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Monochrome In Baseball, Part VI

mono baseball 6 hed

By Phil Hecken

“It’s a marathon and not a sprint.”

That’s how we describe the major league baseball season, and so to it goes for the look at monochrome in baseball. This “project” actually began more than a year ago, and now, perhaps mercifully, it comes to an end. We have one more batch of teams to look at — the second half (alphabetically) of the National League. And contained therein, I believe we have two of our most likely candidates for a monochrome uniform. You can probably guess who they are already.

Let’s get started.

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Milwaukee Brewers: While many of us believe the Brew Crew is a prime candidate for a uni-makeover (we even had a couple weekends devoted to just that), monochrome probably isn’t their best option. Their navy blue top (at least the added the CNOF — “City Name On Front” this season) probably won’t look very good with navy pants, no matter what socks they wear. Their other color, “beer” is, however, at least an option. But the Brewers already look too much like the Padres. And, do we really want to see a Cream City denizen in a beer covered suit? After all, doesn’t that happen enough during happy hour?

The Verdict: Change the unis, but not to monochrome.

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New York Mets: Remember a couple years ago when those charcoal gray fashion jerseys started appearing? One of them was for the Mets, and honestly, I didn’t think it looked that bad. I wouldn’t mind seeing one team darken their roads substantially. Why not the Mets? Of course, the Mets currently have a colored alternate, and it’s black. So, really, how much worse could it get? Too much black? OK, add some stripes. No, seriously, the Mets shouldn’t go monochrome, but if they do, they should really go crazy. They’ve lost the sartorial battle with the cross-town Yanks, so why not just have some fun?

The Verdict: I’ll be happy if they ever decide to ditch the black alt. Anything else is gravy. And I could live very easily with a dark gray, especially if Majestic could replicate the Under Armour ‘vintage’ treatment.

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Philadelphia Phillies: The Phillies have pretty classic unis, and no colored alternate, so there would be no call for them to consider monochrome. But they do have a blue and a red BP jersey, so we could at least consider it, right? I didn’t think I would like them in all red, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not that they’d ever wear that. What about blue? Um, no. If they were ever to consider a one-game return of the Saturday Night Special, I think I’d like to see that once…and only once.

The Verdict: With a nice home and road, a beautiful cream alt, and no softball top, (despite the one-game flirtation with monochrome in their past), the Phils are not a candidate.

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Pittsburgh Pirates: OK. They have it in their recent past. They’ve even more recently thrown back to both a black and a gold version of the bumblebee era. They have 18 consecutive losing seasons. The fans love it. So…if there is any team crying out for a monochome uni, it’s Pittsburgh. They even have two options. The gold or the black. Just don’t mix and match. That’s my only condition.

The Verdict: YES! Please. If there is ONE team in the National League to go monochrome, it’s the Buccos.

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San Diego Padres: And if the Pirates won’t do it, then what about the other team with a solid history of gold monochrome in their past? But wait…the Fathers don’t wear athletic gold anymore. They have a softball top, but it’s dark blue. We don’t want to see the Pads in monochrome blue and sand do we? Of course not. And with the rumors (basically confirmed) that they’ll be dumping their piss sand colored uniform next season, what better way to replace it than to bring back the brown and gold. It’s time. Stay classy, San Diego.

The Verdict: Absolutely.

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San Francisco Giants: The Giants don’t have any monochrome in their history, at least not in San Francisco, but they do have both an orange and a black alternate top. Two colors which probably don’t lend themselves to monochrome. Aside from The Jeff and Jim Vilk, no one wants to see this, do they? The Giants might not look so bad in monochrome black, (and hey, they did wear it about 100 years ago), but if there is any team to sport a black monochrome uniform, it’s probably not the Giants.

The Verdict: They might be able to pull it off, but they’re not the team to do it.

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St. Louis Cardinals: Can you just picture one of the teams with one of the most classic uniforms (and no alternate) going monochrome? Neither can I. Certainly not in the color of the bird for which they’re named. But, they were one of the teams that wore powder blue for a time, and they have thrown back to that. So, what about a return to powder blue? Ya know…I’ll get back to you on that.

The Verdict: Redbirds are red, but they should never consider wearing an all-red uniform. The powder blue on the other hand…

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Washtington Nationals: The Nats are another schitzophrenic team, sporting two alts (one of which may be the worst alternate in baseball). Their red alternate is actually nicer than their current home uniform, though. Dressing in all red probably wouldn’t make the team any worse looking than they have in the past. Jim Vilk approves. Now, what about that ridiculous Stars & Stripes alternate. How bad would that look? Exactly.

The Verdict: What the Nationals need to do is get a new home uniform, either mimicking the road script or changing it up to be a white version of the current red top. I have a feeling at least one of those will be coming true in 2011.

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Well, there you have it. My season-long look at monochrome in baseball. I hope you enjoyed it. To reiterate my earlier musings on the subject, I don’t think monochrome should return to baseball except on a very limited basis (say, maybe, a Sunday Night game or something) and only for a team or two, at most, in each league. But it’s definitely something worth looking into; and in the National League at least, the Pirates and Padres could probably work one into their rotations and the fans would love it.

What say you all? Time for someone to give it a shot?

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ducktracker

Trackin’ the Ducks

UW #1 Seahawks Fan Michael Princip has been tracking the Oregon Ducks and all of their 2,456 possible uniform combinations this season. He’ll be updating it after each game.

The Ducks had a late kickoff yesterday in their game against the Shocker flashers…er, Sun Devils. Here’s Mike with some more new updates to the tracker:

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Going to be doing some Oregon Duck equipment spec. sheets for various games, and this week I’m going to start with last week’s ‘carbon’ helmets. Featured helmet is the Bulwark, of course. I’ve been experimenting with different shell forms and seam lines. This will be ever changing until the first prototype is developed. Of course, the focus is on the Ducks ware, so I will try and cover every detail exhibited on the entire uniform ensemble. Interesting details on the carbon helmet have to be the white ‘O’ embossed front bumper, yet, yellow ‘O’ side decal. Center stripe that reads; “Oregon WTD Fast. Go Fast. Hard.Go Hard. WTD “Win The Day”. Yet, the wording/order varies for each player. One other uniform combination tidbit for this year is that Casey Martin is not the uniform coordinator anymore, yet, a counsel of 16 students picks the uniform combo for each game.

Here then, is your 2010 Duck Tracker

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Twins Win

It’s gotta be the unis…

Ok, this really doesn’t have anything to do with the unis, but since moving out of the Homerdome and ditching the gray pinstripes (awful), and adding a cream alternate (gorgeous) and a new roadie (classic, if non-descript), as well as returning to outdoor baseball, the Minnesota Twins have very quietly established themselves as one of the dominant teams in baseball. While their past playoff failures (usually to the g-ddam Yankees) are well documented, this could very well be “their year.”

But the other night Ricko sent me some pretty amazing stats.

Here’s one of the Twins oldest fans to give us the rundown. Dig:

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Some things about the Twins that probably don’t get much attention out east:

• Set a team attendance record, going over 3 million for the second time in franchise history.

• Set the record on the night they clinched, which also was Ron Gardenhire’s 800th win.

• As of Friday morning anyway, had best record in MLB, all without Joe Nathan and Justin Morneau, with Joe Mauer having a terribly slow start, and Scott Baker, the opening day starter, pitching so crappy he hasn’t been in the rotation for months.

