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Monday Morning Uni Watch

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Good morning! Hope everyone had a good weekend, as I did.

The Dolphins wore their gorgeous aqua throwbacks last night, along with a jersey patch to celebrate the 50th anniversary of their unbeaten 1972 championship season. It’s such a good look — insert “They should just go back to wearing this full-time” here.

It’s such a good uniform, it even makes field goal attempts look sharp:

The Dolphins also went with throwback designs for midfield and the end zones:

Also, Dolphins defensive back Jevón Holland wore custom-painted cleats for the occasion:

The team’s cheerleaders also got into the spirit, wearing No. 72 shirts with a “Perfect Season” patch (different from the patch that the players were wearing):

The one fly in the ointment, as is so often the case in the NFL these days, was the hosiery. A distressing number of Miami players, including quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, skipped the gorgeous striped socks and just went with white leggings, which seriously diminished the retro effect:

At the other end of the spectrum, there were also several players who doubled up on the sock striping, which was fun but a bit much:

In other news from around the league yesterday:

  • The 49ers wore their throwbacks, setting up a red-over-white vs. white-over-red game against KC:
  • It was an interesting scene in the AFC, where the Jags, Titans, and Ravens all wore very similar uni combos:
  • The Chargers wore their navy alternates against the Seahawks, who wore their alternate grey pants:
  • Nicely seasonal tableau in DC, where the Commanders (burgundy/yellow) and Packers (green/yellow) combined for a very autumnal-looking game:
  • The Lions wore blue over blue:
  • This isn’t the first time the Panthers have gone white over black (in fact, it’s the third time they’ve done it this season), but, according to the Panthers Uniform Tracker, it is the first time they’ve ever worn that jersey/pants combo with white socks (instead of black socks):
  • The Ravens had new end zone designs, with purple lettering on green (also, note the marching band forming the shape of the Lombardi Trophy!):
  • Two teams wore white at home: the just-mentioned Panthers and, of course, the Cowboys.

Tonight: The Bears will be in New England, where there have been hints that the Pats might be breaking out their old silver pants. Here’s hoping! (Update: Silver pants for tonight now confirmed!)

(My thanks to Andrew Cosentino for the Ravens photo.)


 

 
  
 

Two Important Announcements

I could use a bit of assistance for two things I’m working on. First, it will soon be time for my annual Uni Watch Holiday Gift Guide. By now you probably know the drill: I feature cool uni-related items, but not the obvious stuff like mass-produced jerseys and caps. (Here’s last year’s gift guide, for reference.) So if you know of any cool stuff that would be a good candidate for inclusion in this year’s guide — whether it’s something you’re a fan of or something that you make yourself — definitely drop me a line so I can take a look.

Also: I’m looking to speak with any past or present MLB umpires for a really fun story I’m working on. If you have direct contact info for any of them, please get in touch. (Please don’t say, “Call the umps’ union” or “Call Hunter Wendelstedt’s umpire school” or “Call MLB” — I’ve already done all that. Now I’m looking for direct phone numbers or email addresses.)

Big thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide on either of these fronts!


 

Uni Watch Plus Reminder

With all the hubbub about my Premium content’s transition from Bulletin to Substack, I haven’t mentioned Uni Watch Plus in a while. So here are some basic reminders:

  • Uni Watch Premium is my weekly feature-length content on Substack. But UW+ is the program that gets you an ad-free site experience here on the blog, plus you also get exclusive access to our UW+ discussion forum, a discount on all our Teespring merchandise, and more.
  • For any day which we get at least seven new UW+ orders, I will randomly choose one person from that day’s UW+ sign-ups to receive a Uni Watch prize package consisting of (a) four Uni Watch pins of the prize winner’s choice, (b) a Uni Watch koozie, (c) a Uni Watch trading card, and (d) a set of three Uni Watch coasters.
  • As of this morning, we have 380 UW+ enrollees. I’d love to see us reach 400 by the end of this week. Can you please consider helping us to reach that goal? You can sign up here.

 

 

Color Unveiling

For two dozen years now, I’ve been going for a daily bike ride in Prospect Park. This time of year, that means I get to enjoy a daily foliage tour, with the colors changing a bit more each day. There are lots of beautiful trees, but my favorite is always this one — a big, majestic sugar maple (New York’s official state tree, don’tcha know). Over the years I’ve come to think of it as “my” tree. I imagine many other people in park feel the same.

