A Week To Go

     We are seven days away from the "official" launch of the website, and on Saturday we made good strides in getting many of the team pages done, with most of the teams from the old AFL being added.  A head start was also made on the year index pages, with 1933, 1934 and 1935 now in.  Those seem to go in pretty quickly, especially the early years with the fewer teams.  The only team page missing at this point is the Chargers, as work continues on the lightning bolt pattern that they used on their pants through the years, as well as a few adjustments to some teams like the Redskins and Panthers that we are still negotiating.

     Some compromises were made on the matter of the pant-striping overhauls that we were considering over the past days.  While our ultimate goal is of total accuracy, we must temper that with the fact that too much unnecessary detail (right) may actually work against us, cluttering up the images and making them less intuitive for the website visitor.
     In particular, the can of worms that was opened by including both left- and right- side views of the Washington Redskins' pant-stripe pattern appeared to be beginning to lead us down a path which would require an overhaul of many teams' images.  So a compromise was reached and rather than include both side pant-leg views on images where the detail was merely mirrored or reversed, we have decided to simply add a note at the bottom of the website explaining that while certain teams' pant-stripe patterns may not be completely identical on both sides, in cases where a view of just one side would be sufficient, in the interest of clarity, that is what is presented.  A more in-depth break down of these teams is available on the 'About The Template' page.

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     Another issue that we decided to put on the back burner was the 1970 New York Giants off-white pants that we viewed in the footage from the preseason game against the Steelers.  While it did appear to be a different shade of white, we decided that they were most likely older pants, or it was just a slight variation, and when presented against the newer jersey tops, which had almost a bluish hue, the color variation likely appeared greater than it was.  Colors fade through time, and our rule of thumb will be to present the colors of uniform features in the color they were intended to be when they were brand new.

     You'll also notice that we have a groovy new banner, we stole it from a interesting website that chronicles the oldest living football players, I hope they don't mind.     

      Well, hopefully many of the year pages can be put in today, as well as the finishing up of the team pages.  The Gridiron Uniform Database is really starting to take shape.

     Coming Monday, a discovery about a team that wore a color in 1942 that we had not been previously aware of, and may surprise you.