By Phil Hecken
And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for — the announcement of the ten…er, twelve semi-finalists in the “Cleveland Baseball Club Contest” in which readers were asked to submit proposals for a new name, logo and uniforms for the team currently called the “Indians.” Why twelve and not ten? Well, I probably could have included about 20 semi-finalists, but in the end the crack committee, combined with a heavy weighting of reader support, narrowed it down but not enough to include only ten…the last four or five were so close, rather than dropping two or three, I threw them in there.
To all those that didn’t make the cut — I don’t think there was a single design that didn’t get some support, and all the efforts were outstanding. Truly. But some of the designs had to be left on the cutting room floor, so to speak. And hey, I’m sure there are more than a few of you who are entered into the Washington Football renaming/relogoing contest, so perhaps you’ll be a semi-finalist in that one. I still haven’t even LOOKED at those yet. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves.
Following the announcement of the final 12, there will be a poll (huge thanks to my pollster, James Huening), in which you will be asked to select your THREE favorite designs. We’ll tally the results during the course of the week, and next weekend, the top three votegetters will face off one last time to decide the contest winner. Simple, right? Right.
So, who are our twelve? They’re below (again, in alphabetical roder) — what I’ve done is to simply repost all the designs of the semi-finalists as they appeared last weekend. Once you’ve given them a second (or third or fourth) look, the poll will follow. Remember, you can click on each design (in some cases there are several in one grouping) to enlarge for detail.
Good look to everyone, and next weekend we’ll have our final three.
Jeff Bahry:
…
Liam Burkholder:
…
Submission Description
Ron G. (who asked I withhold his last name)
…
Submission Description
Daniel Irwin:
..
..
..
..
..
Submission Description
Douglas King:
..
..
..
Submission Description
Antonio Losada:
Submission Description
Justin Myslinsky:
Submission Description
Joseph Obermaier:
Submission Description
Shaun Ploenzke:
Submission Description
Jeff Provo:
Submission Description
Nate Schimelpfenig:
Submission Description
George Teaford:
…
Submission Description
Well — there you have it. And now — take the poll below (again, big thanks to Jimbo Huening for putting it together):
Benchies
by Rick Pearson
The gamers do whatever it takes…
Click to enlarge
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:
We start with Marcus Hall, who yesterday gave us some Orioles tweaks, is back with a few more:
Hey Phil,
Wanted to clean up the Orange Alt (I eliminated the tail from the “s”, but didn’t clean up the jersey underneath, added one with striped socks) and add an all orange uni.
—
Marcus
Next up is Antonio Bradley, with a new idea for the Nats:
Hello,
I apologize for my lack of MS Paint ability, but I really do not like how the Nats, Padres, and countless other teams have a simple neck spoon with the logo on the jersey top. This is my attempt to create a truly unique uniform for the Nats, with an old school feel.
Antonio
We close with Sean1245, who adds a bit of hockey flair to NFL unis:
Hey Phil,
I saw in the ticker that the Browns were going to get third jerseys next season. While I do like their classic look, I tried giving them a more modern look.The first concept stays with the Browns tradition of having no logo on the helmet, but I gave it two stripes that run around the helmet and a matching stripe around the center of the jersey and socks.
For this one, I gave them a helmet logo (based off a nice logo that they use for other purposes) and did a more modern thing with some thin piping on the jersey.
Also, in honor of the NHL Playoff starting this week, I adapted the Bruins jersey to a football uniform. I wanted to see what it would look like and I think it looks pretty good. I’m not a huge fan of the monochrome look in football, but since the B’s wear yellow socks, they avoid the tights look.
Sean1245
Thanks concepters! Back with more next time.
Colorize This!
Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.
Last weekend, I mentioned I had received a boatload of colorizations from John Turney, and I’ll be running several more today. We’re also welcoming back (at least for today) both halves of the G&G Boys. So buckle your seatbelts…
Based on the positive comments to the new format, I will again be running the photos in this way — click to enlarge all of the photos below.
