The Yoke’s On Them

By Phil Hecken, with Rick Pearson

Well boys and girls — we’ve made it through another year. I hope it was a good one for you, and that all your uni-dreams came true. For the past three years, Uni Watch’s able sage, Rick Pearson has assisted me with our (now) traditional, year-end uniform quiz. It’s hard to believe the years have rolled by us, but here we are…about to ring in another new year.

Each year we try to stump you with a quiz about certain equipment oddities, certain classic sports movie quotes, and even sports guys who acted, but we haven’t done a true year-end quiz based on uniform quirks or signatures. Well, today, that ends.

I’ll post the answers at the end of today’s full article, some time in the afternoon — so you guys have plenty of time to place your guesses in the comments below. There will be 18 questions. If you can get all 18, well, then the yoke’s on us, isn’t it.

So let me turn the reins over to everyone’s favorite sexagenarian from the Twin Cities…my pal, Rick Pearson:

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The Yokes on Them…
By Rick, with research help from Phil

Well now…a lot of attention to the shoulders of Oregon’s Rose Bowl specials (hey, a girl can’t go to the prom without a new dress, right?).

Anyway, let’s take a look at 18 teams who over the years (and in a number of leagues) made use of their jersey shoulder yoke to help identify them…and see how many you can identify without clues such as, oh, I dunno, team colors.

Yes, a few slam-dunks in here. Some, though, definitely are not. Not saying we got every team that made a thing of yokes (as opposed to a yoke of things, which is a little too common these days), just a dozen-and-a-half to create a little challenge…

1. These guys avoided a white jersey for a long time.

2. From the WAAAAAYYYY Back Machine.

3. A one-year wonder.

4. Betcha this will be a toughie.

5. Not worn often, but unchanged for at least a decade.

6. Okay, an easy one, Boy Wonders.

7. “Who’s the leader of the club…”

8. Contrasting yoke only on the road whites.

9. Remember the “Brazos Babe”? Don’t worry, hardly anybody does.

10. Oldie. But goodie.

11. Yoke & Loops? (sounds like a breakfast food).

12. High flying indoors.

13. Yokes that run allllll the way down the sleeves.

14. Their originals, and consistently messed up in the throwbacks.

15. Stomping through the Indiana sycamores.

16. Remember this, um, “experiment”?

17. We’ve seen this one a couple times this year, nostalgically.

18. The chevrons sorta create a graphic hinting at their nickname.

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Thanks Rick! Now — study each photograph — use each ‘description’ as a “clue,” take a look at the fonts, facemasks, numbers — everything — they’re all visual clues. Use them to aid you in your guesses, and post them (even if it’s a guess) in the comments below. Lets see if, as a group, you can’t get all 18 — each time there is a correct guess (assuming either Rick or I am online), we’ll let you know when it’s correct. If you need an additional hint, don’t be afraid to ask.

Back later today with your 18 answers…enjoy. Well, that was pretty quick — you guys (in the comments) got all 18 correct. ANSWER KEY NOW POSTED AT THE BOTTOM OF THE ARTICLE!

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Um…yeah

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MoVi’s Year End 10 & 2!

And now the part of the post I wait up all night for WE wait all year for…

Jim Vilk’s greatest 5 & 1 of the entire FBS season — but it’s so big, so huge — that he gives us DOUBLE.

That’s right; instead of the 5 best and 1 worst, we get Jim’s 10 best and 2 worst uniform matchups spanning the entire 15 (or so) weeks of the season.

I have NOT yet looked at what’s to follow…and quite frankly, I’m scared. Let’s see how he did:

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It’s been a looonnng season, so today we have a long list.

Honorable Mentions to Navy/Western Kentucky — The Hilltoppers won the Most Improved Unis award this season.

And to Penn State/Temple — Once again, the Owls shared the Best Unis award with a team featured prominently in the Top Ten.

