It’s Tax Day, and the Browns uniforms are really here! While We’re Waiting…
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April 15, 2015The Cleveland Browns unveiled their new uniforms for this fall on Tuesday night. As always, I enlisted the help of WFNY co-founder Rick Grayshock to discuss uniforms.
Kirk: Well Rick, we’re finally here — the Browns uniform bonanza! We’ve got nine different looks to dissect, so let’s dive right in. Starting off with an overall initial reaction, how do you like the set as a whole? Do they fit together well? Is it the right balance of past and future for you? Are you excited to see these on the field this fall? Have I asked enough questions?
Rick: Ha. That’s a lot of questions! Let me say first that my biggest fears did not come to pass. These are not hideous. It really did make sense to go with all three color combos. As for a balance of past and present, well yes. Sort of. I suppose.
Kirk: I think the Browns were painfully under-representing orange in their uniform scheme, and re-adding the third jersey along with a third set of pants does the trick and saturates my appetite for them. We’ll see the orange jerseys twice in all likelihood. Also, hooray for not being hideous! I agree that this could have been a frightening change that gutted the team’s history and proud look. I don’t think this does that. I believe it adds to it.
Rick: My all-time favorite Browns uniform, as we’ve discussed before ,was the brown jerseys and orange pants, and I am stoked that combination is back.
Kirk: That’s a great place to direct the conversation, Rick. The best thing the Browns did with this look is the orange over brown and brown over orange looks. Period, end of discussion, write it up. The brown jersey with orange pants is a classic from the golden age of the eighties. And, the orange jersey with the brown pants will be a new favorite. I LOVE it. L-O-V-E. I love it so much that I don’t even want to see the orange jersey with the all-orange or orange with white pant look.
Rick: You nailed it 100 percent. My next sentence would have been that the orange jersey with brown pants will be just as awesome as well. I think the white tops work with any of the pants actually.
Kirk: Yep, when we had this discussion way back when, I made my dread of white-on-white football uniforms well-known. But, the white pants and white jersey are both HUGE upgrades with this look. I love the orange number and brown wording combo on the jerseys, and the design of the pants prevents the white-on-white from being too plain.
Rick: While we’re on the pants and jersey combos though, I have to point out something that I don’t care for. It’s the same thing I’ve said about Ohio State uniforms in the past. I don’t particularly care for having stripes that don’t match. The sleeve stripes and pant stripes will be different if they go opposite colors. Also, the only set that will match the helmet stripes is the orange set.
Kirk: But, Rick, we’ve made huge strides here. They are the SAME STRIPES now! This was one of the biggest pet peeves we had. I think that’s more than a fair observation, but it sure beats three different sets of stripes, doesn’t it?
Rick: Don’t get me wrong, I prefer this set of stripes to the old set. That’s one potential solution, but let’s not get off track with what would have been better or worse, let’s stay on what they did.
Kirk: Fair enough. Give me your least favorite look. Which one doesn’t work for you?
Rick: Honestly, I’m not digging the brown jersey with white pants, but the all-orange is rough.
Kirk: We’re on the exact same wavelength here. My bottom three are orange-orange, brown-white, and orange-white in that order.
Rick: I think I like the orange-white slightly more than the white-orange.
Kirk: Let’s talk brown jerseys, which one would assume will be declared the home jerseys. I think that as a standalone jersey top, I may like them the least, which is strange to me. The shadow drop-cap style for the number looks a little odd to me with the brown jerseys. I love the orange number idea, and I realize they wanted to have them standout, but I’m just not feeling it 100 percent.
Rick: Using white for the drop shadow is a little tough, and the brown jerseys are the only ones that do that, which may be why it stands out more to you. Overall, I still think it would be my favorite jersey to own and wear.
Kirk: I think I’m going to be purchasing an orange one (Joe Thomas) to complement my existing brown Joe Haden jersey. But, I think the orange is enhanced when accompanied by the brown pants that much more. One of my biggest fears was not using enough brown in the look as the Browns shifted to using more orange. I think the Browns did a pretty solid job of keeping enough brown. I don’t think brown on the numbers would have worked (except for as the drop shadow color).
But, not to leave out the white, it’s a huge upgrade. The contrast by putting the city name on front and player name on back in brown with the number in orange is fantastic.
Rick: Other than the drop shadow, which may take a little getting used to, I was very happy the numerals are a very traditional jersey-style font. It’s nothing too stylized or rounded. I hate rounded numerals for jerseys. Hate.
Kirk: Yeah, the only thing I noticed was the 7 on Joe’s jersey is a little funky, but the No. 2 on Johnny’s is right in line with the historical look. Thank the heavens for no alarm clock numbers!
Let’s talk about the helmets. There are several subtle changes. We already talked a little about the brown facemask with the logo release, but there’s a carbon fiber texture to the stripe now, and the finish is more flat than in years past. What do you have to say about the dome?
Rick: Again, the best part may be that they retained the integrity of the iconic helmet. The subtle changes are fine. The textured part of the stripe we will hardly ever notice. I was maybe one of the few that enjoyed the gray facemask, but I am not at all unhappy with the brown. Part of me really wanted to see the matte finish, but this works. I think the helmet is probably the element I think they got most right.
