By Phil Hecken
With all the fanfare typically associated with a Friday afternoon (with a long weekend to boot) news dump, the newly-Christened Los Angeles Rams unveiled a brand new logo yesterday. Well, sort of. It’s actually pretty much the exact same logo they used during their tenure in St. Louis…minus the “St. Louis” part (you can click to enlarge):
While not entirely unexpected, the move is somewhat disappointing — especially for those (which is pretty much everyone) who are hoping the Rams will ditch their current uniforms and return to (or adopt fauxbacks) the uniforms they have worn in their past days in Los Angeles (Paul’s ESPN piece from yesterday, which is below, takes us through a good number of those uniforms). But the “new” LA Rams appear to be keeping the exact same colors (and fonts and wordmarks, etc.) they had in St. Louis.
Why keep everything the same? If you agree with this PFT article,
… the smart business play is to return to L.A. in their current uniforms, sell plenty of jerseys, hats, helmets (miniature and full-size), and then make a permanent change back to the old-school yellow-and-blue at some point down the road.
Maybe when Kroenkeworld opens in 2019. Maybe later.
In the interim, the Rams can break out the yellow-horned helmets from time to time, as they currently do. And when they switch back to yellow and blue, they can periodically change the horns to white, Roman Gabriel-style, selling a bunch of blue-and-white jerseys and helmets and whatnot.
Hmmm. It almost sounds as if it’s all about the money. Maybe it is.
Still, the Rams social media produced a slick video that very interestingly does not show a single image of the Rams in their current primary uniforms, instead showing players in either the throwbacks or (ugh) the color rash unis. Take a look:
We are proud to announce that LA's Original Team is back! #ComingHome
https://t.co/H3Mmied9Oi
— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) January 15, 2016
I wouldn’t necessarily put any stock in that — especially since the Rams haven’t made any statements that they’re switching to the current throwback or made any other overtures that the uniforms will change in LA. They’re getting a beautiful new stadium in 2019, which gives them plenty of time to sell the current unis to fans and then introduce new unis that they can turn around and sell again to those same fans.
The new stadium (obviously just a preliminary graphic) shows “LOS ANGELES” in the end zone and in blue and white:
That new stadium is slated to have a scoreboard (to be called the “Oculus”) — an oval, two-sided structure that will be 50 feet tall, and 120 yards(!) in length. You can read more about the stadium and video boards here.
So…will the Rams keep the current unis, at least for this season? Looks like it. But that won’t stop us from hoping they’ll change them (and likely will as they move into their new digs). They’ll sell a ton of current style merch to the fans and then be able to sell them all new stuff in a couple of years. Win/win for the Rams. The fans? Not so much.
Stillers Playing Hoops
As a followup to yesterday’s column by Paul, Gridiron Teams on the Hardcourt, reader Jeff Flynn sent the following — it’s too long and too good just for the ticker, so here it is (click on photos to enlarge):
The Steelers have a long history of playing basketball with some of the teams most famous players involved over the years. This goes back to the early 50s as evidenced by this uniform which at one point in time was paired with a newspaper archive photo which I’ve sadly misplaced! I’ve copied some articles that have appeared over the years which mention the players, along with some photos that pretty much make up a uniform history/timeline. A Rod Woodson game-worn Steelers basketball jersey is also at auction right now at Hunt Auctions’ Super Bowl auction.
Great stuff, Jeff!
Jimmy Corcoran remembers…
With all the talk of the Rams moving back to Los Angeles this week, I got a note from the always entertaining Jimmy Corcoran earlier this week, and it’s too good not to share (click on the photo to enlarge):
Hey Phil!
Like a lot of uniform fans I hope the Rams go back to one of their sets from either blue/white or the blue/gold era. One of my favorite jerseys I ever owned was my white Rams jersey. This picture was taken in the summer of 1978 in my backyard in Maryland. I am wearing my father’s blue Philadelphia Bell game jersey (he wore the same one in 1974-75) And my friend is wearing my white Rams jersey that was given to me by my fathers old coach Ron Waller who played for the Rams in the 50’s. It was made by sand knit but must have been some kind of promotional jersey since the numbers were outlined in gold. With those 1970’s hair cuts we look like we could play for the 1976 Bad News Bears!
