Ranking the NFL Uniforms

It’s time for another edition of Set Apart Sports Uniform Rankings!! If you missed my NHL uniform rankings, check them out right here. But today, it’s the NFL under the microscope. Following are the rankings of the NFL uniforms, according to….me

32-16 revealed today, 15-1 revealed later in the week. Let’s go!

The Seriously Ugly

32. Cleveland – The Browns weren’t that bad, unless they wore the brown pants. But Jimmy Haslem decided to make a change….and was it awful. First, there’s too much brown. The helmet is orange – accentuate that color. Turrible.

31. Tampa Bay – Another recent change that was botched. The numbers? What on earth happened there? It’s supposed to be as if a sword is writing the numbers. Not even close. And too much going on; too many colors, too many little “nuance’s”, too many everything. I do like the enlargement of the logo on the helmet, a la college. But definitely not enough.

30. Jacksonville – Three words. Pick. A. Color. The two-tone helmet is an absolute horrific choice. They should have stayed with black, with the matte finish. But it looks like they ran out of black paint and only had gold left. Terrible. Outside of that, the uniform is nice, but the helmet is SO bad, they fall here.

 

29. Tennessee – I do not like the logo at all. If you have seen the alternate logo, it is much cooler. I CANNOT stand the partial stripes on the helmets. You’ll see this later on as well. Add those to the all powder blue uniforms at home…yuck. When the Titans had the navy home jersey with white pants, it was acceptable…and would be higher on this list. The away jersey is serviceable.

 

28. Miami – I was intrigued when the ownership group announced that they were going to change the logo and the uniforms. Boy, did they miss. First thing that jumped out to me was the white facemasks. Did we take a time machine back to the mid-80’s? C’mon guys. Secondly, the stripes on the helmet and pants are too large. It suffocated out the little orange that they kept. The compliment of the aqua and the orange was perfect before they changed. Now it’s terrible.

 

The Busy and Confused

27. Atlanta – The change to black helmets back in the Jerry Glanville days was a great change. Even when the falcon on the helmet was changed a few years back, it wasn’t too far off from the original. However, the uniform change that came with it was subpar. I just don’t understand all the busyness around the shoulders. Is there a need for 800 different lines and delineations on the uniform? As far as I know there is no meaning behind all the stripes and compartments on the shoulder. Simpler is better.

 

26. Arizona – see above.

 

25. Baltimore – Pick. A. Color. Are you a purple team or a black team? If the main color is purple than change the helmet to purple. If it’s black, then get rid of the purple uniforms. And for the love of all that’s holy, don’t EVER combine the purple and black uniforms. Awful look. Plus, the raven on the helmet looks too cartoonish.

 

24. Carolina – As discussed earlier, if there are going to be stripes on the helmet, they shouldn’t stop halfway up the helmet. Terrible look. The black on black home look is terrible as well. If the helmet is silver, I think silver pants for both home and away would look very cool.

 

23. Cincinnati – The last of the busy looks. Why are they higher than the others? The helmet. I LOVE the helmet. But again, why is there a need for 46 different colors on the uniform? There isn’t a rule that states a team has to incorporate all of the colors of the team on each uniform. The Bengals had it right when they first changed the uniforms back in the early 80’s. Don’t do the black on black ever either. See below in Denver's description about the pants striping.

 

We Tried Too Hard

22. Denver – The transition back to the orange tops at home was a great change for the Broncos. However, the blue pants aren’t a good look. The stripes on the pants get a little crazy for me. I enjoy the distinction between college and the pros in terms of the uniforms. Colleges can try new and different looks, while the NFL is more buttoned up. The stripes on the pants twisting to the front of the pants look very college to me.

 

21. Philadelphia – BFBS. If you haven’t seen or heard of that acronym before, it stands for Black For Black Sake. Why add black for no other reason then its black? It isn't the 90's anymore where black sold everything. Chill. The black jersey for the Eagles is awful. I liked the change to the darker green, but the faux pas with Nike and the color caused issues last year and there have been rumblings that they Eagles may go back to kelly green. That would be awesome.

