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Uni Watch

In Which I Praise a Combat Uniform

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army camo head 2

By Phil Hecken

Hallowe’en may be today, but we got a few treats from the NCAA ranks yesterday, beginning with Army vs. VMI yesterday at West Point. No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you, Army broke out full camouflage uniforms.

In case you’re not familiar, that’s the “Army Combat Uniform” pattern, or ACU for short. Army has, of course, worn camouflage uniforms before, in 2008, for their annual battle with Navy. Please pardon my use of the word “battle,” because, after all, real battle is what many of these “combatants” will be facing soon enough.

The uniforms worn yesterday differed from the 2008 versions — yesterday they wore full camo (in 2008 they had a solid black top with camo numbers. The 2008 pants also had “West Point” down one leg, and “Boots On The Ground” (their slogan) down the other. The jerseys also had “Duty, Honor, Country” as a NOB. Yesterday’s uniforms were devoid of all markings except “Army” for a wordmark.

OK — as far as uniforms go — and speaking strictly about the uniform … I liked them. You wouldn’t think so, but I did. They were head-to-toe monochrome, in a not particularly appealing color (of course, camo is not supposed to be appealing), and the game even qualified as color vs. color…sorta. I actually watched a good 2/3rds of the game, and while the game itself wasn’t the greatest football, I enjoyed it. I even stuck around to watch the post, and the one player interviewed loved the uniforms.

Now, I hate gimmicks. I don’t particularly like camouflage. And you’d think Nike would have saved these for the “big” game against Navy. So, this didn’t feel particularly gimmicky. Turns out it wasn’t at all.

I asked Johnny Flanagan, who was at the game, to give me a rundown. He was happy to oblige:

Saturday, Army broke out their all-camo uniform for the first time in team history. They donned the “digi-camo” kits, from head-to-toe. The game was the climax of “Military Appreciation Week” at West Point, pitting Army versus V.M.I.

As far as yesterday’s camo Army uniforms go, I’m a huge fan. There many reasons why.

All week, we’ve heard buzz that they’d be wearing the camo uniforms vs. VMI, for “Military Appreciation Weekend.” I’m friends with a few players on the team, and a couple coaches. Coach Clarence Holmes (defensive line coach, former sack record holder @ Army) is a very good friend. Yesterday I saw him on post, and he said “I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE OUR BOYS ON THE FIELD IN THOSE CAMO UNIS!!!”.

All of these guys were PUMPED to “rock the camo” this week. Another friend of mine, an Army punt returner, was looking forward to “doing the camo proudly”. They are having more fun this year, the team is finally doing better, and they are excited to try some new things. One of my other friends, a cadet who played basetball at Army, said “Dude….I wish we could have played in an all-camo uniform against a military school!!! They look f#cking sick!”

A former Athletic Director, Al Vanderbush, who plays quite a bit of golf at the course (and represents the old school) says, “The boys looked good today. Looked like they had fun. Did us proud. Good for them. Good thing they didn’t lose, though…in those funny uniforms“. I can say, without hesitation, I did not hear one person say anything negative about the camo uniforms.

OK, based on Johnny’s reporting, it appears there was no “opposition” from anyone, especially the guys who’ve actually seen combat, to the cadets sporting the camo. I was also curious about the symbolism of the uniforms, so I asked him about that as well:

There’s some symbolic stuff to get into… how it’s the same camo they’ll wear together at war, and that it’s the same camo as their non-football-playing classmates will wear (and wore in the crowd yesterday), but that’s not the biggest point. The biggest point is that everyone on campus had fun with it yesterday (all week, really). Little kids had camo shirts on. Old men and alumni were in town (we had a couple alumni outings this week), and they were wearing camo. Like I said on the UW board yesterday, there hasn’t been much to be happy about for Army football over the past decade. Crazy political times, terrible football teams, and a head coaching carousel. But things are looking up, the campus is starting to get a buzz, and people are actually having FUN at Army football games again. The fact that the Athletic Department and alumni had no problem with “the kids” wearing camo is a nice sign to them that they approve what they are doing, and are open to new and fun ideas. It hasn’t always been that way. As a bonus, I’m sure we’ll see mention of the uniform on ESPN and other sports news sites and channels. If it helps recruiting, great! If they sell some shirts, nice! But more importantly, the players, students and fans got to have fun with it yesterday. And hell … if ANYONE can wear camo, it’s Army right???

Thanks, Johnny. Sounds like a big thumbs up from all involved. I won’t give it two huge thumbs up, but I’ll certainly say this is one “pro” combat uniform I’ll support. Now just go back to your regular uniforms for the rest of the season.

