Good morning, Uni Watchers. It’s Friday — we made it!
Arguably the greatest rivalry in sports — between Army and Navy — kicks off tomorrow afternoon at Northwest Stadium in Landover, Maryland, as Army and Navy will meet for the 125th time. Since 2008, the two schools have been involved in a uniform war on the field, with both academies (except in 2009 and 2010, when Army wore their “regular” uniforms) sporting specialty uniforms just for the game. This year will be no different, with both teams being outfitted in uniforms designed specifically for the matchup.
For tomorrow’s game, Navy will honor the Jolly Rogers aviation unit, while Army will honor the 101st Airborne Division. Unlike most years, this game will be an all-black vs. all-white game. But don’t let the chess piece motif fool you, there is plenty of storytelling in both schools’ uniforms. You can read either of those linked articles for much more information about this year’s special uniforms.
Each academy has also produced a video telling the backstory of the uniforms. You can watch each below:
ARMY
NAVY
Jimmer Vilk will give you the full review of this game on Sunday. But both teams have, as noted above, been doing specialty uniforms for this game since 2008.
Let’s now take a look at the past 15 years of specialty uniforms for the Army/Navy game. Which game was your favorite? Which uniform(s) stood out to you the most?
This marked the first game where Nike created special uniforms specifically for this game. Army wore camo helmets and pants (featuring “WEST POINT” down the legs) along with a black jersey featuring camo numbers. Army NOB’s read DUTY. HONOR. COUNTRY. Navy wore their regular gold helmets, but added white jerseys with blue and gold “epaulettes” and navy blue pants featuring the gold/red stripe of the Marines’ Evening Dress trowser.
Army would put the special uniform on hiatus for 2009, while Navy riffed on their 2008 unis. Navy kept their 2008 pants and gold helmets, but swapped their white jerseys for navy ones that were basically color swaps of the previous year.
For a second straight year, Army wore its regular uniforms, while Navy slightly changed up their white jerseys from 2008. Whereas in 2008, the team had blue epaulettes bordered with gold, in 2010 they added red stripes and ditched the gold outline. This would be the last game the uniforms would not be a big “part” of the game (and the storytelling would begin).
Do you remember the “Nike Combat” uniform? Well, 2011 would feature both teams in specialty uniforms, with Army donning gold helmets with a thick black stripe, basic white jerseys with black undersleeves featuring modified northwest striping and gold pants. Jerseys would feature special stencil fonts, and shoes were meant to replicate combat boots. Navy got an entire new uniform, with a white helmet featuring an anchor on the side and a gold stripe, with the jersey and pants being mono-navy with gold numbers. While both uniforms would still be relatively staid, compared to what would follow, the uniform “battle” had truly begun.
We’d get in 2012 what would unfortunately become the “norm” for many college uni matchups a decade later, when Army wore black jerseys and pants (with stealth stencil numbers with a map gradient) against Navy decked out in mono-white. This may be commonplace now, but back then it was much more of a novelty. The real “star” of the uni show, however, was Navy’s custom helmet, which was pretty revolutionary for the time.
While both teams got special new uniforms in 2013, these would be somewhat mirror images of the prior year’s matchup. Both teams kept their prior year’s helmets, and Army swapped its black jersey and pants for a white jersey with thick gray collar and gray pants with a thick black stripe. Navy kept its white pants, but wore a blue jersey this time around. As memorable as the uniforms was the early season snowfall that took place that day.
After 2013, Navy dumped Nike and moved to Under Armour for their uniform supplier, and 2014 marked the first time since the “specialty” uniforms for the game appeared in 2008 that the academies used different uni-makers. And it showed. Nike stuck with a fairly sedate gold/black/black uniform for Army, while Navy’s flag-inspired outfit from UA was quite the spectacle. Nicknamed the “Don’t Tread on Me” uniforms, they even attracted attention from decidedly non-uniform-centered websites.
Helmets would be the big story of the 2015 game, with Navy introducing gorgeous custom-painted lids and Army countering with black helmets featuring different military insignias for each position player. Army’s uniform was pretty basic, with black/white/black, while Navy wore blue helmets, jerseys and pants, with some gray and gold accents.
