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Fantasy Football
Celebrating the AFL’s 50th anniversary with throwback fashion faux pas and other cheap marketing gimmicks.
The 2-6 Oakland Raiders play the 1-7 Kansas City Chiefs this weekend in a game significant only in the fashion statements made by the gridiron combatants. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the American Football League, whose greatest success was its incorporation into the National Football League, the AFL’s original eight teams are wearing throwback uniforms for select games this season.
The Chiefs, for instance, will wear Texans uniforms when they take on the Raiders. After winning the AFL championship game in 1962, the Dallas Texans moved to Kansas City and became the Chiefs. Given that there is currently another team called the Texans based in Houston, and that the Chiefs hail from Kansas City and not Texas, the Chiefs playing as the “Texans” might disorient the casual fan.
This was especially so in week five, when the Chiefs played in vintage Texans uniforms — complete with an emblem of the state of Texas on their helmets — against the Dallas Cowboys (the very team that forced Lamar Hunt to move the Texans to Kansas City). History’s encroachment upon the present is confusing enough. The transient geography of NFL franchises has mucked up matters further.
The scene was even more surreal when the New York Jets played the Tennessee Titans in week three. In homage to their AFL incarnation as the Titans of New York, the Jets wore the blue and gold uniforms. Their opponents, the Tennessee Titans, paid tribute to their history as the Houston Oilers by sporting the old powder-blue with the derrick helmet insignia. In other words, the Jets, masquerading as the AFL’s Titans, played the current Titans, who masqueraded as the Houston Oilers. Comprende?
The New York Jets ditching their Big Green Machine imagery for blue and gold, or the Orange Crush sporting brown and yellow — Throwback uniforms for the San Diego Padres or Denver Broncos? — is enough to make viewers adjust their television sets. Nine times out of ten, a throwback conjures up tradition. This one undermines it. The throwback gimmick is less about honoring yesterday’s AFL than it is about today’s NFL merchandising.
The simplicity of static “home” and “away” jerseys have been overrun by a confusing array of alternate jerseys, old-time uniforms, and alterations to team apparel so frequent that have fans rushing to stores to update their almost-perennially out-of-date duds. It started innocently enough in 1994 as a way to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the NFL. The first sight of the Pittsburgh Steelers donning blue-and-yellow striped jerseys with tiny numbers on the shoulder was arresting. But by the time appearances of such variations on the primary uniform had hit the double figure mark, the novelty had long worn off.
The popularity of vintage sporting apparel in rap videos, the booming business of Philadelphia’s Mitchell & Ness that specializes in such nostalgic garb, and the demand by stadium fanatics for more diverse gear than the traditional “home” and “away” has resulted in a market for uniforms that aren’t very uniform. But in the era of free agency — with players, coaches, and even teams departing their familiar haunts — what fans could really use is stability. Familiar color schemes, logos, and even names rooted in the hometown — think Packers, Steelers, 49ers — give them that.
One football team that seems to understand this is the Chiefs’ opponents this week, the Oakland Raiders. In the inaugural AFL season, Raider team colors were black and, gasp, gold. Rather than field a Raider team wearing colors that would strike its fan base as unnatural, Oakland opted to stick with the same silver and black — with a few tweaks — to which Raider Nation has grown accustomed.
“You’ve seen our uniforms,” Mike Taylor, a team spokesman, explained. “They’re essentially the same as they’ve always been.” The Yankees wear pinstripes. The Montreal Canadiens wear the “Hockey Club” logo. The Raiders wear silver and black. Some things in sports are sacrosanct, or at least should be.
The Raiders have transitioned from an elite NFL franchise into perennial cellar dwellers. They’ve changed head coaches five times in the last eight years. The quarterback position has been a revolving door of journeymen (Aaron Brooks, Andrew Walters, Josh McCown, etc.) since Rich Gannon led them to a Super Bowl to conclude the 2002 season. They even moved from Oakland to Los Angeles before moving back to Oakland. But trade in the silver-and-black for a gold-and-black marketing gimmick? Perish the thought.
The uniforms donned by the Oakland Raiders this weekend may not conjure up images of the early days of the AFL. But maintaining silver-and-black continuity, in an era of cheap marketing gimmicks, is certainly a throwback mentality.
About the Author
Daniel J. Flynn, the author of The War on Football: Saving America’s Game, blogs at www.flynnfiles.com.
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Pingback| 11.13.09 @ 6:55AM
Twitter Trackbacks for The American Spectator : Fantasy Football [spectator.org] on links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
JohnD| 11.13.09 @ 7:40AM
I think the NFL should honor the old All American Football Conference of the 1940s, which merged with the NFL in 1950 by admitting the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns, and San Francisco 49ers to the NFL.
