of their set, although the lighting turned out kinda dark:
If you haven’t yet listened to Some Gauls, you can stream it below (for some reason the embedded player is starting on the fifth track, but you can just skip back to track No. 1 to hear the album from the beginning). If you like it — and it’s hard to imagine anyone not liking it — do the right thing and pay for the download.
Also: Scupper’s drummer will be moving upstate in late February, so the band will need a new drummer. If you think you’re up to the task, let me know and I can put you in touch with the band.
Northern Kentucky plays at BB&T Arena in Highland Heights, Kentucky.
As for the FA Cup, most smaller teams don’t replace theor league patch but it’s odd for PL clubs to not wear the patch.
There were actually at least two instances where the lower league team wore the patch and the PL team didn’t: Wolves (vs. Swansea) and Wimbledon (vs. Tottenham).
Ok, I was not aware of that. In the games I watched, Everton/Liverpool, City/Burnley, Leicester/Fleetwood, and Arsenal/Norwich, I believe all of the PL sides wore FA Cup patches. You don’t happen to know how many Championship/League One/League Two sides did not wear Cup patches, do you? (Sincere question, not taunting or mocking in any way.)
No, because I didn’t get to look at every single game, but enough to get a feel that there weren’t that many that did wear the patch.
Don’t sleep on the Saints. They might be the best team left in the NFC!
Uni-wise, I wonder what they’d wear if they make it to the Supe. They wore white over gold when they beat the Colts but usually go with black pants these days. The best would be their Color Rush but that ain’t happening. Alas…
They’re the No. 4 seed in the NFC. The No. 1 seed is playing with a backup quarterback, and their offense has taken a significant hit since Carson Wentz’s injury. The No. 2 seed’s quarterback is Case Keenum, a career journeyman. The No. 3 seed is already out.
Though the Vikings beat the Saints in Week 1 (and I suspect they’ll beat them again) it’s entirely plausible the Saints win that game indoors to get the NFC title game back to New Orleans. So I wouldn’t say it’s “highly unlikely” the Saints make it to the Super Bowl.
Fair enough. I’d go with “unlikely,” but not “highly unlikely.”
Woah, it might be “highly unlikely” that the Jaguars make the Super Bowl but the Saints? Come on man. I don’t know what season you’ve been watching this year. I didn’t know a road divisional playoff game was such a death sentence.
Perhaps Bortles’ stats v Bills have something to do with Pauls’s comment:
Cmp Att Cmp% Yds TD Int Rate Sk 12 23 52.17 87 1 0 75.8 2
Hey, I’m rooting for the Jags, but am worried. We’ll see.
(oops format issues i don’t know how to fix)
I feel like I had read somewhere that the FA Cup patch is only for those teams playing in a live televised match. Wasn’t there a club who were fined last year for not having the patch during a televised match?
I just find it funny that people who have old Reggie Bush Saints jerseys can pull them out of the closet and wear ’em for Raphael Bush.
maybe, just maybe, they are wearing them to show support for the team?
That was a given.
People usually don’t wear jerseys of players who’ve left the them, at least in my experience.
Then again, I don’t wear jerseys myself, so your mileage may vary.
“left the team”. Darn autocorrect.
For what it’s worth, I never have an issue wearing jerseys from collection of players no longer playing or with the Pats. This year alone I wore Milloy, Bruschi, Moss, Welker, and Revis for games.
Brian, I think there are certain teams where that’s the tradition – Steelers, Raiders, Cowboys – spring to mind.
I doubt Rafeal Bush chose or was given 25 because Reggie had it before him. Curious if there are any other instances of a popular/star player having his number worn by someone with the same last name after leaving the team.
For the New York Rangers, fans got extra mileage out of Boyle 22 jerseys. Dan came right after Brian.
and Brian was much more of a fan favorite than Dan. I don’t think they sold many Dan jerseys.
The Steelers opted to wear white in Super Bowl XL and Tomlin indicated that white might be the color they choose for the Super Bowl (can’t find the interview where he said that, still looking). So mono-black Saints is still possible.
Steelers wore white in XL because were road warriors — they’d worn white throughout the playoffs as the road team. That’s not the case this year.
