Biggest Upgrades and Downgrades

[slapshot]

BIGGEST DOWNGRADE EVER

---->

DAMN YOU REEBOK WHY DO YOU HAVE TO RUIN EVERYTHING

Are you for real?

You're actually complaining about this... Considering how many teams had their jerseys absolutely butchered during the Edge changeover, complaining about this transition is taking nitpicking to a new level. How could they have done this any better with the Edge jersey? They even had a template specifically made to accommodate the shape of the shoulder yokes. You'll notice no other team currently has shoulders like those.

Can somebody help me out? I can't see a NOTICEABLE difference between the two....

All the downgrades here have to do with the actual "Edge" jersey. I think they tried to keep it as close as possible. Yes all pre-edge are better than what we currently have (for the most part)

Unless this person is commenting on the cut of the jersey (regular to Edge), I see this more as sarcasm than anything else.

[Corvus]

The Canucks uniform history would make an interesting graph of downgrades and upgrades. Massive downgrade as I posted earlier, and then subsequent upgrades until they got the black orange/gold and red colour scheme working pretty well for the last ten years they had it, a downgrade or lateral move to the original Orca set, then tentative upgrade steps with using the original jerseys as fourth or third jerseys before the full time return to their original colour scheme.

[GO2HELL]

Upgrades

downgrades

[oz615]

Upgrades

Sorry but i considered that a downgrade imo

[Xodius]

BIGGEST DOWNGRADE EVER

DAMN YOU REEBOK WHY DO YOU HAVE TO RUIN EVERYTHING

Are you for real?

You're actually complaining about this... Considering how many teams had their jerseys absolutely butchered during the Edge changeover, complaining about this transition is taking nitpicking to a new level. How could they have done this any better with the Edge jersey? They even had a template specifically made to accommodate the shape of the shoulder yokes. You'll notice no other team currently has shoulders like those.

Can somebody help me out? I can't see a NOTICEABLE difference between the two....

All the downgrades here have to do with the actual "Edge" jersey. I think they tried to keep it as close as possible. Yes all pre-edge are better than what we currently have (for the most part)

Unless this person is commenting on the cut of the jersey (regular to Edge), I see this more as sarcasm than anything else.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner! Didn't realize it was that hard to get.

[ARTnSocal]

Upgrades

The Sabres did NOT darken the blue to that degree when they ditched the 'goat' uniforms ... that came one season later and the only bad part of those uniforms was that stupid 'BUFFALSLUG' logo

Had they kept the original shade of blue from the 2006 change, and used the alternate 'B' logo with the Sabre sword through it, it would have been a brilliant set IMO and WAY better than those boring looking 1970-1996 uniforms which darkening of the blue and tweaking the logo didn't help.

..... and laced shirt collars would have been nice.

St Louis Blues ... Loved their uniform change when they dropped the red ... whatever were they thinking

NYR ......... they looked great with the Royal Blue with the RANGERS block letters ... why tamper with beauty ... as the phase should go, if it ain't broke, leave it the hell alone

[Morgan33]

The Sabres did NOT darken the blue to that degree when they ditched the 'goat' uniforms ... that came one season later and the only bad part of those uniforms was that stupid 'BUFFALSLUG' logo

No, there was that awful striping pattern that neither resembled buffalo horns, sabres or anything remotely congruent.

Had they kept the original shade of blue from the 2006 change, and used the alternate 'B' logo with the Sabre sword through it, it would have been a brilliant set IMO and WAY better than those boring looking 1970-1996 uniforms which darkening of the blue and tweaking the logo didn't help.

I'm sorry but those look absolutely horrendous. Both the original jerseys and the 90's blacks had their individual charms but their was absolutely nothing redeemable about those slug jerseys, logo or otherwise.

[IceCap]

Upgrades

NHL

Were the inaugural Coyotes sweaters reflective of southwestern culture? Yes. Were they unique? Yes. Does that make them good? No. The Picaso coyote is a visually interesting mark, but I feel it fails as a hockey crest. There's to much going on, and it's lacking in the primary colour of the sweater, black. Which highlights another major problem with the first Coyotes set. It doesn't really have a primary colour. The dark sweater was black, but the logo's brick, purple, sand, green, and brown. These colours were often used just as much, if not more so, then black on team merchandise and in team advertising. It was hard to pinpoint what "colour" team the Coyotes were. The new look keeps the southwestern motif with the brick and sand colours, but gives the team a more streamlined identity. The logo's skewed and the alternate logo on only one shoulder is weird, but all in all it's a cleaner, clearer look. Also the striping pattern is both traditional and unique to the Coyotes, having gone unused since the Leafs ditched it in 1970. The look has suffered a bit with the Edge switch-over, losing the hem stripes and adding an un-needed brick yoke to the white sweaters, but it's still preferable to their inaugural look.

