Thursday, June 21, 2007

Red helmets

So, while I earlier reported that there would be a uniform change after this season, some people just found out. The brief story is as follows. SMU has a Nike contract. That means SMU wears Nike uniforms. The Nike contract expires at the end of this year (I have heard conflicting reports as to what "this year" means. School year? Football season? 2007?). Nike is on its way out and apparently, Adidas is on its way in.

This has caused some to dream of a return to the "classic" SMU uniform: White pants with stripes on the side, blue jersey, white helmet with stripes and red mustang. I support this 100%.

Some guy in the comments a while back, said SMU is missing out by not using red helmets. I know SMU had red helmets until 1972 (with a different logo), but Red helmets are not something I have ever taken seriously. I did, as requested, venture to the website of the Calgary Stampeders (?) to see red helmets in action.

The Calgary Stampeders are the Calgary representative to the CFL. From their website, it appears they have half dozen different logos. Even stranger, their mascot is a dog. But whatever.

So, in the interest of equal time, I present to you a red "Mustang" helmet. I will let you decide for yourself.



They look a lot better than the image I had in my head. The colors are red and black, not red & blue. The white stripe across the chest is ridiculous.





































8 comments:

Anonymous said...

A plain red jersey with white numbers, or a plain white jersey with red numbers, combined with white pants (as home or visitor) and a red helmet would look good. Particularly with SMU in the old style type on the front and mustang logos on the sleeve. It would give a new, modern look to the uniform.

It certainly beats that ugly blue helmet.

Anonymous said...

Thank you for showing what the red helmet could look like. We don't want to look like Arkansas or a Canadian football team for that matter. The casual fan found out who SMU was during the Mustang Mania campaign in 1978 and the hype continued until 1986. Those nine years the country saw our classy white helmets with the stripe and that's what will look the best for all time. You can change the shirt or pants as much as you want put the helmet has to always be white. What pinstripes are to the NY Yankees is what white helmets are to SMU.

Anonymous said...

Did anybody else notice that the tail on the Stampeders' mustang is pointing in a different direction than SMU's? Interesting...

Anonymous said...

Please, please, please go back to the white helmet with a red mustand for decals. Go back the the stripes on the helmet as well. For the sake of football tradition, go to a gray facemask. As for the uniforms....white pants with the royal blue jerseys and white numbers. Wow!

Anonymous said...

Dan Jenkins, in the ESPN College Football Encyclopedia, talks about the glory days of SMU (NOT the 80's) when they had Doak Walker. He noted the helmets were all red, the jerseys were red with dark blue numerals and the pants were khaki & red and described it as among most glamorous uniform in the game. When you talk about going throwback, you need to go WAY back. I do agree, regardless, that the blue helmet sucks.

Anonymous said...

The Stamps just won the Grey Cup. Maybe it's time...

Anonymous said...

The mustang uniforms from '68 to '72 where by far the most impressive. Red helmet white mustang, blue jersey, and grey pants. They looked great!! It would be cool to bring it back for one game a season...homecoming!!

Unknown said...

I grew up on SMU football of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Doak
Walker, Kyle Rote, Dick McKissick,
and Paul page were my idols. True throw-back home uniforms would now include plain solid scarlet red Riddell suspension helmets, scarlet
red jerseys with white tackle twill
numbers front and back, and khaki stretch nylon pants with black leather belts ... no fancy trim/s. Standard white athletic socks were worn with black cleats with white
laces. No Marietta face masks were worn until the middle 1950s.