By Phil Hecken
“Not seeing the forest for the trees?”
“Oregon Being Oregon?”
“What the Duck?”
So many headlines went through my head when I first saw today’s splash photo. It’s actually quite difficult to put into words. Well, my own words, anyway. So, I’ll let Tinker Hatfield, the man who designed the court, say it in his own words: “We wanted to design the most iconic television presence possible for the University of Oregon by conjuring up a highly unique and visible basketball floor design.” OK then.
What you’re looking at is the new floor of the Matthew Knight Arena. What exactly is it though? Take a closer look. Still not getting it? OK. Take a look at this. Do you see it now? Of course you do.
According to the University of Nike, “The court is framed by a representation of a view from beneath a forest of fir trees.” It’s actually pretty cool. I’m not so sure it belongs on a basketball floor, but it’s pretty interesting. At first I through it was some kind of Rorschach inkblot test. But then I looked a bit more closely. Perhaps I should have read the press release first and saved myself some eye strain.
Now that we’ve established what that graphic representation is, the next logical question is “why is it on the court?” Once again, according to Tinker Hatfield, “Its inspired by our beautiful tree-covered region and the UO 1939 NCAA Championship basketball team nicknamed the ”˜Tall Firs.’” Of course it is. Oh, if the name Tinker Hatfield sounds somewhat familiar, you may have heard of him before.
If you look at the court, you’ll notice it’s named “Kilkenny Floor.” And who is Kilkenny? He’s actually Pat Kilkenny, a long-time Oregon supporter and from 2007-2009 was the school’s Director of Athletics. And if you look at the floor a bit more closely, you’ll notice three graphics. Unfortunately, they’re difficult to make out (sorry, I couldn’t find any closeups). They are, according to Oregon, designed “to pay respect to Pat Kilkenny, and the Kilkenny family, by telling their story in a classy and subdued series of three symbolic graphics.”
If you look closely, perhaps you can make out the following: “Graphic 1 (left side) depicts Morrow County and Heppner, Ore., where Pat Kilkenny grew up. Graphic 2, which symbolizes his education at UO, is the 1970’s interlocking UO logo adorned with three shamrocks representative of his very green and very Irish heritage. Graphic 3 symbolizes the beach and sunset of San Diego, where he became a highly successful entrepreneur and still resides today.”
The arena where the Kilkenny court is housed is also represented on the court. If you look closely at the sort-of “pi-A-pi” shaped graphic, that’s the Matt Knight logo, for whom the building is named. If the name “Knight” rings a bell, it’s because the building is named for Phil Knight’s son, Matthew, who was tragically killed in a scuba diving accident at the age of 34. So that’s on the floor too.
Finally, there’s the slogan “Deep In The Woods” on the court, which is meant to intimidate opponents (no, really). You can check out the press release here and some specs on the court here. For a bit more detail on the arena, take a look at Tinker Hatfield describing it in his own words.
Now, about that design. It’s not quite finished being put on the court, but so far it doesn’t look very intimidating. In fact, it actually looks like a big bucket of white paint was spilled in the middle of a standard brown court. Now, I suppose if you’re seated somewhere beneath the scoreboard, this will look pretty cool. And I’m sure it will look better (or will it?) on all those nationally televised games they’re hoping to host. But from that one static shot, it honestly doesn’t look all that impressive.
I thought if they really wanted to make a splash, they could have gone with something like this. Of course, if they actually wanted to depict trees, instead of some brown amorphous blob, perhaps they could have done something like this. However, those may not have passed NCAA muster. But at least they would have looked better than what they have planned.
Now, is this just “Oregon being Oregon”? Or is this the “future” of basketball court design? Say what you will about what Nike has done for Oregon’s football (and to a lesser extent basketball) uniform designs, but it’s almost impossible not to talk about them. Does this, as Paul is so correct in saying, now act as a one-way ratchet for court design? And where does this leave Autzen Stadium? Is their next design something only Jim Vilk could love?
I guess there truly is “no such thing as bad publicity.” Will this generate the kind of buzz Oregon is hoping for? Probably. It’s certainly out of the box thinking. The basic basketball court design has served us well for 100 years (give or take), so is this just a ridiculous extreme — or the next logical step?
Discuss.
