And Now…The Clarksville Finalists…You Pick The Winner

December 13, 2009

By Phil Hecken

You will all recall that over the past two weekends, I had the pleasure of bringing you the participants in the “Clarksville ‘Design-A-Uniform’ Contest.” All the entries were outstanding, and it really was a labor of love hosting the contest. But we’re not quite done yet, as Coach Marc Walls has looked over each and every design, for uniforms and logos, and he’s narrowed it down to five finalists in two categories: Best Uniform and Best Logo. He’s allowed me to put his final five to a vote, and a short poll will follow the descriptions. If you want to refresh your memory, here is the full set of every submission. Click on any individual window and it will enlarge that graphic.

I will now turn the post over to Coach Walls, who’ll set up the finalists:

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Hey Phil,

Wanted to chime in on those top choices you asked for. Overall comments: A really fine job done by all of the people who submitted work. Our players would be proud to wear any of your designs. One overall comment I’d like to make, is that I think some of the uniform templates some of the designers used were just fantastic. It really helped these designs come alive, and made me want to see some of the other ones the same way. It was hard to pick these few, but the criteria I used involved these factors:

Is it realistic?: Loved the off the wall submissions from some people, and our players loved seeing the multiple designs. I don’t think I’ve ever seen yellow pants for sale before though, and I think there’s a reason for that!

Is it something I can take to a uniform outfitter?: While the more professionally designed ones were great, I really enjoyed many of the submissions from the more amateur designers. I appreciate the effort because I couldn’t do any better. Unfortunately, for some, I just couldn’t print a picture and say “make me this.”

Is it unique?: Everyone wants to stand out, and for the right reason. I appreciate those uniform sets that are obviously original, because so many teams at the high school level, for budget reasons, use pretty simple designs.

Here then, in the category of “Best Uniform,” are the five finalists:

Joe Hilsberg: One thing I’m not crazy about in this set is the Capitol “C” on the grey Clarksville set. I’m not opposed to a vertical arch with a simple varsity block. Big fan of the “c-ville” logo. Not sure why. It’s kind of gimmicky, but something that would definitely be an attention getter. Overall, just a well thought out set.

Ryan Muraro: Another clean, well thought out set. Not too busy. I like the idea of the “C” logo with the “hs” inside. Plus, paired with the hat we already use, it’s obviously something that will mesh with what we’ve got going on. I like the less is more approach, and I really like the script “Clarksville.”

Steve Lastname: Is “Lastname” really Steve’s lastname? Kind of cartoonish, but I’ve always been a fan of the v-neck top like Stanford wears. I also like the “C” logo on the black jersey with the “cats” inside. Overall, a fun design. White and greys are nice and clean. I would change the “Clarksville” on the white set to the “Wildcats” wordmark on the yellow jersey. City names on the home jersey are always a pet peeve of mine. I’ve always thought you advertise who you are at home and where you’re from on the road.

Andy Altemus: I enjoy this set, and the thought put into it. I like the color set as it is, but would really like to see the set in a more “yellow” gold. I’ve always enjoyed that fancy font and number font. Simple, and effective. A great job.

Jeff Bahry: I really like the work he did on the multiple logos. Really good stuff. As far as the uniforms go, I think it’s contemporary, clean and well designed. Not too busy with the trim, which some might disagree with, but I like it. It’s a realistic uniform design.

An honorable mention to the uniform set by Kevin Callahan, which I think we would all agree was just fantastic, and the sort of throwback set that everyone would love. I loved the color combination, and would be proud to wear it. However, the design would be impossible to replicate unless we were ordering a throwback fit uniform set. But, I just wanted to give a public thanks to Kevin. Hopefully you do this type of work regularly, and if you do I’d love to see some more examples of things you’ve created.

And next are the “Best Individual Logos:”

Jeff Bahry’s logo set: Just enjoyed the overall effort of the design.

Chad Stilson – “C” logo: very creative spin on the Cubs “C” I really enjoyed it.

Ed Westfield – “C” logo with “hs” inside: One of my favorites. Really liked it on the home whites.

Kevin Connolly – Really enjoyed the whole set: the Wildcats script, the paw wrapping the ball.

