By Phil Hecken
And now we’re down to our two finalists in the Seahawks Uniform Redesign Contest. Thanks again to all the participants, congratulations to the ten finalists, and…drumroll please — here are our two final-finalists:
Coming in with 484 votes, our runner up moving onto the one on one: Travis Ness…
And our top vote getter, with 495 votes, and the other final-finalist: Matt Robida.
How close was the voting? Out of a total of almost 4,000 votes, a grand total of 234 separated the highest vote getter from the lowest. This really speaks to the quality of ALL the finalists’ designs. In fact, the number one vote getter didn’t even double the total of the lowest vote getter — again, showing just how close the voting was. Great job by all.
You can view the Final Vote Totals here.
So now it’s down to Mr. Ness vs. Mr. Robida and we’re going to ask you to vote one last time to pick your favorite Seahawks Redesign.
Ready? Here’s the poll:
Thanks again to everyone who participated (and huge thanks to my pollster, James Huening). I’m sure there will be another contest soon — so if you guys have any suggestions, be sure to post them in the comments below. We’ll keep the poll open until next Friday, and announce the winner over the weekend.
Oops!
Allow me a modicum of schadenfreude.
UnderArmour, who was all poised to outfit the South Carolina Gamecocks in this Wounded Warrior costume, actually made a jersey with numbers so hard to read, the Cocks were forced to wear their alternate black jersey. They were still able to wear the rest of the outfit, however.
Paul, who should be enjoying himself on vacation, sent me the following “explanation” of the snafu:
Below is a statement from Under Armour regarding the jersey issue that happened prior to the game this afternoon. South Carolina was supposed to be outfitted in custom head to toe uniforms in honor of the US Armed Forces in a partnership with the Wounded Warrior Project. But due to visibility issues of the numbers on the jerseys, the team had to change their jerseys to their regular game day jerseys. Not sure if you plan to discuss this in any of your weekend game recaps, but below is the official statement from UA, in the event you would like to use it.
“Under Armour and the University of South Carolina are proud to support the Wounded Warrior Project. As part of this annual tradition to honor the men and women who sacrifice for our nation, the Gamecocks were outfitted in special jerseys, shoes, pants, gloves, helmets and wrist bands paying tribute to our troops. During pre-game warm-ups, SEC officials expressed some concern about the visibility of the numerals on the jerseys. As a result, the Gamecocks will be wearing the special jerseys in warm-ups only and will wear their standard home jerseys during the game.” — Matt Mirchin, SVP, Global Sports Marketing, Under Armour.
So even something so well intentioned as the Wounded Warrior Project gets screwed because the designers couldn’t just produce a uniform with numbers that could actually be read by the refs and spotters. I’m sorry, but this serves them right.
Uniforms should be functional first — then the form can follow the function — not the other way around. It may have been a great looking design on a 27″ iMac, but on a players’ back? Not so much.
Better luck next time, UA.
New NCAA Rundown
In what is now a regular Sunday feature during the NCAA season, my buddy Terry Duroncelet is here to give us the uni machinations and assorted athletic aesthetics for Week IV of the college football season. Here’s Terry:
• We kick things off with some high school action: Nike Pro Combat hits (I believe) its second and third high schools with Servite High School (Anaheim, CA) and Bishop Gorman High School (Las Vegas, NV). Couple of observations from Friday night’s game:
>> Given that I HATE Athletic Block and screenprinted numbers, Servite’s Pro Combat uni is a huge upgrade over their normal road uniform, and even though they lost in them 31-28 (sucks, because I’m a SoCal guy), I hope that this becomes their full-time road uni. Additional pics here and here (pants are solid black).
>> Bishop Gorman’s colors are blue and orange and are known for using *a variation of* a certain college team’s helmet logo. As of this season (and maybe parts of last season), they’ve been experimenting with a little Grey For Grey’s Sake (tell me they don’t look like a high school version of Boise State), and have been using the logo of another certain college team (or two) and a certain pro team. Their stealth and orange getup from Friday would’ve looked great… if and only if stealth was one of their actual colors.
>> The Pro Combat pant looks great when worn with no graphics.
>> Both teams had matte helmets (Servite in black, Bishop Gorman in stealth with a shiny black helmet stripe). [What the hell is ‘stealth’? — PH]
Although I love watching high school football, this is called the NCAA Rundown for a reason, let’s get to the college unis:
• The team with the best color scheme of all time faced off against the only FBS team left that still knows how to wear their uniform from the waist down. It looks like Tulane added an outline of the State of Louisiana to their pants (another example here and one from a previous game against UAB).
• Mississippi State (a.k.a the worst-dressed team in the SEC) wore special matte-finish helmets against Georgia.
