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Uni Watch

And Then There Were Ten

By
seahawks contest finalists

By Phil Hecken

Last weekend, we looked at the 35 Finalists in the Seahawks uniform redesign contest. Taking into account the reader comments, I assembled a crack panel of divergent uniform aficionados to assist in narrowing down the 35 submissions into 10 finalists, upon which you will all vote today. Those three were Rob Holecko (who runs the great Gridiron Database and who took the time to rank all the finalists in the comments) and Tim E. O’Brien, who assisted me with setting up the contest. Recognizing there was probably enough diversity there, I also selected Jim Vilk, who has some rather odd ideas on what makes a good uniform design, as a counter-balance to Rob, Tim and myself.

We hemmed and hawed, taking into account the reader comments as well as our own preconceived notions and biases. Literally about four hours and almost 300 emails later, we arrived at our final 10. We had unanimous consent on only two of the ten, while the other eight were all very tough decisions — not because they weren’t great, but because there were so many good ones to choose from. Horse trading, threats upon property and life and intimidation were all used to arrive at the final 10. In the end, I think each of us had at least one or two designs for which we argued strenuously that didn’t make the final cut. But hey, this was a pure democracy (ok, actually it was more like picking a pledge class in a fraternity), and we think we have decided upon a very strong 10 candidates. To the 25 who didn’t make it, there were probably one or two of us who DID want your design in there, but with so many good ones from which to choose, obviously, a few of you didn’t make it to the final round. You’re all winners in our book, and we thank you for participating. Now…a few words from the crack panel — of course, perhaps if we’d had some actual crack, the decisions might have been easier…

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But first, and in alphabetical order…here are your 10 finalists (in cases where an alternate or multiple alternates were included, we have included both the home and road, plus one alternate):

1. Tom Bierbaum

2. Steve Brookman

3. Andrew DeFrank

4. Michael Hass

5. Brent Hatfield

6. Travis Ness

7. Shaun Ploenzke

8. Jeff Provo

9. Matt Robida

10. David VanCleve

~~~

OK, now we need to hear from the crack panel, so simply because he got his exit interview to me first, we start with Jim Vilk:

I’d wear these…every one of them. But, to elaborate…

Bierbaum: Always wanted to see the 80s uni in green.

Brookman: Never saw Seattle as a shoulder-stripe team, but this works.

DeFrank: Wonder if they could wear that alt for 16 games…

Hass: A much better shoulder yoke uni than the Titans’.

Hatfield: Simple design + bright colors = great combo.

Ness: I think Efren Herrera would approve, too.

Ploenzke: Contrast, baby…contrast! This has it, and then some.

Provo: Just a gray facemask away from perfection. ;)

Robida: Probably my favorite jerseys of the whole lot.

VanCleve: VanTastic, Mr. VanCleve.

~~~

Next, Tim E. O’Brien:

What a process. With all the haggling and bargaining I felt like I was in a real NFL boardroom rather than just being on g-chat. It took a few hours and a few hundred emails but we narrowed all the submissions down to (what we think are) the best 10. I’d just like to thank everyone who submitted stuff one more time and say that more than a few designs were well recieved by us but – for whatever reason – didn’t make the cut. Now for some thoughts:

Bierbaum: I don’t know what I like more, your Seahawks concepts or your Broncos concept

Brookman: Like the colors, love the shoulder stripes

DeFrank: Great redesign of the current set and colors

Hass: Hass to be the best coffee inspired uni I’ve ever seen

Hatfield: That Scope-green makes these unis fresh (and gingivitis free!)

Ness: A nice take on the ’90s unis and colors

Ploenzke: Love the design, especially the jersey

Provo: Very simple but I love THE colors

Robida: A really cool modern take on the ’90s set

VanCleve: Just a really clean, nice set

~~~

And finally, Rob Holecko, who missed the part of the exit interview where you say a few words about each finalists. I kid, of course, but Rob was a bit more elaborate:

Well, Tim & Jim have given you a good break-down on the process and on their thoughts of the ten finalists — I agree with what they’ve said so far, and since you already have my initial responses to all the entries last week in the comments, here and here, I’d thought I’d take this space to mention a little bit about two of the entries that didn’t make the cut – we’ll call them my honorable mentions.

I really liked the entry by David Johnson, he mentioned it was inspired by the Vancouver Canucks, eh, but it instantly reminded me of the Portland Breakers of the USFL. Just like how the Bucs’ 1997 redesign introduced colors that the Bandits had used, I wouldn’t mind seeing a little inspiration from the USFL team of the Seahawks’ region. And the white helmet was clearly a departure from many of the entries which seemed to all derive from the Seahawks’ current colors. Not that continuity with the current design is always a bad thing, I just wanted to recognize this entry and the merits of how starting fresh can bring a new perspective to a uniform re-design.

On a final thought, I’d like to talk a little bit about the neon green that Seattle currently uses as a trim color and for a third alt that they wore in 2009. I was initially opposed to many of the entries that featured this color prominently. (Especially one that used it very brightly and made our final cut.) However after discussions with the other members of the crack staff, I came to realize that that color is an integral part of the Seahawks’ color scheme and should definitely be represented in the finals. I would especially like to mention another entry that didn’t make the cut as my second honorable mention, and that is the entry by George Ciervo. This entry really grew on me, the shape of the numbers, the use of the neon green in such a way that wasn’t over-powering, but complementary to the other colors. And I usually don’t like fancy numbers, but as I said this entry grew on me.

Well congratulations to the ten that did make the cut and good luck to all of them in the final voting, and thanks to all those that did enter, all thirty-five entries were special in their own way.

