Week 4 Uniform Matchup Rankings

Here we go:

15)  Jets-Titans:  NYJ in white/white, TEN in columbia blue/navy blue.  Rams, THIS (Jets) is "white everything!"  Titans, with their third home game in four weeks, already sport dark at home.  While the all white of the Jets is almost blinding, the Titans come to the rescue with the two-tone blues.  Still, not quite enough to save this game from the Meh stage.

14)  Redskins-Raiders:  WSH in white/yellow, OAK in black/silver.  Thinking the Skins in burgundy pants would have increased the sharpness factor a number of notches, but I understand those have been put to pasture.  Still, this is OK, paired up against the standard black and silver of the Raiders.  Just OK, though.

13)  49ers-Rams:  SF in red/gold, STL in white/white.  Rams going with what was described as "white everything."  Not quite. White jerseys and pants for sure, but the standard helmets and dark blue socks. Nice play off of the sparkling Niner red jerseys and gold pants.  This is a good one.  Just hope the Rams wear blue pants at Candlestick later in the season.

12)  Giants-Chiefs:  NYG in white/gray, KC in red/white.  Chiefs go back to normal for their second home game after that mind-messing all red in Week 2.  Giants in the red trim laden whites.  So while there is lots of red here, it could be worse.  Just enough blue, gray, and yellow to keep this one in check and in clear focus.

11)  Colts-Jaguars:  IND in blue/white, JAX in white/black.  Colts actually sparkle against the Jaguars look.  I actually like the all white of the Jags more than the white over black look.  From the front, the Jags white/black is indeed sharp, but looking from the back, that gold portion of the helmet, coupled with the white, black and teal just seems really out of place.  Never thought I'd say this in Week 1, but the Colts uni is the winner today.


10)  Cardinals-Buccaneers:  ARZ in red/white, TB in white/pewter.  Hey, I like this one.  Not much to say here, but the pewter accessories of the Bucs does work against the somewhat stark red and white of the Cardinals.

9)  Bengals-Browns:  CIN in white/white, CLE in brown/white.  When these Ohio teams meet up, one color always stands out...orange. Helmets and major uni trim bathed in the citrus color.  It's up to the other colors of brown and black to pick up the slack.  Again, a wise move for the Bengals to rock orange socks instead of black, but a choice of black pants would have electrified the orange hose.


8)  Ravens-Bills:  BAL in white/white, BUF in blue/white.  Ravens going with the all white look and that was a little disappointing, but the Bills salvage the day in their sweet sharp blue tops.  But again, the all white Ravens drop this game a few spots.

7)  Dolphins-Saints:  MIA in aqua/white, NO in white/black.  Early season WAH for the Saints means the Dolphins are forced to wear the jerseys they seem to not like, the far better aqua set.  For whatever reason, the aqua appears far brighter on TV than it does in print.  While there is minimal trim with the new aqua's, it is the perfect foil for the white jersey/black pants combo of the Saints.  Way to go, you two.

6)  Patriots-Falcons:  NE in white/navy, ATL in red/white.  A rather fine matchup.  Both styles have been around awhile, but seldom against each other.  When both teams are in tri-colors (silver-white-navy vs. black-red-white), it scores big brownie points with this reporter.  Aces high for this encounter.

5)  Seahawks-Texans:  SEA in gray/gray, HOU in navy/white.  Yes, this qualifies as color on color, though it really works as a white/dark matchup.  But even this ever-so slightly out of the box uni matchup makes it a winner.  No white-gray, no all white, no white-navy, but a gray-gray set that isn't dull and prevents navy or white from dominating the mix.  Not just good, Really good.

4)  Steelers-Vikings:  PIT in white/yellow, MIN in purple/white.  One notable omission from this London encounter, no mega-dull "International Series" patch.  I am a fan of the Vikings new unis.  A really grapey shade of purple paied against the Steelers classic whites and yellow pants.  This one gets my seal of approval.


3)  Bears-Lions:  CHI in white/navy, DET in honolulu blue/silver.  In leather helmet days, these guys would have faced off  in navy and honolulu shades of blue jerseys.  Today, it's white over navy and honolulu over silver.  Tradition and color that still looks smart today.  Boffo matchup.

2)  Cowboys-Chargers:  DAL in deep blue/silver, SD in white/navy.  Any excuse to force the Cowboys to give the vastly overused white/mint set is so welcome.  Really, Big D, rock the blues one or two times a season, and us uni-geeks will get off of your back.  As for the Chargers, they made the right choice by going with the navy pants.  Just not a fan of the all whites.  As such, this one is in the front half of the rankings.

1)  Eagles-Broncos:  PHI in white/green, DEN in orange/white.  Is it the right amount (not too much or too little) green, with some black and a pinch of gray mixed in?  Is it the rightful shade of orange (not too bright, not too dull), with a heaping dose of navy mixed in?  I don't know for sure, but I really think one just pops for me.  Looking good, dang good!!

We are in full swing.  Catch up with us next week for another episode.

Anyone Up For An Early Season Rant?

There isn’t much to do for the current season for a graphic designer at this point in the season. Every once in a while, the uniform gods will throw me a change-up like Kansas City going mono-red or Carolina going mono-black last year. But to be honest, and in no way am I trying to brag, I have to tell you that I actually had those two combos ready to roll before we even knew that they were going to be worn.

Prior to last season, someone had posted a screenshot from last year’s Madden Game just after it’s release. The image showed a Panthers player in a blue jersey over black pants. At the time, I figured I’d better be ready just in case. What do you know? It was actually needed. Go figure.

                   

The Kansas City story is a little more serendipitous.  Two years ago, Tim Brulia made a request of my graphic abilities purely on a lark.  He asked me if I could throw together a couple of mono-toned uniforms for two teams. He had wanted to see Cleveland in mono-brown and Kansas City in mono-red. Just for kicks I also added a mono-blue for Indianapolis re-inventing  the long lost blue pants from 1995.  I’d had these on the back burner never knowing if they’d be needed. My Dad always said, “never throw anything away because you’ll never know when you’ll need it.” (Trouble is Mom always cleaned while Dad wasn’t around.)

I still have a couple of others on that same back burner. Last year’s Madden Game also showed Chicago in orange pants – something that has yet to come to fruition. Also, prior to their newest uniforms being released, a photo was uncovered showing the designers making sketches of the new Seattle combinations. Looking closely, one of those sketches included neon green pants.  Believe me, those are just waiting to be shown the light of day!

