A very good Saturday morning, Uni Watch readers — I hope everybody has had an excellent week. Did something fascinating occur this week with MLB uniforms? Seemed kinda quiet spherical these components.
Anyhoo.
In a short respite from the, ahem, sheer pleasure of baseball jersey and pants screwups, I’m welcoming again Chris Diamond, who has one other “What if?” phase for our studying pleasure. In the most recent model of his ongoing suppose items, as we speak Chris shall be tackling a helmet design anomaly — there are a number of NFL squads who’re named for birds, but their helmet designs range from crew to crew. But what if all of them adopted the sample utilized by the Eagles?
Here’s Chris. Enjoy (click on on all pictures to enlarge)!
What If All ‘Bird’ Teams Were Like the Eagles?
by Chris Diamond
Recently I wrote a What-If? sequence on excessive uniformity that speculated what NFL groups would appear like in the event that they had been below a set of strict type guidelines. One of the casualties of the principles was the Eagles famed winged helmet (solely easy aspect logos had been permitted). And that received me questioning… there are a number of different ‘bird’ groups within the NFL and none of them use that winged helmet type. The Eagles have used it since 1954 and it will be tough for a crew to undertake that type now with out everybody accusing them of copying! But what if different groups had used that type in order that it didn’t appear to belong to the Eagles? After all, in faculty Oregon, North Texas and Rice have (or had up to now) a winged helmet. So what would possibly The Cardinals, Falcons, Ravens and Seahawks appear like with this type? And are there another non-avian groups which may work with this look? For every of the groups I’ve taken some liberties with their present set as these ideas aren’t meant to be easy helmet replacements. For every I’ve given my verdict on how they examine with the present set. YMMV as standard after all.
The Cards present helmet brand is after all the Cardinal head so I attempted to make the wings in identical heavy black define type. I additionally stored the uniform as basic as potential, simply added the Cardinal head as a sleeve brand as I felt that wanted to be on the uniform someplace. I made the visor white as there is no such thing as a gray or silver within the uni and cardinal or black made it look too un-cardinal like.
Verdict: I feel it seems good, however the Cardinal head is superior.
The present Falcons unis are black heavy so this model honours that, however ditches the funky quantity font and aspect panels. I’ve made the wings the identical type because the wing of the Falcon of their present brand and I feel all of it seems fairly sensible.
Verdict: nearly as good as their present helmet.
Of course the Falcons even have uniforms that function extra crimson, so I’ve additionally achieved a model primarily based on their 1978-89 set tweaked to go higher with the brand new brand. I’ve to say I choose the Falcons on this look and the wings are lots clearer on a crimson helmet!
Verdict: undoubtedly an enchancment.
Baltimore Ravens (Purple)
I’ve by no means appreciated the Ravens black helmet and purple jersey mixture. I’ve all the time felt they need to go for each black or each purple and so I’ve explored these two choices right here. First is the all-purple look. The Ravens have an old alt logo that has a Raven with wings so I’ve primarily based my wing design on that. I’m positive somebody will say it seems a bit too Vikings-like (and maybe that’s why they by no means went the all-purple route) however as a design I a lot choose it.
Verdict: The present helmet raven head disappears at any distance making the helmet a messy mush so it is a large upgrade for me.
Baltimore Ravens (Black)
The second Ravens choice is the all-black look. Now I do know there may be an excessive amount of black round and they’re in a division with two different black groups, however I somewhat like this look. I may have stored the wings black (like with the Falcons) however I assumed the purple wings stood out a bit higher, and naturally the Raven head brand is purple so its wings needs to be purple actually!
Verdict: one other upgrade on the present helmet.
Seattle Seahawks (Navy)
The Seahawks had been a little bit of a tough one. They solely have ever had one alt logo to function a full seahawk and I may have gone with that for the wings, nevertheless it didn’t really feel prefer it fitted very effectively. There are quite a lot of full seahawk ideas floating across the internet that go higher with their native American design ethos, however we’re on somewhat skinny ice right here cultural appropriation smart! So I attempted to create one thing primarily based purely on the wings image that options closely of their uniform somewhat than the seahawk itself. I’ve additionally tweaked the uniforms a bit. I’ve eliminated the chest bands and collar stripes, made the pant stripes multi-colour and added a navy internal define to the quantity to make it clearer.
Verdict: I feel it seems good and would make a pleasant alt-helmet for the crew, however I feel the Seahawk head brand simply seems higher!
Seattle Seahawks (Blue)
This yr the ‘hawks broke out a cool throwback set primarily based on their old blue/inexperienced ones so I assumed I do a model primarily based on that too. In this case I simply went with a really symbolic wing design primarily based on the blue inexperienced stripes. I used to be impressed by an unused design I did for the Seattle Wings from my What If the AFL Never Existed? Piece from final yr.
Verdict: Like the navy model though this seems good the Seahawk head simply seems higher!
So that’s it for ‘bird’ groups, however are there another groups that would use the same type of helmet design? Well in case you suppose again to the old WLAF there was the Birmingham Fire who had a helmet that featured wing-like flame decals. Now the Tennessee Titans brand additionally options flames so what would possibly they appear like utilizing that type?
Tennessee Titans
For the Titans I’ve stripped their over-fussy sword-themed, funky numbered uni proper again to fundamentals, then added the flaming helmet.
Verdict: A large upgrade on their present set!
Thanks, Chris! Yet one other very enjoyable “What if?” phase — and it’s undoubtedly fascinating to see how non-Eagles chook groups look when given the Eagles remedy.
Readers? What say you?
Guess the Game from the Scoreboard
Guess The Game…
…From The Scoreboard
Today’s scoreboard comes from Kelly Hannon.
The premise of the sport (GTGFTS) is straightforward: I’ll publish a scoreboard and also you guys merely establish the sport depicted. In the previous, I don’t know if I’ve ever fully stumped you (some are simpler than others).
Here’s the Scoreboard. In the feedback beneath, attempt to establish the sport (date and site, in addition to remaining rating). If something noteworthy occurred through the sport, please add that in (and in case you had been AT the sport, effectively bonus factors for you!):
Please proceed sending these in! You’re welcome to ship me any scoreboard pictures (with solutions please), and I’ll hold working them.
Guess the Game from the Uniform
Based on the suggestion of long-time reader/contributor Jimmy Corcoran, we’ve launched a brand new “game” on Uni Watch, which has similarities to the favored “Guess the Game from the Scoreboard” (GTGFTS), solely this one requested readers to establish the sport primarily based on the uniforms worn by groups.
Like GTGFTS, readers shall be requested to guess the date, location and remaining rating of the sport from the clues supplied within the picture. Sometimes the sport ought to be considerably simple to determine, whereas in different situations, it is perhaps fairly tough. There will normally be a visible clue (one thing odd or distinctive to 1 or each of the uniforms) that can make a optimistic identification of 1 and just one sport potential. Other instances, there could also be one thing vital concerning the sport in query, just like the final time a selected uniform was ever worn (one among Jimmy’s authentic solutions). It’s as much as YOU to determine the sport and date.
Today’s GTGFTU comes from Landon James.
Good luck and please publish your guess/reply within the feedback beneath.
And lastly…
…that’s going to do it for the early article. As all the time, my super because of Chris for his latest “What if?” sequence, this time for winged helmets! Really enjoyable piece.
I’ll have at the very least two further articles later (perhaps extra), plus the Ticker, so ensure that to maintain checking again. And after all, if any uni information breaks, I’ll have that as effectively.
You guys have a terrific Saturday and I’ll catch you again right here tomorrow morning.
Peace,
PH
