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February 4, 2005

Et Tu, Slimming Black?

In which I bicker with a journalist regarding Andy Reid's wardrobe

Ugh. So I got into it the other night with the dude who writes the "Uni Watch" column on ESPN's Page 2 (Paul Lukas, formerly of Slate and the Village Voice). He wrote up a Super Bowl uniform preview, itemizing each element of the Eagles' and Pats' uniforms and predicting an Eagles victory based on their superior battle togs. (He contends that history demonstrates that the team with the better uniforms wins the Super Bowl more often than not.)

I certainly took no issue with his endorsement of the Birds' uniforms. With the possible exception of the white shirt-green pant look (assuming of course that the black shirt-white pant combo doesn't even merit mention), I think the Birds' current uniforms are pretty cool. Though I may miss the silver pants of yesteryear, the kelly green had run its course; the midnight green is excellent, and the helmets are better than they've ever been (and the Eagle-wing design is pretty venerable as far as helmet designs go). Given that the Eagles will be wearing green on Sunday (the NFC representative is the home team this year), I think the Birds' unis will more than repruhzent.

Though I agreed with his overall assessment of the Eagles' sartorial superiority, I found a huge hole in his paragraph on the teams' respective coaches. Sure, he gave us a few sentences on Belichick's hoody chic look (which is phenomenal), but then neglected to make mention of Andy Reid's signature sideline style. I speak, of course, of SLIMMING BLACK. That is, despite whatever the rest of the Eagles' assistent coaches might be wearing on the sideline (and they'll sport khakis, white golf shirts, etc etc -- the NFL stipulates that the head coach wear slightly different costumes than the assistants), Andy Reid is always clad in some combination of black. Since he isn't a Johnny Cash kind of guy, I've long thought it safe to assume that his choice of color was more about, ahem, managing his appearance/ waistline on TV. It's an optical illusion -- he just blends in! Thus, the beginning of each Eagles telecast is marked by the proclamation (usually from my big mouth): "And there's Andy Reid, as always, in slimming black."

So I e-mailed Mr. Lukas, told him he'd missed a chance to point this out, and congratulated him on his column -- I'd been a reader for a while, and have long enjoyed his attention to the minutiae of sports garb. He's the best (maybe only) guy going, and he always has plenty of photos linked to his columns. Great stuff, just a shame he didn't pick up on Coach Reid's sartorial tendencies.

He wrote me back almost immediately, with a "nuh-uh" and a link to a shot of Andy Reid allegedly NOT in black. (He also said that Andy Reid wore a Hawaiian shirt in the Pro Bowl, but we agreed that didn't count.) So I click on the link. Right. I didn't get it. I wrote him back and asked if he meant the hat (I wasn't counting hats, as Andy's head isn't what needs slimming). He replies: "No, the shirt -- it's green! Dark green, yes, but still green!!!!!"

I'll give him dark gray. I will. I'll even give a dark gray with a hint of a greenish tint. But I wasn't feeling green. And I'm still not. Click the link, tell me if I'm crazy. (I might be, just by virtue of having this argument with a stranger; file under "That's another story.") Also, the argument in re: the tinting doesn't discount the larger point, which is that Andy Reid always hides in very dark colors -- typically slimming black -- on the sidelines.

Still, kudos to Paul Lukas for arguing with a crackpot (and having data to back it up!) after midnight on a school night. (We concluded our conversation by agreeing to shake our heads in disdain regarding the inconsitencies of the Birds' pant stipes over the past few seasons.) Power of the internet, yadda yadda. And here's to seeing Coach Reid prowling the sidelines tomorrow night in, as always, slimming black (NOT dark green, and I'll give you some heavy odds on that).

Posted by thatkid at February 4, 2005 11:45 AM under ThatKid

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