Anyway, time to get to the gist of this blog.  I was looking at some teams over the weekend and I got to thinking about how certain little things could be addressed in the NFL uniform-universe and we’d all be a little better for it. Well, at least I would be.

I love a good, old-fashioned rant every now and then. In the words of Dave Dameshek, 

“Let it  begin!”

In the AFC East…

I love what Buffalo has done remaking their image and sort of returning to their roots.  The only item bugging me is that back side of the helmet stripe. It’s different but it doesn’t really add anything.

Miami did well with their remake this year. I find no problem with the style. I just think that that the color they chose is too ‘Carolina-blue’ and not enough aqua.

Whenever the Brady/Belichek Era ends in New England, I’d like to see them return to red as their main color. Imagine the current uniforms but interchange the navy with a crimson red. This hastily made tweak conveys the basics of my thoughts.

Every time I see the Jets’ jerseys, I think of New Orleans. Remember back in the Reebok days when the Saints’ black jerseys and gold pants had like 5 different shades of gold for the helmet, pants, numbers, collars, and sleeve logos? Well, the Jets aren’t that bad but you would think it’d be possible to match the green of the shoulder stripes to the green everywhere else. Also, make those shoulder stripes loop all the way around to the armpit!

In the AFC North…

Baltimore needs to add a stripe(s) to the black pants. Just having the stylized “B” on the hip doesn’t cut it. I wish they could also match their helmet stripes/pointy things to the same purple they use everywhere else. They always looks more blue than purple.

For Cincinnati, they’ve already begun to fix my only complaint. Black socks are boring. They need to wear the orange ones more often.

Cleveland needs to bring back the orange pants. Plain and simple. And stop wearing mono-white at home!

(Sarcasm alert.) Has anyone ever mentioned that the Steelers need to return to block numbers? I do love that they’ve kept their helmet stripe the same orangey-yellow that their pants used to be. They did not change it to bright yellow like the rest of their trim.

In the AFC South…

I would love to see Houston back in the full “Battle Red” at least once a year.

Indianapolis, as mentioned above, should bring back the blue pants option for occasional usage. Fix the darn shoulder stripes, too.

Jacksonville can just start over, nostalgically. Put the new logo on a 1996 uniform and call it a day.

As with Cincinnati, Tennessee has a head start in the right direction. Word is that they are going to wear the old navy jerseys on a few occasions this season. Good.

In the AFC West…

Denver fixed the toilet seat collar for this season. Now get rid of it all together for next year. No colored collar is needed at all.

Kansas City already made Tim’s dreams come true by going mono-red. Good for them. I happen to agree that it's an good look for infrequent usage. Just continue to resist the temptation to make that yellow third jersey a reality, OK?

To be honest, I wouldn’t do a thing with Oakland’s uniform. Except maybe put better players in them.

I have to say I’m a traditionalist. I tried to give it time to let them grow on me but it just hasn’t happened. Into their seventh season and I still do not care for the ¾ angled sleeve bolts. Return them to their proper over-the-shoulder location. They’d be absolutely perfect then.

In the NFC East…

My rants are legendary on the Dallas uniforms. Pick one shade of blue and one shade of silver. That’s it. Change the white jersey to a white version of the navy jersey and then come talk to me. I still think the navy combo is much more classy.

The Giants need to match their blue jerseys to the blue of the helmet. The jerseys always look faded in comparison.  Permanent replacement of the grey pants with the new white pants would be nice. And, like most everybody else, tradition is nice but I still agree with those that think more blue than red on the away combos makes too much sense for a team called "BIG BLUE."

Kelly green, Philly, kelly green. Keep the same design if you want, but go to kelly green.

I miss seeing Washington in white jerseys over burgundy pants with striped white socks like they used to wear in EVERY game at RFK. The yellow pants just don't look right below white jerseys. They can keep the yellow pants to wear under the burgundy jerseys but bring back the burgundy pants, please. (This is not the time nor place to begin to go into Washington’s ‘other’ problems.)

In the NFC North…

I don’t have a current complaint but I’d love to see a new Chicago throwback based on the 1936 white jersey combinations. They could still use the navy-shelled helmets, too! Go ahead. Explain to me how they wouldn't make a bundle on THOSE jerseys!

Detroit, lose the black. It’s still linking you to the Millen Era.

Green Bay is another case where I’ve started to notice that their helmet is a different shade of yellow (bordering on orange) than the rest of their uniform. Match it up.

Minnesota fixed just about everything that was wrong with what they had. I wish they’d make both numbers on their jerseys with the same font. Either go with the ‘sail-tails’ or go without. Half-and-half is not working especially when the second digit doesn't have rounded corners. I'm still not convinced the helmet purple matches all of the other purple.

In the NFC South…

Atlanta needs to admit that the 11-year experiment is over. Base new uniforms on the alternate/third jersey combo that had to be scrapped this year. They were clearly the superior combination.

I would like to see Carolina pair the black pants with the other jerseys besides just the black jersey.  Also, fix the shoulder stripes and loop them all the way around to the armpit as the Colts and Jets need to, also.

New Orleans has corrected their gold-clashing for the most part. They could still stand to do away with the toilet-seat collar.

Tampa Bay really doesn’t need an improvement in any area. I just wonder why they’ve never gotten around to a black jersey. It is one of their colors. I’m not saying it’s a good idea but I am just surprised that the team has never done it.

In the NFC West…

We all know that Arizona’s uniforms feature too much piping and separate areas. I’d like them to go back to something more basic. Not plain, but more basic. Is that possible?

St. Louis can either revive the gold pants or perform a total redo back to any Los Angeles style.

San Francisco, what’s the deal with the pants? I used to think those dingy khaki pants they wore back in the Joe Montana days were bad. These look somewhere between French’s and Grey Poupon. And, is it just me or do the Niner’s helmets look more bronze than gold the last few years?

I admit I was kind of partial to the grey-blue Seattle sported up until last year. I’m not a big fan of the triangular, glossy helmet stripe made up of the little funky wing-dings. Change that and I’d go along with it.

Honestly, how difficult is it to match colors? I could produce better results on a trip to Home Depot than what some of these teams are trotting out. The devil is in the detail and perfection is within reach.  It just kills me that not only did someone think each of these facets up and think each was a good idea, but then someone else in a position of power/authority/decision-making had to agree that they were good ideas and gave them a stamp of approval.  The mind boggles.

<sigh> I feel much better now. Thanks for listening.

Bill Schaefer

Week 3 Uniform Matchup Rankings

A little more back to normal this week? Let's find out, shall we?

