By Phil Hecken
There is no surer sign of spring than the first robin … or so the saying goes. So there must be no surer sign of the impending college football season than the introduction of spiffy new football uniforms, including three in the past week by Nike alone — all in their amateur pacifist pro combat line. Paul already covered the new Georgia Bulldog one off, to be worn against Boise State University during the opening weekend of football. He also gave a few comments on the new Ducks & Broncos duds the other day.
Now, I could go off on a rant about the ridiculousness of introducing a “one game only” uniform, particularly one that is driven solely by corporate greed and really takes a uniform tradition (such as it is with Boise) and basically destroys it in one fell swoop. But, for today, I’d like to judge these things simply on the basis of their actual LOOKS. That is, saying “to hell with what you’ve ever worn before, let me just judge this in a complete vacuum.” So things like traditional design elements, logos or school colors will not come into play. Just how these things look.
Let’s start with Georgia. Wow. That’s a lotta gaddam red, innit? In fact, someone with a lot more graphic talent than I fit the design perfectly in with another team. Can’t say at first glance I’m a fan. Let’s take a peek at the helmet. Hey, that’s not too bad. What’s that…”turn it sideways”? OK…Whoa. That thick red stripe is just gadawful, and what is with the stripe repeating on the facemask? Ugh. I realize that the facemask is now a part of the uniform, rather than just a piece of equipment, but this looks awful. As far as the rest of the uniform, I don’t really mind the mono-red too much, and the black sleeves aren’t bad either. The number fonts aren’t illegible and the white outline is a plus. But as an overall uniform … I gotta give this one a C. Too much red for my liking and that multi-color facemask just ain’t workin’.
Moving on to Boise, who will play the foil to Georgia in the Christian Sandwich Chick-fil-A game — this is actually their second Pro Combat uniform. They opened last season against Va Tech, sporting a first-generation PC. Now, Boise is all grown-up and gets its own storm trooper uniform, complete with a white helmet. I have to say, I really kinda like this getup. OK, so they only have the helmet logo on one side, and there’s that random blue thing on the right shoulder and orange stripe on the left…but overall, not too bad. Unfortunately, instead of keeping a somewhat clean, streamlined uniform without the usual bumper-stickers, Nike designers couldn’t resist sticking a big-ass design element down the leg. Nay, a stripe would never do there. That knocks this otherwise pretty decent looking uni down a peg. I give this a B.
Finally, we have the Ducks. We almost need a special category for Oregon, because EVERY uniform combo they wear is a one-off, and they basically introduced the concept of keeping school colors to a minimum. But even so, I’m viewing this solely as a uniform in a vacuum, so none of that matters anyway.
Now, I’m probably prejudiced in this, partially because I drank the Nikegon kool-aid years ago, but even viewed purely as a uniform, this one rocks. Yup. I. Love. It. Nobody does the Ninja look as well as WTD (“win the day”). Damn, even the helmet looks great. Am I a huge fan of that neon green/yellow? No, not really, but it surely pops on the matte black. Do I love Bellotti Bold for a font? No, but it isn’t as bad as some fonts nor nearly as bad as some of you *coughjimvilkcough* think. So my verdict? Solid A.
If I were to look at these outside of the vacuum of pure uniform design, and actually took into account all the things Swooshie is doing to ruin college football, I’d feel differently. And I’m sure you’ll hear about that as the season wears on. But strictly from a uni-design standpoint, that’s my take on the Dawgs, Broncs and Ducks.
How about you?
Benchies
by Rick Pearson
No wonder Ol’ Eddie’s cranky sometimes…
And the full-size.
Uni Tweaks
We have another new set of tweaks 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 at keeping to that, and it’s much appreciated!
And so, lets begin:
We start with Bret Ayres who has some ideas to fix the Natinals:
Mr. Hecken :
Here are two separate ideas for the Washington Natinals, er, I mean Nationals. The red/blue/metallic gold of the current uniforms is too much for me, and I’d like to lose their current Walgreens-esque ‘W’ logo. I just cut them down to a blue/metallic gold uniform set and a red/metallic gold set.
Thanks,
Bret Ayres
Next up is Jason Sampson, who has some ideas for the Bills and Bengals:
Phil:
In lieu of the New Buffalo Bills uniforms (FINALLY!!), I made some tweaks of my own. Now they basically are the same as the new ones will be with the exception of a few changes, the major one is I took out that stupid red stripe on the charging buffalo. I wish they would go back to the standing buffalo but they’re not. But I think this logo this looks so much better that the current one.
Another change I decided on was the Bengals who are in need of an update. Now I will admit I do love the tiger stripes on the helmet but can’t stand their uniforms, there’s just way to much going on. And as I was going along simplifying their unis I went with another helmet design and actually liked how it came out.
Hope you like these
Jason Sampson
And closing down the show today is Andrew DeFrank, with some new uni ideas for the Saints & Pats:
Phil,
This week I bring you the Saints and the Patriots!
Home
Away
Home Alternate
Away AlternateHope you all like them, and you can see my entire set of teams on my Sportslogos.net thread- “DeFrank’s NFL Redesign”
Andrew DeFrank
Thanks everyone. Back next weekend with more!
Colorize This!
Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.
