By Phil Hecken
And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for…
No, not Vilk’s 5 & 1 … the announcement of the winner of the Seattle Seahawks Redesign Contest (drumroll, please):
MATT ROBIDA
What started out with 35 great designs…whittled down to 10 by the crack staff of uni-nuts, then a reader poll of the top ten resulted in the final two designs…has now ended with Mr. Robida taking home the title of “Seahawks Redesign Contest Winner.” Congratulations. Matt defeated our runner up, Travis Ness, who submitted the following three designs:home, road and alternate. Nike and the Seahawks could do a LOT worse than to come up with something like this when they redesign the Seahawks for the 2012 season.
But the voters have spoken, and they have selected Matt Robida. Matt actually submitted four designs, the home and road and two alternates, but for this contest, our crack panel would only consider one alternate, leaving Matt with this for his final entry. You guys thought it was the best. Nike really needs to consider this design for 2012!
The voting, surprisingly, was not all that close (or at least as close as I thought it might be). In the end, 3,176 votes were cast, and Matt Robida collected 1960 of those, or almost 62%. The final voting, graphically, looked like this:
Thanks to James T. Huening for all his work with the polls.
So Mr. Robida, please take your bows — you’ve earned them. Please get in touch with me so I can get your mailing information — I have a few prizes coming your way.
Thanks again to all who participated. I’m thinking our next contest should be in a couple of weeks — suggestions are still being accepted, but I’m leaning towards a “Design a Jacksonville Jaguars Los Angeles “Jaguars” (or should it be Vikings or Chargers???) — maybe all three — for the next redesign. The Jags, if the were to relocate, should probably get a whole new uni, while the Chargers or Vikings probably have enough cachet (ahem) to keep their current unis, but with just tweaks. So, let me know what you think would make for a good next contest in the comments below. If you don’t like that idea, I’m open to any and all…
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:
First and foremost, a moment of silence. Thank you.
-The rumors of the Galactic Empire sending forces to Eugene, Oregon were confirmed on Thursday night. Here’s a slew of prototypes (would’ve been cool if one side had the navy/gold “Cal” logo on one side and the navy/gold block “C” logo on the other). Even Nicki Minaj would agree that a black helmet and black pants look like straight hell with a Kelly Green and Lightning Yellow jersey with no black in it besides the outline of the number (also note the Fighting Duck nose bumper). Even Katy Frickin’ Perry isn’t that much of a blockhead. C’mon, Dighting Fucks Fighting Ducks… On another UO note: the Ducks’ mascot had a chip on his shoulder… literally. But the prize for Most Outrageous Oregon Accessory goes to this guy, who had on a giant zero (I kid) cut out from about a 1/4 inch of diamondplate sheet metal. I think headbanging Metalcore-style for six hours straight would be easier on your neck than wearing that thing.
-Also from Thursday: color vs. color between Western Kentucky University and Middle Tennessee State University. Once you get past MTSU’s screenprint-numbered mono-black horror show, it was actually not a bad-looking game.
-Friday: Boise State wore their fourth? uniform combination of the season: this year’s all-white Pro Combat uniform with last year’s Pro Combat helmet. Check out the leg stylings on this Bronco.
-Saturday: The Maryland Terrapins did their best Pittsburgh Steelers impersonation, and guess what? On the plus side, you gotta love those all-black cleats!
–Arizona binged on Star Wars again leading up to their game against Oregon State, who went orange-over-black in that same game.
-The Tempe Cocktail of the week was a classic blend of gold helmets, white jerseys, and gold pants. And here’s one for Movi…
-The Pitt Panthers faced off against the Rutgers Ebony Knights. I know I’m gonna get the obvious answers (money, recruits, etc.), but for a team called the SCARLET Knights to wear an all-black uniform, which they’ve done before, I’ve just gotta ask… Oh, well. At least they went all the way with the black helmets, but the jersey is a little different from what Paul linked to some months back. The original leak had a full “RUTGERS” across the front, while the actual game jerseys from Yesterday’s game just had an “R” on the front.
-After the apparent success of Central Michigan’s gold pants from last week, they decided to take the Gold Trou Show on the road. No, you’re not seeing things. Those are, indeed, all-black uniforms with pink numbers and names for North Carolina State. From newsobserver.com: “Decked out in all-black uniforms, with pink numbers (for breast cancer awareness) and red helmets, the Wolfpack looked different.” Yeah. But why brand-new red helmets, instead of special black helmets with a pink NC State logo? Presumably to better match the normal unis and get in on the hydra party.
-Kentucky went blue/white/blue *I believe* for the first time this season. I could be wrong BIG time, though.
–Indiana University’s pink helmet logos (and the other pink stuff that wasn’t on the helmet) are apparently an all-October thing. Annoyed Tim E. O’Brien is annoyed. The Hoosiers weren’t the only Adidas team getting in on the act: Notre Dame had pink cleats, sideline gear, and even special benches. (Thanks to Warren Junium for those ND pics.)
-Oklahoma State wore black helmets and jerseys with some foreign color pant. I think it’s some cross between red and yellow? *random guy in room explains situation* Apparently, that foreign color is orange, which made it’s first big appearance for the Cowboys this season. Good look, overall. In fact, I’d say the game will make Jim’s 5&1.
-Michigan’s helmet number encore from last week was rumored to remain for the rest of the season, and it was confirmed last night. Other Wolverine notes: it seems like the entire UM team was wearing the throwback “M” socks (that’s a shot of Denard Robinson’s footwear). No photo, but the game also provided us with a first look at Michigan’s new road super-stretchies (this was their first road game of the season), although Michigan Senior Ryan Van Bergen was actually wearing last year’s jersey. No photo, but Denard Robinson’s jersey was ripped in the 4th Quarter, so he had to put on last year’s jersey as well. No photo, but Northwestern also went full-black in the game. When was the last time the Wildcats went mono-black?