 

20. Detroit – Another BFBS team. The Hawaiian blue (yes, that’s the color) and silver looks awesome together. Why ruin it by adding black to the uniform and facemask? Stop!

 

19. St. Louis – The Rams are here for two reasons: the blue on blue look they used at home last year. Awful. And for changing from yellow to gold. Their “throwback” uniforms are excellent. Go back to those… PLEASE!!

 

18. Houston – Too. Many. Combinations. Ditch the blood clot look (that’s red on red) pronto.

 

So Close…

17. Minnesota – The Vikings realized the error of their ways after changing from the classic Vikings look to the…I don’t know how to describe their Favre era ugliness. They harkened back to the classic look with a few tweaks. The one that caused them to be this low? The black facemask. Why?!?!?

 

16. Washington – Love the change back to the gold pants for the Redskins. The reason they are this low is the red-skinned Indian on the helmet. They should go back to the spear look.

 

There's the first half. Once again, thanks to Chris Creamer's site for all the photos.

Interested to hear your comments. Tweet me @illini3sc or leave a comment.

Shawn

Wearing the Black(hawks) Hat

Yankees. Cowboys. Lakers. Miami Hurricanes.

All dirty words.

Why, you ask? Because they won. A lot.

Well, that and the fact that my teams never won. That didn’t help either. Growing up in Central Illinois in the late 70’s-early 80’s was not a very prosperous time for the teams I rooted for religiously.

Every time I turned on the television the aforementioned teams were playing in a championship series, usually against the Dodgers, Steelers and Celtics. And I hated those teams too.

Ok, maybe I am embellishing a tad. But you cannot deny that all of those franchises have been tabbed as “dynasties” or perennial champions. All I ever wanted was for that to be MY team.

Finally, at 46 years old, it’s happened. The Chicago Blackhawks won their third Stanley Cup in six years earlier in the week. A team that I root for has been discussed as a dynasty…and it feels amazing.

I’m not here to debate the word dynasty. That’s for media members with bigger audiences to debate. For me, it’s about wearing the “black hat”. Everywhere I turn, whether on Twitter, Facebook or even talking directly to fans: if they are not a fan of the Blackhawks, then the fans consider them to be NHL’s evil empire; often using the word “hate” to describe their feeling towards my beloved Chicago hockey team.

Yes, that’s a strong word (and another topic for another day), however, the vitriol is present for non-Blackhawks fans. Why? Go back to the introduction of this post – they are winning, a lot. And on television all the time. And lauded by the media. And so on…

I get it. This is exactly why I “hated” the teams I mentioned earlier. But now the shoe’s on the other foot. And you know what? I LOVE IT. It is SO much fun to finally root for a team that is consistently good. I am reveling in this era of Blackhawks hockey.

The statistics don’t lie:

• 5 of the last 7 years in the Western Conference Finals
• 3 Stanley Cup appearances
• 3 Stanley Cup Final victories
• They are 26-25 in games 1-3 in the playoffs since 2010; in that same span they are 38-11 in games 4-7
• First team in NHL history to win the Stanley Cup when scoring 2 or less goals in the games they won
• And to be honest, they are one fluke overtime goal in 2013 from most likely having won three Stanley Cups in a row

Most of you may say, “Yeah, they’re good. So what?” Here’s the thing – in the salary cap era that the NHL is currently in, this streak is amazing. Consider all of the players the Hawks had to jettison after winning in 2010 because of cap restrictions:

• Dustin Byfuglien
• Ben Eager
• Brent Sopel
• Colin Fraser
• Kris Versteeg
• Andrew Ladd
• Antii Niemi (their goaltender)

That’s unheard of. But here they were three years later back in the Stanley Cup Final against the Boston Bruins. They once again won the Cup in 6 games. Yet again, cap restrictions cost them valuable talent:

• Dave Bolland
• Michael Frolik
• Viktor Stalberg
• Ray Emery

It’s Groundhog Day again this year, with Patrick Sharp, Brian Bickell, Kris Versteeg (again), and possibly Brad Richards the most likely candidates not to return to Chicago next year. However, what Stan Bowman has done is build around a core of players and then surround them with youngsters and veterans to build the winning teams. The core of Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, Marian Hossa, Niklas Hjalmarsson and Corey Crawford are the rock solid foundation of this team. Add in a Brandon Saad (most likely to be signed to a long term deal), Tuevo Teravainen and Trevor Van Riemsdyk and the future looks very bright for Chicago. Which also means the haters are going to continue to hate.

These said “haters” love to throw out the word “bandwagon” when I mention the Blackhawks. It gets me fired up. One reason? Fans of other teams claim that there are more Blackhawks fans now that they are winning. Well, duh. Look at my hometown – Indianapolis. When I moved here in 1990 it was a basketball city/state, without question. But over time the Colts got good, really good. Now this city is a football city. If the same thing happened in Detroit with the Lions, it would become a football town. It happens.

I grew up just outside of Peoria, IL, which isn’t a hotbed for hockey. However, being the rabid sports fan I am, even at an early age I was inclined to find any sports I could in the mid-70’s. Along came Peter Puck and the NBC Game of the Week. 

I was fascinated by this cartoon caricature and began to learn the game of hockey. NBC lost the rights not long after he appeared, but my inquisitiveness for hockey remained. Sadly, we didn’t live in a Chicago television market in order to watch the Blackhawks on a regular basis. Not that it mattered anyway, because Dollar Bill Wirtz owned the team and would not show them on television in fears that it would keep the fans from attending the games in person. I tried to keep up the best I could, but even now the sports shows (yes, I’m talking to you SportsCenter) don’t give the NHL the coverage it deserves., let alone back in the dark ages before cable television. Lucky for me, there was a local minor league team, the Peoria Rivermen, who came along in my high school years and won the International Hockey League title in 1984-85. This reinvigorated my fondness for hockey. Even though the Rivermen were an affiliate of the St. Louis Blues, I wasn’t going to sway from my love for the Blackhawks.

In college I finally was able to get cable television (we lived in the boonies growing up and cable didn’t “reach us”) and could watch some hockey. It was then that the Blackhawks began to cultivate some really good talent, like a Jeremy Roenick, Steve Larmer and Ed Belfour. They also acquired a hard-nosed, tough defenseman from the Montreal Canadiens named Chris Chelios. I was back in business!

After graduation, my best friend and I moved to Indianapolis, IN and made sure we installed cable television. Again, we couldn’t watch the Hawks on a regular basis because of Bill Wirtz, but were able to keep up with the team by watching ESPN highlights. In 1992 the Blackhawks made it to the Stanley Cup Final against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Sadly, the NHL didn’t have the best television deal at the time and the Final was being shown on SportsChannel America. We didn’t have that channel, so it was off to the bars to watch the games. Game One started marvelously as the Hawks jumped out to a 4-1 lead on the Pens. Unfortunately, Mario Lemieux led a furious comeback to cap off a 5-4 victory. It was all downhill from there as the Blackhawks got swept in four games.

Hope sprang eternal (I’m a Cubs fan, remember?) save for the fact that Bill Wirtz owned the team. A few guys stuck around for a while, but old Dollar Bill wasn’t going to break the bank for them. Roenick, Belfour and Chelios all found themselves heading out the door for greener pastures (I've still got my Chelios Blackhawks sweater though). Luckily, we lived in Indy which had the Blackhawks major farm team, the Indianapolis Ice. We were fortunate enough to see future Hawks like Brian Noonan, Ryan McGill, Jimmy Waite and this guy named. Dominik Hasek play in town. It kept the Hawks flame burning for me, which was important

The gist of this recap, so to speak, is to prove that I am not a bandwagon fan. Although I don’t know why that’s important, I just feel the need to do it. Sure, I could look it all up on the Internet and lie to you, but why would I waste my time with that?