Thomas Stafford – really enjoyed the “C” with the clawmark: Wasn’t crazy about the jersey font, otherwise the whole uniform set would have been a true favorite of mine

Another honorable mention to the Tennesse Flag alternate logo from David Vines: I really liked it. I thought it was clever, and something we’d love to put on as a jersey patch. A Great job.

Overall, I’m very impressed Phil. There are several of these logos and uniform sets that we’d love to use. I’d like to contact all of those people and thank them personally, and for those where we might be able to change the shade of gold, I’d like to do that as well. What I’d like to do is any time we use a logo or design for anything, we’re going to give that person a copy of their work. If we use a logo on a shirt, we’ll send them a shirt and a thank you note from our players. If it’s a hat, and so forth. We’re launching a website soon, and we’re going to give a thank you to those designers by name. If they run a business, we’ll happily advertise their business at no cost to them. However, I will request that anything we use we can have sent to us in a format that can be used to replicate. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, but if, for example, all we have of a logo is a jpeg, then the company that does our screen printing will charge an artwork fee to redraw it in their program. Saves us unnecessary fees, and really, if I’m going to pay, I’d rather pay the person whose idea it was. Thanks again for all of your hard work, and if you need any clarification on what specific design I’m talking about, feel free to ask. Thanks Phil.

Marc

~~~

No, Marc — THANK YOU! Obviously you and I aren’t quite done with this, and certainly you’ll have some business with all the participants. But now it’s time to turn it over to the readers for their say.

It’s very simple folks, and I’ll ask for your indulgence one last time. Please take a moment to vote for your favorite uniform and logo in the Clarksville Design-A-Uniform Contest. One vote each for the best uniform set and logo set, as identified above by Coach Walls.

Once again, a huge THANK YOU to Marc Walls and to each and every participant. I’ll be back to let you know the final tallys, but please know, everyone who participated is a true sport and you’re all winners.

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Ahhh…the simple joy of a Sunday Benchies. Ooooohhh…and a new character too! Here’s Ricko:

Always good to “one up” the bar stud. Even if he is dumb as a box of hair. Or maybe it’s even BETTER if he’s that dumb? Hmmm…too close to call.

Enjoy your Sunday Benchies.

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Our next round of NFL uniform tweaks/revisions and concepts is upon us.

~~~

We’ll get started today with Ronnie Poore, who has an interesting concept for the Panthers:

Hey,

Enjoying all the NFL tweaks being posted on the uniwatchblog. Here’s my version of the Carolina Panthers. My take is “what if the Panthers joined the AFL in 1960, what would their uniform look like?” I took away silver, but kept the light blue and black. Gave them Northwestern stripes and a plain block C helmet logo. Even though alternate jerseys weren’t a staple in the 60’s I couldn’t resist the urge to give them a light blue jersey. Whaddya think?

Ronnie Poore

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Our next redesign (more of a tweak really) comes from Dave Ebert, who’s taken on da Bears:

Phil,

I’ve been an avid dropper by to your site for a long time now. I really got excited when you started talking about revising the classic NFL uniforms. My beloved Chicago Bears recent choices have really stuck in my craw. What, with the Awful hack job on their alternate orange jerseys, to the WRONG socks when they come out in “all white”. I would love to infiltrate their uniform laboratory and inject my opinions.

In the designs I threw together, I basically went back to a similar look to the 1960’s uniforms, but added a “C” to the helmet. The idea was to eliminate the white striping on all elements. (shirt sleeves, pants and helmet) oh, and of course a grey face mask. I love the way the orange looks, right up against the navy. Kind of like the Giants’ red helmet stripe. That really does it for me.

Anyway, I hope you like. If I need to become a member to get these out there, I’m thinking I might have to.

Regards

Dave Ebert

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Our next set comes from Lukas Nowinsky, who wants to change both the worst (understandable) and best uniforms in the NFL, the Bills and the Packers. But he explains the Packers tweak with this:

Hey Phil,

Let me start by saying I love the Packers uniforms the way they are, and I hope they stay that way. Since all the teams seem to be getting tweaks from fans, though, I thought I’d give the Pack a hypothetical makeover. I’ve attached a new home and away version.