Each day my tree looks a bit more spectacular. At some point soon it will hit peak spectacle and then its leaves will start falling at a more rapid pace and it’ll eventually be bare. It’s all pretty basic — I mean, we all know this is what deciduous trees do in autumn, right? But it still blows my mind every year, and I never get tired of witnessing its daily progression each year. Nature is so fucking cool.

• • • • •
I have a doctor’s appointment this morning (nothing serious), so I won’t be around for a bit. Play nice while I’m away. — Paul

 

Comments (82)

    The Hiroshima Carp have unveiled new uniforms for the 2023 season. What’s the deal with the red skid mark on the back of the home top?

    link

    They’re calling it a “red spray line” apparently. No idea what the point is. I found an article saying it symbolizes strength and momentum (????) but I don’t know if that was the writer’s opinion or something the team said.

    I thought it odd that the Miami thowbacks had TV numbers with orange fill in the void space. It didn’t look bad (nothing does with those unis), but just odd. Did anyone else notice this, and does anyone know if this is how they’ve always been?

    It is period-accurate, and they have worn the filled-in numbers on the throwbacks to that period.

    Well, there you have it. There must be examples from other teams with filled in spaces as well, I guess.

    Yes and no. On the original 1966 numbers weren’t filled in, nor were the numbers on the striped 1972 white jerseys. The numbers were filled in on the stripeless jerseys worn from 1970-1972. In 1972 maybe half the team wore the stripeless white jerseys and the rest wore the striped ones, but the entire team wore the stripeless aqua jerseys for the 2 games where they didn’t wear white.

    So the aqua jerseys were only worn twice in 72, and those were the ones without stripes. Which means… well, the aqua striped jerseys were the official home uniforms, even if they didn’t wear them.
    It’d be interesting to list other teams with striping thick enough on their tv numbers to fill in most of the otherwise white areas. I think I’ve even seen it on baseball tv numbers from the 50’s/60’s. Here’s a photo of Dolphin players wearing both types of link

    I don’t think so – I don’t believe they had aqua striped jerseys at all in 1972. They wore aqua striped jerseys in 1969, and didn’t wear them again until the regular season of 1973. They also only wore the stripeless white jerseys in 1970 and 1971. 1972 was the only season where some players wore striped white jerseys while others wore stripeless white jerseys.

    They wore the 1972 jerseys in the preseason of 1973; and switched to revised striped jerseys for the regular season of 1973.

    I just noticed because you mentioned it, but it is odd. The white ’72 uniform did feature this orange fill in of the aqua TV numbers, I just saw online.

    Or put them with matching navy helmets like from the Junior Seau days. Whatever they do I appreciate my retinas getting a much needed break by not having to see that usual powder blue and yellow ugliness.

    The all Navy is the worst looking of all the Chargers’ combos. They need to stick with Powder blue, Yellow and white.

    The Ravens have been painting their end zone lettering the same color as the jersey they are wearing at home this season, except for the MO in Baltimore (as a continuing tribute to young superfan Mo Gabba).

    I think the grey pants are the best look for Seattle when they wear white jerseys. Prefer it over white or navy pants.

    To the Detroit Lions and the decision to go blue over blue. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should.

    Would like to see them start throwing back to their original unis now that a silver helmet can be done.

    Agreed on both. As for the Lions in particular, they should’ve worn brown pants for what they did in the second half yesterday.

    Why are the Dolphins cheerleaders wearing the 72s in the style from the Jimmy Johnson era uniforms?

    Any further details as to the Pats’ pants tonight? Who is talking them potentially being worn? I’d love to see an alternate set of pants to break up the monochrome.

    I live in New England, and have heard nothing about the Patriots wearing gray pants tonight. This is the second time this season that I know of that this rumor was floated. The first time they wore the blue pants.

    The team tweeted a promo pic for tonight’s game and if you look closely Devin McCourty is wearing gray pants.

    It appears to be a glitch in the code, since I can’t click on it. However, of note, last year’s guide was posted on Bulletin. Here’s the link to the Substack copy: link

    If you’re having an issue with that, here’s the 2020 guide: link

    Not quite fixed, I still get the I-beam cursor instead of the pointing hand when I mouse over the link.

