Of course Jerry Jones would never diddle with the most sacred star in sports, but you might be seeing a tweaked Dallas Cowboys' uniform this season.
Why? Hi-Definition TV, that's why.
For years and years and years me and my brother have wondered why the Cowboys' home pants looked - from some angles, in a certain light - green. Ish. Turns out it's because they are. Tex Schramm designed them that unique shade because, on TV, it came across blue-gray-silver.
"When fans go to our home games in person the No. 1 grief we hear about is the green pants," says Cowboys vice president of merchandising Bill Priakos. "Now we're hearing it from fans watching on TV because of HD. It's too realistic."
On old-school TV, Cowboys' green came across silver. On HD TV, Cowboys' green comes across, well, green.
The solution might be a rare, subtle uniform tweak.
"Nothing's set in stone," Priakos says. "But we want the pants to look silver, to be consistent to every fan no matter if they're at the game or watching on TV, whether we're home or on the road. Of course, we'll never change the home white jerseys or the helmets, but we're experimenting with some different shades in the pants."
Thumbs. Up.
It won't be as noticeable as when the Cowboys wore the one red stripe on their helmets in 1976 to commemorate America's Bicentennial or these days when they go white-helmet throwback, but if something looks a little different about the uniforms this season that indeed might be the case.
Turns out even the best, most classic uniform in sports needs a little refreshing from time to time.