• Best record in MLB since ASG

• Between the time they were tied with the White Sox and the night they clinched, they went 27-10, clinching with an 11-game lead…so it can’t be laid on the White Sox folding.

• Have won 6 division titles in the last 9 seasons, and played for a 7th when they lost the coin flip and had to play Game 163 in Chicago.

• Gardenhire has won 800 games in his nine seasons as manager. All those wins came with..

> the same Pitching Coach
> the same First Base Coach
> the same Third Base Coach
> the same Bullpen Coach
> the same Bench Coach

Something to be said for continuity, huh.

And hopefully sooner or later the national media’s gonna have to give Gardenhire some credit.

Yeah, they’ve been one-and-done in post-season too often. But, it’s tough to believe the media/fans who critcize him/them for that actually live in places such as Baltimore or Kansas City or Pittsburgh or Cincinnati…or even St. Louis, L.A., San Francisco, Boston (I could go on).

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Thanks Rick. Pretty interesting stuff there. Be very interesting to see how the Twins would fare against the Yankees if they have the home field. It may not be “dome sweet dome” anymore, but they do have the best home record in the bigs. Keep your eye on the Twins this fall folks. They could be the team to watch.

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all sport uni tweaks

Still have a backlog of uni tweaks, so let get right into it. If you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way. OK? OK! Here’s what’s on tap for today.

Those who’ve already sent in tweaks, they’re fine the way they are, but in the future, because many of you seem to enjoy elaborate write ups, can you possibly try to keep them to 50 words tops per team? Thanks!

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Starting off the show is James Kergosien, who has 3 NFL and one NCAA hoop design:

Four tweaks for you here.

The first is for my Saints, who sport a classic look that just doesn’t fit the party theme of the city of New Orleans. The helmet features a “halo stripe”, an idea I got from your article featuring the Angels’ similar gimmick. In this case, it could work. I re-did the pants, ditching the BFBS ninja outfit, and reworking the side panels of the pants and jerseys. The Steeler Stripe looks great but it really isn’t the Saints’ look. An all white set would be great IMHO. The shoulder loops also are an improvement. Finally, bring on the funky font that has been filling the end zones in the Dome for twenty years.

The second redesign is the LSU basketball team. This team has long lacked the visual identity that the football and baseball teams have. Simple solution? Clone the football unis for a bold, distinctive look that is as awesome and as distinctive as the UNC argyle panels. Add the old-school font from the football helmets across the chest and you’ve got an instant winner.

The third is a re-do for the New York Giants. This is the best way to get the red accent in without an awful all-red alt. It also gets blue on the road unis while at the same time ditching the awful white-on-grey look. I thought the roadie stripes were great, so I put them on the home unis, and I added a red outline on the helmet decal.

Finally, the Cowboys. I standardized the silvers to a sky-blue-silver compromise, and I added royal to the road jerseys and navy to the home jerseys. I standardized the numbers, pants, and sleeve stripes between the two uniforms, and added a Cowboys wordmark on the chest of the home uniform. It’s a definite upgrade on an already classic uniform.

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Moving on, we have Ed Westfield, who tried to enter two jerseys in the recent Design-a-Baseball Jersey contest. Obviously that was against the rules, so he instead submitted this for the tweak show:

Hey Phil,

I don’t know if I can enter again, but at the very least I want to
share another MLB tweak I came up with…

Even before they unveiled their current road uniform, I’ve always
thought the Red Sox road grey should have primarily nave blue
lettering and numbering. But instead of what they went with, I wish they had drawn some inspiration from what is now the defunct circular logo.

My Red Sox road tweak employs the block blue “BOSTON” from that logo.

I also removed the NOB from he back because it looks better, plus as a Yankees fan, I think use of an NOB should be consistent for both home and road…

Thanks again!

Best,

–Ed(dieAtari)

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Next up is Matt Renfrow a tweak-virgin no more, with his first foray into the madness:

I couldn’t help but get inspired by Jody Beamer (fellow Lexingtonian) and his Buffalo bills re-design. I was a fan of the Bills when I was younger (but switched to the Dolphins after they dismantled the Super Bowl era team) and can’t help but shake my head any time I see the Bills and their atrocious uniforms. I mean, who came up with that design, and how does ANYONE think it looks good? My design blends aspects of Bills’ uni history, and gives it a modern update. Anyway, here’s my redesign, with a few tweaks:

1. I used his logo, sans stripe, and converted it to red, to mimic their throwback unis.
2. I kep the Playbill script logo, but changed the Buffalo font.
3. I used the stripe from the old logo and made it the pants stripe, with a colored drop shadow.
4. I changed the number font, but nothing too crazy. (Notice I used #13, number of current Bills WR Stevie “Got Loose” Johnson, former Wildcat.)
5. I used the blue facemask, which harkens back to their helmets in the (mid/late?) ’80s.
6. I kept the current dark blue, but only in outline form, as seen in the number font and road NOB.

So, there you go. My first foray into Uni Re-designs, but definitely not my last, seeing as how I want to make a career out of this (somehow) after I get my Art degree.

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For our final tweak of the day, we have Jack Brudvig. I think this is a pretty damn fine job…especially when you consider that Jack is 11 years old!

Hi! I’m Jack , i’m 11 years old and a lifelong Brewers fan. In the last year i’ve started following Uni Watch and i decided to give my own uniform design. It’s an alternate based on the road uniform from the Brewers world series year, 1982 but with some color changes. It maybe a little sloppy but i hope you enjoy the look of the uniform. Thanks for your time of looking at the attached uniform.

That’s all for today. Thanks to everyone who sent in their submissions. Back with more next time.

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vilk 5 & 1 b

5 & 1

After yesterday’s almost complete agreement with me in our BCS conference grades, I’m inclined to cut Jim Vilk a little slack in his top 5 best, and one worst, uniforms for the college football season. Of course, grading individual uniforms isn’t like comparing matchups, so I’ll probably disagree with most of his choices, as usual. Just to make sure we’re not in that alternate Bearded Spock universe and all.

So…how’d he do this week:

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5. Stanford/Notre Dame — Ah, Stanford’s back to normal…for now.

4. Eastern Michigan/Ohio State — Buckeyes playing yet another cupcake, but at least they play nice-looking ones this year.

3. North Carolina/Rutgers — Three cheers for the red, white and Carolina blue.

2. Colgate/Syracuse — Another FCS team looking for a brush with greatness, with unis that make me smile.

1. Temple/Penn State — Yesterday we found out how much I like the Lions’ unis…and next week we’ll find out how much I like the Owls’.

And my worst matchup: Air Force/Wyoming — Both teams have that diamond-side striping that annoys me (why, oh why, Wyoming, couldn’t you wear last week’s unis?).

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Well…I like these better than last week…and unbeknownst to you, Robert Marshall called your number 1 a week ago (he’ll be vomiting in the corner now). Gotta say, I like your number one very much.

See ya next weekend with more 5 & 1.

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OK. Another Sunday in the books. Today the Dolphins are scheduled to wear their Orange tops…so that will be three weeks in a row for the J-E-T-S in white. Will they stick with the white pants again, on the road? And tomorrow night, one of the big throwback debuts — Da Bears — will be wearing their 40’s era Monsters of the Midway gear. And against the Pack, no less. Should be the best looking pro matchup of the season.

Have a great Sunday.