Like the tweaks’ section, Colorize This! took a hiatus whilst I was relieved of my weekend duties, so, today it returns. The only person to send me colorizations during the hiatus was (surprise, surprise) George Chilvers (Gary Chanko will have some new stuff for us next Colorize This! segment.) So, without further ado, let’s see what George has for us:
George was great, and sent in four different photos he colorized, replete with write-ups. Here’s the first:
Hi Phil
For when you next run a Colorize This.
Rugby league (note to Connie; Not rugger! :) ) – 1952 Championship Final – this is Nat Silcock of Wigan scoring a try against Bradford Northern.
OK – here’s an interesting point (well, interesting if like me you need to get out more). The rugby equivalent of a touchdown is a “try”. It is called a try, because originally (100+ years ago) it didn’t score any points in itself, but gave the team achieving it the opportunity to kick a goal. Now I’ll bet you didn’t know that.
Cheers
George
That’s the only non-baseball in George’s arsenal this time around. Not bad for someone to whom “our” national pastime is as foreign to them as soccer is to us, right?
Hi Phil
Another for when you are ready to run another “colorize this”. Boston Beaneaters infield of 1900.
Original is here
George
Beautiful, George. The next one George sent to me shortly before my father passed away. Fantastic photo and sentiments, G! And since we’re almost done with the LLWS, it’s rather apropos:
Hi Phil
Firstly, can I add my best wishes to you and your Dad. Do whatever is needed for him, and if that means letting UW struggle by, then just do it. Your Dad is far far more important.
But… moving on to the world of colour – I really like this picture. I found it at Hy Peskin’s site (lots of great photos).
The thing about it is that is both timeless and universal — although this little fella is a Little Leaguer in the States, I well remember scrambling over walls and fences to retrieve footballs (soccer type of course) that had been over-enthusiastically kicked (the only difference from this photo is that “he who kicked it, had to go and get it”). And long grass was always a great place for cricket balls to rest – in school a ball whacked into the long grass would lead to a horde of young lads rummaging around while the balll was clearly visible to all of us but whispered threats of “leave it” and cries of “can’t find it, sir”, meant that we got a breather and one over on the teacher. Until he himself started to come to look in which case it was always quickly found before he arrived :)
Happy memopries that this photo evoked.
Once again, best wishes
George
Wow. Thanks, George. And our last photo is again baseball, this time the college variety:
Hi Phil
Don’t when “colorize this” will reappear, but here’s one to add to those I’ve sent.
Hope everything’s OK with you.
George
Fantastic job, as always. But, we’re not quite done here. Scott Rodriguez sent in this. Now, it’s a little smaller than most colorizers would like, but it’s maybe worth a shot for those of you who do such things:
Hi guys,
Huge fan of your website! I would love to colorize this photo and need to know how do I get started? This photo was taken in 1962 or 1963 in Santa Barbara at San Marcos High School.
Thanks for your help.
Scott Rodriguez
That’s it for “Colorize This!” this week. Looking forward to all you colorizers sending me your best works! You can send me an E-mail if you have any questions or colorizations to share. Cheers!
Oh yeah…there’s that Seahawks Redesign Contest thing…
In case you guys missed it while Paul was on vacation, and I was pinch-hitting during the weekdays, I’m running a Seattle Seahawks redesign contest along with my buddy, Tim E. O’Brien. Details are all in that post, but the deadline is Labor Day (September 5, 2011), after which we’ll likely have reader voting and I’ll award a prize (still not sure what that will be, but it should be pretty cool) to the winner. I’ve received a bunch of submissions already, most of which are using the “pro combat” template described in the prior post. If you are interested, and want to participate, try to use that template (it’s not 100% necessary, but it is preferred). If you have any questions about the contest, you can shoot me a line. That’s also the address to send your entries to — please indicated “Seahawks Redesign Contest” (or similar verbiage) in the “SUBJECT” line. OK? OK!
Looking forward to seeing what you guys have got!
There you have it, Uni Watchers, another one in the books. Thanks to those of you who complimented my photos and projects in yesterday’s post. All the kind words are greatly appreciated.
Had to get this one done early on Saturday due to the threat of Irene. As of this writing, it’s too early to tell how bad it will be, but I’m hoping by the time 7:00 am Sunday, EDT, hits, I’ll still have power. Peace, and best wishes, to anyone in Irene’s path and I hope everyone comes out of this alright. On a selfish, personal note, I hope this clears out quickly and there’s not a lot of damage, because Paul and I have tickets to tomorrow’s Mets/Fish double-dip at Shea. See ya in a few hours, buddy.
“When you see all of the teams in this year’s Little League World Series wearing pajama pants it’s time to realize that Armageddon is upon the world of baseball uniforms. Damn you, Barry Bonds!” — Terry Proctor
No power here at the in-laws in Jersey, and yet I am draining my cell battery at Uni-Watch. Priorities you know? How’s everyone else holding up? How’s the borough I fled, Brooklyn, doing?
Just three words:
link. link. link.
Most of it is pretty good looking. I still don’t like the Flying NE as a uniform element. It just doesn’t look right on the hip like that.
I agree, the Patriots would be a solid upgrade over what they wear now.
I am way digging that pennant-shaped pant stripe the Pats foolishly dropped after the first year of that design.