All in all, people can say what they want about the Blackhawks. It’s a free country, right? Nonetheless, I would like to point out a few reasons why I love this team so much:

They’re great guys – It is wonderful, as a father, to have athletes on your team to point your kids to and say “do it that way”. That’s Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Marian Hossa. I would put Patrick Kane in the mix but he still seems to be a bit of a partier… :)

They do things the right way – this was actually a quote from the NHL Network pregame show before one of the Finals games. And they’re right:

• Rocky put the team on television. 
• He hired John McDonough away from the Cubs, which is the greatest hiring decision in Chicago Sports History, in my humble opinion. 
• The National Anthem – enough said. 
• In each of their three Stanley Cup presentations, the first teammate to get it after the Captain received it for a certain reason. In 2010 it was Marian Hossa, who had lost out on the Cup the previous two years. In 2013 it was Jamal Mayers, a guy who at 38 had never won the Cup and didn’t even see the ice in the Final. And this year, Kimmo Timonen. Another aged veteran with one last shot at the Cup. He did see ice time in the Final, but not much. That didn’t matter to Toews, which speaks to his level of maturity and leadership abilities. 

Their work ethic – when Patrick Kane went down with the broken clavicle and it was reported that he would be on the sidelines for 10-12 weeks, panic ensued in Blackhawks nation. We can’t win the Cup without Kaner!! Interviews after the Cup victory told a story behind the scenes of Kane working his rear end off to get back earlier (his original prognosis was returning for the Conference Finals, IF they got that far). He retuned at the start of the playoffs and the rest is history. At the same time, an interview with Comcast Sports Net Chicago reporter Pat Boyle revealed that Kimmo Timonen had stated that in all his years in the NHL he’d never been around a team that had the level of commitment this Blackhawks team showed.

Finally, they’ll play any style necessary to win. A caller on 670 The Score made note that he felt like every team the Blackhawks faced in the playoffs thought, “this is the year we can beat them.” And then after they were eliminated thought, “how did we lose to these guys?” Let’s look at each series:

• Nashville – thought they could outskate the Hawks. Game One looked grim early, but the Hawks prevailed.
• Minnesota – tried to get into a lot of scrums and out-grit the Hawks. The Wild also had the hottest goalie in the NHL at that time in Devan Dubnyk, but they also found themselves going home early.
• Anaheim – my favorite, because they foolishly believed they could punish the Hawks into submission. Ryan Kesler, noted jerk, said as much. He conveniently was unavailable for comment after losing Game 7 at home to the Hawks.
• Tampa Bay – literally a combination of all three previous teams. Unbelievable talent put together by Steve Yzerman. And yet, the Blackhawks found a way to win.

For me, it’s very easy to love this Chicago Blackhawks team/franchise. They are reigniting hockey in the metropolitan Chicago area with more and more kids signing up to play hockey. It’s great for the game. My sons want to play now. I took my oldest to the Stanley Cup Parade on Thursday and we had a blast. He’s all about hockey now. And I will gladly talk to him on end about these Blackhawks and how honored I am to be a fan. Haters gonna hate – go right ahead. I’ll proudly wear the Black(hawks) hat. 

Until next time,

Shawn

Cena vs Owens....and the Build to Wrestlemania

Sunday night, the WWE held an exclusive event on the WWE Network, Elimination Chamber. Essentially, it was a pay-per-view, but it was only available on the network (a great explanation of the PPV model was written by David Shoemaker of Grantland here). The card was pretty solid - there were two Elimination Chamber matches within the event. All in all, it was an above average PPV (even though it wasn’t a PPV).

The story of the evening was the match between John Cena, the United States Champion, and Kevin Owens, the NXT Champion. Owens debut on Monday Night Raw was intriguing. The WWE has frequently had newcomers dominate in their initial showings on television to build the character. But never at the expense of a premier commodity like Cena. I was interested, to say the least, at this match at Elimination Chamber.

