Empty Bookshelf Reviews

Ok.  So, 6-2 doesn’t have the same ring as 7-1, but with a system this arbitrary, that’s still pretty good, right?  Right?

Two really big uniform stories this week.  1) The Eagles will actually be wearing their “official” home uniform today for the first time this season. 2) The Colts will be wearing their 1955 throwbacks which are making their first regular season appearance.

And, oh yeah, it’s no longer October, so the ridiculous pink breast cancer “awareness” gear will be gone- the NFL profits off the sale of that gear, yo.

UniDiction after the jump.

The UniDiction

Either 2, 3, 6, or 7 points awarded for each category (safety, field goal, touchdown, touchdown+point after)

Helmet

Eagles: 7 — This continues to be one of the best helmets in the league.

Colts: 7 — The solid Navy Blue is a good, rich color, but I’m divided about moving the horseshoes to the back of the helmet.  They’re difficult to see in practice, BUT I think they’re supposed to be the “this is what you see after the horse/colt runs you over.”  I’ve awarded the Eagles points for their “functional” aspect of the helmet wings, so I’ll give points for the “just ran you over” footprints on the Colts helmets.  We value attention to detail here at Crossing Broad.

Jersey

Eagles: 7 — Finally, half-way through the season, the Eagles will be wearing their “proper” home uniform set.  Midnight Green jerseys over White pants.  When fans think of the “post-Cunningham” Eagles, they’re picturing the Midnight Green jerseys.  A unique, bold color, detailed strokes and drop shadows on the numbers, and nice use of logos on the sleeves and collar.

Colts: 3 — See, here’s the thing with a team like the Colts wearing throwbacks.  Their normal uniforms are pretty much throwbacks.  Nothing against their classic normal uniforms, of course, but these throwbacks are pretty much identical except for having triple stripes on the shoulders/sleeves instead of double stripes. “Classic” doesn’t necessarily mean “best,” though, and their White jersey, whether the new throwback or their normal throwbacks-in-anything-but-name jerseys, are very unremarkable with their gigantic field of white with sparse use of color.  Thankfully the Colts have a “history of winning,” so no one gets up in arms about their harmless uniforms.

Pants + Socks

Eagles: 6 — The White pants provide nice contrast with the solid green of the jersey, and instead of plain white, the thick Black ad Green stripes (with the pencil thin grey stripe) on the side of the pants gives them a slightly modern touch.  Black over White socks also break up the White from the pants 

Colts: 6 — See above about the “throwbackness” of the jerseys.  Today’s pants replace the double stripe with a single super-wide stripe, and solid blue socks over white sanitaries are replaced with white socks with triple blue stripes.  I like them.  The thick blue stripes get rid of the plainness of the white pants, and the triple striped socks connect the bottom half of the uniform with the top half.

Intangibles

Eagles: 6 — The Eagles will finally be wearing their “real” home uniforms today.

Colts: 7 — It’s a strong move for a team whose current uniform is pretty much a throwback to wear a special throwback which is more-or-less identical except for the helmet.  NOTE: I was tempted to add an additional 7 points to “Intangibles” based on “Peyton Manning will be wearing this uniform today,” but I figured that would be philosophically unsound with respect to the purpose of this column.  You’re welcome, professional journalists.

 Final Score

Eagles 26

Colts 23

Random, relevant uniform trivia:

The Colts wore blue pants for a few games in 1995.  That weird feeling you’re getting when looking at these pictures is called cognitive dissonance.  The Colts shouldn’t be wearing blue pants…. even if it’s actually a pretty good look.

All in all, a pretty good looking game.

6-1.  Breath it in.  This is rarefied air, people.  In what’s probably the most arbitrary, non-cephalopod-based prediction “system” ever, these UniDictions are coming in huge.  Of course, I’m ignoring the implicit spread created by predicting the score, not just the straight-up winner, but I take wins where I can get them.

