Sunday Morning Uni Watch

By Phil Hecken, with Terry Duroncelet

No, the splash photo isn’t from yesterday’s seizure-inducing Notre Dame vs. Maryland game (Terry will have more on that below), that’s the golden-domed Jenny Sweet, modeling the Notre Dame gold helmet that Paul received (and also modeled in Friday’s post) from adidas in preparation for yesterday’s game. It was one of the hits of yesterday’s UW gathering (Paul will have a full party write up during the week), and I think I may have been the only one not to try it on … I mean — who really wants RyCo’s sloppy seconds?

I kid, of course — it was a great party, and a bunch of Yinzers an entire Pittsburgh contingent, including Jenny, Ryan Connelly and Jason Bernard made the six hour drive to Brooklyn — totally unbeknownst to either Paul or myself until they arrived. Twas a great surprise. I’d never met Bernard or Ms. Sweet before, but they were a great, fun couple, and the party was a blast. Good to also see some of the NY regulars back at the old haunt again too. Anyway…on to yesterday (and the early week) games. Here’s Terry:

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I’m pretty sure everyone’s sick and tired of hearing about Sanduskygate and Paternogate and McQuearygate, so allow me to direct you to the front gate leading to today’s NCAA rundown.

• In the battle of the Technical Institutes on Thursday, the visiting Virginia Tech Hokies changed up their maroon-over-white look a little bit by *thankfully* wearing white socks (they usually wear black socks) and adding a white-orange-white NFL stripe to the helmet. And — as with recent VT protocol — the stripe was truncated in the back. That’s probably to accommodate for the Revo Speed helmet’s design. Also, VT head coach Frank Beamer (along with the rest of the VT coaching staff) was wearing a sideline coat with “Virginia Tech” going across the front rendered in what looks to be tackle-twill maroon lettering… in the same base-color as the coat. Why? Just… why? As for the other Technical Institute, one of the Georgia Tech players was having a TECHnical issue with one of the Ts on his helmet.

• Boise State wore last week’s white helmets, with orange jerseys and pants. What’s odd is that they were using the file tab jerseys from last year. So you’re willing to buy new grey jerseys for this year (different from the 2010 Pro Combats), but you don’t want to spend money to buy updated jerseys that use an actual school color? They did wear this year’s orange pants, though. [I’d say: blame Nike. — PH]

• Tulsa wore retro uniforms (not sure if they’re actual throwbacks) against Marshall. The look included a block “T” on the front of the helmets. Here’s the gallery.

• LSU had a non-conference game against Western Kentucky University, so we got a rare look at their purple jerseys.

• Louisville wore “patriotic” helmets for their post-Veterans (or is it Veteran’s?) Day game against Pitt (with thanks to David Greenwald for the second pic). Ditto for Rutgers when they played Army.

• Illinois wore orange against Michigan.

• Some of the Tennessee players had new compression shirts with some kind of slogan and the endzone checkerboard design sublimated on the sleeves.

• Five helmets are enough for Oregon, right? Yeah… what the hell was I thinking when I said that? Let’s throw in a new Jaguars-style helmet. It has the green-to-black/black-to-green pixie dust effect to it. Not bad at all. In that same game, the Stanford band — known for their unique sound and random drums — had a snare drummer with last year’s Pac 10 logo on his snare drum. [Also note the white “O” on the Oregon helmet — I think that’s the first time they’ve worn that. — PH]

• No photo, but New Mexico wore white helmets with the current Lobo logos on the sides.

• UCLA & Utah played in a snowy atmosphere in Salt Lake (thanks for the tip, Grant Pepper).

• Pitt State wore camo jerseys against Missouri Southern State University. Credit Luis Fernando Aranda for the tip. He also writes with “The red shoulder yoke I believe is a new addition as last year they wore similar camo unis versus MSSU. Paired with yellow pants, not the best look.”

