The Flyers Uniforms Ranked as Best in All of Sports

Photo via Lady Neat's always outstanding Flickr galleries

Oddly, an NFL.com feature by Uniform Monitor has a ranking of the best uniforms in America. The Flyers came in at number one:

In the name of full disclosure, I am not a Flyers fan — matter of fact, they're my least favorite team in sports — but dang if those orange and black getups don't sing like Kate Smith in the Spectrum before a playoff game. They're paradoxically straight out of the 1970s and timeless all at once. Kudos, you dirty creeps. May this be the only thing you win for another century. 

Needless dig aside, I completely agree. I’d have to think about it more before listing them as the best in all of sports (I really like the Dodgers uniforms’, save for the generic name and number fonts), but I’ll buy it. The Flyers rolled out the orange and white pseudo throwbacks over the past few years, debuting the orange sweaters on Black Friday in 2008 and the white ones at the 2010 Winter Classic. The newest, worn during last year’s Winter Classic (full review here) and one additional time against the Rangers, have grown to be my favorite. I’d like to see them become a third jersey this season, worn 10-15 times for national TV day games or on holidays. 

The home and away jerseys, though, are the perfect mix of retro and modern. The looked is derived from the 1970s uniforms, but the brighter colors and harsher contrast-sans trim look like the color scheme for a Web 2.0ish TV show review site, which is a positive. The only thing holding me back is that bright orange starts to wear on you after a while and is a more radical color than, say, red, blue or green.

Fashion editor Dan Fuller says: I can't agree they're the best uniform in sports (Buccaneers, Bulls, Blue Jays among others), but they're definitely the best in the city. Fans would be in an uproar if these were ever fundamentally changed (and I'd agree with them), but it's safe to say that's not in the cards. 

Where did other Philly teams finish? Step over the jump with me and I'll show you.

The Sixers came in at number 31:

The red-and-black unis worn during the Allen Iverson years were questionable, but the Sixers have since answered critics with this more timeless look.

Way off-base. I’m on record as hating the current uniforms. I like the general color scheme and concept, but the execution is awful. What the Flyers were able to accomplish by mixing old and new, the Sixers failed miserably at. The red is too bright, the design is too generic… and they look too much like the Clippers' uniforms. The addition of blue jersey this year won’t help much. My suggestion: work off the throwback-style jerseys worn circa 2009, which were a slightly modernized version of the Charles Barkley era jerseys. That was a good look– retro and timeless all at once. Start there and make subtle tweaks. 

Fashion editor Dan Fuller says: The Sixers current uniforms are fine, but fine isn't good enough. The blue alternate which was shelved last year will finally show up this season, but it's just more of the same. The Sixers are the only Philadelphia team which doesn't really have a "best" uniform in their history, even though their primary logo is pretty snazzy.

The Phillies and Eagles are the lowest-ranked local teams on the list, at 50 and 51: 

Phillies: I understand the history behind these, and I kind of like the blue star set inside the "P" … but the overall look is too close to that of an ice cream man. Sorry, Philly fans, I'll see if I can make it up to you later. 

Eagles: The current green-with-black-trim uniforms are good. Their gray-panted Super bowl XV uniforms were better. The getups from the team's 1960 championship season, which they broke out again 50 years later to start the 2010 season, are the best.

Agree with everything that was said (especially on kelly green jerseys), but thought the assessment of the Phillies jerseys was a bit harsh. They are as close to classic as it’s going to get (though they could probably use a minor facelift). No mention of the alternate uniforms, which are without question the best option the Phillies have. The cream color wears well on field and is complemented perfectly by the red and blue (I’d remove the trim around the “P” in the hat, however). My gripe with MLB jerseys in general is that their cut is old fashioned. The NFL, NHL and NBA have all updated the fit of their uniforms in recent years, transitioning to a slightly more tailored look using lighter materials. Major League Baseball has gone in the opposite direction, with uniforms seemingly getting baggier over the past decade. But to accomplish a radical change it would take a company more fashion-forward than Majestic, whose contract to produce MLB uniforms runs through 2014. Under Armour seems like a good candidate to take their place, but Bud Selig would have to be temporarily incapacitated (any takers?) for that to happen, I'd think.

Fashion editor Dan Fuller says: Throughout two years of Unidictions, I've made mention of the fact that I'm not in love with the Eagles current uniforms. They're a product of the 90s, with drop-shadowing and black itself as a featured color, As Kyle has said, they reek of losing NFC Championship Games, and it's time for change. The "Cunningham" era kelly green is my favorite, as its not as drab as the 1960 throwbacks mentioned in Dave Dameshek's article. Whatever they do, midnight green needs to be gone.

Finally, an unpopular opinion: I wouldn't be offended if the Phillies changed their uniforms. Sure, they have a World Series win associated with them, but we're in the 20th year of this look. Fans love the standard home whites (red pinstripes, really?), but as Kyle said, the cream alternate is a better look, from hat all the way down. I'm not calling for the return of the 70s-80s maroon and its associated logo, but the Phillies have lots of uniform history from which to draw upon, even if keeping the bright red, which has become a fixture in Philadelphia. Sure, the current uniform set isn't broken, but if changes are done right (like the current alternate), no one complains. Heck, I'd even accept the deletion of the pinstripes on the normal home uniform.