-Portland State wore white helmets in their game against Montana State (note the “FINISH” nose bumper). There’s still no saving that uniform, though… XP (Thanks to Desmond Jones for the heads-up).
-No photo, but San Jose State broke out the gold pants *I think* for the first time this season with the white jerseys, assuming that they’ve been paired with the blue jerseys already. This was against BYU.
-Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin of the Southland Conference wore their home jerseys Saturday in the 2011 Battle of the Piney Woods at Houston’s Reliant Stadium. Paul, you may want to turn away… now. Here’s video of the game. (Credit avid Uni Watch reader Chris Mycoskie.)
-And Tim E. O’Brien has updated his Hoosier Tracker.
I realize that I won’t be able to catch every single uni-notable game, so if there’s any uni-notable games on for those that have that College Gameday thingy on DirecTV, feel free to alert me at nawlinsboy17@gmail.com.
”Ž
Hope everyone has a great Sunday.
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 Glenn Simpkins, who tracked the World Champions for 2010…your San Francisco Giants:
Hello, again, Phil.
Here is the last installment of my Uni Watching the San Francisco Giants
In our World Series Title defense, hampered by injury and ending rather harshly on the weekend of September 23 in Arizona, here is the final tally of our best and worst uniform performance and some notable per-pitcher performance data.
I break the data down for print on the blog is as follows, with the Bullpen’s decisions logged as well to reflect each uniform’s effects on the whole team’s late inning skills.
The list of Pitchers that HAVE started games this season: Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Madison Bumgarner, Ryan Voglesong, Barry Zito, Jonathan Sanchez, Eric Surkamp, Dan Runzler.
Season overall: 86 ~ 76
Winningest starter: Ryan Voglesong at 13 ~ 7 in 28 starts, he’s a road warrior at 6 ~ 1 in 12 starts and he thrives on OBS, with a record of 3 ~ 1 in 5 starts
The Bullpen ultimately decided 44 games, going 26 ~ 18.Overall, when MLB had us tack bits NOT part of our standard uniforms, we were 6 ~ 5
Overall OBS, home and road combined we are 13 ~ 11 in 24 games
Overall Home: 46 ~ 35
Standard Home Cream: 28 ~ 23.
Of note are the only pitchers with WINNING records, keeping the average afloat:
Ryan Voglesong — 5~4 in 9 starts.
Barry Zito — one win in one start
The Bullpen — 8~1 (WOW!)OBS at home: A shockingly stellar 9 ~ 4. A keeper as a uni combo for sure, contrary to how bad it loos as compared to the standard.
Of note are the pitchers with EVEN or LOOSING records, dragging the percentage down
Barry Zito — one loss in one start
The Bullpen — 2~2
Jonathan Sanchez — No decisions in three startsOrange Friday: 7 ~ 5
Without the Bullpen’s record at 4 ~ 2, this would be an EVEN record!Special uniforms: Gold Letters = WIN by The Bullpen; Flag Desecration, as you call it, and their Gigantes jerseys = Losses both.
Overall Road: 40 ~ 41
Standard Road Grey: 34 ~ 33
Half the starters loosing, the other half plus The Bullpen winning, nothing outstanding here.OBS on the road: A dismal 4 ~ 8, they ought to ditch this combo.
A lot of those were lost late, since the bullpen is 1 ~ 4, but that still is a loosing 3 ~ 4 across the board for the starters.Special uniforms: WINs both on Jackie Robinson day and on a Flag Desecration day
Thanks, Glenn! Anyone else out there still tracking? If you are, you know what to do.
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 Glenn Simpkins, who has new thoughts on the Jays & Rays…
Two Uni tweaks to share today:
Blue Jays: These Identity tweaks, reduxing the pre-97 look, may be moot, given what was leaked a few days ago, but why not get this out there anyway.
Cap Logos/Patches:
>The general shape of that modern “T” of theirs looks nice. Clean the inside of the beveling, use only white and shades of blue, slap it on top of a maple leaf, and a fine Patch and Cap logo are made. Factor this into the redux!
>Take the maple leaf off of the pre-97 ball and bird logo, and you get something nice like this cap logo and patch.
Jerseys: Pre-97 Home and Road. Both need fixed; remove the “TV Number placed” logo, fill in the letters and outline them in light blue yields new home and road.
Rays: WAAAYback on 4/24/2011, Colin Wilcox had the Idea of use their current color scheme on their previous look. I Like it, & thought it could use the Chris Creamer polishing treatment, keeping both the devil ray AND the sunray: Home, Alt, Road. Also, for the lulz from of a quadrant of my brain that could be called Left Field, THIS, just the devil and sun rays on the jersey and no lettering at all, and the strange detail of the tail of the devil ray wrapping around to the back!
Next up is Gregory Kohn, with tweaks to the just release Marlins graphics…
Avid Marlins fan here,
I don’t like the new Miami Marlins’ logo, but I made some hats with it anyway using the color scheme. Gotta say, it’s not so bad without the weird flying Marlin, especially on the all-blue cap. Hopefully, Loria keeps it simple, but knowing him that probably wont happen.
Love your blog!
Greg.
And closing down the tweak show today is Alex Cloutier, who has a whole bunch of NFL tweaks:
Phil,
BROWNS: I designed this off of the original uniforms from 1946.
GIANTS: Plain and simple. I made the road uni match the home one.
SEAHAWKS: I wanted to submit this for your contest but never got around to it. I tried a slightly different color scheme with less blue, more green (not neon), and black highlights (that word just doesn’t seem to work with that color). The alternate is based off of the first Seahawks unis.
