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We’ll Think of Happy Days of Yore

OSU Combat Hed

By Phil Hecken

Next in line for Nike’s amateur pacifist costumes is THE Ohio State University (who’ll be playing B1G rival Wisconsin today), and like some of their recent offerings, this one is a fauxback. At first glance it’s not too bad. Unfortunately, first impressions can be deceiving.

The uniform is supposed to be throwing back to 1961, which is a fairly famous year in THE OSU’s storied history. It’s also the fiftieth anniversary of that team. Before we get into this uni, let’s take a brief glimpse at that team and the uniform it wore.

According to the jamdawg.com website:

1961 was one of the most Bizzare Seasons in the history of Ohio State Football. Imagine your school going through the season without a loss, invited to a really nice Bowl Game (…or even a BCS Bowl Game.) and the School’s Faculty Council REFUSES TO LET THE TEAM GO TO THE BOWL GAME? Well, that’s exactly what happened to the ’61 Buckeyes who went 8-0-1 that season. The Rose Bowl Agreement between The Big Ten and The Pac 8 (Now Pac 12.) had expired but still had “Handshake” or “Gentlemen’s” Agreements to have their Conference Champions play each other in The Rose Bowl. Jack Fullen, who was The Chairman of The Faculty Council (…and had an intense dislike of Woody Hayes.) took advantage of the fact that there was no formal contract and persuaded enough members of the Faculty Council to vote against The Rose Bowl Trip. The Columbus Dispatch in return printed the names, addresses and phone numbers of the Faculty Council Members who voted against The Rose Bowl Trip as well as the amount of University Money they spent on their trips.

Amazing. Can you believe the Faculty Council refused to let that team go to the Granddaddy of them All? Another nice website, coachfickell.com noted, “Scoring an average of more than thirty points per Big Ten game, the Buckeyes rolled to a tenth Big Ten Championship and fourth National Championship in 1961. Three running backs, Matt Snell, Bob Ferguson, and Paul Warfield led the way for the outstanding offense with Ferguson ending the season as a runner up for the Heisman Trophy. Ohio State finishes 8-0-1, defeating Michigan, 50-20, and won another Big Ten title.”

Perhaps creating this fauxback is Nike’s way of “we will always remember you.” Or, maybe the 50th Anniversary of that team was an easy choice for a new costume (remember, this is the third pro combat uniform for OSU, having worn this in 2009 and this last year). In theory, last year’s uni paid homage to the 1942 team, while the 2009 didn’t seem to be anything but a poorly done mashup.

The 1961 uniform was beautiful. Unfortunately, that uniform bears little resemblance to the one Nike has created. The 1961 uniform featured solid scarlet jersey, with slight gray piping at the ends of the sleeves and gray pants with two thin scarlet stripes.

Perhaps the most distinguishing feature, however, was the gray padded helmet with a thick red stripe, and block numerals on the sides. They would wear this helmet from 1960 through 1965, with the 1961 version having a *relatively* narrower stripe. As the years, progressed, more padding was added until the stripe became quite wide. Reproductions better approximate the difference in width between the early and later versions.

So, how did Nike do? Well, from the side the helmet looks OK — the TV numbers are too thick, however. Those helmets had white facemasks, while the Nike-inspired models have gray cages. Looked at straight on, the stripe looks good, but it appears closer to the 1965-width.

The jersey and pants don’t really jive with 1961 either. Seen straight on, the uniform looks pretty well done, but a side view shows the addition of gray stripes stretching from the neck to down the sleeves and all kinds of wrong for the pants — thick crimson stripes that neither start at the belt loops nor end symmetrically, wrapping around the back of the knee. Of course, the compression jerseys will feature some kind of space-age pattern which is replicated on the gloves.

Why, you may ask, doesn’t Nike give THE OSU some more “distinctive” gloves (as they do for their other teams? Well, they tried that last year, and the resulting display resulted in THE being hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Sigh. At least this year’s model probably won’t encourage the “Look At Me” display.