16)  Chargers-Titans:  SD in navy/white, TEN in white/navy.  Too much similarity here.  White helmets, navy socks for both and flip-flops on the jersey-pants combos.  Blah.  Titans definitely should have rocked the columbia blue pants, so we'd at least have a varying tint of blue.  Not one of my upper echelon choices.

15)  Buccaneers-Patriots:  TB in white/pewter, NE in navy/silver.  Man I'm just not feeling anything more than C+ for this one.  These aren't bad unis, I like them both.  But when there are matched up, it just misses the boat for me.  2 + 2 = 3 here, or something like that.

14)  Falcons-Dolphins:  ATL in red/white, MIA in white/white.  Falcons have all the zip and zing here, Dolphins have all of the white.  I do like a lot of the elements in the new Miami unis, but that's the aqua's.  A team that I think should wear the aqua's much more often than they do.  Besides if the Fins are worried about wearing "dark" in the tropical South Florida sun, aqua is perhaps the lightest "dark" colored jersey that any of the 32 NFL teams wear.  So thanks, Falcons.  You alone keep this game from the deep dark cave of the GUD's rankings.

13)  Cardinals-Saints:  ARZ in red/white, NO in white/faded gold.  Saints in normal early season WAH (white at home).  Would probably have been better for the Saints in at least black tops, but this forces the Big Red in red jerseys.  This is not a bad matchup, but there could have been some better choices here.

12)  Giants-Panthers:  NYG in blue/gray, CAR in white/white.  I know it's standard operating procedure (SOP) for the Panthers to go WAH early in the season, but gee, I really think this would have been a great time to see the carolina blue alternates.  But, the Giant blues are always a good sight.  A good - but not great - matchup.

11)  Jaguars-Seahawks:  JAX in white/white, SEA in navy/navy.  Welcome to Nike Bowl I!  These are the two sets of unis where Nike has taken the most liberty with design changes and twerks, er, tweaks (Sorry, Miley Cyrus).  Anyway, both teams are certainly both with distinctive looks, with the wild array of shapes, bright green trim and helmets that transition from matte black to gold right before your very eyes.  Very intriguing, but at the end of the day, probably middle of the road as far as the rankings go.

10)  Bills-Jets:  BUF in white/blue, NYJ in green/white.  Bills rock the billy blue pants and it works so much better with the white jerseys than the white pants.  Jets in standard green jersey - white pants ensemble, and even though both sport white lids, these sets of unis mesh quite well together.

9)  Rams-Cowboys:  STL in dark blue/dark blue, DAL in white/mint.  Thinking the Rams did right by going with all dark blue in this one.  Makes a stark contrast to the typical WAH wearing Cowboys.  As such, it earns Timmy B's brownie (blueie???) points.

8)  Raiders-Broncos:  OAK in white/silver, DEN in orange/white.  Traditional foes with traditional colors.  For the Broncos, switching back to orange as the primary jersey was such a good move.  Makes this game stand out so much more than if the Broncos would have worn navy.  Actually enhances the rather generic white jerseyed Raider look.

7)  Texans-Ravens:  HOU in white/dark blue, BAL in purple/white.  Both teams in standard wear, and this works very well. One team in dark pants, one in white bottoms.  Not much more to add, other than a very good contemporary look.

6)  Colts-49ers:  IND in white/white, SF in red/gold.  Is there something wrong with me?  For the first two weeks, I moaned about how dull the Colts look is with me.  Yet this week, for some reason, I think the Colts' duds bounce quite nicely off the Niners home set of bright scarlet and gold.  Must be the Northern California sun hitting the Colts blue trim at the perfect angle.  This one is on the money.

5)  Browns-Vikings:  CLE in white/white, MIN in purple/white.  First official outing for the Vikes new purple jerseys, and while these jerseys say "football jersey" than the previous ones, there are touches (flair tipped numbers, and sleeve stripes) that scream "2013" as well as "1963." The purple seems more vivid that ever and paired up with the standard Browns' orange and brown, the matchup has a lively feel to it.




4)  Chiefs-Eagles:  KC in white/red, PHI in green/white.  After the stunning shock of the Chiefs in all fire-engine red last week, we see KC sporting a more standard white jersey with the red pants.  Eagles go dark for the Thursday nighter, with the green jerseys.  A Chirstmassy matchup with the reds and greens, but it's as sweet as sugar cookies (with Chief red and Eagle green sprinkles, of course).

3)  Bears-Steelers:  CHI in white/navy, PIT in black/yellow.  I do like this one.  Paired against the coal black lids of the Steelers, the navy hued helmets of the Bears seem to jump a bit on front of my weak eyes.  Orange and yellow trims seem to sparkle a little more under Edison's lamplights. 

2)  Lions-Redskins:  DET in white/silver, WSH in burgundy/yellow.  Two old school teams rocking a really sharp matchup.  Silver, yellow, black, and a little honolulu blue here and a lot of burgundy there.  Nice and smooth blend at work.

1)  Packers-Bengals:  GB in white/yellow, CIN in alternate orange/white.  Bright sunny colors at work here, with a lot of orange and a lot of yellow.  I think the Bengals wearing black pants would have added a jolt of darkness to offset all of the brightness.  Still, this one has it made in the shade.

What's in store for Week 4?  Stay tuned and find out!  See you then, Do GUD'ders!!

Week 2 Uniform Matchup Rankings

Week 2 brings us some throwbacks, and some monochromes, with a pleasant surprise.  Here we go.

16) Dolphins-Colts:  MIA in white/white, IND in blue/white.  Meh.  Dolphins need to get the aqua pants paired with the white jerseys ASAP.  Colts with the nice blue jerseys.  Just way too much white, helmets, pants, and little trim on either team.

15) Jets-Patriots:  NYJ in white/white, NE in navy/silver.  Jets for the second straight week go head to toe in white, which doesn't do it for me.  Patriots in standard navy jerseys/silver pants.  The Pats have to carry the color load here, with the Jets only offering of color being green trim.  Hopefully, it will be a little better later for the return leg.

14) Saints-Buccaneers:  NO in black/gold, TB in white/pewter.  Just wish this game could have been played later in the season, by which time the Bucs would have gone from white to red togs.  But alas, not to be and there's just a bit much metal with the helmets and pants in those hues.  With Saints black and only bit of red trim on the Bucs, and this one becomes B level.

13) Browns-Ravens:  CLE in white/white, BAL in purple/white.  Ravens, in a mild surprise, go with the purples instead of the whites for the home opener.  Browns in the familiar all whites.  Nice colors, actually.  Good off-beat mix of brown, orange, purple, gold, and of course, black. 

