When Is A Logo Not A Logo?

I'm going to start this entry with a shameless plug. Three weeks ago, I was tinkering with MS PAINT (GUD's graphics program of choice) and I figured out a way to create a metallic effect for helmets so that they didn't look like they were just grey or light brown. Since I had created the effect for the new 2019 Jets' metallic green helmets, I figured I could pull off the same treatment for other gold and silver metallic helmets. After much trial and error, I was even able to create a 'glitter' effect for teams that used helmet paint with all of those little, tiny sparkles in them that, well, 'sparkle' when the light hits just right. Every team requiring such details has been edited in such a way that I hope it more accurately displays the metallic appearance of those helmets that require it. Here is an example.

12/31/67 - HOU @ OAK

Notice how we can show the Oilers' metallic silver as having a bit of blue tint to them as opposed to the more pure silver of the Raiders' helmets. More importantly, we can make the Oilers' helmets look better than simply being solid grey as to which we were previously limited.

Why bring this up other than, as I said, to shamelessly plug the metallic helmet versions? Well, as in the case with so much around here, one thing usually leads us to something else entirely in a totally unintended circumstance. Case in point, while looking for color photos that would help me perform the above mentioned updates of metallic helmets, our Larry Schmitt noticed something that had gone unnoticed...a mystery number font worn by the Vikings in 1966-67 featuring extremely thin numbers that was inter-mixed with their normally worn number font.

10/30/66 - SF @ MINN

For comparison, here is Fran Tarkenton in a more customary Vikings' jersey that same season.

11/27/66 - GB @ MINN

To further demonstrate how things happen, Larry took it upon himself to investigate the surrounding years to see what other seasons in which this font may have appeared. While checking out 1969, easy to validate due to the "NFL 50" patches worn around the League, Larry spotted another unusual font.

11/9/69 - CLE @ MINN

This font stood out because whether Vikings were wearing their typical Pro-Block font or even the newly discovered 'skinny font,' having a sans serif font was unheard of. As it turns out, this new sans serif font was only worn by a small number of players during a limited few games late in the 1969 season.

But I do not want to distance myself too far from the original purpose here. Rounding up photos of every Vikings game from 1966-69 made me realize...the helmet logo we were using was completely inaccurate and unacceptable for our 'just get it right' mantra around these parts.  Here is the single-bar helmet we have been using to represent the first 6 seasons of Viking football.

Using this universally accepted logo that can be found nearly anywhere on the internet, this has been appearing as our 'go-to' helmet logo for the entirety of 1961-2006 for the Vikings. However, here is an actual photo from the team's first season.

11/19/61 - DET @ MINN (Getty)

Setting aside the obvious color discrepancy of the helmet shell (which has been adjusted for throughout their entire team history, as well), what else do your eyes notice about the comparison of the two logos? I notice the size of the horn at it's base. It is as large as the facial opening of Tarkenton's helmet. I notice the gold ring. The ring on the helmet goes from about 7 o'clock counter clock-wise up to about 1 o'clock. The digital logo we had been using goes from maybe 8 o'clock to 2 o'clock. Edits needed made. Additionally, look at the length of the horn. It is much larger and wraps completely around to the back of the helmet. This would make seeing the entire logo from a side view almost impossible. This also needed adjusted. So I went about making these changes - enlarging & elongating the horn and rotating the gold ring.

But then I came across this photo.

10/23/66 - MINN@ BALT (Getty)

Not only does it show the horns running all the way back to the center ridge of the helmet, but the top of the horn is nearly flat with very little curve upward. This is also, actually, the case in the 1961 photo above. The linemen have their heads facing at a down-angle. If we were to rotate their faces to a horizontal plane, these horns would also appear just as flat as in the above 1966 photo, allowing for the rear curvature of the helmets. 

So after first adjusting about 20 years-worth of helmet logos, I set about re-working them all with this new, additional refinement - essentially doubling my workload. But as I proceeded through, I began to wonder...if the horns are nearly flat on the helmet, why do all of the available graphics show an up-turned tip of the horn?

