Best & Worst NFL Uniforms 2/2

Miami

Another team that has managed to “keep the faith.” The only question with them has been whether to go with the aquamarine pants or the white ones. Really tough call. There is also a question of exactly what color aquamarine to go with. Personally, I definitely prefer the lighter one.

Best

1966-current

Honorable Mention

1989-current

Worst

2002-2004 (though the orange shirts are pretty bad too)

Minnesota

Purple’s not the best color. That said, these might be the best we can get here. And they date all the way back to 1961 to boot. Who woulda thunk that? Oh yeah, the horns are a classic as well.

Best

1961-current

Worst

 1964, 2007, 2010, 2013 (like a big can of grape soda)

New England

I have a real weakness for the classic uniform, but the current one is probably the best new one out there. The silver helmet is particularly nice.

Best

 2000-current

Honorable Mention

 1962-1989 (though with some years featuring red away pants)

Worst

1993-1999 (not too bad – just too much like the Giants)

New Orleans

A pretty winning color combination, along with a great logo. The only question has been what shade of gold to go with (though they did have several years where they went with white instead – gasp!).

Best

1967-1973, 1986-current

Worst

2001, 2006-current (all the charm of a Hefty bag)

NY Giants

After 40 years in the wilderness, the Giants finally returned to their roots in 2005, resurrecting a classic uniform that dates back to the early ‘50s. Overall, a nice combination of red, white, and blue – especially for the away uniforms.

Best

1953-1965, 2000-current (more or less)

Worst

1966-1999 (not that bad – just kinda boring; lame logo as well)

NY Jets

Just a nice, clean look. Gotta have the white shoes for this to really work though. You know, I can’t see this uniform without thinking of Broadway Joe.

Best

 1966-1977, 1998-currrent

Worst

2002-current (look like pajamas)

1978-1997 (the white helmet is so much better)

1964 (but not this white helmet)

Oakland

These guys own this color combination. Nobody else has even bothered to try. Even that brief sojourn in LA didn’t manage to change anything. Except for going to all-black socks in 1982, nothing – I repeat, nothing – has changed for 50-plus years.

Best

1963-current

Worst

1960-1962 (I think I see why they don’t trot these out on throwback day)

Philadelphia

The basics – green and white, eagle wings – haven’t changed in 60 years but, man, have they rung the changes on those basics. White pants, silver pants, green pants. White shirts, green shirts, black shirts. White helmets, green helmets. White wings, green wings, silver wings.

Best

 1954-1968, 1974-current

Worst

2003-2004 (worst color combo ever?)

Pittsburgh

Well, you sure can’t go wrong with the old Black and Gold. And that basic design goes all the way back to the ‘40s. Still don’t understand why they have the logo on only one side though.

Best

1968-current

Worst

1941 (they had a dozen others to pick for throwback day –
why did they go with the jailbreak look?)

St. Louis

Like with several teams these days, we’ve got an older variant with brighter colors and a newer one with more muted hues. Everybody seems to be going with the latter, so I guess I’ll be my contrarian self and go with the former. And, yes, I love the ram horns on the sides of the helmets.

Best

1973-1979

Worst

1937 (could this be?)

San Diego

Compared to their older look, their current dark-and-white is just so boring. Honestly, there just isn’t enough sky blue in the NFL. Everyone, though, has navy blue.

Best

1966-1973

Worst

 2003 (you know how I feel about his stuff, right?)

San Francisco

Another classic combo that this team just seems to own (kind of like their friends across the Bay). May possibly be my all-time favorite. Except for some subtle color changes, things really haven’t changed in 50 years.

Best

1962-current

Worst

1946

Seattle

I blame these guys. I don’t think there’s anyone else who’s been so into mono colors, garishness, and constant innovations. I also thought their original uniforms (which they kept for a good 25 years) were not that bad at all. Clean, classy but with some real visual interest as well. I thought they did an especially nice job with the somewhat odd color combo of blue and green. Finally, I also thought that design was very well anchored to the locale. Ah well, what do I know?

