Today, we’re talking about uniforms.
And look:, on one hand, uniforms are absolutely important. It was Jerry Seinfeld, after all, who once said, speaking of the particular madness of sports fans: “You’re rooting for clothes, when you get right down to it. We’re screaming about laundry.”
So yes, uniforms are an essential part of the sporting experience. Grown men and women wear oversized tank tops in public — sometimes with their own names on the back, sometimes with a complete stranger’s (and let’s not even talk about Yankees fans who opt for names — theirs or Babe Ruth’s or Derek Jeter’s — on the back of Yankees jerseys that have never, not once, had names on the back).
We bring this up because the Jets announced this week that they’ll wear “Legacy White” uniforms twice this season, Week 1 against the Bills and Week 4 against the Chiefs. For the duration of the column we will ignore the more cynical reasons a team would do this (but we $ure can gue$$) and just talk about the purity of fandom and uniforms and memory.
It is telling that the official term used is “Legacy White,” because while “throwback” is the more common term, every Jets fan worth their faded old Bruce Harper jersey knows that this would actually, technically, be a “throwback to the uniform that replaced the uniform that also became a throwback,” “TTTUTRTUTABAT” for short, which doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
What the Jets are doing is, in essence, mimicking something the Giants have already done. To wit:
— The Giants’ “traditional” uniform (think Huff/Giff/Chuckin’ Charlie) had a long and glorious shelf life until around 1974 or so. This included the lowercase “ny” on the helmet, gray pants, and red numerals on the road white uniforms. The Jets’ “traditional” uniform (think Joe Willie/Matt Snell/Don Maynard) had an equally long run until 1978. This was mostly encapsulated by the football-shaped “NY” logo captured most iconically on Kevin Arnold’s jacket in the original “Wonder Years.”
— The Giants shifted to “GIANTS” (underlined) on the helmet after they moved to Jersey and went with a primarily blue-and-white scheme, abandoning the gray pants and the red numbers. Phil Simms, Lawrence Taylor and crew won two Super Bowls with that one. In 1978, the Jets went with a darker shade of green and a new-age logo on the helmet: “JETS” with a sleek-looking cartoon Jet on top. Ken O’Brien, Joe Klecko and Wesley Walker wore those vestments with distinction.
— Within a few years of each other, as nostalgia swirled in the air, both the Giants and Jets abandoned those new uniforms and both went all-in on the originals. Old-timers rejoiced. Younger fans, not so much. The Giants won two more Super Bowls in the throwbacks. The Jets made three AFC Championship games.
— A few years ago, the Giants snuck in a few games every year where the “GIANTS” unis replaced the “ny” ones. And this year the Jets will do the same.
Now there is nothing wrong with any of this …
(Actually, what remains terribly wrong is the new-new Jets uniform that replaced the first throwback a few years ago, and will still be their predominant look. One man’s opinion, sure, but I’ll die on that hill. It’s awful.)
… but there is probably a way to read inside a fan’s soul depending on which jersey a Giants or Jets fan opts for, kind of like Mets fans who go with the black or royal blue jerseys or the ones with racing stripes when the original white-with-pinstripes are really the only real choice.
(And you REALLY have to wonder about fans who choose the following: the Gorton’s Fisherman Islanders jersey; the shield-only Rangers jersey; and the “KNICKS” above-the-number jersey. No need to wonder at all about Nets fans who go with the Dr. J-era jersey, because that’s probably the best sports uniform of all time.)
Yankees fans, of course, have it best (at least those who keep their damned names off the shirts). That uniform, hasn’t changed in a century — and Yankees fans eternally have ex-PR man and now-prolific author Marty Appel to thank. Back in 1974, then-GM Gabe Paul presented Appel with his idea for new-look Yankees road uniforms — think an X-ray of the home ones, only blue with white pinstripes and a white interlocked “NY.”
The looked like pajamas Mike Brady might wear.
“I think my dramatic disdain helped save the day,” Appel wrote in his 2001 book, “Now Pitching for the Yankees.”
And saved Yankees fans from making the kinds of choices — and statements — New York football fans have to live with now.