Was Nike successful with this one? Well, looking at this, using my “toy soldier yardstick” (grading solely as a uniform, discounting all historical context and school colors)…it’s still not a good looking uni. The fact that they’re not even really trying very hard to replicate an historical kit doesn’t help either. The helmet is pretty cool, and will certainly be unique looking, but the ridiculous shoulder stripes and those awful, awful pants stripes don’t make for a very attractive uniform. In fact, compared with the previous five pro combat uniforms already introduced (Oregon, Boise State, Georgia, Michigan State, and LSU) this one looks a LOT like Georgia, and I’d rank it just as low. Yup, sorry Larry B., I’m giving your Bucks a “C”.

Nike had a real opportunity to honor the 1961 squad, but unfortunately, poetic license got ahold of the designers instead of common sense. That 1961 uni was both beautiful, simple and distinctive. The concept Nike came up with just doesn’t measure up. Better luck next year, I’m sure Nike will come up with another costume for the 2012 team.

Interestingly enough, in our following feature, “50 Years Ago…” the ABC Game of the Week featured today’s combatants — Wisconsin and THE Ohio State University — let’s now see what Ricko thought of those uniforms (albeit OSU was the road team in 1961) all those years ago.

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50 years 200 pixel

50 Years Ago…This Weekend

Back again with Rick Pearson who is here to bring us his look at the featured ABC television college football matchup from 50 years ago. As always, Rick documented the game via his “kid cards”. Here’s Rick to tell us about it:

