Throwbacks

For some reason (my children would probably say it's age longing for lost youth!), I enjoying watching football games between teams who are wearing throwback uniforms. This year, the original AFL teams are celebrating their 50th season by wearing uniforms from 1960 and using their team cities and names from that year (Tennessee Titans = Houston Oilers, New England = Boston, and so on). Some of the old uniforms are pretty cool and others show why the team changed them.
For example, here are the "Houston Oilers" playing the "Boston Patriots" last week in Massachusetts. The snow adds an extra touch. I like snow games--as long as I'm watching them on TV! Seeing the "Oilers" again reminds me of when I was a kid and we moved to Houston.












On the other hand, here are the Patriots the week before against the Denver Broncos. I can see why the Broncos ditched those uniforms quickly! Those socks are supposed to have vertical stripes, but apparently Jabar Gaffney thought it would be cute to twist them.


Here's what the Broncos changed to in 1963. I'm not sure this was an improvement (Especially the helmet!)


















My favorite is the 1960 "Los Angeles" Chargers. I think its a big improvement over the current uniform.

The New York Titans had a rather non-descript uniform. It's easy to understand why they completely changed it when they became the Jets. (Note the red stripes on the referee's shirt! They really wore those in the 60's in the AFL!)

















The Dallas Texans became the Kansas City Chiefs after a few years and it looks like the only thing they changed was the helmet.




















Here are some other examples, not all good. Here are the Pittsburgh Steelers recreating their uniform from the early 1960s.




















Here's an older version of the Steelers.























And here are the Los Angeles Rams of the 1950's. Don't you just love those yellow jerseys?

And college teams aren't immune. In 2006, the Florida Gators came out against Alabama in replicas of their 1966 uniforms. I liked the uniforms a lot better than I did the result of the game--a Florida victory in what would be Mike Shula's last year as Alabama's coach. Maybe Alabama's approach to uniforms is the right one. It's hard to do a throwback uniform when you almost never change what your team wears!