The Eagles are visiting the Titans this week, and the fact that the Eagles are in White over Green (…again.  ”Serious” question: will the Midnight Green jerseys ever show up this year?  It’s part of their official uniform, gadnabbit.) was posted to Gameday on Tuesday. Being that the Eagles are the visitors, they don’t have a say in whether they’ll wear White or Color jerseys, so I can’t ascribe this combination to outside-the-box-thinking by Reid and Co.  (Maybe White over White would be outside the box thinking.)  Your 2010 Philadelphia Eagles: 2 quarterbacks, no uniform strategy to speak of.

Of course, the Titans won’t make this UniDiction easy.  Generally, their home combination is Light Blue (“Titans Blue”) jersey over Navy Blue pants, but they’re known as team which has no issue mixing and mixing and matching and matching their various jerseys and pants (three different pants, three different jerseys).  In fact, the team’s proclivity for uniform variation warranted a USA Today article in 2006.  I’m going to play it safe and assume they’re in the “standard home” combination.  I doubt we’ll see them in monochrome “Titans Blue” or “Navy Blue.” For completeness sake, I’ll mention they’ve worn a Navy over White combination, but it’s been a while (at least two seasons) since they’ve worn the white pants from what I can tell, so almost zero odds we’ll see those on Sunday.  And, generally, the Titans different components are only color swaps, the stripes and other details are identical except for swapping one color for another.  It’s not like the Eagles, where their White pants have two stripes, and the Green pants have three.

The UniDiction

Either 2, 3, 6, or 7 points awarded for each category (safety, field goal, touchdown, touchdown+point after)

Helmet

Eagles: 7 — Still one of the best helmets in the league.

Titans: 2 — OK.  So, the “T”  is a sword (probably because swords are awesome), three stars (because the Tennessee state flag has three stars in a similar-ish arrangement), and some flames, invoking either Titan VIP Prometheus and his theft of fire, or, um, playing into the Titans’ past as the Oilers, and showing a burning Oil Derrick.  Each of those is unlikely for different reasons, so let’s assume it’s equally probable it’s because “flames are cool.”  Well, maybe the sword is due to noted Titan Zeus’ gift of an adamantine (Wolverine!) sword to  Perseus, but I’m not sure Perseus was technically a Titan.  Anyway, it’s a non-sense combination of symbols, and the blue contrast stripes taper off for no reason around the crown of the head.   Blech.

Jersey

Eagles: 3 — The White jerseys are unfortunately nondescript compared to the Midnight Green.  I’ve said it before, so I’ll continue to say it, the White jersey just doesn’t say “Eagles” the way that the Green one does.  Ask someone what the Eagles’ colors are, and “White” will never be his or her first answer.

Titans: 3 — There are definitely worse “non-traditional” designs, out there, but I’m not sure I can get on board with the shoulder yokes.  It looks messy on the sleeve are where the “body” color meets the “yoke” color.  I’m generally not a fan of “can’t make up their minds” colors (like the Lions), but the Navy Blue yoke is larger than the typical “contrast color” area and thankfully, the dark highlight color is not black (see the Lions’ link above).  But, any color which is within the Baby Blue “spectrum” doesn’t have a place being the main color of a uniform, even if it’s origin is a legitimately retro source.

Pants + Socks

Eagles: 3 — I still don’t like the Green Pants.  With the last three weeks being even more chances to see them, the Midnight Green pants tend to look generically “dark” on the lower half of the body, not an immediately noticeable color.  The two-tone socks also work better with the white pants than the green pants.

Titans: 6 — If they’re in Navy Blue pants, I really can’t find too much at fault.  The general template is nice: color “A” body, wide, alternating color “B”-”C”-”B” stripes.  Pretty much a classic look.  The use of “Titans Blue” as a contrast color against Navy is much better than using Navy against “Titans Blue.”  Honestly, the infrequently seen Navy over White is a better look, though.

Intangibles

Eagles: 6 — Points awarded if only because I’m getting the feeling we’re only going to be seeing the White jerseys and Throwbacks this year.