~~~

Thank you gentlemen. OK — there you have it. I’ll keep this round of voting open until Friday, September 30, and at that time the top two vote getters will face off in the finals for the chance to win some neat-o prizes. In addition to the Membership and football, Paul has agreed to throw in some swag and my pollster, James Huening also has a nice prize as well. Plus, now that UW has peel-off stickers, I’ll throw in a set of those along with the membership card.

So…now it’s time to vote. Ready? Ready! If for some reason that poll doesn’t show up below, use this link to take you to the voting…

~~~

(Click on the Images for a larger view)


~~~

Big thanks again to all who participated, to Jim, Rob and Tim, and to JTH for creating the poll.

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Benchies Header

Benchies

by Rick Pearson

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Last time he thought he was on “Dancing With The Stars”…

9-24-11 d-Batman ALT

And the full-size.

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colorize this

Colorize This!

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

Only two submissons this week, and of course, that means it’s one each from George and Gary. So, lets see what they have in store for us:

~~~

First up is George Chilvers, who is back with some football for us:

Hi Phil

Another panoramic this week – 1914 FA Cup Final at Crystal Palace between Burnley and Liverpool.

A couple of things to note:
1. These days Burnley’s claret and Liverpool’s red would be treated as a colour clash
2. There are quite a few people towards the top middle of the picture who were behind the edge of the stand, and who presumably could see virtually nothing!!
3. Look at the mowing lines running the length of the pitch – how many times must the groundsman had to walk up and down?!

George

~~~

And we conclude with Gary Chanko, who once again found a beauty in yesterday’s Wire Service #35 post:

From today’s There’s No Service Like Wire Service Vol. 35. This is one example of how colorizing creates the past that most fans never saw.

The Chief Wahoo logo was an interesting research item. It wasn’t just all red and I think I represented correctly. The players only were outfitted in uni shirts only, so the belt thing is really odd.

I sure most baseball fans of that era will remember Herb Score and what happened to him. He might have been one the great ones.

~~~

That’s it for this week. Thanks (as always) to the G&G boys. Back with more next time!

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Oh no, not Ohio

We all know 17-year-olds like shiny things, and apparently, there’s no shortage of young guys who will turn into a gang of Justin Bieber fangirls getting hand-autographed pairs of skinny jeans off of his ass a bunch of exuberant youths who are simply excited to finally join the BFBS crowd, 20 years too late to receive a new, alternative uniform for a big game. (Thanks to Terry D. for the first “imagery”). They broke out the BFBS last weekend against Marshall, but the video below didn’t begin making the rounds until after the game.

Yes, boys and girls, the venerable Ohio University, who have pretty damn fine uniforms in their own right, joined the BFBS ranks, while another team who got bored and went BFBS is their opponent today. *Sigh* Can’t we please just stop with the black’s sake in college football? There are even rumors that Boise will be donning BFBS today as well.

Just. Stop. Now.

But hey, if it makes the kids happy, why not right? See for yourself how the Ohio kids reacted to the black jersey:

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That’s all for today folks. Yes, I realize there were no tweaks today, but I had a week from hell and I apologize, but I just didn’t get to them. They should be back tomorrow however. Lots of interesting college football today, with Ohio going BFBS and possibly Boise as well. It’s all the calm before the storm, when conference play heats up — where the Internets are ablaze with rumors that Nebraska may go BFBS in their inaugural B1G game against Sconnie. Shouldn’t every team just have a BFBS alternate and get it over with? Everyone have a great Saturday, and don’t forget to vote in the Seahawks Uni Poll if you haven’t already. Back tomorrow with all the college action and even more fun. See you then.

~~~

“I can equate the Ohio Bobcats football team’s reaction to them getting their black uniforms to a gang of Justin Bieber fangirls getting hand-autographed pairs of skinny jeans off of his ass. Scary”¦ it’s almost like chum to them.” — Terry Duroncelet

 
  
 
Comments (179)

    We’ve gotta be getting close to the tipping point for BFBS. I mean pretty soon we’re gonna need to have a list of the teams that *haven’t* done it. I just hope the pendulum doesn’t swing back too far in the other direction. I’d like to see things kinda settle on mix-n-match uniforms but using only team colors. We don’t need BFBS (or WhiteFWS or GrayFGS) but there’s nothing wrong with Oregon using every possible combination of yellow & green.

    Oh, and congratulations and good luck to the other 9 finalists. May the best concept win… or something.

    In 1989 Sports Illustrated link that showed that teams wearing black are penalized more often than their non-black-wearing opponents. I know many people think black makes you look more badass, but penalties can be such a momentum killer (especially in football) that you’d think somebody would keep this story going so that coaches and players would stop going BFBS.

    Got a kid in college? Or are you in college?

    Psychiatry or another form of counseling may be a great career choice.

