Patrick Runge’s Evil Genius

By Phil Hecken

Back in December, I featured R. Scott Rogers in a piece about fantasy baseball, in which players really go all out to create teams, logos (and even sometimes actual real uniforms) for their fantasy teams and leagues. I asked at the time if there were any other fantasy players out there (as I knew there must be). I was right.

“You asked for it,” says Patrick Runge. “I’m sure many UniWatchers play fantasy sports, and I’m sure many of them are as hopelessly nerdy as I am, either adding to or creating logos for all the teams in the league.” Patrick sent me a document detailing his league logo and each team’s uniforms and logos that “aren’t just clipart. Yes, uniforms, I used the TeamBuilder from EA Sports NCAA Football to import the logos and create uniforms for each team.”

‘Is that a lot of energy for a fantasy league?’ you may ask. Patrick agrees. “Oh, heck yeah, but it lets my inner graphic artist out a little bit. I’d be curious to see if I’m the only commissioner who goes this far with his league, and what some of the Uni Watch peeps might have to say about some of my designs. Thanks for the inspiration to have me put all this together!”

Patrick also plays fantasy baseball, and R. Scott’s piece has inspired Patrick to take the logo he made for his team, the Evil Geniuses, and get some gear made. “Thanks to you both!” Patrick adds. Perhaps we’ll have a follow up on Patrick’s baseball league another time — but for now — it’s fantasy football season.

I’ll let Patrick describe his league now. A couple of things that really caught my eye were the creativity with the team names, and although I’m not certain I’d actually want to see some of these designs on the gridiron, I’m intrigued with the use of pink on one of the teams — done well, I think pink could actually work on a professional franchise — maybe not football, because that wouldn’t be “manly” enough (although they have no problem wearing pink sweatbands, socks, shoes, gloves, mouthpieces, chinstraps, etc. during October), but in SOME sport. I also liked the use of the “neon snot” on one of the unis below. Again, I don’t know whether I’d like to see this as an actual NFL uniform, but in fantasy form, I liked it.

Here then, is Patrick with his fantasy rundown:

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Patrick Runge’s Fantasy Football League
By Patrick Runge

You asked for fantasy football tweaks, and I’ve got an embarrassingly-large amount of them. Our fantasy football league is in its’ 11th season, and I’ve put together either logos or secondary logos for most of the league. I’ve also used the TeamBuilder function from EA Sports NCAA Football to import the logos and create uniforms for all the teams. I imported those unis into the game and provided some “action shots” for our end-of-season Super Bowl party.

All of that energy might well have been better used in managing my team. In 11 years, I’ve never won the league.

LEAGUE LOGO

The league is based in Omaha, and hawks are kinda cook, so ”¦ OmaHawks. Yeah, it’s kinda lame, but it’s got it’s own logo, and we’re 11 years in, so it’s got a life of its’ own.

GIANTS

Team logo, uni front, uni side

The team’s owner grew up in New Jersey, and because his beloved Giants actually play in Jersey, he insists on referring to them as the New Jersey Giants. (Of course, when asked about the Jets, he responds, “Ah, they can keep the Jets.”) So, a little Photoshopping of the NY logo gives us the Jersey Giants logo. The uni is a recreation, as close as possible, of Big Blue.

MAINEIACS

Team logo, uni front, uni side, secondary logo

The owner comes from New England and is a crazy Patriots fan. He came up with his primary logo, and I made the secondary one. The uni is based on the Pat Patriot uni, which is so much better than the Flying Elvis one, three Super Bowls be damned.

TEAM HERKY

Team logo, uni front, uni side

The owner is an Iowa Hawkeye fan, so the uni and logos are based on Iowa’s uniform.

TRUMAN’S TIGERS

Uni front, uni side

This owner is a Missouri Tigers fan (and married to Team Herky’s owner, which should make the Insight Bowl interesting), so her uni is based on Missouri’s, and the logo is a ripoff directly from the school’s.

ORANGE CRUSH

Uni front, uni side, secondary logo

Team’s owner is a Broncos fan, so the uni is a recreation of the Elway-era Broncos. The secondary logo is a Photoshop mod of an Orange Crush soda bottle top.