The match lived up to the hype as it will definitely be in the conversation for Match of the Year. Back and forth they went, with Owens being the main aggressor as to build more heat. Normally, when Cena wrestles, half of the crowd chants “Let’s go Cena” and the other half chants “Cena sucks”. It’s a strange dichotomy for the federations number one guy. Parents and their kids love John Cena, while everyone else is sick of his shtick and dislikes him That’s the beauty of this angle with Kevin Owens. KO has made Cena more of a likable character, a babyface, than he was before this angle. Owens’ heat, or in layman’s terms, dislikability, has drawn more of the crowd to Cena’s side. This is good for the angle and for the WWE.

Back to the match - potential pinning situations came and went, fast and furiously. Both men tried hit their signature, or finishing, moves to end the match. However, at each turn their opponent kicked out to continue the match. Part of me has a problem with the finishing moves not working towards a resolution - what’s the point of a finishing move if it doesn’t finish? How many times can an opponent kick out of the finisher before it becomes irrelevant? Anyway, the boys were telling a great story - and when it boils down to it - that’s what wrestling (or any other scripted television) is about, great storytelling. That’s the hook. Tell us a great story and we’ll watch with fervor. Bore us and we’ll change the channel. Cena and Owens told a great story: it’s the classic good vs. evil story. One man, Cena, staking his claim to the preeminent wrestler of his day and US Champion, while the other, Owens, is trying to knock Cena off his pedestal while proving his long journey to WWE created the fire inside him to beat Cena. In the end, surprisingly, Owens went over - cleanly. It was fantastic. The build to the story ended with the bad guy winning. It builds Owens heat and creates sympathy for Cena. I haven’t watched last night’s Raw yet to see the aftermath of the match, but I’m hopeful the creative writes find a way to not screw up the build to the rematch in two weeks at Money in the Bank.

What does all this mean? Quite honestly, I believe everything is a build to Wrestlemania, These stories have a long term purpose and it all leads to the biggest show of the year. Pondering this year’s show, located at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, it HAS to be big. WWE is trying to “break” their indoor attendance record from Wrestlemania III in the Pontiac Silverdome. The goal is to break 100,000 in attendance, which they can and probably will accomplish. Yet, at the same time, the brand extension of WWE Network is at the forefront of the build. More subscriptions equals a greater revenue stream. Wrestlemania is paramount to the increase of subscriptions as it’s the biggest show of the year. So….as I let the Owens v Cena rivalry roll around in my head, I began to create ideas in my mind for WM. Without further adieu, I give to you my Wrestlemania card for this year in Dallas. Keep in mind a few things - it’s obviously fantasy booking so there are no holds barred with me. Anything and everything that could plausibly happen will. Second, I’m going no holds barred, Katie bar the door, damn the torpedoes, which ever saying you want to use for going all out - that’s my card. Here it is:

Pre-Show

The Wrestlemania Pre-Show is extremely important for the brand since it allows men and women who have been busting their tails all year a chance to get on the show. I have included three matches for the pre-show

1. The Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal - a great way to get many of those performers on the show. Big Show, Ryback, Curtis Axel, Fandango, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, Miz, R-Truth, Harper, Rowan, Sheamus and Zach Ryder are a few of the names to be included in this match. 
2. NXT #1 Contender’s Match - Baron Corbin, Finn Balor and Hideo Itami fight it out in a Triple Threat Match to see who gets the next shot at the NXT Title. 
3. Speaking of the NXT Title, there will be an NXT TItle Match on the pre-show. Kevin Owens fights Samoa Joe for the NXT Title. 

