Patriots Unveil New Uniforms

[The_Admiral]

It's not always so striking, that's the thing. Every now and then some architect is able to get away with plopping a Death Star into London, Paris, or Boston, and even if it's objectively ugly, there's enough money in it and scope to it that you can concede that it demands your attention. But that's not all brutalism. Everyday brutalism is just every library or comp-sci hall at a state university, or suburban office buildings with tenants whose purposes you can't immediately figure out.

[SFGiants58]

Just now, the admiral said:

It's not always so striking, that's the thing. Every now and then some architect is able to get away with plopping a Death Star into London, Paris, or Boston, and even if it's objectively ugly, there's enough money in it and scope to it that you can concede that it demands your attention. But that's not all brutalism. Most of it is just every library or comp-sci hall at a state university.

 

True that!

 

Like, I went to Marquette for my History MA. That campus is a total mix of brutalism and classy brick edifices. 

 

  

 

I'm still mildly disappointed they tore down McCormick Hall. That place was a special kind of ugly.

 

 

I saw renderings in the archives that looked pretty cool. It's a shame it turned out like that.

[The_Admiral]

Costco Marina City

[Ark]

Not all brutalist architecture is done right, but when it is done right it is striking and gives off a different vibe from other architectural styles.

 

Interesting that you mentioned the Death Star, because that honestly could be considered an example of brutalist architecture. And it was designed to be striking and intimidating. 

[Ark]

Sports examples of brutalist architecture at its best:

 

 

 

These buildings stand out. They give off a vibe all their own. 

 

 

[schlim]

So the Pats' redesign has resulted in a discussion of the merits and failings of brutalist architecture, and the delayed Rams uniform unveil has erupted into a heated debate over the feasibility and long term prospects of the Chargers and Bills playing in their respective current cities.

The quarantine works in mysterious ways.

[LordBigMad]

13 hours ago, Sec19Row53 said:

I don't think they were around long enough to be considered iconic in the NFL. In NO ORDER, other than how they popped into my head: Bears, Packers, Colts, Chiefs, Raiders, Giants.
 

 

I think your list has all of the right teams on it. But, I'd also add the following:

 

Cowboys

49ers

Redskins

Steelers

Browns

[oldschoolvikings]

9 hours ago, Ark said:

Not all brutalist architecture is done right, but when it is done right it is striking and gives off a different vibe from other architectural styles.

 

Interesting that you mentioned the Death Star, because that honestly could be considered an example of brutalist architecture. And it was designed to be striking and intimidating. 

 

What would be the conceptual reason behind making a building intimidating?  I mean, you certainly can, but what's the mindset? The Wayne County jail in Detroit is an example, but what's the point?  It's already a friggin' jail, isn't that enough? What's the purpose behind making it also look and feel like a sci-fi concentration camp?

[ramsjetsthunder]

I see the iconic teams as, in no order:

 

Steelers

Colts

Raiders

Cowboys

Giants

Packers

Bears

49ers

 

Teams like the Browns, Redskins, Chiefs, and Rams are right on the brink. 50 years from now, you could argue Patriots, but not yet.

[oldschoolvikings]

The Giants won multiple Superbowls in different uniform designs from different eras. Somehow, that brings down the timelessness of either look, in my mind.   

I'm not sure that makes sense to anyone else, but that's how my brain works. If all the images you saw from their important moments were in the same basic (modified for changes due to materials and such) uniform I'd think of it differently.

[LordBigMad]

14 hours ago, Sec19Row53 said:

I don't think they were around long enough to be considered iconic in the NFL. In NO ORDER, other than how they popped into my head: Bears, Packers, Colts, Chiefs, Raiders, Giants.

 

2 hours ago, GrimlockAutobot said:

 

I think your list has all of the right teams on it. But, I'd also add the following:

 

Cowboys

49ers

Redskins

Steelers

Browns

 

IMHO The following teams *should have* been on the above list but, in the last 20+ years or so, they fubar'ed their own beautiful and iconic brand identities:

 

Eagles

Rams

Seahawks ( I do like Seattle's current set)

Dolphins

Patriots

Broncos

 

[dont care]

I think the last uniform is iconic just because of the success that happened in them. People will think of those 6 championships and instantly picture those uniforms. That’s what I feel makes them iconic.

[SFGiants58]

9 hours ago, Ark said:

Sports examples of brutalist architecture at its best:

 

 

 

These buildings stand out. They give off a vibe all their own. 

 

 

 

Yes, the same vibe I get from this song, written by a man trying to get over his breakup.