10. Marshall/Houston — Great throwbacks allowed this Christmasy-looking matchup to get us started.

9. Ohio/Rutgers — Had to throw a rounded number font (and another red/green matchup) into the Top 10.

8. Alabama/Penn State — Hooray for helmet numbers!

7. Tulane/East Carolina — Best hushpuppies I ever ate were in the ECU press box…and this matchup was almost as tasty.

6. Florida Atlantic/Florida — These Owls are just a feather behind the co-champs when it comes to best unis.

5. Ohio State/Michigan — I’d rather see helmet numbers on the Buckeyes instead, but this was still very good.

4. Air Force/Navy — Best Alt award goes to the Falcons.

3. LSU/Ole Miss — Temple can tie the Tigers for best unis, but they can’t top them.

2. Virginia Tech/Duke — The Hokies looked great in every one of their combos this season.

1. Florida/LSU — Color palette special of the year!

Dishonorable Mention to Central Michigan/North Carolina State — As I’ve said, if you feel the “need” to go pink for awareness or BFBS, just pick ONE.

And THE bad one: Miami/South Florida — Mrs. V. saw this matchup and said, “It looks like Candy Corn Man meets Lizard Man.”

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And that’s just about it for the MotherVilker…but not quite…we’ll have a look back at the Top 5 Bowl Matchups and a very, very special All-Oregon (just for me) 5 & 1 none on Monday, to get you pumped for the granddaddy. Thanks, Jim.

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New Bearcat Helmet & Boots

The Cincy Bearcats will be breaking out a special Liberty Bowl helmet and shoe. The ‘Cats new helmet is a black, matte finish, featuring the Cat’s Paw “C” on the left side, and TV number on the right. The shoes are also new — in shiny red, white & black. Dig:

(Thanks to Tommy Gelehrter for the tips & pics)

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50 Years Ago…This Weekend

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

Big set today, since — even back in 1961 — there were still a ton of end-of-year Bowl games (including Jim Vilk’s favorite, the Sun Bowl, which will be played today). Shockingly, none of the games were on ESPN. So here is the ever-indispensable Ricko:

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College football was back after a break for finals and the Holidays (imagine that). Four games this Saturday (Damn, what a treat in 1961, FOUR games to watch!!! In ONE day!!!), so I’ll keep the yadda-yadda as short as possible.

~Dec. 30, 1961: The SUN BOWL (Villanova vs. Wichita, syndicated)~

Ah, Vilk’s favorite game…even before there was Vilk, I think. And Villanova, too. … Wichita (don’t know why not “State”, except maybe that wasn’t the school’s name in ’61) was officially the “Wheat Shockers” and one of their colors was, also officially, “yellow”. I didn’t make up stuff, went with team colors, etc., as listed here. … I must have taken only a quick look at the game and made rough sketches to finish the card later (and not seen many close-ups), because I mistook the “W” on their sleeves for TV numbers. …Most any stirrups under crews you see (such as Villanova’s) were late season, colder weather additions. … Ask Joe Montana if it can get cold in El Paso this time of year.

~Dec. 30, 1961: The GATOR BOWL (Penn State vs. Georgia Tech on CBS)~

The Nittany Lions in royal blue. … With striped pants. … And helmet numbers. … And cold-weather striped stirrups. … Yeah, it’s gets chilly in Jacksonville. … Not all of Florida has Miami’s climate. … They’d worn those socks on the road earlier vs. Army. … Georgia Tech, for a season or two, departed from the old gold pants to go with white. … One of a small number of teams to opt for white jerseys at home, too.

~Dec. 30, 1961: BLUE-GRAY GAME (CBS)~

Was the blue navy or royal? How the hell do I know; was televised in black and white and I have yet to see a color photo from any Blue-Gray games of that era. … Went with navy, thinking they’d matched Civil War uni colors. … Players’ helmets were repainted solid gray or blue, though, that much I know. … Easy to tell because they all were the same color, and surely someone must have played for a team that wore a white or old gold helmet. … I see I noted Easterly’s helmet TV number still showing, though, so evidently the TVs showed through the spraying of blue (or he replaced them so he could still sorta wear his regular #17).

