Monday, October 31, 2016

#PackersPumpkin


Happy Halloween, everyone. I've no doubt that we'll have lots of little Packer players trick-or-treating all across Wisconsin today. For those of us too old to get away with wearing a helmet around our neighborhood, Packers.com offers these jack-o-lantern stencils for pumpkin carving.


That Matthews stencil looks appropriately scary.

You can check out the results on social media, including Twitter:


Good fun!

Friday, October 28, 2016

Thursday, October 27, 2016

The Golden Ghost's Golden Socks?

This photo shows Tony Canadeo, the "Gray Ghost", during his final season.

Tony Canadeo veteran Green Bay Packer halfback, bolts 10 yards for a touchdown in Packers' 42-14 victory over Dallas Texans here, Sunday Dec. 1, 1952, in Green Bay second quarter. Canadeo, honored by fans on his special day, also caught a pass for TD and led both teams in ground gaining. (Associated Press)
Metallic gold helmet, gold jersey, pants, and socks, all with green stripes. Or are they?

The socks are of particular interest to me; photos from the period tend to show green socks with gold stripes.


Is it possible that what we see here is a green sock with two gold stripes, the white sanitaries pulled up to the bottom of the second gold stripe, making it look as though the gold continues underneath?

That's certainly very possible, although it doesn't explain the top of the sock. It sure looks in this photo as though there is light-colored material, presumably gold, above the top green stripe. Perhaps Canadeo is wearing some sort of strap, as Don Hutson is in this photo:


Again, more research is needed.

Friday, October 21, 2016

Good Guys Wear White, Again: Packers Color Rush Review

Although our modern eyes are accustomed to seeing road teams in white, that wasn't always the case. The Green Bay Packers managed to get through the first nineteen seasons of their existence without a white jersey at all.

In 1938, the Packers unveiled the first white jersey in team history.

Curly Lambeau introduced it as an alternate to his preferred navy blue because of the "color clash" caused when the Chicago Bears came to town in navy jerseys of their own.

Last night, nearly eighty years later, the Bears came to Lambeau Field and the home team again wore white. Lots of white.


I'm still opposed to the whole "Color Rush" promotion, but the Packers should be given a great deal of credit for not using it as an excuse to create another "authentic" jersey for retail. The only new elements are uniform pieces that aren't sold to the public. The team seems to have made an attempt to thread the needle between conforming to the NFL's mandate while respecting their own æsthetic heritage. Plus these new pants didn't look all that bad.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) calls a play during the second half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
As many people have pointed out in recent days, this is the first time the Packers have worn white at home in 27 seasons, since the first two games of the 1989 season.

As we expected, the pants were white with a green/gold/green striping pattern down the side. This matches the pattern first revealed on Monday, not the one originally announced last month, which would have added small white stripes to replicate the road jersey striping.

photo credit: Evan Siegle, Packers.com

The pants stripes looked so much better than the sleeve stripes, in part because the white stripes serve only to muddy the design. In heraldry, this is the rule of tincture; you don't place white and gold next to each other. There just isn't enough visual contrast to distinguish the two, so the pattern blurs and blends at any distance.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) throws during the first half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)
The second reason the pant stripes looked so much better than the sleeves is that they were dyed in to the fabric and not screened on.


That's something I've never liked about the current Packers jerseys; the cheap-o painted-on stripes. The Steelers can have their sleeve stripes sewn into the jerseys, so why is the Pack stuck with this retrograde 1980s technique?

There was another antecedent to the Color Rush uniforms; the Packers briefly wore white socks at the dawn of the Vince Lombardi era, who included them in his original 1959 uniform.


Those striped socks, which only lasted one single season, would have looked great with the similarly-striped white pants.

On the whole, the "Color Rush" effect was striking. Solid white certainly stood out against the field, the stands, and the drab black-ish blue Bears players.

photo credit: Sec19Row53, boards.sportslogos.net

That's not to say that the Packers' Color Rush uniforms were entirely uniform. There were some minor deviations from the all-white "shoulder to toe" look.

photo credit: Evan Siegle, Packers.com

Several players wore gold shoelaces. Wide receiver Davante Adams took it a step farther with gold shoes.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Davante Adams (17) celebrates after making a touchdown catch during the second half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears, Thursday, Oct. 20, 2016, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
WR Randall Cobb wore gold sanitary socks.

photo credit: Evan Siegle, Packers.com

They appeared to be at least two separate socks, layered on top of one another.

photo credit: Evan Siegle, Packers.com

In addition, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix wore Pinktober shoes.

photo credit: Evan Siegle, Packers.com

Mercifully, he was the only one.

The overall effect of this "Color Rush" uniform reminded me more of soccer than football.

photo credit: Mirror Online

Although the white pants weren't all that bad, I really hope to never see them on the field again. The Packers just don't look right without their gold pants. The beauty of Lombardi's uniform is matching the pants to the helmet, gold with green and white Braisher stripes. There is one lasting effect I'd like to see, though; last night reinforced my feeling that it's time to bring back the original road jersey striping pattern.


There is an opportunity to fix the current jersey's flaws while reclaiming Lombardi's visual legacy.


It would look better, it would honor the team's glory days, and I can even make a crass commercial argument in favor. I don't know how many white jerseys the Packers sell, although anecdotal evidence suggests it is a distant, distant second to the home greens. This could be an opportunity to change that in some small way.

Come on, Packers. The franchise's 100th Anniversary is on the horizon, and let's see if we can't right this wrong before then.

Thursday, October 20, 2016

The Strategery Behind Whitewashing

Tonight, the Packers will step on to the Lambeau Field turf wearing white jerseys for the first time since 1989. In that season, they wore their road jerseys for the first two games, against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on September 10 and the following weekend against the New Orleans Saints.