Army would lean into mono-black uniforms very heavily for 2016, inspired by the paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne from World War II. Navy countered with a new uniform which was heavy on athletic gold, which was inspired by the uniforms Navy wore during the 1963 football season. I particularly enjoyed Navy’s gold/white/gold look, even if it wasn’t your classic Navy uniform.
Of course Army didn’t realize it at the time, but their 2017 uniforms — inspired by the Pando Commandos — were the ultimate camouflage uniforms, as another early season snowfall provided perfect cover for the mono-white clad squad. Navy went with a Blue Angels tribute, using royal with athletic gold trim with lighter blue custom-painted helmets, which were quite striking in their own right.
For their 2018 tilt, Army again went mono-black, this time honoring the famed World War I unit nicknamed the “Big Red One,” and their uniforms once again were fairly staid. Navy, meanwhile, dedicated their 2018 uniforms to honoring Bill the Goat, the Navy’s animal mascot dating back to 1893! Their rather traditional-looking uniform was navy/white/white, and of course featured a logo of Bill the Goat prominently on the helmet.
For the 2019 game, Navy broke out 1960s throwbacks which again featured custom-painted helmets and navy jerseys over gold pants. A nice solid look for Navy was countered by Army’s olive green-heavy uniforms, inspired by the 1st Cavalry Division from 1965. While the game didn’t have a throwback feel per se, both schools leaned into the 1960s for their uni-inspiration.
For the first time in forever, Army/Navy wasn’t the “only game in town” in 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the football season schedule (and pretty much everything else in our lives) — but the game was still played. For this matchup, Army’s uniforms drew inspiration from their 25th Infantry Division, going with a mono-olive uniform, that actually had (purposefully) different shades of olive. Navy countered with a blue/white/white uniform that celebrated 175 years of the Naval Academy. The (relatively) drab uniforms worn on a foggy late afternoon provided a perfect setting for a surreal year in which COVID cast a pall across the world.
In 2021, Navy again wore custom-painted helmets atop a mono-navy uniform, which itself paid tribute to naval aviation and the F/A 18 Super Hornet. Army went with a tan-colored outfit, inspired by that worn by soldiers of the U.S. Army Special Forces Command, and which were specifically designed to honor the US response after 9/11 (2021 marked the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks). While the game was certainly easy on the eyes, it was definitely more muted than prior years.
Army’s uniforms in 2022 were a tribute to the “Iron Soldiers” of the 1st Armored Division on the 80th anniversary of Operation Torch in Europe and the deserts of North Africa. The uniforms featured a gradient top, in a paint-splatter motif, which was replicated on the helmet. The colors and number font were the same as those used on the M3 tanks during World War II. Navy countered with uniforms that were a salute to NASA and all of the astronauts produced by the Naval Academy. The white uniforms with red stripes were designed to mimic NASA’s spacewalk suits. The Helvetica font has been used by NASA for decades. The sides of the helmet had hand-crafted paintings with the NASA logo in front of the moon and Annapolis graduate Bruce McCandless II in front of the Earth.
The 2023 West Point uniforms told the story of the soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division during the opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). The unis were specifically designed to mark the 20th Anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and the Marne Division’s participation in the initiation of offensive operations in Iraq, the longest and most rapid armored advance since the Second World War. The 2023 game was color vs. color, with Army wearing a tannish-green uniform. Members of the 3rd Infantry Division are known as “Dogface Soldiers,” whose canine mascot, named Rocky, appeared on the sides of the helmet. The jersey had a chevron on the belly. The “ROTM” chest patch referred to “Rock of the Marne.” There was also an American flag patch on one sleeve and a 3rd Infantry Division patch on the other sleeve. Navy’s uniforms honored the Silent Service, the U.S. Submarine Force, its families and supporting personnel. The entire uniform was “Eclipse Navy” (UA’s darkest shade of navy blue) to mimic the covert design of a submarine hull. The uniform was purposefully designed to embody the Force’s nickname: Silent Service. The overall design was intended to be simple and utilitarian to convey the stealth purposes of a submarine’s design. Each helmet was hand-painted with the right side depicting a Virginia Class Submarine underwater and the left side depicting Navy’s customary Navy anchor with the submariner pin integrated into it with color-changing pragmatic paint. The rest of the uniform was very staid, featuring only “NAVY” and uni number on the front of the jersey, plus a chest patch. Pants had vertically stacked numerals meant to “mimic depth numbers of a submarine hull.”
