UniDiction 2012 - Week 8 - Eagles vs. Falcons (Black Alternates!)
Well, well, the Eagles actually have some uniform news this week. They're pulling out their black alternates for the first time since 2009. Sure, they're a product of the late 90s/early 00s, but they're something different, and if there's anything this team needs right now, it's something different, even if they're outdated and answering a trend which no longer exists.
In the first two years of the black alternate (2003, '04), the Eagles paired it with both the white pants (fine enough) and green pants (frequent entry on "worst NFL uniform combinations" lists). Since then, in the seasons they've chosen to wear it, it's been exclusively paired with the white pants. Look for it to be paired with the white pants.
Let's get it out there that the black jersey is useless for all purposes other than it being different. The normal "midnight green" jersey just looks generically "dark" if the lighting isn't ideal, and the black jersey just completes that concept and reminds us of a time when black was a fad in sports uniform design. Even if you like the black alternate, would you honestly not rather have a Kelly Green throwback? (or even a slightly tweaked version of the current uniforms in Kelly Green?)
More discussion and your Eagles/Falcons UniDiction after the jump.
Interestingly, the Falcons give a good counterpoint of how uniform design is a tricky art, and aiming for "modern" is a dangerous game. Their uniform was designed about 10 years ago, and by now, it just looks exactly like a product of 10 years ago, no longer modern, and never classic. Some folks (namely, Kyle) clamor for letting Nike loose on the Eagles brand identity and turning them into the Seahawks East with Kelly Green spacesuits, but the drawback there is obvious. Once about 10 years have passed, instead of a uniform which looks slightly out-of-date (the current Eagles uniform is vaguely placeable in history by its design cues — the mid-90s) but passable enough, you end up with an obviously out-of-date artifact showing everything wrong with aiming for the moving target of "modern" design. When the Falcons (and Vikings and Cardinals) move away from their 2000s refresh, they will not even be inspired by the noisy messes that are their current uniforms.
The Eagles chose a "modern" (in 1996) design, and they lucked out in that "typical 90s" uniform design (black in uniforms that don't need it, solid color socks, drop-shadows, shades of teal) looks more respectable than "typical 2000s" design. Think of the Buccaneers, Ravens, previous Jaguars, and Eagles (and even the Panthers, the worst of the 90s) vs. the Cardinals, Falcons, and Vikings (and previous Bills uniforms). Generic 90s wins each time.