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Uni Watch

Sunday Morning Uni Watch

By
Brian Wilson Says...

By Phil Hecken, with Terry Duroncelet

Lots of great college gridiron action yesterday, including a few late gems and some blow outs. And of course, the “game of the century” was an all-time classic. Glad I picked LSU, although I was rooting for ‘bama. If any of you saw ESPN’s College Gameday yesterday, you will know that a very famous(?) alumnus came on to predict an LSU victory. Who is that? I give you…Terry:

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• Who’s this in the bearded LSU gear? If you guessed Dustin Davidson from August Burns Red, then you need to get your eyes checked. Besides, as of this writing, Dustin’s in Milan with his band. No, but that’s actually SF Giants pitcher Brian Wilson, who dressed up as a Tiger on Gameday, presumably because of the gallons upon gallons of hype pored on to this matchup (exciting game BTW, am I right?), and the fact that he played his college ball in Baton Rouge. In addition, he also had a… trumpet? And here’s a shot of Lee Corso’s Tiger head for comparison. One more thing of note: he took the Nike salute to a new level. Big thanks to Tim E. O’Brien for most of those CGD pics and Phil for the LSU Baseball and glove pics. [You can find some crazy video of BW here — PH] In other news…

• Ohio went full-Vader against Temple, which I suppose is better than going BFBS with their normal white lids.

• On Friday, Colorado went full-Vader against USC, right down to the new black helmets, which makes its first appearance in Boulder for the first time since 1998 (against then-conference rival Baylor for Folsom Field’s 75th Anniversary). Credit Matthew Robins for that ’98 pic. The gold graphics on the helmet looked to be significantly darker than the gold on the jersey sleeves.

• When I tuned in to watch the Iowa/Michigan game, I saw that the left side of the Hawkeyes’ helmets were blank and thought: “Are they getting more serious with their “Steeler” image?”. Then I caught a view of the right side of the helmets, which revealed an Old Glory-rendition of the tigerhawk logo. More info on that here. Credit that last link to David H. Greenwald.

• Army and Air Force went white tops vs. grey tops (respectively). Not the best idea, but the pants helped to provide some contrast, more proof that there’s more to a uniform than just a jersey.

• Fattest #1 ever? Fattest #1 ever (Tim E.).

• As Doug Smith (who sent me the pic that you’re about to see) mentioned, these uniforms can only be described as such: UMass-acre. In fact, I like their name “Minutemen”, because I can only tolerate that costume for a minute before I shake my head in disappointment and change the channel.

• New Mexico went full-Putty Patrol against San Diego State.

• In the Oregon State/Stanford game, one of the sideline personnel? was wearing what look to be a pair of OSU Beaver golashes

• The Tempe Cocktail of the day was a strangely bad/good combo of black helmets, white jerseys, and black pants.

• Oklahoma State looked like they were dressed more for a funeral than a football game.

• One of the Louisiana Tech players had a nameplate that covered parts of the back of his shoulder stripes.

• A while back, it was reported that one of the players wears a blue jersey underneath his uniform for good luck. Story here. Here are some visuals of that. Credit to Tim E. for those links.

• Boise State wore this year’s Nike Pro Combat jersey with blue pants, and the Pro Combat white helmet with the normal helmet logos against UNLV.

• You know that Notre Dame vid of the “Gug” that Paul linked to on Friday? It mentions how they keep the “ND” monogram roped off to prevent it from being stepped on to show respect for the emblem. Apparently, Adidas doesn’t give a shit about respect. Credit Gabe Szakaly for that.

~~~

And there you have it. Thanks Terry for a terrific rundown, and all the contributors. There was one game Terry didn’t include, and it just might be the worst possible uniform combination ever. And it didn’t even get the dreaded “& 1” in MoVi’s 5 & 1. More on that below…

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colorize this

Colorize This!

Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.

After last week with a few new (old) colorizers, I thought we might have some more this weekend, but alas, we’ll just have to settle for the G&G show. And no, that’s not a bad thing at all. We begin with George Chilvers. Shall we say, “Paging Mr. Nugent”?

Hi Phil

One for Connie this week – three Irishmen :)

This is a photo of three Irish members of the 1950 British Lions rugby union team which toured Australia and New Zealand (in those days of course teams “toured” for months on end – now they just fly out). I love this photo as, in true UW style, it gives the opportunity to showcase a number of different jerseys. It is part of a series of similar photos on a truly magnificent resource for rugby and cricket, as well as a variety of Antipodean life.

Here is the original.

The players are Jim McCarthy (in blue), Karl Mullen (green) and Michael Lane (red).

Lane is wearing the distinctive jersey of the University College of Cork, and their sporting teams still wear a similar jersey. Most pictures of the Lions in this series are wearing club jerseys but Mullen who was captain of the Lions team has his green Ireland jersey. And finally McCarthy is a bit of a mystery, because he is wearing an RAF jersey (I’m not mistaken, the badge confirms it). But he was Irish and there is no record of him serving in the RAF. Maybe he played in a representative game for them?

George

Stunning, George. And he’s got more:

Hi Phil (again)

We’ll keep with a rugby theme this week, and so as we are now between the Rugby World Cup and the Olympics we’ll have a look at the last time rugby was part of the Olympics.

It was 1924 in Paris, and the French were hot favourites to win. They got to the final and this picture shows the captains and referee posing before the game. Incredibly the French lost, and the crowd rioted which led to the sport being outlawed by the IOC. There is talk of reviving it for 2016.

So, the end result is that France’s opponents on that day in the white jerseys were the gold medal winners, and are therefore reigning Olympic rugby champions.

I wonder if any of your readers can identify who they may be ;)

Original is here.

George

And one more from the immortal Mr. Chilvers:

Hi Phil

Third (and probably last) for this week. And I’ll keep up a theme – another rugby picture.

The last one I sent was the French 1924 Olympics, and we stay with French rugby. This time it’s rugby league (“jeu a treize”, compared to “le rugby”) and we have the French team of 1951 on tour to New Zealand, playing Wellington. I’ve always liked these French jerseys. The stadium is of course stunning, but there do seem to be people watching the game from the roadway behind the boundary wall.

And the original.

Best wishes

George