    Evidently over the next few decades there will be a huge market in treating men dealing with their lingering feelings of deprivation and inadequacy owing to being forced to play their entire college football careers without even knowing the joy of getting a black jersey to wear.

    “Can’t we please just stop with the black’s sake in college football? . . .

    “Just. Stop. Now.”

    Thank you, Phil.

    I can’t tell who’s playing anymore just by looking at the teevee. And that includes teams without black uniforms. By constantly changing up their uniforms, teams have lost their identity. They may sell more merch, but they are losing their brand.

    But you always know when Alabama, the Yankees, UCLA, et. al, are playing. Gosh, they are winners too. Go figure.

    Everton wore royal, City wore sky – it was actually a great-looking match. That City won was merely the icing on the cake…

    Adam Eaton slicing his hand opening a CD? Gus Frerotte banging his head against a wall on live TV? Sammy Sosa sneezing too hard? None of these would be on the same chart of hard-to-imagine injuries as the 300 lb Ohio lineman who fell down the stairs outside of the locker room in his foaming over-exuberance to touch his BFBS jersey in the basement locker room… The former Marine drill sergeant standing at the door as the kids whiz by (at 2:12) looks like he wishes these guys would get as pumped about the weight room as they do about their Justin Beiber jea– I mean, black jerseys.

    I think that’s the head coach, Frank Solich, questioning his life’s work when ugly uniforms can get his team more jacked than he can.

    How about the BCS having a BFBS Weekend, where every team (home and away) wears black? Maybe that’ll get it out of their system…

    but that could just be a one-of-a-kind listing on eBay and not anything that will see a field anytime soon

    link

    did anyone confirm anything about this?

    i’ve not heard anything, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible

    remember, boise was told they weren’t allowed to wear their camouflage blue on the smurf turf, so don’t think that nike isn’t taking this as a challenge to come up with several *acceptable* uniforms for the broncs to wear…would BFBS really surprise anyone at this point?

    not saying it will happen, but i wouldn’t say it’s out of the realm of possibility either

    Well I’m thinking the comments in this auction indicate that this was something that this guy just made up to sell:

    BOISE STATE BRONCOS “BLACK OUT” COMBAT HELMET

    ONE OF A KIND!

    Up for auction, full size (adult LARGE) SCHUTT DNA helmet made to be a BOISE STATE “BLACK OUT” “PRO COMBAT” HELMET, with a NIKE clear football shield visor. Helmet has been painted flat black with authentic PRO COMBAT decals. Very cool helmet, wish Nike made these in black rather than white. Perfect for tailgating parties or for display in a case in your den or office. Payment must be made with 4 business days after auctions end (PAYPAL only), S/H $18.00. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. (Blue Bronco helmet not for auction)Thanks for looking and good luck.

    Maybe someone could contact the seller and interview him for Uni Watch about the helmet and where it came from or if it was just his creation.

    Well, I contacted the seller and asked him about it, here is his response:

    Hello. It was just something I made. It would be nice to see the broncos wear black out on the blue tho. Thanks for asking.

    The only black jersey a college kid should get that excited over is their new Raiders jersey when/if they get drafted.

    Food for thought: since black isn’t a color but the absence of light, maybe BFBS isn’t as big a deal as we make it out to be. Do many schools actually list white as a school color? Yet it’s simply accepted as the road (in most cases) jersey for football teams.

    Same with gray (and formerly powder blue) in baseball. I guess with Oklahoma State and Oregon, gray/carbon will be the next hue we’ll have this discussion about.

    Good point about using white on the road even when it is not a school color for most all teams. Makes you wonder how decades ago teams went with white instead of the lighter of their school colors.

    Black & white TV is to blame. White jerseys didn’t really catch on until the TV era started. Prior to that, one team in blue vs one in red was perfectly normal.

    “Blame”? As if the discovery that clear contrast between the teams was evil? Or that white is so last century and boring and serves no purpose? What exactly looks so horrific abut one team in white? Other than screwing with someone’s low boredom threshold, that is (“But EVERY games look like that; make it STOP.”)?

    Ever officiated a game? Tried to follow play from the sidelnes? Broken down game film?

    There’s more to football than how it looks from the couch.

    Contrast is the issue, and the early days of TV white was the best, and most servicable, solution. Sure, there were other options but back then they weren’t about to fart around with case-by-case exceptions.

    That’s because back then the dominant mindset wasn’t, “But you should make an exception for me(us) because I’m(We’re) special.”

    I’ve got nothing against teams using some of the golds or blues or oranges or silver/gray as an alternative to white. But we don’t have to paint white as some kind of heinous, outdated tradition in order to elevate those alternatives.

    Yes Ricko, blame. I’m not going to say that white is entirely evil, but the game did survive just fine for it’s first 30 years without needing to worry about white jerseys. Heck, the Packers & Bears even played blue vs blue a few times. If contrast was *that* big of a deal to the teams playing, they’d have started using white a lot sooner than they did.

    Ultimately it *is* outdated. If the fans in the stadium and the refs on the field could follow a red-v-blue game in 1945, then surely they can do it now.

    True to a point. Color on color was the norm. But even back in the 1920’s teams wore white. So at some point some team decided to wear white and not the lighter of the school colors.

