The new helmet
Okay, so, the posts lately have had a tendency to either be heavy, or to broach some serious topics indirectly (such as music reviews of bands that address very serious, weighty matters). Even the one relatively light post a few days ago, about the television series Mad Men Season 5, was written some time ago, and that series is, of course, a drama. And anyone who actually watched season 5 will surely agree with me that some very dark moments occur - I would say that it was the darkest season in the series, by far.
Here is an attempt at levity, discussing an issue that certainly is not crucial. But it just happened that I saw the new logo for the Miami Dolphins, and figured I would show it here for any interested parties. My initial reaction towards the new logo was negative, admittedly. But the more I look at it, the better it looks, and it does keep the traditional colors, which I like. Now, if the Dolphins would switch to those orange jerseys, which I think look really sharp, they would be set. The Broncos recently began to use their orange home jerseys, as a nod to the past, and they just look so much sharper! To me, the Broncos were always identifable by those bright orange jerseys, and it was their trademark. The use of those uniforms once again worked very well, and once again, you don't mistake the Broncos for anyone else.
In any case, uniform changes seem to occur more and more these days. Hopefully, I don't sound too old, but I remember when teams had basically two uniforms: home and away. There were hardly ever any major uniform or logo changes: what you saw was what you got.
But that all changed. These days, most teams seem to have a minimum of three or four different uniforms. Sure, there is still the "home" and "away". But there are now alternative versions, as well. Often times, there are throwbacks, which can be the alternative look (although not necessarily). In basketball, they even have uniforms in Spanish, as a nod to the Hispanic community.
The result of all of this? Teams wear multiple different uniform variations, and you never really known what you are going to get.
Oh, and franchises make a killing selling these to fans.
Perhaps I'm just old-fashioned, but the changes in uniforms in sports, particularly North American sports, tend to be less than thrilling.
Some work out. Others.....well, not so much.
The Seattle Seahawks had what was perhaps the most boring uniform in sports from 2002 until just last season, when they finally changed it. Also, the Buffalo Bills had a horrible uniform from 2002 until just a couple of seasons ago, when they switched back to an older style uniform. They had always had among the best uniform in the league, if you ask me, and one of the coolest logos. So, why change, like they did for nearly a decade? Especially with such crappy uniforms? Or how about those God-awful uniforms (and team name and logo to boot) with the Anaheim hockey franchise. They reduced the Mickey Mouse feel for now, but being known as the Mighty Ducks was an embarrassment.
I remember the first time (I noticed) that a team radically changed their looks. It was the 1990 Atlanta Falcons, under coach Jerry Glanville. Glanville was well known for his all-black attire on the sidelines, and he made this change for the entire Atlanta Falcons franchise when he took over as head coach. He had previously been with the Houston Oilers, and his reputation preceded him. He had implemented the run 'n shoot offense, which helped the Oilers enjoy some success. He also brought in a rough, some suggested dirty, attitude, where machismo ran through the roof. There is relatively infamous footage of him talking to one of his players before a game with the Redskins in 1991, where he asked the player if he was "scay-red" of Washington. The player smiled and obviously denied it. It was all a big joke. So was the Falcons performance on that day, as they wound up getting thrashed, 56-17. Glanville's tenure in Atlatna did not last very long.
But those black uniforms remained, at least until 1992. Even when they changed their uniforms again, they kept the black helmets, and for the first few years, retained the black jerseys (they have since switched to red.
Now, I am not a huge baseball fan, but to my understanding, it was actually the Chicago White Sox that began the trend towards popularizing black uniforms.
The Chicago White Sox were the first, but their were a lot of uniform and logo changes that followed. The New Jersey Devils changed their red and green uniforms to red and black, just before they began to enjoy better results on the ice. Many of the expansion teams also incorporated black into their uniforms, as well.
Before long, the trend reached pretty much all the sports leagues. It seemed like there were tons of teams in each league that had either black as the dominant color of uniform, or at least featured prominently among their colors and uniforms.
