Tradition schmradition

[illwauk]

Why is everyone so concerned about names? If you don't have a program, you can just look it up on your phone. It would only take a second.

As a fan, I think having names looks better; jerseys look "naked" without them. I also don't have a smartphone to look up rosters if I'm in the stands. As a non-fan, I am a stats guy and anything that helps me identify players quickly is a big plus.

See, I think names on the back just clutter up the jersey. Especially on basketball and some baseball jerseys where the names have to be arched just to fit the whole thing in. Numbers are more than enough to distinguish teammates from each other. Any information beyond that is what programs are for.

[Fox]

All this tradition schmradition y'all yelling about and yet y'all done missed a blatantly obvious one up there in the northeast: the Boston Celtics.

*ducks for cover

What changes specifically? As a Celtics fan, I would like to see Boston on the regular road greens, the collar piping and pant striping to be cleaned up, possibly a logo on the shorts, and for them to drop the alternate jersey with black. (I don't mind the gold-accent one, though)

I don't think their look is perfect, but what specifically would you do to improve them?

I think the worst of the stupid traditions is the Yankees sticking with their current road grays. Maybe it's just me, but I think their road grays are among the worst-looking uniforms in sports. I understand that the pinstriped homes look great and are classic, but I don't see why the roads need to stay the same.

[cmm]

How about this for a compromise then: the Yankees can keep names off of their road jerseys but have to give every fan in attendance $10 to buy a program.

[BigShoop]

Cowboys

Cowboys

Cowboys

Cowboys

Cowboys

Yankees

Red Wings

Dodgers red numbers

Tigers roads

Cubs roads

USC

LSU helmets

UCLA

Red Sox roads

[kw11333]

How about this for a compromise then: the Yankees can keep names off of their road jerseys but have to give every fan in attendance $10 to buy a program.

Most sports apps give you more info than any program.

[Norva]

How about this for a compromise then: the Yankees can keep names off of their road jerseys but have to give every fan in attendance $10 to buy a program.

Most sports apps give you more info than any program.

And not everyone has smart phones to use those apps.

I don't.

[cmm]

How about this for a compromise then: the Yankees can keep names off of their road jerseys but have to give every fan in attendance $10 to buy a program.

Most sports apps give you more info than any program.

And not everyone has smart phones to use those apps.

I don't.

Fine, only people without smart phones like me and Norva are eligible for the $10.

[Gothamite]

That's what scoreboards are for.

Yankee Stadium in particular has some beautiful ones - even people unfamiliar with the roster have no trouble identifying players on the field.

[cmm]

But scoreboards don't tell you who's in the on deck circle to pinch hit or who's warming up in the pen. And some scoreboards don't have both lineups posted at all times. And if they do post both lineups, not every seat in the house has a view of them.

[rxmc89]

One of the smartest things the NFL did was, with its merger with the AFL, put the names on the back of the players, as the AFL did. It's a league rule.

It also should be a rule in MLB. If MLB wants to be even more fan friendly, then put the names on the backs of the uniforms. Yes, including the Yankee uniforms.

I know, I know. This goes against tradition, and baseball really does thrive on tradition more than any other sport. But I see this as more of housecleaning. It wouldn't

drastically change the uniforms, and it would be a good new tradition.

Totally disagree. I like that MLB is the only league where

names on the back are optional, and that they leave it up to the individual teams.

[TheOldRoman]

For me, having names on the back of the jerseys just looks best. It isn't as much about not being able to tell who the players are as it is generic without the names, like my high school where the varsity team wore the same double knits for a decade without names. "You're a size 44? Okay you're number 12." In my opinion, getting your name on a jersey is a way to say that you are "big time", and it seems amateurish to have pro jerseys in any sport without names. That being said, the Yankees are the lone exception to the rule, as they wouldn't look right with names on their jerseys.

[winghaz]

If you're sitting at home watching a game on TV, you don't really have access to a scorecard.

OK, so you can call it up on the web. But not everyone has access to the web while watching TV.

It also sounds extremely silly when a team says it won't put names of the players on their backs because of tradition. If that's a tradition, then it's a bad one.

[Jungle Jim]

Absolutely nothing is worse than the Steelers' one-sided helmet logo. It's not just ugly, it's dumb.

As for others, everyone seems to love the football uniforms of USC, but they annoy me because they have those modern-ish looking panels on the shoulders of their jerseys and then have racing stripes down the pants. Either do racing stripes or don't.

Also, LSU's helmets seem to be widely liked, but I don't. It looks like someone used electrical tape to form the letters and the tiger is completely indistinguishable from a few feet away...

Those SC uniforms are modeled on their uniforms from the 60s and 70s. I wouldn't consider those inserts "modern."

