Slater Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Does each NFL team have a unique jersey number font, or do some teams share similar fonts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canzman Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 To my knowledge 17 teams use unique numbers and are as follows:BearsBengalsBroncosCardinalsChargersDolphins (only really due to the drop shadowing)EaglesFalconsJaguarsLionsPatriotsRamsRavensSteelersTexansTitansVikingsAll other teams use traditional block, or a slight variant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bouj Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 We've come a long way from the days of the early 90's when teams wore traditional block or Champion block, and rarely anything else. Were the Steelers' move to that stylized Nike font the first of the custom fonts, or do the Bears or Dolphins pre-date them? Go Astros!Go Texans!Go Rockets!Go Javelinas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Admiral Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 The Bears predate everyone. They've had their numbers since at least the '60s. The Patriots' drop-shadow italic hhad to be one of the first custom fonts. Eagles had their numbers before the Steelers had theirs, too.Ever since the 21st century, every new uniform has been virtually required to use a proprietary font to guard against counterfeiters, who have easy access to public-domain varisty block typefaces. This has made for a lot of weird number sets, like the Cardinals and Vikings who are trying for all the world to use plain old block numbers but still need some quirks to them. EDIT: I suppose this ended with the Bills? ♫ oh yeah, board goes on, long after the thrill of postin' is gone ♫ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOldRoman Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 I think the custom font thing was not to guard against counterfeiters (they make the stuff, anyway). It was so someone couldn't buy a $5 jersey or shirt from Walmart, take it to his local screen printer and have authentic numbering put on. Other than possibly the Packers font with the notch in the 5, screenprinters could likely use any block without having to pay. Yet for some reason, they always end up using the garbage font the Sixers and Jazz use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSU151 Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Admiral is correct...Bears were first, the Patriots had shadow-italic in '95, then the Eagles' font and the Ravens' font debuted in '96 I believe the Niners went full time shadow-block in '96 as well. Steelers, Jaguars, Broncos, and Dolphins changed fonts in '97. Smart is believing half of what you hear. Genius is knowing which half. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BrandMooreArt Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Colts are using Champion block. not sure if anyone else uses it or not. maybe Green Bay? GRAPHIC ARTIST BEHANCE / MEDIUM / DRIBBBLE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOldRoman Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 You must be confused about what Champion block is. For most of us, Champion block is the thick, rounded block numbers which the Bills, Jets, Bengals and Saints wore in the '90s when Champion made their unis. The Colts wore it for a few years in the Jeff George era, but they don't use anything close to these numbers now: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chazberg Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Yeah, you could always tell a Champion font by the awful slanted '2's and curvey '7', not to mention the helvetica-looking nameplates. I remember silently laughing at kids in school who wore those. Kinda like the original Korean counterfeit of the jersey world Personally, I don't think custom fonts need justification, other than they're pretty cool and give a team a unique look (other than the Bengals totally ripping off the Bears). I think in a day and age when we have such ability to do different things with jerseys, why not break away from the antiquated block numbers? charles-noerenberg.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Julius Seizure Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 The Redskins wore something close to Bodoni Bold in 1945....and the Browns wore shadowed blocks when they were in the AAFC. Founder and Commissioner, World Gridiron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOldRoman Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Yeah, you could always tell a Champion font by the awful slanted '2's and curvey '7', not to mention the helvetica-looking nameplates. I remember silently laughing at kids in school who wore those. Kinda like the original Korean counterfeit of the jersey world Personally, I don't think custom fonts need justification, other than they're pretty cool and give a team a unique look (other than the Bengals totally ripping off the Bears). I think in a day and age when we have such ability to do different things with jerseys, why not break away from the antiquated block numbers?Possibly because block fonts aren't antiquated at all and most of the teams which use custom fonts would look better with a variation of a block font. