NFL brings back ancient uniforms

Kofpp's Corner

I love football. Actually, I love baseball more, but the season is long gone, so I'll be focusing most of my attention on football for the next few months.

While baseball had its 125th anniversary this season, the National Football League is celebrating its 75th year. No major parties are going to be thrown, but something in the NFL has stood out since Sept. 18.

All 28 teams have worn what are being called throwback uniforms. Basically, each team picked a uniform from one of i ts glory years during the past 74 seasons, and will be sporting those jerseys until Nov. 6.

This is the first time the NFL has done anything like this. I think they should do it more often.

After all, I got a kick out of seeing my favorite tea m, the San Diego Chargers, turn back the clock to the days of 1961 in their light blue uniforms, featuring white helmets with the players' numbers on them.

Some of the uniforms looked great, but others made me wonder why they were ever worn in the first place.

For example, the Chicago Bears (1925) and Pittsburgh Steelers (1933) have jerseys that are striped in the front and plain (with numbers) in the back. Those uniforms are better suited to rugby, not football.

The Green Bay Packers (1 937) had boring jerseys in those days. The helmets are solid yellow, with the sleeves and shoulder area one color and the rest of the jersey in another color.

Some of the better jerseys are the Dallas Cowboys (1960), Detroit Lions (1935) and Los An geles/Oakland Raiders (1963).

The Cowboys are wearing their first-year jerseys, with huge stars on the shoulders and the names boxed in blue.

The Raiders, recalling the days when they still resided in the Bay Area, are wearing helmets with the Raiders shield and player numbers in silver instead of black.

Detroit simply has all silver helmets and all blue jerseys. No stripes on the sleeves or lion logo on the helmet.

The idea behind reviving the old uniforms was to recreate a glory ye ar from the histories of each of the 28 teams. Seattle's uniform, for instance, is from their first year in the league, and is nearly identical to their 1994 uniform.

Tampa Bay picked 1977 because that was the year they won their first game after 2 6 consecutive losses.

The concept of bringing back the days of yore should not stop on Nov. 6. I'd like to see some teams wear these old uniforms at least once during the next few seasons to make fans realize what football was like in the old days .

After all, baseball frequently does the same thing. So why can't football? Who knows, maybe the NFL will plan something better for its 100th anniversary.

Loren Kopff is the sports editor for the Daily Forty-Niner. His column will appear r egularly.