Five Years of the GUD

by Larry Schmitt

It’s been a while since I’ve written for the blog, and the Gridiron Uniform Database’s fifth anniversary seemed like a good occasion to come back.

I still remember the GUD’s debut on Sunday June 11, 2011 when it was featured on the front page of Uniwatch.

http://www.uni-watch.com/2011/06/12/tim-and-bill-and-robs-nfl-uniform-project-part-iii/

Having been a fan of football history and uniforms since my teens, this was exactly the kind of site I’d hoped would surface one day. I happily clicked away, browsed and explored for hours that Sunday morning, savoring every visual treat.

Of course, much has changed since then.

Originally the site only went back as far as 1933. The years 1920 – 1932 were added incrementally over the summer of 2012, and many of the templates were empty, as photos for that era, especially for the small town teams, are scarce.

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/1924.shtml

According to the sidebar on Bill’s Update page there have been 1,260 updates to the database’s content since a running count was initiated in January 2012. While many were new discoveries, the vast majority represent a collection of adjustments, refinements, tweaks and in some cases, major overhauls that resulted from the relentless and continuous research to provide the most comprehensive and accurate visual library possible.

While there may be times the GUD appears dormant, nothing can be further from the truth.

Most visitors to the GUD are familiar with the names Tim Brulia (historian & researcher), Rob Holecko (webmaster) and Bill Schaefer (graphic artist & researcher), the official owners of the GUD. There also is a network of GUD frequenters who volunteer their time and assist in large-scale projects and/or forward the occasional historical nugget that might lead to a correction.

You can visit the GUD Forum where some of this takes place. The Forum goes all the way back to the GUD’s second day, June 12, 2011. It serves as a quasi-time capsule to many of the early activities, and you can see some of the source material for what is now represented in the database.

http://gridironuniforms.forumotion.com/

My first contribution to the GUD was offering a color photo of the Giants Charlie Conerly in 1948, which led to a correction of New York’s leather helmets for that season.

 

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/images/1948_NYGiants.png

That turned out to be the first of many for me. I often spend my free hours perusing the internet for pro football history, whether it’s statistics, player biographies or old photos. Whenever I came across something I thought was interesting I’d forward it to Bill and Tim for their consideration. Over time, they tutored me on developing a sharper eye for researching, a major part of which was identifying mis-dated photos (you’d be surprised how many exist in the Getty and AP catalogs), as well as discerning the subtleties of interpreting colors from black-and-white photos.

  

Why does blue sometimes appear darker than red, and other times red appear darker than blue? The best answer I can offer is: it depends on who took the picture, what type of equipment was used, if filters were involved, the type of film and how it was developed.

In March of 2013 I was invited (and possibly may have even been the stimulus for) my first large scale GUD project, which we termed “The Great Belt Overhaul.” What simply began as a casual surfing of old Earl Campbell photos during my lunch hour at work dovetailed into the correction of at least a dozen teams belt colors, most of which spanned the 1960’s through the 1980’s.

http://gridironuniforms.forumotion.com/t558-1981-houston-oilers?highlight=oilers

At the time the GUD commonly showed teams with black belts as a sort of default. While discovering that the Houston Oilers belts were white with white pants and blue with blue pants, we noticed that the Pittsburgh Steelers varied yellow and black belts for a similar period. While researching the Steelers we found similar evidence for the New Orleans Saints, and while researching the Saints we found that...well, you get the gist of it. One of our inside saying that we still use came from this endeavor...”While looking for one thing, I found something else...”

It was also at this time that most of my efforts were transferred to email, rather than the forum. I do occasionally add to a thread in the General Comments section of the forum, just for the fun of it. It’s been going for about three-and-a-half years now.

http://gridironuniforms.forumotion.com/t540-mud-games

Since that time, some of the other large scale projects undertaken have been the addition of the USFL database in November 2013, the addition of officials’ uniforms in the May of 2014, 2015’s deep-dive project into newspaper archives that resulted in the GUD having a nearly complete photographic record of preseason games dating back to 1950, and the debut of AFL II earlier this year.

