Then and Now

[Mac the Knife]

More odds and ends...

Even dinosaurs were young once.

For you blue-pants Lions fans:

If the choice came down to keeping the Saints' current pasty gold pants vs. this set, I like the white pants better.

Nice Falcons set from 1976:

Mascot victim Adrian McPherson keeping watch for T-Rac:

No, seriously. At a 2006 preseason game in Nashville, T-Rac accidentally ran over McPherson with a golf cart. McPherson sued saying the injury cut short his NFL career, though judging by this pic it wasn't all that promising anyway. Have to wonder what the guard was thinking.

Ditka in '63. Given the protective gear and the more lenient rules - ever see those old NFL Films highlights and the stuff those guys got away with? - it's tough to understand how players back then didn't get a concussion or broken nose every other play.

Seattle's early sets are vastly underrated IMO:

In the "pics they'd rather forget" category, here is...who? This is actually a good trivia question. Who is it, and why is he in this particular getup? Hint: pic is sports-related and is from 1984.

Awesome pic of Doug Williams, Oklahoma Outlaw!

[BBTV]

Not just my day, but my entire year. There goes 2010, right down the drain. How many days until 2011?

296. And on day 297 I am going to purposely post one of my favorite players in some thread you're reading. I'm also going to spell "there" their and vice versa, and "you're" will be spelled your.

Do it all in a post with 30 ridiculous "thoughts" about how you'd fix a sport if you were the commissioner, and you might just ruin my entire decade. Add in a proposed realignment, and you might shatter my century.

[infrared41]

Not just my day, but my entire year. There goes 2010, right down the drain. How many days until 2011?

296. And on day 297 I am going to purposely post one of my favorite players in some thread you're reading. I'm also going to spell "there" their and vice versa, and "you're" will be spelled your.

Do it all in a post with 30 ridiculous "thoughts" about how you'd fix a sport if you were the commissioner, and you might just ruin my entire decade. Add in a proposed realignment, and you might shatter my century.

And torture both of us? No thanks.

[Sodboy13]

Just to prove I'm not in love with everything that is old, those Seahawks jerseys are pretty not good. Not sure about the Gridbirds, either.

Blue and green is easily my favorite color combo, and yet I don't care one bit for that Seahawks uniform. As for the Cardinals, my favorite look from them is from the Phoenix era, when the Arizona flag was embedded into the sleeve stripes, the cardinal head was above the stripes, and black was the accent color. Cluttered and a bit excessive? Absolutely. But I still can't get enough of it.

I wonder if they gave Tom another card in the set for punter.

[GFB]

For you blue-pants Lions fans:

Ah, thank you. I know I'm probably only one of about 10 people who thinks this, but I believe that's the best road look the Lions have ever had. And in my uniform-nerd alternate reality, those blue pants made at least one appearance with the black jersey.

You're welcome. Go here for numerous pics of Barry in the blue pants. It's funny 'cause I did a date search and he's the only player I've seen yet in the blue pants, like there was nobody else on the team worth taking a picture of.

I love those blue pants. Not all the time, but just as a change of pace would be awesome.

[The_Admiral]

No, they should wear that pretty much all the time. On the road, at least. And grey socks! How novel! I generally advocate matching helmet with pants when possible, but doing this would be way too close to the Cowboys (color-blind uniform assembly notwithstanding) and so you can play a little fast and loose with the rule, the same way I do with the Bears ideally wearing white pants with their white shirts and socks.

[GFB]

No, they should wear that pretty much all the time. On the road, at least. And grey socks! How novel! I generally advocate matching helmet with pants when possible, but doing this would be way too close to the Cowboys (color-blind uniform assembly notwithstanding) and so you can play a little fast and loose with the rule, the same way I do with the Bears ideally wearing white pants with their white shirts and socks.

Well, the Lions were the first team to have silver helmets/blue jersey/silver pants by about 25 years, so shouldn't the Cowboys be the cautious ones?

The blue pants are nice.... just not all the time.

Best Lions uniform of all time:

[The_Admiral]

Well, the Lions were the first team to have silver helmets/blue jersey/silver pants by about 25 years, so shouldn't the Cowboys be the cautious ones?

Um, no? It's not a matter of calling dibs on it, and the Cowboys generally refrain from wearing blue jerseys of any shade if they can help it anyway. Silver/white/silver/blue is emphatically Cowboys because the nation sees them wear that more times in one season than it sees the Lions wear that over a whole decade. With the blue pants and grey socks, the Lions can carve their own niche in that general color scheme and maintain their very nice palette at home.

I like those uniforms you posted too!

[GFB]

Well, the Lions were the first team to have silver helmets/blue jersey/silver pants by about 25 years, so shouldn't the Cowboys be the cautious ones?

Um, no? It's not a matter of calling dibs on it, and the Cowboys generally refrain from wearing blue jerseys of any shade if they can help it anyway. Silver/white/silver/blue is emphatically Cowboys because the nation sees them wear that more times in one season than it sees the Lions wear that over a whole decade. With the blue pants and grey socks, the Lions can carve their own niche in that general color scheme and maintain their very nice palette at home.