Main Show

1. Let’s kick off the show with a little TLC!! The tag team titles are up for grabs in a TLC match between New Day, Prime Time Players, and Kidd/Cesaro. It’s difficult to know when the Uso’s will be healthy enough to stake their claim in the title picture, so for now I must leave them out. If they were healthy, I’d love to see a War Games style match (two rings covered in cage with roof) and have the Uso’s/PTP face off against Kidd/Cesaro and New Day. 
2. Next on the card we’ll have the man they call Sting. He will face a newly repackaged “Legend Killer Randy Orton in an old school WCW/WWE battle. To make it more interesting, Randy’s father, Cowboy Bob Orton will be in his corner for the match. One he interferes, Ric Flair and Arn Anderson come down to help Sting and get the numbers on their side. Once this stacks the table against WWE, and old pal of the elder Orton comes down to their aide - Rowdy Roddy Piper. Things eventually settle down and allow Randy and Sting to finish match themselves. 
3. The John Cena US Title Open Challenge - yes, he carries on the tradition of the open challenge at WM. However, this night it all changes because for one night only, AJ STYLES answers the challenge. After the match is over (whoever wins doesn’t matter) AJ takes the microphone and said he just needed one match to prove to himself that he could hang in the WWE and with that he’s satisfied. 
4. Women’s Tag Team Match - one of WM31’s intriguing moments was the appearance of the the Rock. He came down to the ring to chat with Triple H and Stephanie. As Steph berated him the Rock turned to a colleague for assistance - Ronda Rousey. This set the message boards on fire about potential match ups in the future. And at 32 they get it. Mousey teams with Women’s Champion Paige to face off against Stephanie and her partner of choice, Tamina Snuka. In this match Rousey gets Steph in a compromising position at which point HHH and HBK come down to help Steph. Seeing this disadvantage, Stone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan come to Rousey’s aide. 
5. Next up, the Dead Man returns. The Undertaker takes on his brother Kane in a Retirement Match. But that’s not all - it’s in Hell in a Cell. Kane’s time is winding down as an active wrestler as well, so let him go out with a bang. Texas in Taker’s home state so he gets to retire in grand fashion as well. I’m not saying who wins…..but let’s say that Bray Wyatt (along with brother Bo Dallas) makes an appearance to help Kane defeat the Undertake and put him down for good. Kane decides this isn't how his brother should go out so he and Taker team up to dispose of Wyatt and Dallas. Once it's over Paul Bearer’s sons appear who, with the urn, lead both gentlemen off into the sunset. 
6. Intercontinental Title Match - Double Jeopardy. What is Double Jeopardy? It’s essentially two matches taking place in the ring at one time. The winners of the two initial matches face off for the belt. The participants in this match would be Dolph Ziggler, Wade Barrett, Neville and Rusev. 

Double Main Event time!!!

1. First off is the WWE Title Match. It’s a Triple Threat Match featuring the three former members of the Shield. Reigns would be the incumbent champion based off events at the Royal Rumble (which I’ll get to in a minute). During the Rumble, the last two men standing are Ambrose and Rollins. They both fly over the ropes together landing on the floor at the same time (like Bret Hart and Lex Luger). Therefore, the ruling is that both get a shot at the title at WM. Reigns manages to retain the title in less than savory fashion. 
2. The last match of the evening features the former World Champion, Brock Lesnar, loving up with the man who caused him to lose the title at the Royal Rumble - The Rock!!! Brock wins the title at Summer Slam and continues his path of destruction. Heyman starts insisting that Lesnar is the greatest WWE Champion of all-time. He calls out all former champs in Raw’s leading up to the show. None of the other former champs show up….until the Rumble. The Rock heads down to ringside and disposes of Heyman, and assisting his cousin, Roman Reigns, in winning the WWE Title. This sets up the WM match between Rock and Brock. In a surprise twist - Reigns comes down to ringside during the match - most fans think it is to atone himself for his actions in the title match. But instead, he uses his title belt to turn on the Rock and help Brock win. Reigns then becomes part of the newly formed Dangerous Alliance. 

There you have it - Wrestlemania 32 in the books. Let me know your thoughts!! Comment on this page or tweet me @illini3sc.