Detroit Lions

[LimeGuy]

I still do not understand what is wrong with the Detroit Lions uniforms. All they did was add a black border here and there and there are some on this board that act like they did a complete overhaul.

What is the issue?

Barry Sanders in the uniform before the "drastic change". Oooooo.

The new uniforms. Whoa, black outlines! Blasphemous! (Said sarcastically, of course).

Where are the traditionalists? This uniform still looks traditional. It isn't a busy design, it makes it look "cleaner" and sharp.

I live with a Lions fan and he absolutey LOVES the new design. He was actually excited to see the change (after some initial reistance, but that was before the change was shown).

The uniform looks almost identical to the one before it. It looks a little more modern without getting too "busy". It looks like it came from the "way back" machine, but still pulls of a modern twist.

Someone tell me, what is the issue?

-- On a side note, I located an interesting picture while I was researching this:

Blue pants?!

[Gary]

a lot of people claim it's the way they put the black bordering on the jersey's and what a bad job they did. I like the way they did it personally, but I guess everyone wants to have the throwbacks as the new Uni's.

[Gothamite]

I know a lot of Detroit fans who would have been happy with the throwback.

I don't have a problem with adding black, but they way they did it bothers me. Look at the 49ers - that's a perfect example of a great update. The Lions just added black stripes all over the place, making the design much busier.

It isn't a busy design, it makes it look "cleaner" and sharp.

Here's where I disagree. Adding stripes to the sleeve, adding a new set of stripes to the collar and adding another outline to the numbers almost necessarily makes a design busier. I especially think they blew it on the helmet - I don't like the double outline on the Lion.

I'm not saying that you can't touch the uniforms. I'm saying if you want to integrate black, you don't just add black outlines to everything you already have on the uniform.

And please don't mention the blue pants again. I had almost managed to forget them.

[-kj]

I actually really like the double outline on the lion, and I think the numbers look decent. But the sleeves and collars were very poorly done--just putting a thick black stripe around the striping pattern was unimaginitive and looks bad.

[JQK]

The black was added hap-hazardly. It looks sloppy, like they didn't care what it looked like, so long as black was part of it.

It stinks, and i don't like it.

[tmorss9]

As I said a long time ago, it looks like they just took a roll of black electrical tape and stuck it on a few spots. The helmet looks ok, IMO, but I dont care for the jerseys. Truthfully, the sideline and fan gear looks freat in black, but the uniforms look like they could have taken a little more time and care in designing.

That said, when they breakout the Thanksgiving uniforms, it always starts the topic on talk shows and all the water coolers around here that they should use those as the permanent uniforms. I have to agree with that, those are just about perfect for the Lions.

[PhilaLogos]

i like the black, makes it look modern and sharp

[OnWis97]

It took me at least a year, but I now like it. I am generally not a fan of "just add black" but I like the way it is used.

[Sterling84]

It's one of the worst, for the sake of nothing, additions of black in sports history....(there are a few in baseball ...Mets, Royals) that rival it, but it stands virtually alone in football.

Cleaner? If you put MORE junk on the floor of your room does that make it cleaner? Penn State is clean. This, made no attempt to rethink or reconfig their unis with black......its as though they literally didn't even order new equipment...just (like someone said) added electrical tape. In fact, by not delving within any existing stripes, only flanking them with black, they seem to be embarrassed or skirting the whole issue.

Its not a matter of does black, blue and silver look good. Yes, those colors together look pretty good. But this was a complete travishamockery of an update. Y-UCK.

So I hope that answers your question. Its the manner in which they went about it that gets people riled up.

[BBTV]

Numbers - Look Good.

Sleeves - No new uniform should have sleeve stripes, as they can't even go all the way around any more. No sleeves = no sleeve stripes!

Collar - The collar on the blue jersey looks bad with just blue outlined with black. Maybe silver outlined in black? The black looks very very forced.

[Joshawaggie]

I dont mind the white jersys anymore, but the blue ones.. the black just sticksout likea sore thumb, i looks out of place... I'm talking the sleeves and collar.