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Wk 7 61 Card_1


Oct. 28, 1961

Ohio State at Wisconsin: Ohio State’s homes were red with gray numbers and gray sleeve ends … Roads, though, added the multiple red shoulder striping, which wasn’t uncommon … Paul Warfield was a RB on those teams, the pros made him a WR (also not uncommon; Tommy McDonald, Bobby Mitchell, Lance Alworth and Charlie Taylor come to mind) … Buckeyes wore helmets with the exterior padding … Wisconsin? What’s not to like about the big ol’ W? Was on the back, too. … A note about Wisconsin’s socks, and it relates to a common mistake uni-watchers make when looking at old photos. That is NOT a white stripe on the red stirrups. The stirrups were solid, and there’s a red ring near the top of the white crew socks worn over them … The players? Bob Ferguson was drafted high, but never did much with either the Steelers (he’s at left) or Vikings. Richter had a solid career as a Redskins’ TE and went on to become Wisconsin’s AD.

~~~

Thank you Ricko. Awesome job, as always.

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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:

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We start with Marcus Hall, who you may recall, made a shitload of pink logos for the NFL last time. He wasn’t finished…

Hey Phil,

Marcus from Baltimore again. I took the time to add pink to the AFC unis as well. Some are accents of pink, such as the eye patch in the Raiders logo or black outline of the Chief’s arrowhead. Others are a complete take over of one of the teams colors, such as the Bengals’ pink instead of orange. Fun times.

-Marcus

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Next up is Kapil Prajapati, who has designed a soccer jersey for Qatar. No, really:

Hello Phil,

I always been amused at the aesthetics of soccer jerseys in Europe, they come in all forms and designs and I thought I create one for a team that is very popular at the moment, especially in the US. I chose Barcelona, the colors of the away strip are supposed to combine two of the previous colors that Barca has used for their away kits in the last 7 years.
Hope you enjoy!

Thanks,
Kapil

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And finally, what may be the most bizarre set of NFL uniform concepts I’ve ever seen (THE will love these)…I give you Mr. Design Junkie:

Wassup fam! Came across your site looking for something else, giving you major props on your site fam! Keep it up…

I’m sending over a few uniform designs I’ve been working on! They’ve garnered a huge following on my fanpage and elsewhere, check ’em out!!!

Here’s the slideshow.

And here’s the set.

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Alrighty then…back with more tomorrow.

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Benchies Header

Benchies

by Rick Pearson

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Still requires a certain Ninja-like creeping, though…

10-29-11 d-geese

And, of course, your full-size version.

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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!

Well, it didn’t quite have the excitement of game six, but last night your St. Louis Cardinals, resplendent in white, defeated the gray clad Texas Texases to claim their 11th World Series title. Good on them, and congrats to both teams for a thrilling, seven-game series. Did the rule that home field would go to the league of the All Star Game winner (instituted in 2003) play a part? Maybe — this was the first seven-game series since MLB instituted the rule, and the Cards were a Wild Card team — so by all rights, they never should have gotten the extra game.

This will be the final “Tracking the Playoffs” post for 2011. And I’d like to thank Alex for all his hard work in bringing these new and updated graphics to us each weekend. So, folks, you can now put this last one in the books.

Here is your 2011 Final MLB Playoff Tracker.

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That’s gonna do it for today. Everyone have a great Saturday and I’ll catch ya tomorrow.

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“Now that President Obama has finally fulfilled at least one of his campaign promises by bringing home the soldiers from the Middle East by Christmas…My question is in what direction are all of these camo-wearing teams going to go next with out the “support the troops” band wagon to jump on?” — ‘-DW’

 
  
 
Comments (149)

    And finally, what may be the most bizarre set of NFL uniform concepts I’ve ever seen (THE will love these)…I give you Mr. Design Junkie:
    ________

    Pfffft! What? My tastes aren’t *that* crazy. Jeezus man… I feel a bit insulted at that. I mean… damn. The only concepts that aren’t completely horrible are the Patriots white jersey & the Falcons… and even then he’s got the numbers so large that the design doesn’t allow for 2 digits, so they’re still automatic fails.

    Take the numbers off and a couple of them might work as t-shirt designs, but they aren’t good for a football uniform at all.

    Mr. Design Junkie… has a very vivid imagination, that’s for sure. His concepts at least made me forget that it’s 44°F in my room right now (6:26am CT). And now, I shall go back to sleep.

