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Hail! To the Conqu’ring Spartans

Victors Valiant

By Phil Hecken

Michigan State University, all clad in their amateur pacifist costumes, may have won the battle for Paul Bunyan’s Trophy in East Lansing yesterday, but it was their opponents, the Michigan Wolverines, who won the uniform war.

After warming up in their *normal* road attire, the Wolverines surprised everyone by breaking out a fauxback jersey (modeled after their “legacy” top) and, for the first time since 1975, white pants, right before kickoff. It was a stunning move (and a well-kept secret), and it made for one of the more visually appealing games of the season.

In a move that was surely embargoed, Paul forwarded me the following E-mail he received, right about kickoff (check the date stamp):

Date: October 15, 2011 12:01:52 PM EDT
Subject: BREAKING NEWS: Michigan Wears Retro Uniforms vs. Michigan State

Good Morning –

To celebrate Michigan’s rivalry game today vs. Michigan State, adidas surprised the Wolverines with retro-style football uniforms.

Similar to their “Under the Lights” jerseys worn against Notre Dame on Sept. 10, Michigan’s vintage-inspired uniforms today highlight a fusion of design elements from throughout Wolverine football’s 132 years.

Today’s jersey features a large number on the chest, a block M above the heart and repeating striped sleeves. The Wolverines’ adidas TECHFIT compression has “Victors” on the right bicep and “Valiant” on the left.

Also, since the “Under the Lights” game last month, player numbers appear on Michigan’s famous winged helmet for the first time since the late 1960s.

Check out the attached photos of Michigan’s retro-style adidas football jerseys. Thanks for considering!

Michael Ehrlich
adidas Public Relations

I’m generally not a big fan of adidas’ football gear, particularly their *top-of-the-line* jerseys and pants we refer to as “super-stretchies,” but I have to say, this instantly became one of my favorites, and one I hope they don’t retire to the dustbin of history, especially after a tough (28-14) loss to Sparty. Some video of the game is here.

“Our players really enjoyed the uniforms from the night game with Notre Dame so we decided to surprise them and the country with a new-look design for the Michigan State game,” said Michigan head coach Brady Hoke. “This is such a great in-state rivalry that we decided to honor the former players that played in this game.”

According to the MgoBlue.com blog, “The legacy jersey is a compilation of design elements from different eras of Michigan football.” It also marked the first time since 1975 the Wolverines wore white pants. They wore white pants with a blue-maize-blue stripe (which repeated on the jersey sleeve) in 1974-75, for their road games. So the plain white pants they wore yesterday were at best a “nod” to the past. As far as the tiled jersey stripes, are they harking back to 1891? Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love that look, but I can’t place the era — did Michigan ever (aside from this year’s legacy game against Notre Dame) have a jersey pattern with tiled stripes before?

And I learned something new yesterday — the actual words to Michigan’s fight song. That’s where they got the words for the comp-sleeves: “VICTORS” (right bicep) and “VALIANT” (left bicep).

Yesterday, having only seen Nike’s fashion show shots, I gave the Spartan uniforms a “solid B+.” Having seen them in action, under the sun, I need to downgrade them to a “B.” The green and black kind of muddied each other, and as I had suspected, the “SPARTANS” NOB was virtually invisible. Still, the green and “bronze” were a great combination. Interestingly Sparty had some kind of darker bronze “airbrushing” on their helmets, giving them an even more 3-D appearance (and most likely trying to mimic an actual Spartan helmet contour). They also lost a half grade due to the numbers only being truly visible when reflected by sunlight.

Counterbalancing my reduced grade of “B” for the Spartans is an “A+” (with a bullet) for the Wolverines getup. If this was a one-shot (and I hope it isn’t), it’d still be an A+, but I would love for them to make it a part of their regular rotation. My only qualm is not with the uni itself, but just where exactly do they get the elements from (it’s supposedly celebrating the 132 year history of the football program). To my mind, it’s not really a fauxback or even a mashup — but that’s just semantics. Whatever you want to call it, it’s fantastic. Well done, Michigan (and adidas), well done. Next weekend LSU breaks out their amateur pacifist unis — against Auburn. Think UA will whip up something special for that one?