PANTHERS

Uni front, uni side

The owner (my wife) is a Northern Iowa fan, so the uni incorporates the purple, black, and yellow of UNI. She found a clipart picture of a panther because it “looked fierce,” and because she’s never liked UNI’s logo. Who am I to argue?

RIVER PIRATES

Team logo, uni front, uni side

My team. Lots of black, and I know the monochrome isn’t for everyone. The silver and black accents are supposed to represent the silver and gold in the pirate’s treasure chest.

REPLACEMENTS

Uni front, uni side

This team’s owner got called on the day of the draft when a previous owner backed out at the last second. The owner is a monster Keanu Reeves fan, so the team name became obvious, as did the logo and the team’s look, a replica of the Washington Sentinels from the movie.

LITIGATORS

Uni front, uni side, secondary logo

The team’s owner was an attorney, and she picked a clipart of alligators in suits with briefcases. The secondary logo is a purse with a cursive “L,” a bit of an homage to “Laverne and Shirley.” The owner sadly passed away in March from breast cancer, and the league has an annual award we will be giving out in her honor starting this year.

MUSTANGS

Team logo, uni front, uni side, secondary logo

This team’s nickname (coming from my mom’s name, Sally ”“ get it, Mustangs, Sally?) was her idea, and the color scheme came from the Omaha Racers, a minor-league basketball team whose colors I always liked. The only team to go white at home, partly because the colors are pretty ”¦ intense if they’re all out at the same time.

GIGABYTES

Team logo, uni front, uni side, secondary logo

The owner is a computer programmer, so he came up with the shark logo. The secondary logo was mine.

WILDCATS

Uni front, uni side, secondary logo

No reproductions or anything, just a clipart logo and a fairly generic “cat” colored uni. The secondary logo is a stylized W underneath the Puma cat (yep, in our league, soccer-style jersey sponsoring is creeping in), to add a little pink to her uniform.

And, for those who can’t get enough OmaHawks action, here’s a gallery of action shots of all those unis! Any comments, criticisms, or suggestions can be sent to me here. Thanks for making it this far!

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Great stuff Patrick. Anyone else out there go a little “overboard” with their fantasy leagues? Let me know.

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Benchies

After yesterday’s wonderful Benchies backstory (if you missed it, please check it out) Ricko is back to creating brand new adventures of Mick and Mike for us. Today is a beautiful Sunday edition. And no assembly is required:

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As always, if that’s a tad too tiny, here’s the full-size, full color strip.

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Uni Tweaks

Lots and lots of tweaks keep pouring in, so obviously this is a popular feature. A bunch new to get to today. If you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way.

Remember, if possible, try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per tweak. You guys have been great a keeping to that, and it’s much appreciated!

Got a big set of tweaks today…so lets get right into it:

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Starting off the show is Hiatt Werling, who is back with more of his unique NFL concepts:

Dear Phil,

My name’s Hiatt Werling. I’ve had eight of my tweaks put on the website the past few weeks. Each one follows the theme of changing an NFL teams color scheme based on something that I can in some way relate to the team or the city. I’d like to made such a tweak for all 32 teams. Here’s four more:

Redskins – Patriotic Set: The Nationals and Capitals both seem eager to recognize the fact that they play in the capital city of a country that has a red, white and blue flag. I wondered what it would look like if the Redskins did the same.

Jaguars – Lakers Set: In all likelihood, Los Angeles is going to get an NFL team in the next few years, and the Jaguars are one of the teams with a shot of relocating. I figured the Jaguars could get LA fans to warm up to them more easily if they adopted some classic Los Angeles colors.

Panthers – Sun Drop Set: Up until recently, Sun Drop was a soda very hard to find in most of the country but wildly popular in the southeast, including the Carolinas. I gave the Panthers a uni set using the colors from the label of their region’s beverage.

Texans – Fiesta Set: I’ve always liked the colors from the Spurs’ “Fiesta” logo from the nineties, and I was disappointed that they never tried adding the colors to their uniforms. So, I decided to see what the colors would look like on an NFL uniform. Since San Antonio doesn’t have a football team, I gave the uni set to the Texans, complete with a Battle Pink alternate.