–Jimmy
Thanks, Jimmy. It might not make you feel any better, but I had that exact same hairstyle in 1978 (except I might not have been parting it to the side then). Great story as always, and fantastic photo. Thanks for the memories!
UW’s Friday Flashback
In case you missed it, Paul’s Friday Flashback on ESPN took a look at the evolution of the (now Los Angeles) Rams look over the years, including an historical first — the first pro team with a football helmet featuring a painted logo. It also includes a look back at some of their unis over the years, including one year when the team wore red and gold!
Great read, so be sure to check it out if you missed it!
Enjoy!
Uni Watch News Ticker
Baseball News: Here is an absolutely fantastical article which traces the origins of the names of six MLB teams, replete with some great old photos of those teams (thanks Brinke). … Billy Joel will play his first Pittsburgh stadium concert in more than 20 years on July 1 when he headlines PNC Park. Of course, with that concert announcement comes a nifty custom jersey with the concert date (thanks to Doug Keklak). … Here’s a beautiful color photo of Jackie Robinson warming up before a game in 1955 (via Dugout Legends). … Did you ever think it was possible for Bartolo Colon to hit an inside the park homer? With video games, anything is possible. … Oh look, some one made a Cubs casserole (pic via Julie DiCaro). … Check this out: The Class D Pendleton Buckaroos actually took the field wearing these hats (from Minor League Stories). … A young Cubs fan at the Cubs’ convention this weekend shaved Addison Russell’s face into the back of his head (from Mike Chamernik). … Shea Stadium lives! Or at least CBS/Toyota think it does (credit to Jim Brunetti).
NFL News: “Did some digging on the Jethro Pugh photo,” writes David Highhill. “The original on Getty Images does not appear to have the patch. Mystery solved?” This is in reference to this tweet posted on yesterday’s UW. … Tweeter Joel Perrin points out that First Take is another in a long line of media outlets using the wrong Browns logo. … The Oakland Raiders may indeed be moving — but just not to Los Angeles. Ryan Short notes that if they do move to San Antonio, their colors will coordinate nicely with the Spurs (thanks Paul). … Looks like the newest Tony Romo action figure comes with some interesting extras (via Jack Freeman). …There is a hybrid NFL/AFL logo on the Packers championship ring from 1967,” says Jon Solomonson. “Has this been mentioned at UW before?” … The 2017 Super Bowl will be played in Houston, and they’ve already got a mascot (h/t Jay Campbell). … Not all St. Louis Rams (ex) fans are burning their jerseys. Some are donating their stuff to shelters and stuff. But one fan mentioned in that article has it right, “Life goes on, if that’s (the Rams moving away) the worst thing in my life, I’ve got a pretty good life. Yeah, we’ll be okay.” … “What I have here is an oddity from the 1980 Dallas Cowboys’ blue jerseys: This example, worn by Larry Bethea, has an unusual collar shape,” says Johnny Garfield. “This style collar was seen primarily on the Cowboys’ jerseys of the 1960s- normally, the collar shape of this particular jersey model was a crew-neck style.” … The Packers’ James Jones really loves his hoodie. So much so, he’s calling it his good luck charm (thanks, Brinke). … Not really uniform related, but neat nonetheless: This site has a bunch of old NFL playbooks available to browse and download (from Mike Chamernik). … “Not sure if this has ever been posted,” said Blair Riffel. “The Chiefs logo on (Hank Stram’s) coat is backwards. Note the Chief lapel pin too.” I know the logo is usually shown facing the other way, but it is shown that way on the left side of the helmet. Maybe “reversed” is a better way to describe it. … The Seattle Seahawks will wear their blue tops and wolf gray pants Sunday vs. the Panthers.
College Football News: The College Football season ended last Monday evening with Alabama eking out a victory over Clemson. Now that the season is done Brandon Cavanaugh has compiled his list of college football’s best unis and helmets from the 2015 season. … Holy shit did FSU get a nice new players lounge (via Athlete Motivation). Too bad the “regular” students will never get to use it.