You’ll also notice that the ongoing endeavor to represent every regular and post season game on a weekly basis currently goes back to 1937, save for a small handful of games from the 1940’s where we haven’t discovered a photo yet.

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/weekly/1937/1937wk2.shtml

My conservative estimation is that the GUD currently displays 14,320 weekly matchups in full color – where else are you going to find information like that? And you the reader can be confident that what is displayed is accurate, as no stone had been left unturned while researching libraries and newspaper archives. If a photo cannot be found to back it up, then the templates are left blank. Guesstimations are not good enough.

To that end, while most of us conduct our research online through newspaper archives and libraries, Tim has taken several sojourns to the Library of Congress in Washington DC and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

While I most enjoy researching the first three decades of pro football – essentially the leather helmet era – I have one modern era project that I remember fondly. One weekend morning in April 2014, while casually looking over photos of the Dan Fouts-era Chargers, I noticed some irregularities in the orientation of San Diego’s lightning bolts on their pants.

I broadened my search to include the 1960’s and found that not only were they facing multiple directions – they could be forward or backward and upward or downward – but over the years the bolts themselves changes shape and size.

I began saving photos in files broken down by era, and while the bolt placements was often erratic, I was able to nail down the style of the bolts definitively. Did you know from 1961-65 the bolts on San Diego’s pants contained eight points on each side, while all other years through 1987 they had seven?

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/images/1964_SanDiego.png

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/images/1971_SanDiego.png

Or that the only year with uniform bolt orientation was 1984?

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/images/1984_SanDiego.png

I’m not sure if Bill recalls this project as fondly as I do. Initially frustrated at the challenging work, he diligently forged a system - over the course of a full year - to accurately present what you see in the San Diego database today. His ultimate balance of persistence and patience paid off in a big way.

Bill himself handled the 1992-present day Chargers bolts research, and along the way picked up on number font variations.

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/images/1993_SanDiego.png

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/images/1995_SanDiego.png

I guarantee you won’t get this attention to detail anywhere else.

So, what’s next? I don’t want to give away too much, but sometime in the near future, the weekly matchups are likely to extend back a few seasons further, and the other AFL’s will ultimately take their rightful place to complete the presentation of every major professional football league over the past 96 years.

There also has been a recent boon in discoveries of missing teams from the 1920’s. Many of the templates that appear blank today will be replaced by full color representations of what these pioneers of the game we all love today wore on the gridiron in near anonymity over 85 years ago. 

Ongoing corrections and enhancements are always taking place. Recently, many teams have had their catalogues refined with what we call the two-tone effect on their pants (the result of two differing materials, usually with the front being a shiny, satin-like quality). 

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/images/1975_LosAngeles.png

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/images/1971_Dallas.png 

There also has been a recent emphasis on fine-tuning jersey number fonts and sizes as well as leather helmet styles. Some of these differences can be seen in places like the weekly matchups as gifs when multiple styles were worn concurrently.

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/weekly/1941/1941wk3.shtml

The research section also is updated regularly. Among the information readily available is a log of every instance of and NFL team wearing white at home since 1957 and what is believed to be the most comprehensive representation of helmet decals anywhere.

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/research.shtml

Rest assured, all of these will be updated continually as the 2016 NFL season proceeds.

Earlier this year, Rob gave the GUD itself a face lift. The front page has been reorganized to better display the content that is available. Several of the pages inside are now sortable, making navigation easier.

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/nflchampionships.shtml

He also added some new features that highlight historical facts and firsts.

http://www.gridiron-uniforms.com/GUD/firsts.shtml

All that great information aside, what I appreciate most about the GUD is that it is a community. Right from the very beginning Tim, Rob and Bill welcomed all visitors not only to enjoy the content that was presented, but take part in the collaborative journey that is the GUD. They allowed an obsessive fan like myself to feel like a part of the group.

I'm looking forward to the next five years and all the discoveries that await us!