What say you, Uni Watchers? Was this just another Nike gimmick or a well-deserved “alternate” to cap off Military Appreciation Week? Somewhere in between?

~~~

As a side note, yesterday it was mentioned in the comments that Army, who wear (usually) a black jersey, might be a “good” candidate for an all-black uniform. I’m not usually a fan of all black (although a few teams can pull it off), but Army might be an interesting candidate. At least it wouldn’t be BFBS.

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Not to be outdone by Army, a couple of teams were sporting new uniforms yesterday, although none broke out a “Hallowe’en motif” early. Ole Miss broke out an all-gray uniform, although I’m not entirely certain why. As far as I know, it’s not a throwback, and while it looked really good (will it make the Mothervilker game?), it didn’t really stand out in any way. Not that an all-gray uniform would stand out anyway.

Nike was also busy yesterday with a different “pro combat” uniform, dressing Florida in a 2010 version of the super hero costume. Like my comments about Army, as far as a uniform goes, it was pretty nice. Of course, aside from all the “special” features (more on that in a second), it had gator-skin patterning on the shoulders and down the legs. Supposedly, the helmet had some kind of gator-skin pattern as well, but if they did, it was difficult to tell. Like the striping, the uniform numbers were amphibian-patterned. If you take a look at this hi-res graphic, you can see the helmet pattern.

Now…unlike Army, Florida is one of Nike’s “10 prized schools” who seem to be chosen annually to wear the “Pro Combat” uniforms. I won’t get into my feelings about that marketing angle today, but apparently they will make the wearer play better. To wit, here’s how Nike themselves describe this modern marvel:

Renowned for their speed, toughness and merciless efficiency, the Florida Gators are nobody’s prey. Their reputation alone can unnerve the most elite programs. On Oct. 30, the University of Florida squad will assume another layer of intimidation when they suit up in the Nike Pro Combat System of Dress for their annual showdown with Georgia.

The Gator mascot served as a significant influence on uniform design. As apex predators, alligators are masters of the surprise attack. Nike designers found parallels between the animal’s ruthlessness and Florida’s swift, aggressive game. A bold gator-skin pattern used throughout the uniform issues a subtle warning to opponents.

The overall look of the uniform is clean and future-forward. The alligator-skin motif in tonal Game Royal is incorporated into the side-swept jersey numbers and Nike Pro Combat base layer. The same graphic, rendered in University Orange on a Game Royal field, is found in a vertical shoulder stripe that aligns with a stripe down the sides of both pant legs. The University Orange helmet also carries the tonal gator-skin design and is emblazoned with “Gators” in the school’s iconic script. “Pride” is printed inside the back neck of the jersey and on the inside cuff of the gloves. It serves as a battle cry for the Gators, whose pre-game ritual includes touching a plaque that reads “Pride” before running out on the field. The alligator-skin pattern is reprised on the gloves, which form Florida’s Gator logo when the palms face outward. Footwear in team colors, with the same alligator-skin motif, completes the commanding ensemble.

Oy vey. Oh well, at least the Gators won the Florida Football Classic (34-31). Would have been a shame if they couldn’t hold on.

And in Los Angeles, the Ducks continued on their march to the National Championship game by taking down USC. More on that below in the Duck Tracker, but the Ducks wore their storm trooper unis, and sported some new silver cleats. They looked great, of course, but this game has no shot at the Mothervilker, simply because Jim doesn’t like Belotti Bold. Shame.

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spooky tweaks

Uni Tweaks

Catching up with the tweaks, but they keep coming in (which is good), so lots to get to today. If you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way.

You guys have been pretty great keeping to the ~50 word limit per team tweak, and it’s greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Now, on to today’s tweaks:

~~~

Starting off the show is Bob Donofrio, with a new fix for Dem Cowboys:

Long time Uni-Watch and Page 2 follower here. Love the Cowboys, hate their gray — silver and royal — navy inconsistencies. My favorite Cowboy uniform is from the Staubach/Doomsday D era. Here’s a new twist. Kept the royal, standardized they gray (or should I say, green-gray). Here’s what I came up with (poor recoloring skills not withstanding!)

Thanks,
Bob Donofrio

~~~

In the two-hole today is Matt Williams, who has his own service academy tweaks:

Hey there,

I assume that you do not get much traffic for service academy uniforms but I figured I would put these out there.

Picture 1: Current uniform

Picture 2: First conjecture.

The numbers and letters are the home jersey are made gold instead of white.

The pants on the home jersey now have a contrasting navy blue stripe.
The sleeves on the away jersey are contrasted to navy blue so that the Navy and Marine Corps emblems can be seen better. Also the pants are exchanged for those worn durning the 2008 Army-Navy Game (based on USMC officer dress pants) minus the Marine Corps emblem since it is present on the jersey.

Picture 3: Second conjecture.

The numbers and letters are the home jersey are made gold instead of white.

The pants on the home jersey now have a contrasting navy blue stripe.
The sleeves on the home jersey are contrasted to gold with two navy blue stripes ending with a navy blue cuff.The sleeves on the away jersey are contrasted to navy blue with two gold stripes ending with a gold cuff. Also the pants are exchanged for those worn durning the 2008 Army-Navy Game (based on USMC officer dress pants).

Picture 4: Third conjecture.

Based on the throwback uniform worn last season against Western Kentucky. Instead of a small “NAVY” on the back the name is placed as on all other jerseys.

The pants on the home jersey now have a contrasting navy blue stripe.
The away jersey is the reverse of the home jersey with a gold stripe between the two navy blue shoulder stripes. Also the pants are exchanged for those worn durning the 2008 Army-Navy Game (based on USMC officer dress pants).

Matt Williams

~~~

And closing out this Hallowe’en tweak weekend is Jordan Katz, who has 10 college uniforms that are definitely more colorful now:

I’d like to submit some tweaks to some college football uniforms for Uni Watch:

North Carolina: Even though everyone knows them for the carolina blue, I like the monochrome navy look with the helmet color change.

Georgia: UGA is known for the silver breeches that they have. I hate them, it’s not one of the school colors red looks better, plus a balck helmet looks sleek.

Ole Miss: I continued my hate for silver pants, and change it to red and make the shoulder stripes red to make it pop more.

Oklahoma: A change of helemt coloring makes a great uni even greater.

Okie State: All orange look, I in general like orange on a uniform, and I really like it on this concept.

Nebraska: Nebraska has a look that hasn’t been changed in a while, but the all-red looks really nice on a classic design.

LSU: They almost never wear colored unis, but when they do, I think this would be a nice change of pace.

Georgia Tech: They have an all gold uni, and I’m not a fan of gold, an all-navy look is pretty sharp.

Florida: UF unveiled a white helmet last year, but it looked bad with that F, a script Gators looks much nicer.

Cal: All gold look for Cal, I dig yellow helmets.

Hope this makes uni watch!

Jordan

Thanks to all the tweakers. Back next month with more.