(Special thanks to Andrew Greif for the PDFs & main graphic)
Colorize This!
Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.
Last week, I featured this beautiful Shorpy photo of the 1913 Washington baseball club. Four of you took me up on the challenge of colorizing it. It’s pretty amazing how four different “angles” could yield four different, yet equally amazing end results. Check them out:
Our first colorizer is Dylan Buell and here’s his masterpiece. I asked Dylan to tell me about his technique:
First a little about myself for some background. My name is Dylan Buell and I’m a junior at Ball State University and work for the Daily News (our school newspaper) as a chief photographer.
Photography, oddly enough, is simply a hobby for me (I’m studying to be a high school social studies teacher and want to coach baseball while I’m there) and have been shooting since I was a sophomore in high school. I’ve been reading UniWatch for almost two years now and contribute when I can.
Now to colorization. Honestly I’m new to this as well. However, I’ve been using Photoshop for many years and know my way around it. When I first heard about colorization, I jumped on the project and immediately loved it.
For this photo, it was pretty simple with the guide that was given about what colors to use for the uniforms. In Photoshop, I opened both that original photo and the guide photo. One important thing to do while using Photoshop to do a project like this, or many other projects in Photoshop, is to create layers for each different element of the photo. For example, for each color I’m adding, they’re each in a separate layer. That way, I can easily fix anything if I need to.
The process of colorization is pretty simple. I choose a color after creating a layer for it. Then I simply paint over the area that needs to be that color. Here’s where the magic happens though. It’s all about blending modes.
In the panel where the layers are located (usually at the bottom right), there should be a text bubble next to the opacity meter. (The default is set to ‘Normal’). Click on Normal and you should see a list of options. You can experiment with different options, but for me, for basic colors, such as ROY G. BIV, I click on the ‘Color’ blend mode option. However, this blend mode won’t work with colors like white black and gray. For white and black, I’ve found that ‘Soft Light’ works the best, and ‘Color Burn’ for gray.
Once you figure out which blending modes work for which colors, it’s a simple process of just coloring the areas that need the specific color. It can be a very time consuming process, but once you see the finished product, it’s very worth it. And with any other project, the more you do it the better you get. So as my mom says to her third grade students, “Just keep coloring!”
If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask. Thanks.
Dylan Buell
Great stuff. Next up is Michael Ferry, who took a decidedly different approach. Here is Michael’s colorization of the Nats. Likewise, I asked him for a bit of background:
Phil,
Hey, thanks for posting my response — glad to make a small contribution to the great work y’all do. Anyway, couldn’t resist the challenge, and did what I could — see attached.
OK, I tried to colorize the picture using the method I described as closely as possible. To be honest, using the fill/color command didn’t quite capture what I wanted, so I adjusted the levels on pretty much everything, but especially the blue. Originally I pulled up the Dressed to the Nines graphic and used the eye dropper, but it looked a little too purple. I left the grandstand black and white, and did not add any additonal layers. The blue sky and green grass were adjusted with additional fill/color commands to deepen the blue and desaturate the green a bit.
Also had to start over at one point, because my old Photoshop crashed. Ouch — save early, save often. Note: including the crash, it took just over an hour.
Finally, I adjusted the resolution to 72 dpi and the size to make it a little smaller and easier to work with on my monitor. I guess I could start using 96 dpi since I’ve finally got a flat screen, but…
Also decided to make the sweater a little more gray.
Hope you like the picture, and I’m looking forward to seeing what you and other people have done. Thanks again.
Regards,
Michael Ferry
Baton Rouge, LA
Our third colorizer is Carlos Sosa, who had a really different take on colorization. Here’s what Carlos created for his Washington recolor. Pretty amazing right. Carlos says, “Whadayathink? Even fixed the right guy’s smile!” Nice!
And our final colorization is brought to us by The Jeff, who actually posted this in the comments but I wanted to give it the full front page treatment it deserves. How’d he do? See for yourself.
Awesome stuff from all the colorizers.
I had planned on having this week’s “Colorize This!” come from one of the photos Paul ran during this past week’s Wire Service article, but I was contacted this week by Terry Proctor, who approached me with a challenge.
