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Super Bowl 59 Uniform News and Notes

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Good Monday morning, Uni Watchers! I hope everyone had a good weekend.

Long time readers will recall that Jay Braiman (who posts as “Graf Zeppelin” in the comments) has been preparing Super Bowl number crunching for more than a decade. He teamed up with Paul in 2013 in a post that appeared on ESPN, and returned in 2014, this time on Uni Watch itself. Since then, his uniform/number observations have been a part of Uni Watch (on the blog, ESPN, Inside Hook, Substack, etc.) in some form or other. When Paul retired as Editor last year, Jay thought his SB notes would retire as well, but last week, I reached out and asked him to keep the tradition alive. He heartily agreed!

So I’m pleased to welcome Jay back as he brings you his …

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Super Bowl 59 Uniform News and Notes
by Jay Braiman

Philadelphia and Kansas City will meet in the Super Bowl for the second time in three years, and will each wear the exact same uniforms they wore for the game two years ago. They both join the very small club of teams that have had Super Bowl rematches against two different opponents wherein the same uniforms were worn by both teams each time, along with the Cowboys (Steelers twice, and Bills) and Patriots (Giants and Eagles). This is the first time both teams have joined that club in the same game.

Now, before we move on let’s be clear what we mean by the “same” (or “exact same”) uniform. Obviously, the Super Bowl patches on the jerseys are not the “exact same” as the previous game; moreover, the Eagles made a subtle change to their uniforms this year, revising the tiny wordmark below the collar. Looking further, the Cowboys and Steelers wore bicentennial patches in Super Bowl X that they didn’t wear in Super Bowl XIII, and the Steelers wore gray facemasks in the former and black facemasks in the latter. But as detail-oriented as we all are at Uni Watch, the key here is that the design is the same, even if its execution differs in some details.

So, moving on…

• This is the first time we’ve seen an exact uniform rematch (same design, same color selections) two seasons apart, the quickest that could happen without a designated home team electing to wear white in one of the games, as the Cowboys did in the first of back-to-back Super Bowls against the Bills (XXVII and XXVIII), still the only time that’s happened. The Cowboys and Steelers wore the same uniforms three years apart in Super Bowls X and XIII (with Dallas electing white jerseys in the latter); Patriots-Giants (XLII and XLVI) and KC-49ers (LIV and LVIII) were each four years apart. In each of the foregoing rematches, the team that won the first game won the second. Incidentally, neither the Eagles (fifth appearance) nor KC (seventh) has ever elected to wear white jerseys as the home team in a Super Bowl, but each was involved in a game in which the home team elected white: the Eagles against the Patriots in SB LII, and KC against the Buccaneers in SB LV.

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• This is the second consecutive Super Bowl that is a rematch of a prior game, which is the second time that’s happened, after Super Bowls LII (Patriots-Eagles rematch) and LIII (Patriots-Rams rematch). It’s the tenth Super Bowl rematch overall, and the ninth pair of teams to meet more than once (the Cowboys and Steelers had two rematches of Super Bowl X, SBs XIII and XXX, and remain the only Super Bowl “three-match”). As Super Bowl rematches go, the team that won the first game has won the second game six of eight times,* including KC’s win over the 49ers last year. The Eagles were one of the two teams to turn the table, however, beating the Patriots in SB LII after losing SB XXXIX; the other was Washington, which lost to the Dolphins in SB VII but defeated them a decade later in SB XVII.

* The Cowboys won the third after losing the first two to the Steelers.

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• The Eagles will extend their record of appearing in five Super Bowls in green jerseys without ever having appeared in white jerseys, and now take sole possession of second place for most consecutive Super Bowl appearances in either color or white; the Cowboys wore white jerseys in their last seven appearances, after wearing blue in their first (SB V vs. Colts).** Among other teams that have appeared in more than one Super Bowl only the Falcons have worn color jerseys only, albeit two different colors (black in SB XXXIII, red in SB LI), and only the Ravens have worn white jerseys only (SB XXXV with white pants, SB XLVII with black pants).

** Washington and Pittsburgh are now in a third-place tie with four each; Washington in white in SB XVII, XVIII, XXII and XXVI after wearing burgundy in SB VII, Steelers in black in SB X, XIII, XIV and XXX after wearing white in SB IX.

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• Regarding the competitors’ primary colors, this will be the second green-vs.-red Super Bowl in three years — and only the second since Super Bowl I. The Eagles and KC have been involved in all three, with the latter losing to the Packers in the first Super Bowl and defeating the Eagles two years ago. Kansas City is thus 1-1 against “green teams,” while the Eagles are 0-1 against “red teams.”

