Biggest Upgrades and Downgrades

[piratesfan16]

Rules: What logo or uniform in history has either been the biggest upgrade or downgrade to the preceding logo or uniform? It can be any of the four major American sports. If you want to use college or something else, that's fine too. Ijust wanted to see where this would go.

Mine are:

MLB's biggest downgrade - The Toronto Blue Jays(2003-2004). This was a tough one. I

seriously think that the Blue Jays' 2003 look was very modern but had the early 90's feel

to it. Then they ruined it in 04. That stupid J-head logo with a beveling font. The number

font is horrible. The colors reek of black, gray, black, gray, and black. CLOSE SECOND: The

Houston Astros(1999-2000)

MLB's biggest upgrade - The Oakland Athletics(2010-2011). The end of the black jersey era

in Oakland was awesome IMO. Then came the addition of the beautiful, retro, gold alternate.

Simply put, the most unique look in baseball was born again. CLOSE SECOND: The Tampa Bay

Rays(1999-2000).

NHL's biggest downgrade - The Pittsburgh Penguins(01/02-02/03) The year that the wonderful

1993-2001 Penguins logo was disminished and replaced by the vegas gold skating penguin will

always be the biggest downgrade IMO. I can already hear the screams of "are you crazy"lol.

Well to me, the late 90's logo will always be my favorite. It looks like a Penguin more

than the current one, and it has the same colors that unite the city of Pittsburgh. The

skating Penguin was a nice nod to the past, but it's ruined by the Vegas Gold. Athletic

Gold should never have changed. CLOSE SECOND: The Tampa Bay Lightning(10/11-11/12)

NHL's biggest Upgrade - The Buffalo Sabre(09/10-10/11) Buffaslug. CLOSE SECOND- The

Nashville Predators(10/11-11/12)

NFL's biggest downgrade - The Buffalo Bills(2001-2002) The colors and the uniforms. CLOSE

SECOND: The St. Louis Rams(1999-2000)

NFL's biggest upgrade - The Detroit Lions(2008-2009) Upgraded logo and font very well.

CLOSE SECOND: The New York Jets(1997-1998)

Don't know NBA that much, sorry.

[gothedistance]

I can't get used to the new look uniforms that a handful of NBA teams have now.

[nash61]

NHL biggest downgrade:

TO

/thread

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

how long before this turns in to 'retro to modern design' as a downgrade?

[Jahgee]

MLB Downgrade - Devil Rays to Devil Rays to Rays

MLB Upgrade - Milwaukee Ball in Glove logo to Milwaukee Teal

NHL Downgrade - Mighty Ducks to Ducks

NHL Upgrade - Nordiques (yes I count this) to Avalanche

NFL Downgrade - Browns White Facemask to Browns Grey Facemask

NFL Upgrade - Eagles Kelly Green to Eagles Midnight Green

NBA Downgrade - Grizzlies Red and Teal to Grizzlies Two Blue and Yellow

NBA Upgrade - Nuggets RWB Miner to Nuggets Rainbow

[Jezus_Ghoti]

I thought this was a huge downgrade.

to

[McCall]

MLB Upgrade: Angels Disney era periwinkles to red. Even if just because of the shear horror of the old set. Incidentally the final California Angels set to those faux vest mess is one of the biggest downgrades.

Also, the Devil Rays ditching the gradients for the green and black was a terrific upgrade. And I may be one of the only ones around here to find the current set to be an upgrade as well, lateral move at worst.

And the Jays was probably the worst MLB downgrade in recent memory.

[north dakota]

The biggest NHL downgrade is probably the Mighty Ducks turning into the Ducks, or the Coyotes dropping the green, black, brown, and purple.

[RyanMcD29]

The NHL's worst downgrade is clearly

to

I'll add in my two cents for the rest later today

[vmd9]

MLB Downgrade - Devil Rays to Devil Rays to Rays

MLB Upgrade - Milwaukee Ball in Glove logo to Milwaukee Teal

NHL Downgrade - Mighty Ducks to Ducks

NHL Upgrade - Nordiques (yes I count this) to Avalanche

NFL Downgrade - Browns White Facemask to Browns Grey Facemask

NFL Upgrade - Eagles Kelly Green to Eagles Midnight Green

NBA Downgrade - Grizzlies Red and Teal to Grizzlies Two Blue and Yellow

NBA Upgrade - NONE, I can't find a good one without a better one before it

wow!! pretty much this entire list is wrong...except for the Ducks.

[BBTV]

Downgrades:

NHL - Buffalo from the goat to the slug. Not that the goat was great, but the slug was just that bad.

MLB - Jays going to the JBird set.

NFL - Tie between Buffalo going from Kelly era to the AlouBills look and the Jaguars going to their current set. I lean toward the Jaguars because I couldn't care less about the KellyBills, but the last Jags set was very nice.

NBA - Pistons going from the RWB Isaiah Thomas set to the teal horsey set. I couldn't believe it when I saw it. I cannot believe that anyone in their management thought that it was a good idea.

Upgrades: (much tougher to list than downgrades, so I might be missing some but off the top of my head...)