He wrote:
“Dear Phil,
I was wondering if you could help me out. For the Rochester Amerks Booster Club web site I’ve written the team’s uniform history for the first 25 years. I’ve come across photos of actual Rochester sweaters that have been offered for sale by various auction houses or some that have already been purchased by local collector Dave Parlet. Dave has provided pictures of his sweaters plus other vintage AHL sweaters for the page. We’ve got just about every era of Rochester uniforms taken care of except the first two versions of the striped sweater.
So I have attached a photo of former Amerk favorite Stan Smrke from 1957-58. I was wondering if you could “colorize” this photo and another of the 1956-57 sweater that I will send you in a separate e-mail. If you could do these for me it would be greatly appreciated. The Amerks Booster Club web site is IMHO, the premier site of its kind. Not bragging, but through the efforts of people like webmaster Bill Flynn (he works at WHAM Radio 1180 in Rochester), jersey collector Dave Parlet and myself, we’ve done some historical things that the team really should have done themselves. But most of those kids at the team office can’t tell a hockey puck from a stale bagel.
If you can do these two photos for us we’ll of course give you full credit.”
Terry also sent along two additional photos he’d like colorized. Now, I could do the colorizations myself, but since a number of us are really getting into this hobby, I asked Terry if he minded if I asked for reader submissions as well. He heartily agreed.
So, here’s today’s challenge. Let’s see how many of you want to take a shot at the following photos, and not only will I post them here but you’ll also be helping out Terry Proctor (and I don’t need to tell you how great he’s been to the UW community). Plus, you’ll get your “name in lights” as it were over at the Rochester Americans Booster Club. OK? OK!
Now, these photos are a bit smaller than we’re used to working with, but I’m sure we can produce some outstanding results for Terry.
Our first photo is Stan Smrke, whom Terry describes as follows:
Upper Sweater Shoulders: Royal Blue
Body and Sleeve stripes: Red
Team Name “AMERICANS”: Royal Blue w/Red outline
Sleeve Numbers: Solid Royal Blue
Pants: Royal Blue w/White-Red-White Stripes
Hockey Socks: Red w/White and Royal Blue Stripes (Chicago-style)
Gloves: Leather Light Brown
Skates: Black
Stick: Wood Color
Face: Flesh Color w/Light Brown Hair
Next up is Mike Nykoluk, and the photo is described thusly:
Upper shoulders: Royal Blue
Body & Sleeve Stripes: Red
Large “R” on front: Red w/ White outline
“AMERICANS” on front: Royal w/Red outline
“R” in sleeve crest: Royal Blue
Pants: Royal Blue w/White-Red-White stripes
Socks: Red w/White-Royal Blue-White (Montreal style)
Gloves: Brown Leather
Skates: Black
Stick: Wood
Face & Hair: Flesh w/Dark Brown hair
Finally we have Tommy Williams, who is wearing a similar uniform to Mike Nykoluk. Terry says, “This pic of Tommy Williams is a little better than the Nykolouk shot. Tommy had red hair. His nickname was “Red.” Sorry for the confusion. Your efforts will help us greatly.”
OK, Uni Watchers. I apologize for the length of this section, but I wanted to have the contributors explain their techniques and the second part about helping Terry out is real important. So, everyone, get your crayons out fire up the Photoshop/GIMP and let’s see if we can’t do these photos some justice. You can do one, two or all three. I’ll post all the responses next week, and I’m sure Terry will be very proud of your efforts.
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 James Powel, who has a new look for the LA Kings:
Dear Mr. Hecken,
First of all I love the blog and have been a long time reader and this is my first time tweaking. Anyway as a LA Kings fan I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to uniform design but as I saw the renderings of what my Kings would wear Opening Night in Vancouver I was excited and it looked better than I thought on TV. So I wondered if the team made that the home sweater what would the road version look like? The obvious choice would be a “gold” version but that did not look good when they tried it the first time. So then I thought, what about a white version? That’s what I created. Tell me what you think and thanks for your time.James Powel
Next up is Kevin Callahan with a Washington Wizards concept:
A tweak of the Washington Wizards uniforms in to red, white and blue. The trick was to ride the line between retro and something that might actually be used today. While normally I would play on a fifties/sixties NBA look, this one lands squarely in the seventies. Enjoy!
