Redskins 80th Anniversary Alternate Uniforms

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Redskins organization.  It is a big deal, the team having been around for 80 years!  To celebrate this, the Redskins had a little party, honoring the team and players, the fans, everything, including unveiling their special 80th anniversary alternate jerseys, which they will be wearing in two games this season.  As of now, they have not said which two, but I'm going to guess it will be the two nationally televised games, the Thanksgiving game against Dallas, and the Monday Night game against the Giants.  I don't think it was a coincidence that they said they will wear it in two games, and it just so happens that they have two national games this year.  But we will see.

Now onto the uniforms themselves. 

First, a look at the helmet :

They tried to give it a leathery look, not sure why.  It doesn't look good.  The color of the helmets are supposed to be clear and sharp.  That helmet looks like someones old helmet, which they had left in the attic for a while, and the paint is breaking up.  As for the color.....is that supposed to be gold?  I understand that there are many shades of each color, and that technically falls under gold, but they are stretching it a bit here.  When I think of gold, that is not what comes to mind.  It is too dark, and the "leathery" look makes it even darker.  Besides all of that, were the hell is the logo, or ANY logo for that matter?  I get the fact that you want to pay tribute to the history of the franchise, no problems there.  But why not use an old helmet design?  We have had some very good ones, like :



Now, let us look at the uniforms.  We have Brian Orakpo and Ryan Kerrigan showing how they look when worn:

I like the deep burgundy color of the tops, it is much better, in my opinion, then the red they are passing as burgundy.  And the numbers look ok to me.  But the "gold" pants are too light, they are almost cream in color.  It seems to me that if you mix the colors of the helmets and the pants, you will get a better looking gold color.  The socks are burgundy as well, although you can't see them that well in this picture.

Now comes the question of "Why"??  Why did they go with these colors/schemes?  Following is from Redskins.com blogger, Brian Tinsman, in trying to explain the reason behind these uniforms.

"The alternate “anniversary” uniform is a balance between history and tradition featuring a rich darker color palate and updated numbering system.

It is a modern interpretation of those worn back in 1937 - a year signifying the team’s move from Boston to Washington, D.C., as well as their first National Championship. The patch on the shoulder is one that was worn in early team history.

The design also pays tribute to 1937 QB “Slingin” Sammy Baugh, who in his first year in the league led the newly relocated Redskins to their first National Championship.

“The Redskins are an amazing organization focused on team, unity and tradition. This new alternate uniform design for the Redskins is a very special one that truly speaks to the team’s long, rich history” said Nike Football Creative Director Todd Van Horne. “We have truly enjoyed working with Dan Snyder and his team on this project and look forward to seeing the new Elite 51 uniform system on the field this season.”

“In honor of 80 years of rich tradition this anniversary uniform displays our heritage” said Daniel M. Snyder. “We hope that it will bring back great memories to our fans.”" Click here to read the full blog.

To be honest, it doesn't bring back any memories for me, but that is because the time period they were looking at, not only was I not born, but neither were my parents.

Needless to say, I am not a fan of this uniform and helmet design at all, and I am very happy that they are only going to be wearing them twice this year.  Too bad the two games are not preseasons games...