Titans: 2 — While Navy over White is preferred, the usual “away” combination of White over “Titans Blue” is barely an improvement to the “Titans Blue” over Navy, and their White over Navy has the same problem as the Eagles’ White over Green: the pants look generally “dark,” not an unmistakable color that says “Titans.”  And there logo doesn’t make any sense.

 Final Score

Eagles 19

Titans 13

Titans blue-overload with the Eagles white means no good.

True to the whims of the football gods this season, like all of the NFL teams, Crossing Broad is no longer undefeated.  It was a good run while it lasted.  We regroup, refocus, and re-prognosticate, with clearer Unidictions than ever.

According to Eagles Gameday, they're in White over Green, again.  We're not sure why they continue to mix up their "normal" home/road combinations, but if this really the re-building year the organization has been implying, perhaps they're re-building at all levels.  Right.

Looking at this week's bird of prey themed match-up, we've got the Eagles' modern classic design (though a lesser combination) and the Falcons' modern-for-the-sake-of-modern design.  Of course, the Falcons have some quite nice throwbacks.  Of course, to minimize the risk of being accused of liking the throwbacks just because they're old/retro, I think their best "historical design" was the 1990-2002 uniform.  So, with the Eagles in White Jerseys, and the very unlikely possibility that the Falcons will wear throwbacks, that would put them in Red Jerseys over White Pants.  (for completists, here's a picture of the Falcons' White over White combination.)

The UniDiction

Either 2, 3, 6, or 7 points awarded for each category (safety, field goal, touchdown, touchdown+point after)

Helmet

Eagles: 7 — I was thinking about why this helmet is just so iconic, and it came to me clearly and suddenly.  The design on the helmet is not a logo of the team nor a wordmark, but evokes an eagle the way that the Rams helmet horns get the point across without just doubling one of the trademarks.  Definitely one of the best helmet designs in the league.

Falcons: 3 — Two big issues here and another cool detail.  1) For the 2003 re-design, the designers did the "how can we make the current, widely recognized logo look meaner?" move, so increased stroke width, got rid of clean right-angles, then added additional strokes.  (example: old logo is just white line art on a black field.  The new logo is black and red with white stroke, then silver/grey stroke.) I will sat that the mouth/head of the old logo was in desperate need of an update, though.  2) In Black Helmets, the Falcons look like they should be wearing Black Jerseys.  In Red Helmets, it looks like they should wear Red Jerseys.  They don't always do this, especially with respect to the current jersey set and the current throwbacks.  In one pretty cool detail, the Falcon on the current helmet makes an "F".  Details never go unrewarded on Crossing Broad.

Jersey

Eagles: 3 — The White jerseys are unfortunately nondescript compared to the Midnight Green.  I've said it before, so I'll continue to say it, the White jersey just doesn't say "Eagles" the way that the Green one does.

Falcons: 1 — Are armpit highlighting features really necessary on a football jersey?  Does adding a small patch of contrast color above the armpit area make it so it looks like an intentional design element, and not an armpit patch?  No, it does not.  Also, while they thankfully did not pick a "futuristic" typeface for the numbers, I generally prefer stroke to drop shadow.  The Falcons do have a Black alternate jersey (based on the current design, not the throwback) floating around, but they can't wear it this year due to the throwback being the "alternate," and they only ever wear it with Black pants (as far as I can tell), so that's not exactly a win, either.

Pants + Socks

Eagles: 3 — I still don't like them.  With the last two weeks being even more chances to see them, the Midnight Green pants tend to look generically "dark" on the lower half of the body, not an immediately noticeable color.  The two-tone socks also work better with the white pants than the green pants.

Falcons: 2 — OK, I'll admit that the fine line going down the hem of the left and right sides of the jersey, then meeting with identical lines on the pants is a nice touch.  What isn't a nice touch is that that fine line morphs into a useless triangle of red and black at the knee.  There's a difference between eschewing convention (such as using a fine line instead of thick stripes), then there's just the false mindset that "modern = different for the sake of different."

