Chargers new unis

[Gothamite]

It's so inconsistent. Things like this piss me off, as it would have been so easy just to make every bolt on a white background. There's just no consistency.

The funny thing about that statement is that when they were making the change the team said they were looking to get the bolts more consistent. One of their main points was about how many points each bolt had and that they were all the same now. Never mind they look like a mess with the coloring. They need to figure out that to make the look consistent is if the bolt is on a blue background, it needs a white outline around it.

Yeah - that's really strange. Putting the bolts on upside-down works against that consistency, as well.

The uniforms got mention on PTI on Monday:

http://broadband.espn.go.com/ivp/splash2?id=2983610

(relevant section about 3/4 of the way through this clip)

Somebody wrote an email question: "Are you digging the Chargers' white helmets?"

Kornheiser: If they had kept the powder blue jerseys, he could have lived with the white helmets. Doesn't like white helmets/white jerseys.

Wilbon: "They don't get it in San Diego: this (holds up a throwback Alworth jersey) is what they should have gone with." Doesn't care about the helmets, so long as they drop the navy and return to powder blue.

[powersurge]

I like the old powder blue jerseys so much better. I'll even go as far as saying that I like the new alternate powder blue better than the old ones. I just don't think the navy jerseys work very well in this uni set, or even the navy pants on the away set. I predict they'll go powder blue full time within the next two years. You heard it here first.....or second?

[Gothamite]

I've been saying it for years.

As soon as the owner gets over himself (or sells the team), they'll switch to the powder blues. By every measure to date, the fans want them to.

[In 5..4..3..2..1]

They will have to make changes to the road jerseys if they are going powder blue full time. They could use the white pants they have now for the powder blues both home and road but the jersey numbers and shoulders inserts( yellow bolt on powder blue with a thin white outline) would have to change to powder blue. I still say they should get rid of the stripe on the home pants. Just go with a NORMAL yellow bolt on white pants.

[Old School Fool]

The uniform rules. I think it's one of the best in the NFL right now.

If you don't like it you suck.

I don't like this ugly Arena League-esque hodgepodge of bolts, backwards bolts, curvy bolts, and forced powder blue accents, and I don't suck either.

Perhaps you suck for suggesting that others suck for disagreeing with you. Besides, if you were truly such a Raiders fan that you're ready to fight about it, you'd hate anything the Chargers wear.

I am indeed a Raiders fan but sometimes I end up liking things. I despise the Green Bay Packers with the intensity of a thousand suns, but their throwbacks from 1994 are awesome, same goes for the 49ers (though I was once a Niners fan). I still hate the Chargers (except for LT he's nuts), but the uniforms are seriously awesome.

Now the Kansas City Chiefs? everything about them.

[BlueSky]

The uniform rules. I think it's one of the best in the NFL right now.

If you don't like it you suck.

I don't like this ugly Arena League-esque hodgepodge of bolts, backwards bolts, curvy bolts, and forced powder blue accents, and I don't suck either.

Perhaps you suck for suggesting that others suck for disagreeing with you. Besides, if you were truly such a Raiders fan that you're ready to fight about it, you'd hate anything the Chargers wear.

I am indeed a Raiders fan but sometimes I end up liking things. I despise the Green Bay Packers with the intensity of a thousand suns, but their throwbacks from 1994 are awesome, same goes for the 49ers (though I was once a Niners fan). I still hate the Chargers (except for LT he's nuts), but the uniforms are seriously awesome.

Now the Kansas City Chiefs? everything about them.

I was just giving you a hard time. Even I, card-carrying lifelong Falcon hater, like their old red helmets and "Falcon F" logo. I call the new one the "drunken bird" - they say it's tilted forward "hunting prey" but I think it just had a few too many drinks at the local bird bar.

Hate 'em or not, this is a great uni:

[daschuck77]

It's so inconsistent. Things like this piss me off, as it would have been so easy just to make every bolt on a white background. There's just no consistency.