Say It Ain't So, Joe...er, George!

by Bill Schaefer

Many of you, I'm sure, have seen at least parts of the collection of Merv Corning's artwork similar to the George Halas image, and others, above. Mr. Corning was commissioned by the NFL to create the images for the book "The First 50 Years" in 1969. Similar drawings of Ernie Nevers in his Duluth Eskimos uniform and Bronko Nagurski in a psychedelic 1936 Bears uniform have been carved into our collective football souls. But never, never, never, did I believe for a single second that, if by chance one of these famous drawings could be incorrect, it would happen to be the above drawing of "Papa Bear" George Stanley Halas. Recent evidence has turned up that this uniform, very likely, was not worn until the following year (1921), when the Bears Staleys moved to Chicago.

This marks the second time in the last few years that we at the GUD, along with the help of our loyal viewers and contributors, have discovered an erroneous, long-standing misconception of a very early League franchise. If you remember back to October, 2012, our own Tim Brulia penned an article posted on Uni Watch explaining how, despite the claims of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the 'bumblebee' uniform that was made into a throwback jersey that the Steelers have worn the past two seasons and attributed to the 1934 season, had, in fact, only been worn in 1933 (along with the equally detestable 'City Seal' jersey).

As THE Bears fan residing in GUD, it pains me to say that it is extremely, 100% likely that the Chicago Bears organization has NOT always worn navy and orange. "Sacrilege," you say? I couldn't agree more. Up is down. Black is white. Cats and dogs getting along. We're talking the seventh sign of the apocalypse here!

How could this happen? All football fans with a shred of League historical knowledge know how George Halas, a University of Illinois alum, purchased the Decatur Staleys and remade them in the image of his alma mater donning the navy and orange that the Bears have worn for almost 100 years. What we have discovered, with the help of a contributor, identified as "LJP," that no fewer than 6 different articles from the 1920 Decatur Review refer to the Staleys as wearing red (or crimson) jerseys.

Two possibilities exist. The first option is that the reporter for the Decatur Review was color blind and his editor didn't notice any of these 'errors.' The second option, and dare I say the more likely of the two, is that the Staleys actually wore red. In hindsight, I guess we should have seen this coming. After all, since the story goes that he remade the team in the image of the University of Illinois, the Staleys HAD to have been in something else besides navy and orange to necessitate that subsequent change in the first place.

While we don't have enough to substantiate the reason for this discrepancy in the history of the Bears' organization, enough is known that we can assemble a viable postulate for the circumstances surrounding what likely happened over 90 years ago...

In 1920, George Halas moves to Decatur, Illinois, to take a position with the A.E. Staley Company, a starch manufacturer. For the sake of argument, let's assume that the Staley Co. bore red in its logo and the team was supplied with red jerseys. The team takes a financial loss in 1920 despite superior play and Halas buys the team in order to move them to the big city, Chicago. There is a suspicion that a condition of the sale, likely an advertising ploy, is that Halas must retain the team nickname of "Staleys" for one year after moving to Chicago. This would explain the single year of operating as the "Chicago Staleys" in 1921. However, Chicago already boasts a professional football team, the Cardinals, who wear...you guessed it...red jerseys (technically maroon but definitely in the same 'ballpark'). That year Halas refurbishes the team in the navy and orange image of his beloved alma mater, the University of Illinois, in order to appeal to local fans and eliminate any chance for confusion with the Cardinals. With the conditions of his purchase satisfied, in 1922, Halas renames his team the "Bears" because football players are larger than the baseball-playing denizens his team will be sharing Wrigley Field with, the Cubs, thus creating a timeless link between the two franchises. 

There is even a distinct possibility, though unsubstantiated at this point, that the Staleys continued to wear red jerseys early on in the 1921 season before eventually changing colors at some time in midseason but that remains unconfirmed at this point.

Here are the snippets from the Decatur Review that have been brought to our attention...

September 29, 1920

October 3, 1920

October 10, 1920

October 11, 1920

October 25, 1920

December 11, 1920

Because of this preponderance of evidence, the GUD is changing the image for the 1920 Decatur Staleys to a crimson/red version of their jerseys, assuming that the general design was correct and the colors, only, were incorrect. We are, however, holding off on changing the 1921 image to include additional red combinations until such a time as evidence is produced proving that they were, indeed, worn after 1920.