• The Houston Oilers Second String Team Kansas Jaykawks wore 1961-inspired “throwbacks” against Texas Tech. I think that they were trying to honor the ’61 Bluebonnet Bowl champs. If so, the jersey and helmet colors should be switched. Even with the inaccuracy, and Adidas’s TechFit jersey top being as suffocating on the eyes of us here at Uni Watch as they are on the players’ bodies, they still looked really good (I’m pretty sure you can tell by now that I love light blue). Too bad Texas Tech’s ugly selves ruined any chance of Kansas being in the 5 &1.
• Quick, how many helmet stylings has Michigan worn in one season prior to this year? Yeah. The Wolverines wore their third helmet styling (current helmet with throwback number) in Saturday’s game against Minnesota. Can we count different decals on one shell on a game-to-game basis as part of the Hydra-Effect? If so, put scUM (no shade) in the 3-headed category. It is also reported that the helmet numbers were a big hit with the players, and could remain (if not guaranteed) on the lids for the rest of the season.
• Crappy photo, but something was up with one of the aTm Player’s NOB. You can see the letters, but they’re, like, light-grey. Maybe those TechFit letters are heat-sealed NBA Revo 30-style?
• Air Force wore new uniforms consisting of grey jerseys, blue pants, and matte-grey helmets. Except for those ugly athletic-block numbers, this is actually a pretty sweet look for the Falcons.
• Illinois wore their orange jerseys against Northwestern.
• Indiana University wasted no time in thinking pink for October Yesterday (complete with a Save The Ta-Tas helmet logo [not to make light of a serious issue, of course]), and neither did LSU (here’s a better look).
• As reported in Friday’s column, UTEP wore a special helmet decal celebrating the 75th anniversary of their 1936 squad, which was the first bowl team in school history.
• The Clemson/Virginia Tech game had a lot of potential to load up on a lot of this and cause Movi’s head to explode from sheer glee, but it ended up being pretty tame.
• Yesterday’s Tempe Cocktail consisted of white helmets, maroon jerseys, and white pants.
• The Nebraska Badgers played in their first B1G game ever against the Wisconsin Cornhuskers.
• The Stormtroopers sent forces to Los Angeles, CA, Pittsburgh, PA, and Manhattan, KS.
• The UCLA Bruins faced off against the Stanford Black.
• Last but not least (depending on who’s reading this), East Carolina wore mono purple against UNC, who wore a very well put together white-over-Carolina Blue look. Who knew Grimace loved football enough to fund his own team?
Thanks, Terry!
Tracking The Playoffs
Last year, Alex Rocklein showed off a really neat playoff tracker, in which he tracked playoff teams wins & losses, not only by their wins and losses, but also by uniform!
He’s back again this year, and here is how the 2011 MLB Playoffs look so far.
There was no uni-shenanigans yesterday, as all the home teams wore white (as God intended) and all the road clubs wore gray (also, as God intended).
MLB Uni Tracking – 2011 Final Results
Now that the MLB regular season has ended (mercifully for some of us fans), all those who spent the season keeping track of your teams uniform machinations should now feel free to send in your final results.
Today we have Steve Mandich, who tracked the M’s this year:
Hey Phil —
Greetings from Seattle!
Like Eric Smallman in today’s Uni Watch post, I too tracked Mariners uniforms this season, as well as Ichiro’s performance in various M’s jerseys.
Here’s a summary I posted on my Ichiro blog.
Attached is my Mariner/Ichiro uni tracking spreadsheet — feel free to share it on Google Docs.
Best — Steve
Thanks, Steve. OK uni trackers — get me your tracking information and I’ll post it next weekend.
2011 Duck Tracker
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, Jake Hurley has stepped up to the plate and taken over the “Duck Tracker” for 2011. What is the Duck Tracker? Quite simply, it tracks each and every uniform combination the Ducks have worn for the 2011 season. He steps in for former tracker Mike Princip, whose non-Uni Watch activities will preclude him from tracking for 2011.
I’m please to announce that Jake is all caught up to speed on this week’s DT — of course Oregon had a bye week, so there is no result for 10/1.
But here’s the 2011 Duck Tracker for today.
If anyone would like to add content (such as history, uniform history, tweaks or mock-ups), Jake will gladly add it to the site. Shoot me an E-mail if you’re interested.
Back next week with the next set of UO costumes!
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’s got a bit of a different “sport” photo for us today:
Hi Phil
Something slightly different (but as always with a story).
My football team, Wigan Athletic, used to play at Springfield Park, with was originally Springfield Park Cycling & Athletics Ground.