Intangibles

Eagles: 6 — Well, I guess wearing the "away" uniform at home is outside the box thinking on the Eagles' part.  Let's hope it works out.

Falcons: 3 — The flying bird logo makes an "F!"

 Final Score

Eagles 19

Falcons 9

Go Birds Eagles!

The Eagles White over Green and the Falcons in anything do not make for a good looking game of football.

Bad news for the Eagles this week.  They're playing the 49ers, and the Crossing Broad Unidictions are 4-0.  AND, the 49ers have some pretty nice uniforms.  Sorry, Eagles fans, but this one isn't going to end well.

The 49ers follow the normal "color" at home, so they're in Red over Gold (there's no alternate in the mix), and importantly, Eagles Gameday is solidly reporting White over Green, so hopefully we'll be able to avoid the re-re-rewrite process of last weeks' uniform pandemonium. (pandemonium!).

The 49ers classic look combined with the Eagles in White over Green means bad news.

The UniDiction

Either 2, 3, 6, or 7 points awarded for each category (safety, field goal, touchdown, touchdown+point after)

Helmet

Eagles: 7 — Same as always.  Definitely one of the best helmet designs in the league.

49ers: 6 — Sure, the interlocked "SF" is plain and lacks the visual flair of the Eagles' wings, but the proportions and colors are just right.

Jersey

Eagles: 3 — The White jerseys are unfortunately nondescript compared to the Midnight Green.  I've said it before, so I'll say it again, the White jersey just doesn't say "Eagles" the way that the Green one does.

49ers: 7 — Sure, they're plain, but they're a great example of how just a few stripes can turn a jersey from too plain and boring (a la the Eagles' 1960 throwbacks) into, again, "just right."  I'm not as big a fan of their White over Gold combination, but unfortunately for the Eagles, it isn't what they're wearing this week.

Pants + Socks

Eagles: 3 — I still don't like them.  With last week being yet another chance to see them, the Midnight Green pants tend to look generically "dark" on the lower half of the body, not an immediately noticeable color.  The two-tone socks also work better with the white pants than the green pants.

49ers: 7 — I admit I'm a sucker for uncommon uniform colors (of course, not the "Carolina Blue" as the primary color of the alternates worn by the Panthers last week), and Gold fits the requirement.  If the other colors go well with the uncommon color, all the better.  With red and white, there's no problem there.  Also, the red-white-red stripe down each leg is, like pretty much everything else, "just right."  It wouldn't hurt if there were some striping on the socks, but I don't think it's required.

Intangibles

Eagles: 3 — Well, it's official.  White over White is a better look, and the only thing going for them this week is that the neon pink Breast Cancer awareness equipment will be slightly less offensive with the Eagles' White than with either the Red or Gold of the 49ers.

49ers: 7 — Yep, the full 7 points.  It's heartening to see a team change from a busy uniform design to a less busy design, but the 49ers did it last season.  Outside-the-box thinking works every time 60% of time.

Final Score

Eagles 16

49ers 27

Based just on the 49ers uniforms, this is definitely a 3 and a half star sort of game.

Sorry I was a little slow getting this posted, and it ends up being more of a past tense prediction, but here it is was. As always, this was cross-posted on crossingbroad.com. Look for the Week 5 Unidiction on Sunday.

 
This has been a bad week for the uniform department of Crossingbroad.com.  First, the Eagles show up in White over White last week, and we've just found out from some of our more astute readers (and Eagles Gameday) that they'll be wearing White over Green at home.  And I thought they were only having a QB controversy!  Updated Post is below.  Thanks for the heads-up, readers.

Wow.  Speaking of us being wrong.  I march in with a confident, "Eagles will be wearing White over Green," and what happens?  They break out the normally-preseason-only White over White.  Of course, I will shamelessly point out that I also mentioned that the White over White would be a much better option than White over Green, so maybe Andy Reid isn't all that out of touch… maybe.  Oh yeah, in terms of outright wins and losses, my Unidictions are 3-0, and updating for last week's surprise appearance of the aesthetically more appealing White over White, I'm seeing increased scores in the Pants/Socks and Intangibles category, so we're looking at +3 for intangibles and +3 for pants.  The (retrospective) Unidiction: Eagles 25, Jaguars 6.  Actual score: 28-3.  That's pretty darn close.