• Phucking Phooey on Maryland for not swapping the shoulder designs. You had two months and a week to correct the error! Frackin’ idiots… -_- Oh, and Notre Dame wore this helmet (and slogan shirt) with their annual green jerseys in that same game. Not bad for the Shamrock Bowl, but I don’t think it would work as a full-time look. You can’t tell your team to “PROTECT THIS HOUSE!” if you’re not leading by example. Luckily, Maryland head coach Randy Edsall teaches example by demonstration… or something like that. And one of the ND players lost part of his compression shirt at the shirttail. I managed to catch video on it.

• What’s this? Two Pac 12 teams wearing their standard uniform combos? Who’s idea was this? Thanks to Phil for that pic.

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Thanks Terry — another great roundup.

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Colorize This!

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

Another smallish offering today, featuring (of course), the G&G Boys. So lets get right into it. Since he gets me his colorizations early, George Chilvers has been leading off, and will continue this week. Here’s George, a-hurling:

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Hi Phil

After some requests for this last week.

Funny what you see when you colourise though. I hadn’t seen the horse and cart in the original monochrome picture.

George

And yet another from George:

Hi Phil

This follows on from last week’s posting, and is another shot of members of the 1950 British Lions rugby tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1950, showcasing a variety of jerseys.

Following last week’s three Irishmen, we stick with the Celtic Fringe and have two Welshmen and an Irishman.

On the left in his amber and black Newport jersey is Ken Jones and in the middle in a training sweater (no fancy Adidas tracksuits then!) is George Norton of Bective Rangers and Ireland. To the right though (suffering a wardrobe malfunction) is Bob Evans also of Newport. However, he is clearly not in the amber and black of his club, and the distinctive pattern of his jersey makes me 95% certain it’s that of another top Rugby Union team, Leicester (now called “Leicester Tigers”, a strange name for a team who have no tiger colours!!). Once again, it may well be that he has acquired it from a colleague.

Original also attached, as it’s hard to link.

Best wishes

George

Thanks George!

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And the second half of the G&G tandem is Gary Chanko, with a mystery football photo:

Another vintage football image submittal this week and one of my favorite players as a kid. Shown here in this 1956 college photo, he went on to become a Pro Football Hall of Famer. Surprisingly his college career as a defensive back was probably just as notable as the position he played as a pro. Go to the B&W original link if you need help identifying him.

Gary

Thanks Gary!

OK, that’s it for this week. If you have a photo you’d like colorized, or just want to join in the fun, shoot me a line. Hope to see a few more colorizers (I know you’re out there) get back in the swing of it.

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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 Glenn Simpkins, with a correction, and some new tweaks:

Uni tweaking to share today:

Reds: a small correction to the tweaks of mine that were posted September 4, 2011 (road and home). Correction being removing ALL black and using the same shade of red for both jerseys.

The “I still call them ANAHEIM” Angels: New unis based on their late 70’s-80’s set: Home and Road.

With NNOB and TV numbers removed (which never have a place with arched lettering), their current numeral font smoothed off, and a “just to agitate the Uniform Gods” red so-called softball top, it’s perfect: Since the Angels are the red yin to Dodger blue yang, the red cap, belt, and sturups should be w2hat they wear with the regular whites and greys, and the blue ones should be worn with the red jersey.

Next go ’round, I have another stab at the Rox to send.

–Glenn Simpkins

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Next up is Jonathan Nisula, with an Iggles redux:

Phil,

I modernized the old “Randall Cunningham” era uniforms on DeSean Jackson. I eliminated most of the black trim and went with silver pants, along with tweaking the shade of green. Enjoy!

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And to close us down, we have Justin Dilks who brings back a one-hit wonder:

Hey guys, big fan of the site.

I heard discussion earlier this season that the Phillies were thinking of resurrecting the universally, and in my opinion unfairly, panned “Saturday Night Special” jerseys from 1979. I did a take on that, using the contemporary color scheme and logos. With the chest number, the sleeve numerals became unnecessary, so I decided to add the rarely-used Liberty Bell logo in the empty space.