Hockey News: This year’s AHL All Star jerseys (which are really nice, a pic of which was featured in yesterday’s ticker) are a nod to Syracuse hockey history. The All Star game and other events will take place Jan 31-Feb 1 at the War Memorial in Syracuse. … Wow — check out Brian Elliot’s new Cujo mask. He’ll be wearing it tonight. … Colorado College has an alternate gold uniform which Kurt Allen describes as “nice” and I’d agree. … The St. John’s IceCaps have unveiled a new jersey which commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the Battle of the Somme at Beaumont-Hamel (via BIZBO; also sent in by Rob Yasinsac). Rob adds, “Yet another example of Canada doing military tribute jerseys 1000 times better than do American sports teams. I like the regiment-specific logo, which pays particular tribute, and the sensible jersey striping and colors (opposed to the camouflage, pretend-soldier garments that are too prevalent here in the US).” … The Toronto Maple Leafs will be unveiling their new logo soon, but this isn’t it (from Ted017).
Basketball News: Mississippi State unveiled some nice new uniforms yesterday, and they are scheduled to wear them today — they pay homage to the 1963 team (thanks to Ross Lipschultz). But the unis are actually much more than that — Paul has the story behind the unis. … Here’s a neat little article from Mental Floss entitled, “In Basketball, Why Does the Home Team (Usually) Wear White?” (h/t Torry B-B). … We know that the Raptors now have a “Drake” alternate with colors that are black and gold. Apparently, DeMar DeRozan stopped the Raptors from making black and gold their main colors permanently (thanks Paul). … Are these the worst alternate uniforms in hoops? Just imagine if they had sleeves. … Northwestern men’s hoops is breaking out twitter handle shooting shirts for their game today (h/t Matthew DuPrey). … The Golden State Warriors will not be moving to San Francisco for the 2018 season as planned. Instead, they will move into their new arena in 2019 (thanks Brinke). … Fan-favorite 7’3″ Spurs C Boban Marjanović had a meet-and-greet with fans, and one guy had Boban’s face shaved into his head (from Mike Chamernik).
Soccer News: Looks like hummel UK & Ireland (a manufacturer) will be sponsoring Denmark in 2016 (from Gabriel Hurl via Paul), who notes that they’ll be going back to their past with this sponsorship.
Grab Bag: Private spaceflight company Virgin Galactic announced its partnership with fashion brand Y-3 on Thursday. The two companies will work together to design fashionable and functional clothing and accessories for pilots, astronauts and operations teams working to get Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo space plane off the ground (thanks, Brinke). … This is neat: a new book that focuses on the business cards of the guys who helped to create the atomic bomb (from Mike LaJoie). … “I asked my boss what he was doing this weekend and he said he was going out to Santa Monica to play a little Ultimate,” says Allen Silkin. “Ultimate is a professional Frisbee — sure enough its a league. ESPN (ok ESPN3 remember) has coverage. Interesting Uniforms.” … Oops. Guessing the Aussie Open needs to fix the spell checker (via Andrew Jones).
And that’s it for today. Hope everyone had a good week, and a better Saturday! Enjoy the NFL playoffs today (You’ve got the red-hot Chiefs, likely wearing their lucky white pants, vs the Pats at 4:35 ET, followed by the Pack taking their talents to the Desert to play the Cards in the late game, at 8:15 ET). Catch you guys again tomorrow. Till then,
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
“I’m looking forward to a few items: fettuccini al grommet, grommet gravlax (with capers), grommet bubble gum, grommet licorice sticks and, most of all, grommi bears.”
–DenverGregg
That’s a stuffed deep dish pizza. Not a Cubs casserole.
I’m still calling it Eye-talian casserole
Phil knows ir’s a pizza. His New York values won’t let him admit it, though. ;)
“His New York values won’t let him admit it”
~~~
Could you please explain what you mean by that?
You’ve told me before concerning deep dish, “That’s not a pizza.”
You’re a New Yorker and you value your thin NY style pizza. It was just a simple play on words from this week’s debate.
I thought the wink implied that I wasn’t trying to turn this into a political thing or a Flyover vs NY thing. Apparently I was wrong, so just delete my comment before someone else turns it into an argument. Peace, and have a good weekend.