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spooky duck tracker

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, resplendent in white, put another whoopin’ on a Pac-10 opponent last evening, with a 53-32 beatdown of the USC Trojans. Mike was at the Million Man March Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear yesterday, but that didn’t stop him from checking in with this update:

Back in the monochromes, aka the stormtrooper look, but with a twist, silver! That’s silver shoes, being the new element to the ensemble, combined with the numbers, and fantastic silver carbon wings. The sweetest bit is they wore this combination and came out with a much needed PAC 10 rival road win. At times, it was a nail bitter, and USC had a pretty good game plan early on, so kudos to them.

Color clash alert, the yellow and black lower back pads really didn’t look too good with all that white, although a white and green back pad would have been very nice.

Sorry, no equipment spec. this week, I was mingling with the masses in DC today.

No worries Mike, as long as the Ducks keep on winning, it’s all good.

Once again, here is your 2010 Duck Tracker.

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spooky 5 & 1

5 & 1

And now, the part of the post you’ve all been waiting for: The 5 & 1.

Jim had a whole mess of good games to choose from yesterday, so of course, he’ll differ from what the rest of us think were good matchups. I want to protest his exclusion of Oregon simply due to their number font, but maybe they’ll wear a throwback this season and jump into the top five.

Let’s see what he has in store for us this Hallowe’en:

~~~

5. William & Mary/North Carolina: Florida/Georgia was better looking than I thought, but this one was just slightly better.

4. Duke/Navy: Bet you can finish this sentence: “Duke doesn’t look like the Colts…”

3. Kansas/Iowa State: If the Jayhawk logo was still on KU’s helmets, this could have been #1.

2. Auburn/Ole Miss: A blue/gray matchup might have meant more against a northern school, but Ole Miss still looked really good.

1. SMU/Tulane: All that stuff I said about contrast goes out the window with unis and striping this nice.

And the worst one — Miami/Virginia: Both teams in butt stripes, the U’s eyebrow stripes on the jerseys … not even a color palette special could save this mess.

~~~

Well, there you have it. Not bad, Jim … not bad. And a nice going away present for chimp.

~~~~~~~~~~

OK, everyone, that’s almost all for this last day of October. The Rams will be wearing their throwbacks today, but I’m not sure if we have any other spooky surprises. You can bet the fans will all be dressed for the occasion.

Not too many of you volunteered great Hallowe’en unis, past or present, but there are two who stepped up:

• James Vetter notes: “Hi Phil, for 11 years, every home game was Halloween in Corvallis with the Great Pumpkin, Dee Andros leading out the black and orange Beavers.”

• Marc Rosenberg notes, “Nothing beats my hometown Philadelphia Flyers, in any combination. However, go back to the early 70’s for Doug Favell’s all-orange fiberglass mask.”

Everyone have a Happy & Safe Halloween!

~~~

Will soliders now start wearing football unis in combat zones? … Pretty sure a football game isn’t a combat theater. — Rick Pearson

 
  
 
Comments (162)

    I for one have absolutely no problem with Army wearing a camouflage uniform. It’s not exactly the most attractive uniform, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s distinctive, and nothing says ARMY like camouflage.

    I still find it to be shallow, gimmicky and just generally stupid when a team like the San Diego Padres does it, but it works just fine for the actual military team.

    How about your thoughts on the Heroes of the Diamond program, which had two teams in 2009 decked out in camo uniforms, the independent team based in Nashua, N.H., and a summer collegiate team based in Pittsfield, Mass.

    As a gimmick, the camo really does only work for Army for the obvious reason.

    Everyone else is just playing dress up when they do it.

    @Rick Pearson — soldiers wear ACUs as a standard duty uniform, combat zone or no, so the comparison is weak.

    I would hardly call that a weak comparison. Your rational does nothing to diminish his point. Do they wear camo in combat? Yes.

    Speaking of the Great Pumpkin… a little blast from the past.
    link

    Maybe Army was concerned about possible sniper attacks on their players at the game, so next time they should consider wearing armored vests, too. And while they’re at it, they could strap on sidearma as well.

    Absolutely ridiculous uniforms…

    I liked the Army uniforms, very appropriate in their unique case.

    Not that I’m a camo geek, but the newest ACUs worn by the troops in A-stan are a different pattern called “multicam” which has some reds and browns blended in, and so works better there. This looks like the same older greenish camo, so Nike wasn’t quite on the cutting edge here.

    Mike Princip: sanity, fear or a dash of both?

    Also, there were an estimated (by Fox News) 137 rally-goers. Were you among them or were you just one of the approximately 214,863 folks they say happened to be visiting the Mall yesterday completely oblivious to the existence of a rally?

    I was like, you know, I need to get me some Air and Space museum action today. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. In any case, through the process of what I heard amongst the crowd goers and those dudes on stage, I’ve exorcised my fear, and gained a little more sanity.

    I’m still waiting to hear a coherent explanation for how this was NOT a gimmick. Maybe not a sales gimmick (i.e., I don’t know if they’re selling the camo gear), but a gimmick nonetheless.

    A few points:

    - “If anyone can wear camo, it’s Army” — yeah, but that’s IF anyone can wear camo. And nobody should. It looks like shit, it creates a bogus connection between football with armed combat, and did I mention it looks like shit?

    - There’s this undercurrent of sentiment that the Army camo is OK because it’s for a good cause (West Point morale, etc.). Pink for cancer is also for a good cause. It looks like shit, too.

    - Army already had three very nice jerseys and three pants designs this season:
    link

    What, that wasn’t enough?

    – The fact that everyone at West Point loves the camo doesn’t strike me as particularly relevant. Everyone at Oregon loves what goes on there, but that doesn’t make it good. If it’s your school (or military academy, or whatever), of course you’re gonna get behind it. Not exactly the most objective sample segment.

    Bottom line: You’re a football team. Wear a freakin’ football uniform already.

    Oh, but if you don’t like the way the camo looks, it’s OBVIOUSLY because you don’t support the troops. There can be no other reason.