I remember an interview where Tomlin indictated a preference for white in the superbowl because “if it’s not in Pittsburgh, it’s an away game”
Why was Drew Brees wearing a Darth Vader patch (at least that’s what I THINK it was)?
It was the Walter Payton Man of the Year candidate patch.
link
Thanks! I must have missed that entry!
I was rather disappointed that Joe Buck did the read for this year’s award ceremony without mentioning the patch, or that two of the five active patch-wearers were in the present game (Brees and Thomas Davis).
Did he also have the decal on his helmet?
The decal looks better than the patch (not so much like a gingerbread man!), though I’m not a huge fan of the decal design either.
The decal is for this season’s nominees (not winners).
The patch is for previous winners.
Jacksonville just had to beat a fractured Pats and then either beat Tennessee or Pittsburgh; both of whom they have already defeated this season. I’ve seen crazier things happen in the playoffs.
Jacksonville plays in Pitt next weekend, Tenn goes to Bew England to play the “fractured” Patts.
Ok, my bad on the Div Round mix up
Was playing devil advocate, don’t honestly think JAX wins but it’s not impossible.
The Steelers would wear white if they made it back to the Super Bowl since the SB is not a home game, no matter the designation.
That’s the way they spun it for their last two appearances. Can’t possibly see them changing this year. So if it’s Saints vs Steelers you could very realistically see the Saints in all black.
Umm, the Steelers only wore white their last two times because they didn’t have a choice. They were the designated road team and the home team opted for their dark jerseys.
Your argument is flawed.
I thought the Steelers only did that for Super Bowl XL? They were the designated “home” team for that game but chose to wear white because they’d won all their previous playoff games on the road.
For their last two appearances in XLIII and XLV they were the designated “road” team.
“The Steelers would wear white if they made it back to the Super Bowl”?
Please, by any means, provide evidence that anyone of note in the Steelers org used the word “would” (or “will”).
Even if they end up doing so, I highly doubt anyone has yet committed to such a thing.
Lee
Aside from seeing the Vikings play at home in the Superbowl, one of the matchups that I would have liked would have been the Rams and Jaguars. To help solidify the Rams as LA’s team and it would be great if Jacksonville became Green Bay south, a small market team with great fan support. But as you say they have two worst uniforms in football (that says a lot considering what the Browns and Bucs wear). Now if you have the royal blue and yellow Rams vs the Jags original design, that would have looked great.
It is a shame the Saints wear those black pants. They have one of the best uniforms when they with the gold pants. In fact the Saints/Colts Superbowl was the best looking game over the last 10 years.
Nothing says “Green Bay” liked tarped off seats all season and an estimated 20,000 visiting fans in your first home playoff game in a decade…
Well that’s why some success would help them grow the fan base. I just like the idea of small market teams being successful.
I saw conflicting reports on the tarps, one said they removed them, others said they kept them, and not due to lack of ticket sales, but because the tarps were used as ad space and they’d get more ad revenue by leaving them up. If the later is true is pretty much sums up everything wrong with the NFL these days.
LA shouldn’t have a team. They let 2 franchises leave, they should have been left with none.
“Let” is sort of a relative term. Did San Diego, Cleveland, Baltimore, Houston, Oakland, and St Louis let their teams leave? It is all stadium dollars and cents. LA has a rep for being fake fans and being full of transplants, but it is silly to say the second largest market in the country can’t support 1 team. Be it the Rams or the Raiders, they would have been economically viable in LA. Georgia Frontiere got a sweetheart stadium deal in St Louis, that’s the reason the Rams left, not because of anything the fans did or didn’t do.
I don’t play the drums, but if Scupper needs more cowbell then I’m their man.
Nice finds at the vintage store Paul. I have that exact Woolrich brown checked button down. Love the jacket as well!
I don’t know if I should laugh at the guy who might be trolling OJ with the “Juice is Loose” T-shirt or really, really mad since it’s poking fun at him murdering 2 innocent people.