Yes Jimmer. I did get that. Hence why I used Maria Bartiromo’s line in response. But I appreciate you want to keep GOP debate transcripts out of it. Peace my brother.
You know, I think most people know exactly what New York values ar… nope, I ruined a good chance to spoof on the whole thing by being snippy earlier. Apologies. ‘Twas a hectic morning and I let it get the better of me.
While I’m throwing out the mea culpas, ’twas a hectic whole week, but the Very Merry Vilkmas raffle prizes should start making their way around the country on Tuesday. Sorry for the delay.
Page doesn’t exist on Pendleton Buckaroos item
Should be fixed now. But here it is as well.
Pendleton Buckaroos link seems to be toast. Picture is still on Phil’s Twitter timeline.
See above — not sure why it was toast in the ticker if it still exists on my T/L. But I hosted it for posterity.
I wonder if we we now have a classic “can a pizza pie be considered a casserole and/or vice versa” uniwatch debate?
A casserole (French: diminutive of casse, from Provençal cassa “pan”[1]) is a large, deep dish used both in the oven and as a serving vessel. The word is also used for the food cooked and served in such a vessel, with the cookware itself called a casserole dish or casserole pan.
Types of casserole include ragout, hotpot, cassoulet, tajine, moussaka, lasagne, shepherd’s pie, gratin, rice or macaroni timballo, and carbonnade.
Whether you are in the “Casseroles = Pizza Pie” camp or not, I think we all agree that Cubs Pie/Casserole would look AWESOME with about half a dozen grommets sprinkled on it!!
The Hank Stram jacket logo…….
There is one school of thought that says logos with that placement should always face/point toward the center. Perhaps that is what the were going for/
Also, the logo IS on the left side of his jacket, so why not use the left helmet logo?
Updated Rams logo reflects the type of effort they will put into fielding a competitive team.
Ouch,
Nice zinger. If the Rams do not use the next three years to create a winning team, it’s 1995 all over again. Only this time Kronk will be holding the bag, not the city of LA. when no one comes to the game. TV money will keep the league afloat but… It appears that the finally the days of publicly financed stadiums are finally reaching their end.
None too soon for the cities that should spend the money on Fire, Police, Hospitals and other public utilities.
NOVACK: The “C” stands for champion. haha
Well, a certain uniform reporter quoted Rams’ COO Kevin Demoff as saying, back in August 2014, that the team would be looking to change its design at some point in the next five years from then, so that could definitely make sense, unveiling new unis when Satan’s Lair opens.
link
So far, exactly 100% of NFL teams have looked better in basketball uniforms than they look on the gridiron. Even teams with great football uniforms like Steelers. Besides the obvious question of “Wha?” for how that happens, it makes me wonder why the actual NBA by and large has such terrible uniforms. NFL teams that aren’t even really trying manage to put together terrific basketball uniforms, while NBA teams that try really really hard manage to have great uniforms about one time in every five. Again, “Wha?”
“Ultimate” is the name for the sport, whether you play professionally, in college or just for fun.
Now that I know there *is* a professional league, and that Pittsburgh has a team, when is Cleveland getting one? Hmmm, think I just found a use for the old Akron Rubber Bowl.
Sounds like they couldn’t secure the rights to actually use “Frisbee” in their league name. Ultimate is not a sport, it’s an adjective.
Kudos to DeMar DeRozan. The NBA needs a black & gold team, but not Toronto. And no, not Pittsburgh either.
I’d rather see the Clippers, Thunder, Magic or Nuggets do it.
Further to the Bethea Cowboy jersey, that type of number font – while not created by or worn exclusively by Dallas – became something of an unofficial trademark of theirs. The Cowboys faithfully carried it over to newer jersey styles over the years but then dropped it entirely. It should be brought back as soon as possible, since I don’t think any other NFL team now uses that font. It looked great on them and Dallas made it their own. Such a small tweak would be a huge improvement, IMHO……
Perhaps, when the Rams move into their new stadium, they can rebrand to something more appropriate. The Los Angeles Money Grab…
Perhaps the Rams move should be called …
Stadium Grab – Part Deaux
Beautiful photo of Jackie Robinson. Can anyone tell us what the “WMGMW” on the façade in the back ground meant? Was there more to it?