On to the hotly anticipated Redskins vs. Eagles match-up.

The Redskins have a generally traditional uniform, with their only "outside the box" detail being the Maroon over Maroon combination.  With the Eagles wearing White jerseys this week, the Redskins are wearing their rarely seen Maroon over White combination, according to the Redskins official Twitter account.  They also have an "all maroon, all the time" combination, as well as a new-as-of-2010 Maroon jersey, Yellow pants look, but .  (note: the Redskins officially call the color "Burgundy," but more often than not, it looks Maroon, so that settles it.  AND look at the RGB triples on Wikipedia which show that Burgundy is Maroon with some blue added.  I'm not seeing any blue in their color.  In more color semantics, they call the yellow "Gold," but it looks like plain yellow to my eyes.)

Prior to this season (with their snazzy new yellow pants), the Redskins had been a "White at Home" team, so like the Cowboys with their Blue jerseys, the Redskins' Maroon jerseys over White pants were a rare sight.  Apparently, the Yellow pants look to be a "home games only" option, though this is the first week in 2010 where they're wearing Maroon and are the visitors.

Thinking the Eagles were wearing Green over White this week, I originally wrote, "[the Redskins'] new Maroon over Yellow combination is pretty spectacular, so in terms of the Eagles chances this week, let's all be glad they won't be wearing those.", so let's hope Andy Reid knows what he's doing…

The UniDiction

Either 2, 3, 6, or 7 points awarded for each category (safety, field goal, touchdown, touchdown+point after, of course)

Helmet

Eagles: 7 — Same as always.  Definitely one of the best helmet designs in the league.

Redskins: 6 — It's a nice color combination, but regardless of the political correctness of the logo, it's sloppy that the man pictured is wearing feathers, and the logo itself is "wearing" feathers.  This helmet seen with throwbacks every now and then is much better, combining symbols without both redundancy and caricature.  And for retro for the sake of retro, also seen on throwbacks, this rather ugly design also ends up "cleaner" than the official helmet.

Jersey

Eagles: 3 — The White jerseys are unfortunately nondescript compared to the Midnight Green.  I've said it before, so I'll say it again, the White jersey just doesn't say "Eagles" the way that the Green one does.

 Redskins: 7 — Now then, speaking of jerseys that are intertwined with the team's identity.  They have a unique color scheme (quick: name another team who uses maroon as the main color.  Answer: the Cavaliers.), the colors complement each other, and while they lack a graphic (like the Eagles heads on the shoulders of the all of the Eagles jerseys), they don't look like they're missing anything.

Pants + Socks

Eagles: 3 — I didn't like them last week, and I won't like them this week.  The green pants aren't my favorite.  The Midnight Green tends to look generically "dark" on the lower half of the body, not an immediately noticeable color.  The two-tone socks also work better with the white pants than the green pants.

Redskins: 6 — The pant stripes are just the right thickness, and the maroon/white socks bring the whole thing together nicely.  It's always nice to see a uniform without black in it.

Intangibles

Eagles: 6 — While I don't like the White over Green combination, I'm going to give Andy Reid credit for rocking the boat, and thinking outside of the "this is what we normally do" box.

Redskins: 3 — Even though the Maroon over White look is just about as rare as the Cowboys' Blue over Silver, it doesn't have the same mystique (whether positive or negative) of a well-known but rarely seen uniform.  It's a good look, but knowing that the Maroon over Yellow is out there, these can't compare.

Final Score

Eagles 19

Redskins 21

Special Note: Make sure you don't miss the ridiculous pink accessories seen throughout the league today for breast cancer awareness.

