Gothamite

“Knights” is one thing. “Knights Who Slaughtered Muslims in a Holy War” is kinda something else.

The Saints aren't forced to wear Nike's pet fabrics.

The GUD is good but not infallible. And it's worth pointing out that the NFL has historically done a terrible job at documenting its own uniform history. In 1994, there was almost nothing available beyond a few scattered color photographs from papers. The Packers even got the color of their pants wrong, and to this day routinely perpetuate mistakes from their own history. That. Is. Beautiful.

Are you trying to say cojones?

Eh, I'm in good company.

I can't tell if that's more patronizing to the Greeneville area or insulting to absolutely everywhere else in the country.

The nicknames are really good so far, the logos serviceable and much better than I feared. Is Rookie supposed to be some kind of sasquatch? Tubing, fishing, and playing baseball all at the same time is Poochie-level bizz-ay. This logo really needs a keyline, though: The gold fishing line disappears on the gold background and the whole thing is lost. That's gotta be a mistake.

Absolutely. The Packers used to change number fonts every year or two, as they switched manufacturers. Which means any time a uniform design lasted for more than a couple seasons, it was not at all uncommon to see two different number fonts on the field at the same time. Check out those 4s: And these 4s: Boy, manufacturers really got creative with their 4s. In the case of Lombardi and Washington, he accepted a much lighter version of the burgandy because it was the closest thing the manufacturer offered, and Lombardi wanted to support his brother's company.

I've never heard any assertions that was because Vince liked the hues or the combination thereof; rather, he wanted to emulate the Packers' uniform as part of changing Washington's club culture to emulate Green Bay's. Look like winners, act like winners, play like winners.

It's a fine logo, not stellar but very serviceable. Curious to see the rest of the identity.

Agreed. Set aside the fact that Lombardi himself was color-blind and consequently notoriously disinterested in color schemes (he changed the shade of Washington’s jerseys because his chosen manufacturer didn’t have the right one). But Lombardi didn’t introduce the gold helmet. The Packers had been matching gold pants to gold helmets for a quarter-century before they hired Vince away from the Giants.

Exactly. The old one-helmet rule was about preserving the aesthetic integrity of the league. But we've seen that the NFL doesn't really care about that any more. The new one-helmet rule is about pretending that the NFL takes CTE seriously. We know that they don't care much about that either, but they feel compelled to at least pretend. If the new one-helmet rule is rescinded, the old one will be too.

And the easy counter to that is the NFL's failure to enforce its own uniform rules on the field. The only place they enforce rules is on the design board; once an element gets to the style guide all bets are off. There is absolutely no reason to believe that the NFL would be able to hold the line once they allowed another uniform variant to be in play.

The Packers' first throwbacks predated the 1-helmet rule. But for what it's worth, I heard that a leather wrap was proposed in 2009 but the Packers didn't like the look it so they decided to use a simple brown shell instead. I don't know if the proposed wrap was the same one Washington later used or not.

This is a great argument against changing the one-helmet rule.

Jerseys are never used as standalone graphics in newspapers, on websites, and as part of television coverage. Helmets are. Which means there's a pretty significant difference. I mean, this is a pretty standard image in football; the helmet face-off. You don't see this with baseball caps, or basketball shorts, or hockey sweaters, or even football jerseys. Only helmets.

Oh my gods YES. Packers, I hope you're listening....

Yes. And some reasons are more douchy than others. Brady was floating among the douchiest reason I’ve ever heard. Even Joe Girardi, when he chose number 27, was talking about the club’s total wins. As in he wanted he team as a whole to win their 27th. He wasn’t talking about himself.

you are. No details so far, but the rumors I’m hearing are that they’re moving away from navy throwbacks. That would likely mean Kelly green or gold jerseys.

Of course it is. But that doesn’t mean everything they think is in the best interests of ownership is actually in the best interest of ownership. The cartel is more or less capable depending on who comprises those 32 votes. And in the 90s, those 32 votes made some pretty bad decisions.

Fantastic - I hope my comment didn't come off as too snarky. One thing we know around here is that bad design isn’t always on the designer, and that the client is ultimately responsible for the end product. Thanks for sharing the background!

the logo is on the sleeves so it’ll be on the retail jerseys.

Agreed. Texture is no substitute for a logo.

I even like the home plate star by itself. I wonder if they'll be adding that league logo to jerseys or caps.

This could be the single biggest upgrade of the decade. I mean, wow.