What Your Favorite Team Might Have Been Called?

[IceCap]

I find myself agreeing with BBTV concerning the Browns.

Yes, they have a great history. Have they won anything worth bragging about since the dawn of the SB era though?

A change would be for the best. There are ways to update the Browns look without going nuts. Something that's modern, but that also honours where the team came from.

My solution would be to bring back the white face masks, drop the needlessly thin striped pants, slap the =B= logo on the helmet, and change to Colts-style sleeve/shoulder striping that goes white/orange/white on the brown jerseys, and brown/orange/brown on the roads. Simple update that allows for the modernization of the football jersey while staying true to the team's roots.

[BBTV]

Am I the only person around here who recalls the New Jersey Nets were almost renamed the Swamp Dragons? I wanna say it was around the time I graduated HS, in 1993 or so....

Also as I lifelong browns fan.... bring back the orange pants, but beyond that, tweak the uniforms and you'll see something akin to the LA riots.

I was under the impression that the Swamp Dragons thing was a done deal. I think you are right that it was '93 (or '94.)

As for the Browns, I'm not a fan of any jersey that forces sleeve stripes onto sleeveless jerseys. I also don't like their thin pants stripe, or the white/white on the road.

I don't think that "contemporary" = "Nikefied" or "Oregon'd". Just adopt a real logo (even the CB thing), put it on the helmet, drop the gray facemask, lose the sleeve stripes and go with colored cuffs (or better yet, go with USC / Texans stripes), re-introduce the orange pants for occasional use with the brown jerseys, and whip up brown pants with stripes for use with the white jerseys. Done and done.

I think you're right -a Texans-style jersey would be modern, without being too over the top for such a traditional franchise (as tradional as you can be for being 9 years old.)

Here's a really quick re-color of the Texans set in Browns colors. IMO this would be an improvement. I think the stripe colors may need to be reversed though.

[IceCap]

I don't think that Texan stripes would work. I think that style is uniquely Houstonian in the NFL-verse.

[BBTV]

Stripes reversed.

[bulldogbarks55]

Ironic, that a guy who is priased for being "waaaaaaaay" ahead of his time, is associated with a team who's uniforms are waaaaaaaay behind the times. The Browns need to sack those tired duds like they sacked PB. Contemporize, man!

I'm not sure you're giving an equitable comparison here. It's not like anybody is saying Paul Brown was "'waaaaaaaaay' ahead of his time" for uniform innovations. He's given credit for innovating gameplay and strategy. Hardly the same thing.

For the record, I'm a huge fan of the Browns' "tired duds" -- moreso since they brought back the gray facemasks.

Paul Brown did not like garish uniforms. Period. He felt that "colorful" uniforms on a bad team made the mediocrity even more obvious. His original Bengals uniforms were merely a toned-down Browns uniform. So that makes you wonder why he OK'd the Bengals' change to the tiger stripes. Maybe he was getting senile.

But look at the rest of the NFL- the Super Bowl Champion (boy, it hurts to say that) NY Giants wear their uniforms from the late-50s. The Packers had a fan revolt when they announced a uniform change. The Steelers' fans want to go back to block-style numbers. Enough of the italic bull .

So will you "graphic design" wunderkinds put away your illustrators and leave the Browns the hell alone! No colored pants. No helmet decal. Striped socks. Get it?

Merry Christmas to All!

[rmackman]

The Freeze is better than the wild wtf is the wild anyway?

I think that since the North Stars just chopped off "North", the Wild should have kept that part and gone as the Minnesota North. On top of which, it'd be the American version of the Nordiques in a sense.

[Lee.]

The Freeze is better than the wild wtf is the wild anyway?

I think that since the North Stars just chopped off "North", the Wild should have kept that part and gone as the Minnesota North. On top of which, it'd be the American version of the Nordiques in a sense.

Except that 'Nordiques' translates out to 'from the north,' so it's really not the same thing at all.

[-kj]

So that makes you wonder why he OK'd the Bengals' change to the tiger stripes.

Because those stripes on the helmet are awesome. As were the previous version of the unis.

[oldschoolvikings]

Stripes reversed.

I'm sorry, but that is nasty.

[bulldogbarks55]

So that makes you wonder why he OK'd the Bengals' change to the tiger stripes.

Because those stripes on the helmet are awesome. As were the previous version of the unis.

Are you referring to the first Bengals uniforms from '68 or the first version of the tiger stripes in '81? If you've seen the photo circulating on this post of PB looking at prototype helmets for the Bengals back in '68 you'll note that he's holding a version of the "striped wonder." Even I've got to admit that the helmet he's holding would have looked good with the original '68 Bengals uniform. But true to his logic of not being flashy while your team sucks those striped jobs were out back then. The man believed in and lived by his principles. The team was fairly respectable by the early '80s so that probably played in to his decision to go with the striped look all around.

But the Browns uniforms, established when they were good "back in the day", have grown into an all-time untouchable. Plus a new, Reebok-influenced crazy-ass makeover would not fit with Cleveland's blue-collar image. Leave 'em alone! When Cowher takes over he'll bring the Brownies back to their former greatness. The building blocks are there. They just need a foreman to put them in place. Nuf ced.

[Sabrejeff]

I can see why people would have written in Liberty Bells. The Flyer on the flier ( ) has the Liberty Bell on his jersey.

http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/jerse...ypics.cgi?pic=1

I wonder if they put that on there to push people to write in Liberty Bells?