I hope you guys enjoy it, it was a lot of fun making it.
—
Justin Dilks

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

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Benchies

by Rick Pearson

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The dangers of an equipment malfunction…

And, as always, the full-size.

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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…

I didn’t take a look at what is to follow, but I have a hunch Jim may have redeemed himself this week…let’s see:

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First things first.

Terp Tracker – Woulda been better with the shelmet…

Honorable Mentions to Oregon . . . State/California – Now *that’s* an Oregon team with a good modern font.

And to Arizona State/Washington State – Two more teams without athletic block font, Phil…

5. Marshall/Tulsa – Was going to pick Nebraska/Penn State…until Tulsa trotted out these throwbacks.

4. Navy/SMU – The horsey heads are going strong down the homestretch.

3. Ohio State/Purdue – Yet another good modern font!

2. Western Kentucky/LSU – Might have been #1 if LSU got to wear the white jerseys…

1. Texas A&M/Kansas State – …so this won out for having the better contrast.

And the bad one: Wyoming/Air Force – Too much white on a sunny day, and too much other stuff, too.

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Hmmm…not too bad, but I still think the clusterfuck seizure-inducing helmet mess that was ND/MD merited some strong consideration for the “bad one.” And you didn’t need to include THIS Wyoming getup just to make up for last weekend’s *unfortunate* choice. Those aren’t nearly as bad as this crap.

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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.

Jake’s been busy with the Duck Tracker, and he and I actually got into an almost heated discussion as to whether or not the helmet the U of O wore yesterday was actually a new helmet, or one they’d worn before. Jake’s got a *few* words about his updates and some good new stuff. Here he is:

Late in the 2008 season Nike presented The University of Oregon with a special uniform combination entitled “Lights Out”. They were nothing more than a BFBS uniform combination for the ducks. The uniforms featured “duck wings” on the shoulders of the uniform; this was the beginning of the modern “Wing” era. The only difference between this black uniform and the current one is that the “light out” uniforms had a silver NOB while the current one has a black on black NOB. Nike was conducting a test run of these uniforms, would the players and more importantly the fans like them? They would, merchandise sold very well, the players loved them, and won an important game all at the same time. With this positive reaction Nike now knew what the next generation of Oregon uniforms would look like. Late the next fall Oregon held a uniform unveiling and officially ended the “diamond plate” era. The new uniforms all featured the wing design on the shoulders of the uniforms. The color black played a more prominent role than before and the added color of “carbon” or silver stood out. They have been mixing and matching these uniforms ever since that date.

Oregon is famous for “never wearing the same uniform combination twice”, well at least not the same one twice in a season. Oregon wore a uniform combination last weekend that many people thought was the same as last years “civil war” combo. An argument took place in the comments over various things involving Oregon’s uni combos. So what I decided to do was to compile a chart of every single combo that they have ever worn in the “wing era” to date. I think that you guys will find this very interesting. Please give it a good look over and let me know what you think and if it was helpful.

Last night the ducks wore a strange helmet, green with a white “O”. Some people think it is a brand new helmet, I think it is their regular green helmet with a white logo. Here is some evidence to back up my claim. What do you think?

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And now, here’s the updated 2011 Duck Tracker.

Thanks Jake. Great stuff. Readers? What say you?

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And that will do it for this fine Sunday. Thanks to Terry D. and great to meet all the fine UWers who made the trek to Sheep Station yesterday (yes, even you Matt Powers). Have a great day, enjoy the NFL, and I’ll catch y’all next weekend. Cheers.

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“They should have had volunteers paint the field all-orange last night. The rules just said they couldn’t wear mono-blue on the blue turf. Didn’t say nothing about wearing mono-Orange on an orange turf. They could’ve gotten away with that at least once.” — Rob Holecko