Dud Matchup of the Week
November 6,
2009 | Kevin
Zdancewicz
The NFL season has been
blessed with a number of outstanding
uniform matchups this season, thanks in no small part to the AFL 50th
Anniversary Throwback series. The Patriots-Titans (as the Oilers) throwbacks
matchup
might be
the best of the year – and it was in the snow! Just outstanding. This must have
been
what
they had in mind when they invented HD TVs. This Bills-Titans matchup is not too far behind and I
thought Chargers-Raiders was great both in spite of and
because of
the fact that those uniforms are so close to what each team wears now.
To bring this back to reality, there will
always be dud
uniform matchups in the NFL, especially as long as the Bills, Bengals,
Seahawks,
Browns, and Vikings keep their current looks. And this column will
serve as a
reminder of just that. Call this installment “Jersey Matchup of the
Week.” The
Cleveland Browns are our first culprit. For a uniform set that is
supposed to
be classic and traditional, they are rather uninspiring. The plain
orange
helmets are played out and there’s a reason you have to search far and
wide for
other examples of brown-and-orange as a color combination. Unless I’m
completely blanking on someone more obvious, I don’t think there’s
another big
four major sports team with that combo. The next most recognizable team
is
probably Bowling Green State University (despite the fact that green
might have
been a better choice for them).
The Browns might have been a likely
candidate to make up
half of a subpar uni-matchup. But the Bears? Chicago has a solid
color-combo –
not that I’m
biased or anything – and some classic uniforms. The Bears usually
has a
solid home look with navy jerseys, but that changes when they trot out
their
bright orange alternates. These have been around for a while, but have
failed
to look any better with time – especially compared to the standard navy
jerseys. The combination with the Browns’ orange helmets (what a weird
phrase)
and brown pants, as well as the mish-mash of both team’s stripes made
this game
a tough one to watch aesthetically.
Getting back to the Browns, the brown pants
are the big
issue with this road set. As much as I like solid-color pants in
college, I
don’t think it translates as well to the NFL. This is probably because
the NFL
requires players to wear full-length socks as part of the uniform and
there
isn’t always a good option for a team when they wear colored pants. So
when the
Browns wear brown pants, they can either wear white socks with stripes
as they
did or solid brown socks to create what has been dubbed “the leotard effect.” I’m not a big fan of white
socks with
stripes; they just seem so dated to me. Wearing the same color pants and socks isn’t the greatest
look, but I
don’t mind it as much when compared to nearly solid white socks (which
doesn’t
even come close to my biggest pet peeve: white pants with white socks). One decent
solution
is to
add some stripes to the pants to at least break up the
monochrome
effect somewhat, though wearing a different solid color sock is the better visual
answer.
The Titans are a good example for this
lesson in colored
pants and colored socks. The team had it right when they wore navy jerseys with white pants and navy socks.
For
the road,
they paired navy pants with navy socks but at least had some
stripes on
the pants. Then more recently they added light blue pants with navy
socks that look great too and eliminate the monochrome
effect. The
Titans have a nice set of options for working around the same color
pants and
socks issue while still maintaining some solid combinations (not that they always do that). A lot of other
teams don’t
have a secondary color that is versatile enough to work on an extra
pair of
pants or socks. I mean, imagine how much worse the featured matchup
would have
been if the Browns had tried to use orange socks with brown pants.
Disaster.
Photo Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports
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