Monday night, when the Cleveland Browns play the Baltimore Ravens, Baltimore should wear its old Green jerseys with two white shoulder stripes and Silver helmets and pants, like the old AAFC Colts. The imposters in Indianapolis have nio gripe; the AAFC Colts name was given by the fans in a newspaper contest, and that franchise folded, so its not the Indy franchise that was stolen in the 1980s. Cleveland can wear their trademark white pants, white jerseys with brown numbers, and orange helmets, which they wore in the 1940s AAFC.
History lesson: The AAFC, formed in 1946, merged in 1950 with the NFL as stated above. The NFL had to choose between the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore (highest attendance), and chose the latter over concern for weather in Buffalo. The merged Baltimore franchise folded after a year, and was replaced by the Dallas Texans (not the old Cheifs, another Dallas Texans franchise). The Texans went bankrupt, and to stave off an anti-trust suit by Baltimore's former minority owners, the NFL moved the Texans to Baltimore. The royal blue and white Texan uniforms became the colors of the new Colts (replacing Green and silver) to save money (their sideline blue capes had a patch bearing the name "Colts" sewed over the old "Texans."
JohnD| 11.13.09 @ 7:58AM
One other thing: The 1962 AFL Championship game referred to above, won in OT by the Dallas Texans (now the KC Ch featured one of pro footballs' funniest incidents. Before the coin toss in overtime, The Dallas Texan's coach Hank Stram, aware of the strong winds at Houston's Jeppeson Stadium, sent captain Abner Haynes out to call the coin toss. He told Haynes, "if we win the toss, I'd rather have the wind than the ball, so choose to defend the end zone by the clock, and we'll kick; we want he wind at our backs."
Haynes, nervous and confused by the instructions from his coach, called heads, won the toss, and in his excitement blurted out "we'll kick to the clock." This meant they were giving up the ball and the wind, the worst possible outcome.
Despite Haynes blunder, the Texans were able to hold the Houston Oilers through the first overtime, and in the second overtime period, the teams switched sides and the Texans were able to win on a field goal, saving Haynes from costing the Texans the championship.
cuban pete| 11.13.09 @ 8:50AM
When you win the toss you only get one choice.
When Haynes said "we'll kick" he wasn't entitled to also choose what goal to defend. The ref should have clarified. Of course the Houston captain would not have argued.
Ken In Peoples Republic Of MD | 11.13.09 @ 9:49AM
You are right, if they wanted to chose their field, they should have lost the toss!
I like the throwback jerseys, in many cases, they are better than the current unis. Even the old Broncos striped socks have a certain chic to them.
I don't care that they are gimmicks or marketing ploys. Sports, especially the NFL(as Jerry Glanville once called it, the "No Fun League") have become too regimented, all in the name of image and perception. Look at all the finely tailored fields, look alike logos, the "no skin below the knee: rule. Bleeh. Bring back the red Pats unis, the Orange Crush and for the Lord's sake, don't be afraid to let the players get dirty!
Who doesn't remember games in the rain or snow when it was a big slop fest? Might not be pretty but it sure was fun! Now it seems they are scared to let a patch of grass on a players shirt, I guess they want to save on laundry bills.
Bo Darville| 11.13.09 @ 12:31PM
That's a good idea. The 49ers, Colts, and Browns should do this. Actually, I think the Browns wore white helmets (see the old photos of Marion Motley) in the old AAFC and the 49ers wore red and silver not gold.
JohnD| 11.13.09 @ 8:10PM
The Indianapolis team has no ties to the AAFC, but the City of Baltimore does. The AAFC Colts became an NFL franchise, but folded in 1951. The Indianapolis franchise can trace its roots to the expansion Dallas texans of the NFL (1952) which folded at the end of its one season and was moved to Baltimore and became the royal blue and white Colts.
The AAFC Green and silver Colts belong to Baltimore. Indy didn't steal that franchise, so it should be the Ravens, 49ers, and Browns.
If you really want to pull an Indianpolis move, call the Ravens the original AAFC Browns. The Ravens franchise can trace its roots to the AAFC Browns.
Davis Johnn| 11.15.09 @ 10:58AM
The whole 'throwback' thing really stinks. I can't stand watching the game. This is the first season I can actually spend Sundays doing something else and not feel like I'm missing something. The NFL has become a joke. Steroids rule the game and the racisim exhibited by owners and players is thick. Both care more about a buck than sport and have sold out to steroids and manipulation of the fan big time. The NFL is a joke.
Pingback| 11.13.09 @ 8:17AM
ajf7688 Blog - The American Spectator : Fantasy Football links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Paul| 11.13.09 @ 9:23AM
I always preferred the old Boston Patriots logo. Have never warmed to the "Flying Elvis."