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• Philadelphia is 1-3 in Super Bowls overall, 1-2 in the current uniform design including the loss to KC. Kansas City is making its seventh Super Bowl appearance overall, its fifth in six seasons; the latter is unprecedented, as is reaching a third straight Super Bowl after winning the first two.*** KC is 4-2 overall, 1-1 in white jerseys, and 1-0 in white jerseys with red pants.

*** The Patriots reached three straight (LI-LIII) but lost the second; the Bills (famously) reached four straight (XXV-XXVIII) and lost all four.

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• This year’s Super Bowl is being played at the Superdome, the eighth big game at that venue and 11th for the city of New Orleans. Both the Eagles and KC have played Super Bowls in the Big Easy; KC (in red jerseys) beat the Vikings in Super Bowl IV at Tulane Stadium, and the Eagles (in green) lost Super Bowl XV to the Raiders at the Superdome. This is the first Super Bowl in which both teams have previously played in Super Bowls in the same city (or metro area), against different opponents. The Steelers and Cowboys played each other twice at the Orange Bowl in Miami (SB X and XIII), while the Dolphins and Washington played each other twice in the L.A. area, SB VII at the Coliseum and SB XVII just up the 110 at the Rose Bowl.

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• Overall, teams wearing white jerseys have a 7-3 record in New Orleans Super Bowls (2-1 at Tulane, 5-2 at the Superdome). Among primary colors, “green teams” are 1-1, both in green jerseys, both at the Superdome; “red teams” are 2-2, 1-2 at the Superdome (1-0 in white jerseys and 0-2 in red jerseys). And, in keeping with New Orleans being such a vibrant, unique and colorful city, the 14 franchises that have played Super Bowls there, including this year’s teams, represent a total of eight primary jersey colors: red, blue, green, purple, orange, aqua, navy, and black.

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Is that the most of any Super Bowl host city? Well, it depends.

• The L.A. area has hosted 13 teams in eight Super Bowls (two at the Coliseum, five at the Rose Bowl, one at SoFi), representing the same primary jersey colors listed above plus burgundy and minus navy — that is, unless you consider the Cowboys in their last three appearances, including SB XXVII at the Rose Bowl, to be a “navy team” because their color jerseys have been navy since 1981 even though they’ve never worn them in a Super Bowl, and their white jerseys have royal-blue numerals and stripes. If you count the post-1981 Cowboys as navy rather than blue that gives L.A. the edge with nine different primary jersey colors.

• Now, if you count navy and aqua as blue, and burgundy as red, then New Orleans and L.A. are tied with six (red, blue, green, purple, orange, and black), which is the most among Super Bowl host cities. San Diego, which hosted only three Super Bowls, is right behind them with five (red, green, black, orange, and blue); Miami, which like New Orleans has hosted 14 teams in 11 Super Bowls (five at the Orange Bowl, six at Joe Robbie/Dolphin/&c.), has only four: green, blue, red, and black; separating out navy from blue, and burgundy from red, gives them each one more.

• However, if you go the other way and differentiate the greens, then New Orleans gets the edge over L.A. having hosted the Eagles in medium green**** (SB XV), the Packers in hunter green (SB XXXI), and now, the Eagles in their unique “midnight green,” bringing that city’s total to ten, whereas L.A. would have nine even with navy for the Cowboys. So in that case, the Eagles will put New Orleans in the lead as the most colorful Super Bowl city.

**** The Eagles’ uniforms from 1974-84 used a slightly darker green than those that came before and after, and so were not a true kelly green.

• Finally, this year’s teams will tie their own Super Bowl record, which they share with Indianapolis and Chicago (XLI), and Indianapolis and New Orleans (XLIV), of having the most combined syllables in the names of their represented cities, with nine: Philadelphia (5) and Kansas City (4).*****

***** Readers may quibble over whether New Orleans has three or four syllables, whether Indianapolis has five or six syllables, or whether Philadelphia has four or five syllables. They can have at it in the comments section.

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Thanks, Jay! And thanks for coming out of “retirement” to continue this fantastic Uni Watch tradition!

Readers? What say you?

 

 
  
 

Reader Report #1: Orioles 2025 Jerseys

I received the following e-mail from reader Kyle Mace, who recently attended an event with Orioles players, and here’s his report:

Wanted to reach out about the slow pre-Spring Training rollout of the “New” MLB Nike jerseys. Went to an event tonight with Orioles players and noticed a few differences right away with the jerseys.

All the players were wearing the 2025 uniforms except for Adley Rutschman, which provided a good comparison of the difference between last year’s and this season’s. The names on the back of the uniforms are back to pre-2024 size, but the MLB logo is still below the stitch line as expected. It was noticeable the difference in size, especially when comparing last season’s to this season’s when I saw Rutschman stand next to anybody. But truly, it does feel like the size of the name and number is better and what it should have been all along.