JohnK
WMGM were the call letters of the station at AM 1050 that is now WEPN. The station was originally WHN when it signed on in the 1920s. It changed to WMGM in 1948 (the station’s ownership also owned the movie studio MGM), and then back to WHN in 1962.
Great–figured someone would know.
Good to hear Hummel is going to be back with the Danish National team. The ticker bit says “Hummel UK and Ireland”, but Hummel is a Danish-based company. The “Danish Dynamite” kit in the link is largely regarded as one of the best ever kits. I distinctly remember how awesome Denmark looked in it when they beat Uruguay 6-1 in the 1986 World Cup.
I also remember how it made them look like a bunch of clowns when they lost 5-1 to Span a week or so later. Amazing how performance can influence your opinion of athletic aesthetics.
SB
Seahawks will be in blue tops and grey pants vs Carolina who will wear all white. Article gives a summary of Seahawk won/loss record in all uni combos since 2012. This will be the first time for the blue top grey pant combo in the postseason.
link
…and the Seahawks have just cemented their loss.
Except that the 2 wins the Seahawks have had with this combination were both in Carolina they won both. But don’t let the facts get in the way of your opinion.
I may be in the minority, but I really like the Rams 2000 redo…always been a fan of metallic gold. The problem is that they’ve ditched the gold pants over the last few years, and without them, it does indeed look terrible. I really don’t understand how anyone could look at that set with white pants or blue pants, and think it looks better than the gold ones. If they aren’t going back to the 80s/90s look, then they need to bring the gold pants back full time at the very least.
I always liked it as well. But they need to go with the gold pants at home and the blue pants on the road and never wear the white pants ever again.
It is always about the money.
Those colors won’t be so bad if the Rams ditch the mono look and keep with the white pants, otherwise, to properly represent LA, they should go back to the original colors or even the Blue-White (ditch the gold) of the early 70s and 60s
Those Ice Caps jerseys may be one of the nicest hockey jerseys around. LOVE the classy way Canadian teams honor their military
Fond of the old blue/white Rams unis, from the Roman Gabriel days. Let ‘s have an vote…
Oh Chefs. I get why you’re doing it but you continue to disappoint me. Your red pants create one of the greatest road looks in the NFL and yet you continue to wear the white pants on the road which looks terrible! Great googily moogily!
We actually agree on something!!
I like the all white, but also enjoy red pants, I DONT LIKE the all red very much though, Colored pants are tricky it seems. Some teams can do it well, some dont at all
The all red would work much better if the stripes matched. It just looks awkward with the pants stripes different from the jersey stripes. But ideally the Chefs need to stick with red/red/white at home and red/white/red on the road and never wear the mono red or mono white ever again.
When the Rams were announced as the team that was accepted for the move I figured they would do what they did. Just update the wordmark said to Los Angeles. Looks like the colors may have been darkened slightly but I guess we’ll see once they hit the field. I don’t hate the look as long as they never wear the white pants ever again. Gold pants at home and blue pants on the road and it’s a decent enough look. I’ll guess like others have said once the new stadium opens they’ll go back to the blue and yellow (please not blue and white!!!) and either the old uniforms, fauxbacks, or some modern update if the old uniforms.
The Raides would just need to change Oakland back to Los Angeles in the wordmark ps again. But The Chargers would probably do similar to the Rams if they take the Los Angeles deal. I still like the 90’s look the best for the Chargers but I would guess they would stay the same until moving to the new stadium then fauxback to some sort of yellow and powder blue of some sort. Ugh!!
That Bartolo Colon video game clip is a reference to an mlb.com article comparing the chances of winning the Powerball to those of various unlikely baseball events.
link
Such disappointment here in LA, some of the people I know, all want to switch teams to the Rams but hate the navy and gold, WE WANT BLUE AND YELLOW.
PLEASE LA PLEASE
BTW I’m so excited to see your guys’ entries for the Rams contest, this is the first I’ve done, hopefully I can keep up !!
Thanks for nothing, “lucky white pants.”
Deflated balls > white pants.