Something I noticed in Canton

[Gothamite]

I was at the Hall of Fame in Canton yesterday, and they had two Browns jerseys from last year on display. I noticed something that only a regular denizen of these boards would catch.

The two jerseys in question belonged to Jeff Garcia and Andre Davis, commemorating a 99-yard pass in an October 2004 game - the longest play from scrimmage in Browns' history and something like the 10th 99-yard play in NFL history.

I noticed that Garcia's jersey had the old, slim "BROWNS" wordmark at the throat and Davis's jersey had the new block wordmark. It would seem to indicate to me that Garcia was wearing the previous year's jersey.

I'm pretty sure we might have talked about this at the time, but thought it interesting enough to bring up again.

I know that Brett Favre continued to wear his old Nike cold-weather jersey (with the built-in pockets in front) for years after Reebok got the contract, because Reebok didn't supply him with one. Eventually, somebody noticed that Brett had more stripes on his sleeves than the rest of the team, and Reebok started making them.

What other examples do we have of athletes "re-using" jerseys?

[boardname]

If true, that's even odder, because Garcia only played on the Browns for one year. He should never have had an 'old' jersey.

[Gothamite]

Hadn't thought of that. Good point.

So why did the Browns issue ol' Jeff an old-style jersey?

[Saintsfan]

I wonder who actuially does the name and number work on a jersey. Is it5 the manufacturer or do the clubs do it? As for the wordmark, I dunno buut maybe they just got an old style jersey by mistake?

[Sec19Row53]

Hadn't thought of that. Good point.

So why did the Browns issue ol' Jeff an old-style jersey?

In all seriousness, did they make his jersey for the dog-and-pony show when they signed him, then never updated it to the new style? I don't know if those times are even right, but it's a thought.

[Discrim]

I know that Brett Favre continued to wear his old Nike cold-weather jersey (with the built-in pockets in front) for years after Reebok got the contract, because Reebok didn't supply him with one. Eventually, somebody noticed that Brett had more stripes on his sleeves than the rest of the team, and Reebok started making them.

I knew I wasn't hallucinating-I'd noticed favre wearing the old style jersey for a game against the Vikes a couple years ago (we don't get em in a frozen Lambeau often and I know what I saw)

[DiLo756]

Hello- I have been reading these boards for some time, but never got around to posting anything

The Garcia jersey in question is interesting because I don't believe the Browns ever had the old "slim" font on the collar. If you look at any picture of Tim Couch, there is nothing there. So, this "old" style jersey never really existed outside of this one instance. I wonder how it slipped by.

[Discrim]

must have been hit or miss this year-last time we talked about this, we pretty much came to the conclusion that most of the Browns jerseys had the newer block wordmark while others had the older style wordmark on there, probably guessing the general public wouldn't really know the difference

[LEWJ]

The Bengals helmets.

Since this is the first year with the new wordmark, the players that have been playing for a while w/ the Bengals still have last years wordmark on the front and/or back of their helmet, then the players that started playing with the Bengals this year have the new wordmark on the helmets.

[MJWalker45]

Garcia is actually wearing a newer jersey. The team went back to the origional Browns mark this year. I remember someone pointing that out on an earlier thread some time ago.

[jws008]

I know some sketchy details on this, but in either his third or fourth Super Bowl appearance with the San Francisco 49ers, Joe Montana wore his uniform from Super Bowl XIX (versus Miami). The reason behind this was that it was the uniform that his wife had packed for him along with a picture of his kids to keep in his locker. At literally the last minute, Joe decided to wear the old jersey instead of his current one.

I'd have to see the highlights again, but Joe's jersey featured 1) different sleeve stripes, 2) a different font for his last name on the back, and 3) different materials (i.e.: his number was duller than the rest of the players).

I'm just not sure if it was in Super Bowl XXIII versus the Bengals or Super Bowl XXIV versus the Broncos.

[robbman21]

Would've had to have been in XXXIII VS the Bengals in Miami.The 49ers wore their white VS the Broncos in New Orleans.

[Carter23]

not too relevant to what we're talking about, but garcia got cut today

[Discrim]

The Bengals helmets.

Since this is the first year with the new wordmark, the players that have been playing for a while w/ the Bengals still have last years wordmark on the front and/or back of their helmet, then the players that started playing with the Bengals this year have the new wordmark on the helmets.

on a similar note, the Rams. I recall Marshall Faulk's helmet had the REALLY old Rams wordmark (the sorta rounded block one) on the front of his helmet, and I figure many other Rams did too. I also recall when they switched to the current stuff, many of em still had the original StL Rams wordmark (that real pointy one) on the back of the helmet.

[OnWis97]

When I was at the University of Wisconsin in the mid-1990s, I went to a game where we played one of the UNC schools in Hoops (Wilmington perhaps?) Most of the players had jerseys that said "UNCW", but two of them had jerseys that said "North Carolina" above the number and "Wilmington" below the number.