This picture dates from turn of the 20th century and shows participants of both sports at Springfield Park. Many months ago I think I set a challenge to see how many sports we could colourise – I don’t think we had cycling OR athletics :)
George
And the second half of the G&G boys, Gary Chanko, checks in with this:
This week I was looking through the Smithsonian’s Conlon collection and stumbled across a Phillies pitcher practically no one ever knew existed (except for immediate relatives!), Pete Sivess. He played three forgettable seasons in the Majors, 1936-38. I’ve read that Charles Conlon attempted to photograph every major league player which explains how this obscure pitcher landed in The Smithsonian’s Conlon Collection.
Too often research for a Colorize This! project leads to unexpected discoveries. As it turns out, Pete Sivess has a direct connection to Francis Gary Powers, the U-2 spy plane pilot shot down by the Soviet Union in 1960. So what is the connection between an unknown 1930s era MLB pitcher and a Cold War spy? You can find out here.
Fantastic job as always, gentlemen. And I love how you both always give a nice background/story to your research and efforts too!
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 Justin Kline, who has a tweak for the new Bills unis:
Phil,
I was curious to see how the old (late ’90s) Buffalo Sabres logo would look on the old (early ’90s) Bills, so I messed around with both things, and here’s the end result. I love the charging buffalo, but this is a little more intimidating.
-Justin Kline
In the two-spot today is Michael Craig with a bunch of NFL concepts:
Gday,
PaulPhil.Thought id throw some uni tweaks your way. hope you enjoy.
Observe how the lions unis are instantly fixed just by removing the black.
I’ve always found the new gold on the rams unis to be cold and ugly. I’ve kept the current blue, but brought back the old yellow. Much better I think.
Old and new come together to make this patriots concept.
I really dislike the Texans uniforms and the how they cant decide if they’re a red team or a blue team. I’ve come up with these. the patriots-esque side stripes flare out at the top to create a the look of horns on the jersey. Fits in nicely with the helmet, I think. and I always wished they used a white helmet.
Here’s my take on the panthers. Ditched panther blue for something closer to carolina blue, removed those weird helmet stripes and made them full stripes. Not a fan of the current pant stripe, so I wanted to put more traditional looking stripes on there, but with a modern twist that somewhat recalls the former stripes. Also added a panther logo below the pant stripes, because they looked a little bare.
–Michael Craig
And our last tweaker is Tim Wharton, who learned the hard way you can’t stay away from Uni Watch…
Phil,
I’ve been away from uniwatch. Here’s my take on the Seahawks although it’s too late for your contest.
Thanks,
Tim Wharton
There ya have it kids. Thanks to today’s tweakers — back with more next weekend.
Benchies
by Rick Pearson
“Say hello to my little friend…”
And, as always, the full-size.
Jim Vilk’s 5 & 1
And now for the part of the post that I wait up all night for you’ve all been waiting for…
‘Twas a pretty good uni matchup day yesterday (at least IMHO), so Jim will probably get them all wrong:
Terp Tracker — Least favorite look so far, especially with the white/black numbers.
Honorable Mentions to North Carolina/East Carolina and Holy Cross/New Hampshire — Paul’s out of town, so bring on the purple!
5. Tulane/Army — Don’t know whether to salute or wave to this matchup.
4. Alabama/Florida — After seeing Holy Cross’ unis, I’m wondering if ‘Bama’s should try crimson road pants?
3. Kentucky/LSU — Normally I penalize teams with a tramp stamp, but UK still looks gooooood.
2. Clemson/Virginia Tech — This was my lock for #1, until…
1. Air Force/Navy — Keep those new unis, Falcons!
And the bad one: Nesconsin/Wisbraska Nebraska/Wisconsin — Same reason I sometimes pick Navy/Notre Dame: nice unis, but way too similar.
I will never understand you Jimmer…never. I’m guessing Monday’s NFL 5 & 1 will feature a lot of pink gloves and shoes.
Aaaaaaaaannnnnnndddddd that’s a wrap. Sports fans wet dream fantasy today — MLB Playoff Games and the pink show in the NFL. I’ll be filling in for Paul for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, and Johnny Ek will be handling the Ticker. If you have any NFL news for tomorrow’s MMUW, send them to the usual uniwatching at g-mail address, drop me a direct line, or post pics/observations down below. See you tomorrow.
And don’t forget to vote for your favorite Seahawks Redesign final-finalist!
“Gophers playing a little like a team from that new football league in India.” — Rick Pearson
Drat!
Stanford should have worn their normal home unis against UCLA and donated their blacks to either side of Wisconsin vs. Nebraska. The BadgerHusker game needs an “Empire Rule”. One side should be required to dressed as Darth Vader (like Stanford) or Stormtroopers because the White-on-red vs. Red-on-white is not working.
Agreed. At the very least, give one of them a red helmet for that game.
Two teams wearing uniforms that close to each other, and playing every year, is just not cool.
