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Uni Watch

Molon Labe… or ‘Come and Get Them’!

By
MSU 12

By Phil Hecken

While not THE Game, or the “Civil War” or even the “Red River Rivalry,” today two teams will be battling for Paul Bunyan’s Ax trophy (officially known as the “Paul Bunyan Trophy”) — that’s right, Michigan (ranked 11) and Michigan State (23) will do battle for the Governor’s Trophy. It’s a storied trophy that dates to 1953, when Michigan State officially entered the B1G, although Michigan vs. MSU have battled far longer — today marks the 103rd time the teams will meet, with the Wolverines holding a 67-31-5 overall lead, and a 34-22-2 Bunyan Trophy lead. Sparty enters the game as a three point favorite, playing at home, and has won the last three times the teams have met. You’d think a game like this wouldn’t need any additional hype. But you’d be wrong. Because Nike has created a special costume for the Spartans to wear just for today … because the pro combat is on.

Building upon the *success* of their pro combat line from the past two seasons, Nike describes this years uni thusly:

Echoing the cry of King Leonidas, the back of the collar is inscribed with the words “Molon Labe,” the Spartans’ defiant challenge to the competition to “come and get them!” Gloves complete the traditional Spartan headdress look. Armed with intensity and determination, MSU will fight on the battlefield until the last team is standing.

Oh for Zeus’ sake.

The Spartans’ website continued the hyperbole:

The uniform design incorporates bronze colorways in honor of the armor of their historic namesake, and a carbon fiber plate symbolically mirrors that of the Spartan shield, which is emblazoned on the right of the base layer.

OK, OK, I get — we ALL get — that Nike is very skilled at marketing shiny objects to seventeen-year-olds, and in true warrior fashion, those who don the uniform will undoubtedly become as invincible as King Leonidas when he proclaimed tonight, we dine in hell. Or something. Good thing the game starts at noon.

But hey, Uni Watch isn’t about political statements or judgments about the disgusting marketing and corporate practices of uniform manufacturers or anything, it’s about uniforms, right? So, let’s dismiss with all that macho shit posturing and really take a look at what Sparty will be taking the field in today. And, for the moment, lets also forget that Michigan State’s official colors are green and white and that their normal uniforms look like this. Just imagine a world where history and school colors don’t matter and you’re free to wear whatever your uniform supplier deems. And make sure it’s cool.

And it is pretty cool. Let’s start with the helmet. While it looks “gold” (no, not athletic gold, but good old fashioned old gold), I believe Nike is calling this “bronze.” OK, well, if you can make up a uniform that’s not in school colors, you can make up color names too. But that is a pretty good looking lid, I have to say. Nice matte gold bronze, with a green spartan head graphic.

The helmet has a green stripe (to mimic a plume), with a deep green jersey, black raglan sleeves, bronze numerals, and black pants. The wordmark reads simply “SPARTANS.” I’m not personally a fan of that font (though both numbers and letters mimic the font face of the current uniforms). It’s fairly well done, and certainly not over-the-top like some previous pro combat unis. I do love the gold, er…bronze and green, but the black, being quite close to green in colorscale and intensity, doesn’t really work (in my opinion). But we all know the kids LOVE black uniforms, since it makes them tougher.

The back of the jersey is similarly plain (spartan-like, much like the ancient Greeks, particularly Spartans), with a black “SPARTANS” NOB which should be impossible to read from a distance of more than one foot. The black trou have a standard Nike tramp-stamp. And of course, the inside of the collar and the helmet stripe and nose bumper contain the phrase “molon labe,” which loosely translated means something like “come and get ’em.” Oh, they’re ready for war all right.

It’s not a bad looking uniform, all things considered. I’d even venture to say it’s a lot better than two out of the three uniforms they currently wear. Heaven forbid these are in school colors however. Still, I give it a solid B+ (based purely on the uniform as a uniform — if you toss in school colors and tradition…and the fact that this was designed for a Grecian soldier…the grade drops precipitously).

Ah, but what if Nike did want to give a nod to history? They could have looked to these these 1947 green and white beauties, with the famous “winged” helmet. Yeah, we know Michigan has and still wears that style, but what better way for Nike to say “eff you” to the adidas-clad Wolverines? And, since black is such a “hot” color, they could have simply taken this black and gold classic for inspiration. Yes, that uniform was worn between 1934 and 1946 and yes, it was black and gold (despite how that may look on your monitor, it was black and gold). But that might be a bit too close to the current Michigan uni (even with the *maize* pants).

