Washington Commanders to debut new NFL identity

[oldschoolvikings]

55 minutes ago, Cujo said:

 

But it isn't.

 

 

 

 

But it is.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(I just wanted to play, too.)

[IceCap]

Bring back the Oilers.

But in Tennessee.

 

Tennessee Oilers > whatever the Titans' brand has become.

[SFGiants58]

26 minutes ago, IceCap said:

Bring back the Oilers.

But in Tennessee.

 

Tennessee Oilers > whatever the Titans' brand has become.

If Houston can’t have the Oilers, nobody (except Edmonton) can have them.

[DCarp1231]

 

[jgiff17]

What’s the reasoning for the weird W and the shadow? 

[tBBP]

11 hours ago, IceCap said:

Bring back the Oilers.

But in Tennessee.

 

Tennessee Oilers > whatever the Titans' brand has become.

 

The Oilers brand, yes. The Tennessee Oilers brand, though? I don't know about that one--but since we ain't got nothing better to do right now than prolong the Clevejacking already in progress, let's look at this.

 

 

What we see here is the shoehorning of the Tennessee state flag turned 45-ish° with the navy blue fly extended around the bottom to house the rest of the team name ( but curiously without the white line separating the red from the blue as on the fly, for some reason) to the circle of stars of the three Grand Divisions isolated and elevated to further emphasize that these are now the Tennessee Oilers. I suppose from a brand strategy standpoint, all that made sense--but they could have gone without sticking the 98 in there. Of course, the '97 version had even more letters crammed into it....

 

 

It's almost as if they knew these would be temporary stopgaps prior to releasing a new identity.  (And I remind that we very nearly had the Tennessee Pioneers rather than the Titans we actually got.)

 

And while we're reminiscing on that three-year dead period in their history--the lame-duck year of '96 followed by their teo nomad seasons split between Memphis and Vanderbilt's campus, here's this...

 

 

 

 

And what ultimately became in '99...

 

 

 

(All this said, I will say that the '99 Tennessee Titans > whatever their current brand has become.)

[ManillaToad]

27 minutes ago, tBBP said:

 

The Oilers brand, yes. The Tennessee Oilers brand, though? I don't know about that one--but since we ain't got nothing better to do right now than prolong the Clevejacking already in progress, let's look at this.

 

 

What we see here is the shoehorning of the Tennessee state flag turned 45-ish° with the navy blue fly extended around the bottom to house the rest of the team name ( but curiously without the white line separating the red from the blue as on the fly, for some reason) to the circle of stars of the three Grand Divisions isolated and elevated to further emphasize that these are now the Tennessee Oilers. I suppose from a brand strategy standpoint, all that made sense--but they could have gone without sticking the 98 in there. Of course, the '97 version had even more letters crammed into it....

 

 

It's almost as if they knew these would be temporary stopgaps prior to releasing a new identity.  (And I remind that we very nearly had the Tennessee Pioneers rather than the Titans we actually got.)

 

And while we're reminiscing on that three-year dead period in their history--the lame-duck year of '96 followed by their teo nomad seasons split between Memphis and Vanderbilt's campus, here's this...

 

 

 

 

And what ultimately became in '99...

 

 

 

(All this said, I will say that the '99 Tennessee Titans > whatever their current brand has become.)

 

I forgot 1999 was their first year as the Titans. Imagine this in the Super Bowl...

 

[MJWalker45]

33 minutes ago, tBBP said:

 

 

 

 

 

 

(All this said, I will say that the '99 Tennessee Titans > whatever their current brand has become.)

Part of the decline in the original Titans look was moving to one template for all NFL teams when Reebok took over. 

It got even worse with Nike because that yoke/sleeve stripe went from one standard width that came to a point on the sleeves to a thinner straight  line as the sleeves kept getting smaller. Even the swords shrank to make up the difference.  The colors changed over time as well, even before the current designs. 

It's also strange that for as little red that this team has on it's uniforms, players use a lot of it for gloves, sleeves and shoes. 

 

[Carolingian Steamroller]

Somebody is going to write a really interesting book about this Washington rebrand in about 10-20 years once there's some distance.

[guest23]

I have to disagree about your statement regarding the reebok era as reebok's manufacturer, ripon produced a wide swath of templates/cuts that often looked very non-uniform within the same team. As a matter of fact the titans (and bengals) were one of the most egregious offenders of wide ranging variations of jerseys on field. Nike came in and really streamlined things to achieve a more consistent on field aesthetic.