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That rule is so god damned stupid. The road team should not be able to dictate the home team’s uniform. Period. — THE Jeff.

 
  
 
Comments (141)

    Sorry I missed the talk on Penn State unis yesterday, but some factoids on their unis.

    Penn State has only worn numbers on the helmets as a “design”. They wore them around the circa 1959-circa 1964 era. I think for a year or two they were positioned near the back of the helmet. They were brought back in 1967 and were worn thru 1974. Ever since 1975 they have been plain white with a dark blue stripe. The helmets have been white since the leather days.

    The jerseys? In the 50’s (Lenny Moore/Rosey Grier era), they actually had NW stripes on the sleeves and when the weather got cold, the socks as well. By the early-mid 60’s, they had a sleeve edge stripe, might have even creased into the JoePa era for 1966. Then the jerseys had no trim at all until sometime in the mid-80’s when they started wearing a single v-neck stripe and a sleeve edge stripe. I am thinking it was 1983 or 1984. The jerseys were straight blue until 1969 or so when they went darker in hue. Numerals have always been basic block style. They have never ever worn monograms or any lettering of any sort. They have never worn NOB’s. And only since the 2003(?) Orange Bowl vs. Florida State have they even wore the bowl game’s commemorative patches.

    Pants? Had a plain blue stripe on the side in the 50’s with Rip Engle at the helm. The stripe stayed thru 1968. The pants have plain white ever since 1969, with the Nike swoosh coming along in the early-mid 90’s.

    Socks? seldom worn, of course. But they had NW stripes – i believe – into the 60’s and perhaps into the Paterno era, possibly even into the 70’s for cold weather games. Now, if worn at all, they are a solid dark blue.

    Cleats? Have always been black, with one notorious exception. The 1/1/79 Sugar Bowl against Alabama when they wore white cleats. Never blue.

    As for suppliers, I’m thinking they wore Champion for a long time (unmarked), then sometime in the early 80’s switched to Russell (also unmarked), then went with Nike just before joining the Big 10.

    I think this is pretty much how it has gone down for PSU since roughly the early 50’s.

    I have studied the history of Ohio State uniforms.But I also try and learn about other teams histories too. I have looked into Penn States for the changes over time as small as they have been. So timmyb of course does an great job and on the mark.

    Well, since you called me out, I’ll go ahead and comment on the Giants. No, I don’t really want to see them in mono-orange. I’d be perfectly content with Baltimore being the only mono-orange team, and with the Giants being the only mono-black team. I’d have the Pirates alternate between black-yellow-black and yellow-black-yellow, but never monochrome. The Chi-Sox would be gray-black-gray, with black striped white socks… The A’s would be mono-yellow or mono-green… and the Padres could go brown hats & jerseys with yellow pants.

    My biggest complaint with baseball uniforms is too many teams looking alike. Mono-colored uniforms are only part of the solution.

    I agree with having the O’s in orange and the Giants in black. The Pirates can do yellow, although I liked both concepts.

    Sorry — but the Twins haven’t had the same 3B Coach for all of Gardenhire’s tenure. Al Newman was Gardy’s first 3B Coach, from 2002 to 2005. Newman left, Ulger moved from hitting coach to 3B, and Joe Vavra was hired as the hitting coach. Same coaching staff since then.

    Side Note — bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek has been the team’s bullpen coach since 1981 — with 4 different managers (Billy Gardner, Ray Miller, Tom Kelly, and Gardy).

    Y’know, I thought that base coach stuff sounded odd (didn’t remember Jerry White always being at first, for one thing); was just repeating the recap list the play-by-play crew ripped through late on the night they clinched. Remember thinking I was too tired to even think about checking my memory banks. So…my bad.

    Either way, though, the Twins have still done a remarkable job of at least “staying the hunt” every year. And if they get Gardenshire to 810 wins by game 162 (think it’s 802 right now), that would be an average of precisely 90 a year for nine seasons. Not too shabby.

    Sort of bugs me when writers/fans in other markets with sucky clubs gripe about the Twins record of being “one-and-done” too often in the playoffs. Want to ask them, “Oh, really? And has the team in your market averaged 90 wins for the past nine years?”

    And I don’t know that I’m a Twins “fan” per se (Vikings, either). It’s just more fun around town when either of them is winning, but when they’re losing it doesn’t ruin my day, or my life.

    What I do admire is a great organization, no matter where it’s located, and I watch enough national media to know the Twins consistently somehow seem not to show up on their radar. The Red Sox and Mets NOT winning evidently is more significant and worth more attention.

    Also, I’d be the last to flak for the Pohlad family, but the fact is they did come up with $40 million more than they’d originally committed (believe that was $150 million), all of it to pay for many of the extras that make that new ball park the amazing place it is (ESPN Magazine ranked it the #1 fan experience in sports…all sports).

    I think Stelmaszek has worn a Twins uni for more games than anyone in franchise history, right?

    —Ricko
    (P.S. Agree about the road pins. Roads could have been updated without jettisoning the pins. They were certainly more distinctive than the seriously non-descript, “off-the-rack” grays they wear now…pretty much a red and navy version of Brewers’ template. Ho hum.).

    No doubt the Twins have a great organization, maybe the best in MLB, and I’ve rooted for them in the AL for many years. I agree, the national media is focused more on the big market teams in baseball, unlike football. While the number of playoff berths have doubled since the last Twins world title in 1991, being a consistent winner is something both big and small market teams should envy.

    The problem is, MLB is the only professional sport where you could say being in the hunt is ok, after many years of playoff appearances since that last world title. Twins fans deserve a realistic chance at not only a pennant, but most importantly, a world title. And in multiple playoff series’ against teams with far greater resources, it’s not surprising the Twins haven’t been competitive. That’s wrong, and points out the competitive imbalance problem in MLB.

    At the end of the day in pro sports, being the best in world will always be the ultimate prize. You just can’t get around it. I’ve heard Atlanta Braves fans complain about only one world title in their history, despite the success during the Greg Maddux era. Simply put, the Twins haven’t had a fair opportunity to win it all, but their chances have improved this year with the bigger payroll. The stakes have definitely been raised, so if Minnesota remains a bigger payroll team in the years ahead, playoff success must follow, including a world title down the line.

    “the Twins haven’t had a fair opportunity to win it all”

    this argument is getting just a tad tiresome, k?

    do they play with eight players? are they asked to run a marathon prior to each game? are they somehow not being fed?

    don’t give me this big market/small market bullshit…if that were the case, you’d think the cubs would have won at least ONE world series in the last 102 years…

    all the players on the twins make more in three weeks (some in a game) than i make in a year, so please don’t say they’re underpaid…when billionaires own millionaires, i don’t want to hear about the “poor” teams…if you can’t afford to field a competitive product, maybe your goal isn’t to win