    So my question is why did it all start long ago. Most likely in the 1920’s or even in the 1910’s

    Here Ohio State is wearing gray jerseys with red stripes around 1917 or 1919

    link

    In 1929 Ohio State wore white as in this pic vs Michigan

    link

    And a few days ago Brown university was shown in white. Most teams wore school color but some wore white. And there was no white at home rule as far as I know. Ohio State wore those white jerseys at home some games and red in others. Michigan State had white jerseys in the early 30’s also.

    Yes, but the introduction of white led the game to discover that incorporating teams in high contrast not only improved the show in peoples’ living rooms, it improved any number of other aspects, too.

    It really was a case of, “Hey, this turned out to be a pretty good idea…for a lot of reasons!”

    Unless, of course, we want to start rewriting history again when it suits us.

    And how can we continue to deny the flat-out pure science that the human eye processes the difference between light and dark significantly faster than it sorts out, say, red and blue?

    One more teensy thing.
    You don’t think the game is faster than it was in 1945?

    Jeez, watch old game films sometime. Really watch them. And compare the speed of the players to those of today.

    And I’ll say this again. I don’t care HOW big a football fan someone is. If you have never been on the sidelines of an NFL or major college football game you don’t have a CLUE how fast, and in what a flurry of motion, things happen down there.

    How fast is it? Well, remember how, for example, Percy Harvin always seemed to run away from people like a men among boys when he was at Florida? He doesn’t have moments like that nearly as often in the NFL. So, did he suddenly get slower, or is everyone that much faster?

    And how can we continue to deny the flat-out pure science that the human eye processes the difference between light and dark significantly faster than it sorts out, say, red and blue?

    So that kinda would make it better for helping your quarterback avoid throwing interceptions, too, right? Then it’s not just that it’s an aesthetic debate for what made things better for fans viewing the game, either on TV or at the stadium, but it actually improved the game, to.

    I think “improved” is sorta relative though, depending on if you prefer offensive or defensive games. Both QBs get the same advantage/handicap.

    Sure, dark vs white is easier but color vs color is still perfectly playable/watchable.

    My point exactly.
    They discovered contrast made the game, and things involved with it, better.

    Football people aren’t stupid. With the proliferation of color TVs—and especially now with HD—they easily could have rushed back to color-on-color, but they have not. Think maybe there are practical applications, non-aesthetic reasons, for sticking with it? Hmmmm…could be.

    (Keep in mind, The Jeff once commented here that if a few more interceptions were the price to be paid for a return to color-on-color it would be worth it. I’m guessing very view owners, coaches or players would agree.)

    Let’s ask ourselves, why does virtually every team practice with either the defense or offense in white? Even in training camp when there’s no upcoming game this weekend? So it will look good for local TV sportscasts?

    Or maybe cuz it’s just simply easier to follow what’s going on?

    Ya think.

    That’s true, if you prefer defenses making interceptions because of a split second color identification confusion on the part of the quarterback, that’s fine. But I don’t think that a red-vs-blue matchup would necessarily produce more interceptions than a white-vs-color game would, as opposed to a game like an early Packers vs. Bears (or even Manchester City vs. Everton) blue-on-blue matchup might.

    Nobody said QBs would say, “Oops, thought that blue jersey was a red jersey.”

    Not talking about conscious decision-making.
    Separating colors is, for the sake of this discussion, a process, compared to discerning light from dark, which more of a reaction.

    It’s the defensive jersey you don’t see at the edge of your field of vision because colors are more likely to “smear” together, whereas high contrast stays separate longer. Dark and light are easier to differentiate, even at high speed.

    Not saying it’s impossible with, say, red and blue. Just much more quickly “no doubt” if one of those colors is white. Or something high contrast like Cheddar or Vegas Gold.

    Again, I think you get it if you’ve played the game at some level somewhere along the line. At any position, it’s about being able to tell as quickly as possible which are your guys and which are the other guys.

    Putting it really, really simply…you know that, in this home game today/tonight, a white jersey is Them. Anything else is Us. The mind processes that almost without conscious thought.

    Granted, at this point some of it may be being conditioned to it, but I can’t imagine a lot of coaches opting to change it just so things will look prettier for those watching.

    When large people are chasing you wanting to knock your head off while you’re looking for a receiver, it’s nice to know it’s as simple as, “Not white is Us.” Or vice versa.

    I know some will say, “What about helmets?” All I can say is, looking downfield in the midst of all that activity, your eye goes to the chest and shoulders of players first. Don’t know why, just know it does.

    Anybody else here ever played QB, and can say I speak the truth? :)

    But don’t you think it would also be much more quickly for red vs. blue than for two different shades of blue?

    Of course my only experience in playing QB was in middle school P.E. class where we all had white t-shirts, so I had to know by recognition who I was throwing to. But then I didn’t have people trying to tear my head off, just trying to pull that velcro thingy off of my belt.

    I think we’ve probably had this discussion before…

    Anyway… the main difference here is that teams actually use black as a team color. See the Raiders, Pirates, Spurs, etc. White (or gray in baseball) is effectively neutral because *everyone* has a white jersey. Honestly I think baseball’s powder blue era was pretty much just as dumb as BFBS is now. I suppose it wasn’t as visually jarring, but it was still sorta stupid in retrospect.