~~~

And the second half of the G&G tandem, Gary Chanko graces us this week with the following:

Phil,

The LIFE photo archives is the source for this action shot of Charlie “Choo-Choo” Justice, the great University of North Carolina running back of the late Forties. He was a two time runner up for the Heisman Trophy and after college drafted by the Washington Redskins. Read more on his bio here.

The colorized photo appears to captured during a practice scrimmage. The image may have appeared as part of article about college football in the 03 Oct 1949 edition of LIFE Magazine. If anyone has access to this issue, I’d like to know if further information was captioned about the photo.

Gary

~~~

Splendid work, as always, gentlemen. Back soon with more colorizations.

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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 Carl Anderson, who has an NHL concept:

Phil,

I like the Blue Jackets third jersey template, but there is too much blue, and it looks too similar to the Penguins jersey, so I just switched the Maroon for the “cream” and i thought it looked good, especially because the NHL lacks a team that uses Maroon well. (I hate the Coyotes Jerseys)

Carl Anderson

~~~

Next up is Ryan Nicholan Allison, with an interesting concept…the Mustang Warrior:

Phil:

I was bored last night and did a uni tweak for SMU. It is basically the Nike 2007 Hawaii Warriors jersey redone for June Jones at SMU.

Thanks,
Ryan

~~~

And we close with Ronnie Poore and his Lions concept:

Phil,

I like the Detroit Lions throwbacks from a few years ago, so here’s a hybrid of that and their current style. I kept the Lion logo on the helmet and the number font, but got rid of the stripes on the helmet, jersey and pants.

Ronnie Poore

~~~

That’s all for this week. Back next weekend with more.

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Benchies Header

Benchies

by Rick Pearson

~~~

Meet the “Mysterious Seer Who’s Always Here”…

11-6-11 s-twine RED

And the full-size.

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Duck Tracker Header

2011 Duck Tracker

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, Jake Hurley has stepped up to the plate and taken over the “Duck Tracker” for 2011. What is the Duck Tracker? Quite simply, it tracks each and every uniform combination the Ducks have worn for the 2011 season. He steps in for former tracker Mike Princip, whose non-Uni Watch activities will preclude him from tracking for 2011.

The Ducks played late last night, so I don’t know if Jake was able to update the tracker, but I’m gonna run it anyway, in the hope he will have it updated by the time this post goes live. If any of you fine readers have feedback on this project, or is interested in adding content (such as history, uniform history, tweaks or mock-ups), Jake will gladly add it to the site. Shoot me an E-mail.

Here’s the 2011 Duck Tracker currently — Jake would like to make the project a bit more informational, like Mike did with it the past two years.

Thanks!

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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…

MoVi has been dying to put Oregon in the dreaded “and 1” all season, and today he finally gets his wish. Of course, I found a far worse looking game, but he wouldn’t hear of it. So, after the list, we’ll let you guys decide which was worse.

~~~

Here’s MoVi:

Terp Tracker – Love the shelmets!

Honorable Mentions to New Mexico State/Georgia – Yea, verily, the low November sun reflecting off the reds doth warm the cockles of my heart.

And to Indiana/Ohio State – Um, yeah…ditto.

5. Texas A&M/Oklahoma – Sensing a pattern yet?

4. Stanford/Oregon State – I think all-white unis are at their best on overcast days.

3. Tulane/SMU – Welcome back to the list, horsey heads!

2. Army/Air Force – Aww, the streak is dead…not a shred of red.

1. LSU/Alabama – And thanks for stressing the “foot” in football, too!

And the bad one: Oregon/Washington – FINALLY!

~~~

Oh really? Worse than this? That’s right, Wyoming went full on turd. (More pictures here). I know it’s MoVi’s list, but this time he’s gone too far. Nobody likes BFBS, but the game had everything Jimbo likes except the vader look for Washington, and Oregon looked absolutely fine. What say you readers? Did Oregon get screwed or did Wyoming deserve the “& 1”? The answer is “yes.”

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Fall Back

And that’s going to do it, folks.

As a reminder, the annual Uni Watch gathering will be taking place next Saturday at 2:00 at Sheep Station. Come on down and get yourself some free stickers and have a drink with this masked man.

Have a great Sunday — and if you didn’t already, don’t forget to change your clocks … last night we fell back.

~~~

“Everything else about Arizona may suck, but we have a great flag.” — Phillip Wilson

 
  
 
Comments (178)

    Dammit, Vilk, how can you have Army/Air Force at #2? Gray vs white shouldn’t happen in football. Army should have worn black for that game.

    …and that I’d agree with. I really like those gray jerseys, but they should be used in place of white, not as the “dark” color against it.