    Damn, Mr. Design Junkie LI! Wassup, cuz? Why did you leave out the Titans and the Ravens, fa shizzle, Phi… I mean Mr.Design Junkie?

    Well if The is going to chicken out, I’ll admit to liking about half of them. A lot. The other half, I’m horrified in the sort of visceral way you get when you see what a large mammal looks like with its insides on the outside. But the bold use of pattern across these concepts is a very effective use of the modern supertight jersey style where old-fashioned simple stripes no longer work.

    Randomly slapping the team logo across the jersey just doesn’t do it for me. Putting the Jags or Bengals in full body animal print? Sure. Cool. Tossing a large Jaguar-head logo randomly on the jersey with some extra piping? I’m just not feeling it.

    If that makes me a chicken, well… bawk bawk bakaw!

    What does “Wassup, Fam” even mean, anyway? What exactly is “fam” short for?

    Where’s that old jive speaking lady from Airplane when you need her?

    Those designs were very creative. Aside from the plethora of Nike swooshes (don’t know why they were even on there), I’m a lot closer to liking all of them than not. The concept of taking the logo off the helmet, for most, and placing it on the jersey and pants because we’re able to do so more easily with today’s fabric technology is very interesting. The use of sashes and piping was less random than those silly coaching shirts the NFL throws out there each year. I understand this site is dominated by traditionalists, but those designs were outside the box. We need more of that.

    You know what’s really funny? If you take Tom’s assessment and basically reverse it, that’s my opinion.

    What I’m saying is that the swooshes were the pretty much the only visually-appealing aspects of those designs.

    “…flashes of brilliance like the sword hilt on the hip on the Raiders.”

    And you wonder why some people call designs like that “costumes”? Why not put a pair of six-guns on the hips of the Houston Texans? Or put a quiver of arrows on the backs of the Redskins…

    Hmm, I’ve seen something like link before.

    link

    Just taking a quick glance, some of the numbers aren’t easily readable. If you keep the uniforms functional, I could see a couple of these having a shot.

    I really like Bucs ones, and not just the creamsicles. They stand out from the rest of the pack.

    It’s like the MLB TATC concept got tossed in a blender with the NFL and threw up everywhere…

    Props to Mr. Design Junkie for putting together a fun set of high-concept concepts. I dig that I can come to this site on a Saturday, & within a few column inches go from a close assessment of the width of a helmet stripe from 50 years ago to this whacked-out collection of unis.

    To put this in terms that have been tossed around here a time or two, today’s UW took us from Penn State to Oregon — & I loved every step of the journey.

    “Space Age Pattern” ??????
    The pattern on the Base Layer and Gloves is Buckeye Tree Bark

    and as you can see, since the debut, they have added an O to the gloves
    link

    personally I love these jerseys, and are easily the best ones Ohio State has done yet

    I apologize if this already has been posted or has appeared in the Ticker, but we now can have our very own Moultrie Colt .22s hat…
    link

    Hmmm…

    they don’t appear to have the jerseys. Did they look like the Colt .45s but with a smaller revolver?

    Phil, you did not point out that the wide red “stripe” on the Ohio State Pro Combat helmet is actually flared wider in the front along the countours of the Riddell Revo Speed helmet. The red padding on the original Ohio State helmet was either straight or tapered, but nothing like the flared look on the Pro Combat reproduction. This is an entirely modern look. But like the original Ohio State padded helmet it is based entirely on the construction of the helmet.

    Anyway… as for the Buckeyes… historical innaccuracy aside, I think the gray is too dark. I really think they ought to use the same gray as Washington State. That’s the only real complaint I have about it.

    Sure I’d rather see the block O logo instead of player numbers on the helmet and a red facemask… but that’s my own issue and not really a design flaw… I guess.

    For once, you really can’t bitch about the gray facemsask since it is a school color.

    Yet somehow you still managed. Bravo, sir.

    JTH, it’s a joke about an unrelated debate over a certain color that is represented in different ways…just tugging Jeff’s chain in a friendly way.

    yes…they were white (at least originally — some photos i’ve seen show some yellowing due to age/use)…but they definitely weren’t gray

    Yeah, but the uniform is already a complete failure at being historically accurate, so the fact that the original used white is beside the point.

    I guarantee* you that if you dug deep enough, you’d find pics of players with gray facemasks.

    Kinda like looking at old Bears photos. They typically wore gray facemasks, but you’ll come across some pics of Ditka, Sayers and others with white masks. Some guys will have dark-colored masks (black? I doubt they were navy).