    I’m not a fall foliage enthusiast, but wow, that is a spectacular shot of that tree. The the almost gradient changing of color from green to bright red is stunning. Thanks for sharing.

    I’ll be one to pick on the Miami game, but before I do I want to state that it was indeed a gorgeous game, and I love when my Steelers are on the road against a white/color/white combo. Best look, in general.

    That said, the 72 Dolphins played 17 games. They wore aqua in TWO of them. All of their significant moments took place in white. Therefore, in my opinion, to truly “honor” the 72 team on such a significant anniversary, only white does the occasion justice. Not to mention, the team they beat in the AFCC to go to that historic Super Bowl was Pittsburgh, which was wearing black to Miami’s white.

    Second, who on earth thought the Jimmy Johnson-era “Late 90s Navy for Dark Color’s Sake” tops on the cheerleaders was a good idea?

    Lastly, it’s 2022. We have uniform schedules, especially a celebration one like this, months in advance. Can’t the networks use the throwback logos?

    Is it wrong to root for your favorite team to lose, just so they’ll (hopefully) stop wearing a particularly horrible uni combo? [Looking at you, Jets.]

    Speaking of the Jets, I’m on record with my chagrin over the retirement of the oval helmet insignia, but I wouldn’t want to see a white one on the green helmet. The oval should be black, with white graphics. I admit I’m enjoying the team’s current success regardless of what they wear.

    I just started watching the Jets again after a 10 year vacation and is it me or those new duds not selling all that well? I dont see it worn that much in the stands.

    Well, somewhat wrong, but I am on board. The Jets’ black pants suck in general, but double-suck with the green helmet (wear the freaking green pants already!) or the mono black crap. Having said that, I would really like to see them wear the green helmet, black jersey, green pants combo once. I don’t believe they’ve ever done that, but as much as I HATE the black jersey, it would be better than green-black-black, or the inevitable black-black-black (puke).

    Re the oval on the helmet – I saw a helmet on display over the off season with the current helmet logo, just with an oval around the “Jets w football” part. Don’t recall where that was on display. I can’t stand the boring helmet logo being used, but the oval around it made it much nicer looking. I’ve already lost the battle to have something remotely interesting on the helmet (you know, like an actual f-ing jet or something), but the oval at least makes that silly logo better.

    Green or white pants are obviously better, but if they seriously have added black as a team color, black pants aren’t completely awful in theory, assuming they actually had a good design. Like add in some white/green/white stripes on the side of the pants and they’d at least be tolerable. The truncated barely visible green stripe, along with the black socks are what really make it awful.
    The whole rebrand was a mess, but of all the missteps, I think adding black as secondary color in the uniform wasn’t the worst. You could have a good looking green and black uniform, this isn’t it.

    “I would really like to see them wear the green helmet, black jersey, green pants combo once. I don’t believe they’ve ever done that…”

    They have never (yet) worn that combo. I doubt the would do so this year. However…based on their (recent) success in black pants, and with the team “scheduled” (at least according to the GUD) to wear green jerseys twice this season, it honestly wouldn’t surprise me to see them wear black pants with the green jersey/helmet. Don’t know if you saw my post on Saturday (link) discussing the black pants — four weeks in a row now (4-0 record in them) and this weekend they’re scheduled to go head-to-toe mono-black. Lost in all this so far is through seven weeks, the Jets have worn white tops in every game. With the “lucky black pants” now driving them, I could see the team wearing black pants the rest of the season, regardless of the other uniform elements. They’ll wear them at least 3 more times (they have three mono-black games scheduled) this year.

    I don’t believe the black jersey/black pants were ever supposed to be mixed and matched, and for the first two seasons with them they weren’t. Last year they did wear the black pants with the white tops (lost badly), but this year they opposite is true. They’re 4-0 in black pants … and well, you don’t mess with a streak.

    Not using a depiction of a plane saves them having to choose between an airliner and a fighter jet.

    I grew up in South Florida as a huge Dolphins fan and love when they throwback to the unis of my childhood and their glory days. It also irritates me when the uni manufacturer of the day can’t get the details right. Last night the stripes on the helmet were off – the helmet stripes on the custom cleats were spot on. Somebody knew the pattern. Also, the pants stripes were not accurate to 1972 – too thin. These things seem so simple to get right, but too often get lost. Sigh.