The answer would arrive in 1976. First, a view of 1975 still showing the nearly-flat helmet horn.

12/28/75 - DAL @ MINN (Getty)

Now take a look at 1976. Note the up-turn of Tarkenton's horn tip. This is a wonderful photo because it also displays the back of Chuck Foreman's helmet showing not only the up-turned horn tips but also the fact that the horns have been shortened a bit and no longer extend all of the way to the center ridge line of the helmet.

12/11/76 - MINN @ MIA (Getty)

Here is the upward turn in 1977.

9/18/77 - DAL @ MINN (Getty)

This would become the version of the horn that would be used up through the completion of the 2005 season.

There is one other tidbit related to this Vikings' crisis. Between 2007 and 2011, after redesigning their entire uniform in 2006, the Vikings wore throwback uniforms for select games those seasons. Apparently honoring the past, the horns for 2007 mimicked, in smaller form, the original, flatter version of the horns. However, in 2008, the up-turned version of the horn was utilized. The Vikings returned to the flattened version for each season between 2009 and 2011.

So I broach the question again. When is a logo not a logo?

The Chiefs can answer this. Their helmet logo has lower tip of the "C" angled while all of their commercial and merchandising logos have a horizontally-flattened end on the "C."

The Chargers can answer this. Their commercial and merchandising logo has always been much stouter than the bolts that actually adorned their helmets for most of their 60-plus seasons.

Now the Vikings' 'stubby horn' can be added to this infamous list of inadequacy.

Bill Schaefer

* Note - A few photos have turned up alerting us tho the fact that 1975 was a mixture of both the flattened horn and the upturned horn. Gifs have since been created for 1975 reflecting the fact that the 2 helmet logos were both being worn throughout the season. - B.S. 6/20/20

What's Cooking?

The offseason is in full swing but we, at the GUD, are never offseason.

Unless you've been living under a rock, you and everyone else in the uni-verse are aware that, not only did Tampa Bay unveil a new helmet a few weeks ago, but, when promising some other uniform updates - while not being anything 'major' - the Bucs pulled a fast one and really let us have it with a complete overhaul.

Many have said "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I tend to agree. However in working to put together the Bucs' GUD graphics for this season, I have to admit that they are growing on me a bit. Like others, the number font sponsored by Timex, Rolex, Seiko, TAGHeuer, or whomever is still an issue. Given time, I think we'll get used to it. It's not corny like the Vikings' numbers which sometimes have wings/sails/ship parts and sometimes they don't. My question revolves, though, around the 'shininess' factor itself.

Billy Sims, 1980, courtesy Getty Images.

From 1979-81, the Lions wore blue home jerseys that had numbers and stripes that had a metallic, sparkly appearance. After 1981, the NFL made them ditch it. It escapes me as to whether the change was necessitated by the shininess factor itself or whether the numbers (and stripes) added an extra grippy-ness when the ball was held against any of these areas in a fashion similar to the aptly named grip-strips that were attached to many jerseys back in the 1920s and 1930s.

If the shininess was the reason the Lions had to change their jerseys, why would Tampa be allowed to use a similar luminescence 35 years later?

But I digress.

In case you haven't looked recently (past month and a half), Rob has been working diligently to use the offseason's downtime to install dozens of updates to the site since late January and more are yet to come.

On the horizon is a major update that involves a team's entire history.

We will be updating the entire 1960-current history for the Kansas City Chiefs. You may have noticed that the red for the Chiefs (especially in the last 20 years or so) just isn't right. We think so, too. Along with updating the color for all of the Chiefs' images, I am also making modifications to their helmet history. I was never happy with how the early variations were being depicted. I've got it covered now. Their are also some sleeve modifications and revised placements for manufacturer's logos thrown in as well.

This is the second franchise that's gotten a facelift on our site in the last few months. In Rob's updates you'll find where we've updated San Diego's shade of navy from 1989-2006. They now possess the same shade of navy as division rival Denver.