    Baseball’s the one team sport that doesn’t require any contrast. Heck, back when I played little league ball, we had a few gray vs gray games, thanks to our team only having one uniform. What works in baseball doesn’t necessarily work in other sports.

    Football, basketball & hockey all require *some* contrast. White jerseys don’t need to be forced on the teams (seriously NCAA/NFL, stop with the required white shit), but there does need to be a noticeable difference. White vs gray falls into the same category as orange vs red or navy vs black.

    THE, I would argue that volleyball also does not require any contrast, as each team is restricted to its respective side of the net.

    There isn’t enough contrast between gray jerseys and white jerseys for it to work in football.

    Unless gray is a school color, it shouldn’t be in a football game. See Oklahoma State for the perfect example.

    Wyoming should have been &1, but I also see why you would put Oregon/Washington. Silver and white looked horrible against BFBS.

    I think they missed the perfect opportunity to go color on color. Don’t they have silver jerseys? Or how about yellow?

    I don’t think Oregon has a light grey or yellow jersey option, actually. They’ve got green, black, 2 different whites and I think maybe a charcoal gray, but nothing lighter.

    Well…damn. I could’ve sworn they didn’t have a yellow jersey since they switched from the metal plate to the wings.

    I guess if I had a Uni Watch card, I’d need to turn it in now.

    kyle

    it’s not as simple as you think — teams can’t just go “color-on-color” as they see fit…the visitors actually have to wear white:

    Teams playing each other in a game must wear jerseys of contrasting colors. NCAA rules call for the visiting team to wear white jerseys and the home team to wear colored jerseys. However, the home team can wear white during a game if the visiting team has agreed in writing to allow it. Such agreement must be obtained before the season begins. The rules also allow a visiting team to wear a colored jersey instead of white, if the home team and its conference agree before the game that the colors are still contrasting–for example, the home team in navy blue jerseys and the visitors in pale yellow.

    from here

    i’d LOVE for the ducks (and im sure, so would they) to be able to wear yellow (and yes, that color IS yellow) on the road, but that is considered a “color” jersey

    exceptions can be made, but there are still rules — USC/UCLA, for example, (one of the greatest color vs color games ever) recently resumed their “both teams wear home jerseys” rivalry

    but for the most part, the visitors are forced to wear white

    if oregon, who have made their entire “raison d’etre” to wear a different combo every game, must wear white, then they need to invent new colors to keep that streak in tact

    their carbon/white/silver looks freakin awesome

    vilk just hates oregon, and hates bellotti, and will NEVER pick them for a “5” simply because of his own personal biases

    and he looks, every week, for an excuse to put them in the “& 1”

    he finally got his chance last night

    and that was a bullshit call

    One thing about the Oregon-Washington game last night (watched a bit of it; could stand to watch much of it)…

    For a night game in November it was, visually speaking, unbelievably grim. Halftime should have featured a reading of “Fall of the House of Usher” or something. At least SOME bright color on one the teams would have helped immensely.

    For another, you’d never have known the colors of the schools involved were green & yellow and purple & gold…other than the Huskies helmets. And they were of course very small in the full shots.

    So while Wyoming’s mono-turd doesn’t look like much, the sunshine may have saved the game. Visually speaking. All I know is that Oregon-Washington, in the night setting, looked like a slag heap.

    Always amazes me that teams/organizations so concerned with how they look on TV don’t “see the whole board” (in chess terms). Same comment would apply to Army/Air Force, I guess.

    They both had other options, that’s my point.

    For example, Oregon in, say, their green helmets and pants and Washington in purple over gold would have made that game a helluva lot better looking. 180 degrees better, in fact.

    Not to mention actually looking like Oregon vs. Washington.

    @Ricko-
    Exactly. It was drearier than a Seahawks game.

    @Phil-
    if oregon, who have made their entire “raison d’etre” to wear a different combo every game, must wear white, then they need to invent new colors to keep that streak in tact
    1) They don’t wear a new combo every game. How many times since they released the 2,456 possible combos have they reverted to stormtrooper or ninja mode? The whole thing is a farce. Wouldn’t finding the best way to show off school colors be a better raison d’etre? Oui, monsieur.

    movi

    oregon NEVER repeats a combo in the same season

    now, have they worn a combo more than once in two seasons? yea…but never twice in the same season

    i don’t like it that every other damn school (except for a few awesome stalwarts like ‘bama and PSU) feels the need to copy oregon, but that’s their whole shtick

    you just don’t like them or bellotti bold, and that’s fine…but you’re allowing those personal biases to affect your judgment, in violation of all your other rules…if you have a rule for school colors, fine — but oregon’s school colors are EVERY COLOR (it seems)…i guess they’d rather pull some crap like arizona and just make black a school color — would that make you happy? if they changed to OFFICIALLY have black & carbon as colors?

    and if you want to complain about shitty colors and fonts, when did black become a TCU color? it’s not…so they went BFBS (with the epaulettes) and that font is as bad as bellotti

    face it, you have a hardon for wyoming, despite the AWFULNESS of their unis, and you will always hate oregon, no matter how good theirs look

    I have included Wyoming in the &1 before…probably as many times as I have Oregon. Look it up.

    Where have you been for three years? I have a rule for school colors. Those who disregard them lose Top 5 status, and those who disregard them while being guilty of other biases guidline infractions risk being on the &1.

    I’ve included TCU in the &1 before…probably more than Oregon. Look it up.