Kevin Callahan
And finally we have Joseph Kotwick, who has a new home & road for the Detroit Lions:
Us Leo’s fans had to go through a ‘re-brand’ last year. New script with the same un-originiality.
Here’s a fresh take on a classic look/logo.
Joe from Detroit
Thus endeth the Tweaks, Concepts & Revisions for today. Check back tomorrow for more.
That’s all for today. Don’t forget, Texas Tech and Utah will both be sporting the “camo blackout” unis today. Isn’t that special. Here’s what the jerseys will look like. No comment. But, unlike those wonderful MLB S&S caps and the adidas 9/11 gear, “The jerseys will be auctioned off by the teams after the game,” and according to Under Armour, “100 percent of the proceeds of the jersey auctions will go to the Wounded Warrior Project.” Hmmmm.
No Pro Combat unis today, but there will be one team wearing them next weekend. As far as anything else out of the ordinary, you’ll just have to watch the games to see.
Have a great Saturday, everyone.
As a Nats fan, after watching a Nats game, I often want to knock over a Walgreen’s. But that sort of pointless violence is best left to Phillies fans. — Scott Rogers
One word: win.
link
Seconded with enthusiasm. Tremendous “tweak,” Phil — if this whole political operative/uni expert/journalism student gig ever loses its luster for ya, I think you’ve got quite the future as a playing surface redesign consultant :-)
Great work by the other colorizers. Thank you for reminding me that I’m not an expert yet.
I second the huzzahs! I especially love the big smiles on the ballplayers, unusual to see big smiles in the early days of photography.
-Jet
Ditto on props to all colorizers -I thought yours was fine The Jeff. But I’d like Carlo Sosa to work on MY teeth from now on. That’s truly “painless” dentistry;-)
AS for WTD! quacks on – quacks off…
ok my first thought at the floor design…….bird crap on the windshield!
From a conceptual standpoint, I really like the Oregon court design. I worry that it’s just gonna look like a giant bleach stain on the teevee, and I certainly don’t think it’s going to intimidate anyone, but it’s a really interesting experiment. I’m rooting for it to succeed.
Also: Let’s hear it for Phil, who’s been ridiculously busy on several fronts and probably had something else slated for today’s lede entry but still managed to shift into rapid-response mode once the images of the Oregon floor design began circulating late yesterday. Above and beyond, buddy — you rock.
I’m sure in Tinker Hatfield’s mind this looked great, but in real life…um, no. It does look like a bleach stain from a distance. Up close you can appreciate it more, but still, no. Same as the football unis – let Oregon keep it, but let’s not have any copycats of this floor.
As for your 2nd paragraph, Paul – ditto. Great work, Phil.
Funny, last night I was going to suggest alternating green and yellow every five yards at Autzen Stadium, but since I wasn’t that serious about it, I kept it to myself. Sometimes, Phil almost gets me.
I did suggest, instead of the pointy arrows at each yard-line number, that they paint little pine trees pointing toward the nearest goal line.
“Technically” speaking, you’ve had several schools use different shades of stain to decorate their courts (Colorado State, Rhode Island, recently Notre Dame), and you’ve had the NBA use different shades of stain to define areas of the court (the lane, inside the three-point arc, etc.) Hatfield is probably the first since Robert Indiana’s famous MECCA court in Milwaukee to use the entire floor as a canvas, this time with stains.
I could see the referees having a problem with the entire mid-court stripe being invisible (you still need it for the men’s game) and I wonder if the pale center area would bleed on television. It is unique, though, well-intentioned, and painstakingly executed. I also hope it works out.
Thank you in advance to everyone who works on the Amerks uniform pictures. By adding colorized photos of these first two uniforms in team history it will give fans a true-to-life visual look of what the team actually wore back in 1956-57 and 1957-59.
Webmaster Bill Flynn has informed me that since the uniform history and classic sweater pages were added to the site they have received the most “hits” of any section on there.
So through your efforts we can continue to make the Amerks Booster Club web site even better. Thanks again.
That Wizards tweek is great!
I completely agree. Love both the uniforms and the logo!
Second that agreement. If the Wizards looked anything like that, this Washingtonian would start caring about them.
Does that court design show up under regular link?
Oh, that link is borderline NSFW.