There's another large project that we've got under wraps. We're taking baby-steps on it and every time we get a chance to jump in with both feet, someone (Tampa Bay) grabs us and says "Not so fast, guys. Deal with this first!"

There's never a dull moment here at the GUD so stay tuned!!!
Bill Schaefer

The First World Championship Game: AFL vs NFL

The First World Championship Game
by Rob Holecko

When the NFL Champion Green Bay Packers and the AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs met 45 years ago today in the first game that would grow to be annual spectacle that we now know of as the Super Bowl, it was little more than an afterthought.  The Packers had just wrapped up their 10th NFL Championship against the Dallas Cowboys and were heavily favored to beat the underdog Chiefs.  The AFL Champion Chiefs were hoping to show that an AFL team deserved to be on the same field as the NFL Champion.

The Packers dominated the Chiefs and won 35 to 10.  They would win the following Super Bowl as well, but the AFL's Jets and these very Chiefs would Super Bowls III and IV, and the merger became complete with the former AFL teams gaining full acceptance as equal and full competition for their more established NFL counterparts.

For more in-depth information on this game, you can read the Wikipedia entry on it here.

Also January 15 is the anniversary of one of the best Super Bowls ever played, the 1978 season's Super Bowl XIII.  The Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys met for the second time in four Super Bowls, and both teams were in their third Super Bowl in the past five years.  The game went back and forth, a key drop by Cowboys TE Jackie Smith in the end zone was the difference in a 35-31 Steeler victory.

We are proud to add these two games, the first ever "Super Bowl" and one of the most exciting Super Bowls, to our collection of matchups in the Gridiron Uniform Database.  We plan on rolling out a new feature in the coming days showcasing all of the Super Bowl matchups, so stay tuned for that.

~ ~ ~

Also, we are closing in on 100,000 visitors (not unique visitors -- I know it's many of the same visitors who keep coming back, but still) -- thank you for the continued interest in our site.  Speaking of which, we wouldn't have been able to do this without Uni Watch, and this morning I clicked my shortcut to uni-watch.com, and this came up:

I don't know if I'm just navigating wrong or something happened to their site.  I hope they didn't get hacked or anything.  Maybe some right-wing nut job just is having some fun, who knows?  Anyway, if anyone knows anything, or they get it fixed, let us know in the comments.  (This just in, Uni Watch's front page is back up.)

~ ~ ~

Steve Young threw six touchdowns
in Super Bowl XXIX, a mark that
Tom Brady tied yesterday

Of the two games yesterday, the only real question was would the Saints come out in white-over-black or white-over-gold.  Tim Brulia & I guessed the white-gold, while Bill Schaefer went with white-black.  They did go with white-gold, but it wasn't enough to defeat the 49ers, who prevailed on a play eerily similar to "The Catch II", the 1998 playoff game against the Packers which featured Terrell Owens catching a touchdown down the middle of the field between defenders and coming off the field in tears, hugging coach Steve Mariucci.  Yesterday Vernon Davis caught a touchdown down the middle of the field between defenders and came off the field in tears, hugging coach Jim Harbaugh.

In the other came, Tebow-mania finally came to an end as the Patriots routed the Broncos.  Tom Brady tied Steve Young and Daryl Lamonica's postseason record of six touchdown passes in a game.

Enjoy the Texans-Ravens and Giants-Packers games today! These both should be pretty predictable matchups, the Texans always go white-over-navy wearing white on the road, and the Ravens, considering it's a day game, we expect will be in purple-over-white, as Tim said, "BAL likely in Purple/white, but I'd be thrilled if 'the team I love to hate' went purple/black."  (Added: This just in, Ravens are in purple/black -- see picture to the right -- so I guess we can color Tim thrilled!)
  
The Giants and Packers should, of course, have no uniform surprises, either, as they re-stage the 2007 NFC Championship Game today. Unfortunately for the Giants, they won't be able to count on Brett Favre throwing a critical late-game interception this time.  If the Giants should pull off the upset, we'll be looking at re-match of the 1990 Giants-Niners NFC Championship that bigbluelarry told us about earlier in the week.  Otherwise we'll see another classic Niners-Packers playoff game.