Everyone always argues against color vs color because of the contrast being better with white… but what about this scenario, when your opponent is wearing the same uniform you normally wear for half your games? That’s gotta be just as, if not more confusing than any color vs color game would be.
“Stanford should have worn their normal home unis against UCLA”
Full stop right there. The Stanford Cardinal does not need to be emulating the Arizona Cardinals.
Or at least Red-on-red vs. Trooper. No real reason to add either school to BFBS arguments.
I like this idea.
Two things:
1) “Stealth” is what I consider to be the darkest shade of grey (think of it as the grey version of Maroon, Navy, Hunter, etc.). It almost borders on black, but has *just* enough grey to not be full back.
2) The two LSU Think Pink links from the email aren’t showing up in the point.
That Mississippi State helmet was sweet. Best alt helmet I’ve seen yet and should be the Bulldogs go-to look.
Idea inspired by The Jeff and giving Wisconsin or Nebraska a red helmet: Stanford needs to commit to full black head to toe for their alternates. Black helmet, change the S to match the jersey numbers, and switch their axe stickers for trees. Good idea, bad idea?
Well, it would look better than the white helmet on top of the black uniform. But, really… they’re named the Cardinal after the shade of red… so wearing black at all is still kinda dumb. So… a D- rather than an F.
Without Paul around Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday will NOT be worth reading.
ALWAYS a huge decrease in quality when the journalism student is left to his own devices.
Don’t read it then. There are plenty of things in life that I don’t like, but I don’t try to humiliate the people who may create these things. You were pulling the same bulls**T yesterday too.
You look like a real douche that’s in need of a serious ass kicking.
Steve: You are incorrect on two fronts. If anything, i am the one who PROVIDES the ass kickings and secondly, I am entitled to voice my thoughts and feelings. Deal, punk.
It’s kinda pathetic if you have nothing better to do than complain about “sub-par” content on a blog, isn’t it?
Go outside.
I’m sure if I were to show up in front of you, I would find a cowering punk who could not back up his mouth. You are internet tough.
And yes, you are entitled to voice your opinion, but if this content bothers you so much, don’t waste our time. I’m sure there is work that you could be doing to your living space, which I’m sure happens to be located at your Mom’s house.
You have a right to have whatever opinions you wish – but that does not give you the right to be objectionable.
If I don’t like something then I don’t read it, watch it, or whatever. I certainly don’t bother discussing it.
There are one or two other sports websites – find them.
George….true.
Steve: FYI…I’m 6’3″ 285…there’s not much that makes me cower…doubt you’d be on that list.
“Steve: FYI…I’m 6’3″ 285…there’s not much that makes me cower…doubt you’d be on that list.”
There is always someone out there that is bigger and tougher. You also should keep in mind that you never know what the other man has up his sleeve or what their history may be.
If I had to take a serious guess though, I would say that you would never dare say such things to people associated with this site if you had to say it to their faces. You are punk and a coward who hides behind the anonymity of the internet.
And if you’re truly 285, then you sound like a big fat f**k. You’d probably die of a heart attack if you were man enough to fight.
What’s the good of having a big, brave opinion if you aren’t big enough and brave enough to not hide behind a screen name?
If you wouldn’t stand up in a public forum and voice the thought, you’re just a blowhard, the kind of guy who calls talk radio stations and knows everything about everything…as long as he can remain anonymous.
It’s cheap Internet sniping. In a lower tech environment it’s called “ring and run.” Generally, it belongs to the skill set of nine-year-olds.
And adults who want to feel like they’re somebody.
That’s a pretty assholic of a comment, YM.
loyal UW readers: please do not feed the troll
“your master”: you just bought yourself a ticket to the ban bin…one way, with no refunds
who’s “your master” now?
thanks for playing and have a nice life
“you just bought yourself a ticket to the ban bin…one way, with no refunds”
heheh post of the day.
boy, what a low life, that guy. terribly impressed.
Your Master
Oct 1, 2011 – Oct 2, 2011
He will not be missed.
Your Master = link
Worst… comparison… ever.
Haha…what’s wrong with that comparison? I picture YM to be a swarmy, know-it-all loser like the Comic Book Guy character. Or is it too kind of a comparison? ;-)
Steve, it was an homage to Comic Book guy – link
The comparison was accurate.
Oh duh….brain fart on my part.
I totally agree that Stanford’s blacks are stupid. I’m just thinking if you’re going to green light a dumb idea, why not go all the way?
“Hi Harvard. We know you’re the Crimson, but how do you feel about an Orange alternate?”
I really enjoyed the Seahawks redesign contest. I would propose that we do another for a team in serious need of a new design. Maybe the Denver Broncos or Atlanta Falcons? Or even a team from another sport? There are some NHL teams in need of cleaning up, and we also now have that great hockey template that Mr. O’Brien created.