12) Redskins-Packers:  WSH in white/yellow, GB in green/yellow.  Never thought I'd say this, but there is too much yellow here.  Even if the Redskins had dropped their burgundy pants, they definitely could have used them here.  So while some games move up the ladder with some wise moves, this one moves down a few pegs, no fault of the Packers, by the way.  Their green jerseys are almost bullet-proof.

11) Jaguars-Raiders:  JAX in white/white, OAK in black/silver.  Jags continue in the futuristic look against a team as rock-ribbed in steadfastness in the Raiders.  All that Oakland silver trim played well off the off-beat Jags lid and their teal, gold and black trimmed whites.  Oddly intriguing.

10) Rams-Falcons:  STL in white/navy, ATL in red/white.  Rams stay right with the deep blue pants as opposed to their white trousers and it bounces off well from the Falcons brilliant red jerseys.  Gold and black add instead of detract to the mix.

9) Steelers-Bengals:  PIT in white/yellow, CIN in black/black.  Bengals one of four teams in colorchromes this week.  We've seen this matchup before, and while it makes for a load of black, there's just enough orange and yellow to keep it from a blackOUT.  One thing would have sparked this matchup, and that would have seen the Bengals rock the orange socks as they did last week.

8) Titans-Texans:  TEN in columbia blue/columbia blue, HOU in white/white.  For the last seven out of eight years, the Texans open their home schedule with an all white combo.  The Titans reply by wearing all light blue, a combo they haven't worn since Week 5 of 2009.  The uniqueness of this matchup will ratchet this game up a few rungs.  Also, because it's rather a good one.

7) Broncos-Giants:  DEN in white/white, NYG in blue/gray.  The Manning Bowl gave us the blues; Bronco blue and Giant blue, with a taste of red, orange and gray.  Really though, I find it appealing.

6) Chargers-Eagles:  SD in navy/white, PHI in white/green.  By the mere fact that the Eagles busted out the green pants instead of the whites, this matchup moved up a little in the food chain.  Chargers gave their navy jerseys a touch of spark with the NOB's (names on back) being in yellow with a powder blue outline.  A blue vs. green with a touch of yellow, black, powder, gray.

5) Lions-Cardinals:  DET in white/silver, ARZ in red/white.  Not much flash in this matchup and perhaps under the radar due to the rather so-so nature of the teams, but I happen to think this is a pretty well pairing.  The pale shade of Lions blue, the silver accessory, the scarlet of the Cardinals, and not an overt amount of black, I'm feelin' it.

4) Panthers-Bills:  CAR in black/silver, BUF in throwback white/white.  Very rare to see Panthers in the black and silver so early in the season.  Usually the Panthers are in the whites or the carolina blues early on.  But they go with this gear at Orchard Park as the home Bills rock the AFL throwbacks.  It (the Bills' unis) is refreshing, if a bit too white for my taste.


3) 49ers-Seahawks:  SF in white/gold, SEA in navy/navy.  Seahawks in their second year of the all navys trimmed in Nike hubris and what pops for me? The Niners red numbers!  Why that is is a mystery, but that Seahawk uni seems to bring that red to life for me.  Not knocking the Hawks look, because I think that mess of colors works.

2) Vikings-Bears:  MIN in white/purple, CHI in throwback navy/white.  Boom-o. Great colors that pop.  Those straight orange numbers/names/stripes on the navy 40's throwbacks of the Bears, and the second straight week of purple pants with yellow and white done right and this is a dandy sweet matchup.

1) Cowboys-Chiefs:  DAL in white/mint, KC in red/red.  WHAT???? RED over RED?!?!?!  It's true!  The Chiefs have had red jerseys and red pants in their wardrobe for the better part of 45 years, but only until now have they decided to pair them up together.  And boy, did it work for me! So as not to overkill on the red, KC wore their white socks. Oh yeah, Cowboys in standard white and mint.

Will we see a shock to the system in Week 3, like we did in Week 2?  Tune in next week and find out!  See ya then.

Week 1 Uniform Matchup Rankings

Welcome to the 2013 edition of the Gridiron Uniform Database (GUD) Matchup Rankings.

The rankings are based on the personal opinion of Tim Brulia, lead historian of the GUD, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Bill Schaefer, the GUD's graphic engineer, or Rob Holecko, the GUD's webmaster.  It is simply an exercise in fun and not to be taken too seriously.

Let's get started:

16) Raiders-Colts:  OAK in white-silver, IND in blue/white.  Looks that have not changed much, if at all, in eons.  No flash here, not a great deal of color, either.  Standard Raider white jerseys with no trim.  Standard Colt blue jerseys with only truncated white shoulder stripes.  The old guard may think this is classic, but I tend to think otherwise.

15) Buccaneers-Jets:  TB in red/pewter, NYJ in white/white.  This game was a bit disappointing.  TB looks better in red jerseys with white pants.  The Jets in a look (white from head to ankle) that is very much my least favorite.  I don't mind the Jets in WAH, but either green pants or even green socks would have saved this game from the heap.

14) Texans-Chargers:  HOU in dark blue/white, SD in white/white.  Like last year, the Chargers open the season in white at home (WAH) that includes white pants, a look popular with some, but not with this observer.  Not even the Texans in their sleek blue tops and white pants can save this matchup from the lower rungs.

13) Cardinals-Rams:  ARZ in white/white, STL in navy/navy.  Only the Cardinals red socks kept this matchup from being a full-on monochrome-a-monochrome battle.  I do appreciate a total monochrome battle, but it comes at the expense of bountiful color, only trim.  Gold, black and red are merely bystanders here.

12) Dolphins-Browns:  MIA in white/white, CLE in brown/white.  Dolphins in their first official game in the new all whites, and the Browns apparently going all season in brown at home.  Would have much preferred the 'Fins in aqua pants, but I will give them a little pass, the aqua socks do help a bit.  Browns helmets make up for the loss of Dolphin orange.


11) Falcons-Saints:  ATL in red/white, NO in white/gold.  Saints, as has been the norm the last several years, open wearing white at home.  Falcons trot out the vibrant red jerseys in response.  I like this matchup, but I can't give it love.

10) Giants-Cowboys:  NYG in blue/gray, DAL in white.mint.  NBC must like these two on Kickoff Weekend.  Traditional matchup. Plenty of blue to go around and the Cowboys in their usual fifty shades of grey.  Just a dash of red from the G-men to avoid a blue-gray wash.  Just an average matchup from my eyes.