MLB

I guess I'm not surprised that Disney went cartoony with their teams' looks in the 1990s, and I guess the periwinkle look did get them away from the idiotic "California Angels" moniker, so there's that. That doesn't save this look though. Aside from the overly cartoony look and inclusion of a colour actually referred to as "periwinkle" they had the audacity to go with faux vests. Now I'm not anti-vest. If done right vests look great, much like anything else. If you're going to commit to a vest look full time though, actually commit to vests. The new look not only looks great, but it allows the Angels to own red in the realm of LA baseball. I really dig the red vs blue thing the Dodgers and Angels have going on. The current Angels look is a great example of modern design and traditional aesthetic coming together to create a sharp looking uniform.

NFL

There are a lot of good points in this thread concerning the Buccaneers' upgrade being the best in the NFL. That being said, I went with the Bills here. While the Bucco Bruce look was bad, it wasn't horrible. I wouldn't want the Buccs to go back to it full time, but if they did I could tolerate it. The Bills' 2002-2011 look though? Good G-d. It's downright hideous. It's like they wanted to go modern so they could emulate the Patriots' look, but they couldn't bring themselves to leave their past identity behind completely. The 2002-2011 look is the perfect example of trying to do everything while failing at everything when it comes to uniform design. The new look has its flaws, but it's such an upgrade I am more then willing to overlook every single flaw just because it's not what came before it. It's a solid football uniform that could be better, but is alright as is.

NBA

The Bills' 2002-2011 set comes off as a modern classic compared to the Houston Rockets' pinstriped pyjama look. That has to be one of the worst uniforms in the history of pro sports. I'm baffled by the decision to go with that look after back to back titles in their understated yet unique previous set. The new look, however, hits all the right notes. Red returns as the dominate colour, bringing the team back to its roots. Silver works well given the space themed motif. The striping is modern yet simple, and the R/rocket logo is one of my all time favourites.

Downgrades

NHL

The pre-Edge Blues set was a true modern classic. It was perfect any which way you cut it. Modern yet traditional, sleek yet bold. The Edge switch over ruined a lot of good looking teams. The Flames, Oilers, Islanders, Panthers, Predators, and Avalanche all suffered major downgrades as well. Heck, some of those post-Edge looks are worse then what the Blues went with. The pre-Edge Blues look was so good, however, that their over-piped/melting shoulder yoke look comes off as the worst thing to come out of the Edge redesigns.

MLB

The various blue and orange Astros uniforms get a lot of love around here, but to me the blue and orange always came off as a static look. A team named after the American space program should be progressive, sleek, and a little futuristic. The blue and gold set nailed it. It's one of my favourite baseball uniforms. Now it's rumoured that the team was planning on a re-brand that would have included a new name tied to Texas' railway history, hence the change to the desert-appropriate brick and sand, and old timey classic uniform aesthetic. The team got cold feet, however, and kept the name. The result is a team named after the space program that's decked out in a traditional, classic look that uses a desert themed colour scheme. A total clusterfvck all around.

NFL

Talk about a true synthesis of traditional and modern. The 1980-1996 Cincinnati Bengals look took a traditional design, Colts/UCLA stripes, and infused them with a bit of modernity, the tiger stripe pattern. The helmet embraced the tiger stripes and managed to look both progressive design-wise and good at the same time. The uniforms received a tweak in 1996 that perfected the look, placing the excellent leaping tiger mark on the sleeves. Then they went with....whatever it is they wear now. The B logo is uninspiring, the wordmark is cookiecutter, the number font is out of place, the sleeve striping, which should be easy to get down, looks weird, and the side panels, while neat in theory, just muddle the whole look. The only redeeming thing in the current Bengals uniform set is the helmet, which they kept unchanged from the previous set.

NBA

Seeing the Pistons in teal, brick red, and black still looks strange. It would be like if the Philadelphia Flyers decided to go teal and purple because someone in marketing thought it would lead to an increase in merchandise sales. Now I love the post-90s look, and I love the modernization of that look they came out with in 2001. Like so many other teams they jumped on the teal bandwagon in the the 1990s, but at least most of the teams that went that route were expansion or relocated teams, so a fresh identity grounded in the decade that marked the franchise's birth/rebirth seemed appropriate. For an established team like the Pistons, however, it just seemed out of place.

[Morgan33]

NHL Downgrade

To me the look of the Dallas Stars has been one continuous downgrade since 1994-95. The inaugural jerseys were perfect, sporting a fresh, unique colour scheme in which there was actual contrast between the green and black. The Green Bloc Numbers on those jerseys looked spectacular.