Madden 11 for some reason has the patriots 1990’s uniforms using the current navy as opposed to the royal blue they actually used. It actually does a lot to better that design, though the logos still work a lot better when relegated to sleeve logos, like what was done here. Nice work Andrew.
While I’m not a fan of the “flying Elvis,” I think these tweaks are pretty good if only because he has shrunk Elvis so he has not taken over the entire sleeve (what remains of a sleeve in today’s uniforms). The problem with some of the other tweaks is that they do not incorporate TV numbers. When you allow for TV numbers with the already limited real estate on the sleeves and then incorporate stripes, either vertical or horizontal, what you get is an increasingly cramped design. The miniaturized “flying Elvis” pretty much eliminates the problem.
Is there somewhere to download that template cuz that’s gonna be the new cut for the Nike unis accorcing to the Jags equipment manager and that’d be fun to work with
Firstly, I hope Paul & Phil aren’t getting beat up too badly by Irene…
And secondly… I really like that Patriots concept by Andrew DeFrank. Maybe swap that NE logo on the hip for Elvis, but beyond that, it’s a nice look.
…and thirdly ….the 3 pro combat uniforms… none of them are really bad, but I think Oregon has the best of the group. Georgia’s extra-wide helmet stripe bugs me a bit, but I do think that extending the stripe onto the facemask is a neat idea. I really don’t like Boise’s white helmet (seriously, just use the blue helmet from last year), and I think the BRONCOS down the leg would look better if it was done in white letters on a wide blue stripe instead. As for Oregon… if you can ignore that the team colors are supposed to be green & yellow… they just look good. Sure, it does kinda look like it’s designed for TRON… but as long as they’re the only team to do it, I like it.
I’m going to respectfully disagree here, The. I automatically dismiss Oregon until they actually get a consistent regular uniform with at least a hint of school colors. Georgia is a little bit better, but nothing too impressive with that getup either. Boise St. seems to have something though. I absolutely love that white helmet. It would be nice if the Bronco was on both sides, but I no longer expect Nike to use common sense with their design decisions. The rest of the uniform is pretty *blah* but that helmet is an instant winner for me. At least as far as the whole stupid Pro Combat idea goes anyway.
Just my opinion of course…
Let us assume, hypothetically, that the University of Oregon officially issues a statement that their school colors are now black & neon yellow. What would you think of it then?
/I can definitely see your point though
If THAT happens the Nike wins… and I’d LOVE the uniform ;)
Even in a vacuum, I can’t grade the Ducks’ uni higher than an F. Because in my physics, a school’s colors are still present in a vacuum. Any uniform that incorporates so little of a team’s actual team colors – in this case, zero – is an automatic failure. The Boise uniform, I actually generally like. I’m OK with asymmetry, though the blue sleeve thing isn’t as well executed as it might be. And the team name functions as a stripe on the pants, so I don’t mind that either. That’s maybe B-minus for me.
It’s the Georgia uniform where I mist differ from Phil, though. I don’t mind all that red. It is a school color, after all. The wide helmet stripe in particular is a great bit of design. It’s distinctive, it uses the space of the modern helmet much better than more traditional stripes do, and making it appear to continue down the facemask is an excellent touch. Not excellent in that I actually like it very much; I don’t. But in terms of design, as distinct from do-I-think-it’s-pretty aesthetics, it’s a great touch. My only beef with this uni is the silver helmet color. Shoulda stuck with white, red, or black. Heck, a center stripe that wide would probably make a helmet with different colors on each side work. Could have been white on one side, black on the other, with the red stripe down the middle. Anyway, in the proverbial vacuum, this is an A-minus design for me.
they went with silver for historical reasons (they wore silver helmets before they wore red ones).
The all-red look is a bad one for the dogs*, they should be wearing silver britches or a white jersey, as far as I know they’ve never worn red jerseys and red pants at the same time (I’m a Tech guy so I can’t confirm they’ve never done it nor will I sit through uga highlights trying to confirm it). They wore red pants instead of silver britches for awhile in the 70s/80s so it would be permissible to wear red pants but only if they were wearing a white jersey.
The mono red look (I’m taking pants + jersey) is never a good one that goes double for teams that never sport the look.
F, not even the silver helmet nod to the past can save this look. Admittedly I’m a little biased against anything they wear, but most uga fans are disgusted with the look, and many have no idea uga ever wore silver helmets (they see it as an bastardization of the georgia uniform not as a nod to the past), but I chalk that up to them being “fans”. In that they would have been rooting for Tech during the 1950s: which reminds me of a joke: What do a Tech grad and a uga fan have in common?… neither went to uga (not that I have much room to talk since I couldn’t get into GT, though my fandom is due in part to 2 generations of Tech grads, and has nothing to do with Tech’s winning percentage).
*believe it or not there is no A or W in this word
The Tech guy hits a grand slam – I agree with his sentiments exactly about Georgia’s uniforms. No, we have never worn red jerseys with red pants. Nike has insulted us with this monstrosity.
If our helmet stripe were a normal size, and if our pants had been silver, the Power Ranger uniform would have been more palatable. As it is, our football helmet looks more like a motorcycle helmet.
Bret Ayers is a moron. The Nat’s lost the gold already, and that W is iconic in DC.