BRONCOS: A combo of new and old for this one. Brightened the orange a bit, replaced the navy with royal blue, and removed all of the color from the logo to replicate the helmet horsies that came before it.
RAVENS: This is a team in need of a make over. First the logo needs to be fixed, ravens are not purple they are black. (I also removed that anoying letter from the bird). I also created an alternate logo out of the team initials. On the uniform I replaced the black helmet with a red one that has proper striping (Why can’t they tell that those purple helmet horns are not only ugly but also next to impossible to see?). I also made gold a more prominent color in the uniform.
thanks, Alex.
And that will do it for this weekend. Back next weekend with more.
Benchies
by Rick Pearson
Were Bambi and Thumper there, too?
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…
And it was pretty late when I got this…
Terp Tracker – A big improvement over last week (wish we could say the same for Ga. Tech).
Honorable Mention to Air Force/Notre Dame – Gonna say it every time they wear them: “Keep those new unis, Falcons!”
5. Colorado/Stanford – Team colors, Stanford…that’s all you need.
4. BC/Clemson – Would have finished the list sooner last night, but those Tiger unis made me “paws” for reflection.
3. Iowa/Penn State – Classic, baby.
2. Oklahoma/Texas – Love this matchup, but even more when OU’s the home team.
1. Florida/LSU – My color palette special of the day.
And the bad one: Central Michigan/NC State – You can either wear pink numbers OR go BFBS…or better yet, just wear your usual stuff.
At least the Ducks didn’t get the dreaded “and one” spot. But those Terps and GA Tech? You blew the & 1, baby. That was awful.
Tracking The 2011 MLB Playoffs
Alex Rocklein is back…so let’s put ’em in the books!
All four Divisional Series’ are complete, and the ALCS got underway last night…and it continued into the wee hours of this morning, with two rain delays.
We always know we can count on Detroit to look good, whereas we never know what we’re going to get with the Texases. They broke out the rarely-seen red cap/white jersey combination, which I happen to think looks great, but it’s definitely odd when the blue is so predominate over the red on that jersey.
Since the game ended so late, I wasn’t sure if I’d make it till it was a final. But I did, and the Texases held on for a 3-2 victory. So here is your up-to-date 2011 MLB Playoff Tracker.
That’s it for today. Everyone have a great Sunday, and make sure you post your suggestions for the next Uniform Contest in the comments section below. RIP Al.
“When you combine Al Davis’ death with Nike making the NFL’s uniforms next season, I think it’s pretty much guaranteed the Raiders will now get a uniform redesign/update/overhaul. I think they need it; they’ve had basically the same uniforms for nearly 50 years now.” — The Hungry, Hungry Hipster
For the record…
I only said “No one cares” about the Terps doin’ the Oregon because their Pride uniforms pretty much sucked the hype out of their actual wardrobe. I’m actually baffled that Oklahoma State vs. Kansas didn’t make the 5&1. That’s MY Color Palette Special. Explain yourself, Jim! (nah, I kid)
Phil; the Uni Tweaks of today are the same from Yesterday. Are those placeholders for the actual Sunday tweaks, or what?
I thought about OSU/Kansas, but is black an actual school color? Didn’t have time to look it up, since *someone* was breathing down my neck…
Speaking of said person, “At least the Ducks didn’t get the dreaded “and one” spot. But those Terps and GA Tech? You blew the & 1, baby. That was awful.”
The Ducks were on the short list. You know, they may luck out and not make the &1 at all this year, unless one of their future opponents goes blackout or something else weird. And if Maryland wore what they wore last week, that game had a shot at tying for the &1. But, the Terps weren’t bad. CMU was, and NC State…well THAT was awful.
Kansas/OSU was indeed colorful.
link
Haha. Sounds reasonable X) Black is, indeed, an OSU color.
Congratulations Matt Robida. I can admit now that I voted for you as my second choice behind my own.
As for the comment of the day… as long as whoever replaces Al is someone already involved with the team, there ain’t gonna be no uniform overhauls. Maybe they’d go back to the silver numbers on the white jerseys because it was Al’s original design for the team, but that’s it. The only way they get an overhaul is with a completely new owner and probably a move to LA.
I’m not opposed to some uniform changes as long as they keep the black & silver color scheme, but it just ain’t gonna happen.
And shouldn’t happen. One of the most iconic uniforms in North American sports, it has spawned imitations, how many uni’s can really make that claim.
By the way, while I thought the Lightning look was going to be a bit dull, at least their white uni’s from initial viewings look quite sharpe.
In making breakfest, after posting this comment, I was thinking about it a little more
Not only is the Raiders truely an iconic uniform, one can put forth an argument it’s been the most influential uniform created over the last 50 years. It’s not without some merit to say, the whole trend towards darker uniforms that have permeated sports over the last 20 -30 years can be traced back to the Raiders Black and Silver.
I’ve always kind of thought of the Raiders uni as the force behind the current White Sox identity, and therefore behind the current and outgoing Marlins identity as well. Assuming so, are there any other unis in one sport that have inspired relatively direct imitation in another sport?
They said on NFL Radio yesterday that ownership passed either to Al’s wife or son. I wouldn’t expect changes any time soon.
Is it ironic to anyone else that The Hungry Hungry Hipster is pushing for a team with a vintage and edgy identity to conform to the ignorant mainstream trend that is updating to modern jersey styles? I mean absolutely no offense by that statement, I just find it a bit counterintuitive.
No, not really… because actual hipsters don’t call themselves hipsters.
Every time I see that name I think of the Seinfeld episode where the guy asked Kramer, “What are you, some kinda hipster doofus?”
Are they still stormtrooper uniforms if the facemask isn’t black? It seems like that should be a requirement to call mono-white uniforms ‘stormtroopers.’
I think the only requirement is that it’s mono-white on a team that doesn’t normally wear a white helmet.