I remember the days when few teams in the NFL had a lot of black in their uniforms. There were the Raiders, of course, who were well known for their simple silver and black colors and uniforms. There were the Cincinnati Bengals, with the tiger stripes uniforms (this was a prominent uniform change in 1981, but the team colors remained the same and, besides, I started following the NFL in 1981, and could not remember a time when they had different uniforms and logos than these). The New Orleans Saints had black and gold as their colors, and wore black home jerseys as well. Of course, there were the Pittsburgh Steelers, who's two main colors were black and gold. They were the only team to wear black helmets. Also, it should be noted that the Chicago Bears had official colors of navy blue and orange, but the navy blue sometimes appeared so dark, as to look black (or maybe that was just my take on it). In 1997, the Broncos switched their uniforms from the famous orange and blue to navy blue with orange highlights. Their navy blue, like the Bears, looked almost black at times, it was so dark. Since then, the Rams have also switched from a lighter blue, to a navy blue. Most recently, the Seattle Seahawks, who have perhaps changed their uniforms more than any other NFL team that I can think of, acquired very dark blue helmets, and scrapped their once traditional green with neon green that sticks out like a sore thumb.
That was it, at the time. Until the Atlanta Falcons. But the popular trend towards black opened up the floodgates. Now, the Steelers, the Falcons, the Jaguars, and the Ravens all have black helmets, while the Bears and the Broncos have very dark, navy blue that seems to border on black. Teams have also incorporated much more black into their logos and uniforms, including the Panthers, the Cardinals (who now often times wear the new black jerseys, although black used to be more of a passive color, used as a highlight or border, more than anything else). The Lions have black featured more prominently, and even have alternative black jerseys, as do the Eagles, who also darkened their once brighter green colors in favor of a much darker green. Tampa Bay got rid of their bright orange and red colors, and now their main colors are red, pewter and, naturally, black.
In basketball, it was much the same. I remember two teams with black uniforms growing up: the Portland Trailblazers (I always thought that they had awesome uniforms) and the San Antonio Spurs. Since then, several teams have at least flirted with black uniforms, including the Chicago Bulls, the Philadelphia 76ers, the Orlando Magic, the Golden State Warriors, the Atlanta Hawks, the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Miami Heat, the Toronto Raptors, the Utah Jazz, the Sacramento Kings, and the Boston Celtics. The Brooklyn Nets have changed their uniforms as well, with the switch of locations, from New Jersey to Brooklyn, and now have simple, black and white uniforms. But it is not overdone and, if I say so myself, it actually looks good.
Don't even get me started on hockey, where it seems that the majority of teams have incorporated significant quantities of black, or very dark blue, into their uniforms. The majority of expansion teams since the early nineties, as well as some franchises switching colors, logos, and uniforms.
Perhaps the new trend, at least in the NFL, is towards incorporating more white. The Chargers, Bills, and Jets all changed their dominant helmet colors to white, in a return to older looks for each franchise. The Titans retained white helmets when they switched names and logos (they used to be the Houston Oilers).
I can only think of a handful of franchises that have not significantly altered their uniforms and/or logos in the NFL in, let's say, the past two decades or so: the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Oakland Raiders, the Cleveland Browns, the Indianapolis Colts, the Pittsburgh Steelers (although they changed the style of the numbers on their jerseys) and the Kansas City Chiefs. The two New York teams, the Jets and Giants reverted back to an earlier logo and uniform style, and the Bills, and 49ers also followed suit. The Golden State Warriors did the same in basketball, and the Knicks also came closer to a uniform style that is more traditional. Again, not to sound overly attached to tradition, but I think all of these uniforms look pretty decent, and do not need replacing or revising. Sometimes, tradition works.
Changes come and go as well. Getting back to the Miami Dolphins, their new logo is growing on me. It is at least a nod to tradition, retaining the colors, and the dolphin going through that orange hoop, or whatever that thing is. I am just glad that it did not incorporate an exaggeratedly aggressive cartoon dolphin, as some of the options for the franchise apparently did. This one has a bit of a style, and legendary ex-coach Don Shula already gave his approval on the new look.
A new look on their helmets and uniforms. Let's see if they can translate that to a new look where it really counts for them: on the field.
Image by: www.businessinsider.com
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