Once I finished my Packers tweaks I couldn’t help but try to improve some
of the worst uniforms in football, the Bills. I went back to the royal
blue, and scrapped the mono-navy they’ve been wearing.

Thanks,

Luke

~~~

Moving along, we have Joe Katz, who has done some minor tweaking (and one major tweak) on the Rams:

took the Rams uniforms and did a few minor tweaks. Mainly, I killed the all blue look, and added a all gold look (not much of better, but I really like the gold.) I figured, if you’re gonna have a all color uni, and the blue looks terrible, you might as well go with gold.

Also, I took the gold from the shoulder logo, which was lighter than the rest of the gold in the uni, and made all of the gold that lighter gold.

The other changes are here, here and here.

Thanks, Phil, keep up the good work
Joe Katz

~~~

And our last submission today comes from Amos Miller, who’s decided to take on the entire NFC North:

I set out to change up the Vikings current terrible uniforms. I ended up redesigning the entire NFC north. I attempted to incorporate some element of history into each uni redesigned.

With the Vikings I wanted to keep a “modern” look but wanted to create something a bit less cluttered then the rags they don now. I ended up with the shoulder stripe equally being two different colors. On the away uniforms I attempted to incorporate the shoulder stipes of old by adding a line of purple piping underneath the dual stripe design. Upon completeing all I could think of was the Rams current Unis, but I liked them enough that I kept it.

I next set out to give a team pinstripes because I thought it would be novel. I ended up with the Bears due to their history in vertical stripes (’94 throwbacks and 20’s leather). I threw in the bears claw mark pants for shits and giggles. I began to feel as thought I was redesigning the Broncos so on the away set I put the old iconic sleeve strips.

With the Packers I couldn’t really think of a way to include the old uni elements, so I just started pasting in a bunch of modern stripes and other junk. I later decided to put shoulder yokes in with an attempt the somewhat match the ’94 throwbacks.

With the Lions I began by looking at some only logos, I of course found the White lion on two vertical stripes of blue and silver. The colors on the logo where slightly darker than the colors used now. I used the two stripe motif across the uni and replace the white lion with the modern logo they introduced at the beginning of this year.

Oh, and in response to your post about D2 football programs, being that my hometown is Bemidji, MN I can tell you that it’s pronounced something like Buh-MIh-gee.

Really enjoying the Uni Tweak section every Sunday.

Have a good one,

Amos Miller

~~~

OK, that’s it for this round of Uni Tweaks. I still have several more, and they keep pouring in, so keep them coming. Obviously, this is a pretty popular feature, and I have to say, some of the submissions have been absolutely outstanding.

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Now that the NCAA football season has basically concluded, I’ve asked our man in the street, Jim Vilk, to come up with a season ending “Best Ten and Worst Five” college football uni matchups, spanning the entire season. Remember, these are his opinions, so be sure to hurl any vitriol in Jim’s direction. Let’s see what he came up with:

10. Temple/Penn State — Rectifying a rookie mistake — I completely left this beauty off my second-ever list…

9. Duke/Kansas — Almost like watching the Manning brothers face off, eh?

8. UCLA/Tennessee — I always thought this matchup would be good in a bowl game.

7. LSU/Georgia — One of the brightest games of the year.

6. Oklahoma/Texas — Beauty in simplicity.

5. Texas/Nebraska — I didn’t wait for the clock to almost tick to zero — I picked this matchup very quickly…

4. Indiana/Michigan — For some reason, I can hear Billy Crystal’s Fernando saying, “It’s better to look good than to feel good.”

3. Tulane/SMU — I like a good horsey helmet and I like green/blue unis, so this matchup is a worthy finalist.

2. LSU/Ole Miss — See the description for matchup #5.

1. UCLA/USC — Too bad the game wasn’t as stellar as it looked.

And Jim’s Absolute 5 Worst:

5. Ball State/Eastern Michigan — I have this thing against all-green teams on a green field.

4. Virginia Tech/Maryland – One over-hyped uni plus one well-intentioned tribute equals one mess.

3. Oregon/Arizona — One has almost no school colors, the other has a bit too many.

2. Tennessee State/Florida A&M — Well, at least it wasn’t monochrome…

1. San Jose State/Boise State — I also have this thing against all-blue teams (in really goofy unis) on a blue field.

I wanted to nominate Oregon/Boise State instead, but that pre-dated the lists (and I think Phil would have overruled me anyway).