    Face it. You have a hardon for Oregon. THAT is a bias that clouds *your* judgment. If the bumblebee Pirates came out with a red jersey…you know, just to give them more options, or if the Mets came out with a neon green softball top because it might help them recruit some new young talent, you’d have crapped a brick. But you’re so drunk on the kool-aid that you flip a gasket when the Ducks deseredly make one measly appearance a year.

    And you keep forgetting that if the Ducks come out in link someday, I’ll be the first to welcome them to the Top 5.

    movi

    oregon does (rarely, yes) wear school colors

    but you will NEVER put them in the top 5 even when they do because YOU DON’T LIKE BELLOTTI

    i’ll forever stop giving you shit about them when you put them in the top five…which will never happen, no matter how good they look or no matter if they wear school colors, as long as they have bellotti

    get over it…bellotti is NOT a good font, i’ll admit, but it’s no reason to PERMANENTLY exclude them from top five status, particularly when you put teams with worse fonts in there

    But there aren’t worse fonts, at least in my opinion. So, um, yeah…that’s a valid reason to exclude them. There are 119 teams with better fonts in the FBS. If I had to pick from only 32 teams like the No Fun League, then there might be a glimmer of hope for you.

    And I know they wear school colors. When they do, I usually instantly exclude them from &1 consideration. If Bellotti was the only reason they made the &1, *that* would be a bias. But I always find other reasons, and both schools gave me enough.

    i don’t have a problem with you putting them in the &1 if they deserve it and there are no worse candidates

    this was far worse looking than UW/uo

    you also won’t ever pick uo for the top 5 SOLELY because you dislike bellotti

    you can have an opinion on bellotti (you think it’s the worst, fine)…but you discount EVERY OTHER FACET of the uniform when you do that…and there are a shitton of things more important than the font when it comes to a good looking game

    but that doesn’t matter to you

    again, i’d have NO PROBLEM if you put oregon in the &1, when deserved, but i have a HUGE PROBLEM with you excluding them FOREVER from top 5 consideration solely because you don’t like the font

    that’s my problem

    The Washington game was replayed late last night. I watched part of it. What is Washington trying to do with the black so much?

    The Huskies have a nice uniform if they stick to school colors.

    I forever exclude a lot of teams from Top 5 consideration. Stop making it out that Oregon is the sole martyr here. There are too many teams that have next to nothing wrong with them for me to include a team just to make you happy. Bellotti is a disqualifier. Mizzou-ish diamond piping is a disaqualifier (which is why Wyoming doesn’t make the Top 5…even when they wear the WYO jerseys which I like, they haven’t made the Top 5). Egregious BFBS is a disqualfier. And so on and so on. I’d continue, but at this point I shouldn’t have to…and my son wants to use the computer, too.

    “I forever exclude a lot of teams from Top 5 consideration. Stop making it out that Oregon is the sole martyr here.”

    ~~~

    there shouldn’t be any martyrs

    but by you saying “there are 119 teams with better fonts” you’re sure sounding like it for oregon

    who else is a martyr?

    Going back to Phil’s example of the color on color matchup of USC and UCLA. If you remember, the schools didn’t clear it with the NCAA, they defied them and did it anyway. I forget which team was the road team, and therefore the “wrong” team in that game but whichever one it was got charged a timeout for violating uniform rules. The coaches had made a gentleman’s agreement that when that happened that the home coach would then take a timeout of their own, thus leveling the playing field. This happened in both half’s of the game, so both teams only got two timeouts in each half.

    I’m unclear of the exact rule but any team, in theory, could wear whatever they want and just sacrifice a timeout in each half of the game.

    who else is a martyr?

    I just gave you some examples. I have a life, so I’m not listing them all. If you’re still obsessing over this, go look back at our letter grading the FBS articles. It’s safe to say anyone with a B- grade or lower isn’t getting on the list. There are way too many A+, A, A-, B+ and B teams who play each other every week to exclude them.

    It takes long enough to make a list as it is. You really want to know how I do this? Fine…just this once. On Sundays I look at the following week’s schedule. Since I’ve seen every team’s unis, I go through the schedule and eliminate the games that involve B- or lower teams. That usually leaves me with about 10-12 possible contenders. Then I look for about four possible &1 matchups. The only exception was the week that Georgia Tech played Miami. That was a gimme.

    When Saturday rolls around, I don’t watch the games. I sit at the computer and look for photos of every possible matchup I can find, just to make sure there are no surprises. I get quite a few of those over the course of a season. There are very few matchups I don’t see (so, technically, there are no martyrs). Then I start whittling. Between that and trying to find something halfway intelligent and/or original to say for each game, it’s little wonder I get done after midnight.

    Now, remember this day and this comment, because from now on my standard response is, “I call them as I see them. You can either accept that or fire me, because I’m not changing my opinion to make other people happy.” Isn’t that something like Paul’s standard response when UW isn’t what others expect it to be?

    They’ll eventually get around to “Not Succumbing To Pressure From Your Editor 101” in your journalism classes, right? ‘Cause I aced that one. The list is like a sort of editorial column, so if I responded to last night’s “Seriously…pick a different &1” email by saying, “Well, if you say so…” I wouldn’t feel right about that. Instead, I’ll sleep quite soundly tonight.

    Good night, and good luck.

    I’m OK w/ Wyoming. It could have looked worse, the white helmet saved it. But for better or worse, brown remains a school color. May as well shout it if you’re stuck w/ it. Schools naturally ought to be penalized when the eschew natural school colors.