Then a year after moving, they darkened the green to the point where it was hardly visible against the black forcing them to go with mismatched white numbers on the roads. The addition of "Dallas" to the logo was completely unnecessary as well considering there was already a script on the pants (also ruined during this change).

I've omitted the All Star template uniforms because they were a definitive improvement over the 1995-98 ones (but not the originals) so we'll fast forward to the biggest downgrade yet. If removing green entirely from the black wasn't unforgivable enough, they also saw fit to replace an attractive striping pattern with 4 thin awkwardly placed stripes on sleeves and demoted their logo to the shoulders in favour of a generic, collegiate looking script. The numbers are mismatched, triple layer on the road while the home has two layers, and little to no black appears on the white in spite of being their primary colour. The whole look comes off as lazy.

[ARTnSocal]

On the Sabres 2006 / 2007 look both myself and several other Sabres fans had said it it, nice uni / lousy logo... ditch the slug, and replace it with the jumbo B with the sword going thru the 'B' ... and we got us a nice looking uniform set. it was very rare shade of blue ......

Not ALL Buffalo sports teams need uniforms with a damn Bison on them. I think the BUFFALASLUG poisoned everyone's sense of reason as it was just so bad .....

The goat was a goat ..... there was just no getting around it. A big mess.

There was a good point made about the St Louis Blues .... that was a great uniform .... 'til the Edge came onto the scene and ruined it.

Morgo ... I agree with every point you're making on the Stars.

There's nothing positive to say about the 2002 - 2010 BILLS ... only that the blue on blue monochrome wasn't the original set.. why'd we have to wait 9 years to realize just how bad they were one will never know.....!!!!

I'll pass judgement on the BILLS 'till after I see them game worn and the blue away pants brought out with the white jersey... they've gotta be teasing us about that !!! So far I like what I see ....

[hockey week]

I definitely agree on the bengals. How hard is it to keep the tiger stripes (which are a uniquely fantastic design element) confined to strips on the sleeves and pants (and helmet, obviously, but that hasn't changed) rather than letting them explode all over the design to create crazy mashups?

The Coyotes looked much better when they had hemline stripes, though the addition of shoulder yokes on the white edge jerseys was a very welcome change.

The biggest downgrade in the Stars' history has to be:

Right before the franchise moved south. I've said before that I wasn't a huge fan of the very mismatched home and road (It should take as much flak as the Wild do now for the same problem), but it went from unique to bland really quickly.

and honestly, as far as the Edge switchovers went, I thought the Blues came out as one of the better ones. Sure, it's incredibly reebokified, but it's probably the most consistently reeboked. Hell, it's tampa-bay-style socks away from being the full package. Unlike the aforementioned Coyotes, it wasn't simply removing hemline stripes, or creating a diaper look (see Blackhawks reds), they really went all-out futuristic and somehow, I'm ok with it. idk, am I the only one that thinks that way?

[Legend]

I like this thread.

Downgrades:

MLB-

I think the biggest downgrade in all of sports history goes to the Devil Rays. From a unique color and cool name, to a terrible set of colors and terrible excuse for dropping one part of the name.

Dishonorable mention- Cleveland Indians. The removal of the chief logo and moving to just a big C is awful.

NHL-

Tampa Bay has a knack for downgrades for sure. The hockey team recently decided to follow suit and just destroy their identity.

(See signature)

Honorable mention- Buffalo Sabres. In colors and logo. And I wasn't huge anti-slug, I just really liked their black/red look.

NFL-

I don't like the new Chargers unis/look. It's just a throwback style, but keeping some modern and adding powder blue, a color I hate in sports aside from UNC.

Dishonorable mention- 49ers reverting back to their vintage look. So bland and terrible.

NBA-

Grizzlies. I was close to picking the 76ers, because that was horrible. But the Grizzlies downgrade was even worse going from a mean bear to a teddy bear and nasty colors.

Dishonorable mention- Philadelphia 76ers. Just a plain throwback that lacks any pop.

Upgrades-

MLB-

Diamondbacks. I loved the red and black look, a huge upgrade over the purple and teal. The new recolored logos look ten times better.

Honorable mention- Blue Jays. I never liked the old Blue Jays logos and colors. I think the new logo and colors are a huge improvement, much more modern.

NHL-

Phoenix Coyotes. I liked the old uniforms, but I really like the new colors and uniforms. Turned out really good.

Honorable mention- Washington Capitals move from original red, white, and blue. The green and black with the eagle was a great look and much better than the bland old logos.