Interested in more Spartan uni history? Be sure to check here, here, here (that has a great history of the winged helmet, including that worn by MSU), and, for a great uni history from 1947-present, here.

Enjoy the game today. And just remember, when we look back at this one in 50 years, you may be saying “who the hell was playing Michigan and what have they done with the Spartans. But they did look pretty good.”

~~~~~~~~~~

50 years 200 pixel

50 Years Ago…This Weekend

Last weekend Ricko helped me out with a tremendous article detailing the ABC’s College Football Game of the Week, in which he painstakingly documented the uniforms of the two combatants featured on his “kid cards.” I liked it so much, for the remainder of the NCAA Football season, I’ve asked Rick to share one of his “kid cards,” with a writeup, of that game of the week. Oh what fun it must have been to be a Uni Watcher in 1961, before there was a Uni Watch (or even before there was a Paul Lukas). Here’s Rick:

~~~

Oct. 14, 1961…Michigan State at Michigan: Bet this one would have made Vilk’s 5&1, if there’d been such a thing in 1961. Hell, there wasn’t even a Vilk in 1961, though, was there….Anyway, a few notes. Numbers on the Wolverines helmets may actually have been maize…Here’s Bob Timberlake, who first played for them in ’62…Was the era when Michigan’s outer helmet stripes were shorter and met at the center stripe in the back, shown in a 1960 photo…Also, by ’61 most everyone had gone to white shoelaces, but there were a few holdouts that still preferred black. Michigan, Purdue, Oregon State, Browns (although they went to white in ’62) and Redskins are four that come quickly to mind. Maybe Iowa State, too…Dave Raimey went on to a quality career with Toronto and Winnipeg in the CFL.

~~~

Thanks Ricko! Those Sparty unis look just a bit different than they will today. Who knows, in 50 years when we look back at the game played today, will we say “wow, those unis were fresh” or “what the hell were they thinking”? Only time will tell.

~~~~~~~~~~

all sport uni tweaks

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 Brian Skowski, who has a pretty long description, but it’s worth it:

Phil,

I’ve read the blog for years now, have submitted a few things, but I’ve mostly been a hands-off reader. I’ve never really been too into the concept design thing, because I stink at using Photoshop. I love seeing others’ designs, but most of mine usually just stay in my head. But after playing NHL 12, An idea popped into my head and I thought I’d share…

I’ll start by saying that I’m pretty sure that I’m the only person outside of Nashville that likes the Preds’ new uniforms. But, I love them. They’re right up there with Minnesota’s thirds as the best in the league, in my opinion. I know, I know, I can’t decide if I like new or old school styles! Anyway, I was playing NHL 12 and thought, wow, that Preds template could make a real sweet Penguins’ third jersey. So, I started using my extremely limited Photoshop skills to come up with a concept. I threw a few ideas from the Preds, some things that are important to us in Pittsburgh, and some concepts from around the league into a blender and here’s how it turned out. Obviously, I changed the Preds’ blue to black, and changed the gold to a slightly different shade, to match the Pens’ uniforms of the 80s/90s. I really like how Nashville incorporated the guitar strings into their number font, so I adapted their idea to fit Pittsburgh and the Pens. I used the Classic 60s font in white (NOT trendy off-white) and black for the numbers, and put three lines through the middle (instead of Nashville’s six) to represent Pittsburgh’s three rivers, as well as the three Stanley Cup championships that the Pens have won. I used the 2-color name/captain’s font from the ’08 Winter Classic jerseys, with black replacing blue. As for the shoulder patches, I used the Badger Bob Johnson patch, worn in the ’91-’92 season on the left shoulder. I thought this patch fit well, because the colors match the look I was going for, and it is a shout out to our first Cup team and its legendary coach. (I was thinking the Bears’ continued use of the GSH sleeve patch here….) For the right shoulder, I really like how the Flames use the Alberta flag to represent their region, so I put the Pittsburgh coat of arms found on the city’s flag on as a shoulder patch. You may recognize it from the front of the Steelers’ ’94 throwbacks. To finish the patches, I used the Penguins’ current wordmark on the top of the back of the collar. Since there are so many throwback elements in my concept (besides the template) I put the current mark in to help modernize the look. Again, I love the placement of the team/city name there on the Preds’ jerseys. It’s just a shame that it has to look so stupid with the giant Reebok logo/word creep between “Nashville” and the player name.