    But don’t some teams use white as a team color? I would argue that Penn State is blue and white, or the New York Jets are green and white, rather than just being “blue” or “green.”

    Is it really BFBS in the case of Oklahoma State, since the school colors are orange and black?

    No one said Okie State was BFBS. The complaint against them was gray for gray’s sake, since gray isn’t a school color.

    I was going by the picture used as one of the links in the sentence ” Can’t we please just stop with the black for black’s sake in college football? ” The link for “black’s” is to Oklahoma State. Or did I interpret that totally wrong?

    Apologies. Didn’t check those photos. In that case, you’re right; they have every right to wear black uniforms, although the mono-black is pretty ugly on its own.

    Yeah, but any team can decide what their colors are, right?. Just because the Mets say that their team colors changed from blue, orange and white to blue, orange, white, & black doesn’t make it not “black for black’s sake”.

    I’m not saying a team is not within its’ right to change it’s colors. When the Padres changed from brown and mustard to blue and orange, no one would say that that they didn’t have the right to do that. Or when the Bucs changed from white, red and orange to red and pewter.

    But just because the Mets are within their right to add black to their official colors doesn’t make it not BFBS, I’d argue.

    And just because Okla. State’s colors were black and orange for a long time, that doesn’t mean that a team like the Mets has any less right to decide that they want black to be a color of theirs.

    But you can’t argue that black isn’t a color, but rather the absence of light, and then turn around and say that some teams or schools can use it as a team color, and others can’t, simply on the basis that it’s been a color for a long time, if you feel teams and schools have the right to decide what their own colors should be.

    I guess to clarify what I was saying (because in re-reading it, even I’m not sure what I meant), I would ask — Are teams like the Raiders, Steelers and Oklahoma State “grandfathered-in” in being allowed to use black and it not be considered BFBS, while no team will ever again be allowed to add (or change) their colors like the Detroit Lions, Arizona Cardinals or New York Mets to include black without it being BFBS?

    Or if an expansion team like the Marlins uses black from the get-go, it’s all right, but if they had just been teal-and white at the beginning, but had added black, say in 2001, it would be BFBS? I’m not sure that makes sense.

    So you can use black, but you can never add black? Hmmm.

    It’s not black for black’s sake if your team colors include black. The Mets and Cardinals never added black as an official team color; they simply added black clothing and accents to their uniforms. There’s also an air of disingenuousness about adding black as a team color where it wouldn’t naturally fit. In general, the complaint is that teams are ignoring their own brand identities in order to follow a homogenous formula.

    Glad to see my two favorite Seahawks unis made the finals. Andrew DeFrank’s entry is the best of the modern looks and THE’s is definitely the best old school one. Sorry Jeff, but I voted for DeFrank’s.

    Also, I rarely read Benchies, but that’s my second favorite Snickers football commercial, after the Chiefs’ end zone painter doing the Chefs.

    Um… it does say you can vote for 2 entries…

    I don’t really care about winning, but I sorta feel obligated to hypothetically throw something at you now.

    I hear you buddy. I have an entry too. By touting DeFrank’s entry, it’s kind of like I’m drawing attention away from my entry (and others).

    Anyway, assuming your entry is the Jeff Provo entry, I must say that I love that one as well. It’s nice and clean and modern without having crazy ass stripes and bumper stickers all over the place. Terrific job my friend.

    Yeah, that’s mine.

    Like I said last week… this should be a really close competition. There’s not a bad concept here.

    I’m obviously biased towards my own, but I still voted for another one as well (which of course I’m not going to say to avoid jinxing anything). Weirdly enough, the one concept that I really liked above my own didn’t make the final cut. Whoever ends up winning isn’t going to get any argument from me.

    Yes, it says you can vote for two. But do you really expect anyone to actually read something here?

    I mean, how often do you see someone post “breaking news” in the comments about something that’s mentioned in that very day’s ticker?

    Pretty fucking often, that’s how often.

    As a life long Seattleite and Seahawks fan, I thought I had a grasp on the pulse of those that sat in the stands around me. I am noticing a LOT of love for the more “safe”, “traditional” and “bland” submissions on this site, but everyone that I know seems to prefer something a little more “modern”.

    And while I am here, I don’t personally know ANYONE that doesn’t like our “blue man crew” home set, and the negativity about it seems to come from east of the Cascades.

    That Ohio U. video is from last week before they broke the uniforms out against Marshall and proceeded to win 44-7. Solich has said that they’ll likely only wear them one more time this season and I doubt it’s for the Rutgers game today.

    The interesting articles about Texas Longhorn logos lately.

    On TCM this morning there was a football movie with Lucille Ball called “Too Many Girls” Pottawatomie had what seemed lik black jerseys with a white longhorn logo on the front. The movie was in b&w from 1940. Team had white helmets.

    So that is where Texas got the idea for the Longhorn logo???

    I was looking for a picture of the team but so far no luck. College Coach was also on in the AM. I have seen both of them several times.

    Here is College Coach image.
    link

    Watched part of both this a.m.
    Paul would love the shoulders on the jerseys in the opening credits of TOO MANY GIRLS.