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ncaa football

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 this week of the college football season. Here’s Terry:

~~~

First off, I want to apologize for the shorter-than-normal rundown, as there wasn’t a lot of uni-notable action Yesterday (watch, next week will be a two page summary just so that the NCAA can spite me).

• Miss. State wore the matte helmets from the Georgia game against South Carolina.

• Normally, I would be giving the College Cowboys crap for not wearing as much orange as they should be this year, but I’ll make an exception here.

• The Sam Houston State University Bearkats wore camo jerseys that they’ve dubbed “BearkatCamo”. The jerseys were worn to be auctioned off with proceeds going to the Lone Survivor Foundation. The jersey’s manufactured by Wilson were paired up with the Bearkats standard white pants (with orange “stripe”) by Nike. Helmets were unchanged (solid orange with white facemask and school logo decals). Additional info here. Credit Victor Quintana, Jr. for the heads up. Photo Gallery is here (thanks to Chris Mycoskie).

• Florida wore orange pants against Auburn. When was the last time they wore orange pants?

• Last week, I mentioned that Portland State wore white helmets, but if you look at these pictures (namely, this one), you’ll notice that only the Quarterback (#6) had a green helmet stripe, while everyone else didn’t. Anybody know why? Thanks to Rickey A. Layman II for bringing that to my attention.

• Washington State went mono-grey against Stanford. So we’ve seen the Vader Effect, the Stormtrooper Effect, and now the Death Star Effect. At least WASU can say that they’re actually going mono-grey, instead of these other schools wearing silver and calling it grey.

• Remember last week when I said that the pink IU helmet logo for the Hoosiers was to be an all-October thing? I spoke too soon.

• The Tempe cocktail of the week consisted of maroon helmets, white jerseys, and maroon pants.

~~~

Thanks Terry!

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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 Richard Paine, another Seahawk concepter who missed the deadline:

Phil,

Big Fan. I saw that the Seahawk redesign competition is already up, but I took a few minutes and threw together a few ideas.

1. Remove the neon green and replace with smoke mist grey.
2. Clean up the look with non-monotone home and away jerseys and pants.
3. Smoke mist grey helmets.

Anyway, just a thought.

Here is another late addition. This time I took some Oregon U colors and adopted them to the Seahawks.

Take Care,
RJP

~~~

In the two-hole is Andrew Riehle, who was also late for the contest. In the words of the immortal Kenny Mayne, “Those who are late do not get soup.”

Phil

I know I am late for the Seattle redesign contest, but here are some new Seahawks uniforms. I just switched colors of the new uni to the old design and the old colors to the new design.

Andrew Riehle

~~~

And we end the weekend with another NFL concept, from Marc Gilbert this one for your Tampa Bay Buccaneers:

Hey Phil,

Here’s my concept for an update to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Although unique, I was never a fan of the Pewter, so I ditched it–keeping the current logo and going with a deep orange and burgundy scheme.

— Marc Gilbert

~~~

That’s all folks. Check back next weekend for more.

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Benchies Header

Benchies

by Rick Pearson

~~~

Oh, like with the truth he had a shot…

10-16-11 s-Band ALT

And…as always — the full size.

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2010-playoffs-alex rocklein

Tracking The 2011 MLB Playoffs

Alex Rocklein is back…so let’s put ’em in the books!

Only one game was played last evening, and it was a big Game Six between the red-capped Rangers (IMHO their best look) and the Detroit Tigers. Unfortunately, for Detroit, it wasn’t much of a game, as the Rangers just exploded offensively, putting up a 9-spot early on, enabling them to coast to victory and return to the World Series for the second straight year. The Rangers rode their lucky red caps over white tops to three straight home victories (and four straight if you count the Rays series). Look for that in the Series as well.

Alex has now updated his 2011 MLB Playoff Tracker to reflect all the games so far. Tonight, the Wild Card Cardinals look to advance to the Series, but they have to win at least one game in Milwaukee. Fasten your seatbelts everyone. Baseball’s not done yet.

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vilk 5 & 1

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…again. And you know the Ducks, despite looking outstanding (albeit not in school colors — big shock), won’t even sniff the “5”. Here’s Movi:

~~~

Terp Tracker — Really…just wear the yellow pants every week.

Honorable Mentions to Michigan/Michigan State — How about making these the permanent road unis?

And Oklahoma/NebraskaIndiana/Wisconsin — Why don’t you guys run the wishbone while you’re at it?

5. Navy/Rutgers — That’s right, SCARLET Knights…wear that scarlet proudly.

4. BYU/Oregon State — OSU’s pants are borderline, but everything else in this game looks great.

3. Florida/Auburn — Florida’s awesome pants canceled out Auburn’s blech pants.

2. Alabama/Ole Miss — Even without the red jerseys, this looks fantastic.

1. Western Kentucky/Florida Atlantic — Would have been a great week for WKU to break out the red pants, but still…WOW.

And the bad one: Utah State/Fresno State — Lucky for Phil that Arizona State looked so good, or his Ducks would be here.