    No they don’t, because everypony else is doing it too. It’s getting a bit tired and lame, but Oregon are hardly alone. Plus at least their version of it looks good, compared to crap like Stanford in black.

    Josh, you get it.

    Doesn’t matter if everyone else is doing it, The. I have very few rules in my link but one of my big ones is this: blatant disrespect for school colors is a big no-no. Add to that the worst font ever (thanks, Phil – your link helped to hammer home my point) and the purple numbers on black being hard to see and you have a deserving &1 candidate.

    The only thing wrong with Wyoming is that Mizzou-ish piping. The school colors of brown and French’s mustard were proudly shown. Isn’t it time we as adults see brown as more than poo? I say yes.

    If the Ducks and Dogs wore their school colors properly, we would all be in agreement that link was a viable contender. But at least the Aggies wore school colors.

    more teams should wear outline numbers

    that’s a great look movi

    and you blew last night’s &1 because of your own personal bias against bellotti, not because the game was hard to see, bad contrast, on a smurf field, etc.

    wyoming in all turd was unwatchable

    I don’t think I’ve ever seen outline numbers on a sports uniform before. Are there other examples besides West Virginia basketball?

    I like the look, but I don’t think outline numbers would be as easy to see from a distance as “filled-in, contrasting-color numbers”. I guess the thicker you make the outline the easier they would be to see.

    “I don’t think I’ve ever seen outline numbers on a sports uniform before.”

    ~~~

    really?

    wyoming in all turd was unwatchable

    Like pointed out above – that wasn’t all-turd. They had white helmets and white socks. I don’t want to know what you eat.

    All the same though, I think it’s the contrast of the white helmet that makes the brown-over-brown look worse. If it was truly mono-brown (with brown helmet and socks and shoes) that might not look as bad.

    What can brown do for you?

    link

    some teams look good, nay GREAT, with a white helmet

    teams who wear brown and gold aren’t one of them

    if WYO had at least gone with brown helmets, the look might have actually been improved…gold helmets or socks would have been better still

    brown and gold, when well apportioned (see this for example), can look very good…but adding the white is just NOT a good idea…brown and white are NOT complimentary colors

    Purdue hoops had them.

    I won’t dig in and drag this out, partly because you were nice enough to not censor my list…just two quick hits.

    1) Outline numbers are an ok (lower case intended) look…for a shirsey or a fan jersey. They don’t belong in a real game.

    2) Funny how the word “bias” comes up only when Bellotti is mentioned. With “no softball tops” or “white at home in the NHL” it’s taken as uni gospel by some. But point out that a font is not just ugly, but a possible source of confusion to a spotter who has to make a quick call on a play, and it’s a bias. It’s really simple – tweak the 2 and the 5 so they don’t look like each other and I wouldn’t be so happy to see the Ducks get their rightful comeuppance. Bellotti would still be bad, but it would go from ugly to homely.

    Quit whining about the damn font. It’s perfectly readable. So the 2 is a backwards 5…and? so? What’s your point? Ever look at a digital clock? The 2 and 5 are always mirror images, and the 9 is just an upside down 6. Oh noes!

    My point is, numbers are to be functional first and foremost. There shouldn’t be even the slightest question. Anyone who works a game doing stats knows where I’m coming from here.

    You want to add cutesy artsy things like wings on shoulder pads? I love the wings. I love the school colors, too.

    So, um, where’s the issue with the font? If you can read the numbers on your VCR, you can read the numbers on Oregon’s jerseys.

    That’s scrunched up on his pads, you couldn’t read it if it was a standard block font either.

    /probably 21, though

    I take it back. The wings are not cute. This is a ridiculous looking…garment.

    link

    I have given up on football jerseys, so why comment?–I know–but that…thing…is beyond embarrassing. Imagine wearing that.

    “Imagine wearing that.”

    ~~~

    a LOT of 17 year olds do

    right to the title game

    that’s what made (past tense) oregon so unique and, whatever you may think of the unis, so appealing — and i like that there was (past tense) one team that went all fun and crazy

    the problem is that EVERYONE now thinks this is a good thing

    i love good and classic uniforms (as everyone knows), but i don’t mind ONE team making a name for itself like oregon did

    what i detest is how everyone has to copy them

    but that’s how you attract the top talent now, i guess

    imitation/flattery and all that

    The font is fine. When the numbers are bunched up, REGARDLESS of font, its a bitch to read.

    I like the Oregon uni’s, also regardless of if they follow school colors or not. Is it right? No, they should follow them, but they don’t. And they look halfway decent without following them half the time.

    (Who said you need both school colors in a college uni, anyway?)

    Everyone else is a chump when they try and copy Oregon. It’s like when dubstep-style sounds started filtering into mainstream music. It was cool for a while, until everyone started doing it. Oregon was original when they came out with >9000 combos. The only other school that comes close to looking decent is the Tempe cocktail, and that is only every three weeks.

    If I played college football, I would go to Oregon solely because of the uniforms. In that respect, Oregon is a massive success.

    Love the old rugby photos George!!!

    Here’s another (more likely?) explanation for McCarthy’s RAF jersey. Rather than playing for RAF, he may of played against them, and in accordance with rugby tradition traded his jersey after the match. It is not uncommon for jerseys acquired by this means to appear on the training pitch.