    THAT is the problem with baseball — an owner, other than say, the dearly departed steinhitler, can do quite well, thank you very much, by NOT winning…there is no reason ANY HUMAN BEING, including a-roid, is worth 27 million per

    i forget who owned the marlins at the time, might have still been huizenga, when asked why he cut his payroll from (say) 25 million to 15 million, his response was (paraphrasing) “they finished in last place at 25 million and they’ll finish in last place at 15…the difference is, i’m 10 million ahead”

    when owners DON’T need fannies in the seats (aka, a good product) to make money, they won’t bother putting a good product on the field…it’s not about payroll — if it were, then the mets wouldn’t suck so bad…and there is NO EXCUSE that the pirates have 18 losing seasons in a row — not payroll anyway

    it’s not just about economics…

    baseball doesn’t need a salary cap or revenue sharing…it’s always been about being a marathon — playing well over the entire season and THEN making it count in the playoffs…maybe if baseball didn’t have all night baseball and so many days off between games that teams that have essentially four pretty-damn good starters instead of two super studs…those teams like the twins would be able to over come the yanks in the playoffs…maybe if there wasn’t a wild card and an extra level of playoffs, the twins could win a seven-game series, instead of a best-of-five

    can some mistakes (see, pavano, carl; yankee tenure) be covered up with a gazillion payroll? yes…but these guys shouldn’t be MAKING that kind of money to begin with

    every time the twins make the playoffs (which seems like it’s every year now, good on them — especially since it was only 8 or 9 years ago pohlad basically told bud “fold em, as long as i get paid”)…they have just as good a chance as the yankees or the sawks or the phillies

    it’s not about economics; if it were, the twins wouldn’t even sniff the playoffs

    and please stop comparing baseball to football…when football goes to a 162 game schedule, then we can talk about national tv money…until then, it’s completely apples and oranges

    and don’t be surprised if minnesota, with the home field (most likely) against the yanks, gets over the hump this year

    I’ll agree it’s not all about economics, but no one can deny it doesn’t play a major role. It’s just fundamentally wrong to have teams with much more money to spend than others simply because of their market size.

    Baseball does need a salary cap and floor to help regain its lagging popularity. It’s not a coincidence baseball was more popular when every team had a chance out of spring training to win it all. That hasn’t been the case now for about two decades.

    The main reason the Cubs haven’t won the Series in so long has been poor management, not economics. No one minds if big market teams have more money to work with, but there’s never been such a gap between rich and poor. When MLB was the national pastime, or closer to football in popularity before the strike, the payroll disparity was much closer.

    The current economic model in baseball clearly isn’t working, interest is down, especially in world series TV ratings. That’s because many people already know who is likely to be playing and their team isn’t a contender.

    Historically speaking, the Twins are a tremendous long shot to win it all since 1991. Most likely, it will be the same old story, probably the Yanks or Phils.

    Guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.

    baseball doesn’t need a salary cap/floor to regain it’s “sagging popularity”… you said yourself, “interest is down.” im not sure how you measure interest, but if your example is only world series ratings, there are many reasons it ebbs and flows…not the least of which is every goddam game is late at night; for those of us on the east coast, it means a very late night or missing the end of the game…the very least they could do is start the games during the afternoon on the weekends…

    when you extend the season into the end of october (and beginning of november), people have better things to do that watch baseball … especially games that frequently feature teams in northern climes where fans would be more appropriately dressed for a packers game than a baseball game…when players are wearing hoodies, that’s not baseball anymore

    but the owners are greedy, and every extra game, especially every extra playoff game, is worth more to them…and every game started after 8:00 east coast time is more prime time commercial rates

    and i don’t know how you can say “the economic model in baseball clearly isn’t working”… why? because the pirates haven’t sniffed a +.500 record in 18 years? it’s easy to use that as a cop out for your team sucking… even in the old days, when you had catastrophically bad franchises like the browns and the sens/nats, they never went 18 years without at least a plus-500 record…

    there’s lots wrong with baseball, but payroll isn’t the problem — it’s some players getting FAR TOO MUCH money compared to others…blame the owners for that if you want, but artificially deflating salaries through a mandatory cap won’t make it through the union and forcing a minimum salary wont fly with the owners…like huizenga said, why should he pay x amount of dollars for a last place club when he can pay y and they are still in last place

    maybe the way to bump up interest in baseball is to actually penalize owners who consistently field a losing club…like, say, if you have 18 losing seasons in a row, you have to sell the team and move it to another city

    maybe if you got the fans, the ones who have the most at stake (in terms of pride if not actual revenue), will revolt against the guys who keep putting losers on the field year after year

    but as long as owners can keep their payrolls down, lose 100 games a year and still MAKE MONEY…they really don’t have an incentive to spend

    you’re never going to get a salary cap or floor in baseball…revenue sharing has satisfied both sides in this matter…the union won’t go for a cap and the owners won’t go for a floor

    but since an owner doesn’t really get punished for losing, there’s really no disincentive to lose

    ~~~

    one other thing…the way football is now, there is virtually no chance of a “dynasty”

    whether you like those or not (and you should, since your steelers had a nice one)…those were always fun

    now, the super bowl winner might just as easily miss the playoffs the very next season…and there’s very little stability…while this may be good for teams whose teams suck one year (they can be in the playoffs the next), i really don’t think that’s necessarily good for the sport…the pats are probably the last destiny you’ll see

    as a fan, if my team finally makes it to the promised land, i would hope they might stay there for at least a year or two…now…it’s like little league every year

    ask a phillies fan–how much fun is this run they’re on? probably awesome…you’d never have that in the current NFL

    I still miss the Twins road uniforms with the pinstripes. A classic look that should have been maintained…

    Monday night’s game will be the best NFL uni matchup of the season?

    Not likely — I see three games in link that have potential to be better: 1) Bears/Jets, 2) Raiders/Colts (Bears’ and Raiders’ regular home unis are better than the Bears’ throwbacks, Jets’ and Colts’ road unis are better than the Packers’) and 3) Giants/Packers (unless that’s one of the games the Pack are throwing back).

    YMMV, of course. It should be in interesting-looking game, though.

    Anyone else notice yesterday that, from across the room and on anything but closeups, it was REALLY tough to immediately tell one team from the other in the Georgia Tech-NC State game?

    —Ricko

    Eh… I didn’t get to watch that game, but from a few pictures it doesn’t look *that* bad.

    I do think that gold jerseys are better suited as a replacement for white rather than as a “dark” color, so I guess you’ve got a valid enough point.

    Close up stills aren’t the same thing as watching from the high seats…for an establish shot on TV.

    Once the ball was snapped it immediately became a mishmash of 22 football players…from that vantage point.

    Was compounded by the overall sprectrum similarity of both teams’ helmets and pants, of course. Had NC State opted for their red pants (do they have red pants?) would have been a huge help.

    Agree with you, Vegas Gold far more suited to be an alternative to white. Same problem comes up with Central Florida at home once in while.

    —Ricko

    Agree with you about that contrast, or lack thereof. Why is UCLA the only team in the country that can wear a decent shade of old gold? All the other schools (Notre Dame and Wake Forest included) wear the blah shade. Tech should bring back the rich old gold it used to wear.

    Point made. Zoomed out far enough, it does get a little tough. I think Old Gold instead of Vegas Gold might be enough to solve that problem. Of course… that’s kinda where today’s quote comes in. GT normally wears white at home, by all normal logic, NC State should have been wearing red for that game.

    Yup, true, Old Gold would have been the other change that would have helped a lot (refernce UCLA’s pants).

    I agree with you regarding that rule, btw. Absolutely stupid to let the visitors decide the uni color.

    Even from a logistic point of view. If there’s a screwup (as in that 1964 Lions-Vikings game), it’s a helluva lot easier for the home team to go fetch another set of jerseys.

    —Ricko

    Had I seen that yesterday, I may have made that my worst pick, but I only had close-up still photos to go by when making the list. Missed a lot of college viewing yesterday, unfortunately.