    Because the uniforms are throwbacks to 1966, not 1972. Elements including the different helmet stripes (wider space between them than any other season), different pants stripe (thinner and aqua/orange/aqua), and wider middle stripe on the jerseys are reasonably accurate for 1966. They used both the dolphin inside the sun and outside the sun logos but started out with the inside the sun logo. The sock stripes are off, as are now using the “filled in” TV numbers.

    Should they have done something more accurate for 1972? Probably.

    I didn’t realize they were throwing back to ‘66 on a night the were honoring ‘72. That’s just dumb. Thanks for the clarification.

    Seahawks should definitely stick with the grey pants. While they’re at it, replace the neon number trim with grey. Save the neon green for the eyeball and the silly swoosh.

    I’m always surprised at how much my tastes (or maybe acceptance) has evolved over the years. I used to think that every team in the league should look a lot like the Browns did yesterday – a terrific look indeed. While watching the highlights, I think I found myself thinking that the Ravens looked better than Cleveland in some ways. I can’t really explain it. It’s just weird.

    They need to get back ASAP to the Silver/Blue/Silver original look. Hopefully the “supply chain” issues are resolved for next season.

    I’d like to see a touch on neon added to the gray pants…ditto for the white ones.

    LOLions once again wore the blue pants with the blue jersey. Well, if you’re going to play like **feces**, you might as well look like **feces**.

    If you’re going to show a picture of the Dolphins kicking a field goal in those uniforms, isn’t it obligatory to add a “laces out Dan” caption?

    The 2022 Dolphins wearing 1966 uniforms to honor the 1972 team (cheerleaders with numbers from like 1997 to boot!).
    The ’72 Dolphins wore plain aqua jerseys & socks, no stripes.

    Lee

    The Panthers with white socks against the black pants shows perfectly why the leotard look is so bad. The all-white socks isn’t great (would it kill you to put a stripe on there?) but the contrast is sooo much nicer. All teams should take note.

    Proud father moment for me last night; my 8-year-old son was watching the Dolphins game with me for a few minutes and mentioned that he noticed how the Dolphins were “wearing their old uniforms”. It was something I noticed almost immediately, but didn’t mention anything, because I didn’t think anyone in my family would notice or care about. I asked him “how can you tell?” He immediately responded with “well, the old dolphin is wearing a helmet, the new one doesn’t”. He’s not a big passionate football fan, but I was proud just knowing that “he gets it”.

    Sometimes I wonder how much teams coordinate in the offseason on uniform combos with all of these red-on-red games. Earlier this year the Cardinals went full mono-red against the Chiefs, who also are almost all red. Why would you not break out your BFBS uniform for that game? Why wouldn’t SF want to go with traditional sets with the gold pants and KC go mono-white to create as much contrast as possible? If I’m Dallas yesterday I wear the color rush uniform or navy at home to create more contrast with Detroit’s light blue/silver, etc. If I’m the Jets playing Philly I go mono-black, etc. Do you think if a team has a uni-set that closely matches one of their opponents set that they wear it on purpose to create confusion for their opponent? The TL;DR version of my question is why don’t teams with similar colors coordinate more to create as much contrast as possible? It seems like some go out of their way to minimize contrast instead of maximizing it.

    “If I’m the Jets playing Philly I go mono-black…”

    Which green team should go mono-black? They both have a mono-BFBS set now.

    Right, I guess my point is that if I’m the Jets and I’m playing a team who’s away kit includes a similar shade of green and white I’m going to wear my uni-set that creates the most contrast, not the one that is as close to the other team’s set as possible. Unless there’s some sort of competitive advantage that I’m missing.

    Any team playing AT Dallas knows what uniform they are wearing (unless Turkey Day). This is not a surprise. Detroit chose to look godawful and not contrast with the Cowboys while doing so.

    There are two teams the Niners really should not wear their throwbacks against – Chiefs and Cardinals. That was a brutal looking game. It’s mind boggling to me how the concept of contrast is lost on so many people. There seems to never be any thought at all about who the opponent is when teams choose uni combos. At the very least, this would have been a very good week for KC to go all white.