I did notice there is a new color tag on the bottom hem, with the black Nike tag now white.

The sleeve patches did have a little bit more of a shine to them, looking like they are now embroidered, but I don’t think the quality is the same as pre-2024 uniforms. The stitching around the patches, at least for the Orioles, is what the stitching was on the patches last year (I think it’s called a satin stitch) where there’s a black stroke/outline to the patch, versus what the old patches looked like where they used the invisible stitch to adhere them to the sleeves.

I didn’t get a great look at the material, but I didn’t notice much of a difference from the 2024 jerseys. You could see small holes through the white jerseys when guys were wearing dark hoodies underneath and it looked like that “vapor” material that was used last year, not like the FlexBase material used by Majestic/Nike 2020-23.

Attached a couple of photos from the Orioles social media pages and links to them as well.

Looking forward to all the coverage of the continuation of this Nike saga!

Kyle Mace

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Thanks, Kyle!

 

 

Reader Report #2: Dodgers Now Respecting the Placket!

I also received an e-mail from Frank Jones, who has some excellent news regarding the Dodgers’ white jerseys.

Don’t know if you folks have covered this yet, but it appears Nike (or Fanatics) have fixed the break in the Dodgers chest script so it cuts between letters now instead through the second “d” like last season. This must be very recent since they were still using the old template when they announced Roki Sasaki’s signing last week. (Second pic is Tanner Scott, Hyeseong Kim and Blake Snell, all new signings this season.)

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Thanks, Frank!

 

 

Guess the Game from the Scoreboard

Guess The Game…

…From The Scoreboard

Today’s scoreboard comes from Joe Severoli.

The premise of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I’ll post a scoreboard and you guys simply identify the game depicted. In the past, I don’t know if I’ve ever completely stumped you (some are easier than others).

Here’s the Scoreboard. In the comments below, try to identify the game (date and location, as well as final score). If anything noteworthy occurred during the game, please add that in (and if you were AT the game, well bonus points for you!):

Please continue sending these in! You’re welcome to send me any scoreboard photos (with answers please), and I’ll keep running them.

 

 

Guess the Game from the Uniform


Based on the suggestion of long-time reader/contributor Jimmy Corcoran, we’ve introduced a new “game” on Uni Watch, which is similar to the popular “Guess the Game from the Scoreboard” (GTGFTS), only this one asked readers to identify the game based on the uniforms worn by teams.

Like GTGFTS, readers will be asked to guess the date, location and final score of the game from the clues provided in the photo. Sometimes the game should be somewhat easy to ascertain, while in other instances, it might be quite difficult. There will usually be a visual clue (something odd or unique to one or both of the uniforms) that will make a positive identification of one and only one game possible. Other times, there may be something significant about the game in question, like the last time a particular uniform was ever worn (one of Jimmy’s original suggestions). It’s up to YOU to figure out the game and date.

Today’s GTGFTU comes from Paul Daly.

Good luck and please post your guess/answer in the comments below.

 

 

And finally...

…that’s all for the early lede. Big (HUGE) thanks to Jay for postponing his “numbers retirement” to bring us his annual SB uni fare!

Aside from Jamie’s Ticker, I’ll have at least three more articles today, although I will have another family matter to attend to later this afternoon. Lotsa Super Bowl stuff to come this week, including today, so definitely check back often.

I will catch everyone tomorrow. Till then…

Peace,

PH

Comments (10)

    Dallas at Buffalo 1984. Winless Bills beat Cowboys14-3.

    I think that effectively ended the Hogeboom experiement

    Yes, Greg Bell 85 to the house on the first play. Won tickets to game from radio station when I was in high school. One of my top Bills game I ever attended as a fan.

    GTGFTU: 11/18/1984 – Dallas Cowboys (3) at Buffalo Bills (14) Rich Stadium, Orchard Park NY. Cowboys with the 25th Anniversary patch.

    Note that Cowboys center Tom Rafferty is wearing the team’s then-current navy jersey with the outlined numerals and serif lettering, which was adopted in 1981 and modified in 1996. For most of his Cowboys career, including 1984 (link) and through at least 1987, Rafferty continued to wear the pre-1981-style white jersey with the serif numerals and sans-serif lettering (link); only when the Cowboys wore blue did Rafferty’s jersey match his teammates’.

    In-di-an-ap-ol-is 6
    Phil-a-del-phi-a 5
    Those are pretty obvious

    New – Or-leans 3
    New – Or-le-ans 4
    Now I am questioning how I usually pronounce New Orleans.