Anyway, sorry for the long rant. I just thought I’d share a concept with you and hopefully the rest of the blog readers! Keep up the awesome work!

-Brian Skokowski

~~~

Next up is Matt Moon, who has a Seabirds concept — alas, he submitted this after the contest deadline, but it’s still a tweak:

Hey Phil,

I realized tonight that I never turned in my Seattle cleanups after seeing everyone elses. So I thought I’d try sending it in now. You may notice that I have white at home. If you notice on the city flag of Seattle, the white really sticks out. I thought I’d try converting that over to the jersey. Just an idea. Anyways, accept it or not, I honestly don’t care. Because I’m Matt Moon. And that’s a fact.

Sincerely yours,

Matthew Garry Moon (@matthewgarryfox)

~~~

And we close today with Leo Strawn, who has a couple of Bucs logos:

Phil,

I created a jolly roger logo for the Pittsburgh Pirates…sent it off to them to consider as an alternate logo…two versions, black/yellow, and one with red stitches (they use red as an accent color, occasionally)…

This one is a variation of the previous designs I emailed…(space between the skull and bats)…

What do you think…?

~~~

That’s all for today. Back with more tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~

Benchies Header

Benchies

by Rick Pearson

~~~

Nice to know SOMEONE has his priorities in order…

10-15-11 d-sternly

And, of course, your full-size.

~~~~~~~~~~

Paul & Phil at Sheep Station, 2009 Gathering

Mark Your Calendars

That’s right, the annual Brooklyn Gathering of Uni Watchers will be taking place at Sheep Station on Saturday, November 12 at 2:00 pm. Hoping all NYC-area UWers can stop by and say “hello” to Paul, moi, and the myriad other characters who share Paul’s obsessive study of athletic aesthetics. Especially hoping to meet some of you locals (I’m looking at you Chance and Conn) who never seem to be in town at the same time as the uni-obsessed are. Mark your calendars now. As an added bonus, we’ve just been assured that this guy will be there. Trust me, that’s worth the price of admission (which is free, btw) right there.

See you then.