    Tie a ribbon? Like, tie it with my own two hands? That’s way too much work. I’ll just slap a magnet on there.

    according to johnny flanagan, they’ll be wearing the “dress gray” unis next week

    “Bottom line: You’re a football team. Wear a freakin’ football uniform already.”

    They did. You don’t like it. That doesn’t make it wrong.

    It’s as much of a gimmick as any other alternate uniform is. If you want to complain about how many alternates teams have nowadays… fine. You’re probably right. But the fact that the uniform used a camouflage pattern doesn’t make it any less of a uniform. The Army wearing camouflage makes just as much sense as the Bengals wearing tiger stripes. It’s not like some team making some shallow “support the troops” bullshit gesture with a camo jersey, it’s the actual troops (in training anyway) wearing a sports version of what they wear on a normal day anyway.

    On a side note, you complain about the modern jersey cuts killing old school design elements like UCLA stripes… well, here’s a modern design that isn’t restricted by the cut of the uniform.

    Oh, please. That’s not a football uniform; that’s a costume. Appropriate for Halloween, I suppose, but otherwise it’s just another lame-o gimmick.

    When the Bengals wear full-body stripes, head to toe, let me know.

    As for modern jersey cuts and how they affect design, here’s a really good way to handle that:
    link

    It wasn’t broke. But they decided to fix it anyway.

    So what’s the real problem?

    Is it the fact that it’s another unnecessary alternate uniform, which happens to look worse than their normal attire?

    Or are you really that opposed to any football uniform with a pattern on it?

    >Is it the fact that it’s another unnecessary
    >alternate uniform, which happens to look worse
    >than their normal attire?

    Y-E-S!

    That’s exactly what it is — completely unnecessary, and a downgrade to boot. That’s the definition of a failure.

    Thank you!

    Those half-circles of fabric they call ‘colored sleeves?’ Those look much worse than truncated stripes.

    No. It’s a painful gimmick. Fortunately for them, bad taste goes over a lot of peoples’ heads.

    I’m with The Jeff on this one.

    Sure it’s a gimmick. It’s one that happens to work as a one-off.

    I’d also add that the fact that the Army community loved it is relevant. Uniforms are a big part of team identity. Sports being community events, uniforms also become a part of a community identity, especially in college (school colors and all) The service academies are a special case though- their community has a larger, more significant identity than any a sports team can provide and unlike any other college sports environment. They chose to take one game and identify their game look with a “look” that defines their community more than their regular uniforms ever could.

    It’s a huge piece of what makes the uniform work.

    Taste is not a matter of right and wrong.

    Do you really think it’s a one-off? We all know how these things work: like a ratchet, moving only in one direction.

    Wanna bet that the full-camo now becomes an annual thing?

    >Taste is not a matter of right and wrong.

    That’s a great all-purpose straw man line that basically shuts down any discussion of any aesthetic and/or cultural topic.

    No, taste is not “right” or “wrong.” But there are standards. Standards evolve over time. In the realm of design, those standards lean heavily on form and function, although there are many other factors in play. I’m not suggesting that the camo is wrong as a de facto matter, but there *is* a framework in which to have such a discussion. Trying to shut down the discussion simply because it doesn’t reduce to a mathematical equation is silly and reductive.

    This is why we have cultural critics — to weigh in on cultural matters and help frame the discussion. When I say “critic,” I don’t mean “reviewer.” Anyone can be a reviewer, simply by saying, “I like this, but I don’t like this.” A critic is, loosely speaking, an articulate expert — someone with a lot of knowledge about the subject at hand, an ability to communicate that knowledge, an ability to forge connections between the cultural discipline at hand and the larger issues of how we live, and, ideally, a fairly consistent point of view shaped by connecting cultural dots over a wide range of time and influences.

    That would be me.

    Are critics always “right”? Of course not. Do you always have to agree with them? Nope. But trying to reduce the discussion to right/wrong issues is that oldest trick in the anti-critic book. Engaging the topic on the merits — as you did quite effectively in the rest of your comment — is a much better way to go.

    Not that I may change people’s minds or anything, but I may be able to add a little insight to this beings I am one of the equipment managers for Army.

    Was this a gimmick by Nike? No. They seemed to be in support of the uniform, but this was all driven from within the athletic department. The excitement from the 2008 Army Navy uniform was incredible and it was decided to take it to the next step. Some of us were against the idea because we thought it would end up being too much ACU. However, once we put it on the athletes, that feeling seemed to pass over quickly.

    EVERY recruit that has came and visited West Point over the last two years just wants to get their picture taken with that uniform. I totally agree that it is a look that “only Army can pull off.” Does that make it right? No. But then when you speak to everyone that is deployed, or has been deployed, and see how excited they are to see THEIR football team wear the colors that they wear every day, it is incredible. The patch we wear on our shoulder gives a certain division/unit in the Army a sense of pride because they are being recognized for what they are accomplishing. We feel with these uniforms we were able to do the same thing, just on a bigger scale. How many times can a football team wear a uniform that can not only relate to their whole student body, but also the rest of the world and hopefully bring unity for the three hours of the football game? You’d be surprised how much those uniforms make a difference. All of a sudden, our football uniform isn’t a uniform anymore… Which is what sports is all about.

    Overall, I enjoyed the game. Some of the pictures that were taken by our managers and fans are incredible. Seeing the Corps of Cadets wearing the same uniform as the players was an awesome sight. I couldn’t tell you how excited our players were to wear that uniform and try to perform up to its’ standards.

    Thanks for the write up. I think the camo helmet is perdy cool, although I prefer the entire camo ensemble to be broken up a tad with a solid color jersey. This, was pretty slick.

    link….

    Is it true that the camo uniforms shut down Army’s passing atack? I heard the quarterback couldn’t find his receivers. Which was a shame, as the db’s couldn’t see them either.
    Ba-dum-bum.