But it’s “iconic” for the Senators, not the Nationals. It wouldn’t really be a bad thing if the Nats could forge their own image, rather than relying on the nostalgia of the old franchises, would it?
That Senators nostalgia isn’t all that wide anyway, and it’s about as deep as the Anacostia in July. We don’t have the curly W because there’s some great well of nostalgia and love for the expansion Senators in Washington. We have the curly W because there’s a great well of nostalgia and love for 1960s baseball in Bud Selig’s head. The curly W is popular and ubiquitous in Washington on its own terms, representing the Nationals, not the expansion Senators. In my experience, very few people here even know of the connection to the expansion Senators. The Nats have forged their own image, and that image is all about the curly W in the here and now.
Which would never have been my choice, and I’ve never loved the curly W, but it’s a mistake to assume that just because a few hundred of us uni-enthusiasts associate a white curly W on a red cap with the 1969 Senators, anyone else does too. They don’t. The modern Nats have made that insignia their own, and they’ve made it a powerful symbol of Washington civic identity beyond baseball, almost on a par with the Dodgers’ cap and Los Angeles (though not yet nearly to the extent of a Yankees cap and New York).
1) We don’t call other Uni Watch contributors “morons” in the comments.
2) If you absolutely insist on calling someone a moron, it doesn’t really help your case when you misspell his name.
Wait, the guy from Weather Underground is making uni tweaks now?
Weather Underground … Bill Ayers … Domestic terrorism … It all makes sense now: IRENE WAS A TERRORIST PLOT!!
Which perhaps explains why a certain lunatic fringe of the chatosphere is using the hurricane as an excuse to abolish the National Weather Service:
link
Goddamn commie big-gummint meteorolgists….
Actually, Paul, that article made some pretty good, logical points. It’s a bit ironic that your first comment in this thread was a warning not to belittle people, and then your very next comment contained a belittling stereotype of an entire group of people you happen to disagree with. Odd.
I think calling him a moron is a little strong, no? After all, he’s just having fun with his vision of what the Nats uniform could be. However, the Nationals wordmark in that circle logo should be flipped. As it is, we’re reading it upside-down.
The definition of “iconic” sure is, I dunno, floating, isn’t it.
That curly “W” was worn for, what, nine seasons by a team that only existed for 11, played lousy the entire time, never produced its own legitimate star (Frank Howard came up a Dodger, remember), drew few fans, and ended up in Texas.
“It wouldn’t really be a bad thing if the Nats could forge their own image, rather than relying on the nostalgia of the old franchises, would it?”
The Jeff’s right. Had it not been for the popularity of Cooperstown Collection, et al, hats in the early 1990s that reintroduced the Gil Hodges era red piping Senators hat, most people would have looked at the transplanted Expos curly “W” and wondered, “Why are they wearing a Walgreens ‘W’?”
(Jeez, all of sudden The Jeff and are on the same page lately. If anyone’s ever wanted to march into Hades carrying a snowball, this might be a good time.)
Maybe you should use the curly W because- I dunno- it looks nice?
No comments on bringing back sansabelt/pullovers? Sure struck me immediately.
The blue kinda looks a cross between the current Padres and the 1972 Cubs.
It is fine for the writers of this site to belittle and attack those they disagree with. I’m sick of this shit. Take your crappy website and stick it.
I never noticed this about the PC uniform before. The actual, non-hype-based selling point of the system is that the ancillary pads are integrated into the undershirt, girdle, and pants. This makes the whole uniform noticeably lighter (like a few pounds instead of the ounce they saved by making the D-rings out of titanium). So why is the tailbone pad still a separate piece?
Boise State actually had two PC uniforms last year… The ones they wore against VA Tech and the uniforms from the bowl game(All blue, the ones that Paul Mistook for the actual PC uniforms recently.) Best wishes to the Uni Watch HQ! Stay safe!
I have to say, I enjoy the stormtroopers Boise State’s white helmet. The Bronco logo link within the vents on the side (for the most part). For me, it’s a little too large and I would love it on both sides.
Otherwise, Boise needs some major work on their uni. Although, I would like to see Blue helmet home/White helmet away, if that’s legal in the NCAA.
The NCAA permits a team to have different-colored home and road helmets. Recall that for a number of years, Washington State wore silver helmets at home and crimson helmets on the road.
Considering how many combos Oregon has…and the whole one-off thing with the various pro combat uniforms… does the NCAA have *any* rules about helmet colors? It seems as though teams can wear just about whatever the heck they want. I know that road teams are supposed to wear white, and home teams need permission to go white at home… but beyond that… it doesn’t seem that they’re very picky.
Agreed. To my knowledge, there are no NCAA rules regarding multiplicity of helmets.
Not to mention the teams that have worn multiple colors on the field at the same time in the past (probably lots of them, but Washington and Iowa State are the two that come to mind).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I hope you (and the rest of the east coasters on her) are safe.
Ummm… please read that as “on *here*”.
I wondered if teams could wear more than one color helmet at the same time. Can ASU or Oregon wear 4 helmets of different colors?
Mississippi State had white helmets as well as maroon ones between 2000 and 2003 at the end of the Sherrill era.
Most of us “old fart” UGA alums HATE the PC unis.
My biggest beef with it- no silver britches. THE iconic look for the University of Georgia is nowhere to be found. Never been a fan of monochrome, so the red over red doesn’t work for me.