The Broncos and Falcons are fine. Let’s go after the Bengals, Cardinals or Vikings if we’re staying in the NFL. But we need one important rule – going back to the previous uniform does not count. Seriously, “go back to 1984” is not a uniform tweak.
I’m with you on both fronts Jeff. Maybe fix the Bengals, but not just a throwback to ’84 fix. We should look to create something completely new and fresh. Great suggestion.
Yup, great suggestion.
If you mean the Broncos are fine by going to an orange jersey & removing the side panel swoosh, and the Falcons are fine by getting of all that unnecessary piping & jersey color cutouts, then yes.
Meh. I think they’re fine the way they are. The Broncos side panels don’t bother me and they are going orange next year, and in an age where sleeves are disappearing, the Falcons treatment isn’t too bad of an option compared to trying to cram stripes into an area where they no longer fit (I’m looking at you and your intentionally truncated stripes, 49ers).
Not to say that both teams couldn’t be tweaked a bit, but I don’t think they’re worthy of a redesign contest. Maybe they’re not top 5 uniforms, but they aren’t bottom 5 either.
I’d place the Falcons right at the top of the redesign list, too. They’d join Arizona, Cincy, Jacksonvil…LA, Tennessee, Minnesota and Philly.
Falcons need to go back to red helmets. Cardinals and Vikings need to do a throwback-inspired change a la 49ers/Jets. I’m a huge Eagles fan, but they could really use a uniform change. Hard to believe their current set is 15 years old now. Originally I really liked it (I was a kid back then), and I still think they aren’t bad, but I kinda want the kelly green back.
I was surprised the Phillies wore their pinstripes yesterday. Since it was a late afternoon start, I was thinking they’d go with the cream alts. But maybe it was considered a night game, in which case the pinstripes are the normal attire.
As a Seahawk fan I was excited to see what to Uni-Watch fans thought needed to be done with the teams uniforms. I am really disappointed though. Everyone it seems wants them to do back to royal blue, forest green, and sliver. As a fan of the team I hope they don’t. I love the Pacific blue and the Neon Green. I love that we tried out a more modern design. I will admit that I am a lot younger than most of the fans of this site and so most for you hate the modern concepts, but for me push the envelope. Don’t be boring. Right now I work with elementary age kids in the heart of Steelers, Bengals, and Colts fans. Most of the kids are Steeler fans because they win but they have all said that the wished the Steelers would do something more along the lines of the Seahawks. One of them even said that we had the best uniforms in the league. I know that it is just a kids opinion, but with the example of the high school kid not picking Baylor as my guide, I feel that the retro designs will be used less and a more modern will take hold because that is what mine and this generation want. Is it a sad state of affairs, maybe, but all I know is that I love my Seahawks I want them to at least keep the Pacific blue and the Neon Green I a more modern design.
This comment makes me wonder what sports uniforms, or even society as a whole, will look like in thirty years.
Kids are stupid.
Yeah I get it you wanted a fresh new design to the Seahawks. But the NFL branding is built on tradition & establishing the brand. Look at all the expansion teams… both ’95 teams have retained their primary logos. 2002 Texans as well. Browns a solid tradition.
Then the relocated. Same Titan’s logo since 1997. Ravens since 1999 amidst a lawsuit. Rams still have the horns but the weird modern color scheme.
Revised: Vikings, Lions, Falcons, Cardinals, 49ers, Seahawks, Dolphins, Giants, Jets, Bills, Patriots post-1993, Chargers, Bengals and Saints all went through minor tweaks of their classics. Others stayed the same basically, or revamped like the Eagles, Buccaneers, Broncos, which mostly hit-or-miss results.
In other words: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And never, ever listen to the youth. They don’t know better.
I’m a big fan of the current blue.
Too much Royal and Navy in the NFL, so there’s room for something different. However, I don’t like the two-tone or the mono versions.
I liked the Seahawks when I was a kid in no small part because of their uniforms, but I do find myself thinking that their current blue is better (going with my adult tastes) because it is unique. Like we need another team with a silver helmet in the NFL.
Now, the neon green needs to go–not merely because I don’t care for it, but that doesn’t go with the sea blue; it only goes with the navy blue.
If I had my druthers I’d get them to use that lighter blue on their helmet (the bottom stripe of the hawk) to be their pant color with the sea blue jersey so we don’t have the monochrome home uniforms. That would be somewhat close to a silvery blue that might appease fans of the classic look while still being a color that doesn’t look like a number of other teams.