[B-Rich]

48 minutes ago, tBBP said:

It's almost as if they knew these would be temporary stopgaps prior to releasing a new identity.  (And I remind that we very nearly had the Tennessee Pioneers rather than the Titans we actually got.)

From what  I remember,  it WAS a given and they DID know. 

 

The new stadium in Nashville was not to be complete until 1999, and there was an announcement from the organization that they would NOT change their identity until they moved into the new STADIUM.    Which is why they were still the Tennessee Oilers in Nashville at Vanderbilt, after the Memphis/Liberty Bowl turned out to be such a mistake (remember, they were SUPPOSED to play there both 1997 and 1998).

 

48 minutes ago, tBBP said:

(All this said, I will say that the '99 Tennessee Titans > whatever their current brand has become.)

I absolutely, wholeheartedly agree. 

[SFGiants58]

As a guy who went to two schools with the “Pioneers” name, the Titans would be dealing with controversy right now (since “Pioneers” = “Colonizers” for many). “Titans” is much less of potential problem.

[Telemundo219]

15 minutes ago, SFGiants58 said:

As a guy who went to two schools with the “Pioneers” name, the Titans would be dealing with controversy right now (since “Pioneers” = “Colonizers” for many). “Titans” is much less of potential problem.

 

They still could have issues even with the name Titans as it can be seen as offensive to people who are "vertically challenged" (I'm lookibg at you too New York Giants) or can be triggering for survivors of the Titan....ic.

 

I'll see myself out now 

[IceCap]

1 hour ago, tBBP said:

 

The Oilers brand, yes. The Tennessee Oilers brand, though? I don't know about that one--but since we ain't got nothing better to do right now than prolong the Clevejacking already in progress, let's look at this.

 

 

See, I like this logo. Just take the "98" off of it and I think you have a pretty nice alternate "Tennessee Oilers" mark. 

 

Quote

(All this said, I will say that the '99 Tennessee Titans > whatever their current brand has become.)

The Titans' brand was very invigorating in 1999. It captured the mood perfectly. It's very "of the Millennium." 

That was also its downfall though. It was looking very stale by the time they changed. The idea to change was appropriate but it was the direction they went with that sucked. 

 

I think the Oilers' brand was akin to the Blue Jays' WS look and the Astros' classic look. They were looking tired and old in the late 90s, but as we've gotten distance it's clear those looks had/have more staying power than the trendy designs that replaced them. Both the Jays and Astros are back in versions of their classic identities. 

 

The Oilers' look is very simple, in a good way. It's a no-nonsense football look that stands out with a unique colour scheme. And the oil derrick is rightfully iconic. One of those perfect NFL logos. 

 

I'd hate to see the brand/record nightmare that would be pretending the Texans were really the Oilers all along (after the Titans spent some years as the Oilers in Tennessee and wore Oilers throwbacks), but I'd love to see the Titans revert to being the Tennessee Oilers. If we can have the Jazz in Utah and the Lakers in Los Angeles why not? 

 

[SFGiants58]

They way Houston lost the Oilers makes the Tennessee Oilers a non-starter. I’d rather have the Texans taking the Oilers’ old identity save for the name. Let Tennessee wear the ‘99 modern classics.

 

If Houston can’t have it, no other NFL market can have it.

[DCarp1231]

Tennessee had all the opportunity in the world to just change the number font and helmet stripe on the pre-2018 set.

 

I can live peacefully with the new set, but only if the rid themselves of the armpit stains

[MJD7]

Going back to the Oilers would be such an upgrade for Houston over their mostly bland and uninspired “Texans” identity.

 

Then again, anything would be an upgrade over the Titans’ current uniforms. 
 

I don’t really care who has the name, I just want a team to embrace light blue & red as a full-time color scheme & to use those classic Oilers stripes. 

[IceCap]

28 minutes ago, SFGiants58 said:

They way Houston lost the Oilers makes the Tennessee Oilers a non-starter.

Except they already did it. There's precedent. 

[SFGiants58]

1 minute ago, IceCap said:

Except they already did it. There's precedent. 

 

...as a temporary identity that just served to remind people how Bud Adams screwed Houston. Starting over identity-wise was the right call, a call that should've been followed with letting the Houston expansion team be the Oilers.

[damnyoutuesday]

2 hours ago, tBBP said:

 

 

 

 

I don't get the love for these uniforms. They look like bad CFL uniforms