    The fact that everyone at West Point loves the camo doesn’t strike me as particularly relevant. Everyone at Oregon loves what goes on there, but that doesn’t make it good

    Similarly, the fact that you don’t like it doesn’t strike me as particularly relevant. You’re free to rant about it all you like, of course, but your opinion doesn’t make it good either. And if anyone’s opinion should be taken into account I should think it should be the those of the team/fan base before anyone else.

    would it be against the rules to wear camo against Georgia?
    I mean you could hide real good between the hedges i would think.

    You really like monochrome. I liked what you did with some of the helmets, its tough to make schools like OSU look good.

    Jordan, I am from Georgia (a Georgia Tech Alum) and I wanted to make a couple points regarding the uga and Tech uniforms.

    First, navy is not one of Georgia Tech’s colors, although occasionally the team wears navy (and in the 1980’s, black). Tech does use navy as an accent color. However, the only two official colors are Gold and White. Whenever Tech dresses in a blue football jersey, a large group of Tech Alums complains about it since blue isn’t an official color. All Blue might get the coach fired, lol.

    On the other hand, Silver IS one of the official uga colors. This from the uga website:

    “The identity policy incorporates several University of Georgia attributes as specified by the original Identity Policy Committee: history and tradition through the use of the Arch, the founding date of the University, and the colors red, black, and silver gray; and academics, through use of the words “The University of Georgia.”

    In fact, Georgia wore silver helmets until the early 60’s, and the football team is sometimes called the “Silver Britches”.

    I really dont know. From the black and white pics, it looks like he is wearing gold, in some pics it might be blue. As I said, over the years Tech has rolled out a blue or black jersey. But neither blue nor black are Tech colors. Only gold and white.

    Thanks Scott. I had asked about that era jerseys on Georgia Tech boards. They said it was a mustard looking color or dark mustard if there is such a thing.

    I just found a color picture of Notre Dame and Georgia Tech from 1941 and I will post it or send it to Paul in a day or so. The colors are very dark almost brownish.

    My guess would be dark gold/mustard. I know that Clint’s number is the only number retired at Tech, but I don’t know if Tech has his jersey on display somewhere. Fom what I have learned on this site, you can’t tell what color something is in a black and white photo because of the different types of lenses used. I have always wondered when the first blue jersey was used in Tech football.

    Not aware of that, thanks for pointing it out, they already had an all-gold look, plus I know they have the blue unis in NCAA football 11 and I dig the blue and gold color scheme. But thanks for pointing that out.

    No problem. Because Tech has only two colors, Tech has always preferred to wear a white jersey and gold pants, both at home and on the road. As documented on this site, Tech has two different white jerseys this year. Tech does switch out different color pants, usually white or gold. If the visiting team insists on wearing white, Tech will break out the gold jersey, and once in a while, blue.

    I do like the blue helmet you made, but I can’t believe Tech would ever wear a blue helmet.

    Wiki’s picture depicting Tech’s unis is not accurate, it just takes every piece of the uniform and pairs it with the others (that pic is also dated as the design is off and the gold is the one that was never worn and then scrapped the 2nd year of the design and replaced with one with more white).

    Tech doesn’t have an all-gold look, you could put the team in all-gold if you wanted to but its never been done and Paul Johnson won’t let it be done (he’s said it makes them look like french-fries – that was said when he was at Navy). Rumor is a man made a large donation a few years back and said that he never wanted to see the Navy jerseys again, O’leary clearly didn’t like anything other than Gold (He made the numbers Gold, making them hard to read, his affinity for Gold is further proved by the fact that UCF barely wears black anymore, and also had gold numbers despite it still being hard to read).

    I think we should Navy against miami in celebration of the 20th anniversary of our 1990 national title and then never wear it again (except further anniversaries of that season).

    Odds are if a color other than a shade of Gold was used in the early years of Tech football it was Black. As Tech often went by the name the Blacksmiths in the beginning (before eventually becoming the Golden Tornadoes and then the Yellow Jackets – which was a name given because fans would wear yellow jackets to the games as opposed to being a reference to the insect)

    Regarding Ol’ Miss – my thought watching yesterday when I say their grays was that it HAD to be a shout-out to the Confederacy (not that ANYONE will ever admit it) after all the bru-ha-ha of doing away w/ colonel reb etc. Anyone else agree or have other theories?

    Nah. I dunno… Maybe.

    They were celebrating the 50th anniversary of their 1960 national championship so apparently they wanted to do something different. I guess it was a surprise to the players. Apparently the red jerseys were in their lockers before warm-ups, but when they came back, the gray ones were there.

    I guess it would have made more sense to go with a straight-up throwback jersey or maybe even helmet. But the 1960 jerseys didn’t look all that different from what they wear today, did they? And if you’re trying to keep it under wraps, a different helmet is out of the question.

    it’s an interesting theory…one would think if that were the case, they might have chosen an opponent other than auburn (although auburn did have a blue top to play the union role)

    perhaps having an opponent north of 39° 43′ 20″ N latitude would have been *too* obvious

    more likely, it was just another alternate…one which i rather liked — too bad they can’t wear that as their away uniform…looks much better with the gray pants than the white top

    I figured it was in homage to the departed Colonel Reb. If they were honoring a past team they could have just done a throwback. Regardless of the reason, it does look good and is worthy of being the regular away uni.

    That’s what my wife said about Army. As she got closer to the screen she said, “Oh, that’s camouflage? I thought they were just dirty.”

    I chuckled to myself that Ole Miss was clearly trying to distance themselves from the Confederate imagery by wearing all gray. Truth be told, they broke out all the stops to get the crowd louder than usual. They had some 3D thing on the scoreboard, a new ‘O’ yell, and the grays. Perhaps that was all to offset the ‘huh?’ factor of now having a bear as a mascot, not that we at Auburn have a lot of room to talk about mascot logic.