    “this would have been a very good week for KC to go all white”

    EVERY week they wear white tops is a good week for KC to go all white

    Man, gotta disagree there Phil. KC’s white jersey over red pants with the striped white sock is one of the best away looks in the game and is lightyears better than their white/white look. But, when playing a red over white team like SF, certainly does not provide adequate contrast.

    Also, the Niners are that rare case where the throwback is a big downgrade from their current uni, which is one of the very best in the league. So maybe don’t wear the throwback against anyone.

    Also, also: the “throwback” isn’t even a true throwback. They’re trying to recreate the mojo of the 1994 “throwback” but that was a bad attempt to recreate the 1955 uniform (link). But that uniform didn’t have a gold helmet — the helmet was red. The uniform (jersey/pants) is fine, but they need to ditch the gold hats. Then they’d have an accurate throwback uniform AND it would look a lot better. Wearing the “throwback” with gold helmets both looks terrible and is an historical inaccuracy.

    I think what sticks out the most about why Miami’s throwbacks (as well as many other teams’) are so superior is 1) the stripes, and 2) the simplicity of the designs. All the bells and whistles of modern uniform design get easily lost unless you are really looking for them. A solid stripe design stands out and creates good contrast, especially if the team has a good color set. Ditto for the simplicity of number fonts.
    It works in particular for Miami with their original aqua color, that contrasts with the orange and white.
    Looking at the photo of Jacksonville, Tennessee, and Baltimore, they just seem so bland.

    Light(er) shirts over stripeless black (or nearly) black pants.
    Similar in concept if not execution.

    Lee

    I might be alone in this, but I like the current Miami set. Both the orange and aqua are brighter, its modern but not in “bumper stickers everywhere” way.

    Once a year is great for the throwbacks. Their current set is great.

    I am absolutely thrilled that the Patriots are wearing silver/gray pants tonight. As a New Englander, a lifelong Pats fan, and an obsessed student of athletics aesthetics, it has bothered me every time I’ve seen them wear their dreadful blue over blue scuba suits over the past few years. Regarding the minutiae of tonight’s uni combo, however, they aren’t technically wearing their *old* silver pants, as these ones have a different striping pattern (thick red, thick blue, thick red vs. thin red, wide blue, thin red).
    Also, the Panthers looked great in the white socks yesterday. Black socks with black pants looks stupid. Now, all they have to do is swap the plain white for white socks with stripes, and they’ll look fantastic!

    *Tonight’s pants are the ones originally shown in the style guide, and then scrapped, back when the most recent uni change was first made.

    Tbh the silver pants seem kinda off. I think its probably due to there being no silver in the jersey. I think making the white stripe grey would make it look so much better. Or switching to a white helmet with white pants. But I also have the controversial opinion of being a fan of the Brady Era uniforms, so take my opinion with that in mind

    Noticed in the Ravens field picture that this version doesn’t have the MO in Baltimore in a different color. For those who don’t know, it’s a tribute toa late Ravens super fan, Mo Gaba. The Ravens have painted the letters “M” and “O” in their end zone during the 2020 and 2021 season to pay tribute.

    The MO in Baltimore was in Black yesterday, while the rest was purple, hard to tell unless you were in the stadium.

    Lets stop calling them uniforms when everyone is allowed to wear what ever color shoes/cleats and socks they choose. All leagues/players have lost site of the meaning uniform. Maybe we should call it a individual.

    Love the Dolphin’s throwbacks, but alas, they won’t be permanent. When did so many NFL teams lose their way regarding uniforms? So many horrible NFL looks these days: Seahawks, Cardinals, Jets, Eagles, just to name a few. Miss the 70’s. Jerseys with actual sleeves. Striped socks. No mono rush color catastrophes.

    Team-wise, you could hazard a guess by saying the Seahawks Nike-ified set started it all … or when the Falcons made a concerted effort to go BFBS. Both examples of breaking the mold of traditional uniformity to cater to fashion popularity.

    Individually, Primetime Deion with his (ironically) longer cut sleeves, plus his ‘do rag, and his headband around his neck … or you could go with Larry Fitzgerald taking the football pant hemline to new (low) heights.

    Just M2C.
    -C.

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