Hopefully, my fellow Bears fans can come to grips with this as I have.

Bill Schaefer

Week 16 Weekly Uniform Rankings

We at the Gridiron Uniform Database hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas and we all would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you a very Happy 2013!

#16. Raiders-Panthers: OAK in white/silver, CAR in black/silver. If it weren't for the touch of blue on the Panthers, this would resemble an inter-squad game. As such, this is a bit of a dullard for me. This is one of the more lackluster matchups for the season, sorry to say.

#15. Patriots-Jaguars: NE in white/silver, JAX in black/black. The Jaguars miss a beautiful opportunity when they switched to the all black look. This game would have been a real good matchup. But then...well, never mind. Sorry, Pats. You deserve better.

#14. Giants-Ravens: NYG in white/gray, BAL in alternate black/black. It took the Ravens until Week 16 to bust out the all black uni. Wish it would have been until Week 36. I'm not a fan of all black. Much prefer purple/black for the Ravens. Working against the Giants white and gray with red as the dominant trim color, it was a missed opportunity. 

#13. Bills-Dolphins: BUF in blue/white, MIA in white/white. Lots of white, one jersey, two helmets, two sets of pants. So with that in mind, we have to look at the trim colors. And they do help out. A bit. orange, red, aqua, blue does provide a good mix of secondary colors to the white's utter dominance here.

#12. Chargers-Jets: SD in white/navy, NYJ in green/white. Good looking game, not great. Could have stood to see the Jets in all green, but after being shamed by the Patriots on Thanksgiving night in that get-up, maybe the Jets thought it a good idea to park that combo.

#11. Colts-Chiefs: IND in white/white, KC in red/white. Colts in the staid but true all white with all blue trim and the Chiefs in the staid but true red jerseys and white pants. No surprises, but there doesn't have to be here. 

#10. Falcons-Lions: ATL in white/white, DET in honolulu blue/silver. Falcons in the blah all white combo, but that is offset by the Lions eternally smooth shade of blue and the silver with the hint of black. Falcons red trim does do this one a little bit of justice.

#9. Bears-Cardinals: CHI in white/navy, ARZ in red/white. Decades ago, these two were crosstown rivals. These colors hearken back to those long ago days. Very bright matchup, with the navy, red, white, and tastes of orange and black. 

#8. Bengals-Steelers: CIN in white/black, PIT in black/yellow. A lot of black to be sure, but the orange and yellow make up for that some. If the Bengals would have rocked their orange socks here, that would have really perked this one up.

#7. Browns-Broncos:  CLE in white/white, DEN in orange/white. Did you ever think I'd say something like "too much orange??" Well, there is plenty of it here. But really, I'm not complaining. Brown and dark blue act as trim colors and it's refreshing to see a very unusual combo of trim colors supplementing orange as a dominant color. 

#6. Titans-Packers: TEN in white/light blue, GB in green/yellow. This is actually a rather a jarring matchup. A very modern-like look in the Titans various shades of blue against a very traditional Packer uniform. As such, it's a beauty.

#5. Saints-Cowboys: NO in black/gold, DAL in white/mint. After 11 straight games in the black pants, the Saints revert to the gold pants. It works well here. Metallic colors work well, even if they don't align properly on their own teams. Good job, guys.

#4. Redskins-Eagles: WSH in white/yellow. PHI in green/white. You gotta give the NFC East bunch some credit. They have a load of diverse colors. With this game, it means that the Redskins will have shelved the burgundy pants for the entire 2012 season. And here, that isn't really a bad thing at all. Eagles green plays well on the Redskins garb.

#3. Vikings-Texans: MIN in all white, HOU in dark blue/white. This is a rather nice array of color. Purple, yellow, blue, red. A nice spectrum, even if conservatively used.

#2. 49ers-Seahawks: SF in white/gold, SEA in navy/navy. A traditional/contemporary matchup. The Seahawks feature one of the better dark/dark looks in the NFL and going against the gold shades of the Niners with the bright red trim on the white jersey, this is very much an eye pleaser.