    It reminds me of that darker shade of gray that those old USFL face masks had. A lot of the 85 Bears wore that style.
    link

    WOOHOO. Got up earlier on a Saturday than I usually do. Happy to see about Ohio State’s uniforms.

    As I said here many times. I am a throwback lover. I would much rather see teams wear actual throwbacks and not these renditions honoring the 1961 team or whatever.

    So my favorite combat uniform was last years since it was darn close to the 1942 uni.

    This years is just a tad like 1961. BUT, I do think they will look nice tonight in action.

    I disagree with they look like Georgia. It should be said Georgia’s helmets looked like Ohio State.

    It bears mention that there was link for Georgia wearing silver helmets. That said adding the broad red stripe did make them resemble tOSU; let’s hope it doesn’t happen again.

    I still love the Missouri unis from that era. Black and Old Gold. Another team that added something to the white jerseys. In this case, UCLA loops. Their home jerseys were plain black with gold numbers.

    Was lucky enough to see Missouri in person at Iowa State when they still wore that set. Great-looking uni.

    And still wearing essentially the same helmet, the numbers having been replaced with a logo “M” some time ago…

    I also noticed that it was Missouri pictured in the photo…always have liked their unis.

    Ricko, I saw Missouri play Florida in the 1966 Sugar Bowl, which Missouri won. Florida’s Junior quarterback, Steve Spurrier, was the game MVP.

    Without searching IIRC UW did a feature on Frank Sinkwich’s silver helmet with jaw guard in the not too distant past.

    Hard to comprehend that Georgia-Missouri will just be a conference game going forward. I’ve been telling anyone who’d listen that the “SE” in SEC must mean south of Canada and east of the Pacific Ocean.

    I must say I really enjoy Ricko’s uni drawings. I can easily picture a kid sitting in front of a black-and-white DuMont or Philco watching intently to copy the uniform details.

    Phil, did a great job on the historical part of that era’s Buckeye uniforms. Noting the padding width changes and such.

    Ricko’s kid cards have my favorite Ohio State uni. The away uniform from the mid 50’s to 1965.

    Ricko you did the Buckeye helmet amazingly well.

    Another inaccuracy in the helmet is the color should have been light gray.

    The padding in 1961 did not go all the way back either. I think these helmets tonight will look ok head on but from the back uh no so much since they tapered the red.

    The backs in 1961 looked like this.

    link

    2 more shots of the 61 Buckeye helmet to see how the padding ended in the back in 1961.One is in color and the other is vs UCLA

    link.JPG

    link

    I sometimes wonder whether the oddly-shaped, contrasting panels and striping on modern football uniforms are intentionally cosmetic touches or simply the product of functional features in new design templates.

    For example, look at the number of panels of different fabrics in a Nike Pro Combat jersey. Look at the oodly shaped armpit panel in LSU’s Pro Combat jerseys. Function or fashion?

    Look at modern football pants. On one end you have the Addidas super stretchies that have very few seams. On the other end you have Nike Pro Combat pants with many different, oddly-shaped panels. Anybody who has played football should know that the more panels in a pair of football pants the more comfortable the pants usually fit. As a general rule of thumb football pants with a seam down the back of each leg were usually a manufaturer’s top of the line models. Cheaper pants generally didn’t have as many seams (or panels). Some teams in the NFL, such as the Saints and the Raiders, still wear these pants with the seams down the backs of both legs.

    But look at so many college teams with oddly shaped stripes on their pants and odd side panels on their jerseys. Are these panels of contrasting colors designed to serve a function, such as facilitating ease of movement, or are they simply cosmetic…or both?

    I think they do that to make them much more difficult to counterfeit. The more complex & bells and whistles a uni has, the more difficult it is to knock-off.

    Otherwise they’re doing it “just because” since it sure as hell doesn’t look good.

    Nice work on the kid cards Ricko. I never realized the Badgers had the giant W on the back of the helmet as well. Terrible look but at least you know which team it was, coming or going.

    Mr. Design Junkie’s mock-ups are pretty good but they could never work on the NFL level. Just take off the numbering and they could be a unique fashion shirt for the fans.

    “Just take off the numbering and they could be a unique fashion shirt for the fans.”

    Patrick, that has been my view on alternate jerseys and uniforms in college all along…sell them to fans. Make them as wild and creative as you like…they’re great. Just don’t put a team on the field wearing them.

    Montreal Alouettes had a logo on the helmet front in the first version of their Pepsi unis. Didn’t last long. I think it was after the first year it was changed to one on each side. Never did have it on the back, though.
