Your uniform-related beliefs

[johnnysama]

Admit it, you have a set of beliefs surrounding sports uniforms. Share them here.

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I, johnnysama, believe that.......

In (American) football, black shoes are soo 1960s. It's the 21st century, you should wear either white (because I think they make you look fast), or with the advent of the colored shoes, those, even if they may contain a little black in them.

From a practical sense, pullover jerseys in baseball make sense; the belted pants/pullover jersey combo is a nice compromise between tradition and modern.

It's OK if you want to try gold in place of a white jersey, if your team wears that color.

[Midway]

Side panels are okay, if not shoehorned into a design. Certain sports teams utilize them well (the Broncos) to balance the color distribution, while others (the Capitals) simply don't need them. That's all I got for now

[Legend]

Plain jerseys and logos are lazy. So are using throwbacks as primaries. This is 2013, we have technology and creativity to come up with something better. The exceptoins being teams that have historic looks that have remained relatively unchanged over extended period of times. Yankees, Maple Leafs, Packers, and such. Newer teams or teams changing their look that ends up being boring and bland, Lightning and Rays for example, is just stupid.

The speciality jerseys have gone overboard. We don't need Spanish language jerseys, we don't need pink jerseys, we don't need green jerseys. It's all a sad money grab. A patch or sticker will do just fine.

Unless a player has a specific reason, the number 69 should not be used. It's not funny.

WR's should no longer be allowed to wear QB/P/K numbers. It was cool when only 1 or 2 guys did it as rare exceptions, now it's out of control and I'm not a fan.

There shouldn't be a limit of amount of jerseys used. I think this is part of what hampers creativity for alternate jerseys, although it shamefully returns to money. The teams realize a throwback will sell alot more than a creative 3rd in most cases. But have a throwback game or night, but allow the teams to have an actual alternate jersey to use.

Speaking of throwbacks, which I touched on in laziness and in jersey limits, I love the idea for a once a game or a few games if a season is longer, but they are becoming way overused. Even if the team doesn't return to it as a primary, they use it as an alternate and I'm not a fan. That goes back to the sports that limit jerseys allowing more, but if they aren't allowed to wear more, use the alternate for something creative like was done in the past.

[CrazyAnna]

My belief is that it can be modern, futuristic, classic, a throwback, or anything else. All that matters: Does the finished product look good?

[uuh70]

My belief is pajama pants looks foolish and ridiculous. In my opinion pants should be worn either of these two ways

or

Thank you BJ Upton!!

In my opinion Elian Herrera is the only one dressed correctly in this picture

[GO2HELL]

I wish that it was mandatory for all MLB players to wear knee high socks (not stirrups) with tight to regular fit pants. Damn the baggy pants to hell!

[njpoz]

My belief is that it can be modern, futuristic, classic, a throwback, or anything else. All that matters: Does the finished product look good?

I agree with this. To that end, I am not a fan of American football teams wearing monochrome uniforms, where jersey/pants are predominantly the same color. The first exception to this is white over white when on the road. The other is the Seahawks, who's latest set is terrific. I hated their 2002-2011 set at first but grew to like it too.

My other belief is that baseball teams should never wear colored pants. Every instance I've seen (mostly from the 1970s) looks wrong. This rule applies doubly to teams wearing red pants.

[McCall]

Admit it, you have a set of beliefs surrounding sports uniforms. Share them here.

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I, johnnysama, believe that.......

In (American) football, black shoes are soo 1960s. It's the 21st century, you should wear either white (because I think they make you look fast), or with the advent of the colored shoes, those, even if they may contain a little black in them.

From a practical sense, pullover jerseys in baseball make sense; the belted pants/pullover jersey combo is a nice compromise between tradition and modern.

It's OK if you want to try gold in place of a white jersey, if your team wears that color.

I'd like to hear your reasoning for the bolded one because I've played in both pullover and button-up and the latter was much better than the former. Plus, pullovers look like little league jerseys.

I don't mind baggy baseball pants to an extent or full-length. As long as they're not going down under the bottom of the shoe. And stockings are better than stirrups. The ones with the small cut at the bottom (first BJ Upton pic above) are fine, but the more white showing (second BJ Upton pic and that Dodger guy), the worse it looks. That was part of the 70's-80's trend, like pullovers. Not a classic look, and like it or not, baseball is a classic, traditional sport and the uniforms reflect that.

Oh and black shoes look better in football than white. Whether they make you look fast or not, black just make them look better. Plus, if you have to make yourself look fast, you got other issues to worry about.

[McCall]

My belief is that it can be modern, futuristic, classic, a throwback, or anything else. All that matters: Does the finished product look good?

I agree with this. To that end, I am not a fan of American football teams wearing monochrome uniforms, where jersey/pants are predominantly the same color. The first exception to this is white over white when on the road. The other is the Seahawks, who's latest set is terrific. I hated their 2002-2011 set at first but grew to like it too.

My other belief is that baseball teams should never wear colored pants. Every instance I've seen (mostly from the 1970s) looks wrong. This rule applies doubly to teams wearing red pants.

Basically agree with everything here. Monochrome doesn't look as bad in college because they don't have to wear socks which eliminates the leotard look. But in the NFL, other than white on white, grown men don't really look good in one color tights.

[johnnysama]

Paul Lukas of Uni Watch explained this in 2008:

Uni Watch's feeling is that pullovers probably make more sense than any other format, at least from a practical standpoint, but they arrived so late in the baseball timeline that they just don't look very baseball-y (especially since almost every team wearing them chose to pair them with those miserable elastic waistband pants).

I support his argument in that aspect.