 

 

They really do make you feel like your "Down in a Hole," a hole that's a massive white elephant that nearly led teams to move and were just so depressing as stadiums. Like, this is my favorite demolition .gif for a reason:

 

 

So satisfying.

[Sec19Row53]

1 hour ago, GrimlockAutobot said:

 

I think your list has all of the right teams on it. But, I'd also add the following:

 

Cowboys

49ers

Redskins

Steelers

Browns

Which Redskins uniform? Burgundy over gold? Burgundy over white? White over burgundy? White over gold? All white? All burgundy? Throwback to 1994? They have too many combos to call one of them iconic, IMO.

Italic number Steelers takes away from the iconic status, again, in my mind. That strikes me as a significant change (moreso than the logo on the front). 

 

Cowboys - yeah, probably belong on the list, but yuck to the mismatched colors.

[Digby]

Brutalism has its good and its bad applications, like any other type of architecture or era of sports uniform. The projects of Le Corbusier, for example, are visually interesting and striking and not-prison-like at all. Unfortunately he only built one building in the States, but it's across the river from Boston's City Hall, at Harvard.

 

 

I think Boston's current City Hall isn't great but also isn't as bad as people think. The problem is that it's placed on an urban renewal block, surrounded by a truly awful expansive brick plaza, surrounded by other government buildings in a similar style ... it feels like the entire block was a spite fence. That this happened across the street from Haymarket and Quincy Market and other classic Old Boston things was really a bad idea.

 

Boston's Old City Hall was much more attractive and apropos for the city, though it's also very "Philadelphia but worse", as is the case with most of Boston's culture. Last I knew it had been converted to a couple offices and a Ruth's Chris Steak House, which is insulting.

 

[Digby]

56 minutes ago, dont care said:

I think the last uniform is iconic just because of the success that happened in them. People will think of those 6 championships and instantly picture those uniforms. That’s what I feel makes them iconic.

 

I think iconic-ness is a function of both success and time. It's hard to directly compare, right now, because the Patriots are at a disadvantage on that scale being probably the first dynasty purely borne of the 21st century. In the Big Four leagues there's not a contemporary comparison, I don't think -- maybe the NBA can put forward one of the Spurs, Lakers or Warriors, but each of those teams had looks indebted to past teams much more than the relative freshness of the Patriots.

 

It's hard to say for sure if that look has achieved icon status, but we do know that we'll be seeing it an awful lot in the Hall of Fame exhibits. Will people wear Brady throwbacks 12 years from now for fashion reasons? Wouldn't be surprised! 

[WSU151]

10 hours ago, Ark said:

Sports examples of brutalist architecture at its best:

 

 

 

The Kingdome was hideous. The mountains and the water make it look ok. But if you put the Kingdome in Kansas or Oklahoma or something it would be a huge eyesore. 

[LordBigMad]

10 minutes ago, Sec19Row53 said:

Which Redskins uniform? Burgundy over gold? Burgundy over white? White over burgundy? White over gold? All white? All burgundy? Throwback to 1994? They have too many combos to call one of them iconic, IMO.

Italic number Steelers takes away from the iconic status, again, in my mind. That strikes me as a significant change (moreso than the logo on the front). 

 

Cowboys - yeah, probably belong on the list, but yuck to the mismatched colors.

 

 

Re: Redskins and Steelers. Great points on both accounts that I hadn't considered.

 

IMO I think there are indeed too many Redskins variations to pinpoint them as iconic. With the Steelers, the number font may or may not take points away. But, IMO it isn't enough to remove iconic status from them.

[MDGP]

10 minutes ago, Digby said:

I think Boston's current City Hall isn't great but also isn't as bad as people think. The problem is that it's placed on an urban renewal block, surrounded by a truly awful expansive brick plaza, surrounded by other government buildings in a similar style ... it feels like the entire block was a spite fence. That this happened across the street from Haymarket and Quincy Market and other classic Old Boston things was really a bad idea.

 

Honestly, I find the government service center to be worse than City Hall (which I find awful). Most pictures really don't do it justice how ugly the building is since it's kind of hard to see all the awful texturing of the building. The bottom photo is a better representation of what the building looks like.

 

 

That whole area of Boston is interesting because it's a great example of the city's terrible decisions in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as its really great decisions in the 90s and 2000s. Even the Garden, which itself is a concrete nightmare has undergone extensive renovations to look pretty nice and actually like a part of the surrounding city (at least on one side).

 

 

[Digby]

Yeah, that's been a real nice relief. I can't believe the old Garden site was nothing but a parking lot for 20+ years, though I guess no one could really tell until they tore down the elevated Green Line. Too bad they built and renovated all that just in time for it to sit empty for a year.