    link

    Gee, this is a fun jersey. Remains relatively unique, too. Simple and unique (current designers please take note; you don’t have to slap a panel here and flourish there like one of Bea Arthur’s housecoats)…
    link

    Kinda funny how baggy that jersey looks under the arms compared to a modern jersey. For comfort, a lot of players preferred baggy jerseys, but then offensive linemen and runners trended towards tighter, harder to grab, jerseys. In the evolution of the jersey this one would be around homo erectus.

    The more things change…

    Rogers is wearing gym shorts over sweatpants, a practice look/style that has morphed into basketball shorts over tights.

    That B1G logo is visual ipecac. It’s not that it is terribly ugly, it is just so mentally jarring. When I see the logo I don’t comprehend it and move on. My mind stops, tries to unravel the confusion, and I can’t get past “what were they thinking”

    Kapil’s Barça kit is…interesting. One thing I would point out is his use of white as the collar and lettering color. Big mistake. White is associated with Barça’s hated rivals, Real Madrid. The last time their kit supplier (at the time, Kappa) used white as a trim color, fans rioted. These days, the only white in the kit is the St. George’s flag that’s part of the team badge (St. George, or Sant Jordi, is the patron saint of Catalunya).

    I’d suggest a midnight blue or black instead.

    At least soccer fans get the idea of “team colors”. It always bugs me just a little bit when you’ve got teams that are supposed to be rivals and they’re both wearing the same color. I’m not sure why you’d want a black collar rather than just making it light blue or orange to match the rest of the jersey though.

    Yes, soccer teams and fans get the idea of team colors AT HOME. Their id way too much freedom given to the away kits. (Man U and Arsenal are both wearing hideous blue away jerseys this year.)

    I like that Soccer understands that two colors are distinguishable without feeling the need to put half the players on the field in white, but at least they could have some consistency in the away kits and still look like the same team that plays at home.

    I like the Barça kit. It fits well with the home The collar looks gray to me, but I’d make it either light blue to match the rest of the jersey or red to match the home.

    Anyway, it’s much better than the Unicef away kits from yesteryear.

    Aw so wrong, Russ.

    I hated the United shirts when they were first announced, but I absolutely love them now, despite them being worn for the draw at Stoke and the loss at Liverpool.

    I don’t care how cool they look. My point is the design has nothing to do with United.

    They have grown on me a bit too, and I like the symbolism of 11 hoops in each black bands standing for each of the players on the field.

    Still, blue and black don’t really promote the “Red Devil” brand.

    I thought it was important the flying rodents (as Mike as been know to describe them) be ornithologically correct.

    Also good that they be recognizable as geese. :)

    Particularly amusing to me today, as I often have geese outside my back door.

    And, yes, you do have to have ninja skills to catch one without using projectile weaponry.

    If Tim Obrien who does the Hoosier tracking comes on today I have a request.

    If you have time or feel like it can you do the accurate Ohio State 1961 uniform to see what it would look like on a modern style uniform.

    The grey (or gray) facemask on the Ohio State helmet today is not necessarily inaccurate. Macgregor made single- and double-bar models of thick, white plastic. But if you look at some of the cage masks, usually made by Schutt, those were either gray or brown.

    link

    May be a little difficult to tell from that, but here’s a look at the two companies’ masks.

    link

    link

    It amazes me how many linemen wore double-bar masks, rather than cages, back then. I looked at a set of photos from that season, and most of the linemen wore the Macgregor double-bar masks.

    Did anyone ever claim that these (today’s Ohio State, but also any of the Pro Combat Uniforms) were intended to be historically accurate? I think if they only are supposed to “honor” these past teams but are not intending to replicate them, it’s kinda lame to criticize them for not doing something they aren’t trying to do.

    If they come out and say “this is an attempt to exactly replicate the 1961 uniforms” then that’s a different story. They are what they are, to complain that something isn’t aesthetically pleasing is one thing, but to complain they aren’t accurate, when accuracy wasn’t what they apparently were going for, is another.

    rob

    i don’t think anyone, nike especially, ever said “these are 1961 throwbacks” but when you stitch “1961” in the collar and are *honoring* the club from 50 years ago, i would think the least they could do is not create a completely new uniform — except for the helmet, which i like — there is NOTHING remotely from 1961 about the jersey or pants except for the scarlet — the gray is WAY darker

    you can harkback to the 1961 uni without being exact…this wasn’t even close