    Also liked the legendary backfield in COLLEGE COACH, the “Four Aces” (small college, probably couldn’t afford to get them horses). Who knew Dick Powell, Lyle Talbot, Joe Sawyer and Guinn “Big Boy” Wlliams were such accomplished footballers.

    Loved the friction stripes on their jerseys, too.

    Speaking of Turner Classic Movies, former L.A. Ram Woody Strode is playing the bad guy witch doctor right now in TARZAN’S FIGHT FOR LIFE from 1958.
    link
    (he’s #34)

    HAHA glad you saw part of those Ricko. Like I said I had seen them both before. I liked “College Coach” and the unis and the “Four Aces” I am not a big fan of musicals. “College Coach” was more of a football movie

    Here is the shoulder stripes you mentioned.

    link

    By the way how about the TD celebration by the Lyle Talbott character. Is there a name for that both hands clasped in the air and shaking them? I call it CHAMPEEN?

    I am taping Tarazn while watching college football. Strode was in Spartacus too. I see this weeks Tarzan is in color. Last week it had Scatman Crothers.

    Seeing how excited the student athletes got about wearing their own uniform makes the BFBS worth it. They are the ones wearing them and playing on Saturdays. If they love it, then we should respect it. I like a black alt for Ohio U, but I must admit that Russell did a pretty crappy job on that one. It reminds me of a Hawaii prototype that Under Armour discarded. Oh well….I’m very happy the players like’em though.

    So long-time fans don’t matter?
    Alumni don’t matter?
    Any overall branding scheme the school might claim to have doesn’t matter?

    Only the kids currently in school matter?

    I hate to put it this way, Ricko, but yeah. If you’re less inclined to root for your alma mater/favorite team because they wore an alternate uniform for one game (and won 44-7, by the way), YOU’RE the one with the problem. I think arguing the aesthetics of uniforms is a great pastime and I enjoy every article I’ve read on this site, whether I’ve agreed with it or not. But it’s not life and death. The black uniform looks terrible, so what, they’ll go back to their usual uniform next week and we can FINALLY get some sleep at night.

    I’m sorry boomtown, but the players’ preference doesn’t matter because they play for the school no matter what. The point of the uniform is the team’s brand identity, so its entire purpose to appeal to the fans. With the exception of Oregon, where it is the brand, having more than a few uniform combinations dilutes the brand and hurts consumer recognition.

    Was largely playing devil’s advocate, stirring the pot, saying there isn’t only a single audience out there.

    Well, also pointing out the focus does seem to be on keeping the kiddies happy and entertained. Anyone who can’t see that has a reality problem.

    And, speaking WHOLLY subjectively now (in a “Gee-golly, in a perfect world” sense), aren’t your school colors—or a color associated with your school such as Notre Dame and green—supposed to get players amped up…not a color the world thinks is “in” but has nothing to do with your institution?

    What’s Cool is more important than What School?

    Truth is, of course, it doesn’t matter if they wear black for one game.

    But let’s also ask ourselves this: Is it really such a burden to have to wear the same color jersey for, what, seven games a year, tops? OMG, how can we expect these kids to endure such mind-numbing repetition?

    Oddly, the programs where what the kids think really matters are the ones where nobody else is paying much attention. There are some Division III schools where varsity athletics are just another extracurricular activity, but nobody’s going to go out of their way to provide those teams with different unis every week.

    As a lifetime Seahawks fan and buyer of many jerseys I voted based on what I would buy and proudly wear.

    While every finalist was well done I choose Robida’s take as my winner.

    Good luck to all!

    Same here. I did vote for another one, too, but I’ll keep that to myself. They’re all great, so to the other contestants I’ll just say, “Could be you.” Thanks to all for making this a fun contest!

    As a lifelong seahawks fan, I too voted for what I would choose to add to my collection of jerseys, and would actually be proud to wear. Sadly, I felt that the vast majority of the submissions were a subtle variation on a bland theme. I used to REALLY like this website, but it seems that there is an almost elitist negative attitude toward anything “new” or edgy”. I do understand that a few subissions were eliminated due to nonconformity to NFL regs, but there were two of my favorite that DID make it thru, neither of which were simply the new logo with old colors, or the current uniform with silver helmet/pants as so many of the submissions seemed to be.

    Oh, I don’t know it’s so much that this generation of kids is different. It’s that this generation of adults who coddle the kids is different. In our day…and even in Ricko’s day…we probably would have been the same. There’s just sooooo much money being thrown around the sporting landscape now that the adults get a little loopy and use some of it to spoil the kids rotten.

    When I was in college I told a professor in an advertising class that, “If you give me enough money I can make every man in America under 30 think he should paint his fingernails purple.”

    Too bad I didnt’ say, “…think the coolest thing in the world is your college football team getting to wear a black jersey.”

    Although my point has essentially been proven either way.

    “If you give me enough money I can make every man in America under 30 think he should paint his fingernails purple.”

    ~~~

    wonder how that would have worked on paul…

    Here’s how to tell them apart: Notre Dame is the team in Vegas gold helmets, while Pitt is the team in old gold helmets. Happy to clear that up for ya. /facetious/

    You forgot to mention that Notre Dame’s sparkle like they’re freshly painted… oh wait. Also Pitt has that annoying word mark across theirs. Proposal is for Navy to always wear the Amateur Atheist helmet against Notre Dame.