The good- I LOVE the silver helmet. Not a huge fan of the wide red stripe (I would have been ok with a narrow red stripe or a black one), The two tone facemask is interesting.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, I wish we would have gotten the tOSU treatment with a variation of a throwback (my personal choice would have been the 1942 NC unis).
phil here…using a borrowed laptop
irene knocked out my CABLE (interwebs) but not my power, so i consider myself lucky…pissed, but lucky
lots of downed trees in the neighborhood next to mine, and sporadic power out everywhere…but it looks like we dodged a bullet for the most part
hope everyone’s safe
That’s it?
Maybe the rain was reallyreallyreally nasty in between midnight (when I went to bed) and 6:30am (when I woke up). But honestly, this just feels like it was a rainy night, not a historic event. Cats weren’t even spooked like they usually are during a thunderstorm.
It stopped raining about an hour ago. Not very windy at the moment, although I hear that will change.
Electricity, phone, internet, water — all fine.
No downed trees in my back yard or on my block.
Is it too late for the Mets to play today after all..?
Apparently North Carolina got in the way, kept Irene from re-forming and hitting NYC as a full-on Category 3.
Maybe send ’em a card.
Actually, it was never ever supposed to be a Cat 3 in NYC. Was always projected as 1.
Very sad to hear about the deaths and damage in NC, however, of course…
Some talking head just said if it had stayed over water it COULD have regenerated to 3. So my bad.
And I wasn’t meaning to take a shot at you, Paul, just pointing to how these things put forecasters and authorities in a difficult situation, because sometimes it seems only perfect acccuracy is acceptable.
Both the government and the media are sort of screwed. If they downplay a storm and it turns out to be a disaster, all they’ll hear from the public is, “You bastards, why didn’t you WARN us???”
No one wants to be the Lieutenant who told the radar operator that the blip heading for Hawaii on December 7, 1941 was just that flight of B-17’s coming in from California, and not to worry about it.
Agreed. Personally, I’m not upset with the government or the media or anyone else. Because I have nothing to be upset about. I went about my business, the storm did likewise, and now we both move on. No biggie.
All 3 uniforms are awful. “F” for awFul.
If I were a recruit, you couldn’t pay me to wear any of those.
It’s just a nasty gloomy day in Queens..even at its worst around here it was just a very windy heavy rain storm. The areas by the water have been hit pretty good however..
A day late (and always a dollar short?) but…fantastic job LI Phil on the photo essay of Paul. I had the pleasure of meeting both Paul and Phil briefly when they came to Mpls last year for the Deep Freeze weekend. While I am a mostly passive observer, I check in every day and thoroughly enjoy – and am constantly amazed at the depth and passion of both Paul and Phil – and the many, many followers/contributors.
The essay provides a glimpse into who Paul is and his credibility on so many subjects. I wish you well in future career endeavors Phil. If this project is any indication, you will do well. Very well.
If you use Phil’s criteria of just observing the unis in a vacuum I have to disagree and say I like Boise State’s the best. Yes, they are a little ‘Stormtrooper’ looking but at least they have the school colors and the asymmetrical design is interesting enough that it doesn’t look too bad. Grade B+. IMO, Georgia’s design is trying a bit too hard (two toned facemask?) and if they really want to recall the history of UGA and color silver (although they looked grey back in the day) why not have grey, I mean silver pants?!? Grade, C+. Finally, Oregon and the dark side unis (keeping the Star Wars theme alive) I am not feeling. WTF is up with all the black (not to mention slime green)?!? I even gave Oregon the benefit of the doubt with the carbon fiber helmets and I have to admit a small amount of guilty pleasure watching the various combos they come up with every week but that is when they use predominately school colors. This is black for black sakes at its worst. Grade, F.
I don’t know if any of you actually do look at the “Colorize This” (there are no comments so I don’t know) but for you uni-fans I meant to mention in my note to Phil that in the Georgetown pic you may wish to note (a) that the guy on the left-hand side is literally a left-hander, and (b) the arrangement of the letters on his uniform is different to the rest of his team mates.
I always look at the colorized pictures and always appreciate the fine work done.
Funnily enough this wasn’t even the rainiest day in NYC this month (August 14=8 inches). And in terms of downed tree branches the Brooklyn-Queens twin tornadoes of September 2010 were much more devastating where I live.
Sorry I have no uni commentary.
I agree with Phil on the three unis…with Boise being the best of the three.
Oregon’s ninja uni almost looks toned down by their standards. That helmet may be their best effort to date. I know there are two camps on flat/matte helmets, and I am in the camp that likes them.
Boise wins with the white on white on white. I dig the oversized logo much more than their current logo. Don’t understand the significance of the random blue sleevelet though.
Georgia is just too crazy for me. If the helmet had a normal stripe, and silver pants it would have been better…but I don’t design for the swoosh, so what do I know?!
Anyway, glad UW HQ made it through Irene. Even if it cost Phil his cable connection.
They forgot to put this on the chest of the Georgia Pro Combat set..
link
Just back from Prospect Park (most beautiful oasis of landscapery in all of NYC, don’tcha know), where I headed up for my usual daily bike ride — something I sure didn’t expect to be able to do today.
Was in the middle of my second lap around the park (I usually do three) when the cops announced that the park was closed, effective immediately, due to impending high winds.
