Bill Tweaks The Dolphins

We are back today after a few days off from the blog, as we took some time to revamp the database update displays.  You will now see a link above that says Database Changes, and if you go there you will be able to see corrections that we've made to the database based on your contributions.  If you go to these pages, you will see a desrciption of the changes, as well as the NEW and OLD images.  One thing you can do is open the two images side-by-side in new tabs (if you're using Firefox -- I don't know if IE has tabs) and click back-and-forth between the two images and see the changes.  If you'll go to Update #13 I challenge you to describe in the blog comments the changes in the 1933-39 & 46 Bears.  This is how detailed and detail oriented our website is, specifically the attention to detail that Bill Schaefer has used in our graphics.  When you see how minute these changes are, you'll see just how serious we take this stuff.  The first person in today's blog comments who accurately describes the change in the 1933-39 & 49 Bears images will win a Kit Kat bar.  Bill and Tim, you're not eligible.

Please continue to join in on the fun debating our database images in our forum.  The Best NFL Uniform Tournament of All Time is taking a week off, but you can still vote on Week 3 matchups if you haven't done so already.  We'll be back next Monday with another round of voting.

Today our Bill Schaefer follows up on his monochromatic white article from last week with a Miami Dolphins tweak:

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Any time I set out to make one of these uniform tweaks I know that I am probably going to rankle some of that team’s faithful.  I know that, but bear with me.

I stated in my last entry my nearly complete and total disdain of mono-white. While there were a few exceptions, most mono-whites fall into a negative perception in my eyes.  One that has always bothered me is the Miami Dolphins.  

I understand the reasoning behind wearing the mono-whites at home as it helps to reflect the sun and heat of South Florida.  I also understand the team colors they use and why.  The aqua is, of course, representative of water while the orange represents the Sun. No problem.  I kept both of these for tradition’s sake.  But why not enhance the use of…say…dolphins?  Performing a Google Image Search on bottlenose dolphins, I came across these 2 photos.

The argument has been made that bears aren’t navy and orange; lions aren’t blue and silver; eagles aren’t green, etc.  I don’t dispute that.  However, cardinals are, well…cardinal red so there is a precedent. I’m just suggesting that another color be brought into the Dolphins’ repertoire – grey.

I may be one of the few who actually liked the silver jerseys that New England wore a few times in the past decade but eventually dropped.  This is partially what I based Miami’s new combos on.

I started by redoing the helmet.  Although the helmet logo has been updated and modernized, does it really need the Sun?  I say no.  Does anyone really think “Miami, brrrrrrr?  We’d better show the Sun so people know it’s hot, sunny, and humid here.” I found a Sun-less alternate logo that I think works much better.  I used a dark grey directly from the crown of a dolphin’s head in the earlier photos for the helmet shell.  I made the dolphin in the logo a slightly darker grey than the helmet just for contrast. The aqua and orange are still used for central helmet stripes with a central orange, flanked by the helmet’s grey as a spacer, and followed by thin stripes of the aqua.  I kept the aqua facemask.

Moving to the jersey, I didn’t want to use the same grey as for the helmet for 2 reasons.  First, if the jerseys were that dark of a shade of grey, they’d never get worn and we’d still be stuck watching Dolphins home games with them wearing white jerseys.  Secondly, looking at the dolphin photos, you can see that, as you look from the top of their heads and their dorsal fins down towards their underbellies, the grey actually lightens several shades.  I’ve made the jersey (and pants) into a lighter shade of grey than the helmet. 

I incorporated some orange and aqua northwestern striping on the sleeves.  I also placed identical thin striping down the legs and on the socks.  I always liked the sharpness and simplicity of the thin pants striping on the old Cardinals and Eagles pants. 

Would this ever get used?  I doubt it.  It’s just the artistic version of someone who’s assembled thousands of uniform combinations and would like to fix what he considers broken.  Next week, the Jaguars.