Last night, I watched Washington humble the Giants on Monday Night Football. While enjoying a little
schadenfreude after last week's debacle in the Meadowlands, I was struck by the Redskins' socks:
Well, their socks and their pants. Gotta love
Braisher stripes, wherever you find them.
If those pants look like they belong to the Packers, there's a reason for it. They were introduced to Washington by their new coach, who had brought the same æsthetic to Green Bay a decade earlier.
Dark jerseys with two sets of Braisher stripes on the sleeves? Check. Gold pants with Braisher stripes down the side? Check. Socks to match the sleeves? Check.
Not only did
Vince Lombardi create new home uniforms that were near-carbon copies of his Packer look, but he extended the similarities to the roads as well.
White jerseys with single-color numbers and color/gold/color/gold/color stripes on the sleeve. They even have the same color/gold/color neckline.
Just swap burgandy for dark green, and Vince Lombardi could make his new team look like his old one, even if they weren't ready to play like them.
Lombardi was famously color-blind (literally, not just in his views of racial equality). He would have seen his Packers reflected in the Redskins of 1969.
This similarity could have been Lombardi wanting to borrow a little of that old Green Bay magic, or it could have had something to do with kicking his little brother Joe, a regional salesman for Rawlings Sporting Goods, some work (diehard Washington fans noticed that also meant changing their customary dark burgandy to Rawlings' lighter, redder shade).
In any case, Washington kept their Lombardi uniforms into the 1970s, and resurrected the pants and socks a couple years ago, originally as part of a throwback uniform and now as part of the regular home set. And if the Packers couldn't beat the Giants, at least their æsthetic heirs could. Small consolation, but I'll take it where it comes.
The Packers eliminated Braisher stripes from their socks in 1984, as part of
Forrest Gregg's
"new head coach" overhaul. Based on what I saw last night, it might be time for the Pack to look at following Washington's lead and bringing those back.
3 comments:
I agree wholeheartedly. Part of me watches 1960s era Packer footage not only for the dynasty that Lombardi commanded, but because of those iconic socks.
Couldn't agree more! Always wished they'd bring those back. But would you have it be a 3 stripe sock to match the current 3 stripe sleeve? I'd prefer the 5 stripe sock.
Socks play an important role in the dressing of a player of any game.
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