What I saw: a decent number of downed branches, and lots of debris, but no downed trees, and the bike and jogging paths were completely passable. I’ve seen the park in much worse shape after thunderstorms.
One downed tree on the block immediately east of mine. Aside from that, my neighborhood seems pretty unscathed.
My only gripe: My Sunday paper didn’t arrive. That’s it, no Xmas tip for the delivery kid….
Christian Sandwich game! Nice one! We wouldn’t want to pass up a single opportunity on this blog to take a quick little jab at Christians. God damn it, they’re even allowed to own businesses these days–and successful ones at that! What is this world coming to? I can still remember the good ol’ days when all businesses were owned by atheists.
Fuck it, I’m not even a Christian and even I’m offended at all of these swipes at Chik-fil-a lately on this blog. Atheists who are preoccupied with belittling Christians give decent atheists like me a bad name.
I can’t speak for Phil, who wrote today’s post. But my repeated “swipes” at the corporate sandwich game have to do with the fact that a certain sandwich chain is sponsoring a certain football game. If someone else was sponsoring it, I’d no doubt be taking “swipes” at them. My issue has nothing to do with who the sponsor is and everything to do with the notion that a football game shouldn’t have a corporate sponsor as part of its official name.
As for the your other point, I invite you to find, cite, and read back for us all the “belittling” statements about a certain religious group that you feel have been posted on this site. Take your time — you’re going to need a lot of it.
It’s very comparable to the treatment that Tebow has gotten and is getting. People are hyper-critical of him, far more critical than they are of any other back-up quarterback, but they cover it by saying, “We’re just doing our job and analyzing him, it has nothing to do with his Christianity (wink, wink).”
Same thing here. People on this blog are being overly critical of Chick-fil-A sponsoring a game, as if this is something that has never happened before, but they cover it by saying, “No, we just don’t like corporations in general, it has nothing to do with Christianity (wink, wink).”
It’s just that in this case Phil slipped up and was honest about the real source of the criticism.
People on this blog are being overly critical of Chick-fil-A sponsoring a game…
Right. Because I never ever ever ever critique any other form of corporate douchebaggery by any other corporate entity.
Does this guy have a slam-dunk case or what?
Paul, I’m glad you think I have a slam-dunk case. I think so too.
You missed my point. Corporations have been sponsoring sports events for years and years and years. Every bowl season, we’re inundated with bowl games named after corporations. So, the question, then, is why, in this case, has this site been making such a huge fucking deal about a corporation sponsoring a sports event? Well, today Phil answered that question for us–because it’s a Christian sandwich corporation.
Though I get tired of the constant ribbing of Chick-fil-a as the Christian Sandwich company etc. I won’t defend it come bowl season. The kickoff classic thing has been sponsored by Chick-fil-a since its inception (I’m fairly certain they’re have been no other kick-off classics like it in Atlanta I could be wrong here), so there was no name-changing, however the New Year’s Eve game played in Atlanta should be called the Peach Bowl, I’m fine with the corporate sponsor but it should ultimately be called the Peach Bowl.
That was an instance of corporate douchebaggery and is indefensible. Its still called the Peach Bowl here in Atlanta and throughout the SEC/ACC/B1G but it eventually will only be known by its corporate sponsor’s name.
Tebow gets criticized because hes the fourth best QB on that team (if your behind Orton, Quinn and some fuck named Webber, YOU SUCK) and people still want him to be the starter. It pisses off people who actually know QB play, because Tebow gets so much attention for his college career and his devout religious beliefs yet he’s the only fourth sting QB who has major sponsorship deals in the history of the NFL.
Tucker, you’re badly out of your depth here. Quit while you’re behind, because at this point you’re just making yourself look foolish.
I continue to criticize the corporate sponsorship of sporting events because I think it’s bad for sports, bad for America, just bad. If you’re even vaguely familiar with this site, you know that; if you’re not familiar with this site, don’t try making grand statements when you don’t know what you’re talking about.
“The kickoff classic thing has been sponsored by Chick-fil-a since its inception (I’m fairly certain they’re have been no other kick-off classics like it in Atlanta I could be wrong here), so there was no name-changing”
Citi Field was never called anything other than Citi Field since it’s inception, but I still think people are calling it Shae.
New Meadowlands was never called anything other than New Meadowlands since it’s inception, but I still think people are calling it Giants’ Stadium.
I could do this all day. This blog always (for better or worse) rips corporate named sports events, stadiums, etc. Just because their making fun of one that has made themselves out to be a christian sandwich restaurant (and THEY did it, they’re the ones who so openly flaunt their christian ethics and beliefs – which is “whatever”, who gives a fuck what religion the dead chicken I’m eating was) does not mean they would not make fun of this if it were the “Rabbi Leibowitz Chicken Sandwich Opener” or the “There is No Higher Power Filet Kickoff”.
And did you think that maybe, just maybe, they called it the Christian sandwhich game because both Chick-Fil-A and Christian both start with a “CH” AND the switch-a-roo makes sense?
If you really think there is some agenda to disenfranchise or attack Christians, call me on Christmas – the only national holiday that stems directly from a religious holiday – and tell me how oppressed you feel.
