Brave-Bird 08

why in the world did the Bengals do this announcement without any photos of the helmet or uniform pairings? meh

Extremely shameless plug:

This wouldn't be the first time someone with "insider" uniform information doesn't know what they are talking about. For example, the person logging the changes at ESPN said the Falcons helmets were "true to the '66 throwbacks" except "this time they have a modern twist, adding gold stripes to honor Georgia Tech." Oof. This sounds like a similar case. There's obviously no throwback for the Bengals involving a white helmet.

IDK, the thing about the new-era finish on the ND helmets is that they are too synonymous with ND for any other school to try and replicate them. Over time we've had plenty of schools from the biggest programs to smallest, like Wofford, roll with plain gold helmets. The fact ND has a plain gold helmet that you can point to and say "that's Notre Dame" makes it iconic. The old helmet was just another plain gold shell.

IDK, when I think of the 49ers I think of a gold that is muted, almost beige. May not be the most popular color/finish in a vacuum, but it looks like them in their glory days the most. Plus, as a team that also wore silver helmets, I always kind of liked how their gold was a half step from that as opposed to a more brassy finish. In fact, I've seen it posted here before, but the Saints and 49ers in their current state just need to swap helmet shells. New Orleans needs to be a brassy gold, 49ers a more muted gold.

Honestly, fine with it. TV numbers really are obsolete. I can't ever think of scenarios when I felt like I needed to find the shoulders of a player to see their number, but maybe I'm subconsciously doing that when watching games. Even as a high school football journalist for years, I would have to log stats from a press box in real time or from the field and a lot of teams wouldn't have TV numbers, or they are on the sleeve cap and get shriveled up so much you can't read them. It's not as functional anymore now that we have high definition and instant replay. Now, aesthetically, I like them -- they can make a uniform feel more complete. But there are some schools like Texas or Alabama where I just prefer the super plain uniform

Red and navy were easier to produce colors back in the day, which is why there's so many teams in all levels of professional sports that have been red / maroon / navy / royal blue. When you look at it from that lense it's not quite as annoying. I like that both the Braves and Cardinals also allow a bit of gold but don't use it for more than 10% of a visual (that's an arbitrary number, but you get the point)

Vapor is so ideal. The NFL would have been a mess if they switched to Fusion. Also, in retrospect, the Pro Combat template was absolutely ridiculous. So many pieces for one jersey, looked terrible.

Texas looks so much better. Their jerseys were way too cluttered on the front the last few seasons. Does this count as #TexasBack?

The issue is the disagreement between the silver trim inside the numbers and the lack of silver trim in the shoulder and pant stripes. I think the most general consensus is the striping pattern should be reversed on the road jersey and the silver trim needs to be removed. Currently they look like a high school team.

I like the Astros CC logo with the streak around it much more than just the generic H and Star. The Astros are wayyyyyy too plain as is right now. But, we all know what they really just need to do, and that is pipe the sleeves and pants with a tri-color of red-orange-yellow. Doing that alone would enhance their look tremendously, but if they also added the CC logo as the primary cap it would be amazing

So, if I am understanding this correctly, the alternate shells can only be worn with an alternate or throwback... ...which means New Orleans is going to be stuck having to wear it with the throwbacks? That is disasterous. That black helmet would look fine with the regular home or road jerseys, honestly, but it clashes way too much with the throwback b/c the helmet sticker doesn't jive with the stripes present on the sleeves, pants, etc. They're taking a pretty solid alternate classic and bastardizing the hell out of it. Why didn't they pick a white lid with a black/gold/black stripe? That would have looked amazing. The incomepetance of teams sometimes ... really not thinking things through. Also, I am still hopeful Atlanta will dress the red lid with the modern logo and a black facemask to wear with the gradient uniform. That would be allowed, right?

It's kind of like if the Braves started calling themselves the Unincorporated Cobb County Braves or the Atlanta Braves of Unincorporated Cobb County

The Rangers would have an amazing look if they wore the blue caps with the powder jersey and white pants.

Angels look good. I wouldn't even have gotten the surf shop connection with these, but they just look great. Nice bold marks and the diamond with the numeral in it is fantastic.

More than anything, the Jets need a logo that expresses their moniker. The wordmark and football is pretty bad. I love the way their uniform looks when they wear white pants (green pants never look good). They're bold, I don't hate angular stripes -- they are just as standard as classic stripes, they don't look bad when done right. Their only real issue for me is the logo has no character.

I'm having a hard time understanding the new "rules" or lackthereof. If the new helmets for this season have to be pre-existing in the style guide (like the patriots white, falcons black, etc) how are the Eagles getting a black helmet to use for one season only & Washington gets an alternate for their alternate.

The note with the numeral at least is *something*, but the road and alternate simply look like practice jerseys. That is terrible.

I would be shocked if that is the case, i think they just posted the date for the return of the helmet b/c it was some major marketing spin up sponsored by Coca Cola, but I am sure they will wear them twice. Though idk, the last two seasons they only wore gradient jerseys once. They could be planning on doing gradient twice and the throwback once, who knows

It's also pretty arrogant to have a partial logo that you as a franchise points to the fact it looks like the Larry O'Brien trophy. That's pretty hilarious to me.

It's a damn shame how Cleveland can't seem to find their footing with their identity, and instead of doing anything that ever feels comprehensive it rather feels like they are just every few years making impulse tweaks -- and tweaks that are not sound from a graphic design perspective, let alone a full branding perspective (for example: ambigiously transitioning from navy to black and just slapping logos on a shield and calling it a day). This is just more of their bad habits they'e had -- the brand around the LeBron area could have been cleaned up a bit, but they really had something there. I get maybe trying to differentiate yourself from him by changing things up, but this is a bunch of meh. Unfortunately it's just a problem across the NBA as well.

I'm a Georgia fan -- if I could see one alternate, it would be: White helmet, black facemask, red center stripe and the modern bulldog logo on the side (yes, I am serious) Standard white jersey Black pants with red and white stripes, like the ones worn in 2009

Talking about the throwback alternate.

Expectation: Flat out replacement of the red shells worn with the 1966 throwbacks between 2009-2012 My wish: A red shell with a modern finish that can be worn as an alternate, or with the throwback decals What most fans seem to want: Red helmet and red jerseys (1980s throwbacks) Note: Falcons have not changed their alternate since 2016, so that is possible.

It would not look good.