The game gets three-and-a-half stars out of five. The Redskins Maroon over White combination is rare enough that it’s notable on its own, and neither team’s uniform is patently offensive.

A lot of stories coming out of last week’s season opener against the Packers.  Injuries, a quarterback conundrum (don’t call it a controversy!), and what turned out to be a pretty good uniform match-up.  The 1960 throwbacks, which I publicly gave a “meh” opinion, actually worked quite well on the field.  And oh yeah…my first UniDiction: Packers 26, Eagles 18.  Actual score: Packers 27, Eagles 20.  I’m going to count this as a win for my “system.”

The Lions have only worn white at home twice in their (documented?) history, so it’s safe to assume they’ll be wearing their Blue over Silver uniform, not White over Silver, which puts the Eagles in the White over Midnight Green combination.  Wikipedia says  The Lions  have a throwback uniform in their repertoire, but looking through pictures of each game last season, they haven’t been worn since the  the 2009 uniform/logo update, and let’s be honest, if they’re worn this year, they’ll save them for the Packers or Bears.

There are no “uniform stories” this week (do brain injuries count as “uniform stories” because a helmet is involved?  hmm…no.  no they do not), so let’s get right to the for the full breakdown after the jump.

The UniDiction

Either 2, 3, 6, or 7 points awarded for each category (safety, field goal, touchdown, touchdown+point after, of course)

Helmet

Eagles: 7 — Metallic Midnight Green, Nicely detailed wings with the silver pattern, black then white double-stroke really makes the design pop.  The helmet is definitely the strongest visual identifier for the Eagles.

Lions: 2 — The Lions’ logo is, and has always been “blah,” even though though the 2009 refresh specifically tried to address this.  Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of the Lions’ color scheme, so nicely proportioned stripes aside, the Silver+Blue+Black+White aren’t making up for the dullness of the logo.

Jersey

Eagles: 6 — Finally some stripes after last week’s throwbacks!  The green jersey is the one in the Eagles fan’s mind’s eye, but there’s nothing wrong with the white one.  Check out this picture of Kevin Kolb from last week’s game.  Based on the fans, it would appear that the Black, Midnight Green, and Kelly Green jerseys are much more popular than the White jerseys.

Lions: 2 — Supposedly the blue is officially called “Honolulu Blue.”  It can be bought as a real-deal paint color, so I guess it’s a real color.  (example: Kelly Green is a real color, Midnight Green was created by marketers).  But Honolulu Blue.  It’s like the Color Train was between the baby blue and Yale stations, so decided to choose neither.

Pants + Socks

Eagles: 6 — The stripes on the pants, at first glance, appear to be Black/White/Black, but there’s a neat detail hiding there.  The “back” stripe is actually dark grey, not black.  The solid black and white sanitaries and socks…plain, but they work without turning the whole combination into stripezilla.

Eagles: 6 — Compared to the normal Green over White combination, these are just lacking…something.  BUT, the Eagles do have one of the best looks in the league, effectively mixing the traditional and the modern without looking like an over-financed high school team.

Lions: 3 — I can’t ever fault a team for trying to honor tradition [within reason] (and generally succeeding – as Paul Lukas said last year, they still look like the Lions), but if ever a uniform is exactly the sum of its parts, it’s the Lions in “Honolulu Blue” over Silver.  Actually, their White over Silver isn’t so bad.  And…at least they’re not wearing the amateurish Black over Silver from the pre-2009 uniform set.

Final Score

Eagles 25

Lions 13

This week’s match-up gets two stars; the Lions uniform is nothing special, and the game will likely be just as (non-) special, and the Eagles will be wearing their “B” uniform.

This has been cross-posted on Crossing Broad, an up-and-coming Philadelphia Sports destination — heck, they’re the ones who broke the story that Dorney Park was the first rehab assignment for Ryan Howard…

It’s that time of year – the notable roster additions and subtractions have been discussed, the expected win-loss record has been decided, the newly featured players have had a chance to step up, and the Cowboys fans have been thoroughly bashed.  What’s left?  Well, three interminable pre-season “games,” and lengthy discussions of uniforms.

