Guest Wizza Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 With the recent announcement that the Tampa Bay Storm will cease operations. I thought to go back and look at the various looks they have sported throughout their history. The Storm would begin life in Pittsburgh as the green and gold Gladiators, debuting a unique logo that incorporated an arm into the letter. 1987-1990 look Very little would change other than a switch to white pants with a solid green line down the side from gold pants that had a alternating white green stripe in 1988 In 1991, the Gladiators will move to Tampa and ditch the green and gold for blue, black, and silver. It will last from 1991 to 1997 The helmet logo was the Storm wordmark outlined in white minus the Tampa Bay Perhaps the most distinctive aspect of the Storms 90s uniforms was the zubaz. It appears the Storm wore a blue helmet for their road unis The Storm logo on the blue helmet was white with the lightning over the o silver In addition, the Storm had a Chargers-esque black alternate The Storm would introduce gold in 1997 ditching the black, silver, and zubaz for blue and gold. The logo was modified to slant the Storm wordmark and shrunk the Tampa Bay so it can be over the S and T. The most eye catching change was the O which was changed from the old lightning design to be in the shape of an "storm". This look will last from 1997 till 2011 making this their longest lasting look and they tweaked the jerseys quite a bit over the span. Unlike previously, the logo was not modified for the Helmet 1997 uniforms: number in gold outlines with storm wordmark on sleeve. alternating gold blue tsripe 1998 had the blue darkened to navy and a gold dropshadow added no drop shadow on home unis The pants were white for both road and home with alternating gold blue stripes Font for road unis were changed in 2001 with gold outline and black dropshadow (pictured on the right) 2003 saw the addition of a gold side panel and the blue stripe is thinned. storm logo on sleeves. First sign of mono uniforms The Storm made it to the Arenabowl in 2003 and they seemed to have switched out the storm logo on the sleeve for GV on the right side while on the left sleeve, the wordmark was put road unis unchanged outside of storm logo in place of jersey manufacturer, Storm logo is filled in with blue 2004 had the stripes removed and the Storm logo was removed while wordmark is added 2006: drop shadow removed Gold panels reduced to stripes. numbers filled in with gold 2007 brought with it gold numbers and a white outline. numbers are no longer filled in and storm wordmark on top of number in front side Storm wordmark replaced with logo and the stripes are restored with Storm wordmark incorporated into it Road unis have blue numbers with gold outlines and the dropshadow is restored In a rare moment,the Storm did not tweak the unis as far as I know The 2009 AFL season was cancelled but returned for 2010 no changes for 2010 2011 saw the Tampa Bay Storm brighten the blue and gold and tweaking the logo to include a gold drop shadow to the storm and the storm O to more resemble a football. Tampa Bay position is more akin to 90s logo and no longer over S and T The blue helmet and white facemask return, Storm football logo is on sleeve, gold sidepanel on shirt, storm wordmark on front on top of numbers. What really stands out besides other than the brightened colors is the piping which extends from under the armpits down to the pants where it ends in a curve Uniforms remained unchanged until 2015 when they extended piping Piping on white jersey colored yellow so it stands out more Their final season in 2017 will see the complete removal of piping and the panels replaced with slanted panels and diagonal stripes 2017 would also see the glorious return of the zubaz unis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panthers_2012 Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 They're gone too? So that means for next season they'll only have 4 teams (once again) Gladiators suspended operations for 2 seasons while Quicken Loans Arena is being renovated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pokecat12 Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 the 1997-2011 look was one of the most gorgeous looks in football, along with the Orlando Predators, Philly Soul and Arizona Rattlers before they went to the crap look a few years ago. Copper, Seafoam Green and Black and the R logo was iconic. AF1 actually had some great looking uniforms. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kimball Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 That's a shame. It's a shame the AFL has basically died the way it has the past few years. I really loved watching the Utah Blaze and even the occasional game on TV. I'd much rather see the AFL make a full healthy comeback compared to the XFL. "I always wanted to be somebody, but now I realize I should have been more specific." Lily Tomlin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Poncho Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 Some very strong identity work went into some AFL teams over the years: Philadelphia hit the charcoal/grey/anthracite way before it became trendy, and still owns a unique look in pro football with that color scheme: Arizona also had a very unique look for its beloved Rattlers in their heyday, including a very excellent use of copper helmets: One of the very best I think was the New Orleans VooDoo, whose use of color and iconography were outstanding: The Utah Blaze had a solid logo, with a beautifully understated icon on the helmet: This league will be fully dead soon, and given its recent foray into well thought-out team identities, it'll be sad to see those fine efforts going dormant: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wizza Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 16 minutes ago, Captain Poncho said: Some very strong identity