Well, those are actually throwbacks from head to toe. Not really modern at all. The Redskins used a shoulder insert like that on their feather-helmet uniform as well.

Oh, I knew the shoulder panels went all the way back to the O.J. era. Maybe "futuristic" would have been a better term to use than "modern", in that futuristic seemed to be in fashion in the 60s.

Either way, it seems to be a mix of styles and elements. It didn't look right in the 60s and it doesn't look right today.

Graphic design and industrial design in the 1960s may have been a bit futuristic, but football style in the 1960s was stripes, stripes and more stripes. It was the ubiquitous 'classic' or 'retro' or 'throwback' look. The Packers have a quintessential 1960s uniform. Those shoulder inserts are not futuristic. They give a similar appearance as a solid arm-loop. Think Colts, LSU or UCLA with the center part colored in the same as the outer parts. This isn't futuristic, either. It's simple and timeless, and it's basically the same look as USC, save for the feather on the helmet.

Okay, I'll back way up and simply say that if they're going to have stripes on the pants, there should be matching (or at least semi-matching) stripes on the jersey, and leave it at that. And speaking of USC, I completely neglected to mention that the iconic helmet logo is indistinguishable from just a few feet away. Not a very good design, but it will stay because it's "classic".

[Gothamite]

Agree on USC's awful logo, but not on the stripes. They look good on the pants, but wouldn't fit on the jersey.

But scoreboards don't tell you who's in the on deck circle to pinch hit or who's warming up in the pen.

Yes, they do. On small scoreboards as well as the big ones, so everyone has a view. I'm not familiar with how the Red Sox or Giants do, but the Yankees cover that very well.

If you're at Yankee Stadium and don't know who's on the field, then you're simply not paying attention.

[andrewharrington]

Agree on USC's awful logo, but not on the stripes. They look good on the pants, but wouldn't fit on the jersey.

But scoreboards don't tell you who's in the on deck circle to pinch hit or who's warming up in the pen.

Yes, they do. On small scoreboards as well as the big ones, so everyone has a view. I'm not familiar with how the Red Sox or Giants do, but the Yankees cover that very well.

If you're at Yankee Stadium and don't know who's on the field, then you're simply not paying attention.

Or you could even do it the old fashioned way and write down who the pinch hitter is when he is announced before he comes up to bat.

[_RH_]

I never got the "two stripes on sleeves and pants" with only one (why not two?) stripe on the helmet.

[cmm]

Agree on USC's awful logo, but not on the stripes. They look good on the pants, but wouldn't fit on the jersey.

But scoreboards don't tell you who's in the on deck circle to pinch hit or who's warming up in the pen.

Yes, they do. On small scoreboards as well as the big ones, so everyone has a view. I'm not familiar with how the Red Sox or Giants do, but the Yankees cover that very well.

If you're at Yankee Stadium and don't know who's on the field, then you're simply not paying attention.

You are right, the Yankees do post bullpen warm-ups on the main board. I've never sat in the stands there so I'll take your word on it for the little boards.

My problem is that they don't post them on the boards until the PR staff announces them in the press box, and the PR staff usually doesn't notice them until YES shows them on tv. By that time, I've usually gotten the number of the pitcher and (unless it's Rivera or Joba or Luis Ayala since I remember his crazy motion from the Mets) looked it up. It would be a lot less annoying if they just put the name on the jersey. The same goes for potential pinch-hitters standing on deck.

And one of my other duties when I'm there is to scan the defense for changes between innings to make sure PR--and therefore the scoreboard--didn't miss anything. I obviously can tell if Jeter or A-Rod or Cano is in the game without a name or even number. But I have no idea what Greg Golson looks like or what his number is. Obviously, it's not a huge deal to look up who's who but it would be even simpler with names on the jerseys. (Numbers on the front would be nice too, but I think I might be pushing it too far .)

[Gothamite]

If you're there in any professional capacity, bring your phone.

Don't dumb it down for everybody else because you're in need of information most fans aren't.

Jersey numbers have never been about identification on the field. It's about merchandise sales, and "encouraging" fans to buy new jerseys when #27 is traded and replaced.

[raysox]

For some reason, I don't like Nebraska's set. I normally like sets like that, but something seems off. The sleeve stripes, front patch, and helmet logo I think it is.

[WSU151]

Jersey numbers have never been about identification on the field. It's about merchandise sales, and "encouraging" fans to buy new jerseys when #27 is traded and replaced.

Which is why Babe Ruth never wore a number until jersey sales became big business...

C'mon Goth, that's probably the most ridiculous thing you've said in a long time. Jersey numbers have always been used for identification purposes.