-Hiatt Werling

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Next up is Andrew Seagraves, who has a whole mess of Eastern Carolina concepts:

Phil;

Another team which I follow is the East Carolina Pirates. Yes, they sport Purple and Gold, but I think their uniforms could be so much more. Especially the horns on their road whites need to be redone. So, I fired up gimp and paint and went to work.

I start off with just a basic tweak of the purple on purple monochrome set. I added a stripe to the pants and a 90s esque stripe to the helmet.

I took this idea and extended the stripe from the pants to the jersey, even adding a possible gold alternative jersey (and the possibility of a gold/gold and purple/gold combo).

I took the shoulder stripes from the 90s and mixed it into the fray with similar possibilities.

Then, since there has been a sabre stripe on ECU’s pants in the past and horns on the jersey – why not give them a straight up Sabre on the shoulders. Same jersey possibilities.

And, in remembrance of the only undefeated team back in 1941 when ECU was known as the East Carolina Teachers College Teachers. I used the 1942 helmet, went back to the purple and old gold (they have used the color combo forever), and put Teachers on the shoulder.

(full set here).

That’ll do it for me at least for now. I hope you all enjoy it!

Best Wishes;

Andrew

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And finally, we have Mr. Germs (“Jeremy”), who has a whole boatload of NFL helmet concepts:

I’m happy to see the Uni Tweaks section.You asked for submissions so here’s mine. I started putting them on a blog site a few weeks ago. I have at least one helmet for each NFL team but have posted just so. The others will be posted at some point. I don’t have any fancy software or anything,which might be better anyway because I’m trying for more of a retro look. I think the lack of technology helps in that regard.

Jeremy

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And that’s all for today folks. Thanks to all the tweakers.

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Colorize This!

Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.

It’s been a couple weeks since we had a “Colorize This!” so it’s kind of a potpourri today.

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Ryan VanBuskirk starts us off with a question and a request:

Hey guys,

I had a strange question that I was wondering you could help me with. I was going through some old family photos and found this neat old hockey photo from my Grandfather, circa 1930s. Here’s the problem. No one in my family knows when it is from. He played hockey at Hebron Academy (a private High School), whose school colors are Green and White, and then at Colgate University, who are Maroon and white. I’ve attached hockey photos from both schools. So do you guys think this is from the HS or College team? FYI my Grandfather, Frank Van Buskirk is first row, first on the left. I thought maybe it could be a “colorizing” subject. Thanks for your help.

Ryan

Thanks Ryan. Shortly after that, Ryan updated me — which should help anyone who wants to colorize that photo:

Phil,

I emailed the Athletic Director at Colgate. He believes this is from Hebron Academy, which is Green and White. During this era, Colgate U wore a Dark Sweater with “COLGATE” across the chest. I assume away/white sweaters still had team name. Hope this helps.

Ryan

So, you’ve got one photo this week to challenge you — there are more to follow, below.

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Next up is Chris Bisbee, who has a few suggestions for a future colorization:

Phil,

Sending some photos that might be right up George’s alley for colorizing.

Wales

Sharman’s Cross School, 1960

Nairobi School, 1931

British Army, 1940

regards,
Chris Bisbee

Nice selection Chris — and while I’m sure George will take a shot at one or more, those are great (resolution-wise) for anyone to colorize.

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New (I think) to the colorizations is Jared Wieseler, who has a couple old ones he colorized, and one from the last “batch.”

Phil,

I have been reading the Uniwatch articles for a while and have been enjoying the colorizations. I am not new to the procedure and even have colorized some of the earlier ones. I just never completed them and submitted them.

Anyway, here is my submission of the Wilt Chamberlain Globetrotters image. This one was a tough one colorwise. The Globetrotters have had many minor variations in jersey colors over the years and its those details that get hairy with this image. For instance if you look at the lettering closely it is currently (and has been for a while) one solid color with two colors of stroke red, white and yellow in what seems like any combination, and that may be just for “Harlem”. “Globetrotters” may be another variation and the stars may be a third variation. With the high exposure on the lighter areas its tough to tell which is white and which is yellow for my untrained eye. So, this is my guess without getting too technical.

