Bills confirm new uniform for 2011

[29texan]

I never thought I'd see the day that we agreed on something (other than Chargers fandom).

For the record, I also think gray-and-orange looks terrible when the Suns do it:

Replace the unnecessary gray with purple and that's actually a kickass uniform.

What if they had these colors?

[WSU151]

I never thought I'd see the day that we agreed on something (other than Chargers fandom).

For the record, I also think gray-and-orange looks terrible when the Suns do it:

Replace the unnecessary gray with purple and that's actually a kickass uniform.

What if they had these colors?

But they don't...

[IceCap]

The rationale for so called BFBS teams are to make their players buy into something or to "look tougher"

Maybe when attracting college recruits. But in the pros? No.

Even in the realms of collegiate sports the "tough" thing is just marketing hogwash. My alma mater's colours are purple and white, with the athletic teams having a long history of using silver as a accenting colour. Around the mid 90s they began selling black merchandise and black crept into the football, hockey, and basketball uniforms, and it completely took over the baseball uniform.

The school itself has said that it's all about selling merchandise. It's easier to get students to buy a black sweatshirt then it is to get them to buy a purple sweatshirt.

Granted it's a Canadian school, but I would imagine the reasoning would be universal. American collegiate sports, being a bigger deal then their Canadian parallel, just demands the use of more buzz words and flashier marketing campaigns to justify the addition of black.

The addition of black has, regardless of level, always been about selling merchandise. Anything else about black being "an attitude" or being "tough" is just a marketing ploy.

For the record, I also think gray-and-orange looks terrible when the Suns do it:

Replace the unnecessary gray with purple and that's actually a kickass uniform.

Nothing will ever touch the 1992-2000 set in my opinion.

[ARTnSocal]

The BILLS wore the gray mask from 1960-1975 ... To me, white helmets look great with the gray mask.

When we switched to the blue mask in 1976 it didn't look all that good with the blue jersey, only with the away whites.

I was hoping we'd go with gray, blue 2nd choice .... anything but white or red.

When New England wore their white 80s helmet with the white mask on Thanksgiving Day it look awful compared to their gray mask for AFL-50

[WSU151]

When New England wore their white 80s helmet with the white mask on Thanksgiving Day it look awful compared to their gray mask for AFL-50

I think you misspelled "awesome". The white helmet/white mask Pats helmet is about 80 billion times better than the white helmet/gray mask.

[ARTnSocal]

When New England wore their white 80s helmet with the white mask on Thanksgiving Day it look awful compared to their gray mask for AFL-50

I think you misspelled "awesome". The white helmet/white mask Pats helmet is about 80 billion times better than the white helmet/gray mask.

I think not ... I wrote 'awful', not 'awesome'. As far as the masks, it's all a matter of ones opinion, and mine is 80 billion times better

[29texan]

I never thought I'd see the day that we agreed on something (other than Chargers fandom).

For the record, I also think gray-and-orange looks terrible when the Suns do it:

Replace the unnecessary gray with purple and that's actually a kickass uniform.

What if they had these colors?

Yeah, that's why I said 'WHAT IF' they had those colors. Just to match the rest of the teams in that city.

But they don't...

[oldschoolvikings]

Was it done to boost merchandise sales?

How am I supposed to know the exact reasoning?

How is ANYONE?

The rationale for so called BFBS teams are to make their players buy into something or to "look tougher"

Maybe that IS the reason. It's like when an english teacher wants me to discuss the meaning of a certain line in a poem as if it means something else. You can't read beyond the lines.

If people like a black jersey, of course merchandise sales are gonna boom.

I think you need to listen to your english teacher more closely. He/she is trying to teach you something important.

[andrewharrington]

Anyway technology exists to make hockey sticks and skates (and the cages on goalie masks) any colour you want, but they're left mostly neutral. Why? They're pieces of equipment, not part of the uniform. I think the same argument can be made for facemasks in football.

That's the best argument I've ever heard FOR gray masks. It's really convincing actually...almost makes me accept gray facemasks now.

However, the Skins better keep their gold...makes the whole uniform.

I know, right? I've been making this argument for years as a way to justify the use of grey masks. People just notice when Ice_Cap speaks, I suppose . Any sane person knows that just because you can doesn't mean you should. I used to hate grey masks like some of you, but one day I realized that grey goes with every color, and a facemask is just equipment, after all, like shoes, gloves, goalie pads. No one complains about the mandatory grey gloves in college football.

Gold is nice for the Washington and their bright burgundy. I do, however, really like how the 'Skins darker burgundy looks with a grey mask, like on the anniversary uniforms. I think dark helmets look nice when they have a matching color mask, like the Bears and Vikings, but I don't think they look any worse in grey, just a little different. I also don't mind light colored helmets with dark facemasks, like the Jets, but again, I just don't consider the facemask to be such an integral piece of the visual puzzle that it makes me think a grey mask looks any worse.

[BigDmo]

Was it done to boost merchandise sales?

How am I supposed to know the exact reasoning?

How is ANYONE?

The rationale for so called BFBS teams are to make their players buy into something or to "look tougher"

Maybe that IS the reason. It's like when an english teacher wants me to discuss the meaning of a certain line in a poem as if it means something else. You can't read beyond the lines.

If people like a black jersey, of course merchandise sales are gonna boom.

I think you need to listen to your english teacher more closely. He/she is trying to teach you something important.

There are times when poems have deep meanings, there are times when they don't

There are times when teams add black to look tough, there are times when it is done for merch sales

[rams80]

there are times when it is done for merch sales

Such as....Always.

[Gothamite]

And your English teacher knows what she's talking about.

