The uniform news this week revolves around Gene Upshaw, the controversial head of the players' union, who died earlier this year. The trend towards over-the-top memorials continues, as all players on all teams wore a patch in his honor, and the patch logo was painted on all fields.
Originally, it was announced that all teams would wear the patch for the entire year, but it seems as though sanity has returned at least a little bit - given that no Packers player has been memorialized for an entire season, it seems unseemly that Upshaw, with no specific connection to the team, should be accorded an honor denied Hutson, Canadeo, Nitschke and White. Now the patch is only for the first game (the Raiders, Upshaw's club from his playing days, will wear it all season), but the helmet decal will stay all year.
The placement of the patch caused some problems with the skin-tight cut of some jerseys - check out Cullen Jenkins (#77), Will Blackmon (#27) and Atari Bigby (#20):
Yep, they have so little real estate that the patch lays over the numbers.Seriously - for a union head? Pete Rozelle himself only got a crummy helmet sticker, and that for just one game (even if it was a Super Bowl).
I have a real problem with the attention-seeking memorials of Goodell's NFL. Surely there's a middle ground between these showy displays and Peyton Manning not being allowed to honor Johnny U's passing with black high-tops.
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