9) Bengals-Bears:  CIN in white/white, CHI in navy/white.  With the weather balmy, the Bengals go for the all white look, BUT toss us a surprise by going with orange socks instead of the normal black to accessorize.  The Bears meanwhile, stick to the traditional navy tops.  Not quite a classic, but certainly not a fiasco, either.

8) Titans-Steelers:  TEN in white/navy, PIT in black/yellow.  Titans pull off a look they haven't used since Week 6 of 2011 by wearing navy pants instead of the columbia blues with white jerseys.  Steelers in the very standard black over yellow.  I actually think the Titans should have stuck with the light blue legs.  Still, I find this one visually appealing.


7) Packers-49ers:  GB in white/yellow, SF in red/gold.  Reprising a playoff uni matchup battle from last season, the look is traditional, more or less.  The Niners continue to wear the goofy cut off triple stripes on the sleeve holes, yet the Packers wear stripes with a perfect cut.  The colors mix nicely with the two squads showing off various shades of gold.  Do like that bright Niner scarlet!


6) Patriots-Bills:  NE in white/navy, BUF in blue/white.  Traditional rivals, themed in similar colors, but no longer similar tones.  Since the Bills rebrand on 2011, this matchup seems to have improved, aesthetically.  I just love that blue that the Bills wear!  Pats in their now defining look.

5) Ravens-Broncos:  BAL in white (jerseys)/black (pants), DEN in orange/white. The season starts with a replay of the 2012 divisional playoffs.  The colors are varied and the Ravens oblige by wearing black pants instead of the whites.  The Broncos orange brightens things up well.  A nice matchup.

4) Chiefs-Jaguars:  KC in red/white, JAX in white/white.  20th century, meet 21st century.  Chiefs in one of the more timeless unis in the NFL, their bright red helmets and jerseys, meet up with the Jaguars and their black to gold transition helmet and the jangly mix of teal, gold and black trimmed white jerseys and pants.  The sensible against the senseless.  Don't ask why, but I just think this one works.

3) Seahawks-Panthers:  SEA in navy/gray, CAR in white/white.  Panthers - as always - start off the season in white and except for a foray or two in Carolina blue, will stay with WAH deep into the season.  The Seahawks rock a really sweet combo that was only seen once last year (at...Carolina!).  It bounces off well from the Panthers all whites.

2) Eagles-Redskins:  PHI in white/green, WSH in burgundy/yellow.  This could have been a white-white pants struggle, but instead, much to my delight, both squads go with color!  Eagles in the green pants and the Skins in yellow pants.  With that, the colors burst forth, green, black, silver, burgundy and yellow.  Nice matchup that could have been much drabber.


1) Vikings-Lions:  MIN in white/purple, DET in honolulu blue/silver.  Expecting the Vikes to go all white (yawn).  Then I see the bust out the purple pants (wide awake!!!)!!  Yay-yuh!  Couple that with the sweet Lions honolulus, it's a winner!

That's it for Week 1.  Check back for week 2's roundup!  See ya then!

Shoo, fly (wire), shoo!

Well, the first true night of Preseason football is in the books. From the well-trained eyes of this graphic engineer one thing seems pretty obvious...

Someone at Nike heard our complaints about NFL jersey collars.

We knew going into this week's full slate of action that several teams were scrapping the 2-tone 'toilet seat' collar in favor of a contrasting 1-color version (Denver) or a collar that matched the color of the jersey (Baltimore, Washington, and San Diego).

What I hadn't planned on was that even in high definition photos the fly-wire feature was extremely difficult to see on white and other light color jerseys, even in close-ups.

A case could be made that not a single fly-wire is obviously there on any white jersey. You'd literally need to squint on a high definition photo to see it. Even on Miami and Tennessee's lighter colored jerseys it is extremely difficult to pinpoint.

Fly-wire on darker jerseys like those worn by Cleveland, San Francisco, and San Diego (along with Denver's navy collar) remains easy to spot.

Atlanta was one of a handful of teams that opted to go with a non-standard collar last year and that remains the case again in 2013.

News broke earlier Thursday that Baltimore was losing the 'toilet seat' (not news), losing the fly-wire (news), and also losing the NFL Shield from the collar (didn't happen). The photo they displayed showed a Raven in what resembles a practice jersey as evidenced by the advertisements being displayed. The Shield is safe, folks!

Other non-collar related developments...

- We knew about Miami's changes. Tim documented their nuances in the GUD's last blog entry.
- As expected, Cleveland has removed the Al Lerner memorial "AL" from their left sleeve.
- As expected, Tennessee is wearing a patch commemorating their 15th season as the Titans.
- As expected, San Diego changed their nameplates to yellow letters outlined in powder as well as adding a yellow (not gold) stripe at the bottom of their navy socks - a la the Broncos and their similar orange stripe.

Stay tuned to see what transpires over the weekend!
Bill Schaefer


***Addendum #1 - Friday night, August 9

More of the same...

Miami, New Orleans, and the Jets join the ranks of " I think I see it but maybe not, OK, yeah, I think it's still there" with barely visible fly-wires.

I challenge anyone to claim they can spot fly-wire on Arizona's white jersey.We may have to wait until we see the red jersey to be able to pass judgement on this one.

As with Atlanta Thursday night, New England, Philadelphia, Green Bay, Carolina, and Oakland continue the use of the non-standard collars from 2012.

Houston and Kansas City continue the use of the typical collar but, as with 2012, opt out of utilizing the fly-wire. Look for Pittsburgh to join this group again Saturday night.

Wearers of dark jerseys last night with easily visible fly-wire include Minnesota, Chicago, Detroit, and Jacksonville

Minnesota did not wear the anticipated "Last Season at the Metrodome" patch on their home purples. Likely they will now wait until the regular season or even the very last home game to use it.

One more tidbit...New Orleans, St. Louis, and Cincinnati have maintained the 'toilet seat' collars for another year.

Bill Schaefer

***Addendum #2 - Saturday night, August 10

As predicted, Pittsburgh remains with the standard collar without fly-wire.  New York joins the large contingent of white jerseys with the fly-wire barely visible.

Tomorrow afternoon we will will see which style of collar Buffalo is changing to from last year's "toilet seat."
Also, will Indianapolis wear the "30th year in Indy" patches?

Bill Schaefer

***Addendum #3 - Sunday afternoon, August 11

Buffalo has formally ditched the 'toilet seat' in favor of a non-standard collar similar to those worn by New England, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Dallas (road navy jersey).

