New Browns Uniforms

[ShaftDu]

who cares about the AL, I still want to see those brown pants. OH MY, can we have a mono set please please, I want to see the uproar on that one.

[BJ Sands]

who cares about the AL, I still want to see those brown pants. OH MY, can we have a mono set please please, I want to see the uproar on that one.

No offense, but that would look like s--t. Literally and figuratively.

[gueman]

Speaking as a Ravens fan, I've always heard the story that Lerner was one of the guys most instrumental in bringing Modell to Baltimore.  I know for a fact that he was on the plane the day the papers were signed. 

So if that's true, even if he did help bring an expansion franchise back, how does that earn Lerner a permanent uniform tribute????

Some Brown fan...please explain.

IIRC, Lerner wasn't just on the plane, it was actually his plane.

True enough.

He was more instrumental in moving the Browns to Baltimore than he was bringing a new expansion franchise to Cleveland. If anything, the Ravens should have a sleeve patch tribute to him.

The really incestuous thing was that Al Lerner was brought in at the last minute to be the potential owner of the Baltimore expansion team. He new the deal better than anyone. I will go to my grave believing that the Rams and Browns moves to St. Louis and Baltimore respectively were put in motion during the second expansion vote.

[Blue Falcon]

who cares about the AL,  I still want to see those brown pants.  OH MY, can we have a mono set please please,  I want to see the uproar on that one.

No offense, but that would look like s--t. Literally and figuratively.

That would make perfect sense, since the color would then match the playing ability of the Browns themselves.

[HatCityEnforcer]

who cares about the AL, I still want to see those brown pants. OH MY, can we have a mono set please please, I want to see the uproar on that one.

Dear lord, I hope not...

Can we say "turds on parade"?

[tBBP]

who cares about the AL, I still want to see those brown pants. OH MY, can we have a mono set please please, I want to see the uproar on that one. 

Dear lord, I hope not...

Can we say "turds on parade"?

As much as I like new looks...

H...E...TRIPLE L NAW!!!

I really don't think anyone on Cleveland wants to line up looking like a giant orange-capped turd. Thatd be the ultimate, um, "capper" (pun VERY MUCH intended). Team that's been playing like, um, $#*!, dresses up like, um, $#*!.

That'd be an AWESOME Halloween guise, though, wouldn't it, a la the Cincinnati Pumpkins of Halloween '05 vs. the Packers?

The Cleveland Turds. um...

Wow.

[CBOhioU]

CleveandBrowns.com has an article about the changes to the uniform today:

ClevelandBrowns.com

Back in black...and gray

July 21, 2006

To help celebrate of the 60 years of memories and moments that the Browns and the city of Cleveland have shared since the franchise was born in 1946, the team has adopted several vintage uniform characteristics from years gone by for the 2006 season.

Browns fans will get their first look at these changes when the team takes the field for training camp on Wednesday, July 26, at the training facility in Berea, OH.

Some of these changes will be hard to spot. The numbers on the back of the helmet, for example, will now appear on the right side of the white stripe, rather than on both sides. On the brown jersey, the brown stripe that separates the orange and white stripe on the brown jersey will disappear.

The most noticeable of these changes will be the color of both the face mask and shoes. The team will go back to a gray face mask, which it wore from the time the team adopted facemasks as part of the uniform in 1954 until it went to white in 1975. In addition, instead of wearing the white shoes they have worn since 1975, the players will run out onto the field next week wearing black ones.

"Browns Huddle", the official publication of the Cleveland Browns, today presents a history behind both the gray facemask and the black shoes. Get a copy of this publication, a special training camp preview issue, inside newsstand copies of Friday's Cleveland Plain Dealer.

Below is a brief summary of the uniform changes you'll see when the team takes the field for training camp next week.

The Change: Facemasks will be gray.

Why: The Browns were the first team in the NFL to use a facemask, and it was made of a gray-colored material. The team introduced them as part of its standard uniform in 1954 and wore them every season until 1974. It was in this time period that many NFL teams began to introduce different colors in all parts of their uniforms, including the face mask. The Browns began using the white face mask in 1975.

The Change: The brown striping on the brown jerseys has been eliminated.

Why:

Consistent with the uniform the Browns sported in the early years, the brown striping between the orange and white stripes on the sleeve have been eliminated.

The Change: The shoes will be black.

Why:

The Browns wore black shoes from the time the team was born in 1946 through 1974. But thanks to trend-setters like Joe Namath, who began wearing white shoes in the 1960s, the league slowly started to shift away from black. By the time 1975 arrived, black shoes were no longer a part of the Browns uniform.