~~~

You’re nuts Vilk. Oregon & ASU was an outstandingly good looking game…worthy of a spot in the top 5, not the 1. Good thing it wasn’t there or this might have been your last 5 & 1.

~~~~~~~~~~

And that will do it for today. You may have noticed the absence of the Duck Tracker the past two weekends. Unfortunately Jake has been unable to create the graphics for it, but we hope to be all up-to-date for next weekend. Thanks for your patience.

Today in the league where they play for pay — the Packers will be wearing their 1929-era throwbacks. I did a pretty intricate look at those last March, before they wore them in actual game play — you can check it out here if you’re so inclined. My only complaint, after last year’s game, was the helmet — I wish they had done something like this, or, failing that, gone with a mashup featuring gold helmets and pants. Still, should be nice to see again. Further info here.

Also throwing back will be the Atlanta Falcons, who will be wearing a uniform they should really revert to full-time. More on that can be found here.

Everyone have a super Sunday, and I’ll catch ya next weekend.

~~~

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

 
  
 
Comments (143)

    Couple of things:

    1) “The jersey’s manufactured by…”

    Oy. Totally missed that when I was copying and pasting that part of the text from the email.

    2) I also dropped the ball on this: link went mono-white at home Yesterday against Boise State; leaving the Broncos to wear their link on Namekian turf.

    3) In link of Denard Robinson, it not only looks like he’s wearing a normal mesh jersey (warped shoulder yoke notwithstanding), but with the helmet on, he looks like Michigan Alum Desmond Howard.

    4) link (shadowed or not) to me is like Bellotti Bold to Movi.

    Hey Phil,

    That 3D “airbrushing” is actually the real 3D contours of the Revolution Speed helmet (second in this list: link). You’ll notice that in your “when reflected by sunlight” photo, the guy on the far right doesn’t have that 3D look, because he’s wearing the original Revolution.

    Michigan’s jerseys were cool. Michigan’s white pants were not.

    …and the Packers should just wear a green version of the throwback jersey with their normal pants and helmets. No one likes the Packers in blue, and the brown helmet/khaki pants just look stupid. Call it a “retro” jersey and look 1000 times better.

    Michigan alum. not a big fan of the tiled stripes. it doesn’t help that my 5-yr old daughter asked if michigan’s mascot is zebras.

    Did Michigan wear different helmets for warm ups or did their change include slapping nmber stickers on them. Or perhaps they wore the helmets wih the numbers and their normal duds during warm ups? The quick costume change is pretty intersting.

    How long until a team decides to try it out at halftime of a game they need a turnaround in.

    Anyone know if a team is allowed to change its uniform after the game begins? I don’t know if there’s a rule about it, but it seems like that shouldn’t be allowed.

    well…i know it has been done (in the pros anyway) at least once…detroit & minnesota both came out in white, vikings had to switch to purple tops

    Ah, the era where the Vikings cheerleaders were actual cheerleaders…

    I think that, until they moved to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Mall of America Field Your Ad Here Stadium That We Want To Leave, they used cheerleaders from St. Louis Park High School? Paging Ricko for verification?

    Not going anywhere near that one, Phil…I don’t want to end up in the “Benchies” as the evil city planner looking to demolish Bub’s Pub. :)

    I recall stories of rainy, muddy games and teams starting the second half in clean uniforms, but I can’t really give you any specific examples… and that’d still be the same uniform, just a dry version of it, not a completely different one.

    If there isn’t a rule against switching, there definitely should be.

    Notre Dame has come out for the second half before in green jerseys, after wearing blue in the first half, no?

    Teams have been doing that. Such as Maryland. Decades ago some teams changed uniforms or jerseys at half time.Paul had shown some color screen grabs I sent of Notre Dame wearing 2 different jerseys around 1939.

    Pretty sure the Steelers wore two different color jerseys due to very muddy conditions for a game in Forbes Field, 11/29/42 vs the Brooklyn Dodgers. Black in the first half, Yellow in the second half. As the Dodgers wore red, there was no color clash issues.

    Them again, brown was likely the dominant color for both teams by game’s end.

    That’s above the heart… and a bit to the side. What’s the problem? They didn’t say on the heart, did they?

    It’s the ‘proverbial’ heart. When you hear the national anthem, you right hand goes to your upper left chest, not slightly left of your sternum.

    What are those things in the lower portion of Matt Ryan’s pants?? Don’t know that I’ve seen those… oh, wait… those must be the fabled “KNEE PADS”.. er, I believe that’s what they were called back when they were a MANDATORY part of the uniform (see John Abraham’s ‘shorts’ for current look).

    I am a life-long, die-hard Michigan fan. Those uniforms were atrocities. Michigan wears maize pants – period. Both teams’ uniforms looked so horrific, I couldn’t bear to watch the game and listened on the radio instead.

    For all their talk of respecting Michigan tradition, Brady Hoke and Dave Brandon have some explaining to do after not only these complete eyesores, but also the night game unis and the inexplicable re-appearance of helmet numbers a few weeks ago. Makes me sick.

