The halfway point of the NFL season finds my Giants holding a 6 wins to 2 losses record.  That fact is even more impressive given that they began the season dismally having lost their first two game while giving up over 80 points over the course of the losses.  They’ve righted the ship, avoided the traps, and took care of business.  There isn’t a useful cliche` for playing well that hasn’t been used to describe them.  Going into Sunday’s NFC East showdown with the despised 7-1 Dallas Cowboys, one of the two teams to have already beaten them, I should be a very happy man.  Instead, I’m seeing red……as in the color of the jerseys the Giants will be wearing while facing their divisional nemesis on Sunday.

The NFL seems to have some misbegotten fascination with throwup……excuse me…..throwback uniforms in their 75th year of existence.  There have been so many vomit inducing vestments on display, it’s a wonder I haven’t lost weight simply by tuning in each Sunday.  Here are but a few examples:

1. The Jets wear blue uniforms with gold trim to honor the franchise first three years of existence as the N.Y. Titans.  Mind you, this is a team that never finished over .500 while compiling a 19-23 record before going bankrupt and taken over by the league.  I had the misfortune to be at the game which ironically was played against the Eagles who actually wore their green while beating the hapless Jets.

2. The reason for the irony above is that the Eagles committed probably the greatest sin in terms of throwback ugliness while wearing bizarrre quasi-pastel blue and yellow jerseys.  “City of Brotherly Love” just took on a whole new meaning.

3. The Redskins played the Giants in uniforms that they wore for all of two seasons at the beginning of the 70’s.  Any fashion inspired by an era known for LSD usage is not a good thing.

4. The Pittsburgh Steelers played on Monday night against the Baltimore Ravens wearing uniforms that look like they were stolen from the set of Any Given Sunday.  And no, that wasn’t a compliment.

Now I admit that the red jerseys the Giants will be wearing Sunday are a lot more tasteful than most of what has been trotted out this season.  And yes, I’m aware that they have worn them prior to this game as well.  That still doesn’t leave me with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

My aggravation stems from a number of sources.  They are as follows in no particular order:

1. The Giants are known to their legion of fans, myself being one, as Big Blue.  Red is the color you put on the quarterback in practice so no one hits him.  Blue is what the Giants wear.  Red can be a trim color for them.  It has been for years.  Blue is what their uniforms should be.

2. The Giants standard uniforms this season are already throwback uniforms.  While the NY on the helmet drives me nuts, seeing as how they haven’t played there in 30+ years, it still at least fits the simple, elegant, throwback nature of their uniforms.

3. They’ve completely missed the boat on which throwback uniforms they should be wearing this weekend.

What’s that you say?  I’m advocating a throwback jersey of a different type?  Well, if one has to be worn, yes, there is a better choice.  A choice that would send the 80,000 fans who will be packed into Giants Stadium like sardines on Sunday into an absolutely rabid, frothing frenzy.

They should come out wearing the Giants uniforms of the late 1980’s.

There is no question that the Giants have undergone something of a defensive renaissance since the debacle that was the first two games.  And what team personified the defensive oriented nature of the Giants historically than the late 80’s teams?

To hell with telling the fans to wear red to the game on Sunday.  Wow, can a marketing ploy be any more shallow?  Tell them to fetch their old L.T. jerseys, their old Carson and Banks jerseys out of the darkest corner of their closets.  This is what they should have done, what they failed to do.

Oh well, c`est la vie.

GOOOOOOOOOOOO GIANTS!!!!
GOOOOOOOOOOOO BIG BLUE!!!!!!

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