[chapi]

the jersey are ok but black undershirts with long sleves look terrible....

[rtrich11]

To me, the black facemask is the worst part. It should still be blue. I am just glad they didn't add as much black as say, the Eagles, or Duke's football unis. Regardless, they kept things simpler.

I'd love to see a redesign of the whole thing, including a logo. I've done some stuff on my own and in just playing with the black, blue, and silver, saw lots of possiblilities. I've seen so many others that looked great here, too. Do the Lions ever plan to completely overhaul?

I agree with the guy who said the 49ers got it right. The Lions can keep the black, just fix it.

[Bob5150]

I think that the black shoes don't help either. I am not necesserily a fan of black shoes in general, but I do think it looks good on some teams- the Bears and Seahawks come to mind, for me anyway. I think it makes the Lions uniforms look worse than the white shoes would, for some reason.

[LimeGuy]

We need to define "busy".

Why? Because my next two examples are being called "busy":

Now, to address the rest:

I can give you credit for the collar. It doesn't look great. I agree with that.

However, the outline around the numbers keeps the colors from "bleeding". It defines the number and gives it an easy to see edge.

I can also agree with the shoulder stripes... about not having them if they don't go all the way around. The black around the silver doesn't make a whole lot of sense and it does look good, but it does seem like they just did it to do it.

Finally, the logo. Double outline? I don't consider the white an outline. Lots of NFL logos have a "double outline". My Falcons, the 49ers, the Bears, the Eagles, the Cowboys, the Chargers... and, yes, I know some of you will bring out the "how can you compare classic logos to blah, blah, blah"... The Lions logo is a classic logo and it looks good with a black border.

And, being a Falcons fan, let me spread into that area:

I absolutely LOVE the new logo. It is sleek, it is sexy and it makes the team look like they actually want to accomplish something excellent.

The uniform sleeves are unique in their design (no one else I've seen is using them) and displays all their colors at all times (ok, silver isn't on the sleeve). The return to red is an excellent decision as the use of black is getting a bit overdone (I reference a thread talking about that already).

Everyone complains about the pants, though. Is it the stripe? Is the the color of the stripe? I don't see a problem with it.

The one thing I hope never happens (nor do I think it ever will) would be the league returning to "throwbacks" as the norm. Most of them are ugly, boring or just plain bad. (Most of them were just a color with white numbers).

[Sterling84]

We need to define "busy".

Why? Because my next two examples are being called "busy":

Now this pertains ONLY to this thread of course, but so far nobody else has so much as typed the word 'busy' except you Limeguy.

I don't think they are busy......but they haven't added anything of substance. The shift was, as theVet said, 'forced'.

RE: Falcons...I like their new logo well enough. Pretty cool. Something about his foot bugs me, but it's solid. Their unis, with the red n everything....very nice.

Not wild about the sleeves, but all in all I think they look very sharp.

I also happen to like the new Bengals though so.....

If you want a singular definition of why the Lions changes suck........they added the nameplate thing under the collar. Ugh....

[pcgd]

don't know how many of you guys saw me suggest that they should have tried navy instead. Well, rmered made a concept out of it and I think it looked 100 times better than the current black and blue look. Even though it wasn't in the current look, it still looked very sharp.

The Lions adding black goes along with the Royals, Mets, Reds, etc adding black for no good reason except to be "cool." My HS did the same thing with black, but we were maroon and white. So it was even worse. Dark Maroon and black have no business being on the same body at the same time.

[Gothamite]

Just as an addendum, the white is indeed an outline, to separate the blue lion from the silver background.

They added the white outline in 1970. Until then, it was a simple blue lion on a silver helmet.

[Survival79]

The black was added hap-hazardly. It looks sloppy, like they didn't care what it looked like, so long as black was part of it.

That's about right.

[IceCap]

example of how to intergrate black into a uniform properally:

san francisco 49ers

to

notice how the black is used sparcly, mainly as shadow for the excisting asspects of the uni.

example of how NOT to intergrate black into a uniform properally:

detroit lions

to

all they did was add a black outline to everything. they didnt even incorperate black into the unis, they forced it.