*allegedly*
I especially hate these black pants on the Saints because their black jerseys over gold pants is one of the best uniforms in the NFL. I think practically all gold or silver helmets look best with pants that match the helmets, both with colored or white jerseys. I do love the color rush white uniforms of both the Saints and Raiders, but I think they’d look even better with there gold or silver pants. In fact they should go with this look as their regular white uniforms. Also I don’t get why there is no silver on the Panthers white uniforms. Same with the white over blue Patriots uniforms not having any sliver to go with the silver helmets.
This is why I don’t like the Lions wearing blue pants. Their silver helmet-silver pants pairing is just fine regardless of whether they’re wearing blue or white jerseys.
I am with you 100% except the point about the Panthers white uniforms.
The Saints’ black over gold (and white over gold) is one of the absolute best uniform combinations in the NFL full stop. It’s simple, it uses bold colors, it complements the city aesthetic, and they finally have managed to reasonably match the various shades gold materials.
Teams with gold/yellow/silver helmets should absolutely wear pants of the same color but every rule needs one exception and the Panthers to me are that exception. They were the only team to do that when they debuted and its deliberately different (blue and white palate as opposed to black and silver) from their home uniform that manages to feel refreshing.
Agreed, silver and gold (and even yellow) helmeted teams look best if the pants match the helmet. And if they aren’t going to match with the helmet, go white pants, not whatever their primary color is.
My wife chimed in on the Saints’ unis saying, “Why don’t have stripes on their pants….or even on their socks? They look horrible!”
In the Reading-Stevenage game, the picture shows primarily the left arm, and FA Cup patches are on the right arm. So, while they may have not worn their Cup patches, it’s possible that they did and it’s not visible from the Picture.
Look through this gallery – league patches on both arms for both teams:
link
Ok, I had thought that might have been the case. I was just bringing to attention the fact that from the picture attached to the link wasn’t clear. For what it’s worth, at least one player on Crystal Palace is wearing one.
Make that both teams
Sorry about that – the left arm/right arm dichotomy was running together.
Reggie Bush wore #91 to honor his late teammate Will Smith, who recently passed away.
Scuba Suits…nice!
Dinamo Riga goalie Jānis Kalniņš had a shot from Salavat Yulaev defender Maxim Goncharov break through the webbing in his glove and land in the net. Luckily, that was Salavat’s first goal of the game instead of the overtime game-winner
If that didn’t happen there’s no overtime, so no matter when it happened, it’s equally bad.
Is it just me, or did the Rams helmets look like a robot from behind (and afar)? I couldn’t stop seeing it during teh game yesterday. It’s because the warning label is in the center/rear of the helmet–looking like a nose and the neck bumper looks like a mouth.
anyone? anyone?
link
link
If I squint just so. . .
Apparently, many darts fans wear funny outfits because back int eh day they were skipping off work to to to the event. The costume was a disguise in case they were shown on TV.
I’m liking the 25th anniversary silver for the Rockies
link
Cincinnati’s men’s BB team had their Fifth Third Arena court for several games at BB&T Arena.
Before Sunday’s game.
Paul, Nice score on the two Woolrich items (love the pockets on the jacket). Any chance of revealing the name of your vintage shop?
Yes, the lower pockets are totally what sold me on the jacket!
There are several vintage shops in my neighborhood, but this is the one where I got the Woolrich items:
link
Thanks a bunch. I grew up in pre-gentrified Park Slope so I know the area. Will definitely check it out on my next trip to Two Toms.
Nice! For many years I had my annual birthday party at 2Ts — back when they had no menu, no credit cards, etc. Those were the days….
Paul–you do realize that mono black is the official home uniform of the Jags, right? It’s actually considered an “alternate” look when they pair the black jerseys with the white pants. So of course we should expect them to go mono black if they make it to the Super Bowl. You probably don’t have to mention every time they go mono black anymore; it’s totally expected.
There’s no such thing as an “official home uniform” in the NFL. Home team always has option of wearing colored or white jersey, and pants are always a free-for-all.
Mono-black may be the Jags’ *preferred* home uniform, however, which I assume is the point you’re trying to make.
Huh. I did my research Paul and it appears you’re right. I did end up finding this interesting page from their website that explains why they started wearing black pants and how black became their preferred look over teal.
link
Even if the Saints are forced to wear black in the SB, history has shown that they wear typically wear gold pants with the black unis when the home team wears white. Not sure if this would apply to the SB however.