    While that Nike hi-rez photo showed the helmets with the gator pattern, they didn’t wear them yesterday. They just removed the stripes from their helmets for the game.

    I stand corrected – I didn’t watch enough of the game to catch the Florida gator hide print on the helmets and only saw it on some stills from the game. It was very subtle – didn’t even show on the HD feed on my set.

    Hey Phil,
    Not to nitpick, but, the camouflage pattern is the Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP), not the Army Combat Uniform (ACU).

    i certainly won’t argue with you walt, as i’m not in the military, but i was under the impression that the UCP is also an ACU…not that they are two distinct different types of patterns

    if i am wrong, then i apologize

    Coupla things…..
    – enough with the apostrophied Haloween Phil.
    – how about we see the deer woods Mossy Oak version of camo on the field. Gimick? Costume? Yes. Okay by me. As long as it’s not BFBS.
    – I like Donofrio’s Cowboys…just bring back the old number font.
    – Oregon just does it right. They are FUN to watch play football, both in execution and aesthetics. Don’t like the NOB color or number font, but we could all improve somewhere.
    – October baseball in Dallas is great to see.
    – Can anyone else NOT see the score block on the World Series TV screen? Damn thing is cut off on every TV I’ve seen it on.
    – The Blues have one of the BEST logos in sports.
    – I HATE Nebraska having a different N on the helmet from the one they use as their logo. They need to go san sarif on everything.
    – Florida looked dumb yesterday.
    – I’m really starting to not like OK ST’s “Pistols Firing” and “in the Pistol formation” crap. And that helmet logo, underline the O, overline the U, not good.
    – Notre Dame is in complete shambles.
    – Can we see the Giants orange jerseys please?
    – Those SMU helmets are just plain NICE.
    – Wouldn’t a REAL camo football uniform be one that is the same color as the turf with thick horizontal white lines across it?

    – No woodsy camo, please.

    – Amen on the sans serif for Nebraska.

    – Florida look a lot better than I thought they would.

    – Yes to the Giants in orange. Too bad they don’t have black pants…just for today, you know.

    While I don’t care for most of Jordan’s suggestions, I was surprised at how well Oklahoma looked in a white helmet and Nebraska looked in red.

    The sans-serif N has always bugged me. It looks too puny to be Nebraska. Better to slap that slab serif N on the side of the helmet. (Heading into the Big Ten would present a good opportunity to do just that!)

    The Big Ten+2 does seem to be more of a serif-y conference, so if they made the switch I’d understand. But I still like the puny sans serif N.

    Don’t tell me you’re one of those guys who doesn’t like the Jazz and Sixers’ cheap-looking number fonts?
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    I love those.

    traxel: “enough with the apostrophied Haloween Phil.”

    Well: “All Hallow’s Evening” –> “Hallow’s Evening” –> “Hallow’s Even” –> “Hallowe’en”

    So, Phil is correct…

    Can anyone else NOT see the score block on the World Series TV screen? Damn thing is cut off on every TV I’ve seen it on.

    Fox is now designing the FoxBox for a 16:9 image. When the Pittsburgh affiliate started showing games in SD letterboxed at the beginning of football season, the score became visible.

    As an Army veteran, I loved the Army ACU uni’s yesterday, despite the fact that I can’t quite get the image of a watermelon out of my head when I see the ACU pattern helmet, going back to the 2008 Army-Navy game. It should be West Point’s perogotive to wear any combination of the ACU pattern whenever they want. I liked the black jersey with the ACU numbers, too. GO ARMY, BEAT NAVY!

    The main point about the Army ACU pattern uni’s is that they liked them. The team, coaches, corps of cadets, administration, and alumni loved them. That’s all that matters. I doubt seriously that the Army community gives a flying rat’s you-know-what if a bunch of internet uni geeks like them or not, which is as it should be. GO ARMY, BEAT NAVY!

    well, that *would* be the point of the uni’s on EVERY OTHER BOARD but Uni Watch

    this is not a *FAN* board, where of course everyone who supports the team is going to love their unis…paul’s whole point, almost the entire raison d’être of Uni Watch IS to objectively critique athletics aesthetics

    obviously, there are strong opinions on both sides of the issue — personally, i LIKED the uniform, but i dislike gimmicks…how one even defines “gimmick” is all subjective

    if they are supported by the community and liked by the players and fans, that’s a good thing — no one is arguing that

    what we’re discussing is whether or not they are aesthetically appealing and in that context, what each person who posts here DOES get to say how they feel about them

    whether or not the army community gives a flying rat’s ass is not germane

    i appreciate your thoughts, and they are welcome…but please don’t take offense at those whose opinions (which is all they are) differ from yours

    on another note, thank you for your service to this country!

    Phil, I’m not taking offense at anybody else’s opinions, they are certainly entitled to them. I’m obviously one of those internet uni geeks or I wouldn’t be here.

    I’m simply stating a fact – The United States Military Academy came up with that uniform to honor the men and women who wear it in the defense of this nation. To me that that supercedes the usual “stirups and sleeve stripes” discussions we have here. It’s not the cosmetic quality of the uniform and whether we like it nor not that matters, it’s what it represents that’s really important. People need to look beyond the aesthetics sometimes.

    For the record, I prefer the classic uniform of the Red Blaik era with the numbers on the sides of the helmet that they brought back for the 2008 season.

    Army’s traditional black and gold is a good looking uniform. The Army gold helmet with single black stripe looks sharp. And I am not a fan of Notre Dames plain gold helmet or the shade of gold for it.

    The camo is a neat idea but to me it does not make a good football uniform.

    I think there are lots of different ways people do theirs. Some of the more realistic ones look pretty sharp and I have no idea how hey pull it together. I use AutoCAD. I drew my own template for each sport then go from there. Use a solid hatch for colors. Sometimes I can bring in a .jpg logo but most of the time I have to trace over it to make it look right. My guess is not too many people go this route. I use AutoCAD every day at work so it is what I know. I’m not very good with Photoshop.