~~~~~~~~~~

And that’s all for today, folks. Everyone have a great Saturday, and enjoy the battle for Paul Bunyon’s ax…and all the other games, including what could be the final game of the ALCS. Molon Labe, baby.

~~~

In his later years, Phil Jackson spent most of the game riding the pine; I only began following basketball in 1977 and he became my favorite player. I remember remarking his jersey looked like it still had the hanger in it. — Walter Helfer

 
  
 
Comments (191)

    Amazing how big the Michigan helmet wing looks when the bottom portion isn’t covered by a modern facemask…
    link

    That’s from when PR photos were shot with helmets that were sans facemask, so hard to say which players actually still played with mug hanging out.

    Indeed.

    Well ok, they don’t need… but if anyone is going to wear camo, they’re the one team that should.

    My position is, not surprisingly, just the opposite. The academies, which so resolutely respect tradition the rest of the week, probably ought to show the same respect for it on Saturday afternoons.

    You’d think a West Point player, for example, would WANT to wear basically the same uni wore by Davis, Blanchard, Dawkins, Carpenter and others.

    Would seem to be true to the institution’s character.

    Are MSU actually having “SPARTANS” NOB or was it used in the photos as a place holder for the player’s name?

    Yep, just saw them in warmups on College Gameday…they all say “Spartans” on the back. All that attention to detail, but they can’t put the players’ names on there?

    Will MSU interlock elbows and walk slowly out onto the field in a phalanx today, wearing their warrior costumes n’ everything? Y’know, Spartan-like?

    That would be SO cool.

    Oh, wait, that’s already become stupid-looking, hasn’t it.

    I guess fads are like that, huh.

    I bring up the MSU NOBs because you already have Spartans on the front of the jersey and tramp stamp on the pants. Third time is not the charm.

    The problem with making the “Spartans” name more literally depict the actual civilization of Sparta is that Sparta was one of the most evil civilizations in human history. Plus, the whole heroic-Spartans-at-Thermopylae thing is mostly a myth anyway. There were far more Thespians in the last stand than Spartans, and about as many Athenians. And in the end, Sparta was conquered by Thebes, which is sort of the equivalent of, say, Texas being overrun by Iowa. “Spartans” as an athletic nickname works only so long as you don’t remind anyone of the actual historical facts behind the name.

    Though I do absolutely love the green and bronze colors. Not so much with all that black, and I’m not sure white would work any better with green and bronze. Maybe a light warm gray?

    Gray can be either warm or cool, and either version can vary in shade from light to dark. A light shade of warm gray. Light, because both bronze and Michigan’s green are pretty saturated, and warm, because that will play better against the bronze. But The is right – it’d be better without a third color. I was just saying, since the Spartans are effectively doing a three-color thing, I think it would work better with something other than black or white.

    Why not just green and bronze? No third color necessary.

    If you absolutely must have a third color, black or white are probably your best options.

    Atlanta Falcons will be wearing “90’s Super Bowl-Era” throwbacks this Sunday (with red helmets, black jerseys) according to local radio source 680 The Fan.

    Love this look for the Dirty Birds.. now if they could just win it would be great..

    Yeah… that radio guy needs to do just a little tiny bit of research.

    So they’re wearing the ’66 throwbacks that they’ve been using for the past couple years. Woo-hoo, I guess. 90’s Superbowl era would be black helmet and silver pants, and anyone who considers themselves a Falcons fan should know that.

    As Uni-Watchers, we should all know that… but I’m willing to give a little bit of slack to “normal” people.

    This was a guy on the radio in Atlanta?

    Makes perfect sense that he doesn’t know shit about the Falcons.

    Doing like Phil and throwing out everything I know about MSU’s uniform history and school colors, this would be a B+ if it weren’t for the black gradient sleeves. That’s simply not a good look and I hope Nike realizes at some point that putting colors next to each other with no contrast looks muddy. Besides, if you’re going to throw out the school colors in favor of Spartan colors anyway shouldn’t the uniforms be red and bronze? C

    I could be wrong, I don’t follow the big ten very closely, but I thought Paul Bunyan’s axe was a different trophy (wisconsin vs minnesota?) not another name for the paul bunyan governors trophy of Meechigan vs MSU

    Yes, Minnesota and Wisconsin play for Paul Bunyan’s Axe. They used to play for the Slab of Bacon until that trophy was thought lost during the 1940s. It turned up many years later hidden in a storage room at Wisconsin.

    You are correct. Two different trophies. Minnesota and Wisconsin play for Paul Bunyan’s Axe. MSU and Michigan play for the Paul Bunyan Trophy.

    Yeah, but you’re still spelling it “Bunyon.” It’s “Bunyan.”

    You can blame the Wreck for that as well.

    oh for zeus’ sake…

    yup…now fixed as well

    at least i know he won’t be replying to this here string

    I just want to say I really liked Leo and Brian’s uni tweaks. I love that pirates logo and I was surprised to say I liked how the Penguins jersey turned out. Keep it up guys. p.s. awesome badger bob patch…