Kirk: Helmet consistency and pride. The only helmet logo. We own it. I’m cool with that. The new bumper is nice and simple. The iconic look is still intact with a new textured appearance which I find acceptable. I would have enjoyed the true matte finish, but this is definitely passable for me too. I’ll stop just short of calling it the best part of the look, but they could have done serious damage here if they had not been upfront from the beginning about keeping the core of it the same.
Another small item, the Dawg Pound on the inner jersey collar – yay or nay? It’s very similar to the “All for one. One for all.” on the Cavs’ set.
Rick: I think it falls into the category of a bit forced. Writing inside the collar is such a Nike thing to do. It almost seemed like they just needed some kind of phrase for the collar and thought, “here’s where we can make the fans feel part of the uniform.”
Kirk: I’m a bit corny when it comes to that stuff. I like it. I like it a little less than I do for the Cavs, but I still consider it a net positive.
As for the BROWNS on the pants, I think this is a great add. It’s the right size. Agree?
Rick: I think this is where we diverge. I’m trying to keep an open mind on the Browns wordmark on the pants.
Kirk: To me, the positioning is key as well as having it on both legs. I like it better down the sides where it is slightly visible from behind.
Rick: I get that the team doesn’t have a logo anywhere on the uniform, so the Browns on the side of the pants is like any other team having a logo there. I will agree on one aspect, if you are going to have it, it might as well be big enough to read. It looks best on the white pants by the way.
Kirk: I’ll agree with that. Because their logo is a wordmark, I think it gives them that extra flexibility. Also, because of the decision to go with “Cleveland” across the chest, I think it’s a great way to make sure “Browns” doesn’t get lost in the visual shuffle. I also like how it breaks up the plainness of most football pants.
Moving on though, the decision to go with Cleveland rather than Browns on all three jerseys. How does that sit with you?
Rick: I like the philosophy of having Cleveland stamped across the chest. I’ve heard that it looks a little high schoolish. That may be, and it may push the numbers down a bit on the jersey, but I want Cleveland on that chest. I need Cleveland on that chest.
Kirk: I generally approve of it too, but I would have liked Browns across the chest of maybe one of the looks (the orange alternate, perhaps?)
Rick: You wouldn’t want Browns on both the chest and the pants would you?
Kirk: It wouldn’t bother me. You don’t see them simultaneously.
Rick: I’d much rather the chest say Cleveland than Browns.
Kirk: OK, last exercise. Pair each jersey with the pair of pants with which it looks the best.
Rick: The brown jersey with orange pants is a no-brainer. I think I’d go with the orange jersey with brown pants. The white top may look best with white pants actually. It’s a close call between that and brown pants.
Kirk: Same call here on all fronts. Orange jerseys with brown pants, brown jerseys with orange pants, and a toss-up between white and brown pants for the white jerseys. I think I may go with brown by a hair.
Ok, Mr. Grayshock, give our Brownies a letter grade.
Rick: Oof. I’m going to grade them out as a B+, but keep in mind this is after having seen them for about an hour, and only in pictures. I’m reserving a bit of wiggle room in my grade.
Kirk: I was right on the B+/A- border myself. I’ll round up to an A- because I feel like the team really nailed this unveiling after botching the logo release. They handled the sacred parts of the uniforms with care and gave the team several options to keep things interesting for years to come.
Rick: Without a doubt the most important part was NOT SCREWING THIS UP, and they achieved that.
54 Comments
when you have nine uniforms, you have no uniforms. you have a wardrobe.
I think that the new uniforms look more like an update to this…
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/c7/ff/3f/c7ff3f704218f4d8654eea7b53f214da.jpg
than a Brown’s version of this…
http://g.foolcdn.com/editorial/images/109182/tampa_large.jpg
really? yeah, theyre the same except for different numbering, different sleeves, different socks, different facemask, peculiar brown lettering instead of pant stripe, orange numbers, a special NEW orange that ‘pops’, no sipe mock-turtle, then yeah it’s like like 1979 except worse in every way that they modified.
YAY! CHANGE!
christ. and hey, i was there in 1979. when your top uniform in the new NINE PACK gets its inspiration from 1979, perhaps we should take a minute to recall the haute couture of that era. see below.
i stand by the original statement: the browns now fit in better with tampa and carolina and atlanta. but what’s worse about the browns is that they ARENT expansion, they DONT HAVE TO pimp their uniforms to get buzz.
the scheiner/haslam/banner brainstrust chose to leave the company of the giants, bears, packers, and raiders to be more like the titans and jags and bucs. excuse me for not being excited; it is not a trade up.
pah-thet-ick.
I did not say they were the same man, updated. not same. I could have picked other versions. These are not the NFC South uniforms other than the all-orange craziness that I am hoping we don’t actually see on the field. The fact there are 9 combinations do not mean much to me, it’s just 3 pants, 3 jerseys.
let’s go through the list:
“new” orange – was announced a couple months ago. I liked the old better, but we’ll see.
socks – miss the stripes, still time for them to correct (NFL doesn’t mandate as strictly, team can change – start a petition – “Stripe The Socks”).
sleeves – still have stripes like all our uni’s have had in some form. many different forms through the years.
facemask – honestly, don’t care either way
numbering – pretty plain font, don’t mind the shadow (some history there), and actually like the orange numbering on brown instead of white
pants – I’d prefer the stripe to go all the way down. still think what they did is better than nothing on the sides.
also, note nothing on the sides/arm-pits of the jerseys. that is good.