    Thanks for the info. Now I do think I recall you or somebody saying about the AutoCad. And I do not have Photoshop so oh well.

    larry,

    if you go to the Uni Watch FAQ, about 2/3rds of the way do there is a section entitled “I want to submit an NFL uni tweak to Phil. Where can I find a uniform template to use?”

    i’d start with that…if you have any questions after that, shoot me an email

    I get mine from

    link

    It has all of the pro team’s unis there.

    and I use Gimp 2.0
    which is a program similar to photoshop

    Does that mean everyone stops caring tomorrow? ;)

    Don’t be surprised if you see one or two players next week still wearing something pink.

    Maybe next year it will be Purple for all cancers instead of just breast cancer.

    My mom, a Breast Cancer survivor wishes there was more attention paid to others, our (extended) family has lost 3 members to cancer none of whom had breast cancer (alternatively we’re batting 3/3 in the breast cancer department).

    Prostate and Pancreatic Cancer for example have low cure rates, and don’t get nearly as much attention. I’d prefer leagues raise more awareness to cancer in general than singling out one.

    Thanks for the write up. I think the camo helmet is perdy cool, although I prefer the entire camo ensemble to be broken up a tad with a solid color jersey. This, was pretty slick.

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    I like the solid camo….but I agree.

    The black jersey with camo numbers is much better. A perfect 10 in my book.

    I haven’t been keeping track – though I’m certain somebody is – but looks like Iowa State is doing very well in Mr. Vilk’s top 5.

    Yeah, that occurred to me last night. They seem to be this year’s LSU for me. Good scheduling, I suppose.

    Speaking of scheduling, they play Nebraska next week, so barring any unforseens, we may see them again. I never know until I actually see the photos, though.

    I don’t have a dog in the Army camo fight, as I can see both sides in this instance. All I know is, had they worn their regular unis, that would have been a Top 5 matchup, just as it was last year. But then the list is just about what’s visually appealing to me, not what’s appropriate or not.

    “the list is just about what’s visually appealing to me, not what’s appropriate or not.”

    no shit sherlock foolin?

    which explains why tulane, whose uniform is good but not “A++” worthy by any stretch of the imagination, constantly gets top 5 and sometimes #1…while the ducks, who looked outfreakinstanding yesterday get jobbed, because YOU don’t like the belotti bold…

    but hey, it’s your list, and obviously i have no influence over it ;)

    BFBS wings, Phil (or was that carbon?). Yet another point taken off for the Shmucks.
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    I thought you’d have a slide presentation prepared showing why Tulane isn’t worthy of elite status. I eagerly await one when I get back on the computer later. ;)

    OK, carbon wings. Finally read the whole post a half an hour ago…
    As I said, another point off.

    Green ‘O’ on the helmet.

    Carbon-colored wings and carbon-colored numerals with a black outline.

    Bright silver shoes.

    They could have done this better, if the shoes were carbon-colored and the ‘O’ on the helmet was carbon-colored as well.

    Today’s Rams game is a great visual reminder of how striking that team used to look. Awesome to see the old uniforms in action, but depressing that they are, in fact, the old uniforms.

    Continuing with hockey news and the belated call for Halloween stuff…
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    Two years ago, Lightning goalies Mike Smith and Olie Kolzig had masks for the movie Saw V, wore them the last week of October (including Halloween), and auctioned them off for charity.

    Florida did wear a helmet with gator skin on it…it just wasn’t pronounced as much as the obviously photoshopped marketing pics. You could tell it was different and not just a removal of the stripe down the middle at certain angles while watching. In that stand point Nike failed, it wasnt different enough…maybe because they hated the white helmets so much last year they told Nike not to go so far (even though the hate comes from the team performance in them more than anything)

    Forgive my ignorance about Army vs. VMI…

    Its been stated a couple times above that the all-camo is a look that “only Army can pull off”..

    Isn’t VMI also a military academy? Aren’t they just as appropriate for a camo look? Or am I misunderstanding what VMI is? I’m not trying to be a troll here, I’m genuinely curious about the role of VMI in all this.

    VMI (Virginia Military Institute) is A military academy – West Point (The United States Military Academy) is THE military academy. VMI is a state school in Virginia that is modeled on West Point.

    Am I the only one who is seeing some wacky stripes on DeAngelo Hall? Instead of the usual yellow/maroon double stripe, it looks like he’s got a triple stripe. Haven’t seen it in a while, but it’s either maroon/yellow/maroon or yellow/maroon/yellow. I think it’s the maroon/yellow/maroon stripe.

    I use to be a Patroits fan, then they went away from those sweet jerseys and I dropped them like third period French.

    I don’t.
    None of the striping patterns match in this throwback/alternate iteration, Pat Patriot is IMO a crummy helmet logo (the hat over the TV number à la 1960 is light years better, and Pat is *fine* as a sleeve patch), and the jerseys are Redcoat Red. (We hear you, Ricko, but I still think it’s a silly paradox.)
    Not that Flying Elvis is any better overall…

    Thank you, Mike. I’ll forgive you for posting that pic of me a few posts up the board.

    I think you’re the first person here (besides me) to speak poorly of the Pat logo.

    I mentioned last week that I had link as a kid. And I loved that sleeping bag, except for one thing. There was a logo on there that I didn’t like because it gave me the creeps. Any guesses?

    That being said, I’ll take Pat over Elvis any day.

    “There was a logo on there that I didn’t like because it gave me the creeps.”

    the indian head?

    I was glad to see the Dolphins wearing their the link on the road. Now if only they could always link (instead of link), I would be very happy.