Cal in mono-white = stormtroopers
Penn State in mono-white = meh, they wear that all the time
I understand the basis for the classification; I just disagree with it.
Fair enough…. I’m not sure I’d want to be called a stormtrooper anyway… those guys couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from 10 feet away. Not exactly something to strive for as a college player.
That is to say, I respectfully disagree with it and wish to present my counterpoint.
What would your preferred term be? If stormtroopers need black facemasks… what do you call the teams following the mono-white trend with non-black masks?
For the record, they could, actually, hit the broad side of a barn (or a sandcrawler, which is at bigger than most barns)… and they’re pretty good against unarmed farmers. It’s only when their targets are shooting back when the Imperial Stormtroopers can’t hit shit.
White for white’s sake? Or mono-white, I suppose.
And that’s where The Jeff’s point is well-taken.
White jerseys with white pants is nothing new. That look has been around as long as…well, white jerseys.
It’s when it’s an affection (WFWS) that it comes off as stormtrooper. Texas in all white is not stormtrooper. It’s what they’ve been wearing since the ’50s. Likewise for Penn State, Auburn, Wisconsin…and so on.
If nothing else, it’s an anachonism. The first time Auburn went white-over-white, nobody said, “Keen, these are swell; we look like Imperial Stormtroopers in a movie someday.”
an “affectation”, that is.
Ummm…? Tweak deja vu?
They just changed something in the Matrix, don’t worry about it.
And here I am, nowhere near my phone. :-/
oh kay…
sorry…i used yesterday’s tweaks (by accident) — so tired last night
now fixed with the proper tweaks for today
Thank you.
So the Seahawks contest winner was just for fun and of course, schwag? That’s a damn shame. At least the winner’s design can be trotted back out after Nike comes up with whatever hideous crap they come up with.
“Uni Tweaks
We have another new set of tweaks today.”
Lies. These are the same tweaks as yesterday.
And also, why do people incessantly continue to spell ‘LOSING’ with two ‘O’s?? (See Giants tracker piece)
And also, why do people incessantly continue to spell ‘LOSING’ with two ‘O’s?? (See Giants tracker piece)
____
Because our brains tell us that you need 2 Os to make the “ooh” sound. It’s just one more way that the English language really doesn’t make sense. “Loser” should be spelled “loozer”.
/or people don’t know how to use spellcheck… whatever
Actually a spellchecker wouldn’t pick up “loosing” as being an incorrect word; it is the past participle of the verb “to loose”, ie to make something looser.
Spellcheckers don’t always find incorrect usage, just words that don’t exist.
“Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.
Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.
As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.
Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew. ”
That goes through a spellchecker just fine :)
Ow my brain!
Awesome. My wife uses spell-check as a crutch, so one day I sent her an email something like this, only shorter. Her reply was simply, “Huh?” To which I replied, “Well, it passed spell-check.”
That’s a gerund. A participle is if it’s used as an adjective.
You are of course correct – I meant present participle, which is identical in form to the gerund. The past participle would be “loosed”.
The baseball Leafs, er Blue Jays, should always wear the T-Leaf cap logo. The old IL Toronto Maple Leaf baseball club had one of the all-time great caps. Royal cap with a White button and a White Leaf with a Royal “T” inside. Just a great cap.
And the Jays should shitcan all of the Black in their unis. They are after all, the BLUE JAYS, not the Black Birds.
Great job on the 5 & 1 Jim…this weekend’s version may be tough to beat the remainder of the season.
Am I the only one who was disappointed with the cotton logo at midfield yesterday at the Cotton Bowl? The black circle around the cotton looked odd.
I didn’t see the game…just the photos…so I didn’t notice that until this photo appeared:
link
Surprised the circle wasn’t pink yesterday…
And thanks.
Separate point, but I like the fact that the game is stilled played in the Cotton Bowl, as opposed to say the New Cowboys Stadium.
As my UT-alum sister explained to me yesterday, the point is that it’s one of the centerpieces of the state fair, so they don’t want to move it away from the fairgrounds.
I believe the OU/Texas contract with the city of Dallas goes until 2016…Both schools have stated they’ll do anything within their power to keep the game at the Cotton Bowl as long as they can.
I also wish they’d keep the endzones with school colors but print ‘Cotton Bowl’ rather than Oklahoma or Texas…the only time they did this was in 1999.
Point of Order, Mr. Weekend Moderator … Phil, Northwestern did not go mono-black last night. Helmets were still purple.
link
The black still irritates me for the simplest of reasons — it’s not a school color — but that ship sailed in ’95, when Barnett’s team wore it all the way to the Rose Bowl. I prefer the complete absence of black, but I found that I preferred the black jersey-black pants to black-purple or purple-black. I believe this is the first time both jersey and pants have been black.
They lost that Rose Bowl, didn’t they? And yet the black remains. Color me irritated as well.
Oh, and Terry is the one who brought up Northwestern.
First off, like I said in yesterdays comments, first time ever in school history for black on black at NU.
___________
Wearing exclusively black (as the home jersey) for more than a decade and in their three most recent BigTen Championship seasons has solidified black’s place in NUFB, but let’s hope it’s just as an alternate, Like it currently is.
in 1992, Black was BFBS. However with the success of the football program since the mid 90s, almost every team at northwestern has adopted it as a school color.
link
link
link
Black is now a de facto school color at NU that originated from BFBS of the truest kind – Barnett’s son designed the unis to look ‘cool’. But Black is, and will remain, an NU team color.
(and NU has lost bowl games in all sortsa colors: purple, white, black…)
I’m not used to being in the majority. Congrats, Mr. Robida!
at first I did not like the NC State Uniforms and thought it was a bit absurd for them to have them, and while atheistically I am still not a fan, their reasoning behind them having them is understandable.