Best

1976-2001

Worst

2009 (a color suitable for Skittles, not football uniforms; 
and combining it with dark blue isn’t going to help any)

Tampa Bay

Any change these guys made from their original look would have been an improvement. Yup, those orange and white numbers gets my vote for worst NFL uniform ever. Their new one, though, is pretty nice. Not a traditional look at all (is “pewter” just another way to say “a darker grey”?), but it still works pretty darn good.

Best

1997-current

Worst

1976-1996 (like a big Dreamsicle)

Tennessee

Here’s a new team that reached back into the NFL’s past to come up with their look. I believe Tennessee was the first team to resurrect yokes. And the name harkens back to the early ‘60s, when the Jets went by that name. Finally, the logo’s pretty cool, and the dark/light blue color combo is very inventive.

Best

1999-current

Worst

2006-2008 (you knew this was coming, right?)

Washington

The basics haven’t changed since the 1930s, but there sure have been a lot of variations. Which color “burgundy” should we use? Do we combine that with yellow or white? And don’t even get me started on the helmet …

Best

1972-1978, 2010-current

Worst

 2008-2009 (am I that predictable?)

1959-1971 (though the middle one is not that bad)

Best & Worst NFL Uniforms 1/2

Arizona

There are no cardinals in Arizona. Though a winner for a St. Louis team (and dating all the way back to 1960), this is a total non-starter for any team in the Southwest. They need an entirely different mascot. 

Best

1960-current (but only in St. Louis, mind you)

Worst

2002-current (I call them the Fighting Santa Clauses)

Atlanta

Atlanta has had variations on a similar theme (black/red/white) since their inception in 1966. The uniforms that have worked best for them include plenty of color contrast. Those that don’t do not.

Best

1966-1970 (basically)

Worst

2003-2008 (it’s liked they dressed in trash bags)

Baltimore

Awful uniforms. Terrible mascot. Colors that do not go together. Tenuous associations with the city itself. Complete lack of tradition. (And, yes, I do miss my Colts. See Indianapolis, below, for more.)

Best

1999-current (in various combinations)

Worst

 1966 (the only year when they combined this 
terrible color combo with the extra lame logo)

Buffalo

It’s kind of a stupid name, but it’s been around for over 60 years, so I guess we’re all kind of used to it by now. As for the unis, they’ve all been basically blue shirts and white pants, with helmets that are either white or red. I personally like the designs that do a better job balancing all three colors.

Best

1981-1983

Worst

2002 – 2010 (yes, I do hate this mono color trend)

Carolina

A pretty classic look for such a new team. Good use of baby blue – not a color you see all that much. Also, one of the few “threesomes” I really like. I’m sure the fact that this is my home town team has nothing to do with these judgments at all.

Best

2002-current

Worst

2012-current (hate it, hate it, hate it!)

Chicago

This classic basically goes back to the ‘30s. The only real debate has been whether to have white or black pants on the away uniforms. I prefer the latter – just adds a little interest.

Best

1984-current

Worst

2004-2011 (there is some historical 
precedence for this, but it’s still just wrong)

Cincinnati

Basically a rip-off of the Browns, it’s still a pretty good look. They’ve done some tweaks with yokes and such like over the years, but it’s still really basically the same design. Very creative helmet, by the way.

Best

1981-2003

Worst

2004-2005 (It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!)

1968-1980 (just so lame I had to include it too)

Cleveland

Actually a bit boring, but just such a classic, you gotta love it. The only real debate in the past 60-some seasons has been whether to wear white or orange pants. I must admit – the white is pretty classy.

Best

1950-1974, 1984-current

Worst

2013

Dallas

I can’t stand these guys, but you gotta admit, this is one of the best unis of all time. There have been many variations over the years, but they’ve all been so subtle that they don’t really amount to much.

Best

1965-current (pretty much)

Worst

1960-1963 (“The devil is in the details.” – Mies van der Rohe)

Denver

The Broncos have had two basic looks in their 50-odd years. Though the current look is very sharp, the old ones weren’t too bad either. I’m throwing them in here for old times’ sake.