NHL - Flames wen they switched to their pre-Edge set (introduction of the black C). That was a beautiful sweater that replaced a total clusterfvck of a jersey.

MLB - Angels switching to their current set from the Disney set.

NFL - Tampa switching from Bucco to the Pewter Pirate set. I have a soft spot for Bucco, but it's hard to argue that this was not a major upgrade.

NBA - Tough, but I have three. 1. Rockets current set. It could certainly be improved, but the set it replaced was simply a joke of a uniform. 2. Pacers Flo-Jo set. The one it replaced wasn't horrible, but it became an iconic uniform that most of us still think about when we think Pacers. 3. Grizzlies current set? Sure it's just jumping on the blue-blue bandwagon, but I think it's a marked improvement from their stupid Vancouver-era set.

DISCUSS.

[tBBP]

I fully expect this thread to jump the shark before it makes it to page two...whether driven by homereroticism, modern/traditional warring factions, or the like.

In any regard, my submissions...

NBA's biggest upgrade: New Orleans Hornets. Nothing in my mind will ever compare to the Charlotte Hornets, which were some of my favorite sets (and home court designs) ever, but considering the Hornets' previous look, with a font that looked like fifth graders cutting letters out of printer paper, the introduction of the Fleur-de-Bee and the new font, as well as the return of the pinstripes, makes the current Hornets set a big-time winner.

Biggest downgrade: this one's leaguewide, but adidas' "technology". It essentially caused the Grizzlies to lose the lines through their numbers and the Hawks to lose the bevel effect.

MLB's biggest upgrade: I'll give this one to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Clunky chest scripts aside, their current color scheme works a helluva lot better than their previous one--and that's coming from someonew who likes purple and teal.

Biggest downgrade: Tampa Bay Rays. I've ranted ad nauseum about how the team--and political pressure--killed off MLB's most progressive and unique identities in favor of "sanitizing" their image. No need for me to do it again.

NHL's biggest upgrade: Vancouver Canucks. Like the Astros and Padres of MLB and Nuggets of the NBA (or the Pistons in the '90s), this team never could figure out what its identity, or colors, were, until this latest iteration. The blue and green work beautifully together and might well be among the top on-ice looks in the league.

Biggest downgrade: someone posted it up above...the Dallas Stars. Number one, they completely disregarded green; number two, they pretty much ended up looking like a college hockey team when they switched up jerseys. (Honorable mention goes to the Florida Panthers, who've been sliding backwards ever since the Bure/Beezer era of the mid-late '90s.)

NFL's biggest upgrade: lots of teams went on update sprees in the '90s, but of those, the single most significant upgrade--and possibly the best, considering all the negative connotations associated with its previous era (and I'm setting personal nostalgia aside for this one), along with automatically catapulting the team's merchandise sales to the top of the league--undoubtedly has to be that of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. No other team even comes close in that regard.

Biggest upgrade: about four hours up northeast...the Jacksonville Jaguars. For five years of their history, they had it exactly right--1995-1996, when even the bevel-block numbers worked for them, and 1998-2000, which in my mind is still a contemporary classic. They started steadily chopping away at that look in 2001, it continued on through most of last decade--but then the entire tree toppled over when their current look came out. Systematic "FAIL" in by book.

[BBTV]

Well... looks like we think alike on at least some things!

[BBTV]

I fully expect this thread to jump the shark before it makes it to page two...whether driven by homereroticism, modern/traditional warring factions, or the like.

Right. This is one of those threads that comes up all the time and eventually gets ruined by idiots who have no capacity for objectively evaluating not only the on-field designs but the impact they have off the field, jerkoffs like Lights Out who will just come on here and post every TATC MLB uniform and wait for a fight, or other douchebags.

Basically it's one of those threads where you skip over most of the responses and just focus on the few from those who's opinions and insights you value. Of course, threads like these can help establish who those people are if noobs show up and actually put some coherent thought into their responses and don't just put things like "Milwaukee Teal". What the hell is Milwaukee Teal? It's just green.

[loogodude90]

Biggest Downgrades:

NBA: The most recent Hawks and Wizards color changes.

MLB: The Royals and Mets both introducing black into their color scheme.

Biggest Upgrades:

NBA: The change from the 2002-03 Cavs to the 2003-04 Cavs.

MLB: Not a huge upgrade, but the best one I can think of - The Nats ditching the clunky wordmark.

[DeFrank]

to

[Discogod]

NBA's biggest upgrade: New Orleans Hornets. Nothing in my mind will ever compare to the Charlotte Hornets, which were some of my favorite sets (and home court designs) ever, but considering the Hornets' previous look, with a font that looked like fifth graders cutting letters out of printer paper, the introduction of the Fleur-de-Bee and the new font, as well as the return of the pinstripes, makes the current Hornets set a big-time winner.

As a long-time Hornet fan, I HATED the unis they used from '02-'08 - it was generic in all the worst possible ways. The current unis are a huge upgrade.

Downgrades:

San Diego Clippers, 1982 - went from the abstract sails logo and great sky blue unis with the nautical flags to a bland Lakers rip-off.