Kay Yow, former head women’s basketball coach, had a very public battle with breast cancer before ultimately passing away from it. So while they may seem ridicules, I think they wished to honor her in a public way. Something that they have done may times in the past, such as the field paint during their most recent spring game.
Good intentions do not excuse bad design. Paint the end zones pink, or the hashamrks, or just put a ribbon on the normal unis. You can make a statement without looking overly garish.
Looking over the MLB Playoff Tracker…
The softball jerseys were 3-3 in the opening round (that’s counting the one softball-vs-softball matchup (game 2 in Milwaukee) in both columns).
Now both championship series include one team that wears softball jerseys and one that doesn’t. The Rangers refrained last night, as noted. This afternoon we’ll see about the Brewers.
Softball it is.
Enjoy the Top 5 in college football each week. I thought Syracuse-Tulane could have been a contender this week.
link
I’ll second that one.
Yowza!
One of the reasons I was taking too long last night is that I was waiting for a photo of that game. Couldn’t find one in time, and I had a good 5 already, so I went with it.
Definite Honorable Mention to that game, though!
link could’ve made honorable mention as well.
Looks like a black shield with a silver AL on the back of the Raiders helmets- just above the breast cancer ribbon.
link
AL Tribute
Has any other team used a first name on a memorial patch/sticker instead of initials?
/and the Browns don’t count because it would have been AL either way
The Pirates went with link for deceased mayor Bob O’Connor.
I was gonna mention the Browns, but then I saw you already acknowledged that one. I think they officially said it was his initials anyway.
Well the Giants had the Spider Lockhart patch.
Georgia Frontiere, Rams owner; “Mr. C” of the Tampa Bay Bucs.
Looks like new (Nike) uni’s for Purdue men’s basketball.
Can’t even read the “Purdue” across the front, and I’m not even sure of what it’s shaped into…..a cow catcher on a train?
link
Probably a train. A black outline around it would do wonders. They’re still using Athletic Block, though? Bull. Either get a real block font, or use those Steelers-Lite numbers from the new Purdue football uniforms. Grrr….
God, that NC State uni was an absolute link.
And once again, Oklahoma State proved there isn’t a bad link in their closet. Sonofabitch, I love their new unis. All of them.
The all gray was terrible. Other than that they do coordinate fairly well.
Haven’t seen the all gray, but I bet I’d like that too.
I do not care for the Oklahoma State combos. I give the nod to ASU. But what the Cowboys wore yesterday looked better. I do not like the gray they use.
Grey-For-Grey’s-Sake notwithstanding, I love Okie St.’s new unis. One of the best modern looks in college football as it stands.
Those are NOT pink benches for Notre Dame. That is from LAST WEEK’s game AT Purdue. The color is a little off but it is not pink
Whoops. I was forwarded the link and just took what I was given. Still interesting though, IMO.
What in the hell in going on in Michigan? They come out with the embarrassing super stretchy s in the first half and then a third of the squad changes into last years sets in the second half. Gonna need the BLUE faithful to fill us in on this deal.
Never thought I’d be saying this….but these new adidas sets are such a joke and so distracting that when I watch a game I pray that the teams are…gulp…Nike schools. The list of schools that have been destroyed by adidas this year is staggering: UCLA, Notre Dame, Nebraska, A&M, the Ville, SMU, etc.
And while I’m at it, Kevin Plank and UA can suck it as well. His version of the super stretchy is almost as tragic as adidas. The goddamn things don’t even cover the shoulder pads! link
“Never thought I’d be saying this….but these new adidas sets are such a joke and so distracting that when I watch a game I pray that the teams are…gulp…Nike schools.”
Welcome to the Nikegon family, ET. Population:
(link)
No, but I’ve been saying this since I discovered Adidas for the bastards that they are last year. As said (read: paraphrased) by someone in the comments the night Maryland came out with the Pride uniforms:
-Nike is geared towards making athletes look like superheros. Or cyborgs. Whatever comes first.
-UnderArmour is geared towards making athletes look like jesters.
Which means we can equate Adidas’s TechFit uniform to making players look like link. Actually, that’s a poor analogy… she doesn’t look like crap AND she has sleeves.
If we take Adidas to be somewhere in the middle of Nike and UA, wouldn’t their goal be to make the players look like link
I’ve been watching Northwestern for 20 years and I don’t remember the all black combo ever being worn. We’ve worn purple over black and black over purple… usually our purples don’t match or the purple looks blue somehow…
First black on black ever.
Purple/Black/Black
Purple/Purple/Black
Purple/Black/Purple
They all look bad.
Purple/Purple/Purple looks OK: link
Purple/Purple/White is even better: link
Black just mucks things up
… and including Northwestern stripes is best of all link
This is what they should wear with almost no exception (except move the stripes to the jersey…)
HOME
link
ROAD
link
ALT
link
Put white socks on those babies and you’re spot on for home and away. I still need convincing an alt is necessary.
Somebody please forward this thread to the Baltimore Ravens.
With conference hopping appearing to be the new reality, at least for the next couple of years, does a new , nastier reality start to emerge, does the SEC for instance, to stay say at 14 teams, but tries to make those 14 teams to be the best teams possible , by say kicking out a Mississippi State? Maybe not, maybe bigger is always better, but things are getting pretty competitive.
Oakville Endive commented above that he was impressed with the new Lightning look.
I have to say, I think their makeover is one of the great success stories in the uniform world in years. Some call the new look dull, others say they’re simply copying the Red Wings…I say: Redemption! They have trashed the hideous, cheap clip-art look for something timeless. The only mistake was including the word mark over the logo on the white jersey.
Look at this shoulder patch….perfect.
link
LOL at “hockey club” on the patch.