The funny thing about that statement is that when they were making the change the team said they were looking to get the bolts more consistent. One of their main points was about how many points each bolt had and that they were all the same now. Never mind they look like a mess with the coloring. They need to figure out that to make the look consistent is if the bolt is on a blue background, it needs a white outline around it.

Yeah - that's really strange. Putting the bolts on upside-down works against that consistency, as well.

The uniforms got mention on PTI on Monday:

http://broadband.espn.go.com/ivp/splash2?id=2983610

(relevant section about 3/4 of the way through this clip)

Somebody wrote an email question: "Are you digging the Chargers' white helmets?"

Kornheiser: If they had kept the powder blue jerseys, he could have lived with the white helmets. Doesn't like white helmets/white jerseys.

Wilbon: "They don't get it in San Diego: this (holds up a throwback Alworth jersey) is what they should have gone with." Doesn't care about the helmets, so long as they drop the navy and return to powder blue.

PTI and Around the Horn are ESPN's two best shows.

[Fjm]

I've been saying it for years.

As soon as the owner gets over himself (or sells the team), they'll switch to the powder blues. By every measure to date, the fans want them to.

I'm a Charger fan, and among other Charger fans on the message boards that I frequent, it's more like 50/50. (As of last year, prefering the powder blue or navy best.)

As far as this year's change, reactions are mixed but more leaning negative, mostly due to the upside down lightning bolts and other details.

[Fjm]

Simple change. Dramatic improvement.

Beautiful. Thank you. That's what the pants stripes should look like. (Although straight not curvy bolt lines; but still 3 prongs.)

Can someone do a mock up / photoshop job of those pants with the white jerseys? That would be sweet.

[powersurge]

They will have to make changes to the road jerseys if they are going powder blue full time. They could use the white pants they have now for the powder blues both home and road but the jersey numbers and shoulders inserts( yellow bolt on powder blue with a thin white outline) would have to change to powder blue. I still say they should get rid of the stripe on the home pants. Just go with a NORMAL yellow bolt on white pants.

You know I remember reading someplace that the ownership really wanted to go with the home powder blue uniforms but couldn't come up with an away set that they liked. I don't understand why they just don't modernize the old away set and go with that. The biggest problem that I have with any of their designs, old or new is that there seems to be way too many bolts on the uniform. If they just got rid of the pants bolts on both the home and away they would have a much simpler and appealing set IMO.

[Fjm]

They will have to make changes to the road jerseys if they are going powder blue full time. They could use the white pants they have now for the powder blues both home and road but the jersey numbers and shoulders inserts( yellow bolt on powder blue with a thin white outline) would have to change to powder blue. I still say they should get rid of the stripe on the home pants. Just go with a NORMAL yellow bolt on white pants.

You know I remember reading someplace that the ownership really wanted to go with the home powder blue uniforms but couldn't come up with an away set that they liked. I don't understand why they just don't modernize the old away set and go with that. The biggest problem that I have with any of their designs, old or new is that there seems to be way too many bolts on the uniform. If they just got rid of the pants bolts on both the home and away they would have a much simpler and appealing set IMO.

Nah...you can never have enough bolts. I love 'em. They tried going without the bolts on the pants in the early 90's/Bobby Beathard/Redskins West/Marion Butts era, the stripes were too boring and out of place for me.

[jojotarantino]

They will have to make changes to the road jerseys if they are going powder blue full time. They could use the white pants they have now for the powder blues both home and road but the jersey numbers and shoulders inserts( yellow bolt on powder blue with a thin white outline) would have to change to powder blue. I still say they should get rid of the stripe on the home pants. Just go with a NORMAL yellow bolt on white pants.

You know I remember reading someplace that the ownership really wanted to go with the home powder blue uniforms but couldn't come up with an away set that they liked. I don't understand why they just don't modernize the old away set and go with that. The biggest problem that I have with any of their designs, old or new is that there seems to be way too many bolts on the uniform. If they just got rid of the pants bolts on both the home and away they would have a much simpler and appealing set IMO.