Tim| 11.13.09 @ 9:30AM
Dressing up like sissies can't be good for them in the long run.
JimP| 11.13.09 @ 10:03AM
Oh, please. Seeing most of the original AFL uniforms is fun. Pure and simple. No one really cares that the Jets were the Titans and the Titans were the Oilers etc etc; "Oh my! It's all so confusing, I can't figure it out and it spoils the games." The author should have written an article on lousy owners who screwup great franchises, and prevent others from being competitive, like Jerry Jones and Dan Snyder.
Grzmlyk| 11.13.09 @ 10:38AM
The NFL has become a soulless, corporate marketing machine whose raison detre is as a beacon of "diversity." Which is code for bigotry.
Funny how they insist that there be more black representation among coaches, but don't seem to have a problem with 75% of its players being a certain ethnicity - because that ethnicity is now "cool," having been elevated to the status of ubermenschen by virtue of their "suffering" at the hands of a bigoted white society. Whites are simply not authentic anymore, you see.
And if blacks are just more talented football players, well, so be it. Every team wants to suit up the most talented players. But white coaches? Never mind that talent thing. We must correct the imbalance!
By the way, this is not an indictment of some good black coaches - I'm rooting for Mike Singletary, but Lovie Smith? Come on.
And lest anyone think this is only about color, the same is true of age. Notice the NFL's pushing older coaches aside lately? As with the "racial sensitivity," that's not a talent issue, it's an image issue.
Like all good "diversity" loving organizations who wrap their bigotry in pious robes, the NFL's treatment of Rush Limbaugh crystallizes the truth that society at large is no longer bound together by a sense of common purpose or the concept of true justice - it's about making money off of the appearance of "social justice," which is something very different, very unfair and very, very toxic.
Thanks a lot, NFL. Now we can't even escape the crassness of insatiable greed (the metastasized merchandising) or the insidiousness of political correctness (the apotheosis of a thuggish hip-hop culture) in what used to be a pretty entertaining sport.
Now the NFL (like the spoiled NBA and the corrupt MLB before it), with its girly soap-opera back stories and emotion-marinated close-ups, its relentless hawking of its own brand (even as it dilutes that brand), its cultural ghetto-izing, and its unspoken but foreboding "whites-need-not-apply" mentality is a perfect metaphor for society's ultimate worship of phony values - at the expense of "real" authenticity - that has cut us adrift from the moral underpinnings that once oriented us so that we could discern right from wrong.
Now it's all about what APPEARS SENSITIVE versus what APPEARS INSENSITIVE.
Crusader| 11.13.09 @ 10:36PM
Come on dude doncha know in a country of 300,000,000+ there is NOT ONE White guy who can play RB or CB in the NFL? Or LB, SS, FS, DE, etc etc etc.
When I see the black players on my fav team stink up the joint, I relish in the fact that they are the best America has to offer, and the worst black 2.3 yards per carry RB is better than any White RB could ever hope to be. Hardee har har.
Mike Giles| 11.14.09 @ 2:55PM
Dude, under the new rules NOBODY can play defensive backfield; black,white or undecided.
I'm still surprised they allow the defense to put eleven men on the field - for the moment.
Grzmlyk| 11.13.09 @ 10:45AM
And, as a Bears fan, I must say Jay Cutler is proving to be, what, the 27th quarterback bust in the last 25 years? Heck, Rex Grossman can throw five interceptions in a game, and he was cheaper.
cuban pete| 11.13.09 @ 11:43AM
On the money as always Grzmlyk!
I'm a south sider so I grew up rooting for the Cardinals-Go Big Red. Then they traded Ollie Matson for eleven Rams and moved to St.Louis.
But give Halas and the Bears some credit. GSH signed the league's first black quarterback in the 1954, I beleive. Willie Thrower from Michigan State. Where is Virgil Carter when we need him?
PS
After what they did to Rush and the use of the vermiform Keith Olbermann I'm pretty much done with the NFL.
have a great weekend.
Pete| 11.13.09 @ 10:57AM
Have to agree with your posts Grzmlyk, and I feel for all fans of Chicago this morning. As a Steelers fan myself, I too suffer with the Bears' crappiness as somehow we lost to them (even with 2 missed FGs that game, how does our defense not pick Cutler off 10 times?).
But to the larger point...if these statist jackals are willing to regulate bank executive pay, take over car companies, etc...why not pro sports (and hollywood actors for that matter). Certainly, here are people earning "windfall profits" on the backs of the American taxpayer. I'd argue a banker creates far more value than Terrell Owens, yet they make about the same wage, right? Hmmmm, very curious...could it be because...nah.