The Change: The number on the back of the helmets will be placed on the lower right side.

Why: During the 1970s, the Browns placed the uniform number between the stripes on the back of the helmet. For example: 2 l 1 The numbers on the back of the helmet this season will look like this: l 21 The last time the Browns used this number scheme on the back of the helmet was in the 1960s.

[eMKayUSA]

I like it. But I also like the Bills uni's so take that for what it's worth.

[BBM]

They've only shared 57 years of memories!! This entire concept is intellectually bankrupt!!!

[fonz]

As a Browns fan, I'm sick of the AL!

[Gothamite]

Good man, fonz.

[bulldogbarks55]

As a lifelong Browns fan I'm thrilled with the return of one of football's all-time greatest uniforms. I hope they don't forget to lose the orange pants. They were so seventies...eeeew!

[rebelx]

Well, here's my take: these uniforms look better than I had anticipated.

For some reason, at the time I first learned of the changes, I thought that getting rid of those brown outline stripes on the sleeves would be disastrous, but as I look at the uni pic, I don't miss them at all. It's actually a nice contrast to other teams that do have outline stripes.

I have to admit, I might miss the orange alts a little (although most diehard Browns fans probably won't).

I do have my concerns about the gray facemasks. I was so used to the white ones, which looked really good on the helmets. I just hope the gray isn't too big of a contrast.

As for the "AL", it's time to get rid of it already. How much did Al Lerner really contribute to the franchise? Granted, he brought them back after their three-year absence, but he wasn't their owner for long enough to have made any other significant moves, and he doesn't deserve to have his initials as a permanent fixture on their jerseys (if anything, it should be Paul Brown). The only reason I can think of that they're still there is that his son is now running the team. Boo to nepotism (or something like it)!

[OCE]

Sleeve stripes are wrong, the white stripes were wider than the orange stripes.

All in all a weak effort if that's really what it is!

[Gothamite]

All in all a weak effort if that's really what it is!

So what do you think it really is, then?

[OCE]

All in all a weak effort if that's really what it is!

So what do you think it really is, then?

It's very close to that. Someone posted a pic of Lerner holding a prototype and it was very similar (the front neckline wasn't quite visible). The stripes looked closer to original than this later image. Could go either way.

If you look at the Browns jerseys of the time the white stripes (on the brown jerseys) are slightly wider than the orange stripes and on the white jerseys the 3 brown stripes are wider. The color of brown then was just about exactly the same as today, if you put jerseys of that era and today side by side they're awfully close in color, that dove bar brown is something some photochopper made a guess on

[STL FANATIC]

I've gone over this before, but the Browns botched this.

Why can't teams just be happy with good looks that already have strong ties to history instead of bringing back all the little tiny details of their old looks that were changed because they were ugly?

The brown stripes on the brown jersey aren't necessary, but it looks better, and it kept a consistant pattern of orange/brown/white/brown/orange on everything (in otherwords, orange never touched white) (assuming they were gonna stop wearing two pairs of white of pants and just go with the brown/orange/brown ones).

And a grey face mask not only has no part in their colors scheme, it just looks plain bad against orange. White was the absolute best option.

I don't care about the number placement.

I'd prefer team color shoes (how about brown), but I don't really care.

Then of course there is reason to question whether they can really celebrate 60 years.

So, basically the Browns took a good-looking, classy, traditional uniform and turned it into a good-looking, classy, traditional uniform that drives me crazy because it could be so much better so easily.

[sealbrownandorange]

All a moot point anyway - they'll probably wear the all-white uniform for most of the games. Best uniform was the Shottenheimer - era "traditional" look with white jerseys and white pants. That was a classic uniform. How many times can the Browns use the excuse that they are moving back to the "traditional" jerseys just to sell merchandise? Grey facemasks? Reminds me of the cheesey-looking unis of the Forrest Gregg 70's era - and who wants to be reminded of that?

[BRYWHIT]

Are they ever going to have an official unveiling? The whole goofy fashionshow thing is weird, but atleast you get a good look at what the unis look like. I'd rather see them show all the options at once. I personally would like to see the white jereseys with solid brown pants.

[whitedawg22]

I love the grey facemasks and the white pants set with the thin stripes, as well as the loss of the orange pants (they looked like they belonged in a 1970s kitchen appliance set, right next to the avocado-colored blender). I HATE the solid brown pants. It looks like they crapped themselves at the sight of the Steelers. The idea of brown pants is a good one and could work, but only if they had stripes.