[Billy B]

Anyway technology exists to make hockey sticks and skates (and the cages on goalie masks) any colour you want, but they're left mostly neutral. Why? They're pieces of equipment, not part of the uniform. I think the same argument can be made for facemasks in football.

That's the best argument I've ever heard FOR gray masks. It's really convincing actually...almost makes me accept gray facemasks now.

However, the Skins better keep their gold...makes the whole uniform.

I know, right? I've been making this argument for years as a way to justify the use of grey masks. People just notice when Ice_Cap speaks, I suppose . Any sane person knows that just because you can doesn't mean you should. I used to hate grey masks like some of you, but one day I realized that grey goes with every color, and a facemask is just equipment, after all, like shoes, gloves, goalie pads. No one complains about the mandatory grey gloves in college football.

Gold is nice for the Washington and their bright burgundy. I do, however, really like how the 'Skins darker burgundy looks with a grey mask, like on the anniversary uniforms. I think dark helmets look nice when they have a matching color mask, like the Bears and Vikings, but I don't think they look any worse in grey, just a little different. I also don't mind light colored helmets with dark facemasks, like the Jets, but again, I just don't consider the facemask to be such an integral piece of the visual puzzle that it makes me think a grey mask looks any worse.

I think the people (like me) who hate the gray facemasks on teams that don't wear gray wouldn't really be complaining if every team wore gray. But as long as there are teams that have colored facemasks, it won't just be a piece of equipment.

If the Bills wore a gray facemask, I think it would be one of the worst cases of a team unnecessarily wearing gray. They pretty much have four choices for their facemask color. Red would probably be the worst. It's always just been an accent color and would stick out worse than the Patriots facemasks. A white facemask would provide a neutral color and match the helmet. I'd personally go with a blue facemask. I think it would the best as it would match their jerseys at home and pants on the road. With the helmet logo being primarily blue as well, I think blue would go best. The fourth option would be to use gray. I don't see what positive this could have for their look. It's not in the color scheme so it wouldn't match anything else. And if they want to use a neutral color, they can go with white and still stay in their color scheme.

[BlueSky]

Anyway technology exists to make hockey sticks and skates (and the cages on goalie masks) any colour you want, but they're left mostly neutral. Why? They're pieces of equipment, not part of the uniform. I think the same argument can be made for facemasks in football.

That's the best argument I've ever heard FOR gray masks. It's really convincing actually...almost makes me accept gray facemasks now.

However, the Skins better keep their gold...makes the whole uniform.

I know, right? I've been making this argument for years as a way to justify the use of grey masks. People just notice when Ice_Cap speaks, I suppose . Any sane person knows that just because you can doesn't mean you should. I used to hate grey masks like some of you, but one day I realized that grey goes with every color, and a facemask is just equipment, after all, like shoes, gloves, goalie pads. No one complains about the mandatory grey gloves in college football.

Gold is nice for the Washington and their bright burgundy. I do, however, really like how the 'Skins darker burgundy looks with a grey mask, like on the anniversary uniforms. I think dark helmets look nice when they have a matching color mask, like the Bears and Vikings, but I don't think they look any worse in grey, just a little different. I also don't mind light colored helmets with dark facemasks, like the Jets, but again, I just don't consider the facemask to be such an integral piece of the visual puzzle that it makes me think a grey mask looks any worse.

No, guys. By that logic, football helmets are "pieces of equipment" (protective equipment to be exact) so the only parts of the actual uniform are the jersey, pants and socks (like in hockey). What's that leave us with? White or gray helmets for everyone? No thanks.

I'd argue that helmets became a de facto part of football uniforms when Fred Gehrke* painted horns on his. The facemask is part of the helmet, so if the helmet is part of the uni, the facemask is part of the uni and should be color coordinated accordingly. Besides, extending the original logic to other sports, goalies' and catchers' external pads are not "part of the uniform" and thus could or should be gray.

They aren't.

On some helmets, gray masks work fine. On others (Cardinals), it's awful. It's a case by case thing.

* Rams RB and former art student whose 1948 artistic effort was the Big Bang of helmet logo design.

[Saintsfan]

One thing that amazes me about this place sometimes is the amount of energy spent discussing facemask colors. Personally I think gray is fine 90% of the time, but if a team wants to color coordinate their facemasks that's cool too. It's not an aesthetic thing that bothers me. I'd prefer that teams with bold colors, like Denver or the 49ers, not go with gray, but teams with less bold palettes can go knock themselves out!!

[BBTV]

The goalie is a bad example because if their equip was part of the uniform then it'd be uniform - their helmets would match the other players, and two goalies on the same team wouldn't have different pads or masks.

Despite that, I agree.

[Gothamite]

I'd argue that helmets became a de facto part of football uniforms when Fred Gehrke* painted horns on his.

Can't agree - while Gehrke popularlized helmet logos in the pros, teams had been wearing matching helmets for at least a decade.

[BlueSky]

I'd argue that helmets became a de facto part of football uniforms when Fred Gehrke* painted horns on his.

Can't agree - while Gehrke popularlized helmet logos in the pros, teams had been wearing matching helmets for at least a decade.

But the overall point that helmets are part of the uniform is still valid regardless of exactly when it occurred.

[Gothamite]

True, but I still don't find that a very compelling argument against gray facemasks.

Overly "matchy-matchy" has never been that important to me. I like the Packers in black shoes, though black has never been one of their team colors.

[BlueSky]

True, but I still don't find that a very compelling argument against gray facemasks.

Somehow that doesn't surprise me. Based on our experience in that other thread, I'm sure I couldn't make an argument for the sun being hot that you'd find compelling.

Next you'll claim the right to gray facemasks is protected by the Constitution.