#1. Rams-Buccaneers: STL in white/dark blue. TB in red/pewter. This is a sweet one. Just one instance of white, the Rams' jerseys. Then you have red, blue, pewter. And a little gold and a little black. A good mixture of color. Thumbs up!

Week 15 Weekly Uniform Rankings

For the first time in a couple of seasons, we have a color vs color matchup. We also have a second week of the wearin' of the Hall of Fame 50th Anniversary patches.

On the whole, I happen to think this week was - top to bottom - perhaps the best one of the season. 

#16) Jaguars-Dolphins: JAX in black/white, MIA in mono white. Had the Jags went all black, this might have been the thumbs down matchup of the season. But they salvage a little something with the white britches, which gives this matchup a flicker of life. Just a flicker.

#15) Buccaneers-Saints: TB in white/pewter, NO in all black. Hmph. No TB white pants, again. Tsk. No NO gold pants, again. So this was - in a sense - predictable. If one change could have brought this one to the fold, it would have been the Saints in gold pants. That would have been an awesome play of the mteals at work. No gold, no go to this matchup.

#14) Panthers-Chargers: CAR in all white, SD in navy/white. Just not feeling love for this one. Not sure why. They are good uniforms on their own, but together, it doesn't mesh. The Panthers in all white and baby blue socks, the Chargers in navy with white pants aand navy socks. Put 'em together and it adds up to meh.

#13) Broncos-Ravens: DEN in all white, BAL in purple/white. Ravens should have gone purple/black in this one. Would have given this matchup a little life. Instead, we have a bounty of white that relegates some vibrant colors like gold and orange to a trim status. But one question: Why no HOF patch on the Ravens' jerseys??

#12) Vikings-Rams: MIN in white/white, STL in blue/blue. Rams have gone all season wearing blue pants with blue jerseys. I find that just a little peculiar. But it does work in this one, against the Vikes in white. Gold and yellow as supporting trim colors.

#11) Colts-Texans: IND in white/white, HOU in navy/white. Colts in that oh so white look, with the Texans in modern navy with a hint of red trim. For whatever reason, this is a pleasant look to me, when I think early this season, I would have said, "yuck."

#10) Bengals-Eagles: CIN in white/black, PHI in green/white. The season's last Thursday nighter features some - but not a lot - of color. Some green, orange and a good bit of black. Glad the Bengals broke out the black pants. Made this a very good matchup.

#9) Giants-Falcons: NYG in white/gray, ATL in red/white. A lot of red, but a lot to like. Red is used very nicely here. The right amount of blue and black, as helmet colors. Sweet pairings at work.

#8) Steelers-Cowboys: PIT in black/yellow, DAL in white/mint. Ahh, Steelers-Cowboys, three Super Bowls were played with these two in almost exactly the same look. It does hold up well. The colors evoke titan epic battles, with some sweet colors. A winner, then and now.

#7) 49ers-Patriots: SF in white/gold, NE in navy/silver. Metallurgy at work. Gold and silver, or as Burl Ives sang it a long time ago, "Silver and Gold." Plus the red trin on the Niners and the predominant navy of the Patriots. One of a number of good matchups this week.

#6) Chiefs-Raiders: KC in white/red, OAK in black/silver. This uni matchup goes back decades, and it's just as good as ever. This is a prime example of when good looks come together, they become even better. No, not the glory days of this rivalry (definitely not!), but still it looks mighty fine.

#5) Jets-Titans: NYJ in white/green, TEN in two-tone blue. Oddish pairing of color, but a boss one. The green pants worn by the Jets really pumps this one. I think this is my favorite uni combo worn by the Jets and against the columbia/navy of the Titans, it's a spot on fit.

#4) Lions-Cardinals: DET in white/silver, ARZ in red/white. OK, I am over my snit about the Cardinals shelving the red pants for 2012. And so, without pretense, this is actually a pretty fair matchup. The cardinal red goes smoothly up against the silver and honolulu blue. And, yes, the white pants work better than the red pants would have.