The Longest Game Ever

The Longest Game Ever
by Rob Holecko

While Tim's Christmas Eve post yesterday summed up our feelings around here and gratitude to everyone who has helped us make this website be what it is during this first year, those feelings of gratitude are dwarfed by the excitement that we feel in anticipation for how much this site can and will grow in the next couple years as we see just how little we have on the site as compared with what it will be when complete.

To that end we offer another small Christmas present to our visitors.  We have slightly revamped the navigation for the 'Head-to-Head Matchups.'  You will now see on the front page to the left of the web-visitor counter (which by the way is now at 95,000) links which will help you easily find matchups by week, by team, and by year.  Also there are links to the 'Randomly Added', 'All-Time Post-Season' and 'Historical Head-To-Head' matchups.  When clicking on to these pages, you can see truly how little of the vast collection of complete head-to-head matchups we have done, and how much work there is to go.  But, of course all of the yearly graphics, which are accessible by the year and team links down either side of the webpage, are available, and if there is a particular past head-to-head matchup you would like added to the database, just let us know and we'll add it.

Another new feature, to the right of the web-counter, you will now see links to the most recent blog entries, so you do not have to click into the blog to see if and when it has been updated.  I know at times we have updated daily, while at times during the school year we just haven't had time to update it more than weekly, so now you will know wherever something new is there just by a quick look at the front page.  You can also subscribe to the blog here.

Now onto the main subject of today's Christmas Day blog, the "On This Day..."

~ ~ ~

"On This Day..."

In 1971, the Chiefs and Dolphins met in an AFC Divisional Playoff game.  The Chiefs had been to two of the first five Super Bowls, having won Super Bowl IV, while the Dolphins were making their second consecutive playoff appearance, in Don Shula's second year.  Both teams were 10-3-1 and had the two best records in the conference, but under the system then teams in the NFL playoffs were not seeded, but merely rotated among the three division winners and one wild card team.  (The same system, which would the following year see the 15-0 Dolphins play on the road in the AFC Championship game at Pittsburgh, would be abandoned a few years later.)  So the top two seeds met in the divisional playoff round on Christmas Day, while the Central Division champion Browns and wild card Colts would meet in the other divisional playoff, the following day.

What makes this game special is that it was tied at the end of regulation, and after a 15 minute overtime period with no scoring, for the first time ever, an NFL game went to a second overtime.  To this day, only four games have gone into a second overtime, yesterday we told you about the 1977 Oakland-Baltimore game, and a game in 1987 between the Jets and Browns and the Panthers-Rams game a few years ago were the other two.

This exciting game is described as follows in Wikipedia:

In the longest NFL game played to date at 82 minutes, 40 seconds (and the Chiefs' last-ever game at Municipal Stadium), Miami kicker Garo Yepremian kicked the winning 37-yard field goal after 7:40 of double-overtime. The Chiefs jumped to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter with Jan Stenerud's 24-yard field goal and quarterback Len Dawson's 7-yard touchdown pass to Ed Podolak. But the Dolphins tied the game in the second quarter with Yepremian's 14-yard field goal and running back Larry Csonka's 1-yard touchdown run. The teams exchanged touchdowns in the third quarter before Podolak scored on a 3-yard run in the fourth period. But Miami quarterback Bob Griese threw a 5-yard touchdown pass to tight end Marv Fleming to tie the game. Podolak returned the ensuing kickoff 78 yards to the Dolphins 22-yard line before being shoved out of bounds by Miami's Curtis Johnson (cornerback), giving Stenerud a chance to win the game for the Chiefs in the final minute of regulation. But he missed the field goal attempt from 31 yards and the game went into overtime.

Kansas City took the opening kickoff of the first overtime period, but Stenerud 42-yard field goal attempt was blocked. Yepremian also attempted a 52-yard field goal later in the period, but missed. Csonka's 29-yard run in the second quarter set up Yepremian's game-winning score.