    Michigan alum here, and I couldn’t disagree more. The helmet numbers are great. Our normal road unis are so boring, it was cool to see something different. So long as they don’t mess with the iconic home unis, I’m fine with it. And the helmet numbers don’t constitute messing with those home unis.

    The only problem I had with the new unis was the stupid “Victors Valiant” undersleeves. Cheesy and DIII-esque, if you ask me. Reminded me of the infamous halo: link

    As a Buckeye fan I do find some of this amusing. On message boards the past 2 years, Michigan fans have mocked Ohio State for wearing pro combats vs them.

    Now with Hoke, Michigan is tinkering quite a bit with it’s uniforms. Legacy unis vs ND. Numbers on helmets some games then adding them again. Then the white legacy vs MSU. Both rivals of Michigan and Michigan wears different uniforms.

    Makes me wonder what else Hoke and Michigan will wear the rest of the year?

    Not saying any of this bothers me. But most all Michigan fans bashed Ohio State for doing it vs them. There were a lot of Buckeye fans who did not like wearing pro combats vs Michigan either. Doing that did not bother me. Well last years since those were darn near accurate from the 1942 season. I did not like 2009 Buckeyes combat much at all.

    Now in 2 weeks Ohio State will wear its combat unis vs Wisconsin. They are only a tad similar to the actual 1961 unis. But I have to say from the pictures released which are few, I kind of like this years as far as nice looking.

    I didn’t care what OSU did against Michigan uni-wise with their Pro Combats. Still don’t.

    Just me: I think tOSU’s 2010 Pro Combats were their best. 2009 can suck me (socks notwithstanding), and 2011 has a cool helmet and jersey, but the pants suck.

    “Good thing it wasn’t there or this might have been your last 5 & 1.”

    Is it too late to change my pick?

    Next week’s list is 98% done. Just needs pictures and some commentary.

    Victors Valiant, Champions of the West… I’d argue that Michigan has the greatest fight sonh ever. Who are the contenders? Notre Dame, for sure. I’m enough of a Northeast fossil to really dig some of the amcient Ivy songs, especially Harvard and Yale… But I’m sure there must be some cool Big Ten and Old South ditties (Georgia Tech?) that can play even with UMich…

    Michigan doesn’t even have the best fight song in its conference. Not many schools can claim their link has gone on to be adopted as the <a href="link song.

    Notre Dame switched jerseys at halftime if the 1985 game against USC, going from navy to green. As ND was up big at that point, it was a rather tacky move. Then-head coach Gerry Faust’s rationale was apparently having gone to the trouble of ordering them…(should have worn them at the start, Coach. Better still, not at all).

    Also, Knute Rockne is reported to have sent in his starters wearing green against Navy as a mass-substitution, back in the days when there was no free substitution and — more relevantly for this site — every college game was a color-on-color matchup.

    Between AFA and Wazzu, I’m mostly disabused of my prior advocacy for more grey in football.

    Okie State’s looked great all year sartorially and otherwise.

    Wolverines never looked better and Spartans never looked worse. One team having both Black and Bronze added to its palette is too much.

    Sam Houston State’s “bearkat camo” looks almost as bad as the current Atlanta Falcons get-up. Almost. Falcons should definitely go back to the future.

    Best Benchies evar!

    Two things re: Sam Houston.

    1. Pretty sure I saw the pattern on those jerseys on one of Betty White’s housecoats on “The Golden Girls”.

    2. Too bad it isn’t Sam Houston Institute of Technology, isn’t it. Imagine their helmets.

    I loved the SHSU unis. As a proud alumnus of Sam Houston State, Im glad Coach Fritz changed things up. Now we to break out the black shirts soon!!!!!

    If the Atlanta Falcons went back their throwbacks as their standard uniform (gold helmet stripes required!), I’d buy the NFL Sunday Ticket and watch them every week.

    The gold helmet stripes are stupid. Their whole reason for existing was “to appeal to Georgia Tech fans” and it was such a lame gesture that I can’t believe it actually had any real effect at all.

    If they were going to revert to those things permanently (and be yet another lame retro trend following team), I hope to Odin they’d sub in the 1970’s helmets without the gold stripes.

    though it was a pathetic attempt to get us Tech fans the look is not complete without it. They’re the main reason why I like the alternates (if they are going to throw back without the gold stripes I’d prefer they wear the red jerseys and silver pants).

    Also keep in mind they played on Grant Field (now known as Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field or BDS@HGF), home to the Jackets and were owned by uga alums, they had to do something to appeal to the bigger market (at the time) if they were going to play on Tech’s field.

    Here’s a vote for gold stripes on Falcons and white pants on Michigan. Heavy niftiness factor.

    My favorite part about the Michigan switcheroo is that not even 10 minutes prior, a Michigan fan I was watching the game with made the following remark:

    “Michigan saves their alternate uniforms for real rivalries like Ohio State and Notre Dame.”