    I think you’ve gone soft, Skip.

    Bee fucking plus? I dunno, man. Maybe under sunlight, it’ll look good, but those promotional pics make that uni look drab and dreary.

    Dark green jersey over black pants? It looks like a pop warner team’s practice uniform.

    If they had gone with “bronze” pants instead, I think the B+ grade might be justified.

    Yeah, well there’s that.

    But I’m talking about the “in a vacuum” view of the uniform.

    As a uniform that represents Michigan State University I’ll give it a D+.

    Oh, I knew what you meant. Was just doing a “bottom line,” because “in a vacuum” only exists if someone is designing unis for their Madden team, maybe…or an expansion franchise.

    Just about everything else comes with parameters such as colors, logo, tradition, et al.

    We could create all kinds of designs for a Wheaties box that wasn’t orange…but it would kinda be a waste of time and brain power.

    Still got orange in there, though.
    Didn’t switch to lime and navy.

    (Shoulda said, “didn’t include orange”, I suppose)

    By the same token, that MSU uni still has green in it, but it comes off almost as a trim color, kinda like the orange on the Wheaties Fuel box.

    Is Fuel a new cereal or a rebranding of regular Wheaties?

    Honestly, I don’t know (I generally skip the cereal aisle).

    Would make a difference in the intent of the design and, of course, the product involved.

    Its a new kind of Wheaties, designed to give you more “energy” (i.e., it has more sugar). I’ve had it a couple times, and not only did it not give me more energy, I thought it tasted worse than regular Wheaties.

    When I first saw Michigan State’s combat unis I did not like them. I am still not as crazy about the actual uniform as much as I like the helmet.

    Funny how they are calling the helmet bronze. I guess one can say it is bronze. But if you simply showed the picture or helmet to 100 people how man would say it is gold?

    Still the overall uniform is a decent looking one. Not sure if it will be sunny for the game. I bet the helmets look good in the sun.

    anyone catch (what i guess is a replay) PL on gameday? throwing out the classic “17 year olds/shiny objects” line again…

    and they’re showing oregon with a carbon helmet & sparky with a maroon/burgundy one…im guessing whatever they end up wearing tonight, it won’t make the “5” … but possibly the “1”

    It looks like Michigan went back to last year’s roadies. Ugly yellow side panel is back. Oh well, Go Blue anyway!

    HOLY CRAP! Michigan and Adidas swerved us! They’re wearing white-body versions of their Notre Dame unis!

    *Notre Dame game…

    And interesting that they have numbers prominent on the front and the block-M is relegated to the upper left.

    Well we all know JimV has a permanent slot in his top 5 for Penn State and the ugliest unis in college football vs whoever the opponent is. Especially when PSU is at home.

    YUK

    There is no fucking way you really believe Penn State has the ugliest unis in NCAAF. You may think they’re the worst or plainest but if you really think they’re the *ugliest*, you’re dumb.

    now, now tim…

    larry just loves him some THEosu and hates the (not so new) kid on the B1G block

    he knows they’re not ugly…right larry?

    They wear blue and white. Their uniforms have almost no design. All there is to call *ugly* is the cut of today’s football uniforms.

    If you think that’s “UGLY” then all uniforms with extra designs are – by rule – still ugly, if not worse.

    If LarryB thinks they are the worst unis – OK.

    If larryB thinks they’re the plainest unis – OK.

    If LarryB thinks they’re the ugliest, he’s categorically wrong and dumb for saying dumb things.

    (I comin’ out hot today after my poor Hoosiers had a trick play run on them by a mean-spirited Wisconsin team)

    Phil is comic about it. He knows I like to push him and JimVs buttons about their love of PSU unis.

    But Phil you surprised me in a good way with the not so new kids on the block comment. It seems like you had been reading PSU message boards.

    Tim, I do think those are PSU unis are ugly. The hone unis not as ugly as the all whites. Being plain or traditional does not make anything a good uni.

    And it is not so much about being plain. It is the color combo. Alabama has plain unis but I like the color combo more. Now if Penn State wore the shade of blue Kentucky now wears they would be a tad better. Or the blue PSU wore until 1969.

    Dark dark blue and white is blah.

    If a kindergarten kid can DIY a PSU uni that says it all.

    (I comin’ out hot today after my poor Hoosiers had a trick play run on them by a mean-spirited Wisconsin team)

    I liked the trick play the Indiana punter did when he line-drived it into the linemen for a 1-yard punt.

    Holy Spit Michigan went with their own alternates, which look to be actual throwbacks as opposed to a mash-up like they did for the ND game.

    One of the first things the talking heads said of MSU’s unis was, “Looks like Oregon.”

    I mean, shouldn’t MSU look like, oh, I dunno…MSU?

    That would sorta indicate a branding failure, wouldn’t it?

    I really like that first Pirates logo, with the red seams. If Pittsburgh doesn’t like it, perhaps consider sending a variation to a minor league or independent team. Good stuff.

    What if we changed our uni combinations every week and, nationally speaking, virtually no one noticed?