    N.C. State’s uniforms are pretty sharp.

    The visiting team doesn’t really decide what uniform to wear anymore than the home team does. The rule is that the home team wears color and the road team wears white, unless the home team asks for permission to wear white. It’s not like the road team can show up and dictate what uniform it’s going to wear, though it, just like the home team, has a veto of sorts if there’s a departure from the rule. With few exceptions, LSU and Georgia Tech, for some reason, are the only teams that consistently choose to wear white at home.

    Question for Vilk’s 5-and-1:

    You didn’t see UCLA at Texas?
    Or did the Longhorns decision to wear, for no valid apparent reason, black socks do them in?
    Or was it the Bruins’ soccer-style numbers?
    link

    —Ricko

    Both the UCLA football and baseball teams have often worn navy blue (football using it as a road trim/number color). Baseball team also has worn powder and royal as the central color, too, depending on the season you pick.

    And the basketball team has worn bascially Air Force Blue for decades, while the football team typically was in powder (although the football team essentially wears the basketball blue at home thesedays).

    I guess, despite the specs for printed material, UCLA athletic teams long have taken “blue and gold” to also include “in varying shades”.

    —Ricko

    Been watching them play football since about 1952, and they never have. Think they figured (rightly so) that powder blue wouldn’t show up well on a white jersey…or on black and white TV…and they were right on both counts.

    So they went to another shade of blue on the road (loops have been, at different times, royal and navy)…and varying the blue just became a tradition of sorts, I guess, because their other team adopted the “all shades of blue count” approach.

    Blue and Gold are pretty much the colors of all U of Cal teams, and the shades have varied historically. Cal wears athletic gold, UCLA and UCDavis both use metallic gold for football, but Davis pairs it with navy jerseys. Cal wore navy in the Craig Morton era, royal in the Chuck Muncie-Steve Bartkowski years, but returned to navy in time to run through the Stanford band.

    So I guess we could say their athletic uni colors are, in practice “any kind of blue and either kind of gold).

    —Ricko

    Never have? They went with the lighter blue on the white jerseys the link. Seemed to work pretty well.

    At least I don’t recall any outcry about the shade of blue being too light that forced them to return to the navy as their only shade of blue on the roadies.

    I was talking about it got started…and that’s not powder/Columbia blue. That’s Air Force Blue. :)

    —Ricko

    I like both, but I like the homes better. Had Texas been the road team, that game could have made the list.

    Can’t tell who’s who in that game.

    Don’t forget that briefly UCLA basketball teams wore navy blue about 10 years ago (and, unfortunately and without excuse, black for a few games the year before).

    I’m trying to figure out how Temple’s side strips on their legs made it to the top spot. That design is better suited for the basketball court rather than the football field.

    If it was uniqueness it would be Oregon every week. Those pants are just plain bad. This is just more love affair for PSU plain jane uni.

    Throwing together a bunch of combinations isn’t the same thing as there being some unique and traditional characteristic of the uni design.

    Don’t get me wrong, I love some of the Oregon combos. Just saying Temple has been wearing those pants for a long, long time…and no one else wears that style.

    Plus, keep in mind he’s judging the overall look of the game…how the unis play off one another…not just looking at the unis independently. In the case of Temple-Penn State, some of the appeal undoubtedly is the meeting to two such traditional unis.

    New stuff looks good, too. One of the best-looking recent games I thought was Miami-Cal in the Emerald Bowl in S.F. Colorwise was just a treat to watch. That night, in that setting, playing against each other, those designs just…worked.

    Cal was navy, gold, navy; Miami white, white, orange.

    —Ricko

    Nah, I love Temple’s unis, too. The stripes work for football as well as hoops, plus I love the simple jersey with NNOB. It’s the best of both worlds, “plain jane” tops and stylish bottoms. I like the helmet as well.

    Your comment must have been in “moderation” Ricko, ’cause I didn’t see that earlier. What you said.

    Let’s see, Boise State has played Virgina Tech, Wyoming and Oregon State.

    And they have left to play…

    at New Mexico State
    Toledo
    at San Jose State
    Louisiana Tech
    Hawaii
    at Idaho
    Fresno State
    at Nevada
    Utah State

    Seriously now, wouldn’t just about all of those teams–except Fresno State, maybe—be considered a “cupcake” if Ohio State, USC, Alabama or the like scheduled games with them in September?

    Just, y’know, sayin’…

    —Ricko

    Nevada is a good squad, but Boise State is locked into that conference schedule. It would be great if the Broncos had a shot at Bama or Ohio State, even if it isn’t for the national title. When you look at the on field product, BSU can certainly beat anyone in a one game situation.

    Being able to play one good game is enough to claim a national championship?

    College football is about—and always has been about—winning your conference and how you play all season, every game…not getting hot in the playoffs.

    Saying again, I LIKE the difference in mindset between Saturdays and Sundays. Don’t want the same attitude all weekend.

    As Wisconsin coach Bret Bielema said recently, “Every week’s a playoff in college football.”

    For awhile there yesterday the possibility that everything, the whole season, was maybe about to go up in smoke for Alabama was great drama.

    To me, that unrelenting pressure to be perfect (if you’re seeking to be national champion) is compelling and entertaining. What else are we supposed to get from sports? Oh, yeah, a playoff so we know when it’s time to start paying attention.

    —Ricko

    I’m not so sure it’s like that anymore, that is, that you have to stay perfect. LSU lost TWO games, including the last game of the regular season, in 2007 and still won the “national championship.”

    As for Boise State, my two cents: Say what you will about their schedule, but whoever they play, whether top team or not, they beat. They just win and that’s all you need to do.

    But that blue field is just an eyesore. Made it very difficlt to watch on TV, even though I really wanted to watch it and loved the atmosphere. Mostly watched Auburn-South Carolina instead.

    LSU’s national title is sort of the classic “exception that proves the rule,” isn’t it?

    Look at it this way: Nothing more than a four-team playoff makes any sense whatsoever. Why? When was the last time anyone seriously argued that the team ranked 5th was #1?

    Anyone who pays attention to the entire season (and that’s the hard part for most people, isn’t it, not having a huge playoff system to guide us to who’s any good) knows that in almost any given year no one, except maybe that team’s fans, considers the #5 team on par with the top two or three.

    —Ricko

    re: blue field.
    Last night was, Let’s see, blue field, mono blue unis, butt stripes…? Nope. Don’t wanna watch some bizzare video game. Changed channel.

    —Ricko

    I like the bowls because I’m a traditionalist and don’t want to see the season extended, but you will never know if, say, a No. 11-ranked team could win the national championship unless you had a playoff. Not that I necessarily want one, for the above reasons. But you don’t have to be perfect to win it all (Florida had one-loss teams in 1996, 2006, and 2008; USC had a one-loss team in 2003 and Nebraska in 1997, just to name a few).

    If anything will change Boise’s blue turf, it was last night’s viewing experience. Add to that, is football in general is becoming less enjoyable to watch on TV, what with all the yard and down markers and stripes and colors and that never-ending annoying score ticker at the bottom of the screen.

    I don’t have a problem with the blue turf, but the NCAA needs to make a rule that, green excluded of course, you can’t wear a uniform whose primary color is the same as your field. A team also shouldn’t be allowed to have a brown field either, but that’s not really an advantage to wither team.