Indianapolis joins the large contingent with a barely visible fly-wire on their white jerseys. The Colts also added an anniversary patch commemorating their 30th season in Indianapolis.

Next week we will analyze those teams who wore white in Week 1 of the Preseason and will be wearing their colored jersey in Week 2 for better conformation of fly-wire presence.

Bill Schaefer

New for 2013

With the 2013 preseason right around the corner, The Gridiron Uniform Database will take a short critique on the new uniforms for the coming season.

Minnesota Vikings:
Helmet:  Appears to be unchanged in design, but the helmet shell has a matte finish to it, slightly lighter than the purple jersey colors.
Jerseys:  White first. The Nike style collar has been removed.  The collar is white. The distinctive wordmark appears to be a tad larger than before.  The numbers garner the big talk. They are solid, trimless purple. The right edges have a pointy flair on some of the numbers.  These will have to be seen a little more to really get a feel for how they'll do in game action. The TV numbers are on the shoulders and there is striping to replace the wraparound white sidewalls and sleeve trim.  The stripes are separate purple top and yellow bottom, with the purple flaring upwards towards the backside. On the back, the Norseman logo on the nape of the neck disappears. The NOB's in matching purple sees the serifed ditched for a style similar to the flairish numeral font.
The Purple jerseys has similar features. Solid purple collar, the slightly larger wordmark is a solid yellow instead of white. The fancy-dan solid white numbers also have the right side pointy flair front and back.  The TV numbers are positioned on the shoulders and the sleeve stripes are two separated stripes with the upper white flaring upward as you to the back and the bottom yellow stripe stays straight.  The NOB is a solid white with the flairy font of the numbers.
Pants:  The white pants lose all of the snaky swirls of the 2012 model and go a bit conservative, with the straight stripes.  The back stripe is a medium thickness of purple, followed by a thin yellow, fronted by a thin stripe of purple.  The Vikes also introduced a purple pair of pants, similar to the whites, with the back stripe medium white, followed by a thin purple stripe and fronted with a yellow stripe.  One would think the white pants will get by far more exposure, but the purples could make more than a few appearances.
Socks:  No changes, still solid pruple.

Miami Dolphins:
Helmets:  They remain white, but the logo changes a lot. No longer is the Dolphin wearing a helmet, he also appears to be taking a sideways jump through the updated sunburst instead of a headstrong leap with the sunburst in the background.  The helmet stripes, while simplified, have elements of minute detail.  The center stripe is a thick aqua, flanked by two micro-thin stripes, the inner a darker aqua, and the outer in orange.  The facemasks are now white instead of aqua.
Jerseys:  The jerseys appear to be quite tame, there are no stripes, nor trim of any sort.  The numerals are a customized font.  On the aqua jerseys, the numbers are white, flanked by thin deep aqua and then thin orange outlines.  TV numbers are on the shoulders, and a quite small logo is on the sleeve.  The new wordmark is in white.  The NOBs for the jerseys are rather generic and trimmed in orange.  The white jerseys are quite basic as well.  Aqua numbers trimmed in orange and deep aqua are on the front, back and shoulders.  Wordmark in plain aqua, NOBs in aqua trimmed in orange, and the small logo on the sleeves.
Pants:  The white pants mimic the stripe pattern on the helmets.  The aqua pants have a thick white stripe, flanked on both sides with thin deep aqua (inner) and thin orange (outer) stripes.  One interesting kick: The Dolphins added "MIAMI" on the center rear of the belt tunnel of both pairs of pants. Certainly a first!
Socks:  The socks are solid aqua when worn with the white pants, but appear to have be topped by deep aqua when paired up with the aqua pants. Game action will tell the tale to confirm.

Jacksonville Jaguars:
Helmets:  The helmets change for the first time ever (not including the prototypes when the club was first born).  And they are innovative for NFL standards.  The helmet gradiates from front to back, going from black and evolving to gold around the sides and back.  The revised logo graces the sides.
Jerseys:  The Jags drop the thin wraparound stripes on all jerseys and overhaul the look.  We'll start with the whites first.  Numbers are teal in a customized font on the front, back and shoulders, with microthin gold and black outlines.  There are black sleeves and side panels.  The NOB is a solid black.  The wordmark is replaced by a black "badge" on the left breast that says "JAGS" with the new logo.  The black jersey has similar features of the white, with white numbers in the normal places, trimmed in thin teal and gold, and a white NOB, as well as the badge.  The sleeves are teal with matching side panels.  The Jags also introduced a teal jersey, likely to be used as the alternate, with black numbers trimmed in white and gold.  The NOB is white, the sleeves and side panels are black and the black badge is positioned similar to the white and black tops.
Pants:  The Jags have two sets of pants, white and black.  The whites have a thick vertical black stripe that only starts at an angle near the top side and only extends to the knee area, also ending at an angle.  The top of the stripe is edged in teal and the bottom of the stripe is edged in gold, with the logo placed at the hip above the teal edge.  The black pants have a similar design, with the thick stripe in teal, topped by gold and bottomed by white, with the jag's head topping the stripe.
Socks:  With all of that wild action above, the hose are a very plain black.

Summing these changes, I happen to like them. A semi-back to basics for the Vikings, though the numbers touch up to me is unnecessary. The Dolphins, apart from the major alteration to the beloved "Flipper", head to a very generic style with less orange.  The Jaguars appear to be the next in line to the Seahawks, much bells and whistles with the teal (apart from the alternate jersey) continuing the trend to be a trim and not a main color.

A few other changes to note:
San Diego Chargers:  The Chargers are changing the NOB on the navy jerseys from white to yellow.  And the Bolts are also adding a single yellow stripes to the socks.  The sock change - as of now - is unconfirmed.
Indianapolis Colts:  The Colts will be wearing a patch commemorating their 30th season in Indy.
Minnesota Vikings:  In addition to the uniform changes, the Vikings will sport a patch for their final season in Mall of America Field, likely to be worn on the purple jerseys only.
Tennessee Titans:  The Titans will wear patch to celebrate 15 seasons as the Tennessee Titans (they were the Tennessee Oilers in 1997 and 1998).

There will also be more subtle changes coming in 2013, notably collar trim changes as Nike and NFL teams will be tweaking some of the uniform innovations that first saw the light in 2012.  More on the equipment side of things, thigh pads and knee pads will be mandatory in 2013.

Whatever changes are made this season and whomever stands pat for the season just in front of us, the GUD will monitor, note and revise as necessary.

Enjoy.