    Virginia could kinda say the same thing, couldn’t they?

    Also the Gophers, for that matter, whom I could well imagine doing something stupid like breaking out the white helmets next week…against Nebraska and their white helmets.

    Oh, they’ll notice this week. Not for the reasons IU would like to be noticed, but people will notice.

    I throw down the “noticed” gauntlet.

    Entirely possible Nebraska could flirt with 100 points against the 13-Striped Ground Squirrels next week.

    Rang up 84 on ’em once in the Dome.

    It’s genius of Michigan to go with the white pants. If they win it was a good luck throwback. If they lose, they just blame the pants and switch back to yellow for eternity.

    I stand by my earlier assessment of those Spartans’ unis. They’re really fucking ugly.

    But I think the helmets actually do look kinda bronze.

    IU UW game announcers just came back from a UM MSU gamebreak and mentioned the unis:

    Guy: “Were those new unis for both teams?”

    Lady: “I guess…”

    Guy: “Michigan look like new jerseys to me, and Michigan State, WOW. Fashion… police are out in force, lots to talk about.”

    If Arizona State wears their black helmets/pants tonight, the ASU-Oregon game will get my vote.

    Is this “The Season of Uniforms” in college football. Oregon and NPC aren’t anything new but Michigan has changed unis, Norte Dame has changed unis, Maryland’s FlagTastic unis gained world wide attention to a terrible program, etc…

    Thoughts?

    We’re gonna have to live with it.

    As long as the athletes continue to react like parochial school kids being told they can wear their Spongebob t-shirts to school for one day, anyway.

    Pead on univeristy of cinci is wearing full pink socks. it looks horrible with their black and red jerseys

    Why don’t you guys have a gathering in DC? I’ve been reading Uni watch for almost 4 years now and I haven’t been able to go to brooklyn. Id help plan as well.

    C’mon man….

    If you have been here for 4 years, you should know these factoids:

    1. Brooklyn is the center of the whole universe.
    2. Green Bay and Wisconsin have the best of everything else.
    3. Ricko is ALWAYS right. Even when he is wrong.
    4. The Seahawks and the Twins uniforms are the only ones worthy of discussion.
    5. We hate corporate douchbaggery.
    6. We hate low socks.
    7. We hate bicycle pants on football players.
    8. We hate football gloves that make a picture.
    9. We hate no sleeves on football jerseys.
    10. We hate pajama pants.
    11. We love stirrups.
    12. We love the systematic dismemberment of farm animals for cooking and consumption.
    13. We love report cards of dead people.
    14. We resist the naming of any new stadium as they must remain the name of former buildings.
    15. We are always right.
    16. If we are wrong, refer to #15.

    -“Hating all things Minnesota Wild since 2000!”-

    It’s someone’s blog, not Sports Illustrated.

    You expect there won’t be a point of view?

    Actually, I can get behind this list in its entirety. Better than any political party platform I’ve ever read!

    Is there anything on the list you disagree with?

    Sure, that is the whole point of having a blog, giving YOUR opinions.

    True?

    Whoever said we hate the picture gloves? That’s usually the best, if not the only good, part of those uniforms.

    True, but that leads me to one that I left out…

    17. We hate all the “look at me!” antics and the way athletes behave these days.

    watching a local tv show on the vikings and they were interviewing the equiptment manager and he said Adrian Peterson goes through a jersey each game.

    He said most players re-use theirs, but AP’s gets so dirty they need to replace them.

    Play by Play guy for the Bunyan Trophy game just said that the Michigan unis today were from the mid 70s. Um… That’s really wrong, right?

    I think he meant to say first time they’ve worn white on white since the mid 70s.

    Ricko, what say you?

    Yeah, he sort of said that’s what he meant…even if it isn’t what he said. The white pants on the road are a 70’s thing.

    The announcers are clueless. Chris Fowler was clueless. I hate when they call the unis throwbacks.

    Interestly enough, “Last Stand of the 300” is on The History Channel right now.

    If anyone wants to compare Spartans and Spartans.

    This Michigan/MSU game better be the &1 in tomorrow’s recap. As soon as I turned on my tv I had to turn away. Both team’s costumes are ghastly.

    So not to get too involved in the minutiae of the sparty getup, but Nike said they put a “shield” thing on right of the base shirt… Shield goes on the left side (because people tend to be right handed and need that for the spear-y bit). And they say there’s no market for a Greek history degree these days

    Love that Michigan broke out better uniforms (that are actually based on historical UM uniforms) on the day that Michigan State decided to pretend they’re Baylor.

    Also, it might be an added expense, but if MSU is going to abandon their traditional school colors for this game, the stadium grounds crew should be in on the act. Put a “bronze” spartan helmet at midfield, or “bronze” and black end zones. I bet Nike would foot the bill if you put a swoosh on the 35 yard line…

    Miss. St. new matte helmets look bad with home maroon jerseys.. looked much better over white away unis.