work went into some AFL teams over the years: Philadelphia hit the charcoal/grey/anthracite way before it became trendy, and still owns a unique look in pro football with that color scheme: Arizona also had a very unique look for its beloved Rattlers in their heyday, including a very excellent use of copper helmets: One of the very best I think was the New Orleans VooDoo, whose use of color and iconography were outstanding: The Utah Blaze had a solid logo, with a beautifully understated icon on the helmet: This league will be fully dead soon, and given its recent foray into well thought-out team identities, it'll be sad to see those fine efforts going dormant: I wouldn't say it is close to dead yet. The direction they have been going as of late is being a regional northeast league. looking at the AFL current teams and rumored expansion, it appears to be true. Albany Baltimore Brigade Philadelphia Soul Washington Valor Newark (Rumored) Brooklyn (Rumored) team in New England region? Tampa was only the southern team and with no teams near by, travel surely took a big toll on them. If you ask me, the league's fate hangs on Ted Leonsis continued support and so far so good it seems https://tedstake.monumentalsportsnetwork.com/2017/12/21/on-why-i-continue-to-have-faith-and-believe-in-the-arena-football-league?platform=hootsuite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdinand Cesarano Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 33 minutes ago, Wizza said: Arizona also had a very unique look for its beloved Rattlers in their heyday, including a very excellent use of copper helmets: That R logo with the snake as the negative space was brilliant. And at one point they used teal and orange as accent colours in a beautiful way, while still keeping copper as the main colour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FightingGoldenDevil Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 The rattlers aren't dead. The IFL is growing steadily and could easily take over the AFL as the indoor football powerhouse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sodboy13 Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 I appreciate the depth of this look at the Storm's unis, but some of your timeline is off, most notably 2003. Those Russell uniforms are from when the league-wide contract with Russell began, in 2007. As for the Rattlers using orange "in a beautiful way," that was merely Russell's half-cooked attempt at copper while making the distinctive sleeve pattern (originally a brilliant play on classic Northwestern striping) into a tacky gradient thing. On 1/25/2013 at 1:53 PM, 'Atom said: For all the bird de lis haters I think the bird de lis isnt supposed to be a pelican and a fleur de lis I think its just a fleur de lis with a pelicans head. Thats what it looks like to me. Also the flair around the tip of the beak is just flair that fleur de lis have sometimes source I am from NOLA. PotD: 10/19/07, 08/25/08, 07/22/10, 08/13/10, 04/15/11, 05/19/11, 01/02/12, and 01/05/12. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wizza Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 31 minutes ago, Sodboy13 said: I appreciate the depth of this look at the Storm's unis, but some of your timeline is off, most notably 2003. Those Russell uniforms are from when the league-wide contract with Russell began, in 2007. As for the Rattlers using orange "in a beautiful way," that was merely Russell's half-cooked attempt at copper while making the distinctive sleeve pattern (originally a brilliant play on classic Northwestern striping) into a tacky gradient thing. yeah, theres the 2003 whites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discrim Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 I'm pretty sure those Charger-style blacks were the mid-90s homes, given one of my earliest memories of Arena ball was the Storm playing against the Drive wearing a white version of said uniform. Sure, everybody remembers the Zubaz unis, but I don't think they were worn for as long as a lot of people think they were. A strong mind gets high off success, a weak mind gets high off bull Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wizza Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 8 hours ago, Discrimihater said: I'm pretty sure those Charger-style blacks were the mid-90s homes, given one of my earliest memories of Arena ball was the Storm playing against the Drive wearing a white version of said uniform. Sure, everybody remembers the Zubaz unis, but I don't think they were worn for as long as a lot of people think they were. You're more than likely right. Info about arena football unis on the web is incredibly iffy and for some teams, uniform pics are either incredibly rare or don't exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Discrim Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 Tell me about it...I occasionally try to look for any evidence of the New York Cityhawks' alternate logo-a hawk, wings spread over NYC, which appeared on their jerseys' shoulders-with no luck. A strong mind gets high off success, a weak mind gets high off bull Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfwabel Posted December 27, 2017 Share Posted December 27, 2017 On 12/23/2017 at 9:33 PM, Discrimihater said: I'm pretty sure those Charger-style blacks were the mid-90s homes, given one of my earliest memories of Arena ball was the Storm playing against the Drive wearing a white version of said uniform. Sure, everybody remembers the Zubaz unis, but I don't think they were worn for as long as a lot of people think they were. Zubaz were essentially gone after the 1992 season. Zubaz were worn once in the 1993 season after halftime against Miami and twice in 1994 against Miami and Milwaukee http://www.galeforcedesign.com/stormshelter/history/tbhist.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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