I just saw a YouTube video of the link. This was their first game after the uniform redesign. The jerseys (mf’d by Starter) looked so much better then than they do now; the shoulder loops were noticeably farther down on just about everyone’s jersey. (They’re also wearing the proper socks with the white pants.) If you look at the current jersey, there’s way too much space above the TV number, where the Reebok logo is. On the Starter jerseys, the shoulder stripes were diagonal; since Reebok has been making them, they’ve been vertical. Maybe Nike will fix this. (Don’t laugh, Paul…)
Based on LSU’s latest pro combat uniform, I think a lot of us are looking forward to Nike potentially fixing the disappearing shoulder loops for both the Jets and Colts.
What I don’t get is why Reebok doesn’t just use the same template for the Colts that the Panthers jerseys get. The jerseys with sleeves still have *full* shoulder loops, going completely around. Even on the sleeveless jerseys, the Panthers loops are far superior to the silly little dashes that they’re trying to reduce Indy to.
Indeed. The Chargers, before they changed to their current design, managed to maintain the shoulder loops with the lightning bolts all the way from armpit to armpit.
.
Not sure I would change the Panthers to Carolina blue. Isn’t it the case that the Panthers avoided it precisely because they did not want to limit their appeal as a regional (North and South Carolina) team?
That said, I prefer “Carolina blue” to what the Panthers wear (almost like Cambridge blue?).
Honestly I don’t see how that’d actually matter in this day & age. Ages ago when the NFL was still trying to earn acceptance, it made sense for a team to attempt to appeal to college fans. Now? It’s the freakin NFL. The Carolina Panthers could have worn yellow and fushia and as long as they win games, they’d have fans.
I’m pretty sure most people are capable of separating their pro team from their college team and vice-versa. I freakin *HATE* the Denver Broncos with the fire of 1000 suns, but I have no problem with the Boise State Broncos.
This reminds me in 2002 when Spurrier went to the NFL and the Redskins were wearing their throwbacks, which to me I thought was ironic that this Gator coach was basically coaching a team that was wearing FSU’s helmet.
I would add the Ravens to the fix-it list. A full head to toe redesign would be cool just to see what people come up with, but really they just need a new helmet logo. Anybody else annoyed by the tail off the B in their left side logo?
link
Completely agree on the neb/wis as the 1 in the 5&1. If there ever was a case for a black alt, then this game should have been it.
Justine’s Bills concept:
I really like the overall uniform design, but a white logo on a white helmet gets bleached out; especially under the sun.
I wonder how it’d look on a red helmet, which is what the Bills should be wearing anyway.
If Norwood doesn’t miss that FG, Buffalo is still wearing those 90’s uniforms today.
I voted for the one that doesn’t have link (the worst part of every jersey they wear)
Also, I guess I’ll never see the Nike Ducks wear link again.
Ideally, we shouldn’t see the Ducks wear any uniform again for awhile. If they’re gonna be Masters of Uniform Combinations, they should avoid repeats for as long as they can.
If Nike leaves the Ducks as is, we should start seeing Oregon wear repeats in what? 2034?
I may have mentioned this a few days ago, but I think for the next contest Uni Watch should try to find a proper Super Bowl XLVI logo, not just the NFL’s homogenized idea of year-to-year sameness.
Yes! I agree. Although Paul mentioned that he didn’t really care about the logos, I love it. To me, the different logos tell a different story, and the Lombardi one should have been for Super Bowl L.
“Uniforms should be functional first – then the form can follow the function – not the other way around. It may have been a great looking design on a 27″ iMac, but on a players’ back? Not so much.”
Hey, Phil! We can agree on something after all.
yes we can (with apologies to the PR masters of barack obama’s 08 campaign)…
the difference is what YOU think is function and i think is function are two wildly divergent things
but i think we can both agree that this was just a hot mess
bellotti bold or outline numbers are fine…the wounded warrior costumes’ numbers were not
nice article on the hot corner sums it up pretty well:
indeed
Starting from function, rather than pure form, is what defines “design” as a pursuit distinct from art. Those Wounded Warrior unis were not the product of design at all. No design went into them. They were the product of artists engaging in art. Which would be fine if the end result was going to go into a museum or on a wall or onto a t-shirt to be sold to fans. But if you’re going to make a guy wear your work to perform a difficult, specialized task, art ain’t enough. You need design.
And that right there is the problem with basically everything Nike and UA do lately, at least in the college realm. There is zero design going on. It’s not that “Pro Combat” is uni design that fails; it’s that it is not designed at all. Wouldn’t it be nice if Nike and UA would either employ some actual designers again, or perhaps empower the designers they do employ to do their jobs of satisfying the client’s functional needs?
How is Michigan’s helmet worn yesterday different from their throwback uniforms? Just curious. I’m sure they auctioned off those original helmets, but you say it is their 3rd version, so just wondering if there was some other difference I didn’t catch.
Facemask.