    BTW – there’s not only talk about rugby returning to the Olympics in 2016, it is a done deal. Rugby Sevens tournaments will be held for both men and women in Rio as a full medal sport.

    No wonder NBC’s been showing more sevens coverage. Caught the NCAA tournament earlier this year and all they were talking about was who might make the Olympic team.

    I did consider that as a possibility, James, but I wasn’t sure that in 1950 players particularly swapped shirts like they do in our “disposable era”. It is a possibility though as there is another photo in the series where a Newport player has what is clearly a Leicester jersey, and not Newport.

    (Is BN3 a Hove postcode?)

    As adults, yes brown can be more than poo. But full brown, the inner child demands a comparision to poo. Who hasn’t had a thought of UPS and the slogan “what can brown do for you?” and not said “relieve”?

    Don’t forget pairing brown with gold on top of it. It’s not the ’70s anymore. That color scheme has exactly one meaning.

    I know I’m not always the most mature guy on here, but I’d like to think my parents are mature people. About five years ago they bought a house that was originally built in, like 1974. The interior theme of the house was all done in a brown-and-gold color scheme. They still make jokes about it being the worst possible color scheme for anything they’d ever seen and that was the reason why.

    Truthfully, when I think UPS I never think of poo. I think of classy uniforms with cool delivery trucks.

    When I think of UPS, I wonder why the hell something that is “out for delivery” at 6:35am doesn’t show up at my house until 4pm.

    I don’t like BFBS as a concept, but it is possible to make it look good, despite being stupid. Plain black pants? Purple numbers on a black jersey? Old gold helmet with a white stripe and no black trim to tie it all together? That’s just a mess.

    I didn’t like Ohio’s BFBS unis, but they didn’t look bad per se; they were good looking jerseys that insulted the school’s tradition. Washington’s BFBS looked rushed and badly put together besides the unnecessary deviation.

    Brian Wilson is what baseball has needed for years: a character to make the game interesting. I’m not a big baseball fan, but I will watch a game if the Giants are on TV just because of Wilson. The guy is a complete nut, and I like his fashion sense. Dying your huge beard jet black and not admitting to it is a little wacky but that just adds to the guy’s persona. It’s too bad he has the same name as the leader of the Beach Boys; someone as unique as he is should have a unique name.

    Since I’m not a baseball fan, do you guys know of other MLB players with personalities and physical appearances as unique as Wilson’s? Right now the only one I can think of who comes close is Johnny Damon when he was on the Red Sox and had that giant caveman beard and long hair. Like Wilson, Damon’s appearance was unique for MLB players but his personality doesn’t even come close to being as eccentric as Wilson’s.

    Athletic coaches frown upon athletes doing things and dressing in a way that draws attention to themselves. There is constant pressure to be a part of the team (the old cliche “There is no ‘I’ in team” applies here). But I admire people who stand out from the crowd, so if you guys can clue me into other MLB players throughout history who had unique personalities and appearances that would be great! :)

    Rollie Fingers just dawned on me so I thought I should mention him before someone else does.

    According to Wikipedia:

    “In addition to his pitching ability, he was noted for his waxed handlebar moustache which he originally grew to get a $300 bonus from Athletics owner Charles O. Finley.”

    I think his contract from 1973 on included a provision that the team supply him with mustache wax.

    Ever notice what those guys have in common, besides something to do with hair?

    They’re having fun playing the game.

    Also explains the popularity of players like Kirby Puckett and, in his Mariner years, Ken Griffey, Jr.

    Standing in front of your locker talking about “warriors” isn’t nearly as appealing as some who smiles.

    To quote Hunter Pence in a early Phillies post-game interview. “Good game. Let’s go eat.” Now THAT’s a guy who really does get it.

    Agreed. The idiots Red Sox team was probably the most fun I’ve ever seen a professional sports team have on the field.

    Manny Ramirez had a pretty unique personality, no? And yet the sports media slammed him for it.

    Steve Lyons and Bill Lee had pretty oddball personalities, along with Jay Johnstone. Rickey Henderson loved to hot dog, too.

    I don’t watch alot of high school football, but I noticed that Desert Oasis High School in Las Vegas uses Arizona Diamondbacks logos.

    link

    It’s not really BFBS. Black is one of the school colors and they normally do wear black jerseys at home and black pants on the road. This wasn’t a one-off that they don’t normally wear.

    And I think that’s part of why I liked it. I’m used to seeing them in SOME black on a regular basis, it didn’t seem as much of a stretch as say, Oklahoma State.

    Sorry, but the actual school colors are silver and gold. They’ve done the BFBS thing for over 50 years, so people think black is a school color. U of Idaho has about the same situation, although I don’t know when they started adding black.

    Probably won’t be long before folks think Oregon has about 17 official school colors.

    The Huskies’ BFBS is one of the worst I’ve seen. It deserved the &1 on its own. I liked the Ducks’ look, although it’s sad they had next to no visible school colors.

    It’s an official team color, even though it’s not an official school color. They have black listed in their style guide as an official team color. My high school did the same thing. The school colors were white and gold, but the athletics colors were black and gold.

    I must be the only person who reads this blog that loves black on black. If Washington had black hats, it would be pure greatness. Wyoming does need brown hats, if they are going to go brown on brown.

    Colorado’s all black was pretty good. If Wake Forest or Vanderbilt had better jerseys, I’d like their all blacks, too.

    #1- Galoshes, not golashes.
    #2- Those aren’t galoshes, they’re rain boots. Galoshes are covers you slip over your shoes.