    /my $.02

    I complain when the media or people call them throwbacks. They are not very close to the 1961 unis. They do look nice and I bet they will look good tonight. Still think the helmets from the back will look odd with a somewhat tapered red stripe.

    Why do they have to “honor” the 1961 team and not wear what they really wore. If they did the actual 1961 uni accurately people would still buy the jerseys.

    I know what Rob is saying. Nike does not call them throwbacks. Just too many other people do.

    That’s my point – blame the Chris Fowlers of the world for not knowing what a throwback is – but don’t blame Nike for being Nike.

    Yes, I’d rather they honor the 1961 team by wearing accurate throwbacks, but then it wouldn’t look Nike-ish. So they chose instead to make a Nike-ish looking concept that pays “homage” to the 1961 style. Maybe it’d be better for these ‘homages’ to not mention a certain year, but just be a “tribute to the past of Ohio State football.” As far as I’m concerned, I agree with you, if they are going to say specifically “1961” then yeah, they should do an accurate throwback, and not some new-fangled Nike hot mess.

    I guess what I’m saying is, feel free to criticize them for buying apples instead of oranges, but just don’t blame the apples for not tasting like oranges.

    I think there is room for both “accurate throwbacks” and these “Pro Combat” concepts but yes, the problem is people confusing the two.

    If the average person considers these throwbacks, then this trend of Nike Pro Combat/era mash-up homages may lead to the end of actual throwbacks. Whenever someone tries to do an actual throwback, they may get a reaction like:

    “We wanted a throwback! That’s so boring and lame.”

    “Uh, but that’s what they actually wore.”

    “Oh. Well we want something more exciting, you know, like what Ohio State wore. Maybe make the facemask gray. Or how about this, can you work some camo in there somewhere? Or maybe a helmet that changes colors when you tilt it in the sunlight.”

    We need to nip this ‘calling them throwbacks’ thing in the bud.

    Unless teams are willing to wear canvas pants and heavy Durene jerseys I don’t think any of these uniforms should be billed as accurate throwback reproductions. Therefore, if the standard is to present something only similar to the actual vintage uniform then who cares if some of the details are not perfectly correct? If a uniform is “meant to evoke the 1961 team” (or something like that) then I’d like that better.

    Well there is a big difference between reproducing an actual uniform with modern technology that is still meant to accurately look like the old one, as opposed to making something that is entirely different that is merely a tribute to an earlier time without any intention of trying to be accurate.

    I’m not saying anyone should be breaking out the leather helmets.

    That’s my point, Rob…you can’t make a uniform of modern fit and fabrics that replicates a uniform from another era. Fit and fabric are part of the uniform. Some throwbacks are better than others…some adapt better to modern uniform design. But they generally don’t look enough like the originals to suggest they replicate a vintage uniform.

    Remember the Denver Broncos a couple of seasons ago? It wasn’t the vertically striped socks that were the problem…it was the fact that they didn’t wear white crew socks over them like they were supposed to. Somehow, modern aesthetics will usually f**k up a throwback.

    On a more elementary level…what’s the purpose of a throwback uniform in the first place? To make fans think they’re watching a team from a bygone era…to make fans nostaligic?

    Depends on how old you are. If it’s a uni you remember, than it’s an exercise in nostalgia. If it’s from before your time, it’s a historical curiosity.

    When the Pirates wear 1979 throwbacks, they bring back memories (and elicit grumbling about Majestic didn’t get them right). When they throw back to 1909, it’s a look at a modern version of what they did a century ago. I’m less thrown about seeing numbers on the 1909s than the wrong width of stripes on the ’79s. And if I had started watching baseball after 1984, I’m sure I’d feel the same about both the 1979s and 1909s.

    The NFL does throwbacks, not creations.

    To me throwbacks let fans know what uniforms on the past looked like in action. Instead of looking at them in old pictures. That is what the team really wore.

    growing up i always heard it referred to as “kay – tar” but more recently i’ve heard “cutter” and even “guttar”

    i guess when something is in a foreign alphabet, it’s open to the roman alphabet interpretation; how many different ways have we seen the dead dictator of libya spelled? i’ve seen at least 3 or 4…and not everyone spells it the same either…kaddafi, khadafi, qaddafi, gadafi…there’s probably more, but we usually pronounce it the same…

    qatar i’ve only seen spelled that way, but pronounciations vary

    reposted from yesterdays comments.

    Wow, great work by Brian Gundell on the pac 12 uni tracker. They put my renderings on the duck tracker to shame.

