the 2017 uni (whole thing) (still some gold on the jersey)

Rams’ revised uniforms are an awkward half-measure

Mike Florio

Rams’ revised uniforms are an awkward half-measure

The Rams blew a golden opportunity during their annual Color Rush game by not eradicating the gold from uniforms worn below blue helmets and white horns. For 2017 and 2018, the mistake will be repeated on a regular basis.

The good news? The team has dumped the gold from the helmets and the pants, re-embracing the white horns from the days of George Allen and Deacon Jones. The bad news? The team’s jerseys won’t be changing, for now.

It’s an awkward half-measure by necessity, because teams can’t abruptly change their jerseys — for reasons that relate more to merchandising than aesthetics. And so the new jerseys (presumably without gold) will arrive in 2019, and the two-phase uniform change will be completed.

Why not wait until 2019 to change the uniform at all? If the Rams had the L.A. market to themselves, maybe they would. With the Chargers now coming to town, the Rams have opted for the partial re-branding, with the full-blown white-and-blue uniforms likely coming when the Rams and Chargers christen the new stadium they will share.

Here is one poster’s view of a better uniform.

Crazylegs did this:

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from “Talking Helmets with the Equipment Manager” [2007]

http://www.helmethut.com/Talkhelmet/TalkHewitt.html

why did the Rams change from blue and yellow to blue and white in 1964, which they wore for 9 years, until 1972?

TH – Kind of a funny story. Before the change the Rams often wore yellow home jerseys which, as it turned out, didn’t look particularly good on black and white TV, a consideration that became increasingly important at the time. So the Rams experimented with different shades of yellow until they found one that actually showed up well on TV. The problem was the shade of the yellow that worked well for TV was called “buttercup yellow”. When Mr. Reeves (Dan Reeves, Rams owner 1941-1971) found out about this, he said that there was no way his team would ever wear a color called “buttercup yellow”. Also, the yellow horns on the Rams helmet at the time didn’t show up very well on TV either. So Mr. Reeves decided to remove yellow from the uniforms altogether, opting for a simple blue and white, which as it turned out looked great on black and white TV.

HH – Keeping with the Rams blue and white uniform era, I always wondered why the Rams rarely wore their navy jerseys when playing at home during that time, much like the Dallas Cowboys do today. Did the Rams do this because the white jerseys offered relief when playing under the hot Southern California Sun, was it a strategic advantage decision?

TH – Another interesting story. Actually there were years during the blue and white era when the Rams never wore their navy jerseys at all, not during the preseason or the regular season. Also, it had nothing to do with combating the Southern California sun. In fact a lot of those home games we played were quite cool, especially since we played a lot of night games at home. Wearing white jerseys at home was the brainchild of Mr. Reeves, an extremely smart owner and businessman with a talent for promotion. He felt that if the Rams wore their white jerseys at home it would make for a better game day experience for Rams fans by giving them a chance to see the colorful jerseys of visiting teams, which most Rams fans would not otherwise get a chance to see. So rather than Rams fans seeing the same thing each and every week, which would be the Rams always in navy and the visiting teams always in white, Rams fans instead got to see different colors each week. And Rams fans loved it, it was a smart decision by Mr. Reeves.

HH – Why did the Rams change back to blue and yellow uniforms in 1973, after wearing blue and white uniforms for 9 years (1964-1972)?

TH – This was Mr. Rosenbloom’s (Caroll Rosenbloom, Rams owner 1972-1979) idea, something he decided to do when he took over as the Rams owner in 1972. He felt the blue and white uniforms were somewhat bland and wanted a uniform look that better reflected the glitz of Hollywood. Horns were added to the jerseys, at the shoulder area, and we went to white shoes and blue shoes. The new jersey numbers were also pretty snazzy, they had a white trim. But we quickly discovered that the white trim made the numbers very tough to differentiate on TV so they were scrapped after the 1973 preseason.

HH – So many teams have gone through different helmet designs over the years, not only color but logos as well. Have the Rams ever considered doing away with their helmet horns in favor of another logo?

TH – Never. Not once. The Rams have always been very proud of the horns on their helmet and fully understand how iconic they are and what they represent in terms of NFL history. The Rams helmet horns were so important to the Rams that, unlike many other teams, the Rams have always ensured that they were always applied to the helmets even for scrimmages, mini-camps, camps and practices. You won’t see a Rams player wearing a Rams helmet without horns