~Dec. 30, 1961: EAST-WEST SHRINE GAME (CBS)~

First of the post-season all-star games where players wore their own helmets, that I saw, anyway. … The “big name” post-season all-star game (if we rightly call the game in Chicago next Summer “pre-season”). … Biggest name on any of today’s CARDS is Gary Collins, who had a long and distinguished career with the Browns and played for the Florida Blazers in the first year of the World Football League.

Biggest NAME in the game was Heisman winner Ernie Davis (why they posed him as a passer, I have no idea).

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Thanks Rick! Of course, the biggest and best bowls are yet to come, and we’ll get to those in our next installment.

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Uni Tweaks Concepts

We have another new set of tweaks, er…concepts today. After discussion with a number of readers, it’s probably more apropos to call most of the reader submissions “concepts” rather than tweaks. So that’s that.

So if you’ve concept for any sport, or just a tweak or wholesale revision, send them my way.

Please do try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per image — if you have three uniform concepts in one image, then obviously, you can go a little over, but no novels, OK? OK!. You guys have usually been good with keeping the descriptions pretty short, and I thank you for that.

And so, lets begin:

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We start with Glenn Simpkins, who has some MLB concepts:

Phil:

It cant be said enough: Kudos to the Blue Jays and the Orioles in their new uniform sets!

BOO to the Padres and the Marlins downgrade in their new uni’s.

I especially think poorly of the Marlins entering the Giants/Orioles colorspace.

Anyway, more uni tweaks to share today & ready for posting:

Rox: per some feedback that I got when my “green Rox” tweak was posted on June 25, 2011, here is the same idea (NO times jersey wordmark, no pinstripes on the road) executed WITH purple: Home — Road — the ghastly-to-some purple alt, made better!

Texas: A cleaner look, less barbs on the lettering & numbers and no black drop-shadow: Home — Road. Maybe they’da stood a better chance against the Cardinals with these…

Finally, A Giants tweak: the ’83 to ’93 Road uni with the numbering and the hat of now.

Glenn

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Next up is Eric Zmrhal, with some tweaks for Da Bears:

Phil-
I’m a long time Bears fan, so naturally I think they have some of the best unis around, but here are some minor tweaks. I added white and orange helmets with some different socks (stripes necessary of course).

HOME
ROAD
ALT

Cheers,
Eric Z

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And we conclude with two concepts by Daniel Fisher, who I believe is the first to ever propose a volleyball concept:

Phil,

I have noticed a great deal of attention in uni-tweaking to the four major sports, both professional and college.

In light of this, I have begun a project focusing on both an overlooked sport (volleyball) and colleges with lower ranking teams (clubs).

My aim is to make simple, straight-forward designs that have no need for a home and away option since they will be unique enough for each team.

The first team I am tackling is the Bulldogs of Fresno State. Also included is a special jersey for the Libero.

More to come!

Dan Fisher

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Thanks guys. Back with more tomorrow!

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Benchies

by Rick Pearson

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Dateless tonight? There’s always the annual Bub’s Disco Ball Ball & Beer Bust”¦

And, as always, your full-size.

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And that will do it for this last day of the year 2011. ‘Twas a good year for some, a bad year for others, but hey if you made it this far…you’re ready to turn the page to 2012. I know I am. For me, a few high points and a few low points. Got a nice promotion & new title, finally joined Facebook (friend me, yo’), and generally am ending 2011 on a nice positive note. I don’t really have any resolutions, but I do want to thank the entire Uni Watch community for their generosity and support. I also want to give a shout out to Ricko, MoVi, Terry D. and everyone else who has contributed or helped me with a post/article. I wish I had more time to devote to UW these days, but it’s a great community, and you guys are the best! And of course, thanks to our fearless leader, Paul Lukas, for steering our ship and pointing us in the right direction, life-wise and uni-wise. You’re the best, buddy.

Oh, before I go — one last bit of shameless self-promotion good news came this week:

Only two classes to go!

Don’t forget to check back this afternoon for the answers to the quiz, and make sure to post your guesses in the comments — we’ll let you know which ones are correct throughout the day.

Have a great Saturday, enjoy the many bowls — and I’ll catch you next year.

QUIZ ANSWER KEY.

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“Thanks for another great year Paul (and the gang). Have a happy and healthy new year.” — Mike V.