    By the way, Paul, can you kill the “Share by Meebo” thing? It’s incredibly annoying when you’re trying to write a comment and you can’t highlight anything.

    Apparently Firefox and Chrome don’t have that problem. There was a discussion about this a couple weeks ago.

    “…that’s my second favorite Snickers football commercial, after the Chiefs’ end zone painter doing the Chefs.”

    Glad you remembered. I figured that strip would work okay in relation to the current Snickers “You’re Not Yourself…” campaign, even for those who didn’t remember this…
    link

    Although you gotta love, “Supermodels? Whaddaya model, gloves???”

    I’d forgotten about the Batman commercial (remembered the “Chefs” though), but yeah, I thought of the Joe Pesci one when I read Benchies. Either way, good stuff today!

    That’s not a good look for Maryland, but it’s not a terrible idea. It seems like their entire uniform philosophy this year is to have really good ideas with incompetent execution. Sounds like UA’s fault to me.

    Hideous. And they got stomped by Temple. Serves them right.

    Vilk — BYU and UCF looked great last night.

    Looks like SDSU is using smaller font and a tighter curve for their helmet decals for certain types of helmets.

    Travis Ness’ one would be my favorite if the alternate jersey had been green. Should I vote for it anyway? Or choose ones with a green jersey?

    One of the funniest Benchies to date. Of course, there would be a possible mild to severe concussion happening there. “….ride with me citizen.”

    That Nebraska helmet isn’t the real thing. One of the members of the equipment staff said on their Twitter that it’s just a mockup someone made a few years ago out of a Texas Tech helmet. It’s not real and Nebraska will not be going BFBS.

    I think a new acronym is in order: BFBSS – Black for Bullshit’s Sake, because really, almost every school that adds black uniforms unnecessarily is doing it for a bullshit reason.

    Guess we don’t want to push the Seahawks redesign envelope too far, eh, fellas? Round up the usual suspects. Andrew Seagraves and Andrew Farley, you got hosed.

    Insulting the site for the results of a public vote is kind of like insulting the NYSE when your stocks lose value.

    Both were very close to making it in, ‘A’ Jeff, don’t stir the pot just to stir it, please.

    But Farley broke one of our rules for the final ten in that some of his design choices were against NFL regulations. We wanted our final 10 to represent what COULD BE seen next year for the Seahawks.

    Personally, I loved Farley’s diagonal white stripe alternate.

    “one of our rules for the final ten in that some of his design choices were against NFL regulations”

    Yeah, we forgot to mention that rule in the write-up.

    I agree with the sentiment, but you have to realize that this site is not a “seahawks fan” poll, it is on the internet, and is also open to the other 98% of the country that is east of the Cascades that may not share our “unique” taste in design.
    I don’t personally know anyone that didn’t like our neon alts (other than the fact that we have never won in them), and while “professional uniform critics” use the term “blue man crew” in a negative context, we say it with a sense of pride.
    Just because we don’t agree with the majority(?) opinion doesn’t mean we (ore they) are WRONG, but we just have to make sure that “they” don’t get to vote in the REAL uniform selection for OUR teams. ;-)

    To those who a few weeks ago criticised England and France having dark change strips “to force New Zealand out of their all black kit”.

    In this morning’s France v NZ the All Blacks wore, erm, all black with the French in all white.

    I’m spending the better part of the afternoon stuck in the Boston airport, with limited t.v. access, but after browsing scores online I can imagine that TCU – Portland State has got to be in consideration for Vilk’s “and 1”.

    If the Bucs’ white uniforms had gray and orange accents instead of pewter and crimson, then yes. OSU looks exactly like the Buccaneers.

    How about — it looks exactly like the next generation of Bucs’ uniforms might look like if they try to marry concepts of the 1976-1996 and the 1997-present. Not sure if that would be a good or a bad thing.

    …or better, how about what the Bucs might look like now if they had just decided to add pewter/gray to the creamsicles in 1997 instead of a full redesign.

    But if they had, would that have been ‘Pewter for Pewter’s sake’?

    Watching OK State/aTm… is it just me or are the Aggies’ jerseys a lighter color than they’ve been?

    The orange across the yoke of Mike Gundy’s shirt is too dark. He looks like he borrowed it from Mack Brown.

    On another Southern vs. Florida A&M note: I watched the halftime show featuring the bands of both teams (something that ALL college teams at all levels should do when playing a televised game), and I was blown away by Florida A&M’s show. The only two things that I don’t like about HBCU shows are:

    1) They claim to be “sharpest” bands around, but the marching (granted, it’s a very physical form of marching) and parts of the music say different. If South Carolina State can do it, why can’t all the other HBCU bands?

    2) Every HBCU drumline (except for South Carolina State) that I’ve heard love to play on TERRIBLE-sounding snare drums. I understand that Show-Style (HBCU’s take on Traditional-Style) is based in tradition — right down to the uniforms, but just because it’s old, doesn’t mean it’s good.