    Oops. Maybe they do care about the MSU rivalry.

    That type of logic makes no sense. Why do Michigan fans say MSU-UM not a “real” rivalry? Mike Hart threw gasoline on the fire a few years ago with his little brother comment. An MSU player (forgot his name) got a tattoo of a Spartan standing on top of a defeated wolverine. If the players are getting behind the rivalry, why not the fans…?

    … when has Michigan ever worn an alternate against Ohio State?

    In fact, prior to this season, when did the Michigan football team ever wear an alternate?

    It follows with the arrogance of the Michigan fan base. Many have long held that Ohio State and Notre Dame are the true rivalry schools and MSU is a distant third

    “We wear alternate uniforms because we are playing Notre Dame under the lights. This is a historic event and everyone cares!”

    Then…

    “Silly little Spartans. You are breaking out Pro Combat uniforms to play us. How cute”

    Made me chuckle when they came out in their bumblebee costumes.

    Before: link

    After: link

    When will this matte helmet garbage end? Mississippi State already looks like idiots with piping all over the place, then they add a matte helmet that doesn’t match the maroon jerseys, and then I get this text message during the game “Love the Matte! You guys going with Rhino Liner helmets next week?” Seriously, it is bad enough to be the worst dressed SEC team, but to add in that stupid helmet…

    Many helmets changed to the metallic look over the years. Now as you say this matte look is spreading. To me it looks good in black but that is about it. Mississippi State’s do not look good. They almost look brown.

    I’m a recent Michigan alum, and I think the uniforms are ghastly, as were the uniforms worn for the ND game. Those stupid stripes on the shoulders are based on what the team captain–and ONLY the team captain–wore in the 1890s. The block M on the upper right (players’ left) looked stupid there and the white pants…no one looks good in white pants. Alternate jerseys serve two purposes: recruiting 17-year-olds who know nothing about tradition and are attracted to shiny objects, and squeezing more money out of the fans through jersey sales. It’s a crying shame that the Athletic Department is willing to throw one of the most traditional uniforms in the country away simply to make a few bucks, and twice in one season. Before this year, Michigan’s home uniforms were very similar to what they wore in 1938. The only changes were the helmet numbers they wore from 1959 to 1968 (and back again this year), adding TV numbers to the sleeves, and putting the names on the back of the jersey. The road whites have been changed over the years and were supposed to be improved this year with the removal of the 2008-10 Adidas lower back.side horns/panels. But Michigan threw all that tradition and integrity away in pursuit of the Almighty Dollar (and 5-star recruit). But I don’t blame Adidas–the school can always say no, and they did not. Shameful. Absolutely shameful.

    And yes, the better team won yesterday. I will not argue that. At least we have basketball (boy, is that ironic to say!).

    MM10. Good post about some history of Michigan uniforms. I have studied Ohio State’s uniform history. But I also try and learn about other teams. As for the 1890’s stripes I wondered if they even wore that in any game. Good to learn it was the captain only that wore it.

    I know that Michigan uniforms have not changed a lot of the years. As far as I know they never wore those friction strips that many or most teams wore in the 1920’s. They had those ovals or kidney patches as Paul calls them. In the early 30’s they had numbers on the front and that was it.

    They never had sleeve stripes or shoulder stripes. Just basic jersey with numbers on front and back for most of their history.

    So Michigan does not have a lot of unique old uniforms to base a legacy on.

    Did anybody mention the Michigan numbers on the front and the M? I mean the dark jerseys had a HUGE M and small numbers. Yesterday the had the numbers where they normally were and a small M.

    Could this be because they had to get NCAA permission for the dark jerseys to have the numbers as small as they were?

    Did anybody understand my question about the differences?

    Was thinking about that, too.

    Special dispensation for a declared promotion such as the Notre Dame game or for MSU’s duds (pun intended) yesterday…but the only way to make yesterday’s jerseys a suprise was to wear something that didn’t require prior approval?

    “Under the radar” and all that.

    It actually makes sense if you look at the two uniforms as a set. The home uniform (where the fans in the stands are more likely to know the players) don’t need the big front numbers. Makes more sense for the road.

    Kinda like how some MLB teams have uni numbers on the front of their road uniform but not their home uniform

    Haven’t noticed any in Bills/Ginats, either.
    Doesn’t mean there aren’t, just none so far.

    giants/bills: couple players have pink accented cleats (and the endzones/goalposts still have pink)…

    but for the most part…nada

    pretty sure eli’s captaincy patch is pink-free as well

    Wondered abut the cleats. The fushia that the NFL wears for pink can look close to red in a long shot…which of course would match either team’s colors.

    Y’know, if the Bills took the top jersey stripe and moved it to under the other stripe they’d look more like the old Bills and less like the Colts.