    As for the Gators new Nike uniforms, I thought they were much better than last year’s fiasco. The pants were a nice blue, and the jersey was good, except I didn’t like the italic font as much. I don’t want to see them regularly, but they weren’t a distraction for this Gator fan.

    i must have asked ricko about that 20 times…so i’ve stopped askin

    i keep hoping it does, but he seems to feel it doesn’t get a lot of UW love

    and…oh my…pats game ended and they just gave us coverage of the cards and bucs

    cards are wearing their bfbs costumes

    Cardinals in black? Why not just recycle the red Giant’s alts from a couple of years ago?

    In the Jazz/Thunder game, the Jazz’s Milsap is losing the 2 from the front of his jersey. It was just a quick shot, but it didn’t look sewn on.

    They are sewn (or should be). But that doesn’t mean they can’t fall off — it’s happened before.

    If you can get a screen shot, please do!

    I wasn’t sure which way they went this year. I didn’t notice any loose stitching, so I thought it may have been heat applied.

    The original plan was to just go heat-seal, but it seems the equipment managers have been stitching them on to make sure they stay there. I have a feeling there’s going to be a lot of logos and lettering falling off jerseys this season.

    “Loser

    Arizona.”

    i think i dated a lady from loser, arizona once…

    totally agreed on the winners, tod

    the thing is, the rams aren’t too far gone to get back to that beauty…new england, i’m afraid, has won too many big games in the blues to ever ditch them permanently

    but at least a large enough percentage of their fan base appreciates the beauty (if not the losing) in the redcoats

    Exactly right about New England. The people I was watching the game with said “put away those bad luck uniforms already.”

    what a long couple days, but after i oack up the computer and put the gatos in the carrier, i will no longer be a resident of chicago. sure, i’ll miss this place, but what i am really going to miss is mexico. not everything fit in the truck, so there was quite the art give away, along with light boxes, a fun machine, golly, lots of things. oh, an i have met some kick ass chicago uniwatchers, shag, bern(also a patron before we knew we both uw’ed), but i would kick myself on my way out of town if i didn’t say what a pleasure it was to get to know jth, if there is a uw’er have as generous, and cool in kc, i will be lucky, thanks for everything man. okay, don’t know when i will have a web again, enjoy my not being here, link.

    Aw, shucks *kicks pebble* so how ’bout them local pro and/or college sports team? Lovely weather we’re having, eh?

    Yeah, so if you even read this, that thing about hockey preventing me from going out on Wednesday might be a non-issue. I wiped out on my bike today and messed up my left wrist & thumb and my right forearm, thumb & shin. Then, to add injury to injury, I went to the batting cage (which was stupid since I could barely swing the bat) and fouled one hard off my left foot.

    Trick-or-treating was a real effing blast tonight.

    Watching the Steelers/Saints game…holy mother, the Saints’ unis look like crap. That all-black look sucks. But the weird thing for me? The trim at the neckline isn’t the same shade of gold as everything else. It makes an already bad look appear very sloppy and poorly constructed.

    might be time for another “they just need to fix ______ and they’ll be perfect” column

    the saints are another team that’s thisclose to being perfect…

    step 1. ditch the black pants…permanently; burn them if you have to

    step 2. add a white stripe on the fat black stripe to match the helmet

    step 3. get the golds to match

    done and done

    That’s really pretty.

    War sucks. As much fun as people are having with camo football uniforms, war still sucks. Why emulate it via a stupid game.

    Gee, doesn’t that look an AWFUL lot like Tulane’s uni template??
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    And by awful I mean anything BUT awful. Those are both A+ at least.

    it’s not necessarily the template mv

    it’s the colours (im channeling marshall now)…green is beautiful…powder blue is purdy…but never the twain shall meet

    it is NOT an aesthetically appealing combo

    As a Saints fan, it kills me to see them in the Superhero Black kit XP, and I wish they would just burn those Fothermucking pieces of crap (i.e. the black pants) ONCE. AND. FOR. ALL. That being said, I’m not surprised that they went mono black tonight, being Hallowe’en and all. ONLY because they won tonight, I’ll let that disgusting look slide… TONIGHT and TONIGHT ONLY. They played like a football team tonight, let’s hope they can do it again while LOOKING like a football team next week. Who Dat!

    The Saint Louis Steamers (may they rest in peace) respectfully disagree.
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    That’s one flippin’ great color combo.

    Some nice tweaks today, especially Matt’s Navy tweaks. They need to stop looking like Notre Dame with NAVY across the chest, and these are some good options.

    Also liked Ole Miss
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    and LSU.
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    I know…mess with two of my favorite unis? Jordan did, though, and I’d wear those.

    I heard the 49ers were the home team in London. But, if you’re going to put the Broncos in one end zone,
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    why not put their logo at the 25 as well?

    Yeah, that bothered me more than anything else I saw on any football field this weekend. Anyone know how this was handled in previous London games?

    In addition to the throw backs, Steven Jackson of the Rams wore Eric Dickerson’s signature goggles in the pregame today. I hope either paul or someone else with ticker power sees this because it looked really cool.
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    Looked on the MLB Shop…I counted 7 shirts (4 designs) featuring the Rangers’ Claw & Antlers. Great business there, taking our idea and running fast as hell with it. Not complaining though…

    coming right up.
    one of the great pitching jobs in WS history for a rook.

    San Francisco 4, Texas 0 at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington
    San Francisco Record: (3-1)
    Texas Record: (1-3)

    Winning pitcher – Madison Bumgarner (1-0)
    Losing pitcher – Tommy Hunter (0-1)

    Apparently the Arizona Wildcats’ Paul Vassallo’s nameplate read “Vassllo” for Saturday’s game at UCLA. No screenshots, unfortunately.

    LSU wore purple pants once before, during the DiNardo era and they lost to Kentucky, so they shelved them. They wore gold jerseys too, in a game at Florida, but they wore white pants, i believe

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