Grzmlyk| 11.13.09 @ 11:22AM
Hi Pete:
Yeah, I was shocked that the Steelers lost to my lowly bears. And sadly, the ever-imperturbable Lovie Smith is locked in for the next several years. I gave the guy 4 seasons' worth of benefit of the doubt, but there is NO fire in the belly, no discipline on the team and once again, the Bears do not seem to be able to tell winners from also-rans, either in the coaching ranks or on the field (with a few notable exceptions on the field).
Cutler's got a gun, which is great, but so did Grossman. Grossman was too slow to understand defenses, and Cutler's too cocky to think he can be picked off. You'd think by now he'd be disabused of that notion.
The Bears just can't figure out the quarterback position - I thought Deion Sanders made a great point last night: Cutler doesn't make the players around him better, which means he doesn't belong in the higher echelons.
As for your other point, I could not agree more. As it has done with Hollywood, free agency in pro sports has had a negative net impact - and the players' (and actors') sudden windfalls often create much mischief.
But you are right on the money (so to speak) - our culture has decided that capitalism is bad, but the sort of crass greed that is lionized by the hip-hop culture - of which the NFL is now a wholly-owned subsidiary - is just peachy keen. Gotta keep our clay-footed gods hip-deep in Crystal, Escalades and Biyatches, doncha know.
JP| 11.13.09 @ 1:40PM
Don't worry, the NFL will got the same route as the NBA. And the NFL isn't alone as far as political correctness goes. Even NASCAR is in to it big time.
At least we still have the WWF!
permafrost| 11.13.09 @ 11:50AM
@ Cuban Pete - you're correct - when you win the the coin toss you only get one choice. However, the coach of my old HS team instructed our captains to say "We'll kick from this end" when we won the toss, and it had a success rate of about 50%. This was the same coach who insisted our offensive linemen hold their opponents on the play immediately following a holding penalty, on the theory that the officials would not penalize us an additional 15 yards...... I don't know what became of him, but rumor has it that he ended up working for the Clinton administration.
cuban pete| 11.13.09 @ 11:55AM
Very nice!
Art C| 11.13.09 @ 1:20PM
The last time the Jets wore Titan uniforms, one of the announcers called them the Steelers. Old Bronco striped socks looked like medieval pantaloons, Raiders stink but have the right idea.
Robert Cloutier| 11.13.09 @ 3:22PM
If the Ravens and Browns have a throwback game, do they wear the same uniforms?
JohnD| 11.13.09 @ 8:16PM
Unlike Indianapolis, Baltimore did not steal Cleveland's entire football heritage, just the franchise. That's why I think the Browns should wear their old orange helmets, white on white jerseys and pants with Brown letters, while the Ravens wear the silver helmets and pants, and green jerseys of the AAFC Baltimore Colts. Indy didn't steal that Baltimore Colts franchise, they stole the blue and white Baltimore Colts franchise that originated as the NFL Dallas Texans in 1951.
PCP Smoker| 11.13.09 @ 10:15PM
This is a bs article. They are paying tribute to the AFL. That has nothing to do with the sorry state of some of the former AFC teams.
Had Bo Jackson or Marcus been running the ball for the black and gold Raiders would you be whining about it?
Fuck you
Art C| 11.14.09 @ 4:57PM
I'm getting a little bit of a high reading on the tension-meter.
Richard| 11.14.09 @ 2:02AM
I think the fake concern for history and tradition shown in the AFL anniversary situation is laughable, as generally the NFL doesn't really seem that concerned about tradition (at least in the way that, say, baseball is). For example, in a totally unrelated situation, the sorry state of the Detroit Lions has been generating talk in recent years of taking the Thanksgiving Day game (a tradition dating to the 1930's) away from them. All about the money.
Pingback| 11.14.09 @ 4:55AM
Paramnet Football : 2009-11-14 links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Richard Baker| 11.15.09 @ 9:41AM
What would a retro Steagles uniform look like?
phanthom| 11.15.09 @ 10:47AM
I was 12 in 1960. I only saw the games in black and white. I like seeing what Lance Allworth,Paul Lowe,Charlie Hennigan,etc.looked in person.The original Charger uniform is better than todays.The Broncos,Patriots game in Denver was a true throwback right down to the Pats fading in the second half in the mile high air. For fifty seasons Denver has had their number.
Pingback| 11.15.09 @ 10:57AM
DBKP FLASH Headline News » The Absurdity of NFL Throwback Uniforms links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Mark | 11.17.09 @ 8:49PM
Once again this breaks down to one thing. Money.
Grab your vintage T-shirt on the NFL store before you don't get called a real fan. The billion dollar game should just have a different shirt for every game of the season so fans have to go online to collect all 16. I wouldn't buy - unless the ref shirts were there too.
Pingback| 11.20.09 @ 7:00PM
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