Colorado Crush ditch silly number font

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

The defending World Champion Colorado Crush of the Arena Football League have made a very nice change to their uniforms. While I generally don't like to see a team change unis right after a championship (ex. Padres after 84 NL championship; Rams after Super Bowl), this one is welcome, because they dumped the silly number font they have had since their inception in 2003 for some nice block digits.

This is similar to the change the New York Dragons made a few seasons ago:

I really dislike most non-standard number fonts. The number font shouldn't be a distraction, and most of these wacky fonts are just that. Examples: Ravens, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Chicago Rush, Arizona Rattlers.

Ultimately, there are only a handful of fonts that are appropriate for any uniform in any sport. The decent-looking exceptions are very rare: Red Sox (a font which the Yankees and Dodgers formerly used, by the way), Cubs, Bears, classic Blue Jays, not many others.

This is why I applauded the Orlando Magic's change -- that old handwriting-style font just did not belong on a uni worn by grown men.

Anyway, I don't know if three examples of this kind of change occurring over a period three years constitutes a trend; but, in my optimistic moments, I like to think so.

[MJWalker45]

They only tossed the numbers on their road jerseys. They still kept the old numbers on their home uni's. Myself I preferred the old style in place of block numbers

[Brian in Boston]

As long as they're legible, I don't mind a unique font. In fact, I prefer them. There's nothing wrong with the standard block font, but a little bit of it goes an awfully long way.

[walkerws]

I totally do not like their new away unifroms because of the numbers! I find them very boring. I like the blue but not the numbers.

[rc49ers]

THEY HAVE HOME AND AWAY WITH THE NEW NUMBER FONT.

[Discrim]

This is why I applauded the Orlando Magic's change -- that old handwriting-style font just did not belong on a uni worn by grown men.

Anyway, I don't know if three examples of this kind of change occurring over a period three years constitutes a trend; but, in my optimistic moments, I like to think so.

hopefully not...

Crush: heh, didn't mind their numbers either way.

Dragons: I hate the team itself anyway, but their original numbers looked ridiculous! their 0's were so thin they looked like 1's (I remember ex-Sabercat Steve Papin's brief stint with em, when he wore #0)

Magic: basically I hate the bland rags they wear now (I have the same gripe with the Columbus Crew and Phoenix Coyotes)...pure rec league junk. IMO, the Magic had it good before: the Bulls or Knicks would look silly in Orlando's old star-studded unis. Slap NEW YORK or BULLS on the Magic's current rags, change the colors to the respective teams' shades, and you'd never know Orlando even wore it. Hell, I don't have to imagine with the Crew: love the team, hate the current rags. You can look around the world and 50 other teams will be wearing the same template.

[WSU151]

I really dislike most non-standard number fonts. The number font shouldn't be a distraction, and most of these wacky fonts are just that. Examples: Ravens, Diamondbacks, Blue Jays, Chicago Rush, Arizona Rattlers.

Ultimately, there are only a handful of fonts that are appropriate for any uniform in any sport. The decent-looking exceptions are very rare: Red Sox (a font which the Yankees and Dodgers formerly used, by the way), Cubs, Bears, classic Blue Jays, not many others.

This is why I applauded the Orlando Magic's change -- that old handwriting-style font just did not belong on a uni worn by grown men.

Anyway, I don't know if three examples of this kind of change occurring over a period three years constitutes a trend; but, in my optimistic moments, I like to think so.

I don't have a problem with the Rush, Rattlers, or old Magic fonts. The Rush has one of the better number fonts in all of sports, and the Rattlers font is not that unique - it's just italicized and shadowed. As for the Magic font, I echo Discrim's comment :

Magic: basically I hate the bland rags they wear now (I have the same gripe with the Columbus Crew and Phoenix Coyotes)...pure rec league junk.

If a team can pull off a unique font, more power to them. I'd much rather see team inspired fonts than block blandness, but only if teams do it right.

[Sodboy13]

Personally, I think a switch from a specialized font can often smack of cheapness and downgrade a team's on-field identity. There was nothing wrong with the Crush's number font. Likewise, the Rush's font looks great, and, uh, you do realize the Rattlers just have an italicized and drop-shadowed block font, right. The one I really miss in the AFL is the Predators' slashed numbers. Those looked great and fit the team's identity perfectly. In fact, they're about the only team I can think of who could make head-to-toe black work for them (as "Back In Black" would blare through the O-rena during the team's opening drive.) When they scrapped that for white block numbers and a Bronco-knockoff template, they adopted a high school look in an instant.

Now, I will give you that the Dragons' number font was borderline illegible. But I would have preferred a tweaking of it to a trashing. Also, does anyone remember that in their 2nd season, the Dragons had 2 sets of black jerseys? One was their current set, and one featured red-black-yellow numbering done in the Colorado Avalanche font, with no sleeve logos, I believe.

Of course, what I really miss about the Dragons' old threads are those red pants. They look silly now in all-black crowned with a flaming red helmet.

[slapshot]

So, you'd rather every team look like clones of each other? If every team wore the same font, with slightly different colors and stripes, wouldn't that be boring? Wouldn't you rather a team's identity be more consistent through the uniforms, logos ans wordmarks?

I echo Brian in Boston's comment?as long as the numbers are legible, there's nothing wrong with straying from the predictable standard varsity block font. But by your reasoning, you would say that the Houston Texans' numbers are distracting. What about the Philadelphia 76ers? The New England Patriots?