    Brian, if you’re reading this, which I doubt since I’m so late, how did you get the carbon pattern onto the helmets, wings, and numbers?

    Also, Phil and everyone else, I’m sorry for my absence but I WILL have the duck tracker ready for tomorrows post

    Throwing back to the days when defense was frowned upon?

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I hate to say it, but those white helmets look pretty damned good. ‘Twas an aesthetically pleasing game today?

    anyone getting *snow* games?

    one of my channels is carrying the bulldogs vs. lions…heavy, wet snow’s a-fallin’ … and the snow is actually making its way east to lawn guyland…so much so i had to cancel my trip to the symphony tonight (yeah…they were free tix…lincoln center’s not my cuppa)

    abc (i guess it’s a local option) has the scarlet black knights of rutgers (head to toe BFBS…with some pretty sweet matte black lids) in the snow against the mounties

    nice tribute to eric legrand, who must be freezing in this weather (assuming he has feeling in his extremities), who they wheeled out in a red stocking cap and black uni

    ABC in this market is Illinois/Penn State.
    Snowing like crazy, but no accumulation on the field yet.

    Meanwhile, here in stereotypical Winter Wonderland, it’s sunny and in the 50s.

    Gophers in mono maroon, many of them wearning black knee socks, which looks dumb.

    Getting Washington State at Oregon on Fox Sports North.

    Cougars: cardinal-white-white
    Ducks: black-yellow-black

    Those WSU gray helmets and jerseys… and heck, pants, too… are pretty hideous (and it’s not that I don’t like gray as a color). Good that they’re on the road, it seems.

    Crap. Was hoping Wazzu would have come out with something worse. Once again, the Ducks’ opponent has pulled their butts out of the &1 fire.
    Maybe.

    Having a discussion with a friend over this question:

    Does buying and wearing a jersey you think is ugly, such as Michigan State’s recent Pro Combat jerseys, demonstrate your loyalty and love of the school even more, or is it just wearing an ugly jersey and falling prey to the corporate machine?

    Could be both, I suppose.

    It means you have too much disposable income…take your wife or girlfriend to dinner instead. ;>)

    One final thought on the World Series, and the question of whether the home field being determined by the All Star Game made a difference… with the Uni-Watch twist:

    Much had been made of the Rangers using their red “alt” caps with the white jerseys for most of their home games, but when they wore red at home during the Series they won both games; their only loss in Arlington was their (inexplicable) return to blue at home.

    So, looking at the seven games and the team wearing red caps winning five of them*, it seems like the Rangers doomed themselves by that blue decision; had they worn red for the first home game and won that, they would have wrapped up the championship before having to resume the blue for any games at Busch Stadium.

    The lesson (as we all saw in Bull Durham): You don’t mess with a streak.

    And had the home field advantage still been a factor of the team with the better regular-season record, the Rangers would have had one more home game to wear red, and then… who knows? But the evidence suggests they would have hoisted the trophy instead.

    (* And if you take into account the way the Cardinals wore red undershirts and socks even with their blue caps, if you go with those sartorial elements, the team wearing red there won six of seven.)

    I like to think the Rangers doomed themselves by wearing softball tops in the first game. Notice that in game two in St. Louis they won with the traditional grays.

    I must admit, I never considered the face-mask part of the uniform. Always seemed like equipment, or an attachment, and could be whatever color the company supplied it in. But, you know, I “get it” a little more than I used to…

    Darn! I thought Tennessee was going to wear black tonight.

    link

    Unfortunately they didn’t break them out. (It wouldn’t have been BFBS, it would have been BFHS – black for Halloween’s sake.)

    The stripe stopping as it does makes ’em look like they’re wearing gray granny undies over their football pants.

    the uni’s not as bad as i thought it would be, but for the first time, the shoes actually make it look worse — usually the best thing the amateur pacifist unis have going for them is the socks/shoes combo…not so here

    and the pants really don’t need the giant wide scarlet stripe…two thin ones (like 61) would have been perfect

    I believe the picture of Bob Ferguson in the Steeler uniform was taken in the 1963 Runner-Up Bowl, which then featured the second place teams in the NFL’s Eastern and Western divisions. That was the first appearance of the black Steeler helmets.

    Since they lost that game they shoulda went back to the y…er, g…er, French’s mustard helmets.

    Also UK had blue backside pant sripes on their BFBS unis similar to those that Miami has.

    I think ASU has some sort of weird fetish for wearing the opposing teams color. They did it against Mizzou and Colorado, both black, too.

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