~~~

Phil here. Thanks, Jim. How FAMU/TSU can only rank as the second worst game baffles me. And how you could possibly even think I’d let you put the Oregon Storm Troopers as a “worst” also boggles the mind. But a nice job with the rest of the list. Can’t say I agree with all your choices, but your quips are good.

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Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Back to the pros today for a gridiron riddle. Although you can only see a partial scoreboard, that shouldn’t make much difference — either you know this game, or you don’t. Please try to find a link and post the link in the comments. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!

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As we begin counting down the days till the Rose Bowl, I’m going to be joined by tOSU’s biggest fan Larry Bodnovich and the man who’s been bringing you the Ducktracker all season long, Michael Princip, in a weekly look at some fun Ohio State University and University of Oregon factoids, uni histories and other fun stuff. Larry, of course, will be tackling the Buckeyes, and Michael will handle the Ducks.

We’ll begin with Larry today. He found out a fascinating little nugget about tOSU’s Heisman Trophy winning running back, Archie Griffin.

~~~

I was looking though the All-American teams from Playboy. I came to 1975 and see “Archie Griffin” is not the real Archie Griffin. It is also funny how the only guy wearing white is the fake Archie. I do know that Woody Hayes would not let his players take part in the Playboy shoot. A year or so before John Hicks and Randy Gradishar were on the team. But the pics of those 2 look photshopped or airbrushed or whatever they did back then.

I got a kick out of seeing this fake Archie Griifin. I do not know who the guy is. I posted that on an OSU board and one guy said it looked like Greg Hines. But Hines was a lanky guy.

~~~

Thanks Larry. I gotta agree…our mystery man is probably not Gregory Hines. Great stuff. And now, on to Michael’s contribution.

In the spirit of the Ducktracker, I simply present to you Michael Princip’s “Ducks In The Rose Bowl” history. Unis and history all wrapped into one — be sure to click on all the stuff (including rare pictures and video) that’s in there — it’s an AMAZING job.

I learned this week that the Ducks weren’t always called the Ducks, their school colors were once green and yellow, and they have only been in the Rose Bowl a total of four times — 1917, 1920, 1995, and the 1958 game, which featured tOSU against UO — it’s a rematch that’s been in the making for 52 years. And it’s what we’re counting down to in the next few weeks.

Thanks Larry & Michael! Can’t wait to see what you have for us next week.

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Couple last things before the wrap — there seemed to be enough interest in a “College Football Pool” for the Bowl games, but I haven’t worked out the details yet. Well, that, and I haven’t found someone who’s proficient enough at the setup to have a contest ready today. I’m hoping today to make that happen. If not, perhaps Paul can make an announcement during the week. If I get it set up, I’ll post the link back in the main article.

Keep the “rename the Winter Classic” slogans coming. Personally, I happened to like “Pond Bond,” but that’s just me. Lets see if we can’t throw a few more out there.

And now, we’re done. Thanks to Marc Walls for his input on the Clarksville Wildcats Uniform contest. Once again, if you haven’t already please take a minute to vote in the poll. It’s only two choices, so it shouldn’t take you more than a few seconds. Congrats to all the “finalists” and one more big thanks to everyone who participated. Great stuff all.

Have a Super Sunday.

Comments (135)

Random uniform thought: Watching the Army-Navy game on Saturday, I don’t hate the Midshipmen’s uniforms as much as I once did. From a far, it looks like a military dress uniform, complete with rank shoulder boards.

Since link is sure to get the color-vs.-color discussion going again today, I may as well start things off. (Hey, the first syllable of my last name is “hue” for pete’s sake.)

So how about this for the NFL? All preseason games where teams have sufficiently contrasting colors shall be played with both teams in dark jerseys. Obviously, Packers/Steelers, 49ers/Chiefs, Cardinals/Reskins, etc. will not be options.