Best

1997-current

Honorable Mention

1968-1996

Worst

1960-1961 (yup, these are those things you 
saw on throwback day a couple of years ago)

1962-1965 (just so horrible I had to include it too)

Detroit

Another all-time classic, the basic colors have been pretty much the same since the Lions’ first year in Detroit, 1934. You gotta admit, blue and silver/grey is just a great combination. Nice logo as well.

Best

1961-current (with various shades of blue)

Worst

1948 (just the one year though)

Green Bay

Hard to beat this baby. What I like in particular about this one is that the Packers have never felt any temptation to mess with it. Except for names on the back and numbers on the shoulders, they haven’t changed things one whit since 1961.

Best

1961-current

Worst

1923-1924 (blends in well with the mud, I guess)

Houston

Without a doubt, the most boring mascot in the league. I mean, yeah, Houston is in Texas. But so is Dallas. Why aren’t they the Texans? And how about the other teams in the league? If they used the same logic, we’d have the Atlanta Georgians, the Philadelphia Pennsylvanians, the Kansas City Kansans, and the New York New Yorkers. This team needs a complete mascot redo. And the unis are a tad on the boring side as well.

Best

2002-current

Worst

2007-2009 (like a big glass of tomato juice)

Indianapolis

I absolutely love this uniform (simple, clean, classy), but have a very hard time cheering for this team. Let me explain … As a young lad, I lived in Baltimore. Johnny Unitas was the quarterback. Gino Marchetti was on the D line (and owned the restaurant down the street). Alan Ameche was a very recent memory. Raymond Berry. Lenny Moore. Need I say more?

Best

1958-current

Worst

1953-1955 (hard to believe, I know)

Jacksonville

It’s a fairly new team, so we can’t expect much. That said, the original incarnation is not that bad. Extra points for being the first team to try a little teal. I have a sneaking suspicion the Ravens tried to copy these guys.

Best

1995-current

Worst

2004-current (I guess because black is slimming, huh?)

Kansas City

A surprisingly small number of teams have featured a more-or-less pure red-and-white scheme. The Chiefs are also one of a handful of teams who have consistently committed to the white-top, dark-bottom away combo. Finally, I also really like the yellow accents. It’s surprisingly hard to do red and yellow without looking like a McDonalds.

Best

1968-current

Worst

N/A!!!

Top Schools by Geography

Everyone knows the best colleges in the country are in the Northeast. Right?

Well, let’s take a look and see. 

I’ll be using that hoary, old (but widely recognized) yardstick, the US News & World Report rankings. I’ll also be looking at only large-scale, or full (they call them “national”), universities.

The Top 10

Well, it looks like the Northeast does have a lock on the top 10 at least, making up a full 60% of the offerings.  The remaining 4 are scattered across 3 different regions.

Interestingly, California has two of those, making it tied with Massachusetts as the only state with multiple schools in such lofty company. Now, I’m sure we all guessed Stanford as one of those.  How about the other one though? Yup, it’s Cal Tech – you know, where Leonard, and Sheldon, and all the rest of The Big Bang Theory crew work. (The Massachusetts schools are, of course, Harvard and MIT.)

How many of the remaining schools can you name? Answers after the illustration.

Yale, Columbia, Penn, Princeton, Duke, Chicago

The Top 25

Branching out a little more, we see that the Northeast no longer dominates the rest of the country. Score: Northeast 12, Rest of U.S. 13.

Also, California has leapt into the lead as the state with the most top schools, with 5 (MA, NY, PA, and IL all are next with two). Wondering who’s been added to Stanford and Cal Tech? How about Berkeley, UCLA, and USC? Interestingly, though, no other Western state has even one school.

Though the Northeast and CA still dominate, it’s good to see two other regions make a real showing. In addition to Duke, the South now includes Emory, Vanderbilt, UVA, and Rice. In addition to Chicago, the Midwest now includes Northwestern, Notre Dame, and Washington Univ. of St. Louis.

Can you name the additional Northeast universities? Here’s a hint … Just in case your state recognition skills aren’t that good, we’ve got additional schools in New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and the District of Columbia.  Answers after the map.

