[This post is part of Uni Watch Positivity Week. You can learn more about that here, and you can see all the UWPW posts here. — PL]
Linebacker Lavonte David is the senior member of the Buccaneers, having been with the team for over a decade. As such, he is the only active Tampa Bay player to have worn the team’s creamsicle throwbacks, which last appeared on-field in David’s rookie year of 2012 (that’s him, No. 54, in the photo shown above). And as mentioned in today’s Ticker, David says we could be “in for a surprise” regarding this season’s new creamsicle throwbacks, which are slated to be worn against the Lions on Oct. 15 but haven’t yet been unveiled.
David’s comment came at the end of a “quote sheet” that was posted on the team’s website on Wednesday afternoon. Talking about the creamsicle uniforms, he said:
“I love it. I love it. I got a little glimpse of them. They’re not like the ones I wore in 2012 at all… You should be in for a surprise. They’re really nice and I definitely like the way they look.”
Hmmm. What sort of “surprise” could he be referring to? Let’s go through some possibilities:
Possibility No. 1: The White Jersey
When the Bucs have worn creamsicle throwbacks in the past — a total of four times from 2009 through 2012, they’ve always gone with the orange jersey and white pants combo. Could they be considering white over orange?
It’s worth noting that the team’s recent announcement of the throwback game date included vintage creamsicle footage of both the orange and the white jerseys, so they didn’t really tip their hand either way:
Hey, Hey, Tampa Bay!
The Creamsicles officially return October 15 against the Detroit Lions. pic.twitter.com/BZuohyPq4u
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers) June 12, 2023
Possibility No. 2: Different Jersey Construction
If you look at photos of that 2012 game, Nike gave the Bucs mesh jerseys with screened-on numbers (similar to what the team wore back in the day):
So maybe David is saying that that the new jerseys have Nike’s latest performance fabric, sewn-on numbers, and so on.
Possibility No. 3: A Mash-Up
Orange jersey with alarm clock numbers? Bucco Bruce logo on a pewter helmet? Seems highly unlikely, but I’m just putting it out there.
———
Out of these three options, I’d say No. 1 — the white jersey — is the most likely. But here’s the thing: The creamsicles haven’t been on the field in over a decade, so wouldn’t it make more sense for them to go with the more iconic (I’m using the term loosely) orange/white look, rather than white/orange? I could see them flipping the script after a few years of orange/white throwbacks, but not for the creamsicles’ long-awaited return. Then again, maybe they wanted to do something a little different this time around.
In any case, it’s a fun mystery to ponder! Are there any other possibilities I’m overlooking?
Surely he just means it’s the updated template. I’d have to think they wouldn’t do a white jersey for such a unique throwback uni and miss out on the creamsicle jersey.
Option 4, the nightmare that would fit with the current trends of the NFL. Creamsicle jersey with creamsicle pants.
That was my thought as well. Mono orange. But the new template tailoring is what I’d bet on if I had to.
That was my first thought (aka nightmare) as well.
Didn’t the Bucs do this at least once toward the end of the original run for the Creamsicles?
No.
I’d suspect (and hope) it has more to do with the tailoring than anything else. But, if they go with the white jerseys, I wonder if they might throw ALL the way back to the original set that had the orange numbers outlined in red, rather than the red numbers outlined in orange that they switched to after a year or two.
The numbers were switched for the 1977 season.
I get why they did it, but I did like the original 1976 look.
Still, it makes no sense to not wear the orange jerseys. White for a separate game, sure, I would be fine with that. But for this highly promoted game, it has to be orange.
“Could they be considering white over orange?”
I really hope not…but if that’s the case I would like for them to wear those oh-so-trendy white socks.
Disagree PL,
This is NOT fun to ponder over. It’s ruining my life. A SURPRISE?! I’m gonna snap if that helmet is pewter with Bruce on it. I will be the Guns of Navarone.
I would think that if they were going to do the creamsicle unis with the pewter helmet, they’d have done it by now.
wouldn’t it make more sense for them to go with the more iconic (I’m using the term loosely) orange/white look
Most people who use that term these days use it loosely. At least you understand and admit it.
I’m calling on Lake Superior State University to add “iconic” to the 2024 Banished Words List.
As for the Bucs, I’d prefer white/white/orange. Any creamsicle combo is good, though, as long as they don’t do a mash-up.
Actually, since Patrick brought it up…
I might prefer white/orange/orange!