Pfft.
When you need to specify what sport you play in your logo, you fail. You don’t see any “Packers Football Club” or “Yankees Baseball Club” patches.
I think it’s obvious that’s intentionally old school, matching the classic look of the uni.
A bit Ralph Lauren-esque, almost.
I’ll take such things over extraneous butt stripes (or, for the sake of the hockey context, a Bettman bib or scalloped jersey hem) everytime.
What’re ya gonna do.
Some people think the clip-art look (what a great way to describe it, btw) is good.
Grocery stores, appliance dealers and those sticking the city name above the crest on a road hockey jersey, for example, love it.
Going to something more classic? Well, that’s just unforgiveable in the “New is Always Better” camp.
Don’t get me wrong. New can be, and often is, fabulous. But it isn’t automatically synonymous with “better.”
Jags in all-white again. So they changed uniforms because they were “wearing too many different combinations” and a few years later they go right back to wearing multiple combos. I wonder how long till we see them in teal jerseys with black pants.
They are wearing All white at home, and the black pants on the road, assuming that the Gridiron Uniform Database is correct (which they are). They have kept that pattern for every game but the one where they played the Panthers who wore white at home.
Jacksonville tends to not wear their dark uniforms until things cool down. Maybe they are keeping everything else the same except for the jerseys during home games until then.
Nebraska – Ohio State didn’t make the 5 and 1? thought that looked great
How about tweaking both the Kansas City Chiefs AND the Oakland Raiders? These traditional rivals have maintained their “looks” for nearly 50 years…likely because of their owners, both of whom have now passed. Some new uniform sizzle might help spice up an old rivalry.
I hate this line of thinking.
Not as much as I do.
No, what would add sizzle to the rivalry is GOOD TEAMS.
Done and done.
Sorry man but that is not going to fly. Raiders and Chiefs have the two of the best uniforms in the NFL.
Raiders = pretty damned good.
Chiefs = it doesn’t get better than this.
I’m a little confused about Vilk’s comments in the 5 & 1 section. Are you suggesting that UMD looked better uniform wise compared to Georgia Tech? or are you saying that UMD improved their look compared to last week by more than GT? Neither comments make sense to me (I know GT’s uniforms aren’t popular, but they are better than what UMD has to offer).
Last week’s MD combo was their worst of the year. This week was pretty good.
Last week GT looked bad. This week they looked bad.
In regards to the Ravens redesign, Ravens may not be purple but they certainly aren’t red. And though they aren’t dominantly purple they tend to have some purple on them:
link
“The raven has highly glossed plumage showing iridescent greens, blues, and purples. Sometimes the feathers have an oily or wet sheen. Crows also have feathers with iridescent purple and blue, but with less sheen than the raven.”
Look at the picture of the Raven on that site and tell me that doesn’t look purplish (that’s why their colors include purple). They went with a purple Raven so they could put it on a black helmet, also because a purple logo is more unique and colorful than a black one.
Also Gothic colors when Edgar Allen Poe was writing his poems and whatnot in Baltimore are not the same as the colors worn by “goth” kids today (Purple is Gothic, red is a popular color amongst goth kids).
While I thank you for your input, I do have a few things I should note.
1. I made the raven black not red.
2. I added red because it contrasts better with black than purple does.
3. I also chose to use red due to another Poe writing. link
And I’m sorry for trying some thing different…
It wasn’t meant as a personal attack or anything, sorry if it came off that way.
My remarks about the red was meant as an argument against including it over purple (I pointed out why they used purple over black). You chose it for contrasting reasons, I assumed you chose the colors because of its use as a “Gothic” color. This has been the reasoning behind replacing red with purple for a few people making tweaks to the Ravens, and I assumed you were one of those. Its true what they say, well at least half true (how does ME assuming make an a$$ out of you and me?)
Although I’m not a fan of the UCLA stretchy style unis, I thought the UCLA-Washington State game represented a great color contrast (and I also really like the Cougars’ unis).
link
Will UCLA have any shoulder stripes at all by season’s end?
If no one cares what Maryland is wearing, why did you write about it?
who says no one cares what maryland is wearing?
no one cares how maryland is playing
Right on.
Well, to be fair, I should’ve clarified when I linked to it, but I didn’t want to fill the rundown with boring filler that — more or less — was already covered countless times.
The new unis for Maryland were insanely hyped over the Summer, but the Pride uniforms were so shocking to everyone — myself included — that anything else that they do is just kind of sub-par. Their gameplay hasn’t helped them, either.
The way I see it, the events of 9/3/11 were so mind-boggling to everyone, and Maryland — while accomplishing their mission of Nationwide recognition — kind of fell into their own trap of not being able to surprise everyone the way they did against Miami, that people don’t really care about them unless they’re a ranked BCS contender, or wearing “Pride: The Second Coming.” uniforms for us to scratch our heads at in uncertainty.
Well, Pride IS considered a Sin, and Maryland is reaping in ashes big time, not only because the re-brand hasn’t helped their team win games (per se, if at all), but also because we’re giving them the honey badger treatment, in which case: we don’t give a shit.
But I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t report the findings. This is, however, no shade thrown towards the University, this is just my interpretation of their post-Pride Day operations on the field… and that particular combo looks so much like the Steelers to me, right down to the logoless helmets. Maybe I do care, just a little bit…
Perfectly fair question, Jeremy.
And a good answer. Agree with several points.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you, Jeremy =)
And I had a serious brain cramp on the Terps/’Canes game date: it was actually 9/5/11. My bad… =P
This pink crap has got to go. It was fun when it was one game in the NFL a few years back. Now the NFL and College must overdo it like everything else. Not downplaying the cause, just think it is overkill and a joke now. Cut it out and go back to the standard uniforms. Football has no need to have a social concious anyway.