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBTV Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Yeah, you could always tell a Champion font by the awful slanted '2's and curvey '7', not to mention the helvetica-looking nameplates. I remember silently laughing at kids in school who wore those. Kinda like the original Korean counterfeit of the jersey world Personally, I don't think custom fonts need justification, other than they're pretty cool and give a team a unique look (other than the Bengals totally ripping off the Bears). I think in a day and age when we have such ability to do different things with jerseys, why not break away from the antiquated block numbers?Possibly because block fonts aren't antiquated at all and most of the teams which use custom fonts would look better with a variation of a block font.Custom for Custom's Sake is bad, as is Block for Block's Sake. The worst is when the two extremes meet, as seen with the Vikings. They have a "designed" contemporary uniform, yet wanted traditional block numbers, just 'cause. They made minor mods to the block just to make it proprietary, making it a custom block for custom block's sake. They really should have come up with a font that better complemented the design of the uniforms. "The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sc49erfan15 Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 FWIW, the AFL had two teams that used non-block numbers as well:1962 Raiders - in black and gold, with ing huge numbers1960 Oilers - similar to Raiders, worn as part of the 2009 AFL ThrowbacksAlso, during a stint in the 1970s (this photo says 1973) the Bears wore regular block before switching back. Not sure why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheOldRoman Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 The Bears only wore regular block on the road, and I believe it was for one season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slater Posted August 29, 2011 Author Share Posted August 29, 2011 Some of the "blockiest" block numerals I can recall were on the Rams' old Royal Blue/Yellow uniforms, and I thought they worked pretty well. Is there an official name for that particular style? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewharrington Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 Admiral is correct...Bears were first, the Patriots had shadow-italic in '95, then the Eagles' font and the Ravens' font debuted in '96 I believe the Niners went full time shadow-block in '96 as well. Steelers, Jaguars, Broncos, and Dolphins changed fonts in '97.The Bears were not the first team to use numerals other than a standard athletic block. Far from it. Teams had been doing custom numerals decades before the Bears. The Redskins, for example, used both a curly, UCLA-esque numeral as well as a style similar to what the Pirates wear in MLB. The Bears just happen to be the first team who stuck with their custom numerals and made it part of their trademark look. I still don't have a website, but I have a dribbble now! http://dribbble.com/andyharry [The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the position, strategy or opinions of adidas and/or its brands.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andrewharrington Posted August 29, 2011 Share Posted August 29, 2011 On another note, there are a handful of teams that use 'standard' block numerals, however, many of them have little quirks that make them unique, and even teams that share the same torso numerals may use different TV numerals. The company that produces the on-field uniforms, Ripon Athletic, actually has a standard block numeral set that is shared by a few teams (Browns, Chiefs, etc.) This used to be standard practice, as each manufacturer used to have their own unique block numeral set, so the Champion teams would have a certain set of numerals, while the Wilson teams would have another (I think this might be what the 49ers use), and so on.Personally, I wonder if we will see all the block numeral teams switch over to the standard Nike block numerals, which are a bit more crisp and modern than many of the NFL teams' numerals. I still don't have a website, but I have a dribbble now! http://dribbble.com/andyharry [The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily represent the position, strategy or opinions of adidas and/or its brands.] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckeyenut Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 On another note, there are a handful of teams that use 'standard' block numerals, however, many of them have little quirks that make them unique, and even teams that share the same torso numerals may use different TV numerals. The company that produces the on-field uniforms, Ripon Athletic, actually has a standard block numeral set that is shared by a few teams (Browns, Chiefs, etc.) This used to be standard practice, as each manufacturer used to have their own unique block numeral set, so the Champion teams would have a certain set of numerals, while the Wilson teams would have another (I think this might be what the 49ers use), and so on.Personally, I wonder if we will see all the block numeral teams switch over to the standard Nike block numerals, which are a bit more crisp and modern than many of the NFL teams' numerals.I'm sure I have seen it before, but what is Nike block? Who uses it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tBBP Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 Clemson, Missouri, Pitt (now), just to name a few. *Disclaimer: I am not an authoritative expert on stuff...I just do a lot of reading and research and keep in close connect with a bunch of people who are authoritative experts on stuff. || dribbble || Behance || Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shumway Posted August 30, 2011 Share Posted August 30, 2011 FWIW, the AFL had two teams that used non-block numbers as well:1962 Raiders - in black and gold, with ing huge numbersI honestly had no idea Tommy Gibbs played football. I'm stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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