NFL-

Seahawks. Tough between the Seahawks and Lions since I feel they both did a stellar job of upgrading and modernizing a good logo/uni set, without ruining it.

Honorable mention- Detroit Lions. Loved the addition of black and new lion logo.

NBA-

Bucks. Keeping the logo but adding the red really set it apart for me. I think the upgraded big time with the different colors.

Honorable mention- Nets upgrade to current look. The new Nets logo is a nice logo, but more importantly a big step up from the gradiant style from before.

[ARTnSocal]

> >

MAJOR Downgrade in 2002:

Major Upgrade 2011:

(Thank-you God!!)

[Morgan33]

Right before the franchise moved south. I've said before that I wasn't a huge fan of the very mismatched home and road (It should take as much flak as the Wild do now for the same problem), but it went from unique to bland really quickly.

This was definitly a downgrade for the North Stars... The North Stars had arguably one of the best identities in all of hockey. That being said the original St^rs jersey was still the best look Dallas ever had. Speaking of North Stars downgrades here is another.

>

The double striped North Stars jerseys from the 70's were the best in franchise history. Adding Black to their look was completely unnecessary. Might even be the first instance of BFBS in the NHL.

[hawk36]

The old 2009-2010 Sounders were in need of tweaking but the 2011 version is a major step backward

1. Dark shoulder stripes on green not as appealing as white stripes on green

2. Crazy silver bra straps don't work at all

3. Smaller crest combined with larger sponsor wordmark makes crest very weak

4. Adidas logo moved over and up looks undesigned.

[ARTnSocal]

I like this thread.

Honorable mention- Buffalo Sabres. In colors and logo. And I wasn't huge anti-slug, I just really liked their black/red look.

NFL-

I don't like the new Chargers unis/look. It's just a throwback style, but keeping some modern and adding powder blue, a color I hate in sports aside from UNC.

CHARGERS: So it's the modernized alternate you don't like, rather than the AFL powder blue throwback??

.... I really liked their all-white throwbacks with the black shoes that they wore at KC in 2009.

Someone posted a SD throwback with a slightly darker 'collegiate blue' the other day that John Hadl was wearing in 1965, it looked superb!!!

SABRES: Were you referring to the 'Goat' uniforms, or the red alternate with crossing Sabre swords? The latter I liked, didn't particularly care for the Goat.

[ARTnSocal]

RAIDERS (1969)

▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼

RAIDERS (1970) Upgrade

▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼

RAIDERS (1971) Downgraded back

▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼

[Corvus]

The old 2009-2010 Sounders were in need of tweaking but the 2011 version is a major step backward

1. Dark shoulder stripes on green not as appealing as white stripes on green

2. Crazy silver bra straps don't work at all

3. Smaller crest combined with larger sponsor wordmark makes crest very weak

4. Adidas logo moved over and up looks undesigned.

If MLS clubs change their jerseys (kit, whatever) as often as European teams, then there should be a new shirt pretty much every year or two right? Hopefully those wont last long.

[ctk]

i'm surprised this one was passed over becauase it seems very obvious to me (but then again i am a fan of the team)

serious downgrade:

to

the uniprons for a franchise (at the time) that had won two stanley cups, home to future hall of famers joe sakic, patrick roy, peter forsberg, and maybe milan hejduk was a joke. a debachle really. this was for a team that did not change their colors or logo a change for change sake when they did not have to change a thing to their designs (see: devils, new jersey, also a team that had won multiple cups and home to surefire hall of famers). it was a 90s design with a 90s logo, but you know what, i think that it was a design that could have lasted through time.

dishonorable mention to the smurfipron design. while teal is a team color, it does not look good with maroon as an accent color. get rid of the maroon accents and swap it out for a royal or a navy blue and it looks at least tolerable. then again you could then say the team was joining the blue for blue sake bandwagon sweeping across the nhl the last few years.

to

i liked the inagural thrashers set. the only thing they needed to do was match the uniform crest. the T or the bird, it didn't matter to me but they needed to match. when they introduced the powder blue third i thought it was what a third should be- unique but not something that should be worn fulltime.

then they made it the primary.

that was one of the worst downgrades i can think of in my memory. if anything i am glad that the thrashers no longer exist so i don't have to see that powder blue third jersey all the time

HOWEVER

they did do a major upgrade on the third. i liked that third. it had "atlanta" colors included, the red specfically. and it looked like a serious jersey that could be made a primary that had longevity.

[Morgan33]

I agree with everything you posted... except for this...

they did do a major upgrade on the third. i liked that third. it had "atlanta" colors included, the red specfically. and it looked like a serious jersey that could be made a primary that had longevity.

You're kidding me right? That had to be one of the worst jerseys not only in Thrashers but NHL history.