Podolak's 350 all-purpose yards (8 receptions for 110 yards, 17 carries for 85 yards, 3 kickoff returns for 154 yards, two punt returns for two yards) in this game remain an NFL playoff record, and is still the fourth highest total in NFL history. "I don't think any one player in a big game, a monumental game like that, had a day like Eddie Podolak had," said Chiefs coach Hank Stram after the game.  Dolphins receiver Paul Warfield finished with 7 receptions for a career postseason high 140 yards, while Dolphins linebacker Nick Buonticonti racked up 20 tackles.

The NFL drew criticism for scheduling games for the first time on Christmas.  The Vikings-Cowboys NFC playoff game was first at 1:00 Eastern, and the Dolphins-Chiefs was the late game at 4:00.  The NFL had previously avoided playing on Christmas, moving both the 1955 and 1960 NFL Championships to Monday the 26th, and in most earlier years, the season was over before Christmas.

Since this game ran so long, it went well into Christmas evening.  The following year, 1972, Christmas Eve fell on a Sunday, and the NFL played two divisional playoff games on Christmas Eve.  The next time that Christmas fell on a weekend in 1977, the NFL played the two AFC divisional games on Christmas Eve on Saturday and the two NFC games on Monday the 26th.  

Over the last few decades, as the season has grown longer, and later, and the regular season now stretches into January, the NFL does regularly play games on and around Christmas, but not night games on Christmas Eve, nor a full slate of day games on Christmas Day.  This year, like in 2005, the majority of the day games were moved to early Saturday Christmas Eve starts, with one or two late games on Christmas Day.  

In '05, the Bears played the Packers at 5 PM on Christmas on FOX, followed by the usual ESPN Sunday Night game between Minnesota and Baltimore, and the Packers-Bears will face off again tonight on NBC.  

NFL Network today will be airing a special on this 1971 Dolphins-Chiefs game, sure to be something not to miss.

We are proud to add this game to Gridiron Uniform Database's collection of randomly added single-game matchups.

You can view other randomly added past games here.

Week 14 Uniform Rankings

While there are still three weeks left in the NFL regular season (which is unfortunate if you are a Buccaneers fan like some of us around here) we have reached the end of the academic year, which for me at least, means I will have more time to devote to the Gridiron Uniform Database.  So check back more often to this blog, as we may, for the time being return to the "daily update" format that was so popular and successful during the summer.  Hopefully in the coming weeks, we'll be able to make a huge dent in the past years head-to-head matchups.  If you have any particular past year matchups you'd like to see, like for instance this one, post a reply or in post it in the forum and we'll add it.  In the meantime, we'd also like to debut a new feature today called "On This Day..."   Every day, from now through the Super Bowl, we'll be featuring a past NFL matchup that occurred on this calendar day.

On This Day...

Today, in the first of this series, we'd like to feature the December 16, 1979 matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs.  This was the Bucs' Cinderella season, after going 0-14, 2-12, and 5-11 in their first three seasons of existence, the Bucs started out 5-0 behind the play of second-year QB Doug Williams, RB Ricky Bell and a great defense led by Lee Roy Selmon and Richard Wood.  After 12 games they were 9-3 and needed one more win to clinch their first ever playoff spot.   With three straight losses, however, to Minnesota, Chicago and the 1-13 San Francisco 49ers, the Bucs' playoff hopes came down to this final game.  A win would mean the NFC Central title, a loss would mean the Bears would take the division and the Bucs wouldn't even make the playoffs.  A torrential downpour caused a sloppy game and a defensive battle against the Chiefs.  One Neil O'Donoghue field goal was the only scoring, and the Bucs prevailed 3-0.

This game was featured on NFL Networks' Top 10 Bad Weather Games of all time, and you can watch the segment on this game here.

We'll be back tomorrow with a great game from a past December 17, and now here's Tim with this week's uniform rankings:

 ~ ~ ~

Week 14 Uniform Rankings

by Tim Brulia

Welcome to the blog for Week 14. No less than 8 games involving all white in the mix:

Browns-Steelers: Browns in looks like a run of the table in white/white this season. Steelers with their second and last game in the black/white throwbacks. Picture yourself at Forbes Field in the 1960-1962 era. Jim Brown and Ernie Stautner. Kind of the same feeling in 2011.