Nice work, Phil. That green version is crazy silly.
Let’s get a few things straight. Oregon basketball is horrible. They’ll be on national TV, what, maybe 2-3 times this year? (aside from the highlights mocking them like they used to do with Boise’s silly blue basketball court)
From a design standpoint, I’m surprised this passed the mustard with Nike (believe it or not). It looks to me like the “lockup” (graphic design term) of the “O” and the “Matt” icons are in violation of the brand standard set for the “O” all these years.
i.e., I’m surprised ANYTHING can be placed in such close proximity of the “O” icon. It looks off, it’s cluttered, and it violates the sanctity of the “O” identity (I know, hard to believe I’m even tying that, but regarding Oregon’s brand guidelines… it’s true).
Very surprising. I kind of like the audacity of it. Knowing full well, they’re media whores and still suck royal at the game of hoops. It just makes strong hoops programs stand out that much more for having traditional values and a legacy to uphold.
I miss Boise’s old court. The new one doesn’t do it for me:
link
Usually, IIRC, the “O” icon is paired with the script “Oregon” beneath it. I imagine you can separate the two as secondary logos.
I was going to say that their justification might be that the “O” is contained in the center circle, separating it from the rest of the floor. A second look proves that it isn’t. So…my new explanation for their justification is that Phil Knight paid for this place and named it after his late son. The logo better be in a prominent place.
Digging today’s tweaks, especially Joseph’s Lions. Great work, guys!
link
ill just leave this here…
“Gettin’ Jiggy With Iggy”?
At least he took some time on it. That looks like embroidery, not patches.
In all seriousness, I don’t understand why the trees are brown. Why not green? Like, y’know, the color of, um, link? Oh, and also isn’t green one of Oregon’s colors? At least it used to be.
Whatever. I don’t hate the design, but spread across the entire court? I guess I’ll wait to reserve full judgment until I see it in actual use, but I think if they kept that confined to just the free throw lanes it could look pretty good.
Of course, as I’ve said before, I think link is the alpha and the omega, the apex, the zenith, the acme of basketball court design, so take my opinion with that grain of salt.
TCU and Utah are playing in one of biggest, most-watched games in both school’s respective histories – and they both wear gimmick uniforms – isn’t that a form of disrespect to their primary uniforms – isn’t it the equivalent of the cadets at the Naval academy wearing football uniforms on graduation day. Maybe an over the top analogy, but it doesn’t seem quite right.
What special uni is TCU wearing today? Are they doing that blood-eyes helmet thing again?
aren’t all of tcu’s uniforms gimmicks?
Yeah but Utah, a school that craves to be taken seriously (move to the Pac 10) .
I found it interesting that during the World Series – Texas showed restraint and stuck with their white unis at home. Big event, dress your best
Couldn’t say it better than Endive- “big event, dress your best”
For your biggest games, wear the standard uniform- whatever you think of as your signature look.
Save the alts for other games.
agree with both
when they look back (and with a 3 & a 5, they will) someday at what is (aside from a bowl) probably the biggest game in either school’s history, historians will be like “WTF?” … other than oregon, i would think you’d be wearing your “sunday best” (as it were) for the game
kinda like how we look back on 70’s wedding photos — who looks better, the guy with the giant fro and the blue polyester 3 piece tuxedo (whether it was ever in “style” or not) … or the guy who wore the standard black formal attire?
dress in school colors…not clown suits for the big game
Or the guy with the tuxedo print t-shirt?
I think its actually a pretty good idea honestly. Sure it’s a huge game, maybe they would want to dress normally. but in doing this, they shows their appreciation for the troops in front of a national audience. Great idea in my opinion, definitely understand why they are doing it.
Ummm, one reason why this week was chosen to where camos and support the Wounded Warrior Project is to celebrate Veteran’s Day, Nov 11. That date doesn’t change just because a game much bigger than anyone expected.
Good point about the biggest game and they wear gimmick uniforms.
I just turned on Army Air Force and thought this stuff is being overdone
air force broke out their t-birds unis again…and army is in their dress grays…hmmmm
Oregon already had a great basketball arena in McArthur Court, aka The Pit, that was supposedly intimidating for visiting teams because of the proximity of fans. I can’t see how opponents will be scared of the Ducks just because of a court design.