Which game was your favorite matchup? Do you have a favorite individual uniform for either academy? What do you think of the upcoming Spy vs. Spy matchup tomorrow?
Love to have your thoughts!
2012-2013 Navy is great. Especially those helmets
Agree, those should be their full time uniforms. The white ones are without a doubt the best uniform from either team in this matchup.
Those Blue Angels unis are so good.
GTGFTS
1978 World Cup Final at Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires
25 June as Argentina wins its first over the Netherlands 3-1
GTGFTU
Week 9 of 2015 season
Jets over Jags 28-23
Marc: GTGFTS: Wrong.
Yup, realize that now. Too busy concentrating on the tree and missed the forest.
“Arguably the greatest rivalry in sports” Come on…
There are good points both for and against this proposition, the very definition of “arguably.”
The absurdity of the claim renders any potential “for” arguments moot.
Genuinely curious as to your criteria for a “good” rivalry, much less “the greatest.”
Why don’t you explain your objections to it, instead of being snarky.
1. As always on this site, “sports” means “North American sports”. It’s really quite frustrating. Jamie seems to be the only staff member who consistently demonstrates an awareness of sports outside of the US and Canada. I usually get shot down by ignorant readers who claim that “everyone” who visits this site is North American and therefore knows what is meant, which is absolutely not a justification at all.
2. Collegiate rivalries should almost by default be excluded from discussions of “greatest” rivalries. Players matter. How can there be any meaningful rivalry between players who play no more than four years for one school, and more likely only one or two? Especially when the teams meet what, once a year?
3. Notwithstanding point 2., there are dozens of other collegiate rivalries that could be considered. Ones that spring to mind (before Army-Navy) would be Michigan-Ohio State, Duke-UNC, Florida-Georgia, Alabama-Auburn… How many candidates from American collegiate sports alone are on this list of the “greatest rivalries in sports”? Does global interest not matter at all?
4. Building on point 3., even if the discussion is limited to North American sports, I can think of so many rivalries across the Big Four that would be higher than Army-Navy. How many options can be considered “arguable”? But, as I keep saying, the sports world is so much bigger than that. Obviously soccer rivalries come to mind, but there are also a ton of great rivalries between multi-sport clubs in Europe (the Belgrade basketball teams come to mind, Barcelona-Real Madrid in any sport), and then of course there are rivalries between nations, usually regardless of the sport.
Guys, I love that you’re discussing this, but it’s clearly not an argument either side will “win”.
I said the rivalry is “ARGUABLY” the greatest — and obviously you’re arguing that. But it’s just one of many rivalries. Is Yankees-Red Sox greater? Probably to Yankee and Red Sox fans. What about Harvard-Yale or OSU-Michigan? All are *arguably* the best. It’s a matter of opinion of course
But I think most fans can agree that it is certainly one of the greatest rivalries in sport.
Let’s leave it that “greatest” is open to opinion. If you disagree, that’s certainly fine. No one is right or wrong here, we all just have our own opinions.
Regarding point 2, Your point of collegiate rivalries seems counterintuitive to the argument that you are making. I think we can agree that a good, nee great, rivalry requires a generational component to it. This means that the rivalry must transcend, not depend on, the players involved.
As far as excluding global sport (points 1 and 3), this is a non sequitur. I can see nothing in Phil’s article that could be even remotely construed as exclusive of the world sport scene.
Regarding point 4, what’s the best food? Best vacation spot? Worst movie? Literally thousands of options, which makes for a more robust debate, not an absurd one.
Well I’m glad I asked because that is a long response, which I appreciate.