I somewhat agree with you regarding nameplate fonts, since those are smaller and not as easy to read from a distance. Those should probably be limited to a standard font, or at least one that's not filled with thinner strokes and serifs.

[sp0rtsguy13]

This is why I applauded the Orlando Magic's change -- that old handwriting-style font just did not belong on a uni worn by grown men.

Anyway, I don't know if three examples of this kind of change occurring over a period three years constitutes a trend; but, in my optimistic moments, I like to think so. [/quote

Dragons: I hate the team itself anyway, but their original numbers looked ridiculous! their 0's were so thin they looked like 1's (I remember ex-Sabercat Steve Papin's brief stint with em, when he wore #0)

Why do you hate the team itself?

As for the number fonts, really liked the Crush's old font, but dont mind the new one. The Dragon's old one wasnt that great, but now it looks kinda boring.

[Discrim]

Dragons: I hate the team itself anyway, but their original numbers looked ridiculous!  their 0's were so thin they looked like 1's (I remember ex-Sabercat Steve Papin's brief stint with em, when he wore #0)

Why do you hate the team itself?

I loved what they used to be, simply put. the move still saddens me when I think about it.

*sheds tears*

[FiddySicks]

Dragons: I hate the team itself anyway, but their original numbers looked ridiculous!  their 0's were so thin they looked like 1's (I remember ex-Sabercat Steve Papin's brief stint with em, when he wore #0)

Why do you hate the team itself?

I loved what they used to be, simply put. the move still saddens me when I think about it.

*sheds tears*

Hah. Thats funny. I was just sayin the same thing to DirtyCurty the other day. Stupid Dragons. LONG LIVE THE BARNSTORMERS!!!!

[djqman69]

I hate those new away uniforms. I cannot believe they would ditch the uni's that they won the Arena Bowl in in favor of generic, boring, and just generaly ugly uniforms. The new uni's are also nearly identical to the Tampa Bay Storm's away uniforms.

If Nike wants to change uni's, they need to change Orlando's to an old-school uni or Utah's to somehting that doesn't involve a white jersey with silver pants.

Or they could bring back these pants for the Dragons:

Ohterwise, Nike needs to leave the AFL team's looks alone.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

Discrimihater: I loved what they [the Dragons] used to be, simply put. the move still saddens me when I think about it.

First of all, as a big Arena Football Fan, I must say that I am sorry over the loss of the Iowa Barnstormers.

The Barnstormers loom large in Dragons history. The franchise's entire history is recognized by the Dragons (the AFL teams are very good about that; ex: TB recognizes Pitt history), and the team even still has Kurt Warner on its roster (on the "exempt" list). This strong connection is evidenced by the fact that, when Mike Horacek joined the Dragons last year, he was described as "returning" to the franchise.

It is the Aaron Garcia story that makes this Barnstormer history a part of the Dragons' story that is impossible to ignore -- the fact that Garcia was acquired by the Barnstormers to lead the team after Warner left for the NFL, and has been there ever since.

WSU151: ...the Rattlers font is not that unique - it's just italicized and shadowed

Sodboy13: ...you do realize the Rattlers just have an italicized and drop-shadowed block font, right.

OK, that is true; good point. Still, to me this goes to show just how distracting a few little effects like that can be. The drop shadow by itself is very off-putting to me -- it just feels blurry and non-crisp. I have seen exactly one good use of the drop-shadow: the Lakers. (And they don't even use it anymore!)

Sodboy13: Also, does anyone remember that in their 2nd season, the Dragons had 2 sets of black jerseys? One was their current set, and one featured red-black-yellow numbering done in the Colorado Avalanche font, with no sleeve logos, I believe.

Yes, but it was the third season, 2003. The story was, I believe, that their unis had been stolen, so they had these other ones printed up on short notice.

Discrimihater: I remember ex-Sabercat Steve Papin's brief stint with em, when he wore #0

Just an aside about Papin (not a uni comment): it was surprising how quickly he lost his form. He went from dominant player to out of the league in only about 2 years.

Sodboy13: Of course, what I really miss about the Dragons' old threads are those red pants. They look silly now in all-black crowned with a flaming red helmet.

I agree about the red pants -- but I wouldn't put them with a black jersey. I'd put the red pants with a white jersey, and have white-over-red as the other combination. Red should be the primary color, and black just for accents.

jpslapshot22:So, you'd rather every team look like clones of each other? If every team wore the same font, with slightly different colors and stripes, wouldn't that be boring? Wouldn't you rather a team's identity be more consistent through the uniforms, logos ans wordmarks?

Well, I didn't say that every team should wear the exact same font. I don't like that about the Premiership, for example. I said there are a handful of standard fonts that are appropriate and attractive on a uni.

And, even within this limited set of fonts that I have dubbed "appropriate and attractive", I am not saying that every single team ought to use one of them -- but I don't want to see every team in a number font that mimics its wordmark, either. I just think the standard block fonts should predominate and set the aesthetic tone, while the occasional example of a specialized font (done well) throws in a little spice.

The ideal scenario: most teams wear one of the standard fonts; the few teams that wear specialized fonts use attractive ones, like the Phillies (now or in the 70s) or the Padre numbers used through 1984.

jpslapshot22: But by your reasoning, you would say that the Houston Texans' numbers are distracting. What about the Philadelphia 76ers? The New England Patriots?

The Texans' numbers are OK -- I don't find them distracting at all (since they are not that far off from a standard block font). But, yes, I do find the Patriots' numbers to be rather silly; and I think the Sixers' numbers are very bad.