It Had To Have Been The Shoes!

A few months ago, I wrote a blog about changes to the current footwear we were going to show here at GUD. The goal was to demonstrate the NFL's decision to allow teams to move away from the 'base-black' or 'base-white' shoe edict the League had run with for the past several decades.

Now with Nike taking over the League supplying the League with its' uniforms, conciliations were made to allow cleats of 'team colors' that may not even include black or white at all. Even brands that are not called Nike are now being allowed to be worn on the field of play as long as they fit within the 'team colors' guidelines.

Now it is time to turn our eyes back to the past. Since the site began we have shown essentially one style of shoe previous to the changes of 2012. With the exception of the colored cleats worn back in the 1970s by several teams including Philadelphia, Kansas City, Denver, San Diego, Washington, and the Rams, everything else on our site shows as the typical 'base-black' or 'base-white.' But those of us who have more than fair knowledge of the sport's history know that the 'low-cut' cleats of modern football were not worn back in the early days.

No. Back in those first decades of the League, players donned what could be referred to as 'high tops,' more reminiscent of basketball shoes than modern football cleats.

My next, and current, task as GUD's resident graphics creator is to make appropriate changes to this era and bring the site up to speed by doing so. Before I began, I needed to establish a timeline. In the 1970s, two changes occurred that brought football uniforms into a more modern era. Both were gradual changes not made in a single year.

The year 1974 saw San Diego and Kansas City go to colored facemasks. Their lead caused the vast percentage of the League to begin adopting non-grey facemasks over the next five or six years. In fact, by 1980, only 10 teams were left with grey facemasks. Furthermore, of those 10 teams, 5 of them were teams that had grey or silver as a team color.

The 1970s also saw, with the advent of artificial turf becoming more prominent across the League, players began switching to white cleats from black. At the time, the League had no mandate stating that all members of a team must conform and wear a single colored cleat. The situation was much more fluid. In some cases, teams spent a three-year period where the players would go from "75% black / 25% white" to "50 / 50" to "25% black / 75% white." What we have done here at GUD is document for each team when the change in majority occurred rather than show both varieties being worn at the same time.

My research to discover when the majority transformation occurred in which high-topped cleats were replaced with low-cut cleats focussed on the 1950s. I began looking at photos from the League Championship Games starting in 1959 and working my way back. Sure enough I found that the 1956 NFL Championship Game between the Chicago Bears and New York Giants was the last game to feature the majority of players in high-topped cleats. The following year, 1957, both the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions sported a look that featured the majority of players going to the low-cut version. I now had my 'line of delineation' for the change to be made.

But its' fun to point out that we tend to find extra additions to our site while researching something completely different. While viewing photos of the 1956 Championship Game hosting the Bears, I noticed the the Giants were wearing white basketball shoes (Converse Chuck Taylors, actually) instead of cleats. Continuing to dig further back it was discovered that, in a 1950 Playoff Game the Giants played in Cleveland, they wore white, high-top basketball shoes on another occasion! These additions will be made to the site when the high-tops are added to the Giants' images.

After altering the look of the low-cut black cleats to a more appropriate looking high-top appearance, I forwarded on the drafts to our historian, Tim Brulia. He made two different recommendations. First, he stated that until about 1935, the cleats featured prohibitively black laces that changed predominantly to white laces afterwards. The adaptation was made soon after.

The second alteration Tim suggested revolved around what is referred to as 'sannies' or sanitary socks. Tim suggested that when the high-tops are added to images beginning in 1932 where the sannies are included, that too little of the sannies show above the top of the new, higher cleats. He suggested that we raise the upper portion of the sannies so that more of them can be seen. However, in constructing my original drafts of the high-tops, I had already tinkered with this idea. It could be done, but by raising the tops of the sannies we'd lose a feature of the high tops that I felt we needed to keep.  By leaving the sannies in position and limiting how much of the sannies are shown, it is much clearer to see that the viewer is now looking at high-tops and not the normal low-cut cleats we had previously been viewing due to less sanny being visible. If we raised the sannies as much as the cleats themselves were raised, we lose that differentiation.

Therefore, I have begun making changes to all images pertaining to the time frame leading up to the conclusion of the 1956 season - 37 years if you're counting from 1920 forward. I am trying to get these updates in to Rob over the next few weeks ahead of the beginning of the 2013 Preseason.

It is our opinion that the addition of these high-topped cleats make for a look more authentic to the era than was previously shown.

Look for these footwear updates, along with some concurrent belt alterations from our pal Larry Schmitt,  in the GUD "Updates" page as they are completed.
Bill Schaefer

The Gridiron Uniform Database turns 2

It's our birthday.  The Gridiron Uniform Database turns two years old today.

A year ago when we celebrated, Rob, Bill and myself took turns comparing where we were when we started and how far we came up to that point.  We certainly came a long way.

In the year since June 12, 2012, we have come a long way even more.

We added a 1920 - 1932 section to the GUD.  We now have a full uniform database from 1931 to the present.  We hope to add even more uniforms to this era of the NFL as we go along.

We added a complete history of the uniforms worn in the Pro Bowl.  Every Pro Bowl game, every AFL All-Star Game, and even the Shamrock Bowl, the All-America Football Conference's lone All-Star outing.

Of course, the 2012 NFL season came and went, and we added those uniforms as the games were played out, the game by game uniform matchups were added.

We added a lot of stuff to the research tab as well.  Consider:

1) A text description of the history of game officials' uniforms, all the way back to the first season of 1920.

2) A text description of the long departed, but very important College All-Star Game uniforms.

3) Perhaps most important, a history of commemorative helmet decals that have been worn by every team ever.  This is surely the most exhaustive examination of these logos to be found anywhere.

As for now, what is going on currently at the GUD?

Bill - with tremendous help from Larry Schmitt - is updating perhaps the most overlooked aspect of a football uniform, the waistbelt, or more commonly referred to simply, as the belt.  When the GUD first opened shop two years ago, the belts were mostly either just colored in the pant colors of the team, or a very generic black belt.  In recent weeks, the belt colors as well as the belt tunnel/loop patterns have been updated dramatically, in some cases, with impressive results!

Tim is slowly but surely adding additional reference to each season, namely, the weekly uniform matchups for every regular season and post season game played in the NFL and AFL since 1950.  We are roughly halfway through the first step of this project.  The years posted so far are of a "random" variety, but eventually all the holes will be filled and soon you will be able to see every single uniform matchup ever for the last 63 years!