Throwbacks had gray. These were blue.
Indeed. They just took the numbers from the throwback helmets and put them on the normal lids.
No picture yet, mostly cause I’m feeling lazy right now, but Taylor Martinez was wearing a black undershirt in the first half last night. The left sleeve got ripped and he came out in the 2nd half with a red undershirt.
Louisiana Tech went throwback red last night againsy Hawai’i: link
utah wore black pants last night. this is the first time that has happened. i am also dying to hear what you all think of the new duck tracker? any Comments or suggestions?
The Bellotti hurts my eyes, but that’s not your fault. Everything else looks really good.
you wear crap like this…
and bellotti hurts your eyes
ok
Watching Sunday countdown on espn… Rex Ryan just admitted his famous sweater vest is actually Ravens apparel with a Jets logo over the Ravens logo
And Hank Stram may or may not have worn a Chiefs tie while coaching the Saints. (Don’t quote me, I just remember seeing such a tie in the Saints’ Hall of Fame when I went many years ago. Don’t remember the whole story.)
Re: Alex Rocklein’s playoff tracker. Last year’s tracker had an orange background and the Giants took home the big, shiny trophy. Who does this year’s green background favor?
I think I made it green subconsciously in hopes the Yankees win . . .
Has anybody seen this? A link. All courtesy of this company called Bleacher Creatures that apparently makes link. Yikes.
link
Though, they should have one for Kyle Vanden Bosch, complete with his evil-eye contacts… that would be fun…
I’m calling it a link. Need to order one, get some pins, and I’ll be ready for the 2012 season.
yeah, um…
a chase utley hand puppet?
i shudder to think what people are doing with that
OK, settled in for football.
Who has an official gameday shirt?
I have a routine, I climb in my recliner, put my Wifi Google laptop here on my lap, got a big red fleece blanket, and my red 49ers T. For years, believe it or not, I could not find the design I wanted. Just a plain red shirt with SAN FRANCISCO 49ers in block letters. Found it @ Penny’s, and I am set. The Reebok stuff is non-existent, for some reason. I mean, the East Bay where we live is not exactly the sticks.
Gotta go, Harbaugh is about to explode.
Let’s see now, if MLB devoted 25 percent of its schedule to the Pink Thing, that would be about 40 games for each team. I’m pretty sure they (and everyone else) would see that as going just a tad overboard, even though the cause was valid.
So why isn’t the NFL perceptive enough to figure that out?
And, if the weekend closest to 9/11 is gonna star-spangled every year, that means slightly less than a third of every NFL season will involve players wearing gear that generally doesn’t match the team unis.
Given that, it seems a little silly to get all bent out of shape over, say, high white socks, doesn’t it.
Or only permitting one helmet to guard against “brand dilution.”
Speaking of storm troopers, rumor out there is that Cal is debuting that white helmet when they play Oregon on Thursday.
That colourized photo of Springfield Park cycling is awesome – nice job.
I was sure there were some colourized photos of cycling and athletics – I distinctly remember a discussion of the Millrose Games that went over several weeks. Cycling I’m not as sure about – there are some great TdeF photos around that would make good subjects.
Thank you. I was pleased with how this one turned out.
Personally I really did not like Air Force’s gray treatment…white is a much cleaner look for them IMO. Also, the lightning bolts looked a lot smaller on the gray helmets which was kind of weird.
Yeah, definitely an Arena Football look.
A service academy shouldn’t dress like the Pocatello Thunder Potatoes.
That was too restrained for arena football.
When you consider that this
link
is their everyday look, perhaps you can understand my joy at seeing the alt unis.
Damn you again, Vilk! I figured VT-Clemson had just enough of the magic color to be number 1.
Air Force?!?
Ah, but it’s just one of a handful of magic colors…
What, no one else thinks that’s a vastly improved look for the Academy?
scUM? Reallly?
This Michigan grad likes to think a pretty great blog would be above using one of the dumber elements of opposing fan bases.
Yeah, I was disappointed to see that as well, as it seemed out of place for the topic at hand, especially when you consider that uni-wise, Michigan’s one of the more conservative schools (yeah, they’ve allowed yellow piping on the white jerseys, but that can get lost in bright sunlight easily).
I should explain the “(no shade)” thing: “no shade” means “I don’t mean this in a negative or rude way”. I was just giving Michigan a hard time for the fun of it. I have absolutely nothing against them. I just wanted to use an informal nickname because I didn’t want to use the word “Michigan” again and sound too repetitive (my AP English teacher in 12th Grade taught me that). I guess I could’ve used “UM”, but I’m not out to put down schools, so I don’t apologize for the “scUM” remark.
If you’re not out to put down schools, why use scUM? “Informal nickname?” Doesn’t it matter who and where that nickname is normally used?