    To be fair.. at least Rutgers’ color scheme is Red/Black/White.. It makes sense to have a black helmet.. although, I’d prefer a white helmet like Louisville’s new one.. but I’ll reserve judgement until I see it on the field though.

    yeah.. but I mean.. we wear white on the road.. lol. It’s just slightly more excusable than say Ohio or Duke because they’re two color teams.. it’s like the Colts or Jets wearing all-black uni’s… that’s BFBS.. or maybe I’m just a homer.. lol

    I can’t speak for anyone else, but I wouldn’t consider it BFBS. I would still consider it a bad look though. BFBS basically means that no matter whether the uniform itself looks good, it’s a bad choice since they’re not wearing black for a good reason. A black uniform or a uniform with black heavy elements can still look good or bad on its own, BFBS or no BFBS.

    It looks like ASU is continuing their recent mono-pattern. Maroon helmet, jersey, and (presumable, based on the knee brace) pants.

    link

    Call me crazy, but I think that North Texas might have one of the greatest uniforms of the year. That shade of green is beautiful

    Sorry bud but I go to Purdue so this game made me laugh as we prepare to get our asses kicked by Notre Dame on national television

    Boise State is wearing their 2010 Maaco Bowl Pro Combat uniforms. I think it’s safe to say that the File Tab unis have been laid to rest, which is a good thing.

    wvu can look so good if the go blue-gold-blue, or blue-blue-gold, even blue-blue-white…

    but mono-gold with blue lids?

    when their opponents are wearing gold trou (with actual stripes)?

    not good

    Mono-gold for my Mounties is a guaranteed L. These damn kids…

    They call this a “Gold Rush”. I’m afraid it’s going to turn into a “Golden Shower”.

    I thought Boise couldn’t wear mono-blue at home anymore. Does that rule go into effect in 2012? Or perhaps later this season? Kinda thought they’d be in white pants tonight.

    I believe it was only for WAC conference games they cannot go all-blue. For non conference games, full-clash with the field turf is still permissible.

    They left the WAC and moved to the Mountain West this year, and yes all blue aren’t allowed for conference game but allowed for non conference home games

    I understand not liking the Ohio unis because they are ugly, but I refuse to get down on a bunch of kids for being excited about something. I think this site has become overly spiteful towards differing opinions in the past few months and has gone from a must read daily site to I’ll check it when I get to it. That really sucks, I love uniforms and have forever, but something seems different around here lately.

    For the record I hate BFBS, love college unis like BAma and Penn State, but at the same time liked the Maryland flag get up and actually liked the Bills look from the past few years. Not everyone can go out there looking the same.

    Saw “Moneyball.” Terrific.
    PS- anyone having probs connecting to this site? Google Chrome and Firefox will not connect, but for some reason my Google Chrome “Canary” build will.

    Yeah, Chrome will no longer connect to the old site name. Make sure you’re not still trying to connect to Uniwatchblog.com

    well, i was. the thing is, Chrome Canary (Alpha v 16) and Chrome Beta (15) both used the old URL- and one would find it, the other wouldn’t. And this is just today.

    So whatever, I just changed the bookmark.

    Oregon actually wearing green? Heh, go figure. But Arizona’s wearing a new combo that I’ve never seen before: blue helmets, red jerseys (which they’ve been binging on since last year), and blue pants.

    Is Rice finally gonna make it into the 5+1 or is it going to be in the honorable mentions for the third straight game?

    Whoops… missed that first link in the rundown. Oh well. It should be noted that the Miss. State Bulldogs have THE worst football uniform in the SEC. Throw some screenprinted Athletic Shadow-Block numbers on that black jersey and break out the black pants (that they mercifully did not wear today), and you have the worst college football uniform… ever.

    “I can equate the Ohio Bobcats football team’s reaction to them getting their black uniforms to a gang of Justin Bieber fangirls getting hand-autographed pairs of skinny jeans off of his ass. Scary… it’s almost like chum to them.” – Terry Duroncelet

    Funny you should say that…
    link

    how come almost half of the Seahawks jersey finalists have Nike logos, but Reebok is the official outfitter of the NFL?

    Making the assumption that you haven’t read anything else relating to NFL uniforms in the past year or so, and you simply stumbled your way into the comment block, and are not asking this question simply to be a troll:

    This is the final year of the Reebok contract, and the douche swoosh crew is taking over the NFL next year. In anticipation there is a mad frenzy of speculation as to the extent of the upcoming uniform changes.

    That is why the swoosh is on the uniforms, as it is a ‘nike’ concept.

    As I first took a glance at what made the final 10, the first thing that I noticed was that there were NO submissions that kept the (fan selected) blue helmet, and only ONE that didn’t have some shade of grey.
    The second thing that I noticed was that there was only ONE that didn’t have us wearing grey pants at home, and only TWO that had us wearing pants that weren’t grey for anything other than an alt. (5 non grey pants for 24 uniform combinations) I miss Kreig to Largent as much as anyone, but come on guys, this is not the 80’s we were bland then, and we do NOT need to be bland now.
    I know that more attention was paid to the actual jerseys since you don’t(?) see people wearing football pants around town, but seriously grey/white/grey is yawn city… heck you could even go CRAZY with some off the wall color like WHITE for our helmet/pants… but alas, I fear that ho-hum traditionalists that like BFBS (Bland For Bland’s Sake) seem to be the vocal majority on this site. I just hope that “blah” attitude doesn’t filter west of the mountains when the time comes to select the new jersey designs for real.

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