    Princip, the ducktracker is one of my weekend favorites. I’ve already seen what they wore but I go straight to it anyway. The every day is different Oregon look is an explosion of brilliance by Nike. If it were on every team it would probably lose it’s effectiveness, but the Ducks, the way it currently stands, pull it off. I’d love to see a handful of schools do this, maybe one in each conference or so. Different every game throughout the season. I like it.

    Very cool, thanks for writing that out Traxel. Always good to hear from the uniform enthusiasts who appreciate the Ducks eccentricities.
    I meant to post a link on the new uniform coordinator(s), yet didn’t get it in the email to Phil. From link. Dan asked who makes the final decision on the uniforms every week. "We have a counsel of 16 kids that do it," Kelly said. "My only rule is as long as the coaches don’t have to wear them." heh heh…..funny guy. Does it really warrant 16 to come up with what they wore yesterday? Do they do this on the fly, or have they picked all the uni combos from the get go? Probably more like the latter, yet improvise and delegate along the way.

    Hey Princip, if you Bulwork helmet is such a great idea on the football field, why not make a motorcycle helmet version?

    Someone wrote me, a little while back, that they’d like to see a ski helmet version of the Bulwark. Think I might take a shot a designing one down the road.

    As far as a motorcycle helmet, well the idea, behind the Bulwark, is to protect someone from multiple impacts, such as in the sport of American football, especially on the DL and OL. However there is the dampening effect that could protect in some neck and spinal cord injuries. Nowadays, motorcycle helmets are designed for one major impact, then replace it with a new one. At least that’s the way it is for the high end road helmets, not sure what the protocol is for motocross? I love the idea of calibrating a helmet to it’s environment/usage, hence the Bulwark’s sole purpose. Maybe there’s a better setting for a moto. helmet too?

    Great points. At first I was not crazy about the idea. But the Ducks combos have grown on me and I kind of like them. As said by Traxel, As long as it is only Oregon then that is cool.

    The old Oregon unis were very attractive. I liked them a lot. I, too, was quite skeptical when they started doing all of this modern stuff. But they have certainly grown on me – especially since they are the only ones (kind of) doing this. I would like to see a couple of others do it but not more than a hand full. Va Tech seems to be moving in this direction and I’m okay with that. Here’s who I’d like to see do it:
    Pac 10: Oregon
    ACC: Va Tech
    SEC: Arkansas
    Big 12: Missouri
    Big 10: Northwestern? Illinois? Minnesota?
    Big East: Miami or West Virgina

    Minnesota’s already kinda doing it.
    Don’t have different helmets, but do have maroon jersey, gold jersey, white jersey, maroon pants, gold pants, white pants.

    I believe they’ve worn most of the possible combos with this current set. Only one I know for sure they haven’t is gold over white.

    Isn’t South Carolina about the same, with pant and jerseys in three differnt colors? And isn’t Virginia attempting it this year, maybe?

    —Ricko

    I think it would be great if the Ravens modified Temple’s pants.

    link

    Make them yellow with black panels to evoke Baltimore’s crest.

    Correct me if I am wrong, but I seem to recall the Giants wore mix and match tops (white/orange/black) in the 70’s with mix and match pants (black, orange and white). I vaguely recall watching a road game from St Louis where they were in all black… 1980, I think… Sorry I can’t find picture proof.

    That’s interesting, I don’t remember that, maybe it was for only a couple games before it ended. I always thought the Giants wore the orange/black jerseys with white pants only in that era.

    I don’t think they ever wore anything but white pants. They were just like the other Bay Area team of the time — three jerseys and white pants, home and away.

    Too right about the Nats. Of the several teams shown in red monochrome, the Nats looked the best.

    But as to the Twins, it’s not about the unis. The old road pins were awesome (and with a team history as old as the Yankees home pins), while the new road jersey is among the worst in baseball. It is seriously a failed uniform design by any reasonably objective standard. I love the Twins dearly, and I’m willing to stretch my standards pretty far to justify poor Twinkies uni choices (nameplates, alt jersey in the wrong shade of blue, etc.), but the quality of the new Minnesota road jersey isn’t even close to debatable. It’s a badly designed jersey, full stop.

    The tweaked home script is awesome, and the cream alts are the best-yet example in MLB of teams throwing back to classic jerseys in that style (even with the deeply flawed, sub-amateur-quality old script). But the new road jersey is unsalvageable crap by any standard. It’s good only in comparison to the conceptually identical Nats road jersey, in that the Twins road corrects most of the flaws of the Nats road (unnecessary white outline, mismatched front/back number treatment, etc.). But the profusion of elements that don’t match the rest of the Twins identity is inexcusable. From the script to the narrow three-band piping to the too-thin red/blue elements that just look purple at any distance or in motion, it’s a bad, bad uni. Combined with the new road cap that not only destroys the Twins 23-season run with a unique-in-MLB home/road visual identity (all-navy cap over navy pinstripes with red script) but has twice led strangers seeing me wearing it to offer Cleveland or Atlanta shout-outs, the new Twins road is one of the most significant uni downgrades of the last decade.

    I actually like that Phillies blue mono, Phil. It is, of course, absolutely dependent on the red stirrups, but it is really sharp.

    The Twins…..You know, I don’t think their recent one and done efforts in the playoffs are the result of smaller payroll, Gusto. I think they just get disappointing performances out of players at the wrong times (that is, they choke).

    The road uniform is bland and nondescript, and like recent playoff performances, disappointing. They should have just switched to the same home TC cap and perhaps–perhaps–eliminated the pinstripes. But the previous MINNESOTA wordmark was clean, distinctive and it FIT perfectly across the chest.

    You wonder if the Twins switched the font on the road unis because the University of Minnesota switched to wear the same font — only in maroon & gold….

    What might make the new road uni work better is if they switched the piping on the navy softball jersey to match. That is the one jersey that really doesn’t fit in with the rest — with the red piping running down the front of the jersey. If it had the same piping (in style, but some combination of red/white) as the road jersey, it might make both of them seem a little less out of place.

    Back to the love for PSU’s plain boring uniforms. I think of it this way. When I see women, the ones I am attracted to are the hot or good looking women. I do not find a plain Jane with plain color hair and no makeup and no figure to be attractive or worth a grade of an A. And if she or other women have dressed the same boring way since the 1950’s I do not give her or them a grade of A.

    Most of the talk about he sideline women announcers is on the hot looking or attractive ones. Now all of our tastes will differ in what ladies are hot or not. But the idea is the attractiveness is what is appealing.

    The other thing I noted yesterday is the color combo for PSU. Blue and white and white on white. There are some plain looking uniforms that look better because the colors are more appealing. White is not a great looking color. I may have never heard a little kid or adult say white is their favorite color.

    Just because PSU has not changed the unis much over time does not mean I would think they are great. PSU is like most all teams looked in the 1950’s. The era of numbers on the helmets or plain helmets and plain jerseys and pants. Actually as timmyb pointed out PSU was more fancy in the 50’s

    I understand Jim. And you and Phil are not the only ones that love the plain PSU unis. It does seem like people either hate them or love them. For the reasons I stated above I am one of those who do not think they look sharp at all.

    Right now I have on the Big Ten Network recap show. They just showed Iowa highlights and the throwbacks from the late 50’s. The 50’s were the era of plain helmets and unis for the most part. Actually the helmets were the more plain part. But those Iowa unis looked good because of the color combo.