According to that Flyers flier, the Seals and North Stars were originally meant to be called San Francisco and Minneapolis, respectively. Is that true?

[Lee.]

Stripes reversed.

I'm sorry, but that is nasty.

I'm going to agree with this. The Browns will likely never change their uniforms, but if they do, they should seriously consider a move to collegiate stripes. IMNSFHO, this is the only major change the browns could make that won't upset their fanbase.

That, or pull a New Orleans/Oakland, and eliminate the striping completely, and just add an orange contrast ribbon around the collar and around the numbers. They're rather locked into a certain style, unfortunately, and the only way they could ever make a change from such an old-school look is by locking into another updated, yet still old-school, scheme.

[Turtle64]

Atlanta Falcons could've been the following:

Knights, Bombers, Rebels, Crackers, Thrashers, Lancers, Firebirds, Fireballs and Thunderbirds.

I think that they made the right decision...

Knights, Thrashers, and Firebirds wouldn't have been that bad either.

Is that why the IHL named their Atlanta team the "Knights"?

[Turtle64]

I was wondering why when I bought a St. Louis Stallions Starter bran hat in El Paso, back around '93-'94, that I had not heard any more about them. It seems that the purple, gold and black may have been picked up by the Ravens? It has a Team NFL tag in it but why would they ever sell it at the mall if there would not even be a team? I guess I have a conversation piece now. It's not a bad looking hat and I would post a pic if I knew how.

[sappy13]

I can see why people would have written in Liberty Bells. The Flyer on the flier ( ) has the Liberty Bell on his jersey.

http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/jerse...ypics.cgi?pic=1

I wonder if they put that on there to push people to write in Liberty Bells?

According to that Flyers flier, the Seals and North Stars were originally meant to be called San Francisco and Minneapolis, respectively. Is that true?

I don't know about Minneapolis, but the SF info is wrong. The WHL SF Seals moved from the Cow Palace to the Oakland Coliseum

for the 1966-67 season, their last in the WHL, and were renamed the California Seals. That's the name the team intended to use

for their NHL debut in 67-68, but settled on Oakland instead.

[pheer]

Atlanta Falcons could've been the following:

Knights, Bombers, Rebels, Crackers, Thrashers, Lancers, Firebirds, Fireballs and Thunderbirds.

I think that they made the right decision...

Knights, Thrashers, and Firebirds wouldn't have been that bad either.

Is that why the IHL named their Atlanta team the "Knights"?

While I'm not completely sure, I believe the answer is no. If I recall the name was chosen by the owner's wife, and the logo was roughly sketched by her, and then turned over to a pro for refinement. I was in High School at the time, so my memory is pretty solid on this (i.e. I wasn't a 4th grader and prone to exaggeration too much).

I miss the Knights, and now the PC crowd in Atlanta has kicked in, and we are "politely asked" to not scream the traditional KNIGHTS!! at the proper time during the national anthem. I am as patriotic as anyone, but give me a friggin break.

[Panthers]

I'm reading the book Rozelle - about Pete Rozelle and there are a couple of things we've mentioned before but . . .

The original name of the Dallas Cowboys was the Rangers. Wonder what the helmet would have looked like. If Ralph Wilson got his wish and Miami, not Buffalo, was a charter AFL franchise, I wonder what they would be called? When Wilson was dissuaded from putting the team in Miami, he was given a choice of Buffalo, Louisville, Atlanta, Cincinnati or St. Louis. I wonder what each of them would be called.

[CJR]

I can see why people would have written in Liberty Bells. The Flyer on the flier ( ) has the Liberty Bell on his jersey.

http://www.flyershistory.net/cgi-bin/jerse...ypics.cgi?pic=1

I wonder if they put that on there to push people to write in Liberty Bells?

According to that Flyers flier, the Seals and North Stars were originally meant to be called San Francisco and Minneapolis, respectively. Is that true?

I don't know about Minneapolis, but the SF info is wrong. The WHL SF Seals moved from the Cow Palace to the Oakland Coliseum

for the 1966-67 season, their last in the WHL, and were renamed the California Seals. That's the name the team intended to use

for their NHL debut in 67-68, but settled on Oakland instead.

Actually, they did use California in the NHL for a couple months. They aborted the regional name and became the Oakland Seals in December of their inaugural season.

As for the incorrect city names on that flier, I seem to remember the same happening with the early-90s NHL expansion. I vaguely remember seeing something about both the Miami Panthers and the South Florida Panthers. Yeah, I know Florida Panthers makes more sense given the animal's name but that doesn't mean it was known they would use it for certain at that time.

[Viper]

The original name of the Dallas Cowboys was the Rangers. Wonder what the helmet would have looked like.

IIRC, just like it does now. My understanding is that the blue star logo was conceived with the Rangers nickname in mind, and there wasn't enough time to change it when they changed the nickname to Cowboys.

[Sc8b]

The original name of the Dallas Cowboys was the Rangers. Wonder what the helmet would have looked like.

IIRC, just like it does now. My understanding is that the blue star logo was conceived with the Rangers nickname in mind, and there wasn't enough time to change it when they changed the nickname to Cowboys.

Sounds likely considering the Texas Rangers (as in the law enforcement people) badge has a big star in the middle of it...