Rob, of course, has the lucky task of taking what Bill and Tim have done and adding all of these goodies to the site itself.

Not to mention the continual and perpetual updates to getting the stripe patterns, numeral fonts, shades of colors, helmet logos even more closer to the way they actually were.  There's no question were have added hundreds of updates to the GUD since our June 12, 2011 launch.  And there will certainly be more as new information is discovered from long forgotten photographic evidence, whether it be on the internet, ancient books and magazines, precious microfilm, yard sales, etc.  If you submit it and we can document it and then confirm it, we will add it to the GUD.

A few areas where we have fallen short, we hope to soon remedy.  We realize we have not blogged nearly as much as we should have since the Ravens took care of the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII.  This very blog will hopefully get us back in gear.  Our facebook page has been dormant for some time.  We promise to be much more timely and frequent there.  Rob is hoping to make our podcasts, once experimental, more of an ongoing educational presence.  While the blog, facebook and podcasts are important and bonuses to the GUD, the heart of our existence is the website, The Gridiron Uniform Database.  Stay with us in year three of GUD as we promise to add more good things along the way, as well as - of course - the 2013 season, with the Dolphins, Vikings and Jaguars all making major changes to their look(s).

To close, we can't thank you enough for your kind words, encouragement and most of all your generous help, both in information and financially.  A generous financial gift from a very kind benefactor has helped the GUD beyond words.  Rob, Bill and Tim are three grateful guys to all of you for your enduring support.  We hope to make year three of the GUD every bit as good as the first two years.

As always, your comments are always welcome. You can always contact us personally.

Stay tuned.

Belts 'R' Us

A short while ago, Rob updated the site with a flood of revisions largely centered on, of all things, belts. (and still working on them, unfortunately -RH)  The situation began when I happened to be perusing the collection of “Mud Games” photos collected in a thread of our Forum. I spotted an image from the 1983 AFC Championship Game between the Jets and Dolphins. I noticed something that I had known to exist but I had actually not given it a single thought. I did some quick searching and came across a photo showing Jets’ quarterback Richard Todd attempting to elude the rush of Dolphins’ lineman Doug Betters. Clearly evident was my target – pants that showed the belt all the way around the player’s waistline. For lack of a pre-existing name for this bit of fashion, I began referring to them as ‘peek-a-boo’ belts (PABs, for short).

1983 AFC Championship Game - Courtesy of getty.com

I remembered these belts vividly on several teams and was immediately troubled by the fact that we had completely neglected them up till this point. That was going to be something that would have to change.

A thread was organized on the Forum to answer the who’s and when’s of this situation. Our own Larry Schmitt was invaluable aiding me in the research. What began as a search for the Jets quickly began to include the Colts, Chargers, Patriots, Bengals, Falcons, Bills, and Dolphins.  A summary of that research can be found in the thread “Unusual pants (did that get your attention?).”

For me, an interesting thing is how this research led to other belt-related/unrelated discoveries that also needed attending to.  While efforting to discover the origin of the Jets’ PABs, we discovered the first year of their existence was the Super Bowl III season. However, just one year earlier, they were wearing regular white belts that we had incorrectly been displaying as black. Now we had to find how far back these white belts went. Sure enough, they went all the way back to the first year of the Jets after they ceased being known as the Titans. But that was not all.

Left - 1967 with normal white belts; Right - 1963 1st year Jets with white belts

Larry’s keen eye noticed some discrepancies among the pants stripes. We had been displaying a single pants stripe appearance over this entire generation. Larry noted that not only did the thickness of the green stripes have different variations but he also found that the separation between the stripes also included changes in the size of separation over the same period of time.

After about ten days of research, I began making the required changes to our site’s yearly images.

But the story doesn’t end there.  A few weeks ago, Larry sent me a harmless little email saying that he had innocently found another belt situation that needed attending to. After viewing his proof, I agreed, and made the changes. But as with the PABs, while researching one thing, you often stumble across more.  And he did.

After viewing photos of Earl Campbell and performing a little more digging, Larry had found that the Oilers matched their belts to their pants in all situations after doing away with the grey/silver pants beginning in 1972. In fact, when Houston moved to Tennessee to become the Titans, they continued this trend, another item we had missed as GUD had been displaying navy belts for all of the Titans’ combinations since 1999.

Earl Campbell in 1978 (left) and 1980 (right)

Similar discoveries soon followed for New Orleans, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, Seattle, and Washington. These (and other) corrections will be appearing shortly in the Update section.

While not extremely difficult corrections to make, they were disturbingly time consuming. And while I was sitting at my PC making all of these changes, my mind began to wonder ‘how did this happen?’ I mean the PABs were one thing. We had completely neglected this style that was fairly prominent for some teams for a large chunk of their existence – in some cases twenty to thirty years or even more.

But the color of the belts? How did we miss these? A light bulb went on and I had my answer. If you have read “About The Template” for GUD, you know the history of how I came to use this particular model for the construction of our template. When I first found it, most of the drawing had substantial errors. Some colors weren’t quite right, several helmet logos were too big, collars contained the NFL shield instead of the NFL Equipment logo, certain teams that would wear the 50^th Anniversary patch had the wrong color patch, and the sleeves were too long for the era being described.

Original images of our soon-to-be template

But I never thought to question the belts. Whatever was already in place there, that's what we blindly kept. It was the one part of the uniform we never really thought about for the modern age and that's my fault. So I guess I can only get upset with myself for missing these to begin with years ago. I took it upon myself to go back and check through the rest of the teams we hadn't already caught over the last few months as being erroneous. In a single afternoon, I uncovered additional errors for Arizona, Baltimore, Buffalo, Carolina, Cleveland, and Houston and put all of my 'suffering' into one day making the corrections. After all, our motto around here is "Just get it right."

It takes a sense of humor to do this. When we finally finished (hopeful and with fingers crossed!) with this most recent batch of belt amendments, Larry asked if since we were done with belts if we were next going to move on to chinstraps. It was humorous and I knew he wasn’t being the least bit serious (I hope!). The strange part was that moments  prior to getting that question posed to me via email, I had just been thinking of sending a similarly joking email to Larry asking if he would mind doing some research on the colors of wristbands and elbow pads!

I guess its true – great sick minds think alike.

Despite all that, I want to thank Larry not just for the help in locating these oversights but also for everything else he’s pitched in and assisted with over the last two years. After all, this work takes a special type of person.

“Honey, what‘re you doing on the computer?” “ Oh, just researching football belts.”
    - actual excerpt from a conversation in the Schaefer household

Bill Schaefer