Dumb Alternate Uniforms Are Good
After all these years I finally get to do one of these for the Giants.
So this season the Giants are celebrating their 100th anniversary. Honestly that’s pretty cool. For the seasonal festivities, they unveiled their new alternate for the year, the Century Reds. The immediate reaction was laughter and comparing them to the Habs. A few people liked them. I am one of those people.
To be clear, I do not like them because I think they look good aesthetically. I think they look very silly. I like them for the same reasons I like Color Rush or the other classic early-era throwbacks: they are fun novelty alternates. This isn’t the Giants new uniform, it’s a throwback to ancient history that we will see maybe twice this year. That’s the perfect time to make a uniform like this! I feel like much of the hate comes from people missing that point. These don’t have to look great, they are fun experiments. A novelty. A perfect opportunity to be a little silly. I much prefer a historical modernization for funzies like this over the trend of “everyone gets the same basic black alternate”.
One of my earliest comics is making fun of the Steelers Bumblebees. The new Century Reds have the same energy to them. They fit nicely into the same category as the other ancient throwbacks, like the Packers dot jerseys, or the Philadelphia Piss, or the Broncos Poop Stripes. Uniform designs cribbed back from when the helmets were leather and the sport was still basically modified rugby. These old uniform designs were never intended to work on modern NFL uniform structures. All of these throwbacks look rather horrendous. And yet…I kind of love them all. The fact that they use designs that simply aren’t used in the current league makes them stand out. Stripes? Vertical striped socks? Bright yellow? The number in a big dot in the center of the uniform? It’s weird in such a fun way. No other team in decades has used a uniform like the Giants century reds. A thick middle stripe right across the torso, outlined in white, with the white numbers contained within. Does it work? Not really (I do love the socks). But who gives a shit, it rules. Also, it looks better in casual motion than it does in the promo photos.
This is what an alternate uniform should be. Fun. Silly. Unique. A chance to stand out and in this case, embrace history. To this day I still only own jerseys from the 2007 squad, but I’m tempted to pick up a Dexter Lawrence Century Red just for the novelty. When the games come up everyone will get a few yucks in and everything will be fine. Meanwhile the Rams will still look terrible every week because they are stuck with that garbage as their main look until someone wises up.
There are people who probably wished for a Giants Black Alternate and it makes me sick to know I share a planet with those people.
As a novelty, I share the same sentiments in that they’re fun little side pieces that have great historical value to them. Aesthetically, those pants…
But to be fair I do love the Michigan-esque helmets and even the jerseys themselves aren’t terrible. The part of me that has eyes just really wishes they went with white pants (even if the kahkis have their own historical context). However, for a team that is largely a stickler for tradition, I think these are cool and quirky additions to the lineup and I’m generally excited to see these on the field.
The more pressing matter from Thursday is the rumor that the giants are eventually gonna make the current throwbacks (legacy blues and color rush whites) the permanent home and away kits. I’ll be more than happy with that change if they go thru with it but a part of me will miss the notably boring but somewhat iconic current jerseys so I guess there’s always a give and take.
If they go back to the GIANTS logo I’ll be happy, but they better actually match the helmet blue and the jersey blue this time
Holy crap — I was so distracted by the jerseys that I totally missed the Michigan helmets….
I love this! The parody of your own work is spot on. Keep it up.
Love the sewing joke and also love dumb alternate uniforms and this is on the list with the bumblebees, eagle blues, blue jets, and the brown broncos.
I agree everyone shouldn’t get a black alt jersey but some where pretty cool like the new lions and the niners all black but the commies and jets shouldn’t get them because black is not their colors and never was so it makes no sense but some just look cool like the ones I mentioned I liked but if we are going to have all one color alternate uniforms bring back color rush at least it at bare minimum is a team color.
I thought I was going crazy yesterday seeing the general reaction to these uniforms. One of my friends genuinely asked, “Why would they do this when they already have good throwbacks?!” and I’m just like ‘because it’s a centennial celebration uniform?’ The whole point is that is that they’re supposed to look goofy since they’re calling back to a time when “Deceased” was a semi-regular term thrown on injury reports. They weren’t brought back to look good; it’s just a fun, silly looking call-back to the early days of this dumb game. Try to have a little fun, will ya?
I’ll always be a sucker for the weird novelty jerseys or especially hideous color rush uniforms because it’s something new and different and more specifically is a fun little memory for everyone who was around for that era.
I have a mustard yellow Bortles color rush jersey. I HATE the mustard yellow uniforms but it’s ultimately become my go-to jersey because there’s a ton of fans that get a laugh out of it, remember Bortles fondly, and isn’t ultimately ruined when some hot dog mustard hits it.
Meanwhile I can count the number of teams that would look okay in a black alternate on one hand and they all have black in their logos at least… and the Dolphins, they should have an all black alternate they can wear in September, what could go wrong?
the nike designers as 1920s seamstresses is glorious. One of the best things you’ve ever drawn.
When I saw this announcement, I hoped upon hope for a comic. I was not, nor could I ever be, disappointed with what we got. THIS IS AMAZING.
My initial opinion on the jerseys was….not good. I didn’t like them. At all. But then I thought about it. It is one of the most unique alternate jersey designs in the league. Not just this season, but so far, all together. It stands out, both in a good and bad way. I’m in favor of it now after having some time to reflect.
I agree Dave, these are a really fun throwback and novelty. It angers the same people who get upset about everything on Twitter & Instagram. Too many sports fans, and especially sports analysts/talking heads, get upset constantly. People need to enjoy the sport
I love these ladies!
It’s the Steelers bumblebee unis all over again. I fucking love this set and look forward to bickering with my parents about it every time the Giants wear them.
Even though these are likely intended only for a home game, I really hope in week 10 when they go to Pittsburgh they bring these along and that the Steelers agree to go with the bumblebees as well that would be a glorious sight. And honestly I can see both organizations liking the idea of an all wacky pre-war unis game, especially these two that have been thick as thieves from the beginning.
So will the packers dot and eagles piss jerseys be played in the no green jerseys in Brazil?
I’d like to see a comic covering the Giants’ “Wilderness Era” one day.
There are tons of potential jokes to be had there, including the time when Harry Carson was going to quit the game to join the air force because he got tired of how bad his team were.
I do like these Canadiens-esque unis, but they really would look better with white pants instead of tan.