I’m not a huge fan of a true mono-uni, although for teams with white helmets (Bills, Badgers, to name a couple), I kind of like when the jersey and pants match.
I’m thinking maybe they’ll wear the white/white combo with the orange numbers outlined in red that they wore the entire 1976 season. Don’t worry about that 0-14 record. Those unis were sweet!
Orange jersey, red numbers, w/white outline?
That’s all I got.
White jerseys would make sense. Tampa has been wearing white at home a lot over the last couple years.
Give us the 76 white version!!!!!!!! It’s a 150% better than the orange, I would LOVE it.
It should be noted, that during the last 8 seasons of their orange & red history (1989-96), the Buccaneers chose to wear white jerseys at home on 56 of 64 chances.
Donning white wouldn’t be that far fetched.
Lee
Nike ? Surprise?
Don’t like the sound of this
A “Mash-up” with Nike involved sounds more like a F*** up to me
Could they?…
Would they?…
Should they be considering an Orange helmet and a mono Creamsicle look?!
Maybe Nike will shoe horn in some Pewter accents to tie the two eras together – on the numbers, on the trim, or even Bucco Bruce.
What if it’s a gradient? That seems to be popular these days, so maybe white jersey fade to orange at bottom into orange pants, or flip, orange fade into white at bottom and white pants?
Interesting.
Gradient has fallen out of favor in Atlanta – their red-to-black jersey won’t be worn at all next season.
Would the Bucs fill that NFL void?
Didn’t the Bucs move away from the orange creamsicle jerseys due to colorblind QB Vinny Testaverde? He couldn’t distinguish the light orange from the visiting team’s white jerseys. I’ve always thought that the Bucs could play in a lot of color vs color games with these light orange jerseys. Maybe they’ll have these creamsicle uniforms, but with an updated helmet logo. Instead of Bruce, they could have a pirate skeleton holding the knife in the teeth.
I’d totally be in for white over orange! Especially since the Browns recently brought back the orange pants. I’ve always liked the Bucs’ white jersey as well so it would be a nice switch up.
For what it’s worth it looks like the 2012 creamsicles were still the Reebok (Ripon) template instead of the Nike Elite template. I imagine that Nike’s supplier couldn’t match the orange color – like they couldn’t match the Eagles midnight green or that blue-gray Seahawks blue.
So I suspect that the 2023 version will be Nike’s new template and the color will be as close as Nike’s supplier can get but not the same as the 2012s. Maybe they will move the TV numbers to the shoulders and enlarge the stripes (the 2009-2012 throwbacks had the stripes reduced in size).
That Reebok template was better than anything Nike has trotted out. I find it hard to believe jerseys can become that much lighter and more flexible. Reebok’s was just fine.
It’s not *just* lighter and more flexible – it’s also more form-fitting that’s been the trend.
Though many players seem to defeat one of the purposes of being more form-fitting (being harder to grab a fistful of jersey in a scrum) by leaving their shirts untucked…
Honestly, I would guess that the white jersey would be the LEAST likely. As you’ve said many times before, the retail tail wags the on-field dog. No way they’d give up the opportunity to sell creamsicle jerseys in favor of the road look of that time…especially since it’s very light on creamsicle, with the secondary color on them arguably being red.
My read of this quote is that it’s probably just the tailoring, and Lavonte David using the word ‘surprise’ as sort of a way to just get his name mentioned on blogs like these in mid-June. He’s trying to throw people off of the fact that HE suspected them to be identical to 2012, so it was surprising to HIM that they were the updated template.
It’s been my experience white football jerseys ultimately go with numerals of the team’s darkest color with whatever color is left used as an outline. It simply makes them easier to read, no matter what the dominant color is supposed to be. I like the Bucs with orange numbers, but realistically they’ll be red on the white fabric.
What about….. Orange, orange, white?
Sorry just got in from work…
I think these UNIforms are gonna be Old School Colors with the new Skull Uni design…
Creamsicle scheme but with the Flag logo….That would be Mondo
Whenever a player, be it a longtime veteran, says the uniforms are amazing I curb my enthousiasm. I would not be surprised it is is the ugly digital number uniform in creamsicle, red and white (mono combi of course so creamsicle pants) with Bruce on a creamsicle helmet. A younger player saying he likes the new uniforms? Mono black with hints of creamsicle. I am just not in line with the taste of current players.
Paul, did you omit the possibility of orange jersey/pants/socks because this was part of Positivity Week?? If so, please do another post this week!
Ha! I didn’t (and still don’t) view that as a realistic possibility.