You’re very off-base with #2 — as an American I promise you that in the American context, college football has the best rivalries and it would be hard to argue otherwise. College fandoms are very personal, generational, regional kind of thing. They’re not like the pro sports where the operations are very corporate and all the teams are in big cities. In football, you only play once a year, so every game has a year’s worth of bragging rights on the line. There is really nothing else like it. And remember that CFB is probably the second most popular sport in the US, behind the NFL.
As for everything else, if you want a lot of soccer coverage, this probably isn’t the site for you. Euro soccer fandom in the US is a fairly new phenomenon and is mostly limited to younger demographics. Paul said for years that he hardly covered it because he didn’t know anything about it, and that’s still the case for most sports fans here. I wouldn’t be so literal with superlatives. Like, if a European blog was listing the best athletes of all time, I wouldn’t go complaining that they left off Willie Mays. It’s not worth getting worked up over.
Thanks Paul, I too appreciate your thoughtful and reasonable response. I don’t have a problem with collegiate rivalries being so highly regarded. I have many friends on both sides of the border that absolutely love American college football. However – and I’m being 100% honest here – I have never even heard any one discuss Army and/or Navy outside this website.
As for soccer, I’ve long given up my hopes that it would be taken seriously on UW. I’ve even offered to cover it myself, going back to the days when Paul was running the show, but I have been told multiple times that it’s already taken care of. I really don’t think that it is.
However, I do think it’s not a lot to ask to add the qualifier of “North America(n)” when discussing the world of sports.
The Army Navy rivalry extends just beyond the 2 service academies. This is a rivalry for those who served in the Army and the Navy/Marines. As an Army veteran I root for Army even though I did not go to the service Academy.
favorite is the Navy – Blue Angels edition.
But if i were to pick a winner based on best uniform each year, i got ARMY up 11-6
There are individual exceptions, but I’d say as a general rule the specialty uniform matchups are better when Army is the home team and Navy is in white. Perhaps not surprising given the real white uniforms the Midshipman will be wearing soon.
Funny, because in this group my two favorite matchups are 2013 and 2019.
2008 & 2010 are good, too. Everything else can go away.
In the 2016 mono black Army uniform it appears the US flag on the ball carriers right shoulder is oriented normally (stars in upper left) where I have heard it always has to fly as if facing into the wind. Does anyone know why Army would do this? Maybe only on actual uniforms this matters?
The orientation depended on the era the unit they are recognizing. I think after the 83nd uniforms, they did that. The 82nd probably was the most work with their uniform numbers made to match the “All-American” logo.
In general, I prefer Army’s unis over Navy but I really liked that Blue Angels tribute uniform. My favorite is when Army wore olive green which I’d like to see a team wear on a regular basis, even if it’s just a trim color. It’s a nice earthy color that just doesn’t get enough love.
GTGFTS
1974 World Cup Final- Germany v Netherlands in Munich
Good Catch! One can see parts of the Translucent roof in Olimpiastadion München!
I kinda like what they did in 2012-13. It looks as though Nike came up with both home and away unis for both academies, based on the same (or very similar) template and helmet, and they both got to wear each. Now I’m wonder how, say, a home version of Army’s ’21 uni, or an away uni for Navy in ’17, would’ve looked.
I’m always pulling for Army ‘cuz my dad served, but my uniform preference is definitely with Navy!
Not all, but many are just fun and cool and sharp looking.
IMO most of Army’s “specialty” uniforms are blah. Maybe because in general, army people are trying not to be seen???
I thought the 2017 game was the belle of the ball. Army’s solid white was perfect for the snowfall that day, and Navy’s tribute to the Blue Angels was excellent.
Serious question: what is the fascination with wanting to see something that you barely can see?
2024 Army uniforms: on the field they look like knockoffs from Any Given Sunday-Miami Sharks to me
That 2022 Army number font is amazing. Is 2023 just plain boring Arial? What a downgrade, especially considering that cool and unusual color the uniforms are using in ’23.
Those 12-13 Navy helmets are probably my favorite helmet ever