Concussions I could understand. Breast cancer? Not even prostate?
duh hell?
It would be fine if they just went all out for the first game in October, and then after that have the ribbon on the jerseys, helmets, and the ball.
In response to Alex’s Uni Tweak on the Ravens: Anyone else see it as being too similar to the Redskins, who are 30 miles down the road? And if you’re so concerned about how Ravens aren’t purple, then why s the primary jersey red/burgundy?
I try to maintain a policy of speaking of tweaks only when I have praise to offer, but I agree. I actually like this tweak in general (see: praise!), and to me it makes more effective use of the general color scheme than the Redskins. But in the actual NFL, a team in Baltimore not only can’t use that color scheme, it can’t use anything even close to that color scheme.
Also, ravens are indeed purple. There’s a sheen that some birds have that gives apparent color to their black feathers, and the whole raven/crow family has kind of a purple thing going on with their black feathers in certain light. Sort of like how you see a lot of depictions of link. Their heads are black, but with a shimmery sheen that kind of looks green sometimes.
I think I like the Jets in white-over-green. It would help, though, if the team wasn’t so G-d-awful…
It’s insanity that the Patriots shitcanned that red uni. Looks real ugly doesn’t it?
yeah…it’s putrid
but once they went to flying elvis mach 2 and started winning in it, this one will be relegated to the dustbin of history, and the occasional throwback
they’ll NEVER bring it back, as god intended, full-time
This is just me: their 2009 throwbacks were far better than the 2010-2011 throwbacks IMO, and here’s why:
White tube socks (stripes are a must) with white pants look good… but not with a non-white jersey. It looks like they’re wearing white dancer leggings. It just looks unbalanced. Plus, there was something about the link that just SCREAMED “Gridiron” (especially #81 with those sick cleats!).
other than the socks (and i agree, the red-tops look better), the current *throwback* is way better for my OCD…they’ve got the proper red-white-blue-white-red striping on the helmet, pants and socks…
the 09 deal had just two helmet stripes, a blue-white-blue on the shoulders (current is white-blue-white) and they reversed the pants striping; also the red toppers had three blue stripes…
so it was much more of a mish-mash of styles
both iterations, however, are miles better than the crap they currently wear
IMO, today’s throwback to 84-86 ish era looks 14x better than the ’09 throwbacks to the 60s.
Its a great day when the Sooners win wearing the white on white.
just updated Hoosier Tracker’s Template to now include the stadium the Hoosiers played in. This week gets the first updat, but I’ll be going back and updating all of these.
link
All are updated. link
GAME 1 Lukas Oil: link
GAME 2 Memorial Stadium: link
GAME 3 Memorial Stadium: link
GAME 4 Apogee Stadium: link
GAME 5 Memorial Stadium: link
GAME 6 Memorial Stadium: link
Prior to the White Sox, the Raiders definitely were the inspiration for the Los Angeles Kings going to silver and black.
Maybe this is because I am a 49ers fan, but I always love when football teams have the helmet match the pants and the jersey match the socks. I just wish that the 49ers would have away socks with red stripes, and vice versa for home. But I also HATE when the helmets are the same color as the logo, like the Falcons and Texans.
Jets,
Y U NO WEAR WHITE-OVER-GREEN-OVER-WHITE MORE OFTEN???
Tebow is going to get credit for the second half play of the Broncos, but it was actually a forced turnover by his D and a screen pass that he threw about 7 yards (all behind the line) and Moreno willed it to the house.
tony dungy just gave tebow a big thumbs up
big fuckin shock there
Way to complete four passes, on of which was behind the line of scrimmage.
Congrats Matt, for your Seahawks uni concept! I will be honest, I might have overlooked Travis’s design becasue I am so sick of that Pro Combat template. Now that I see it a bit more in detail, he did a very fine job. Although, I still believe Matt’s was my favorite of the lot. I really liked the striping on the side of the pants.
The Jaguars aren’t going anywhere, so you’ll have to find another team to tweak. Unless, that is, someone wants to pay well north of two billion dollars to
1) get an owner who doesn’t want to sell to sell;
2) get an owner to sell a franchise that has appreciated nearly 400% in 18 years and would likely continue to do so; ($208m initial cost in 1993 to $725m Forbes valuation in 2011)
3) break and buy out for at least $50m a stadium lease that runs until 2029;
all to put them in a stadium that does not exist, that has not started to be built, in a market that has seen three teams move out.
Why, as a potential owner, would I pay a boatload to the Jaguars when:
the Raiders are now in a state of flux, as the one person keeping them in Oakland has passed away;
the Chargers have probably the worst stadium in the league;
the Bills are not far from the same situation as the Raiders;
and the Vikings are playing the “let’s see what happens in a decade” card with their new stadium.
Good lord, everybody who thinks Jacksonville to LA is a done deal really needs to wake up and do just a little bit of research and they will know it’s not going to happen. That or show me how the NFL can one day call up a team and say, “You, you’re moving out”.
number 3 is a valid point, but why do 1 & 2 need to take place? why can’t the jaguar ownership simply move? didn’t stop modell, irsay, frontiere…
maybe i haven’t been paying proper attention, but don’t the jags routinely NOT sell out their current stadium (lease or not)? don’t the fans who don’t go to the games (apparently there are a lot of those) suffer blackouts on tv?
what owner wouldn’t like to keep a team in that environment
~~~
not saying the jags will, would or should move…but lets face it, when you’re talking about potential franchises TO move, they’re consistently at the top of any list
you’re right, you’re not paying proper attention.
their last blackout was the 7th home game of the 2009 season, currently a streak of 12. not the greatest, but better than the Raiders, Buccaneers, and a whole slew of other teams. there will likely be a few this year the way it’s going, but the fan support is there. A couple bad years of attendance and all of a sudden it’s as if they are being outdrawn by Bowling Green or something.
the owner COULD move, but he’s making money doing nothing, he has a stadium, the stadium has a corporate sponsor, and they’ve averaged 61,963 fans the first three home dates this season. so yeah, he could move and I wouldn’t blame him for wanting to if those conditions you posed actually exist, but since they don’t, whatever.
