Isaac Bruce Helmet on AM - Ending tonight...

[helmets]

I was interested in the Bruce helmet on American Memorabilia that ends tonight. It has a large "turf" scuff on the side of the helmet. In trying to find a photo of that scuff, I found something worth noting. Here is a photo of Bruce in the Superbowl that year. This would have been the last year that they wore the helmets with the yellow horn. Notice the horn has been cut for the low mount snap - for the chinstrap. Notice it has a snap even though the snap is not used with Bruce's high mount chinstrap.

Notice on the AM helmet - no snap, no cut out in the side decals. I checked other games that year, and all photos that I could find had the chinstrap snap and the cutout in the decal.

Crazy isn't it?

[aeneas01]

friggin' rams - they've pulled some doozies in the past but letting bruce go, and then watching him join martz with the niners, is an enormous pill for this lifelong rams fan to swallow. bruce in red and gold - i still can't believe it. martz the oc of the niners - good grief. i'm so pizzed at the rams, their ridiculous front office, their dazed and confused "head coach" that it's going to be tough not to pull for bruce and martz this year.... the thought of pulling for the niners - i never thought i would see the day!

as far as the ami bruce lid is concerned, good eye helmets. todd hewitt has been applying two bottom chinstrap snaps and cutting around them for decades - even on helmets with a high snaps. heck, this was even the case with dickerson's lid way back when as pictured below. guess it was just easier to equip all of the helmets with the same hardware as opposed to trying to figure out which player favors high snaps and which don't.

but, having said that, once in a very rare blue moon you can come across a rams helmet from the yellow horn era without two bottom snaps and the horn cut around them. for example, jerome bettis as seen below. but, afaik, bruce always sported a lid with two bottom snaps. also, i don't like the fact that you can see remnants of the schutt logo on the lid up for auction.

speaking of hewitt, i guess he finally saw the light with the introduction of the gold horns - once the rams began using the gold metallic decals in 2000 he no longer automatically fitted all lids with two bottom snaps. as a matter of fact, most rams helmets now look like the one up for auction with just one lower snap and one cut....