    And I told you I have been hunting down older football pictures and color ones from before 1970.

    Here is one for you. IUP vs I have to assume Slippery Rock in color from 1959.

    I live in Ohio but not far from Slippery Rock.

    link

    I am uploading some of the color pics to share with others.

    Iowa’s throwbacks yesterday were nothing short of gorgeous. And that’s something considering they’re starting from nothing short of gorgeous. Here are a couple game shots:

    link
    - http://www.thehawkeye.com/viewImage/IowavBallState-0926103-jpg

    Am I not right?

    Loved those Iowa teams of that uni era, and the unis.
    Bob Jeter, Willie Fleming, Randy Duncan, Sammie Harris, Don Horn, Ray Jauch…so many great years and players.

    —Ricko

    Larry, thanks for finding that Slippery Rock pic!

    Not a huge fan of green monochrome on grass (same reason I don’t like Boise in all-blues), but at least there’s some mud on the field as God intended.

    A navy blue suit and white shirt is just as sharp today as it was in 1950, as is a simple little black dress on a good-looking dame.

    My favorite point about PSU uniforms are these.

    In 1927 PSU wore SCARLET colored jerseys vs Lebanon Valley and the next week vs Gettysburg because those 2 teams uniforms were too similar to PSU’s blue and white.

    In 1938 the Lions wore light blue jerseys with SILVER helmets and SILVER pants.

    So at least 2 points in PSU history they did have attractive uniforms.

    “So at least 2 points at all points in PSU history they did have attractive uniforms.”

    (fixed)

    I know the Raiders wear silver and have a helmet logo…but take the stripe off the Raiders’ pants and you get essentially the same approach to a football uni as Penn State.

    Minimalist may not suit everyone’s taste, but it isn’t inherently bad. Or ugly.

    —Ricko

    That stripe on the pants makes all the difference. I like the Raiders uniforms, I don’t like Penn State’s.

    I’ve said this before, too. Texas has a helmet logo and no stripe…and two thin sleeve stripes…but Penn State has the wide contrasting sleeve ends and neckline.

    That’s virtually as plain as Penn State, but I guess the orange makes the Longhorns not look so “dull.”

    —Ricko

    I, for one, would like to see a beer-colored uni for the Brewers…with a white hat (for the foamy head). Oh yeah, there will be a tweak coming…

    Love the Mets orange, but again, the O’s or Giants can have that. Preferably the O’s.

    For some reason, I can live without the Cardinals in all red. Even though it would make sense, I think the redbirds on the bat is enough. Nats need to be in all red, and they need to do that white version you showed.

    Ricko, good info on the Twins. Where’s my Benchies, though?

    Anybody have a link to the guy who does the sports jersey pin-ups? i think i may have some business for him.

    thanks.

    Why can’t the Vikings deal with their helmet decal issues in a better way? Javhid Best has his lion decal go over his helmet vent without interruption. The Vikings should follow suit. It would sure look a whole lot better.

    Same brand helmet?
    Cuz, y’know, there’s a ‘vent” in those Viking helmets that has to be dealt with.

    —Ricko

    Not sure if it’s the same brand but there’s a vent on both helmets in the same location. On the Vikes helmets the tail end of the horn is interrupted but the lion tail on Best’s helmet is continuous right over the top of it.

    We went over this last week, and yes those are both Revo Speed helmets. For some reason, the Vikings choose to do the break, while the Lions paste over the vent and the Seahawks just change the position of the bird to go around the vent.

    I don’t know if anyone noticed but during halftime of the LSU/West Virginia game in the ESPN studio they were about to show highlights for the Boise St./Oregon St. game but instead of having an Oregon St. helmet by the Boise St. helmet they had an Oklahoma St. helmet. Obviously someone in the prop department got confused.

    In the Giants/Rockies game Jose Guillen is wearing his pants high for the first time with Giants. He is wearing the official striped socks. This is significant because Matt Cain is pitching today for the Giants and his pants are always up, but he never wears the striped socks. Instead, he wears solid black. To my knowledge, this is the first time this season that a position player has worn the striped socks while Matt Cain is the starting pitcher.

    That’s true. And they’re gonna look great in the World Series.

    The Giants pitching is just impossible. They just finished a run of 18 straight sub-3 run games. Lost yesterday, then bounced back with a near Cain no-hitter today. if the hitting kicks in (yeah, right) this team is VERY dangerous. I think the Giants and Phils are the best teams in the NL.

    Meanwhile Dolphins in orange tonight.

    What are those string like things hanging out of Chris Johnson’s jersey? speaking of Chris Johnson does anyone know anything about his head twitch?

    The strings might be his own version of the Cowboys’ tie-downs. As for the twitch, he might have Tourettes. MIGHT.

    Bootheel Ben —

    your idea of one team from each conference pulling the old Oregon mix & match routine intrigues me.

    Looking at the rest of the BCS conferences, here are my candidates.

    Big Ten: Indiana — There’s no football tradition at my alma mater and adidas already destroyed their uniforms, so why not? IU’s colors are cream & crimson, so they should actually use the cream portion of the color palette. Interchangeable cream, crimson and white helmets could be paired with different combinations of those colors for the tops and bottoms. They could also do throwbacks with the lighter red they used in the 60s & 70s.

    ACC: Maryland — perfect choice. They can go with red, white, black and gold helmets, jerseys and pants

    Big East: South Florida — They’re the new kids so, again, not much football tradition to upset the traditionalists.

    Big 12: Iowa State — they already look like a USC clone, so they can do this to set themselves apart. Plus, they also have different reds in their history to pick from.

    SEC: Kentucky — another basketball school and probably the only one in the SEC that wouldn’t cause the fanbase to shit itself if they took this approach. Sure, blue & white as the color scheme doesn’t lend itself to multiple combinations, but they can throw in some gray as a nod to the fact that Kentucky was a border state in the Civil War.

    Saw Kentucky recently on the Big Ten Network in a retro game versus Indiana from 1991. Bill Curry, the former Baltimore Colt, was coaching Kentucky at that time. The Wildcats uniforms were nearly the same as the Colts, minus the shoulder loops. The Kentucky helmet was identical to the Colts.

    Lotta psychology in football. If you’re trying to get a team believing in themselves, seeing a winning image when they look at each other (and not some East Dumptruck High uni) doesn’t hurt.

    Same notion is why Iowa dresses like the Steelers. When Hayden Fry got there he said, “I want them to dress like winners.” That was the time of the Steel Curtain.

    —Ricko

    If he was trying to emulate a winner in 1991, the Colts might not have been Coach Curry’s best move. I remember one (all?) of the Subways in Bloomington ran a gameday promotion where every time the Colts won, they would sell footlong sandwiches at a rate of one cent for every point the team scored. Needless to say, link.

    James, I agree with your choices of schools…except Iowa State. As I said in a previous 5&1, they don’t look like USC, they look better than USC.

    Use Missouri instead. They already do all black and they’ve done the pro combat, and they’re one of those goofy diamond-sided-jersey teams, so let Nike duck up their unis.

    Mizzou would work, but I wanted to stay away from teams that use black or navy prominently. I was thinking bright colors would work better for the mix & match thing or things would get really drab really quickly.

    I also was thinking of teams that have already destroyed their traditionals, like Va Tech. Because I haven’t seen Indiana play football in like 50 years, I really don’t know what they wear.