    I don’t understand why the designers didn’t that.

    Unless they thought the bottom stripe would get “wrinkly” if it were too close to sleeve end.

    No pink in the 49ers-Lions game either.

    Only logical conclusion is that the NFL now supports Breast Cancer

    yes there was. Someone on the 9ers had pink around his shoes so his legs went, red sock part, white sock part, pink thing on ankle.

    I noticed it on the long Gore run.

    ahh. I am watching a crappy stream online. Hard to differentiate between the 49er red and pink

    Bills-Giants.
    Wow.
    Both the unis worn by Pete Gogolak.
    Sorta.
    link
    link

    The signifcance, of course, being that he was the first soccer style kicker, and also (I think) was the first player of significance to jump from AFL to NFL (which was contrary to the common direction of such things).

    I agree with Jim some on the 5 & 1. When I saw some of the Alabama vs Ole Miss game I guessed it would make the list. Even without the red jerseys that Ole Miss looks good in. Was not aware of Western Kentucky game yesterday. But that is a sharp looking uni. How nice to see classic pants stripes or classic stripes in general.

    I don’t have a screen shot but Florida’s Chris Rainey almost got his back number completely ripped off last night. I think he ended up getting a new jersey, but they may have just patched the number back on. Anyone have more details?

    Saw that as well. Had to rewind the DVR just to make sure. No sure if he was gesturing to the crowd, or what? It was the Packer sideline that was in that direction.

    More evidence that if it weren’t for pro sports a lot of these millionaires would be working on a loading dock.

    I know I’m in the minority when i say this, but I really like the Packers throwbacks, brown helmet and all. I don’t know why.

    Same, and – as a Bears fan – I hate the pack (and all of Wisconsin)

    I really love the jerseys, so much, they could wear pink helmets and teal pants and I’d still love the set.

    Same, and – as a Packers fan – I hate the Bears (and all of Illinois)

    Just wish the helmets were a matte finish. I am not much of a “jersey guy”, just don’t like how they feel, but I am typing this in my Rodgers throwback. When the Pack announced these throwbacks last year, I had to get one.

    1. Loved Oregon’s link.

    2. Loved Oklahoma State’s link. No surprise there, it’s impossible for their set to fail.

    3. Loved link.

    4. Loved link.

    5. LOVE the weekly NCAA Rundown. I think I’ve decided that college football uniforms are my favorite thing in the world. Keep up the good work!

    Almost two months into the college football season and I’m never going understand the inane uniform nonsense sweeping across the country. Yesterday’s “red auto primer” helmets worn by Miss State and Maryland’s equally silly “black auto primer” fashion show pushed me over the edge.

    Aside from the moronic uniform design attempts, I would like to know who is actually paying for this garbage on the field. Extra sets of uniforms, helmets, shoes and so on are not for free. If the schools are paying, then I question if this is a good use of funds given the challenges most schools face these days with athletic budgets.

    Similarly if the manufactures are supplying, then as a corporate shareholder I’d have to question how these expenditures are increasing market share, revenues, or whatever. Does anyone believe that dressing up Maryland players as crash test dummies or Michigan players as circus clowns will actually causing anyone to want these folk’s products? I think not.

    So again, who is paying for all this nonsense and what is the real value?

    Division 1 athletic departments almost always turn a handsome return for schools, especially in The B1G because of BTN profit sharing.

    MOST D1 universities make millions and millions of dollars selling student athletes’ images and in return, they SAs get almost nothing. giving them an extra helmet or jersey isn’t going to break the bank even if they pay for every last cent of a new uni (which I doubt they do, \\\, UA and swoosh probably foot some or most of the bill…) and the students get a uni that they genuinely get excited for.

    Looking at this from a financial situation probably isn’t the best for trying to attack this trend. Obviously you hate it, which is fine, but the financials aren’t the problem. To you, team tradition, history, being able to know what team is yours, etc. seems to be the problem you have with it.

    But just know, this too shall pass.

    Look again Tim.

    Only a handful D1 athletic departments actually turn a profit annually.

    Ok, well to correct/clarify myself, most major football programs turn a massive profit, allowing other sports like swimming, baseball, rugby, wrestling, whatever… to exist while being in the red.

    You ever seen anyone wearing an official wrestling unitard around town? I haven’t but I have seen a whole lotta college football unis.

    From the perspective of the suppliers, new unis can be a type of publicity you couldn’t otherwise pay for.

    For example, UA made those one-off unis for Maryland and have been the talk of the town for a few months now. Every time someone googles an image of those unis, you know whats in 90% of those photos? A UA logo.