#3) Seahawks-Bills: SEA in gray/gray, BUF in blue/white. Played in Toronto, this game features the first time for the Seahawks in the "wolf" gray jerseys going against the Bills in that vibrant blue jersey. I happen to like it. A good shade of gray, that wolf. This works great against the Bills with the blue and just the right amount of red, as well as they green and navy trim of the Seahawks. Thumbs up, eh?

#2) Redskins-Browns: WSH in white/yellow, CLE in brown/white. Biy, do these two bring out the best in each other's looks. The color is great. Burgundy, yellow, orange, brown. Late autumn in all its brilliance. One of the better ones for Week 15.

#1) Packers-Bears: GB in white/yellow, CHI in throwback navy/white. Sweet! Y'know, when the Bears really did wear this gear, the Packers usually also wore navy jerseys as well! But that's ancient history. The Bears throwbacks work well and they remove the "C" from the helmet to give it more...old-timiness. Packers in one of the nicest white jerseys there is. Great matchup.

Week 10 Weekly Uniform Rankings

One word for this week's pairings: Bor-ing.

We had a total of 12 teams in the monochrome look. Four in an all-dark look and an amazing eight teams wearing all whites. It made for a rather disappointing week of uniform pairings. Anyway, let's get on with the review.

#14. Colts-Jaguars: IND in all white, JAX in all black. If you are old like me, you might recall a big hit that the band Three Dog Night had in 1972 with "Black & White." Very similar scenario here. Indy in white helmets, white jerseys, white pants. At least they wore blue socks. For the Jags, it was black from head to toe. A yawner.

#13. Falcons-Saints: ATL in all white, NO in all black. The Falcons in the all white, which I do not find anywhere near as appealing as the sweet red jerseys, and the Saints, in a look I normally prefer, the all blacks, but not this week. The gold pants would have helped a lot in what turned out to be a rather dismal week, uni-wise.

#12. Chiefs-Steelers: KC in all white, PIT in black/yellow. Hoping against hope that the Chiefs would buck the all white trend for the week and stay with the brilliant white/red combo. But alas, the white conspiracy continued with the Chiefs - wearing my least favorite all white combo of all - against the Steeler standard of black/yellow. Ugh. Chiefs, if you're going to go all white, at least wear your handsome red socks! This is just too much vanilla for my taste. Steelers, what can I say?

#11. Bills-Patriots: BUF in all white, NE in navy/silver. Not sure if I would have preferred the Bills in blue pants or not. With all of the other all white combos, I do think the blue pants would have been, all right! Pats in the normal navy/silver combo. That saved the day.

#10. Titans-Dolphins: TEN in lightblue/dark blue, MIA in all white. Loads of shades of blue present here, with the columbia and navy blues of the Titans and the aqua tones of the Dolphins. A healthy present of white as well with the helmets and all of that Dolphin white. I'll take it, but not by much.

#9. Jets-Seahawks: NYJ in all white, SEA in all navy. Yeah, the honeymoon with the Seahawks new threads comes to an end. The all white and all dark, one of four games in a similar matchup, just takes its toll on me this week. Would have been great if the Jets had rocked their green pants and/or the Seahawks had trotted the new gray pants. Oh well.

#8. Rams-49ers: STL in all white, SF in red/gold. Yet another all white look, but saved by the Niners in their bright scarlet red and gold. Here's one game where the blue pants would have jumped the ranking a notch or more, but the blue and gold act as a good compliment to those brilliant reds. No matching ties with this encounter.

#7. Raiders-Ravens: OAK in white/silver, BAL in purple/white. A lot of color, even if much of it is muted (silver, black, purple, white and a touch of gold), it is - for this week - better than average. There are days when I like the Ravens in purple/black and there are days when I like the Ravens in purple/white. Today, I like the purple/white. It goes better this week and I think it works better with the Raiders standard white/silver fare.

#6. Texans-Bears: HOU in white/navy, CHI in navy/white. A lot of navy and a lot of white, and just not quite enough orange and red. Since these two teams on their own have greater than average looks, I do give it a (slightly) greater than average ranking.

