Green Bay Packers throwback uniforms much more befitting of pro football nobility than green and gold 
BY CLIFF CHRISTL PRESS-GAZETTE CORRESPONDENT DECEMBER 10, 2010

[img_r]http://cmsimg.greenbaypressgazette.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?Site=U0&Date=20101210&Category=PKR07&ArtNo=101210140&Ref=AR&MaxW=318&Border=0[/img_r]Heres fair warning. Most of you arent going to like what youre about to read here. Some of you might even be driven to use my mug shot as a bulls-eye for your dartboard, or rush to lay it on the floor to paper-train your puppy.

So if you love the Green Bay Packers traditional green and yellow uniforms, and dont want your blood pressure to soar, skip to the next column.

This past Sunday offered one of the best atmospheres in years for a Packers game at Lambeau Field.

It was almost perfect Packers weather to play a team from the West Coast: Raw and overcast, although this wuss sat indoors. Special recognition was given and deservedly so to the Acme Packers and that bygone time when the team was sponsored by the local packing company and played on a sandlot field. And Go! You Packers Go!, the team fight song written in 1931 that was a favorite of the old Lumberjack Band, was played over the public address system prior to kickoff.

The band for Sundays game, Martys Goldenaires Senior Drum and Bugle Corps of Bessemer, Mich., took you back in time, as well. Not only were they lively and different and entertaining, they almost made you wish that you had come to the game in one of those old raccoon coats that people wore to football stadiums in yesteryear.

But the best part of all Sunday were the throwback uniforms worn by the Packers; uniforms patterned after the ones the team wore when it won its first NFL championship in 1929.

For the first time in more than 50 years, the Packers donned uniforms befitting their great tradition.

The Packers regular uniforms are among the ugliest in the league. The Chicago Bears uniforms, for example, fit the teams image and history perfectly. So does Detroits or, at least, their uniforms fit the image of the old Lions.

Those two teams dress like they belong in the Black and Blue Division.

But mustard yellow? It might be a nice color for a prom dress, but for a football uniform? No, take that back. Mustard yellow wouldnt look good on anybody anywhere. And what does the G on the helmet stand for? Greenbay? Is that where the Packers are from?

My favorite Packers jersey of all time was the hunter green and gold that the Packers wore in 1951. But the blue and gold throwbacks, along with the chocolate helmets, worn Sunday would be a close second. Maybe theyd look better with a large number on the front in place of the smaller number and circle. And a small GB logo might dress up the helmet. But the design and color scheme fits a team that exudes pro football nobility.

In late 1993, the Packers considered changing their uniforms to gold, along with their dark green, but abandoned the idea after Ted Thompson, then an assistant in the pro personnel department, modeled it in front of Bob Harlan, Ron Wolf and others in Lambeau Field.

They rejected it, in part, because Harlan and Wolf didnt like the look, but also because fans seemed to be overwhelmingly opposed to change. And fans were downright outraged over the prospect of the Packers changing the teams primary color from green to blue, even though blue was the Packers original and primary color for most of their first 40 years. The team was even called The Big Bay Blues back in the early 20s.

But heres my argument if youre one of the fans who still feels that way.

The current Packers jerseys essentially date to 1959, Vince Lombardis first season as coach. No doubt, he approved the colors and design if he didnt pick them out.

Well, guess what?

Lombardi was color blind. He might have been the greatest coach ever, but nobody ever called him dapper.

On the flip side, the original 1929 jerseys would have been chosen by Curly Lambeau, a ladies man who always dressed to the nines. When he was coaching and playing for the Packers in the 1920s, he was a store salesman for Stiefels, a mens clothing store that was a fixture on Washington Street when downtown was Green Bays shopping hub.

So tell me now which of those two men would you want choosing your fashions?