Would Jim Vilk wear that striped football field?
Yep.
How exactly is “Deep In The Woods” intimidating? Are you wearing a honey suit being chased by a bear? The brown trees are dead tress. Its a dead forest. Also, the Matt symbol looks like Stonehenge. Fear the Pagan?
Sorry Oregon. Fine idea, lousy excecution.
-CraigD
Won’t that white splotch in the middle of the court camouflage the outer three point line?
That’s what I was thinking, a white men’s three point arc wasn’t the best idea. Maybe yellow or black instead?
Obviously many here disagree, but I actually think this court design is pretty freakin’ cool. It makes a statement without being outrageously obnoxious (i.e. Boise’s smurf turf).
Will other schools follow suit? Doubt it…at least from the design aspect, but we’ve seen larger and larger center court graphics developing for years. This is pretty subtle, which is why the trees are brown and not green.
I just hope when they play the Cal Bears, the Bears don’t do what bears do “deep in the woods.”
Seriously, I’m surprised I like it. I miss the old Robert Indiana court (dropping it when they moved to the Bradley Center was the worst move the Bucks ever made, other than drafting Glenn Robinson) and I like creativity in courts. I do agree it would have looked even better in green.
Geez, averaging 21 points and 7 rebounds a game, and leading your franchise to the playoffs every year and you hate the guy?
Where you been since he’s been gone?
Nowhere. That’s where.
Now, go draft Greg Oden, or Joe Prizbilla, or Andrew Bogut…
I have to say that the court design is unique and that they probably had to go with a lighter background color. If it was too dark, it would make the lines for the key almost invisible.
We always complain that teams don’t pay enough to tradition. So the Ducks and Nike go out and say we are paying tribute to the first NCAA basketball champions. Yes as in the first NCAA tournament champions, the Tall Firs. It has been 70 years since their victory, but they are still paying tribute to them and they are doing it with a court design because they have moved into a new building.
A basketball court gives you the ability to do these designs, whereas a grass football field does not. Could you imagine a 4 horsemen image on the field at Notre Dame? Not easily on grass. Plus with the improvements in computer graphics to enable very detailed stenciling, if you have the chance do it, then if money is no object, you’ll do it.
I think that the font on the court for Kilkenny Floor and Deep in the Woods, should match the “OREGON” font.
It will probably look awesome in person and we’ll see how it looks on HD TV shortly.
Yes, we should pay tribute to tradition, while being open to innovation. The problem sets in when the style and image overtakes the performance on the court or the field in the view of the public. Substance always beats style at the end of the day, that’s precisely why teams like Alabama and Penn State are know primarily for great moments on the football field.
Other programs make occasional changes, but are still known primarily for their on-field performance. Oregon football is certainly better in the since 1994, but they need to start performing better in BCS bowls
how will you feel
ifwhen oregon wins the BCS championship game this year?More power to them, they’ll be the second Oregon school to win a national championship in football. The perception nationally will finally focus on the defining moment of Duck football on the field. It’s worth noting Ohio State neutralized that offense in the Rose Bowl last year, so how the Ducks would fare in any BCS bowl game against a top notch defense is unknown.
The Ducks haven’t won a BCS bowl game since 2002, and combined with the Nike influence, means the stakes are higher for that program. Should Oregon lose another bowl game, the perception will begin to grow about the Ducks being unable to finish.
Gusto, Oregon has only been to one BCS game since 2002, but I think it is rather amazing when you consider they are located in a state that doesn’t churn out tons of top recruits and they have little historical football tradition. From my perspective, the influence of Nike is only positive, especially in the eyes of recruits.
I’m sure Oregon would love to have a national reputation that is a little more about winning than uniforms and Nike, but you can’t just snap your fingers and have that happen. I doubt they would rather switch places with Penn State (6-3 unranked), USC (just beat them down last week), Michigan (6-3 unranked), or Tennessee (2-6 unranked), whom are all traditional powers with traditional unis.
I agree with you completely. I am just afraid that they maybe went too light (at least in the graphic; hard to tell in the construction shot), but if the men’s three point arc is white as it’s shown, it is kinda hard to see. I think NCAA rules prohibit the men’s and women’s line from being the same color, but a white line on the light wood could potentially cause problems.
