11 football helmets that have to be seen to be believed

Yesterday, the Los Angeles Kiss - the newest member of the Arena Football League - unveiled their inaugural season helmet design. Inspired by their namesake and owners Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley of the rock group KISS, the helmet is dominated by flames even covering the facemask and more even impressively, the visor.

The Kiss helmet is probably the wildest football helmet design we've ever seen to date, and writing as a fan of traditional design in sports, it's pretty damn scary to think of where it's going to go from here.

While it may be the wildest, it's far from the only out-there helmet design we've seen on the gridiron, let's take a look at some of the other non-traditional lids sported by football teams from college up to the pros.

Oregon Ducks

We could probably do an entire trilogy of posts on the uniform designs the Oregon Ducks have worn over the years, but for now we'll just stick to one. This silver-on-silver design featured chrome wings on either side with a chrome facemask on a chrome helmet with a matte silver "O" on the back.

Air Force Falcons

From a distance these Air Force football helmets created a dizzying half-pyramid, half-checkerboard effect, but when you get up close you can see that the pattern plastered all over the shell of this helmet are a series of USAF B-2 Stealth Bombers underneath that blue lightning bolt. Just Awesome.

Birmingham Thunderbolts

A decade before the NCAA went crazy with the helmet designs, the XFL's Birmingham Thunderbolts were doing their own thing. The "Bolts" had an all-white shell with a "B" right on the front of the helmet... which was just not done in 2001. Lightning bolts ran off in 7 different directions over the top and the sides of the helmet. The Bolts and the XFL would only last one season, the whole league folded following that inaugural 2001 season.

Kent State Golden Flashes

This one might win out as the creepiest football helmet of all time... but it does admittedly feel slightly less creepy when you learn those are supposed to be an eagles eyes looking straight toward you. That pair of eyes are the only thing you'll find on this Kent State football helmet... is it intimidating? Maybe. I'd have to think I'd find it quite distracting if I was the opposition. It does it's job.

Ohio State Buckeyes

The Buckeyes' helmet design itself isn't weird... although the team is known for handing out little buckeye helmet stickers to their players for good plays. What we're focusing on here is their facemask. Check it out. It's an "O". For "Ohio". Creativity bonus points to the guys at Ohio State for thinking this one up.

Jacksonville Jaguars

It was only a matter of time before the craziness that is the NCAA helmet found itself into the National Football League. The honor (or dishonor) of being the first belongs to the oft-forgotten Jacksonville Jaguars who unleashed this half-black, half-gold, transition-so-abrupt-it's-not-even-considered-a-gradient design onto the league before the 2013 season. The gold represents a jaguar, the black represents the shadows. In concept it's a neat idea, in execution not so much.

Maryland Terrapins

The state of Maryland has one of the more unique flags in all of North America, it's no surprise then that several of their sports teams such as the Baltimore Orioles and Baltimore Ravens make use of it on their uniforms. But no team in Maryland can hold a candle to the Terrapins and these state flag-wrapped helmets, a design I absolutely love save for the unnecessary "MARYLAND" in graffiti-style spraypaint over the flag on the back. Sometimes too much of too much is, well, too much.

Cincinnati Jungle Kats

Like the inspiration for this article, the Jungle Kats were an Arena Football team. Like the Thunderbolts mentioned earlier they only lasted one season. The Jungle Kats used a white helmet with tiger eyes, a nose, and whiskers painted on the front in black while tiger stripes ran along the top to the back of the helmet. Kinda like the Kent State helmet earlier but introduced a good six years earlier.

Virginia Tech Hokies

It's not often you'll hear a team's own player call out their uniforms, but after VT unveiled their special "White Out Game" helmets before the 2012 season Hokies QB Logan Thomas Tweeted out what we were all thinkin'... "Our whiteout helmets are so ugly". We concur Logan. The Hokies "White Out" look had two "Hokie Tracks" along either side.  Fans hated them, players hated them, the team wore them once and then they were never seen again.

Notre Dame Fightin' Irish

Even a team smothered in tradition like the Notre Dame Fightin' Irish couldn't resist the urge to break out a crazy helmet once in a while. In 2012 the Fightin' Irish did just with their special "Shamrock Series" game helmet, three-fifths yellow, the rest blue with a giant version of their fightin' leprechaun logo on just the one side. This design caused all sorts of backlash among fans and the media. Like the Hokies above, this was only worn once and then retired forever.

Los Angeles Rams

We'll end on a historical design, and one which is fairly tame by today's standards... either that or we're all just so used to it by now. The Los Angeles Rams became the first NFL team to take the field with a bonafide helmet logo painted onto the side of their helmet way back in 1948, prior to this it was just solid or alternating colored panels worn league-wide. A design still used by the franchise, now located in St. Louis, over 65 years later. Just slightly in contrast to bevy of one-and-dones listed above, LA Kiss presumably included.

Chris Creamer is the creator and editor of SportsLogos.net. You can follow him on twitter at @sportslogosnet.