    @Dan: I wasn’t aware of the difference between galoshes and rain boots, but “galoshes” were the first thing to come to mind when I saw them. I’ve never had to use them, nor have I ever seen them in real life, so I didn’t know. Sorry…

    if they are, it would have to be these, since teams are only permitted to wear one alt/throwback per season

    I’m a huge baseball fan, but it’s the sport that’s the least approving of change or having actual fun. The Rangers did the claw and antler thing last year and it became a merchandise giant, and to a lesser degree, ducks this year. Seems if you let 25 guys who have to be together daily for 6 months do their own goofy thing, they’re more of a team then the straight laced, mercenaries for hire Yankees. In the end, shouldn’t it be fun even for the players.

    What? If any sport is “least approving” of fun, it’s the one called the No Fun League. Have you not seen how much fun teams have celebrating walk off wins? The “shredder” by the Cardinals this season or Prince Fielder’s orchestrated walk off in which his teammates all fall down when he stomps on the plate.

    I see Iowa has the “ANF” (America Needs Farmers) sticker on their helmets.

    That’s been around since the ’80s. Do they wear it full-time, or does it come and go?

    Thanks again to Gary and George for the colorizations. Always fun to see your work.

    Phil and Terry do such great work on the college unis. To see some games that were not televised is good.

    Tim E. If you had time or felt like it could you do a tweak on the actual 1961 Ohio State uniform. To see what that would look like on a current uniform?

    If you understand what I mean? Pretty sure I saved the red helmet look and those were sharp.

    WOW Tim, Thank you very much. You are pretty good at that. I was busy yesterday so did not post. Those would have been better looking and accurate. Darn Nike and Ohio State for letting them modernize.

    Good job on the hockey tweaks.

    Ricko I wanted to say I saw your kid cards with Minnesota and Michigan State. I look forward to those all season. So cool

    I just posted that on an Ohio State board. So sweet. I do not know how you guys do those but I admire the work.

    “Fattest #1 Ever” is my friend Bo “Dozer” Cisek, Northwestern’s Personal Punt Protector! He changed his number to #1 this year when he started playing in that role in order to be an eligible receiver if needed. I’m assuming that’s in the case of a fake punt pass…which they never really do anyway.

    Now, do I tell him about this?

    Rex Ryan said the Jets call the all green uniforms, “the money uniforms”. – from the CBS broadcast

    So not only is he into feet, he’s into bad uni design, too.

    It looks like the Bills are wearing their blue socks with the white jersey & pants for the first time… Looks much better than white socks imo

    I does look better but I was bummed that they didn’t wear the blue pants, I had my fingers crossed that that was the reason behind this silly whiteout.

    Let’s just pray we don’t see these at JetLife this year. Wishful thinking, I know.

    With Air Force and Oklahoma State wearing gray these days, I’m beginning to wonder if it’s part of a trend. Perhaps gray will be the new black and we will be faced with GFGS as opposed to BFBS.

    On another note, I think purple actually looks quite good as a trim color for black. Washington’s uniforms probably would have looked a lot better if they went full Vader and were paired with a black helmet.

    Yep. I had that one in mind, but once I started whittling down the contenders, it got to about #8.

    My apologies to all the uni watchers that clicked on the Duck Tracker link only to find last weeks version. Here is the updated version.

    link

    What can Brown do for you?

    Make us all feel a little ill in this case.

    In some ways Wyoming represents the last mystery of tv exposure. In these parts, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Cowboys football game on the telly?

    As a WYO native I am loving all of the Wyoming Cowboy talk–whether good or bad. Regardless, they are not considered “full turd” until they wear this helmet with the all brown uni’s…

    link;.crumb=euye059uwRn

    I would say Steelers v. Ravens if the Raves wore black pants, since the Steelers are throwing back.

    However, that throwback puts them in the top 5 without question.

    Here are a few more shots of Kenny Bell’s blue jersey he wears under his game jersey.
    link
    (This one is from practice, but its the same blue one he wears under his game jersey.)
    link

    Bell is a favorite in the Nebraska student section. A few students have donned afro wigs, with blue 80 jerseys.

    It’s great to see Kenny mentioned in Uni Watch. I went to high school with him and played football with him too. He is very talented and a funny guy too. But even I had no idea about the blue jersey thing, that is a very cool and unique.

    A number of students (mainly the first few rows of east stadium) have also taken to waving blue towels whenever Kenny makes a catch.

    I was trying to figure out what’s up with the Big 12 realignment for next year and had a thought:

    Note to sportswriters:
    If every article you write contains the phrase “pound for pound” – give up writing!

    Pound for pound, this is the dumbest argument ever. If things aren’t judges by comparative weight, how am I supposed to make rational conclusions?

    Oh dear,what a late entry… And on a day when I am called upon… As if I were The Jeff or somebody… Locked in no-service youth soccer land most of day, now inline for flight to – cheap irony dead ahead, Chilvers – Heathrow and Blighty… More tomorrow fro Mayfair…

    Not sure if anyone caught it, but Bill Snyder, KState coach, was wearing an old jacket. The patch on the back of the jacket looked like it had a Pacific Life Holiday Bowl patch. I think the last time they played there was 2002.