A) Just about every preseason game is played at night so there should be no need for teams to wear white for its light-reflective properties.
B) Nobody gives a shit about the NFL preseason anyway.

…continuing from yesterday (sorry)

This is going to be my final post on this issue, I promise.

Yes, I want to eliminate MOST of the white jerseys. I want teams to wear their colors. I want a primary jersey and a secondary jersey. Every team would wear their primary jersey unless the colors were too close, then the visiting team would be forced to their secondary jerseys. In the case of almost every team, that means 2 different colored jerseys. The Raiders would have a black jersey or a silver jersey. The Bears would be navy or orange. Green Bay would be green or yellow. The Colts would still be blue or white.

I realize that not every color combination works. Navy vs black is no good. Neither is orange vs red. But most colors work just fine, and every single matchup in the entire league could be done color vs color. Even though I’m letting teams like the Colts and Jets have white as their secondary jersey, they still would only wear it on the road. Colts at Giants – fine, Indy would wear white. Giants at Colts – the Giants use red.

Ricko makes a valid point about the visibility issues, but quite bluntly, I don’t care. As a fan, watching on TV, I want to see color vs color. If that means the refs have to watch a little closer, great. If it means a few extra interceptions because Carson Palmer forgets that he’s in orange against the black-jersey-wearing Steelers, so be it.

The real reason it isn’t going to happen is all about money. The NFL sells too many white jerseys to step in and eliminate the majority of them. They can make a lot more money if they’ve got 4 or 5 different jerseys to sell for each team (seriously… white, dark, alternate, throwback, unused fantasy alternate, etc) than if there was a strict 2 jersey per team limit like I want. That’s why it isn’t going to happen.

…and I’m done. No more color vs color posts.

Did you know…

Toby Gerhart is actually the second Stanford player to wear #7 and finish 2nd in the Heisman voting to an SEC running back.

1982 Herschel Walker > John Elway

Bizarre that Stanford wouldn’t have retired #7 by now and weird that Gerhart wouldn’t carry his baseball number (24) over to football.

…and in regards to today’s NFL concepts

Pinstripes do not belong on a football uniform. Yeesh.

“Ricko makes a valid point about the visibility issues, but quite bluntly, I don’t care. As a fan, watching on TV, I want to see color vs color. If that means the refs have to watch a little closer, great. If it means a few extra interceptions because Carson Palmer forgets that he’s in orange against the black-jersey-wearing Steelers, so be it.”

Obviously, there is no need for me to comment further, either.

(And we also see once again why defense attorneys keep their clients from taking the witness stand).

—Ricko

I love the Ryan Muraro kits. His “C” logo with the “cat coming out of it” is the best of the bunch.

This guy votes for Ryan! And you should too!

This is a bit inappropriate, but the Archie Griffin thing reminded me of one of Woody Hayes’ best quotes. When asked why he didn’t let his players attend the Playboy All America events, Woody replied “because you can’t play football with a hard on!”

[quote comment=”366554″]This is a bit inappropriate, but the Archie Griffin thing reminded me of one of Woody Hayes’ best quotes. When asked why he didn’t let his players attend the Playboy All America events, Woody replied “because you can’t play football with a hard on!”[/quote]

That was, to me, one of the first indications that Woody most certainly was losing touch with reality. He actually thought Ohio State football players weren’t getting laid in the ’70s. Note to Coach Hayes: EVERYBODY was getting laid in the ’70s.

Speaking of recollections/milestones that will make some of us feel old. It has now been 40 years since John Lennon told Paul McCartney he was leaving The Beatles.

—Ricko

The Bears pinstriped uniform didn’t look too bad. It would be interesting if football teams wore pinstripes… I wonder if any team ever has?

This just in, from the Boise State butt stripes…

WE’RE #1!!!

(And Boise State doesn’t think it gets the attention it so rightly deserves).

—Ricko

does anyone know a free downloadable program to use to do create uniforms like in the Clarksville thing or the uni tweaks everyone does? email is link

thanks!

Phil Wrote:
“I learned this week that the Ducks school colors were once green and yellow…..”

Nice! *lol*

I really like what Amos Miller did with the Lion’s vertical stripes and logo on the shoulder. That’s smart aesthetics right there.