    Also, the cream is good. Nobody says that the daily special has to be some modern psychoanalytic deconstructivist design, it could be 12 versions of retro, or one for each of the last 12 decades, or combos of modern and retro. Whatever. Doesn’t have to be the Pirates bumblebee mix and match – but it can be. Just 12 different unis for 12 games. Sounds expensive to me but then again I don’t deal with their kind of jack.

    Missouri – already have gold white and black. Pro combat too. Lots of ways to do this one, including a very nice retro.

    Maryland – yeah plenty to go with from all angles

    Kentucky – could do the gray thing, current blue and white, shiney and matte, and also the darker blue you used to see more of in the early Joe B Hall years. Might be good for their football program – one that has no football identity.

    How about Pittsburgh in the Big East? They definately destroyed perfection from 30 years ago. Have light and dark blues, different golds, lots to go with…

    I think I like Illinois in the big 10. Their helmets currently are nothing special. The orange and blue are awesomely obnoxious, nothing really special about what they have now.

    I may pick one of these and run with it. Let me know if anyone cares to join in….

    Mizzou? Already answered that one above.

    Pitt could work in the Big East.

    Illinois has been sticking with that crappy 80s Giants ripoff helmet logo for so damn long, they couldn’t possibly do a proper mix & match variety show. Come to think of it, their pre-Giants ripoff logo looks were never particularly good, either.

    So, to your Illini nomination, the judges say…

    What I’m saying about Illinoize is that thir current look sucks so why not do something different. I agree, nothing has been good for them in quite a while. They might need the total explosion of modernism.

    As for black teams, they wouldn’t be my favorite, but I won’t rule them completely out. We could go with my Wildcats in the Big 12. Hard to picture a Bill Snyder team doing it though. I hate KU enough that I refuse to put them on the list. Baylor is too much like Oregon. Iowa State is just too Milk Toast.

    ha! i did call that phil. i love temple’s uni’s but penn state is only a top 20. i love them in theory, but the reality is the white collar is waaaaaaaay to large, and they need to return a single stripe to their pants. but hey, it is all subjective. as for your yet another cupcake crack jim, i am pretty sure the schmucheyes play no more, no less double directionals and “A”-state schools then anybody else. come to think of it, isn’t jopa notorious for scheduling the sisters of the poor, and isn’t that why psu’s pre-big ten overhyped teams always seemed to fail? and who did they have this year? the DII penguins, the golden flashes and the owls? i can’t believe jopa had the balls to play one team like alabama. i’m just sayin’, don’t hate because we can roll the zips with with our 4th stringers blindfolded. oh, and…
    (tie)5.auburn, ucla, lsu, georgia tech, usc, minnesota, bama, or tennessee could all slide betwixt 5 and 10.
    4. texas(but if every team keeps breaking out WFWS helmets and facemasks, this will continue to fall in my eyes)
    3.washington(when they have gold pants)
    2.clemson(in all orange especially)
    1.scUM hands down

    1. pac ten
    2. big ten
    3. sec(too many teams with essentially the same colour)

    Temple’s no cupcake this year, that’s why I picked on OSU. But yeah, JoePa is notorious for the same thing. They played Akron last year, along with Eastern Illinois.

    I don’t like any team playing multiple cupcakes. Schedule one, then get on with trying to be a respectable contender. Especially when half of your conference almost qualifies as a cupcake as well…

    And unless you’re the MAC or the Sun Belt conference, don’t schedule any FCS teams.

    they have for years scheduled temple as a cupcake, the fact that temple happens to be a little better this year does not qualify as scheduling a non-cupcake, that wasn’t the plan, they were supposed to stink, so jopa can not take credit…buzzzzzz, thank you come again on that one. and i sort of agree, it should be 2 cups(must be D1, one macish, one vandyish), one solid out of conference big dog mixed in(uscish), and an additional conference game in the schedule. sorry, but i had to give you sh*t on that today, because temple is a cupcake, and you are a western PA homer.

    If the Padres looked like that I’d be buying team merch again, just as I did in ’69 when I strolled up to the souvenir counter at Shea and plunked down $2.75 or so for a brown cap with a gold interlocking SD. I can still see that display of caps in my mind’s eye, what a glorious sight for an 11-year-old. Later in the season I snagged an Astros cap and a Cardinals cap. I also bought the other brown-and-gold permutations of Padres cap-dom throughout the years. Bring it back…

    -Jet

    New york jets have worn white all three games so far, home and away… What are they the cowboys now?

    I’m calling out Vilk’s #1 Uni match up. Penn State/Temple. BS! What a joke. Who loves 7th grade football practice uniforms?

    As I Padre fan I am definitely biased, but I actually liked that shot of the monochrome blue with sand stirrups.

    Never heard this story before, but while enduring some of Boise State’s unis last night, Brent Musberger said this about the blue turf:
    When the AD proposed the idea to the school president, he said he’d think about it, then went home to watch a baseball game. During the game, he adjusted the tint on his TV to make the field look blue. Upon seeing it, he said, “That doesn’t look bad.” And the rest is history.

    So, when do we get to see the first blue baseball field? How about Toronto? If they won’t wear blue, they could at least play on it.

    Baseball seemed to have a lot of blue turf in the ’70s. Or at least the fake grass looked that way to me.

    Is it just me or do the Dolphins orange jerseys look a bit red at times tonight? Maybe orange-red? I think it has something to do with playing at night under the lights as opposed to daylight. Anyways, they look dreadful and should never be worn again.

    i hate all these alt colour jerseys on principle, but the dolphins don’t look bad at all. that being said, the fish shouldn’t wear orange.

    i need to get orange shade sunglasses, everything would look better.

    I didn’t think the Dolphins looked bad at all. They shouldn’t wear the orange jerseys often, but once every couple of seasons is fine with me.

    With the number of times the word “dreadful” has been used tonight, I was expecting to turn the game on and see the Phins wearing aqua pants.

    Only thing wrong with those orange jerseys is that they don’t wear them often enough.

    how many teams wear orange jerseys as their regular jersey?

    and how many wear them as an alt?

    broncos
    dolphins
    bears
    browns (?)
    bengals
    buccaneers (?)

    at least one of those teams (coughbungalscough) should have the orange is their main color

    Zero. Zilch. Nada. Nichts. Nil.

    Uh… four?

    Check
    Check
    Not this year (unless they can do throwbacks and an alt)
    Nope
    Check
    Check (pretty sure they’re breaking out the creamsicles again this year)

    Broncos and Bengals should both make a permanent move to orange primary jerseys.

    I LOVE that white nats uni with the W on the chest… I at least think the team should have an alternate with a block W like the senators used to wear… but yeah, if they were to change their home uni to that, I’d be a happy guy. I’m not opposed to the block letters at all because they’re unique, and I’m not so much a fan of the script (even though the senators had it). Maybe its just the way Nationals looks in the script that I think looks really stupid. Team should be called the senators anyway… but I understand nationals and why they couldn’t get senators. Anyways, how certain are you about new unis for them next year?

    I don’t have a screen cap, but I just spotted a headset talk box (or some other black box device) on the Jets bench with the old (1978-97) logo on it.

    Anybody else think it’s funny that Phil accidentally misspelled (or did he?) Washington for the monochromes? The Natinals can’t catch a break! :-)

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