They've done that on a few occasions and stripes on the pants just don't look right. Almost every team has stripes, the Chargers are the only ones with lightning bolts. Why change to be more like everyone else?

[powersurge]

They will have to make changes to the road jerseys if they are going powder blue full time. They could use the white pants they have now for the powder blues both home and road but the jersey numbers and shoulders inserts( yellow bolt on powder blue with a thin white outline) would have to change to powder blue. I still say they should get rid of the stripe on the home pants. Just go with a NORMAL yellow bolt on white pants.

You know I remember reading someplace that the ownership really wanted to go with the home powder blue uniforms but couldn't come up with an away set that they liked. I don't understand why they just don't modernize the old away set and go with that. The biggest problem that I have with any of their designs, old or new is that there seems to be way too many bolts on the uniform. If they just got rid of the pants bolts on both the home and away they would have a much simpler and appealing set IMO.

They've done that on a few occasions and stripes on the pants just don't look right. Almost every team has stripes, the Chargers are the only ones with lightning bolts. Why change to be more like everyone else?

Does anyone have any examples of this? I would love to compare them.

I still think that there are too many bolts, but I might change my mind after seeing the stripes.

[Harmening]

Look up 1988 Chargers. They wore the stripes that year.

www.christopdesign.com

[John in KY]

Does anyone have any examples of this? I would love to compare them.

I still think that there are too many bolts, but I might change my mind after seeing the stripes.

The Chargers wore stripes several times during their history; most recently, they had stripes from 1988-1990 (the first years of the navy blue set). The Football Uniforms Past & Present site shows them wearing stripes in 1966 and from 1972-1978.

Here are a couple of examples (thanks to the Football Uniforms Past & Present site):

1973 - last year of the columbia blue/white helmet era:

1974 - 1st year of the royal/yellow (Fouts era) set:

1988 - 1st year of the navy set (also the first time they had white pants with stripes; the previous years with stripes were yellow pants):

1990 - added navy pants with stripes:

[Fjm]

Chargers unis 1988-1991:

[cranium]

Sorry, but the chargers just look better with bolts on their pants.

Compare and contrast:

[powersurge]

Thanks to all who gave the examples for me to look at.

In the end I guess I still don't know if either one is best. I think the bolt works a little bit better than the stripes, but not the way they have the bolt now. The older extended bolt seems more appropriate, but still doesn't completely work for me for some reason.

[xyzzyva]

Does anyone have any examples of this? I would love to compare them.

I still think that there are too many bolts, but I might change my mind after seeing the stripes.

The Chargers wore stripes several times during their history; most recently, they had stripes from 1988-1990 (the first years of the navy blue set). The Football Uniforms Past & Present site shows them wearing stripes in 1966 and from 1972-1978.

Here are a couple of examples (thanks to the Football Uniforms Past & Present site):

1973 - last year of the columbia blue/white helmet era:

1974 - 1st year of the royal/yellow (Fouts era) set:

1988 - 1st year of the navy set (also the first time they had white pants with stripes; the previous years with stripes were yellow pants):

1990 - added navy pants with stripes:

Might I say that the most significant difference between the classic era and the modern is not the shade of the blue, but the replacement of the yellow pants with boring white (or navy) pants. I'd like to see a mock-up of the new jerseys with yellow pants; it might not work, but it could be awesome.

[BlueSky]

Might I say that the most significant difference between the classic era and the modern is not the shade of the blue, but the replacement of the yellow pants with boring white (or navy) pants. I'd like to see a mock-up of the new jerseys with yellow pants; it might not work, but it could be awesome.

Hadn't thought of it that way but seeing them next to each other, you're right, especially with the white helmet. It's surprising that whatever professional designer the Chargers retained didn't see that. If you were doing a uni, wouldn't one step be researching all their looks through the years to see what worked, what didn't, and why?