Yes, I agree, Tim Tebow sucks. There’s no debate about that. Because he sucks, he deserves the same thing that all third-string QBs get–silence. Ignore him. No reason to talk about him. There’s only one reason that so many people delight in bringing him up just to ridicule him.
Same thing with Chick-fil-A. If this site made an equally big deal about the Meineke Car Care Bowl and the Emerald Nuts Bowl and all the rest, then the whole “I hate all corporations” thing would hold water. But if the others are simply ignored or dismissed, while this one is brought up repeatedly to be trashed repeatedly, that says something.
I’ll give you one more example. My dear, sweet grandma always makes a point, when talking about people she’s encountered, to mention their race–but only if they’re not white. For example: “The cashier at the store–she was nice. The repairman who came over–he was black.” It reveals some deep, unconscious discomfort about people of other races.
Same thing here–just with religion instead of race.
If this site made an equally big deal about the Meineke Car Care Bowl and the Emerald Nuts Bowl…
Back here in the real world, this site DOES make a big deal out of nonsense like that.
If you want to keep insisting that 2+2=5, that’s your affair. As for the rest of us, let’s all please move on to reality-based comment threads. Thanks.
“It reveals some deep, unconscious discomfort about people of other races.”
Your grandmother is racist while passed out? That sounds difficult.
See, you’re so misinformed that you think unconscious and subconscious are the same thing. They aren’t. At all.
Now, while you’ve proven that you’re painfully ignorant of simple concepts (like the difference between two completely different words) I’ll just remind you that the people who keep bringing up Tebow are either:
A. People like you who try and defend him for being ‘persecuted’
or, B. Stupid Broncos fans who hope that just because he was great in college that he’ll be better than the poop (orton, quinn, webber) that Denver has rolled out at QB for years.
Boomer Esiason isn’t bringing Tebow up because he wants to belittle him, he’s trying to tell people to stop asking him to start BECAUSE HE’S BAD AT FOOTBALL!
Tim, if you’re going to insult my intelligence, you’d better be sure to get your facts straight. The “unconscious mind” is a term used in psychology to describe exactly what I’ve described:
“The unconscious mind might be defined as that part of the mind which gives rise to a collection of mental phenomena that manifest in a person’s mind but which the person is not aware of at the time of their occurrence. These phenomena include unconscious feelings, unconscious or automatic skills, unnoticed perceptions, unconscious thoughts, unconscious habits and automatic reactions, complexes, hidden phobias and concealed desires.”
Like I already said, let’s move on. Thanks.
Here’s what I think of those uniforms and the ridiculous marketing campaign that produced them: joyless, dreary and cynical.
“Joyless” is a particularly sharp assessment here, and I completely agree with it. So many of the college designs now — and the marketing campaigns that promote them — are rooted in concepts of combat, war, intimidation, aggression, etc. It all feels like a giant snarl.
I have this vague memory of college football once having been fun.
That’s where you went wrong, Paul. Fun doesn’t pay.
link
Coach Boone: Yes, sir. Why are you smiling?
Petey Jones: ‘Cause I love football. Football is fun.
Coach Boone: Fun, sir? It’s fun?
Petey Jones: Yes.
Coach Boone: You sure?
Petey: Zero fun, sir.
Rugger-schmugger, Chilvers. I’d fulminate more, but your stuff is way too good. Especially love those decorous Beaneater men. Straight outta Compton they’re not.
PS So waddayasay about those crazy Manc results today?
While Manure were very very good – equally the Arse were abysmal.
Georgia D+, Boise State B-, Oregon B+
Georgia’s just looks awful. Boise’s is unique enough and I really like the helmet and all-white but the writing on the pants is bad. Oregon’s looks really good but the whole black on black thing isn’t necessarily my cup of tea. I was totally wrong the other day Paul, definitely not charcoal gray those are flat black helmets. My bad.
Off to my fantasy draft. Me and a buddy were discussing funny draft strategies like only drafting players from teams with birds as mascots, or non-bird animals or human/fictional humanoid type mascots. I have to say that the non-bird animals would not be a great strategy. Lions, Bengals and Bears oh my.
I sure hope this link earthquake damage wasn’t repaired and paid for before the hurricane hit. I must say though, that Hank Hill would be proud of that lawn.
Phil, wonderful to see a good ole Hecken Weekender back. Glad life can get back to normal with the kids back in school and these blogcations, phd’s, and other more sobering events of the summer behind us.
Gotta say, that Oregon backward 5 font, *coughjimvilkcough* has it right. Not surprising, he usually does.
On the Nikey subject, I have to say their designs are getting a bit better, purely speaking aesthetically here. It appears that less is more is the current mild trend. The Boise helmet is the worst feature in my mind. That and the pantleg wordmark. But overall I might be able to make it through part of a game these teams are playing. For Oregon, black is still not necessary and the font is hideous, but the yellow does pop and it is curiously attracting like a mosquito lamp.
I still say the problem lies with the schools and not with a private corporation. Are they greedy? Sure. Looking out for No. 1. I can’t fault them for doing whatever they legally can do to thrive, even if it’s not the way I’d handle things. But college athletics sure seem to be in a strange state. Never more attended and followed, but never more corrupt. Funny (strange, not haha). Cheating gets a student kicked out of college. But cheating by a college is commonplace. And the governing body, the NCAA, is the rule maker, investigator, judge and jury. Hmmmmm.