I have yet to see any article not from Bleacher Report that puts them at the top of the list. Sports Business Journal did a full feature on NFL in LA and with a sidebar listing all of the teams, having the Jaguars at the bottom with a cursory “The Jaguars are always tossed around as a possible candidate to head west, though the team has a long-term stadium lease and owner Wayne Weaver seems committed to the market.” It’s just pure laziness from the people who report on the situation.
Cam, stop being a dick. You’re making valid points, but watch your tone. throw in a joke or a ‘haha’ or something in there to take the edge off.
We get it, you’re Jag fan, but teams like the Bears, Packers, Stillers, Giants, etc. can go 4-12 in consecutive season and still sell out all 16 games. Florida has a hard time competing with… well, Florida. It’s too nice there to sit and watch shitty sports teams (a reason teams haven’t worked in LA, too). Phil was just looking to spark a conversation or contest, not attack Jags fans.
And the Vikings have the most to be upset about with this move to LA conversation. They consistently sell out, their one of the oldest organization in the move to LA talk and they have die hard fans. It’s just their organization is cheap and shitty.
I agree with the Vikings. If anyone, it should be the Chargers. That stadium is a hole, they started in LA, it works best for them… not that there is a huge movement out there that is upfront about wanting a team back there, it’s all the league’s doing.
Plus, the dirty secret is that it’s just not fun to go to NFL games anymore, it’s more affordable and fun to be sitting in a bar for a couple hours watching all of the games over dealing with traffic, prices, close quarter, etc. for just one game.
Thanks for the behavior check. My snarkometer has been broken as of late.
Just glad to see you take the criticism so well. Cheers.
I’ve been to over 120ish NCAA (actually just B1G and B1G vs. ___) games and 2 NFL games (bears.). While I love the college atmosphere, especially for the price, live football is always pretty entertaining.
(but still, NCAAF experience ≥ NFL experience)
It’s easy to call a game a sell out when around 20k seats are covered with a tarps and only opened up for the UF/UGA game.
Didn’t know there are actual Jags fans. I know there aren’t any in L.A. Please make the contest for the Chargers or Vikings, I don’t even want to entertain the idea of the L.A. Jaguars. How a team ever got planted in Jacksonville is beyond me. It seems to me the Chargers have the wink wink nudge nudge agreement that they cannot publicly admit until they leave. They will probably be moving as soon as 2013 before the stadium even gets built. They get more blackouts than any other successful franchise, the stadium is a joke that makes for a miserable experience, and the city will never pay for a new stadium or even a renovation.
OK I’ll bite & ask a dumb question since I don’t recall it being mentioned. Is this a 3 stripes thing with these annoying super stretchies? Notre Dame & UCLA’s pants look much duller than they used to be in past years. Neither looks as shiny/metallic as in the past like Swooshy Navy’s still does so I was wondering if it’s happening across the board for all gold wearing 3 stripe teams or just these two.
That being asked it’s back to hoping my Falcons can keep up tonight despite those awful red clown suits they wear. I’m ever hopeful the Swoosh will fix that (and by fix I mean keep the black helmet but get them back in black jerseys and gray pants like they belong).
“I’m ever hopeful the Swoosh will fix that (and by fix I mean
keepditch the black helmet but get them back in black jerseys andgraywhite pants like they belong).”so close…put them back in this and we’re good to go
With some edits:
Keep the current logo, just change the beak to gold for Georgia Tech and BOOM – link – Uni set.
Tim E.
Weatherspoon just took a helmet to the head & was walked off the field. Some of the yellow from the Green Bay helmet ended up on his. Didn’t just get the beak but it turned the whole Falcon head yellow. Didn’t have any way of grabbing it though.
I’ve never been a fan of the addition of the gold. I get what it represents but 3 colors is enough. If they want to add gold again I’d rather it replace the gray all over. Unfortunately unless Paul’s hiding it I haven’t seen Atlanta mentioned as a team that will have anything done with them so we’ll still be one of the 3 worst looking teams in the NFL.
Saw that weatherspoon thing.
Still fun to speculate, no?
As long as they keep the current helmet & logo I’d be good with that one Phil. Much nicer than the garbage they have now. But I’ve always wanted the current logo on this:
link
As long as it’s the one from the early 90’s & not this from the late 90’s:
link
Does anyone have any SWAC, MEAC, SIAC, and CIAA unitweakes?
Bromo, it seems that Adidas has gone to a full Techfit material (one that does not require a belt) for their teams this season. This material does not have the metallic finish that spandex does, so they go with the color that Adidas uses for warmups, polos, shorts — a color they call “sandstorm.”
Notre Dame and UCLA are their only two schools which have metallic gold in their colors, so the lack of metallic gold is confined to them.
Then again, Nike-outfitted Purdue wore their gold pants this weekend, and they didn’t have a metallic finish, either…
As a proud alumus of Sam Houston State, I hope the Bearkats will wear a black over orange with black hats one day. Also they need to wear orange on orange one day.
Carolina Panthers should be the next redesign contest. They have had virtually the same uniforms since they came into the league. It’s an exciting time as they rebuild their team with Cam Newton and new uniforms would excite the fans that much more and prepare them for the next era of Panther football.
Ok that Baltimore uni u made was HIDEOUS! Those colors do not work and if you think about it purple is more associated with ravens in cartoons and plays and etc never have i seen red or gold!