Chiefs-Jets: Chiefs rocking all white for the second straight week while the Jets go green/white. Somewhat of a Holiday feel, but the Chiefs would look so much better in red pants here.

Buccaneers-Jaguars: Battle of Upper Florida. Bucs go white pewter and the Jags with the teal/white. This one I like because the Jags go teal and the Bucs bless us everyone with pewter pants. Thumbs up to these two.

Patriots-Redskins: Pats go white/navy and the Skins, apparently ditching yellow pants for good this season, go burgundy/white. Lotsa color here; silver, red, burgundy, yellow, navy. Like this one a lot.

Falcons-Panthers: Falcons all white and the Panthers go black/silver. The nicest colors, red and Carolina blue, are merely trim colors in this matchup. Alas, a few knockdowns on the list for that.

Colts-Ravens: Colts return to their onetime home in all white and the current Charm City residents go purple/white. A normal but not that exciting matchup.

Eagles-Dolphins: Eagles in the green/white and the Fish in the all white. Again, I am not that worked up over this uni matchup.

Vikings-Lions: Vikes are another team going all white with the Lions in standard Honolulu blue/silver. The purple and yellow trim save this game from being a rather meh affair. Lions still looking good.

Saints-Titans: NO back in the gold pants complimenting the white jersey while the Titans roll with the columbia blue/navy blue look. I happen to think this matchup works well.

Texans-Bengals: The Tex rocking white/navy and the home Bengals go with the black/white get-up. Another combo that fits rather well.

Bears-Broncos: Bears in the white/navy standard and the Broncos show off the all blue look again. Oddly, a little too much dark blue for me. Broncs should've gone with white pants here. Intriguing nonetheless.

49ers-Cardinals: Niners go with standard white/gold and the Cardinals, after keeping the red pants on the shelves all season long suddenly get a case a scarlet fever two weeks in a row. And, the red pants would gone so well earlier, now pose too much red in this matchup. Should've stuck with white pants here.

Bills-Chargers: Bills do the all white thing, but it looks like the white socks are out for the season as they keep with the blue socks. Chargers with their navy/white look. Just once, I'd love to see the Bolts go all navy. Here, it would have been fantastic.

Raiders-Packers: Classic, yet - well - classic. Raiders in white/silver, Packers in green/yellow. Very nice, lads.

Giants-Cowboys: Giants in the blue/gray and the Cowboys in white/quasi-silver. BUT, these are not your normal Giants' blue/grays. They are the G-Men's blue/AWAY grays, where the side stripes are separated and a wee bit thinner than the HOME gray pants, with the blue/red/blue stripes. A nice occasional kink to the standard fare.

Rams-Seahawks: Rams in all-white and the Seahawks, who have never stained a home game in their entire history with a white jersey, go the usual all Seahawks blue. For the horned sheep, I think the gold pants would have been the way to go here. But white - to me - goes better than blue pants for this occasion.


So the Week 14 lineup goes as follows:

16) Eagles-Dolphins
15) Colts-Ravens
14) Chiefs-Jets
13) Bills-Chargers
12) Falcons-Panthers
11) Vikings-Lions
10) 49ers-Cardinals
9) Rams-Seahawks
8) Browns-Steelers
7) Bears-Broncos
6) Buccaneers-Jaguars
5) Giants-Cowboys
4) Saints-Titans
3) Raiders-Packers
2) Patriots-Redskins
1) Texans-Bengals

~ ~ ~

Tim will be back next week with the Week 15 sartorial review, and we'll see you tomorrow with another "On This Day..."