(I am not sure it was Wilmington, but I think it started with "W")

[jws008]

The UNC-Wilmington thing does not surprise me in the least.

When I was in college (1989-1993), it was the era of the rise of women's basketball. About half of the women's basketball teams in the Division II league my school was a member of dumped the "Lady" designation from their team's nicknames [i.e.: at my school the women's teams in all sports went from being the "Lady Flyers" to the "Flyers"].

While almost all the hoops teams in the league got at least one new set of uniforms per academic year (replacing/updating the home whites or dark road jerseys), most schools rarely got both in the same year.

At my school (Mercy College in NY BTW), they saved money by often merely getting new uniform tops (and recycling the old shorts). In other words, the uniforms tops might last two seasons, the shorts may make it four.

All of this is a long way of explaining that for most of my time in college, our women's hoop team looked like it had a huge identity crisis. In a given home game, all of their tops might match, but the shorts on some players might read "Flyers" on the side panel, while other players had "Lady Flyers" on the side panel of their shorts.

It was not as awful looking as it sounds since otherwise the uniform patterns were a spot-on match.

Lastly, I know for a fact that our teams were not the only squads in the league that went to a game dressed in somewhat different uniforms despite being members of the same team. Heck, I remember one season where Concordia College did not get their new uniforms delivered on-time and had to play their conference opener against us wearing their reversible practice jerseys.

Call all of it a consequence of our athletic departments (and schools themselves) being a little frugal with the budget.

[bigcoyotes]

In 2002 agianst the broncos jerry rice wore a reebok jersey without the NFL equitment patch while the rest of the Raiders had the NFL equitment patch.

[LEWJ]

really

[gbasalmon]

The UNC-Wilmington thing does not surprise me in the least.

When I was in college (1989-1993), it was the era of the rise of women's basketball. About half of the women's basketball teams in the Division II league my school was a member of dumped the "Lady" designation from their team's nicknames [i.e.: at my school the women's teams in all sports went from being the "Lady Flyers" to the "Flyers"].

While almost all the hoops teams in the league got at least one new set of uniforms per academic year (replacing/updating the home whites or dark road jerseys), most schools rarely got both in the same year.

At my school (Mercy College in NY BTW), they saved money by often merely getting new uniform tops (and recycling the old shorts). In other words, the uniforms tops might last two seasons, the shorts may make it four.

All of this is a long way of explaining that for most of my time in college, our women's hoop team looked like it had a huge identity crisis. In a given home game, all of their tops might match, but the shorts on some players might read "Flyers" on the side panel, while other players had "Lady Flyers" on the side panel of their shorts.

It was not as awful looking as it sounds since otherwise the uniform patterns were a spot-on match.

Lastly, I know for a fact that our teams were not the only squads in the league that went to a game dressed in somewhat different uniforms despite being members of the same team. Heck, I remember one season where Concordia College did not get their new uniforms delivered on-time and had to play their conference opener against us wearing their reversible practice jerseys.

Call all of it a consequence of our athletic departments (and schools themselves) being a little frugal with the budget.

Concordia College wearing mismatched uniforms? Doesn't surprise me in the least - stupid alma mater...

[rmackman]

As far as the one question as to who does the teams jerseys...usually the equipment manager takes care of it. However, I know down here in South Florida the Miami Dolphins actually have a tailor that they like to go to. They did an article about it in the newspaper. The guys bring in their uniforms because some like their sleeves lengthened, shortened, etc. Dan Marino used to like to have most of his sleeve cut off. You'll notice back then the Dolphins had an aqua, orange, aqua patterend stripes on the sleeves, but 'ol Danny Boy just had one aqua stripe. It's because they cut that off for him. The tailor did all sorts of funky stuff to these guys jerseys and pants.

I actually bought a game-used jersey from the Dolphins when they had this pre-season garage sale. They wanted to get rid of all of the Nike and Starter jerseys they had since the NFL switched to Reebok that year. The jersey I got fit me for the most part but was too long, but because I'm small it probably belonged to a WR or K who didn't make the team. The numbers were stripped off. Here's the weird thing. The sleeves were slightly shortened and the Nike logo was patched on. I looked inside and it was patched over a Starter logo. So apparently they just cut off the Nike and sewed it over the Starter b/c that player liked the Starter style better. Even weirder, there was velcro on the bottom of the jersey. I asked the equipment manager what that was for and he said some guys like the velcro so their jerseys dont get pulled out or untucked. I guess thats one way to keep your shirt in your pants. Anyways, the guy took the velcro off for me, re-tailored the length to fit me better, and then put my name and #27 on it for $90.

Now before this gets too long, I'll also say there was a point when the Dolphins had switched from their '72 logo with the Dolphin half in the sun, to the Dolphin covering the sun. They granfathered that logo in. If you look, you can find pictures of the team in the early 80's with some of the guys having the '72 logo on their helmets, and others with the newer logo on the field at the same time. Anyways, that's Ryan's useless facts of the day. Hope it was informative.