This was the subject of a question posed to "Ask Vic" back in 2014 by "Mark from Fairfax, VA":
Vic, a few days ago while surfing YouTube for Packers videos, I came upon highlights of the 1989 Packers season when they were QB’d by Don Majkowski, went 10-6 but didn't make the playoffs. In one of their home games against the New Orleans Saints played at Lambeau Field, the Packers wore their white road jerseys. Might you know why that was done? And why did Green Bay play Dallas, an NFC East team, in that regular season twice? I’ve posed these questions on a couple of Packers sites but no one has answered.

(Packers.com senior writer Mike Spofford): Your question intrigued me, so team historian Cliff Christl and I put our heads together and did a little research. Turns out the Packers wore their white jerseys at Lambeau for each of the first two games in ’89, against the Buccaneers and Saints, and haven’t since. Cliff found a Press-Gazette article in which head coach Lindy Infante said it was planned in advance to beat the potential early-season heat by keeping the Packers out of their dark green jerseys. There was also talk of Tampa Bay QB Vinny Testaverde’s color-blindness, and his difficulty distinguishing reddish colors against green grass. The Bucs had switched before the ’89 season from wearing their orange jerseys at home to wearing white, but they were forced to wear the orange at Lambeau. The following week, the Saints wore their supposedly heat-absorbing black.

As it happened, the game-time temps were only 66 and 71 degrees, respectively, for those two games. Testaverde had a solid day, going 22-of-27 for 205 yards with one TD and no interceptions in beating the Packers, 23-21. The black-clad Saints may indeed have worn down, though, as the Packers rallied from a 21-0 deficit for a 35-34 victory, one of the biggest comebacks in team history.
So the results were mixed. Let's start with the first game, against the Bucs.

PewterReport.com

If the Packers were hoping to confuse Testaverde in that first game, it didn't work. But how awesome is it today to see those Creamsicle uniforms?

As Spofford mentioned, the Pack had more luck in the second game. Here's a view of the teams at midfield:


What's up with that gold "G" on the 50-yard line?

I always like seeing the classic single-gray-bar helmet graphic. The Packers continued to use it for years after the facemasks were changed to green. Here we see the graphic in the endzone:


Some things are constant, though; the gold railings at Lambeau Field are iconic.


Again, if the Packers had intended to place the Saints at a competitive disadvantage by making them wear black jerseys, they were unsuccessful. Mother Nature apparently didn't get the playbook, and the temperature at kickoff was very mild and clement. The Packers clawed back from that early deficit to win, but the white jerseys didn't help them.

And with those mixed results, the grand experiment was over and the Packers went back to wearing their dark jerseys at Lambeau Field. Until tonight.

Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Infographic: Bears/Packers Preview

Tomorrow is the Packers' "Color Rush" game against the Bears on Thursday Night Football. Packers.com has the preview infographic:


Amazing how even that Packers/Bears series is.

As with the throwback game last week, I'm a little disappointed that they didn't tweak the infographic format to feature the game's signature color. Especially since they've given everything else a temporary whitewashing.

Tuesday, October 18, 2016

Proudly Wearing White After Labor Day

The Packers' Color Rush game is this Thursday, and the team's online presence has again been done up for the event.


White is the color of the day, er, week.


They certainly are consistent.


You might notice that the Packers even have a variation on the team's classic logo, eschewing the gold out line in favor of simple green and white, such as this Twitter avatar:


And, of course, the Pro Shop also gets in on the act.


There will be plenty of opportunities for Packer fans to dress themselves in white, just like the club has.

Monday, October 17, 2016

Color Rush Tweaked?

The Packers just tweeted out this look at Thursday's match: The pants have been tweaked since they were unveiled last month. Check out the stripes on Clay's pants in this promotional photo:


But as you can see, the white stripes in between the green and gold have been removed from the pants.


It's even more clear in the gallery posted on Packers.com:

Photo: Duke Bobber, packers.com

This is the same as the concept I posted, where the Packers could have created a uniform closer to Vince Lombardi's original white jersey:


Could we maybe see Vince's original vision restored some day? A boy can dream....

Sunday, October 16, 2016

At Least the Packers *DRESSED* Well....

Miserable game in Green Bay, as the anemic Packers fell to the Cowboys. Ugh. A perfect record in the throwback blues is out the window, and been a while since I've heard that many boos at Lambeau Field.

Green Bay Packers' Joe Thomas (48) celebrates his fumble recovery during the first half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
Still, the uniforms looked great as always.

Green Bay Packers' Eddie Lacy runs during the first half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Matt Ludtke)
Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) drops back during an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016 in Green Bay, Wis. (Perry Knotts/NFL)
I even love the sideline gear:

Green Bay Packers head coach Mike McCarthy argues a call during the first half of an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Mike Roemer)
The only good news was an appearance by Brett Favre. And his Hall of Fame bust.

Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre during a halftime ceremony during an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016 in Green Bay, Wis.. The Cowboys defeated the Packers 30-16. (Perry Knotts/NFL)
Favre's name was added to the Ring of Honor, finally closing out an era.

Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre's name is unveiled during a halftime ceremony during an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016 in Green Bay, Wis.. The Cowboys defeated the Packers 30-16. (Perry Knotts/NFL)
Former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre during a halftime ceremony during an NFL football game against the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field, Sunday, Oct. 16, 2016 in Green Bay, Wis.. The Cowboys defeated the Packers 30-16. (Perry Knotts/NFL)
If Packers fans were thinking about past glory days during the second half of the game, it probably wasn't Curly Lambeau and the 1940s.