    I’m stunned that no one seems to have mentioned the fact that, out in the real world, MSU’s helmets have AIRBRUSHED brownish contouring on the bronze base, and it looks ridiculous. I find that much more design-offensive than the fact that they aren’t green or white.

    I’m of the exact opposite opinion. I think it made the helmets look better.

    The rest of their unis were complete shit, though.

    I saw that the first time I looked at the helmets today. I actually liked that detail. If only the rest of the uni looked as good as the helmet. If only…

    From just the released pictures of the helmet I could not tell it had that effect. I though it was just all “bronze”

    The matching stripes on the shoulder and helmets really make the UM uni something special. Wish they’d kept the stripes going on the yellow sleeves, but a uni-geek can’t have everything. Points for the block M dwarfing the Adi logo on the chest also.

    Too bad they’re not playing better.

    Since they have no set tradition with their road uniform the way the do with the home, I’d go as far as to say that Michigan should make that their full-time road uni… with the Maize pants, of course.

    I think the maize pants would add some color on the lower part of the look with such bold shoulders. Not that they’ll wear them again after the loss, of course…

    STUPIDEST sack in Michigan history. Seriously, what the fuck was that shit, running all over the fucking place?

    And that was coming off throwing past the line of scrimmage… somebody needs to pull Devin Gardner’s head out of his ass!

    And after that humbling defeat, that’s the last we’ll be seeing of Michigan’s alternate, quasi-throwback road unis. (If they hadn’t tried to be tricky on fourth and inches in the red zone… who knows?)

    True, although that was really the last point when Michigan still had a chance. If State hadn’t been such thugs and penalized so many times for roughness many of their drives would have stalled, and the game wouldn’t have even been as close as it was.

    But getting back to the wardrobe, when you wear undersleeves with “Victors Valiant” on them, and you are, in fact, not victorious, it seems like it was tempting fate a bit too much.

    “…when you wear undersleeves with “Victors Valiant” on them, and you are, in fact, not victorious, it seems like it was tempting fate a bit too much.”

    You know what they say: “He who speaks does not know. He who knows does not speak.”

    I mentioned this on the Chris Creamer board, but there was a South Carolina player on the sideline with a headset on with about 1:50 left in the 4th without an Under Armour logo onhis jersey. Sorry, no pic.

    “Still, I give it a solid B+ (based purely on the uniform as a uniform”

    Dude, if you thought MSU looked good today, then you must think black socks go with brown dress shoes.

    I love today’s Seahawks tweak. Too bad it wasn’t in time for the contest.

    OK, back to the bunker link

    This is a little late in coming; “Molon Labe” is all well and good as a motto, but a LOT of college kids are going to hear “labe” and immediately think of female anatomy. It’s just where the minds of most 20-year old guys go. Hell, I’m 32* and I thought of it. Maybe come up with a better slogan, MSU.

    *Why yes, I am a bit immature. Why do you ask?

    Nope, been 27 since the end of July. Someone else must have said 26. There’s at least one other Joe on here.

    “jdreyfuss | October 14, 2011 at 10:42 am | Reply

    I’m 27. I find anything that baggy that hits below the crease of the knee to annoying. Don’t those shorts chafe while you’re running?”

    Washington State at home in all gray (a somewhat dark shade). Matte gray helmets with facemasks keyed to the helmets (not your ordinary gray facemasks). I really like the helmets, but think a crimson jersey would be ideal.

    I like those helmets a lot too. Yes I crimson jersey would be a better look.

    The Cougar combos to me are better than Oklahoma State. I do not like Oklahoma State using gray. The Cowboys looked good today though.

    I have to declare the all-gray look pretty awful. Even with a crimson jersey I’m not convinced the helmet and pants would be that much better.

    Chris Rainey from UF with a uni malfunction at Auburn; he’s almost lost the “1” off the back of the jersey.

    No screen grab though.

    Moono, would it be better to say “glossy” rather than “shiny?” The latter might imply a metallic paint job or that metallic sparkle that you see in the Giants’ or Jaguars’ helmets.

    Great looking Oregon v ASU matchup. I like when Oregon incorporates grey, and the ASU look is a pretty clean dark helmet / white shirt / dark pant look. Overall an attractive game

    it is a great looking game

    of course, movi will simply ignore it, even though it is a definite top 5 looks wise

    It was tough to be a Spartans fan today with that get-up. The only saving grace may have been the bronze helmet. The airbrushing (?) on the contours made it look like burnished bronze. Failure points however for the unreadable and redundant Spartans on back, the useless black pants and the stupid sweatbox. The bronze numbers were unreadable from a distance, perhaps they should have been trimmed in white. Oh wait, that’s a school color! I actually thought Michigan looked great, with the stripy shoulders and all.

    I don’t know the significance but there was no Big 12 logo on Faurot Field for the Iowa St./Missouri game. They did have a logo honoring Missouri’s 100th homecoming though.

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