#5. Chargers-Buccaneers:. SD in white/navy, TB in red/pewter. The Bucs get away from the early season WAH's and settle into the cozy red and pewter homes. Chargers add the compliment with the white jersey-navy pants combo. A pleasant sight to the eyes.

#4. Cowboys-Eagles: DAL in white/mint, PHI in green/white. Familiar teams, familiar unis. And compared with the rest of the NFL matchups this week, familiar is good. Very good. Contrasting jersey/pants combo makes for a soothing Sunday night.

#3. Lions-Vikings: DET in white/silver, MIN in purple/white. Normally a rather routine matchup. But in a week of white-white and dark-dark, this is an above the fray type of matchup. Good colors, good trim. honolulu blue, silver, purple, hints of black and yellow. Score one for the old guard.

#2. Broncos-Panthers: DEN in all white, CAR in all black. Oh Lord, another all white against all bla....wait a minute! What??? The Panthers rocking ALL BLACK? What?? They also are wearing the carolina blue socks??? Never before! Yay-yuh!! I grant this game a massive pardon and bestow blessings on this matchup. I think this one caught everyone off guard, because the Panthers rarely go outside of the box. But in a week of monotone, this one sticks out like a sore, nay two sore thumbs. And both thumbs point skyward in approval.

#1. Giants-Bengals: NYG in white/gray, CIN in black/white. This is a bounty of color. blue helmet, orange helmet, white jersey, black jersey, gray pants, white pants, red socks, black socks. A delicious palette of colors. Ace matchup.

OK fans, Hopefully my uniform grouchiness will fade with the Week 11 matchups! Guys, all I'm asking for is a little bit more color!

See you then!

Week 6 Uniform Matchup Rankings

In a minute, the Week 6 rankings.  But first, here is Rob to tell you a bit about things going on here at The Gridiron Uniform Database.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Thanks, Tim.  First I want to publicly recognize here in the blog your appearance on the Leatherheads of the Gridiron's podcast, "Gridiron Greats."  Tim (who was introduced as the "owner" of our site) did us proud in an almost 45-minute interview where he talked with hosts Bob Swick and Joe Squires about our site and other interesting stuff like his collection of Super Bowl game programs.  (He has every one)  The show is geared towards memorabilia and collecting, but it was an interesting discussion none-the-less.

You can download the mp3 of the appearance here.

Another thing I wanted to mention, in sending me the commentator listings for this week from his research over there at The506, (where Tim is one of the curators of all of the historical announcer information that you see here on our site), Tim also included the game announcers from NFL games played 50 Years Ago this week in 1962.  (I swear, we're not trying to steal a similar idea from someone over at that other site.)

As you all know, while we like to think that we have already included a quite impressive amount of information of pro football uniforms from 1920 to the present, we have easily 80% of the task still to go.  A lot of the time-consuming entry of weekly and matchup pages is simply just going to take a lot of time.  So we are going to continue to try making headway towards our ultimate goal of completeness by adding the 1962 season, beginning with the current week 50 years ago, and working forwards and backwards from that point.

This week, I have added 1962 Week 6 (and AFL Week 7), and next week, we'll shoot for adding Weeks 5 and 7, and continue to build from there.  Also, if you go to the 1962 season page, you'll now see links to the weekly pages, and we will be adding these to the other years in coming days as well.  I know there are a lot of older matchup pages that I have added to the database, but frankly, there is no easy way to see how they are indexed and which ones are included, so I will be adding these 'weekly indexes' at the top of all of the year index pages in coming months.

Now back to Tim with the Weekly Uniform Rankings.

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#14. Colts-Jets: IND in all white, NYJ in green/white. The safe way to go for the Jets. I would have preferred the Jets in a green/green get-up. So, this then becomes a rather mediocre matchup. Plenty of white, if you like that.

#13. Bengals-Browns: CIN in black/white and CLE in all white. Back in week 2, these two played each other with the Bengals doing a rare turn of white at home (WAH), forcing the Browns to wear brown jerseys for the first time in the regular season since 2010. This time, the Browns return the favor. Lots of orange and the Bengals play it conservative with the white pants instead of black pants. It's OK.