We’ll be taking a hard look at the Eagles 2010 uniform situation today, then running a week-by-week season preview showcasing each expected match-up.  (the NFL doesn’t have hard and fast “home” and “away” uniform designations like baseball, so there will be some guessing)

The biggest uniform news this season by far is the addition of the 1960 Kelly Green over White Throwback to be worn for 2 (or 3?) games.  Though most fans (this one included) have generally positive opinions of the current “Midnight Green” uniform sets, others clamor for a return to the Kelly Green, which had been the primary color used from 1948 (or prior?) to 1995.  ”They should wear the Cunningham-era jerseys again” was the typical comment, and I think that most people lump all of the Kelly Green designs together (they look almost the same from the beginning to the last ones in 1995), and, well, the Cunningham “era” is the most convenient point of reference for the “old school” look, if only because the Eagles weren’t a particularly great team during his 1987-1994 run, and the McNabb era is associated with the Midnight Green, though it predates him by three seasons.

Of course, the “reason” (beyond additional merchandise revenue — yes, people even bought the yellow and blue monstrosities from 2007) for the throwbacks is to celebrate the 1960 season, so much of the discussion of “this other Kelly Green design would have been better” is rather moot, but words and opinions are free on the Internet, so here comes the soapbox.  Keep in mind this is not a discussion of the authenticity of the throwbacks or how close they got to the classic look; this is all about the look itself.

Simply, the 1960 throwbacks are boring.  Not because they’re “old,” not because they’re “classicly simple,” but because they’re brutally plain.  Look at what the Packers and 49ers can do with the “classic” NFL template.  I don’t need the modern busy-ness of the Bengals, the Bills, or the Broncos, but the jersey is literally just green with white front/back numbers and TV numbers (what numbers on the sleeves are called).  No stripes, no trim, no stroke around the numbers, heck no logo (the Reebok logo doesn’t count) or even Eagles wordmark.  Sure, they’re authentic, but they’re boring, too.  [I don't think the current uniforms are perfect either; see my comments in future articles.]  Come to think of it, the vaunted “Cunningham-era” jerseys aren’t all that great either; very, very plain, but at least they added an Eagles logo to the sleeves and black stroke around the numbers (on both the green and white jerseys) adds something to it.

The pants and socks are an improvement, with two green strips along the outseam of the white pants, a white belt, then a ~50/50 ratio of white sanitaries over green socks, with a slim white band on the green socks to visually “break” the verdant field.  (triple word score!).

Unfortunately, in the interest of authenticity, the wing detail on the helmet is plain silver.  It lacks both the simple white stroke of the “Cunningham-era” helmets and the more complicated black and white inner and outer stroke of today’s helmets (which also include an arguably excessive silver highlight color to give more definition to the “feathers”).

Ignoring the significance of the 50th anniversary, what were some other, maybe more visually interesting options?

Well, the 2nd most of thought of (in my incredibly unscientific poll of one) Kelly Green uniforms are those funky ones from 1969-1973 with a white helmet with green wings.  (even funkier in 1973 when they had a black stroke around the green wing).  Then there are those “wasn’t disco bad enough” late 70s-early 80s disasters.  Or as I call them Stripezilla 1 and Stripezilla 2, Stripezilla’s Revenge.  Or, they could’ve done something practically sacrilegious and just replaced Midnight Green on the current uniforms with Kelly Green and swapped in the silver pants of the “Cunningham-era” (file by Jeff Shirley from a uniwatchblog.com uniform tweak round-up).

Look for future articles about uniforms as the season approaches, then a weekly uniform-centric overview of each upcoming game.  Until then, enjoy the Eagles in their white over white combo, a look which is unique to their pre-season games.

The 1960 Eagles Throwback gets two-and-a-half indecisive stars. It’s nice to see the Kelly Green on the field, but it’s definitely not the best version, even if executed exactly.