    The Steelers are in their alts tonight. A random thought:

    The Steeler’s alts (among a very few others) are the epitome of just what alts should be all about –

    1) They maintain the team identity while being different than their regular unis (to a casual fan, they are obviously still the Steelers)

    2) Nobody is going to say “What the hell are they wearing this week? What IS that hot-mess?” (ala’ U of Maryland et al)

    3) BUT, nobody is going to be saying “They should get rid of their crappy regular unis and go with their alts full-time” (like the Vikings these days, and the way the Bills prior to this season) – This alt uni isn’t going to be #1 on a Top Ten NFL Uniforms list (like the Chargers) either, but it’s still a cool look.

    i know this uniform is technically *correct* as a throwback, but it also shows how stupid the white pants look with that helmet and top

    they should pair the gold pants with that and it would look fuckin schweet…

    and they would also do well to pair the white pants with the black tops like they did in the 1960’s…or even just with the white tops like they did 70-71

    the white/white was a good look

    but with the gold helmets, and black tops with ONLY gold…the white pants look like crap

    of course, the batman unis would be a great throwback too

    So they should throw back to a couple years earlier, to what they wore through most of the 50s? That’s certainly a valid thought because, being honest about it, none of the gold-helmet Steeler teams were any good. So they aren’t “honoring” a great team in Steeler history.

    My guess? They picked a uni that would be a substantial change from the current look, something that would be instantly obvious as different.

    Generally speaking—and ONLY generally speaking—gold pants with tonight’s uni would look like they just changed the color of the helmets and numbers.

    Or maybe they didn’t want people to say they resemble the Iowa teams during the 1950s Rose Bowl years. Probably didn’t want to hear, “Damn, the Steelers look like Iowa.” That would be, like, upturning the uni universe. :)

    “i know this uniform is technically *correct* as a throwback…”

    Not exactly. The facemask should be grey, but that — to me — is not a big deal. What is a big deal are those stupid white cleats. The original uni from 1962 called for link. Scratch that: the entire Steelers’ wardrobe calls — or at least should call — for black cleats. Raiders, too.

    Maybe they’re honoring the uni Buddy Dial was wearing when the guy fired the cannon right in front of him after a TD and scared the crap out of him (famous NFL highlight; couldn’t find it on a quick search of youtube).

    But tonight’s uni IS the uni from that well-known shot from NFL history (at Forbes Field, for those who note such things).

    Steelers in white pants is a good, not stupid, look.

    Cleveland in orange/brown/orange

    link

    was OK, but orange/brown/white

    looks so much better.

    link (though stripes on sleeves would be better)

    These home and away unis for the Saints were among my favorites

    link

    link

    dale

    i like the white pants…i just don’t like them with that helmet/jersey — you’ll notice both the browns and saints have WHITE numbers — which picks up the white in the pants nicely (plus, both have a white helmet stripe)

    the stillers have exactly ZERO white on either the helmet* or the jerseys…which is why i don’t like the white pants with that particular combo

    big difference

    i wish the stillers would wear white pants with their current jersey/helmet…just not with the throwback

    *not counting the logo

    See, I get a kick out of them because I’d wager that Steelers uni (in its original incarnation) was never—never—worn in a game televised in color.

    So it provides a glimpse of approximately what it would have looked like. Y’know, when Bobby Layne and Tom “The Bomb” Tracy and Buddy Dial and John Henry Johnson and Big Daddy Lipscomb wore it.

    Not that I would expect anyone who wasn’t stuck with only B&W TV to identify with what I’m saying. And that’s okay, we all have different frames of reference.

    Interesting, I get what you’re saying- excellent usage of a youtube clip for an example by the way.

    Hall of Famer Ernie Stautner was on those 1950s-early 1960s Steelers teams as well.

    Speaking as a Steelers fan, this 1997-2011 throwback is more to commemorate that general time period, plus it’s such a different look for the club. Fans who followed the team before the 70s, fondly recall the franchise in those mostly losing years. The 1962-63 club was the best of the pre 1972 era, going 16-9-3, no wildcards back then.

    So it doesn’t bother me if this throwback is technically inaccurate, because the general design does reflect back to a another period of club history.

    Jimmy Orr, too.

    He became so famous for “Orr’s Corner” in Baltimore, and for standing wide open, waving frantically, in Super Bowl III that many forget he began his NFL career as the other wideout opposite the aforementioned shell-shocked Buddy Dial.

    1. The Steelers started wearing these throwbacks while celebrating their 75th season in 2007. Aside from wearing the 1933 unis for the NFL’s 1994 celebration, I think they’re the only throwbacks they’ve worn. From the Gridiron Uniform Database, it looks like they represent 1935-1965 pretty well.

    2. When did CBS start broadcasting NFL games in color?

    Weird non-uni sports note:

    Ray Emery’s dad is white. link

    like, WHITE white. And Ray isn’t adopted. Did not see that coming.

    (this isn’t racist, I just needed to share this.)

    FIFA still bans England from wearing Poppy on their kits on saturday, but will allow moment of silence.

    link

    Did anyone notice that the k state head coaches jacket last night had the holiday bowl onthe back?

    The hazards of working until 2am…

    According to nfl.com, IF the NFL Playoffs started tomorrow, the Number 1 seed in the AFC, with a first-round bye and home field advantage throughout would be:

    THE Cincinnati Bengals

    link

    Roll Pumkins!

    Greetings from busy Heathrow, gateway to the Sceptered Isle. As usual, loved the G&G retro show, and George Chilvers’ three little Mickeys would have brought a tear to the eye if I were that kind of fellow.

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