Dartmouth, Brown, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Johns Hopkins, Georgetown

The Top 50

Let’s take one more look.  As you can see, our previous themes have largely simply been amplified:

• The Northeast makes up nearly half (23, to be exact)
• CA has the greatest number of any one state (9)
• The rest of the West is pretty quiet, with only the Univ. of Washington to add to the mix
• The South is the second strongest region, with 11
• The Midwest is the next strongest, with 8
• There are no top schools in the Plains States

Want to see who the other 24 colleges are? Start right here.

You might also enjoy:

• Seriously confused colleges & universities
• Common names for college towns

Sneaking into the Series

For 60-some years, the World Series meant the team with the best record in the NL faced the team with the best record in the AL. That all changed in 1969, though, with the advent of the playoffs.

Now, the playoffs made a ton of sense. Whatever sport you’re talking about, they certainly are engaging. And with 12 teams in each league in 1969, that was certainly going to be a pretty boring second half for those teams at the bottom.

That said, you do have to wonder how well the playoff format treated those teams that – traditionally speaking – should have been the ones in the Series. So, let’s check out the record and see how they did.

Single Playoff

From 1969 through 1993, there was only one round of playoffs, with the winner of the Eastern Division playing the winner of the Western Division.

Overall, the AL did okay, with the team with the better record winning two-thirds of the time. The NL, though, was a crapshoot, with the team with the better record winning only 54% of the time.

Some of the, er, lowlights of this era included:

• 1972 – first team that shouldn’t have made it (CIN instead of PGH)
• 1973 – first time both teams shouldn’t have made it (OAK/NYM vs. BAL/CIN)
• 1970-74 – BAL should have won 4 of these, replacing OAK for 2 (and as the dominant team of the early ‘70s as well)
• 1975 – OAK should have made it instead of BOS. Goodbye Fisk’s dramatic home run. Goodbye best World Series ever.
• 1980 – HOU would have gotten in their first Series (facing the Yankees)
• 1983 – White Sox would have made it (but would they have beat the Dodgers?)
• 1984 – Cubs would have made it
• 1989 – Cubs again
• 1990-1991 – Pirates would have made both of these

Not gonna happen

Overall, the Phillies made out like bandits, getting in 3 Series they really shouldn’t have been in. They should have at least, though, gotten in the ’77 Series. So, who knows, maybe that was the year they would have erased their particular curse, instead of in 1980.

On the losing side, the Pirates should have arguably been in 5 World Series, instead of just the two in ’71 and ’79. Who knows, maybe Barry Bonds might actually have shone in one of those.

  

I don’t think so

Multiple Playoffs and Wild Card

Starting in 1995, MLB went to two rounds of playoffs – three division winners and one wild card. With 14 teams in each league, this made a ton of sense. Plus, I love that some team who may have happened to have had a better record than everyone except the leader of their own division finally got their chance too. That is, however, gonna make the chances of the team with the best record overall take a major hit, right?

Sure enough, this new format drops the winning percentage in the AL under .500, to 40%. And that in the NL would be even worse, with teams with the best winning percentage making the Series only a quarter of the time. In fact, that number would be even worse than the wild card teams, who would make it one-third of the time.

Further lowlights of that era include:

• 1992-99 – ATL should have been in 7 straight Series, instead of just 4!
• 2000 – no subway Series, with the White Sox facing the Giants instead
• 2001 – SEA should have made it, and would have played HOU!
• 2002 – the first all-wild-card Series would never have happened, with NYY or OAK playing ATL (instead of ANA vs. SF)
• 2004 – NYY would have replaced BOS. So, no comeback from 0-3, no pennant, no bloody sock, no curse lifted, no ‘Now I can die in peace” …
• 2006 – the real subway series, with NYY and NYM instead of DET and STL
• 2010-11 – TEX would get in neither of these, losing out to TB and NYY

Not so fast!

Winners? It’s a tie. SF gets the boobie prize by getting in legitimately once, and through the back door 3 times. DET, FLA, and TEX all got in twice illegitimately (and never legitimately).

Losers? ATL takes the cake. They got in legitimately 3 times, but should have gotten in 4 more. In fact, they should have been in the Series 8 times over a span of 11 years (1992-2003). Not quite the 1921 to 1964 Yankees, but still …

Fuggedaboutit

Play-In Game

Don’t even get me started with this one.