Milwaukee Bucks, 1993 - From the Irish Rainbow unis and cartoon Buck to the purple, green and silver monstrosities that looked dated before they even played a game in them.

Upgrades:

New Jersey Nets, 1997 - the new uni wasn't much better than the previous, but the uniforms were great - simple, classy yet unique. They've stood the test of time pretty well, too.

Cleveland Cavaliers, 2003/2010 - from the worst logo & uniforms in the league to some of the best. Last year's update just improved on an already strong set.

[twi]

I fully expect this thread to jump the shark before it makes it to page two...whether driven by homereroticism, modern/traditional warring factions, or the like.

Right. This is one of those threads that comes up all the time and eventually gets ruined by idiots who have no capacity for objectively evaluating not only the on-field designs but the impact they have off the field, jerkoffs like Lights Out who will just come on here and post every TATC MLB uniform and wait for a fight, or other douchebags.

Basically it's one of those threads where you skip over most of the responses and just focus on the few from those who's opinions and insights you value. Of course, threads like these can help establish who those people are if noobs show up and actually put some coherent thought into their responses and don't just put things like "Milwaukee Teal". What the hell is Milwaukee Teal? It's just green.

I'm sure a preemptive strike of jerkoff and douchebag will keep the thread civil.

In the NHL, I think Anaheim and Phoenix were both big downgrades when they most recently changed. Buffalo is an interesting case. I personally like the black and red era the best realize that's highly debatable. I also think the new Jets will be a downgrade, I like unique color schemes and another red, blue, and white team doesn't sound too appealing.

I agree that Calgary introducing their red jerseys with black C was a huge upgrade but has been severely hampered by the current look. Edmonton had an upgrade, color-wise, with the navy and copper but never fully took advantage of it. Huge downgrade creatively going back to the old colors, imo.

As for the NFL, I think the Bucs, Broncos, and Seahawks all succeeded with their changes. What happened to my Jags is a crying shame though.

[knnhrvy16]

Alrighty, here's mine:

NBA

Upgrade: The Magic's current identity. Though not quite hitting the mark, it brought them closer to thier roots.

Downgrade: The Mavericks' 2002 change. I thought thier 90's set was perfect and fit a classic Western theme - this current identity just doesn't quite fit to me. Way too much going on, and I prefer blue and green over double blues anyday.

Honorable mention downgrade: Oh boy, I'm gonna catch some flak for this one. The Sonics' 2001-2002 change. The late 90's identity was very nice, that dark green and red really looked great together, especially with that gold trim. And yes, while it WAS a product of the 90's, it was nonetheless a well-designed identity rather than a gimmicky or random one. I always hated the pre-1995 look, I really found nothing appealing about it, save the colors maybe. So when they modernized THAT identity and ran with it, I was thouroughly dissapointed.

NFL

Upgrade: Probably the current Bills. It's leaps and bounds better than the previous uniform.

Downgrade: Heh, whaddya know? The Bills take the cake again, this time for the previous identity. Thier 90's uniforms were clean and near-perfect. I saw no reason for them to change, especially to the mess they changed to at the time.

MLB

Upgrade: The 1991 (?) Chicago White Sox rebrand. I've always loved 'em in black, silver, and white. They have one of the more underrated sets in the league, in my humble opinion.

Downgrade: Arizona Diamondbacks to thier current identity. Yikes. The logic of "let's ditch our unique, appealing, and iconic identity we've won a World Series in, so we can look like the Astros but with funky Arabic-looking scripts on our chests!" is a strange one to me.

NHL

Upgrade: I think I'll go with the Nashville current, although I can't say I really disliked the previous. The unfortunate thing about the NHL is that there have been so very few great rebrands, but many terrible ones. It's slim pickin' for me.

Downgrade: Easy. Mighty Ducks to Ducks in 2006. I've talked this one up probably to the point of annoyance on here, but seriously. I don't give a rat's @$$ if they seemed like a "skating Disney advertisement" - the Mighty Ducks looked d*mn good and had one of the most unique, iconic, and instantly recognizable identities in all of sports. To ditch it for such a sloppy, uninspiring, seemingly rushed, and dull identity as the current make this, in my humble opinion, the worst downgrade in all of sports. If they absolutely HAD to ditch the Disney look, they should've sat down and come up with something that at least looked like they spent more than five minutes on.

[McCall]

Downgrade: Arizona Diamondbacks to thier current identity. Yikes. The logic of "let's ditch our unique, appealing, and iconic identity we've won a World Series in, so we can look like the Astros but with funky Arabic-looking scripts on our chests!" is a strange one to me.

There has never been anything "iconic" about the Arizona Diamondbacks look. The purple and teal, while somewhat southwestern, just reeked too much of 90's fad. The current set, albeit there could be some improvements, brought in a color scheme that could last for a long time. And the Astros are the ones who need to change. I'm not usually for giving preference of who should keep a look to a team who comes in and copies another teams colors, but in this case, it just makes too much sense. The Astros do not belong in the colors, the D-Backs do.