The Boys Are Back

Today we are back in full force from our various vacations and technical malfunctions and are ready to hit this blog today at The Gridiron Uniform Database with a vengeance.  We have no less than 36 database updates to bring you, and we will try to do a huge chunk of them today. ~ ~ ~

     Let's get started with the 1994 and 1995 Raiders. Thanks to Mako Mameli, who brought this change to our attention.  We have added Starter manufacturer logos to the front of the pants.  Discussion is on-going in our forum about the number font of the 1960s Raiders.  I believe at one point we thought it was as simple as the black jerseys always had a particular font, and the white jerseys with the silver-with-black-outline (1963-64 & 1970) had the squared-off numbers and the other white jerseys -- the regular black numbers -- had the standard numbers.  Now, thanks to Mako, we are finding it is more complicated than that.

Cookie Gilchrist of the Bills in a 1962 Preseason tilt against Boston. 
Still undetermined is the status of the Pats' logo-less helmet on #85

     Another change we are debuting today is a 1962 preseason variation for the Buffalo Bills -- they did use this combination shown in this picture, and we are adding it to the database.

     We have made some changes to the 1957 Eagles and Browns, thanks to some images posted to our forum.  For the Eagles, we have changed the pants that they wore with the stripe-less white jersey to the white pants, and for the Browns, we added the preseason variation of number-less helmets.  They apparently waited until the regular season to debut their helmets with the numbers on them.  Thanks go to LarryB and BD Sullivan for this forum thread that brought us these updates.  This whole discussion owes itself to the images available online at the USC Digital Library, which has many 1950s Rams images in its collection.

Here are some images from the USC Digital Library:  1957 Eagles at Rams (left),
1957 Browns at Rams (center) and 1955 Packers at Rams (right).

     In these above images, in the picture on the right, which you can see in more detail here, we are currently looking into the Packers' stripe pattern.  Of this Packers image, our historian Tim Brulia says, "It's from 1955 and the Packers look to be clearly wearing WHITE stripes on the jerseys and socks and WHITE numbers on the jersey. Helmet and pants are clearly yellow."  Debate continues on this issue.

~ ~ ~

     Another preseason change for the 1967 Detroit Lions:  We have determined that for the '67 season, the Lions wore a plain white preseason jersey, similar to the plain blue one they wore in 1968.  Speaking of preseason, tomorrow we will be bringing you Tim's column about some trends of uniform apparel in the history of NFL preseasons that you may have not already known

~ ~ ~

     The 1994 Kansas City Chiefs have also received a minor update -- again it's Mako Mameli pointing out to us that we were missing the NFL Shield logo on the pants for the 75th Anniversary throwbacks.  Thanks Mako for all your contributions, and keep them coming.

~ ~ ~ 

      We still have many more database updates to bring you, but we will save them for another time.  We have more on the 1996-2003 Eagles we discussed earlier this week, plus Houston Oilers and New York Jets changes, as well as a modification to the 1990 San Francisco 49ers, thanks to Larry Schmitt that we have to update.  We'll bring you those in the coming days.

     Yesterday I announced a contest regarding the NFL Network's Top 100 players of 2011 poll that they have been airing this summer.  Tomorrow night at 8 PM Eastern Time they will reveal the top 10.  They have already released numbers 11-100 in the past weeks (to the lower right on this page), and I thought it would be fun to have a contest to pick the order of the remaining ten.  This is similar to a contest we are having at another internet community that I am a part of, and I thought it would be fun to bring it here.  The rules are simple, pick the order of the remaining ten players, you start at 45 points, you get a bonus for getting a player at the right spot (+10 for #1 spot correct, +9 for #2 spot correct, etc., down to +1 for #10 spot correct), and you lose a point for each spot each player of yours is wrong by (i.e you have Brady at #1, he is #2, you lose 1 point; you have Brady at #1, he is #3, you lose 2 points etc.)  Minus-10 is most points you can lose, if a player you select isn't in top 10.  You would score a perfect score of 100, if you get all ten right, while the worst possible score you could get is -55, if all ten of your picks do not make the Top 10.  There is a thread in the forum to enter your picks, so get to it!

     Our other on-going contest is the Best NFL Uniform Of All-Time tournament.  Voting will soon end on the first group of entries, so if you haven't voted on those yet, hurry up and do so.  Monday we will have our second group of first-round match-ups, so be sure not to miss that.