My favorite tweak of the day was Sampson’s Bengals link
One question that came up while watching Sporting Kansas City fall apart last night, why do soccer refs wear long socks?
Check out the new football uniforms for Southern U.:
link
Even if you don’t like monochrome at home (mono-home?), I think that looks pretty sharp.
I could live without the dark blue (black?) on the shoulder stripes of the white jersey, that way they’d match the number outline.
White number on the powder blues might not hurt either, but I kinda like the blue numbers.
Whoooooooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa………
Those unis just took me on a metaphorical bus ride, and now I want to buy that bus.
Thanks for the kind words on the Patriots uniforms! I realized that the pants stripe was one that looked much better not going all the way up the pants, so I used the actual Pro Combat pants cut. The “NE” logo was used for diversity, since Elvis already appeared 4 times on the uniform!
Well, I could be wrong, but I believe diversity is an old, old wooden ship that was used during the Civil War era.
I doubt Andrew Defrank was looking for an Old Wooden ship Ron.
Southern Mississippi’s new helmets, I’ve heard they are getting new unis to go with them (I’m pretty sure I heard that on this site).
I like the unbalanced decals, and the matte finish.
link
They’re actually wearing three different helmets this season. That one will be used for the first four games; the other two (which haven’t been released yet) will be used for games 5-8 and 9-12, respectively.
Since they’re never the same twice, shouldn’t we just refer to what Oregon wears as multiforms instead of uniforms?
howdy all…finally got the interwebs back…i am thankful that’s ALL i lost…took a tour of the surrounding areas today and there’s actually a lot more damage (lost power everywhere, traffic lights out, many LARGE trees down) than i originally thought
hope all the rest of the east-coasters made it out of this ok
A way back up, Paul said:
“Weather Underground … Bill Ayers … Domestic terrorism … It all makes sense now: IRENE WAS A TERRORIST PLOT!!
Which perhaps explains why a certain lunatic fringe of the chatosphere is using the hurricane as an excuse to abolish the National Weather Service:
link
Goddamn commie big-gummint meteorolgists….”
~~~
since this has nothing to do with unis, i’ll be fairly brief
the article is correct in one thing — the NWS pretty much sucks when it comes to forecasting hurricanes, and it has been for years…and yes, accuweather is much better
but it’s not due to the fact that NWS is worthless or eats up taxpayer dollars, it’s due to even worse government incompetence: the NWS primarily uses the GFS model for its forecasts, and the GFS (which we on the weather boards i moderated, nicknamed “good for shit”) is basically worthless…it’s an outdated computer model that is notoriously bad, and instead of using the many other models at their disposal, the NWS relies on the GFS because we taxpayers bought and paid for it years ago
it’s the old GIGO (“garbage in garbage out”) argument, only with a twist — the model isn’t being fed garbage data (the dropsondes from the hurricane hunters), but the computer isn’t particularly good at crunching those data
i told paul and a few others 24 hours before the storm actually affected us up here on long island this was going to be a bust, despite the doom and gloom (armageddon, apparently) being foisted upon us by the major news stations (all using NHC data)
“how the hell do you know so much, phil, are you a meteorologist?” no, no I’m not, but i spent basically 2003-2005 (particularly active years) studying hurricanes, reading data, learning radar and satellites, and understanding trends…and i could see, with my own two eyes, that what the NHC was telling us was based on shitty output data…
no one wants to tell the NHC they’re wrong (and they do do a pretty decent job, all things considered) but they could be so much better…and i surely don’t want them to be eliminated as the fox reporter pontificates
ah well…enough of my yakkin’ … back to unis now
The Boise state helmet looks like a copy of the Austin Wranglers AFL helmet.
link
“That thick red stripe is just
gadawfulalright with me, and what is with the stripe repeating on the facemask?”“
Nike designers couldn’t resist stickingNothing wrong with a big-ass design element down the leg.”“but even viewed purely as a uniform, this one
rockssucks.”(fixed)
I’ve been a long time reader of this blog, yet have never commented on any posts. As a 18 year old college freshman at a B1G Ten school, I am obsessed with sports. One of my favorite aspects of sports is the uniforms. It is interesting to see the difference between how I look at uniforms and Phil and Paul do. The Nike Pro Combat revealings to me and my friends and most of my peers is one of my favorite parts of the preseason because we enjoy seeing how “crazy” and “sick” the uniforms are. While I do love the tradition some teams keep (a la Penn State and USC), it’s always fun to see different looks on the field. I understand why a lot of people hate these uniforms, but at the same time its pretty obvious that they are catering them to kids my age. The kids that are being recruited by the Oregon actually list the uniforms as a reason they pick Oregon over other schools. Kind of ridiculous, but 100% true. People may hate it, but that’s just how me and my peers think.
welcome aboard kyle
sadly (for the old farts like me) the reason kids used to choose a school was academics or state loyalty or even just a good, strong winning team over the years
now they choose a school because they will get free nike swag
never mind that 99% of them will never earn a cent playing professional football and end up (if they’re lucky) with a degree that might not be worth as much in the real world as it would have been if they had selected a better school with less *crazy* or *sick* uniforms
but hell, i was 18 once…i probably felt differently then than i do now