Pretty weak rationale all around, IMO. Would Paul write that if it was his entry? My guess is no. It’s simply juvenile.
“If you’re not out to put down schools, why use scUM?”
I told you… I was having fun with the Wolverines. If I wanted to lash out at them, then I would’ve said “Some yahoos at that one trash heap of a school in Ann Arbor, MI wore throwback numbers on their regular helmets the other day.”. I don’t have it out for Michigan. I actually like Michigan because (occasional Adidas uni-fumbles notwithstanding) they’re one of the more traditional schools in FBS play. And I already addressed the “no shade” thing in the above comment.
Gary and George I always try and thank you guys for the work. Keep them coming.
Doin’ my best to keep them coming. Sure would be great to have more participants.
Gary
Thanks Larry – it is appreciated
That Army Harvard game action from a week or so ago is one of my favorites.
How long did that one take you to do?
I am a huge college football historical fan.
Good morning, America – it’s 9 am here – and raining :(
It’s really hard to say Larry. The official answer is “longer than you think” (not my copyright) :)
I obviously don’t work all day on them but a few hours at a time – the more complex will take 2-3 days, maybe more, but some (eg portraits) I can knock off in one sitting, although I tend to go back later to check it looks OK afresh.
I’m working on a fairly straightforward team picture at the moment which is taking ages for no particular reason.
Spring training in MIlwaukee today?
So happy to see the Cowboys lose today. And not just because it was the Lions that beat them.
I have many, many reasons to hate the Cowboys, but their white unis are one of the biggest. I still hate, hate, HATE the mismatched silvers and blues.
I loved watching them and the Eagles blow big leads. If only the officials could get a basic call right, the Giants would have lost too.
redskin fan?
Maybe he just hates the NFC East…like the Buffalo Bills during the 90’s
“So happy to see the Cow
boysgirls lose today.”(Fixed)
I’m assuming the Red River Rivalry will be in Mr. Vilk’s 5 & 1 this coming Saturday. Oklahoma will be in white while Texas will be in their home uniforms as they are this years designated home team.
I did not appreciate the “serves them right” comment about Carolina’s UA Wounded Warrior unis. These were not just new uniforms made to look cool or flashy for a big game; they were made to help out and bring attention to a worthy cause. Anybody who was at the game saw a moving halftime tribute featuring service members who were wounded in combat. These men received the standing ovation they deserved from Carolina and Auburn fans alike. It is a shame Oregon can wear black on black numbers because they look cool, but Carolina can’t have camo numbers to honor our heroes.
part of the problem, my dear sir, is that the numbers weren’t camo
last year, when the unis were fine, they were…those, however garish they may have been, met NC2A specs and were fine to wear on the field
this year, they weren’t camo but some kind of digital *pattern*…and they didn’t meet specs
my comment had nothing to do with the cause or its worthiness (and wounded warrior is a good cause, just like breast cancer), but the ratchet value of the statement
they couldn’t be satisfied replicating what they did last year…they had to out-nike nike and they failed
it serves them right
I watched Sergio Martinez fight on HBO last night. The trunks of the boxers made me think about college football uniforms.
How can we get Nike or Adidas to bring back the Satin pants and jerseys?????
Phil, I can understand now your comments were directed towards UA rather than towards Wounded Warrior Project or Carolina, and that makes more sense. On another note, one good thing that did come from this: the 5 wounded servicemen who were brought on field at halftime got to wear the actual jerseys, not just replicas, so that was nice.
Arian Foster is wearing a new helmet that I have never seen before…I’m thinking a new Xenith but don’t know…any help?
link
That’s my guess as well.
i hate myself for having the remote too far away when faith hill comes on tv
Are you allowed to use your own comments for COTD?
I feel the same way about Jennifer Hudson, when her Weight Watcher ads come on!
What’s worse than a “Save the Boobies” captain’s patch? link.
(Sorry, that picture it’s hard to make out…)
Is it me or is East Carolina mismatching their purples between the helmet and the uniform. (I get -5 for grammar)
“the form can follow the function – not the other way around”
Agreed, but I don’t see where the “form” has changed. The details, ornamentation, decoration, trim, garnishing… maybe, but the form remains the same.
If you are going for an architectural phrase, how about the devil was in the details.
:)
Poor Matt Mirchin… couldn’t get it right at NBA, Champion and now working for me at UA!! Another line of work?
Iowas orange jerseys look a little too close to Clemson’s orange jersey.
Also; the best way of showing NFL support for boobies (pun intended). It’s so subtle and low-key, and it doesn’t destroy the green+white of the Jets.
so the image broke…here it is (link)
And has Jim Burt always have a link? I found this watching a replay of Joe Theismann getting his leg broken by the original LT