    Like it or not, it’s brilliant marketing by these companies (note, I’m not saying it’s good or bad for teams – I’m not making either point here). These days, I see people walking around in one-off unis and new logoed apparel all the time and I hear very often, how people wish they were a nike school or an adidas school. For good or bad, these companies have linked themselves with college programs and have gained a tremendous amount of eyes and ears of the viewing public at a very low cost.

    i agree with pretty much everything time said, so i won’t repeat it

    but to reiterate the major point (which many of us here detest) — the unis are now recruiting tools — and you can’t buy that type of publicity (or recruits) for all the tea in china

    it’s sad that one of the major reasons some recruits give for choosing a particular school is “i love the unis” or “it’s a nike school” or similar reasoning

    the more garish (and shiny) uniforms a school can offer (not to mention all the 5-star athletic facilities, which are often not available to *regular* students) are often all the edge a school needs to attract a blue-chip recruit…it’s not enough to “wear what the greats before you wore” anymore

    and god forbid such things as academics, campus atmosphere, social life, etc. were enough to recruit a kid…now the schools need shiny objects too

    if you don’t believe me, look at one of the two teams who went to the BCS title game last year…you can’t tell me they attracted all that talent based on their history and long tradition of winning

    There is a certain element of “bread & circuses” in in, though, especially in a struggling economy with widespread unemployment.

    That fact that schools don’t seem to notice, or care, that there is an impression of excess being created is a bit bothersome.

    I haven’t hear that sentiment anywhere but here today by you (and maybe sorta Gary).

    Now campaign on wall street while watching the protests? “Let them eat cake”/”fuck you poor people” feel.

    New uniforms for college football teams? To me, they have to wear something, and it’s not like they’re made of silk and gold… Just a distraction during an event that is just a distraction from real life. Just entertainment.

    Then you haven’t been reading all the comments over the past couple months or so, because it’s been mentioned that, even though the gear maybe doesn’t cost the schools much (if anything), everyone isn’t aware of that fact…so many see it as extravagance.

    Simple math. If a single helmet costs a minimum of $200 wholesale, an additional set for, say, 60 players is $12,000. If a team has a third set, that’s a total of $24,000 someone spent on helmets some would say the team doesn’t really need. To someone struggling to pay for books and tuition that can look like a pisspot full of money that could be better spent elsewhere.

    I’m not saying they’re correct. I’m saying people more often than not form opinions on what they see and infer…because they don’t know the backstory.

    They truly don’t understand it’s adverstising and marketing and that there actually IS a return on the investment.

    I guess you have to have been around long enough to know the difference, but is used to be that college football felt like, “The guys who chose to go to school at my college are better than the guys who chose your school.”

    Even it was B.S., it still felt like that because freshmen were ineligible and most pro leagues wouldn’t touch a player until “his class” had graduated.

    As each year passes, it moves ever closer to unashamedly becoming, “The guys my school’s athletic department hired are better than the guys your school hired.”

    I guess in some ways all the uni-indulgence sort of symbolizes the changes. If you know what I mean.

    (Seems especially true with all the one-year wonders in basketball, btw).

    Others may feel the way you do Ricko (or feel the point of view you’re discussing, I can’t tell if that’s your opinion…) but I’m just saying, I haven’t heard that before today. *I* have not heard it, which isn’t a lie, but I wouldn’t doubt others have said/thought that.

    But I will say that I still think it’s a pretty flimsy argument and an argument that I haven’t heard or seen a lot of. A minority of people may think that, but I think it’s pretty small.

    “There is a certain element of “bread & circuses” in in, though, especially in a struggling economy with widespread unemployment.”

    ~~~

    totally agreed, but this is really nothing new

    saw ‘melo while flipping through channels the other day…so far, he’s missed TWO stinkin’ weeks of the season, and he’s already lost more in salary than i make in a year

    tom cruise, who from what i understand is dumber than a doorknob, makes what, $30M per?

    the best teacher in the best school, or the guy who is working in a research lab and might just cure fucking breast cancer (wait…are we still searching for a cure? without the NFL to tell me, i guess it’s been cured) — those two (teacher and researcher) COMBINED won’t make in 10 years what a-rod or kevin garnett or leo decaprio earn in ONE year

    and yet, with all these fucking people protesting wall street’s extravagance (what?) we don’t hear shit from them about the sports and entertainment stars making ungodly sums of money

    and why not? because like the football programs, with their nike $$$ behind them, they GENERATE ungodly sums of money for others

    i hear ya rick…believe me, i HEAR ya…but until you hit it big with benchies or i win the lottery, we’ll be among the 99%

    maybe if we valued teachers and researchers more than actors and athletes, we’d be in a better place

    but until that time, we can see nikegon and the university of under armour trot out new $500 uniforms for each game, while dressing close to 100 kids

    Can’t find anything on why Portland State’s qb Connor Kavanaugh wears a green stripe on his helmet. When I first noticed, I thought it had something to do with captaincy, or a means to protect distinguish him from others in practice, but neither of the other captains have it, and he already wears a gold practice jersey anyway. They did wear the white helmets again yesterday, at Montana, with the road jerseys and white pants.
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    Semi-related, I have always really liked Montana’s uni’s, I don’t really understand the black stripe down the side they currently have, but overall it’s a good look.