#12. Rams-Dolphins: STL in all blue, MIA in all white. Mono a mono from head to calf. It's a so-so look. Were the Rams to go blue/gold and the Dolphins to go white/aqua, OMG...But alas. Still some good color here, blue, gold, aqua, orange. Just not enough of it here.

#11. Patriots-Seahawks: NE in white/navy, SEA in all navy. While I have bought into the Seahawks new sweetness, it doesn't work against the Patriots standard white/navy away combo. Seattle could have busted out gray pants, and that would have helped. Just too much navy leaves me blue.


10) Bills-Cardinals: BUF in white/blue, ARZ in black/white. WHA...? Bills in BLUE pants?? Yay-yuh! Oh yeah! Woo-hoo! This is the bes...oh wait, Cardinals in black jerseys instead of red??? Um...never mind. Next, please.

#9. Lions-Eagles: DET in white/silver, PHI in green/white. This looks a little too much like a Cowboys-Eagles matchup, with the Eagles fanbase normally in venom mode. With the Lions in town instead, I think this game would have been better served for all involved if the Eagles would've gone WAH to force the Lions to rock honolulu blue. Good, not great.¹

#8. Cowboys-Ravens: DAL in white/mint, BAL in purple/black. Cowboys in the normal mode with the Ravens again rocking the purple and black. Yup, I like it. When the Ravens brought the NFL back to Baltimore in 1996, this was what they wore at home. They have resumed this look in recent years and I think it fit the team image to a "B". Blends well with the Cowboy gear.

#7. Vikings-Redskins: MIN in all white, WSH in burgundy/yellow. This one works. Vikes in the standard purple trimmed whites and the Redskins continue to spread good cheer with the burgundy-yellows. A very nice look here.

#6. Steelers-Titans:  PIT in white/yellow and TEN in columbia blue/navy blue. Nice color contrasts here. Black, yellow, and two shades of blue. Both teams in three separate colors for the helmet, jersey and pants. May not be the best matchup, but an upper echelon one for sure.

#5. Giants-49ers: NYG in white/gray, SF in red/gold. Nice load of reds in this one. Could have been a pinch more blue here, but the red is nice and blended with good doses of blue, gray and gold. This is traditional and traditionally good.

#4. Raiders-Falcons: OAK in white/silver², ATL in red/white. Really gave the bum rush to the Falcons last week, but this week is much nicer with the Falcs in the red, and it's a good contrast against the rather muted Raider aways. Dig it.

#3. Packers-Texans: GB in white/yellow, HOU in dark blue/white. A better than average matchup. No surprises and none needed. A good blend of good colors, white, green, yellow, dark blue and good ol' battle red. Certainly goes in the win column.

#2. Chiefs-Buccaneers: KC goes red/white, TB goes white/pewter. Nicely done. Bucs shun the white/white for a better look with pewter pants³, and bounces well off the Chiefs red and white tradition. An above average matchup.

#1. Broncos-Chargers: DEN in all white, SD in powder blue/white. One of those games where the team that wears a very popular (and justly so) alternate that will ratchet up the matchup no matter what the other team looks like. This is certainly the case when the Chargers - all too rarely - break out the powders. The Broncos are the opponent and are wearing the navy based whites with the touch of orange.

Back next week. Till then, Peace Out.⁴

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¹- Could have been worse, they could have dressed like this.
²- Whenever I see Oakland in road unis in a dome, I think of this game.
³- Like all of the Weekly Rankings, the opinions issued in the Weekly Rankings are only those of Tim Brulia, and not necessarily in agreement with everyone's opinion at the GUD. I (Rob) happen to prefer my Bucs in white pants and hate the pewter pants. The white/white is fine, but I happen to think their best look is the red/white, which they seldom wear. Still he put the Bucs at #2. Also, I would have had the Bills-Cardinals much higher. Even with the Cardinals' BFBS (which I actually don't think is that bad (gasp!), the debut of the Bills' blue pants would have easily been Top 5 and probably #1 for me.
⁴- What's with the footnotes? I don't know, maybe I've been reading too much Bill Simmons lately.