[phutmasterflex]

This is a weird belief that I used to have about a decade ago when I was in high school: In the NFL, if you wear your alternate jerseys, your chances of winning increase. And during that time, it seemed that every time a team wore their alternates, they won more often than they lost.

[DeFrank]

NFL

-No grey facemasks if your team has ever worn anything before (Cardinals, Browns), save for teams with grey in their identity (Giants)

-All socks must have stripes unless the team is heavily minimalist, or has no other stripes anywhere else on the uniform.

-No socks can be the same color as the pants in nearly all cases, except when broken up by a stripe (where the jersey is also the same base color)

-When jersey design gives only TV numbers (no stripes, logos, piping on shoulders) air on the side of shoulder not sleeve numbers, leaving blank sleeves.

-All teams should use white shoes, because they look far better when in motion, and stationary.

[BrandMooreArt]

same as any other piece of art or design. communication (voice, meaning), presentation (craftsmanship of elements), organization (principles).

[AgentColon]

Even teams with ugly uniforms IMO can get a pass if they stand out.

Tennessee Titans, Seattle Seahawks, Philadelphia Eagles(color, not so much the uniform).

[The Mojo Maniac]

The special occasion jerseys are getting really annoying.

The pajama pants look in baseball is incredibly sloppy. There was a reason I went high-cuffed throughout high school (and sadly I was the only one most of the time). Socks are a part of the uniform, show them off with pride. At least softball players seem to understand this (one of many things I love about softball. )

The NFL biker shorts trend is hideous. Wear all the ing pads, look like a damn football player already.

Mostly for MLB and NBA: team name on the home jerseys, city/location name on the road. With very few exceptions. It's that simple. Yes I'm talking to you, Texas teams--Rangers, Mavericks. If it's an alternate with city/location name at home or team name on the road, I can live with that. Only make sure it's just that--an alternate. *ahem*Marlins and White Sox*ahem*

[hockey week]

Hockey jerseys start with stripes across the hemline, and stripes across the sleeves. They can be adjusted a million different ways from there, but that's where they have to start. That's what makes them different from football, basketball, and baseball. These blank-hemlined all-vertical-stripe edge monstrosities are not acceptable for hockey.

[IceCap]

Sports design is subjective by nature. So I don't think any of these "beliefs" or "rules" are steadfast. Exceptions exist for most of them.

It's not about futuristic or modern, all that matters is that it looks good. There are some great modern looks and some throwbacks that probably should have been left in the past. Conversely there are some great older looks and some modern looks that are down right embarrassing.

If a team wins a championship in a look they should stay as close to that look as possible. It creates a nice sort of connection between past a present. Years down the line, even if the team isn't playing so well, younger fans should be able to view footage of the championship season as see a visual connection between that team and the one they're currently watching.

Simpler logos are often the way to go. If you can convey your team's identity with a simple mark that has potential to become iconic, do that. In that spirit I generally dislike logos that force wordmarks into their logos.

Also, the logos that often work the best are the ones kids can doodle.

Every uniform should be designed with longevity in mind. "Does that have the potential to be a look that will be synonymous with our team for decades to come?" Teams that follow short term design trends often look silly once those trends have faded.

There is such thing as to much creativity. Not every team needs a custom font or a wild striping pattern.

Athletic gold and Vegas gold both work well in place of white, and more teams should look into that (looking at you Predators).

Black for black's sake is the scourge of the uniform world.

Teams should be able to utilize red and green or red and gold without people screaming "LOL CHRISTMAS/MCDONALDS!"

Monograms should only represent the team's location.

I don't mind the baggy pants look in baseball. I found that to be most comfortable option when I played.

NFL

-No grey facemasks if your team has ever worn anything before (Cardinals, Browns)

The Cardinals have only ever worn grey facemasks.

[Kevin W.]

The speciality jerseys have gone overboard. We don't need Spanish language jerseys, we don't need pink jerseys, we don't need green jerseys. It's all a sad money grab. A patch or sticker will do just fine.

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There shouldn't be a limit of amount of jerseys used.

Don't these two contradict each other?

[pittsburghsports16]

When it comes to identities in general, I believe there is a line separating one extreme from the other. These two extremes are the traditional throwback looks (let's call that conservative), and then there's the looks that are modern and futuristic (let's call these progressive). In that way, I'm progressive-leaning, but neutral. There's always goods and bads about both extremes. I love a good, new, fresh (not the way my generation likes to use that word...) look, but I can always appreciate a well-designed throwback.

After a while, I think uniforms can get stale. This is why, like most things is life, change should not be feared. To me, teams should always be trying to build off of their current look. Of course, there are exceptions. Does that mean a team like the Yankees should change their home uniform? No. Some looks can last longer. That gets into my next point; identity.

Identity should always be #1 when designing uniforms. The whole purpose of a uniform is to differentiate one team from the other. This is why I despise the modern era of sports uniforms (2000s - Present). There are too many similar uniform designs, modeling off of the same template in most cases. It needs to stop. In that way, I am a 90's era supporter, because at least there was some sense of creativity, progressive looks, and individuality among the uniforms. To use the Penguins and Bruins as an example, yes they had the same colors, but the Penguins had complex, modern striping while the Bruins had more of a simple, traditional striping pattern. This was the 90's where there was more of a variety in teams' looks. Now you look around and see the same bland, unoriginal, austere designs which are robbed off of previous looks the team had, or in some cases, other teams had. It feeds off of the success of former looks, draining the appeal over time.

[kajeet]

That college football jersey's need restrictions and that every NFL team (except Houston and Carolina) should have Home/Away/Alt/Throwback.For Houston and Carolina they can have a second alt.