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    They have stripes like that because they are direct knock off’s of TCU’s 09 Pro Combat Uniforms.
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    Really wish the Cowboys would wear the blues more often, I understand it’s their look that they’ve cultivated, but in my opinion they look a hell of a lot better.

    I might actually hate the Cowboys a little less if they actually matched their blues and silvers on their white unis.

    Okay, maybe not. But. at the very least, I’d think they’d look a little better.

    Not sure who else is a gear head on here, but today we lost a great driver, and a great personality, as Dan Wheldon lost his life by injuries sustained in a horrific 15 car accident in the IndyCar finale. The race was not completed.

    This may have already been noted but the Falcons are undefeated in their throwbacks since first introducing them in 2009.

    Some Bears players are wearing pink socks up to the bottom of the blue on the regular home socks. This has never been on the field like this for the Bears and I’m very disappointed to see this.

    This is absolutely horrid. Someone in Chicago please go to the stadium and stop this immediately.

    I always thought the staff prevented this, but maybe because of the play they’re letting the players switch it up, but not that with all the pink, the blue with the three stripes is still being shown by all the players.

    But Tim, how are they supposed to show that they care about plagued breasts if they don’t make a pink mockery of one of the best uniforms in the NFL, if not THE best?

    I’m surprised that no one’s wearing pink comp sleeves to match.

    On the other hand, some of the Bear players are NOT wearing the pink socks. This MUST mean that they love breast cancer.

    How sad is it that even with all the pink nonsense going on with the Bears’ players, they still look infinitely better better than the Vikings, who, as far as I can tell are wearing no pink accessories.

    P.S. This Hester kid is pretty good.

    actually…the vikings would be the one team on whom the pink isn’t a horribly clashing element…maybe they should consider dropping the gold and adding the pink

    Dave Diles must be spinning in his grave.
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    Even Slippery Rock has gone BFBS.
    What’s worse, they wore it against California (PA), who wears this mess:
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    From the “notes” section of this article:
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    “The Rock, after going through pregame warmups in their standard green jerseys with one trim and numerals, wore new black jerseys with green numbers outlined in white and with white trim in the game. Mihalik said the team will save the black jerseys for one special home game each season.”

    *sigh*

    Cedric Griffin went link this game, which seeing all of the pink on Da Bears, I guess it was overlooked by the refs.

    I hate this. Wear your proper socks, for Christ sake. This isn’t baseball. I don’t care if its for the boobs or for the hell of it; you have uniform standards, now follow them.

    – Florida wore orange pants against Auburn. When was the last time they wore orange pants?

    Various tweets and sites say that the Gators last wore white over orange pants against Alabama in 2005. The Gators lost that one on the road, and Urban Meyer decided it was the uniforms that needed change. I like this pairing as much as white over blue, but dislike the all-white road uniforms. Hopefully this loss won’t keep them in storage.

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    I was spending too much time concentrating on the bad play/burying my face in my hands to look hard, but it looked like the Browns/Raiders game was relatively pink free. The only pink I remember was Colt McCoy’s wristbands. Anyone else watch the aesthetics closer than I did?

    A lot of games in my opinion had it toned down pink wise. I know Eagles/Redskins had a good lack of pink, however, Da Bears/Vikings had more pink than I would have liked.

    It’s the Sunday night game. I guess the teams feel they have to be extra showy for prime time, especially when it’s the two teams in that division that are playing for their lives in Week 6.

    That one was supposed to be up here. It may be derived from an old Illinois logo from the ’40s:
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    I don’t know where Kyle is, but that reminded me of Illinois from the moment I saw it.

    EXACT same logo my HS, the Mariemont Warrors (Cincinnati east-side,) used to use. I painted that one on the Football lockerroom. In fact, I spent more than one HS summer painting graphics all over the AD walls.

    Oddly, Cardinals manager Tony LaRussa was given a red STL hat with an NL champs logo to wear with his uni during the post-game interview. Usually only see that look during spring training.

    Wouldn’t going to a matte finish brown helmet mimic leather more closely for the packers’ throwback, maybe go with a brown face mask?

    Michigan alum, and strongly disliked the Michigan uniforms this week. White pants should not be worn by Michigan (even if it has happened in the past), and the stripes were too much.

    Michigan has the best home uniforms in all of college football, and when Adidas is not adding ridiculous swoops and piping to them, the whites can be just as classic and attractive. Now that Rod is gone, there is no reason for us to fail to uphold our traditions and act like Michigan. Uniforms included.

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