Also, I have included an incomplete version of one of the very early submissions and a rough edit of one from last week that was pretty tough because of lower detail/quality, but you don’t have to show those.

Thanks,

Jared Wieseler

Great stuff Jared! Don’t be silly (about not including those efforts) — they were all very well done. Thanks for sharing.

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Going “off the board” was Terry Duroncelet, who went with a Robert Riger sketch:

Hey Phil. I found this Robert Riger sketch of Sammy Baugh fending off an unidentified Chicago Bear online back in December 2010.

I’ll admit, if I knew how to saturate the burgundy/maroon of Sammy’s jersey and helmet without sacrificing the folds and detailing in the transparency, I would do that so it won’t look so brown. But overall, I’m very happy with the result.

Hope you guys like it!

Simply Freakin’ Moono =)

Nice job with that Terry. I happen to love colorized sketches, but that’s just me.

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Next up is Matt Williams, who sent in a few, the first of which was a new subject (I think) for UW — polo:

Greetings,

I decided to take George up on his challenge to do a non-typical sport and also to expand my own horizons. This is of a polo match put on by the War Department in 1925. Unlike the rest of my submissions, this one is fully colorized. I also shrunk it down to half of the original size for ease of loading.

I am working on one for next week that also falls under the heading of non-typical.

Super job on that Matt. Polo is definitely one of those sports we don’t discuss much on UW (probably with good reason).

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I received another “OTB” submission, but on the same subject, from Andrew Harrington. Behold, Wilt:

Phil

I found a lot of other colorations of that particular Wilt Chamberlain photo, so I decided to do this lo-res one instead. [Here’s the colorized version —PH].

Great job on the weekend features, by the way. If you ever need any help on them, graphically, don’t hesitate to ask.

Andy

Thanks Andy. I’ll probably take you up on that offer.

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Next up is Michael Koch who offers up a photo that would be great for colorization, but it might be a tad too small:

Hi Phil,

Found this photo of former Pittsburgh Steeler Byron “Whizzer” White on the Mitchell and Ness blog, and went to find a larger version, but this one is still kind of small unfortunately.

Michael Koch

If anyone wants to give that a shot, I bet it would look great. Alternatively, if anyone can find a larger (higher res) version of that, please sent it my way!

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Ed Lam has taken on the 1955 Knicks. Dig:

Hi Phil,

I tried the 1955 Knicks this week. I’m not a New York fan but I thought the lighting was pretty cool with the flash combining with light coming through the window.

Also want to thank everyone for their kind comments last week. I really appreciated it!

Best,
Ed Lam

Great Job with that Ed. The Carl Braun-era Knicks really were their best uni set (IMHO) in their history. Historical note: Carl Braun played for my High School (and my pop’s) and in my dad’s senior year, he displaced my old man at center (shockingly). Some day, I’d like to do a story on Braun, as he recently passed and he had quite a career for those who don’t know of him.

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Matt Williams sent me another great shot ripe for colorization:

Phil,

Here is another great one from Shorpy.

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And to close down the show, the one and only George Chilvers has sometime a bit different:

Hi Phil

You wanted some basketball?

For some reason I enjoyed doing this one :)

George

Thanks, as always, George! Wonderful stuff.

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OK, colorizers (and non-colorizers alike) — that’s all for this weekend. There were several photographs offered here for you to take a shot at, and as always, if you feel like going off the boards, that’s always welcome.

Send me your suggestions or finished works and I’ll make sure they get included in the next edition of “Colorize This!”

Cheers.

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That’s all folks. Remember — the first pitches of spring training are being lobbed as we speak (well, depending upon when you read this of course), so spring is just around the corner, which means the Pirates have officially been eliminated from playoff contention. Everyone have a fantastic week — don’t forget to follow me on Twitter (@PhilHecken).

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I’ve been trying booze, but it ain’t workin. Where can I find this pill to cure my fascination with matching stripes? — Marty Hick