I like those uniforms you posted too!

The Cowboys are much more popular than the Lions, no question there. But is popularity the overriding factor when discussing changing 80 years of history? Not in my mind.

Honestly, part of this comes from years of bottling up resentment seeing the Cowboys, Seahawks, Oilers, and Panthers all ripping off what was originally Detroit's signature look.

[BlueSky]

It's not that I really care, but the concept of showing the evolution of a team through the juxtaposition of historical and current uniforms is really awesome, especially for teams that have evolved, as opposed to revamped. I've always liked those "through the years" lithos (even if some are pretty inaccurate) and always wished they'd have some with real photos. Well here we go.

These things:

1) Those things are very cool but you're right, some are so off you wonder why they bothered to make one.

2) Sounds like a project someone on this board would relish taking on. Hmmm...we could at least do threads, like "(Team) Through the Years" or some such. I may work on a Saints one (surprise!) to test the concept. Before Uni Watch featured the US Presswire site (have to give credit where it's due) I could never find decent pics from all the eras.

Not just my day, but my entire year. There goes 2010, right down the drain. How many days until 2011?

296. And on day 297 I am going to purposely post one of my favorite players in some thread you're reading. I'm also going to spell "there" their and vice versa, and "you're" will be spelled your.

Do it all in a post with 30 ridiculous "thoughts" about how you'd fix a sport if you were the commissioner, and you might just ruin my entire decade. Add in a proposed realignment, and you might shatter my century.

Now there's another great idea. What about a realignment using team colors to make the divisions?

JK of course. Did your head explode?

[oldschoolvikings]

Now there's another great idea. What about a realignment using team colors to make the divisions?

JK of course. Did your head explode?

Yeah, that's almost as good an idea as the "cat division, bird division, historical tough guy division" stuff.

[TheOldRoman]

No, they should wear that pretty much all the time. On the road, at least. And grey socks! How novel! I generally advocate matching helmet with pants when possible, but doing this would be way too close to the Cowboys (color-blind uniform assembly notwithstanding) and so you can play a little fast and loose with the rule, the same way I do with the Bears ideally wearing white pants with their white shirts and socks.

I loved the blue pants look for years (reliving it in my mind). But looking at those pictures, it just doesn't look right. The grey socks don't look right to me. At least Detroit had the decency to not wear the blue socks. I think if they matched the pants up with white socks with the jersey striping pattern it would work really well.

I don't like Detroit's new look, but it is better than the previous one. I think the Sanders era unis are the best they have worn (blue pants or silver). But the blue pants absolutely shouldn't exist today, because we know a)the players would refuse to wear the correct color socks with them (see Texans and Redskins), and B)you would get the horrible mono-blue look. Bad on its own, horrible when matched with a silver helmet. Don't give the players more options.

[BlueSky]

Continuing the Lions talk, here are a few looks of theirs.

1960 > 1961 (addition of helmet logo)

1969 > 1970 (addition of white surround/trim) IMO adding the white really elevated this set. Homes:

Roads (sorry - couldn't find color of the pre-1970 roads)

Wow, check this out...didn't notice this before. Were the pre-1960 facemasks dark green or black? It's not a one-off either, there are other players with the dark masks.

1959 > 1965

A la the Jets sleeve comparisons, let's go shoulder stripes...

1965 > Now

[BBTV]

The Lions helmets would look great without any white trim on them. Pref just blue on silver, but I guess black outline on blue on silver would work too. Unfortunately, silver and blue is about the worst scheme you can have when you play inside, since the lighting just makes everything look so dreary.

[BlueSky]

And the "One Extreme to Another" Award goes to...

Falcons white/white, 1975 > 2009

[Varsity Blue]

While the newer Falcon verson is the better of the two, neither of those Bengals uniforms do anything for me.

[Jigga]

While the newer Falcon verson is the better of the two, neither of those Bengals uniforms do anything for me.

Nooooooooooooo...you aren't supposed to say the new Falcons duds are better!!!

[leopard88]

While the newer Falcon verson is the better of the two, neither of those Bengals uniforms do anything for me.

Nooooooooooooo...you aren't supposed to say the new Falcons duds are better!!!

Especially since they're not!!!

[Coacher42]

Seattle's early sets are vastly underrated IMO:

BEAUTIFUL!! I loved when they made this switch (I believe in '83). The Seahawk logo wrapped around the arm, blue facemask... Just awesome. So much better than the scuba suits.

[Gothamite]

Wow, check this out...didn't notice this before. Were the pre-1960 facemasks dark green or black? It's not a one-off either, there are other players with the dark masks.

1959 > 1965

Yes, the Packers briefly experimented with green facemasks in 1959. They were painted, and appeared to have a tendency to flake off in games:

That's a great photo - I'll have to update my blog post on the subject.