Football Nostalgia
Baseball, at least in the States, is our most nostalgic sport. I think that’s mainly due to its age and the fact that stats drive it more than any game. That goes to more than just old players and stadiums but also to uniforms. I hate today’s uniforms, for the most part. The Astros rainbow units of the 70s and 80s have character. Today’s unis don’t. They all look the same.
The same can be said for the NFL. I was watching the NFL Network today while playing Blokus with the family, and they were showing the 1980 Falcons/Cowboy playoff game. I really liked those red Falcons uniforms with the red jersey and red helmet. Vintage Steve Bartkowski. I also liked it back in the day when a defensive lineman looked human rather than like an ogre that just swallowed a deer. But that’s a story for another time. But seriously, Cowboys HoF DT Randy White weighed 255 pounds. In 1980. 255! Anwyay…
It got me thinking about some of the NFL uniform changes that I wish they hadn’t made.
Personally, I like colorful uniforms because I think they add uniqueness and character to a team’s look — I also like the ‘bland’ uniforms like the Browns wear. I like Pittsburgh’s, and Chicago’s and Green Bay’s. When the Browns went to that all orange jersey for a few games…man it was hard to look at.
I really don’t like the “new” uniforms in Denver, Buffalo, New England, and Cincinnati. I never have. Give me the orange crush (although I despise Denver), and the red, white and blue Pats unis with the Patriot on the helmet over that swoosh thing they have now any day of the week. Steve Grogan, baby! I don’t mind the striped Bengals helmet (the old helmet was really bad) but the stripes on the unis look tacky. The NFL shied away from the more garish unis — remember the old Tampa Bay ones? I think I am in the minority here but I really liked those. I liked the Rams back when they were yellow and not “off-gold.” What was wrong with the old Rams unis? Why did they change the secondary color?
Of course a lot of this is I am sure based on the fact that I grew up with a lot of the older uniforms. The Broncos have just never looked right in that blue thing they wear today. Maybe it’s just me.
July 30th, 2006 at 6:45 pm
I’m a Patriots fan and I like the old unis better.
July 30th, 2006 at 8:12 pm
I second that. Pat Patriot > Flying Elvis.
But then again:
Flying Elvis 3 Super Bowl Wins out of 4
Pat Patriot 0 Super Bowl Wins out of 1
July 31st, 2006 at 9:13 am
Not just you Bill, I miss the old unis, and players who aren’t genetic freaks full of HGH and designer steroids.
The NFL came on to British TV in 83, and I remember Madden going on about how massive Joe Jacoby was at 300lb. He’d be the lightest player on the line now - you’ve got QBs and RBs at 270. And if anyone tells me that the average size of a player can rise by 15% in 20 years because of better nutrition, they had best be fooling themselves because no-one else is buying it.
Anyway, rant over. Almost all the modern uni makeovers are a disgrace (Broncos, Cards, Bills, Seahawks), but as a Bengal fan I can make one statement without fear of seeming OTT.
The person responsible for the new Bengal kits should be taken out to midfield in PBS and shot dead.
And then burnt on a bonfire made up of those horrible shirts.
July 31st, 2006 at 9:23 am
Dave, I never asked you this — how did you become a Bengals fan?
July 31st, 2006 at 9:56 am
Bill
It’s 1982, and a 17yr old English kid catches a show on Sunday evening on a new TV channel - Channel 4 (and guess how many channels there were on TV at that time…in total).
The show is a one hour weekly NFL show, with one main game and short highlights of the others. I have no relatives or other connections to the US, and am therefore free to pick any team.
If I had been sensible, I’d have gone for the Redskins, Raiders, Cowboys, Bears, Packers like everyone else seemed to. But Mancunians are sarcastic, contrary creatures, so I went for the one that was most middle of the road, with the smartest kit..guess who.
So began 23 years of Bengaldom, primarily awful, occasionally robbed (1986, 1988, 2005), very occasionally brilliant.
Marvin’s made them trendy…I’m considering dumping them for the Cardinals.
July 31st, 2006 at 10:04 am
The Cards are just as trendy now, though. You should go with the Browns. We’re as untrendy as it gets.
July 31st, 2006 at 10:41 am
I couldn’t bring myself to follow the Browns, not after years of slagging them off.
Trouble with parity is that teams don’t remain crap for long enough (with a very few exceptions). At least in soccer I can support Man City safe in the knowledge that they will not achieve anything in my lifetime.