Say what you want to say about the overall design of the new Oregon court, but you have to hand it to them that the court is so personalized. Sure, its definitely an out of the box thinking design, but its kind of neat that its so personalized to Kilkenny, how it pays homage to 1939, etc. It would be one thing if Nike went crazy on the design and it was nothing but hidden swooshes a la the Broncos…at least it has a point and a reason
Nice job on the colorizations by all. It is fun to see others work.
I find the court subtly beautiful. The green would be better, more defined and, as mentioned earlier, would incorporate a school color. Too many courts have become a cliche: school logo blown up too, too big. Coming from Nike, I’m impressed with the toned down nature of the court. Good job, and thanks for sharing, Phil.
Now, about those Lions’ digs from Mr. Kotwick: Super!
That Oregon court is a step in the right direction, way better than any of those bland, cookie-cutter NBA courts shown here recently. Thanks, DJ, for mentioning the Robert Indiana floor at the old MECCA Arena in Milwaukee. We need more of that.
The new floor at OU is certainly not traditional, but it fits in with Oregon’s branding beautifully. Over the last ten years, Oregon has pushed its brand to the limits to be noticed and I would say it has been even more successful than they envisioned it would be. I mean, is there a more talked about school on this website? The answer is no, and while traditionalists, like myself, may prefer something more old school for the Ducks, I must admit that their gimmicks grab my attention and force me to recognize their brand (which is the whole purpose of these stunts).
Lots to admire today, beginning with Oregon’s court.
I applaud the audacity, yes, but it’s the design that I really like. The fact that it’s not a literal depiction of trees is its strength. When I first saw the picture, I was puzzled, but not appalled. The stories behind it, the “intimidation” bs, the Nike angle, well, that’s all just words…but the image on the court is undeniably rich and compelling and once the game starts it becomes a non-factor (like uniforms). I was reminded of my reaction, as a teenager, to Marquette’s MECCA court:
link
I was shocked and surprised but delighted at the same time. A vibrant work of art that broke boundaries.
But when court designs get bombastic like Boise St. and the Houston Rockets disaster from a few years back, then we have problems.
If this Oregon court spurs on other schools to utilize the basketball court as a huge canvas for artists and innovators, maybe, just maybe, it could be the start of something big.
Meanwhile… all the colorizations are really terrific. And each of the tweaks succeed. I really love Mr. Callahan’s Wizards logo!
Someday the U of 0 Athletic Department will be recognized along with the Tuskegee Experiments, the Inquisition, and apartheid as Crimes Against Humanity!
That is a *Lee Corso* bea-u-tiful court!
Thoughts from the acadamy…..
Army dress greys vs. AF T-Birds is an interesting look. From the stands, the black helmet feels wrong, as does the red blotch on AF’s hat. Greys look solid, and WAY different than last week’s camo. At this point, I just want our regular kits back. I MISS THEM. It’s been fun, let’s get back to our traditional look. Also, AF helmet looks like a plane ran into the bird, and exploded on the front. Maybe that’s just me, maybe I’m bitter that it’s a 20-pt game right now.
I also have to say, I dig the Oregon floor design. I hope it works!!!!!
I also like the Army – Air Force matchup. It’s understated and interesting. Nike did a good job with these. Yikes, did I just type that?
Seriously, that’s how you do an alternate. Using tradition.
Unlike those ridiculous camo unis. For cripes sake!
And speaking of “What The Duck?” it’s another repeat combo for the football team today (head-to-toe black).
nope…not a repeat
first time they’ve gone darth vader this year
I didn’t say they did. They did it link.
Make that “I didn’t say they did IT THIS YEAR.”
it’s not a repeat if they don’t do it in the same season
unless you want them to introduce another color
Another color? Unheard of!
Nah, I’m just saying that they’ve got enough possibilities that they should not have had to do any retreads at all this season. And this is at least the second repeat this year because they did the black/yellow/black link as well as link and that was just two weeks ago.