    Some phoneticians would argue that the “ia” in Philly represents a single syllable, as in “California” (i.e., “Fil-la-del-fya”). For Indianapolis one could conceivably do the same thing (“In-dya-nap-o-lis”), or alternatively, combine the last two syllables by making the “o” silent (“In-di-a-nap-lis”).

    That said, I completely agree that Indy is 6 and Philly is 5; most people pronounce Philly with five syllables, including Elton John in “Philadelphia Freedom” and Neil Young in “Philadelphia,” so I consider that to be correct.

    Arlo Guthrie, in “City of New Orleans,” pronounces it “New Or-leens” as does Janis Joplin in “Me and Bobby McGee” and Billy Joel in “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” the latter two with emphasis on the last syllable. Having been there a few times my understanding is the correct/preferred pronunciation is “New Or-lins” with emphasis on “Or”; that’s how Kevin Costner’s Jim Garrison and his staff in Oliver Stone’s “JFK” pronounce it. I have heard it pronounced with the extra syllable but off the top of my head I can’t think of where (probably not in a song).

    I also can’t think of a song with “Indianapolis” in the lyrics.

    Yeah, three sounds like the way people typically say New Orleans, but I have definitely heard, and I think from various now retired sports broadcasters, it pronounced “New Or lee ins”, which perhaps was just their little flourish on the word.

    New Orleans is [obviously] named after Orléans, in France, which is pronounced with three syllables.

    In his 1968 hit “Little Green Apples,” O.C. Smith sings, “It don’t rain in Indianapolis in the summertime.” I listened to the line several times, and it sounds like “In-d’in-a-plis.” So, creative liberties could make Indianapolis four syllables, although multiple pronunciation guides show it in six syllables.

    One of the biggest arguments my roommates and I ever had in college was whether “Kyle” was one syllable or two. (I argued one).

    For what it’s worth, I’ve known quite a few people from New Orleans and the surrounding area, and every one of them has pronounced it “New Or-lins.” No one has ever said “New Or-lee-uns” or “N’awlins.”
    Just my own personal experience.

    GTGFTS: Super Bowl XXXIX, 6 Feb 2005. The picture is taken from right before the Eagles kick the last point of the game, 21-24.

    Jay, I really enjoyed your walk through the Super Bowl uni-verse. At one point in time, I could recite all the scores, MVPs and stadiums. Probably during the prime of my child-rearing years (in the XLs) do I still get hung up, more on locations than anything.
    I noticed an omission – not a uniform matter, but still noteworthy to the Super history. To your triple-asterisk footnote on consecutive SB appearances, the Dolphins were the first team to appear in three straight Super Bowls: they lost VI to Dallas in New Orleans before they won VII over Washington in LA (to finish 17-0) and repeated in VIII over Minnesota in Houston. Uni wise, they wore aqua jerseys in VI and VIII and were in their whites in VII.
    Fun stuff!

    In addition, the reason why “they wore aqua jerseys in VI and VIII” as the home team, and why the Cowboys wore blue in V as the home team, despite both teams’ predilection to wear white at home, was that back then the NFL mandated the “home” team in the Super Bowl wear its color jerseys. Not sure when the rule changed, but my guess is the Cowboys lobbied for it in advance of Super Bowl XIII when they became the first “home” team to wear white jerseys in the big game.

    In the 1980s and ’90s, you’d only see the “home” team wear white if it was a team that tended to wear white at home, i.e., Washington (XVII) and Dallas (XXVII). The first time I remember a team electing to wear white for some other [i.e., superstitious] reason was when the Steelers did so against the Seahawks in Super Bowl XL, because they had made their entire playoff run on the road (and which would have been a much better-looking game had they gone the other way (e.g., link, link, link). Since then we’ve seen the Broncos (50), Patriots (LII) and Buccaneers (LV) elect white; the Rams wore white in SB LVI at SoFi which is their home stadium but they weren’t the designated home team.

    The Cowboys in SB XIII were also the first team to appear in back-to-back Super Bowls in the same uniform (having worn their white jerseys against the Broncos in SB XII the year before); the Steelers (SB XIII-XIV), Washington (XVII-XVIII), Bills (XXVI-XXVII-XXVIII), Cowboys again (XXVII-XXVIII), Patriots (LI-LII-LIII), and KC (LIV-LV) have done it since.

    Happy to see the 2025 MLB uniforms trending in the right direction, but it’s still an embarrassment that Nike was too lazy/cheap/whatever to produce jerseys with sleeve stripes not on the very end of the sleeves. The Orioles are supposed to have daylight between the black/orange/black bands and the end of the sleeves! It looks fine enough but why is Nike incapable of producing this?!

Comments are closed.