They could have at least gone with green helmet logos this week for something a little different. Hell, we’ve only seen the carbon helmets once so far. Why not break those out again?
yeah…and…im pretty sure im not covering this one either
/duck me
duck me? no duck YOU!
covered that 36 point spread…HELLS YES
anyone watching the horney toads and the utes?
the utes have camo inside their helmet logo
native american feather and drum in a camo motif…you can’t make this shit up
I did notice that but I wasn’t sure if it was just a scratched up logo or something.
And I’m sorry. I know it’s for a worthy cause and I hope they raise a shitload of cash all that, but the Utes look like garbage.
Just my .02–
Utah’s camo looks hideous, especially since I don’t have Vs in HD, and the picture is all pixelated in SD.
The green trees mockup looks MUCH better than the beige trees Oregon is actually going with.
In watching Utah closer I’ve noticed some of the NOBs are “Courage”, “Service”, and at least one other that I couldn’t make out.
I’m not very familiar with Utah’s team but I’m guessing these aren’t their real names. Anyone know if there are any prior instances of this type of NOB scenario? I’ve seen Team/Mascot NOB and other slogans, but it’s usually one NOB that the whole team wears. I haven’t seen multiple other NOBs on a team before.
“suckitude”
actually, i hadn’t been watching because TCU is taking the ute’s behind the woodshed…does TCU move up? do the ducks move down? hmmmm.
maybe “DUTY”?
i’ll pop it on for a few and see if i can catch the third slogan
I also saw “HONOR”. Maybe losing by 30 or 40 points is enough motivation to not repeat this experiment next year.
“COMMITMENT” and “DUTY” are two i see for sure…possibly “COUNTRY” also?
Yep, Country.
I like the floor, very cool.
Interestingly enough, I was in Portland one year ago- and all I wanted was a green shirt with the yellow O..nothing more.
Could NOT find one. And we were RIGHT by Beaverton.
they tweaked it
According to the Star Tribune (link) Vikings will be wearing purple on purple tomorrow!
oiy vey!
ducks have surpassed themselves in being pretentious they should be renamed the lame ducks
Just watching Hockey Night in Canada tonight and the Leafs game in particular.. Something was bothering me about the game then I figured out what it was..
Leafs are wearing white at home.. Buffalo’s wearing the colour..
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
exactly
No, I prefer the home whites.. Just threw me off.
Five years ago I hated all things Oregon. They had nasty uniforms, they spit in the face of tradition, all that. But now Oregon has become like 80s music – it’s really bad, but it’s so bad you actually kinda like it.
I say play with green and yellow basketballs too, like ABA style. Oregon has become so much of a “lost cause” they’ve almost become cool.
I’ll take 1980s music and uniform styles over this era any day of the week.
AMEN, Gusto!
Oh brother, the UCLA Bruins football jerseys look like GARBAGE! WTF?
new here?
paul explains all
anyone just get the texas tech game? is that a new helmet?
Colorado State and San Diego State in a color vs. color matchup:
link
Dare I include it in the Top 5??
nope…you’re locked and loaded
The new Oregon court is much more offensive in the graphic spec than it does in actuality. That being said, it’s pretty offensive. I like the concept though would have liked to see a more subtle execution in blending the artwork with the woodwork (is there any woodwork?).
I really liked your blog post.Thanks Again. Really Great.
Andrew Greif is a baller. (He’s the person who got me my first freelance assignments at the Daily Emerald.)
And this court is a godforsaken joke that just makes a mockery of the entire school again. I pretty much detest everything the new arena stands for.
As I said in the comment section of another blog, “The entire arena, including the floor and the logo, has me ashamed to be a student at the University of Oregon. It’s a joke. There’s no (non-dollar-sign-related) reason for the school to leave Mac Court, which has more charm, soul and atmosphere than this new building will ever have. I plan on sitting down in the Pit Crew (which will lose the coolness of its name when the team leaves The Pit) for the first game with a sign that says ‘Free Mac Court.'”
Coolest court design of the past 20 years… Houston Rockets court design. So sweet.
Click on figure 6:
link
From a conceptual standpoint, I really like the Oregon court design. I worry that it’s just gonna look like a giant bleach stain on the teevee, and I certainly don’t think it’s going to intimidate anyone, but it’s a really interesting experiment. I’m rooting for it to succeed.
Never ceases to amaze me. Bad taste knows no borders (or 3 pt. lines in this case).
Very nice information.