Beginning with several from John Turney, here we go:
This is another shot I found on internet. Rams at packers at Marquette field, 1952. I made the trees fall colors as they looked like they were losing leaves. I colorized it, then added a Fall orange filter in Photoshop then used a Kodachome filter from Alien Skin Exposure software.
Looks like to NFL teams playing in a back yard. Here’s a portion of the original.
This next one is full-size, so no need to click to enlarge (what follows is a picture of [possibly] POTUS-45):
Uniwatch posted this a while back. I went ahead a colorized it. In my day uniforms often had both red and blue stripes as piping, making kind of a purple color.
I then added a Alien Skin filter that simulates poloroid film, whic is what familes often used for snapshots such as this.
One more from John (again, this is full size):
Ezzerette Anderson of the Dons catch pass over AAFC Yankees in all Navy.
This was a newspaper photo, not a lot of detail, but gives some AAFC colors
Thanks, John – Great Stuff
Next up is Gary Chanko, who returns from his sabbatical, much like George did last weekend. Since Gary has a bit of a story (as always, which is most welcome), I’ll insert his images within his text:
Phil
Finally completed this colorization of an early 1900s [semi-pro?] ball club. I recall a Uni-Watch reader submitted the original image several weeks ago, but after some research I was able to track down the original source – post card print:
Equally interesting is the hand written note on the back of the card. Note the 1908 post mark date.
Both images can also be found here.
Unfortunately I was unable to develop more information about the Nebraska Cheyenne Indians Ball Club. There was another team during this era called the Nebraska Indians, but I haven’t been able to link the two teams despite much having been written about the Nebraska Indians barn storming events. For those interested in baseball history in the West, this article provides a concise overview, and does make a distinction between the Nebraska Indians and the various minor and semi-pro teams called the Cheyenne Indians. Perhaps there is a knowledgeable reader that can unravel the mystery.
Lacking any definitive info, the choice of uni colors was my own. The outfits could have easily been gray or even a shade of blue. I believe the tan fabric color also would have been correct for era and it seemed to “work” better for the colorization.
I like these old post card images and plan to look for more as a future project.
Gary
Great stuff, Gary, and welcome back!
We conclude today with George Chilvers, the other half of the dynamic G&G duo. This one is for Conn Nugent.
Phil,
Connie liked this picture earlier in the week, and claimed he’d been a good boy so could it be colourised. Well I’ve no way of knowing whether he has, and I suppose it depends on your definition of “good”, but as he’s always kind to my work here you go, Connie.
Chicago Bears, 1938, and I had to check out that the knee padding was inside rather than patches on top. I’ve gone with the Uniform database on this. The socks are of course awesome, but another problem in doing this was trying to figure out what the heck the thing to the right of the guy is. It looks like a building, but if so the windows have the strangest pattern.
You all just don’t understand the Angst involved in being a colouriser :)
Best wishes
George
And we conclude today with one more from George:
Hi Phil
Another one for you, a relatively small image this time.
This one ticks a few boxes for me. It’s a 1935-ish picture of an Aston Villa player. The jersey is actually interesting. It’s Aston Villa’s change jersey and the pattern is unusual for the time. Actually I think it’s quite stylish.
Note also that it is a wool-rib jersey, and the neck tie looks to be a type of tasseled cord rather than just string that was usual then.
But best of all is the player’s name – quite well known, he is “Pongo” Waring. How he got that nickname I dread to think.
Best wishes
George
Wow. Thanks fellows. Just really, truly amazing stuff. Great to have John contributing so much and to have the G&G Boys back again! I’ll have more Colorize This! real soon.
That’s No New Bull
Got a press release yesterday from Doug Hoffman, the Assistant Athletics Director for Media Relations of Utah State University, which announced the Utah State Aggies were unveiling a new brand and identity program. Pretty standard stuff.
You can read the whole thing here.
You’ll notice Nike is mentioned once in the first graf, twice in the second paragraph and in the third it reads “This branding initiative is another important step in growing our overall athletic program. Our new marks and branding program brings a crisp, modern clarity and consistency to our brand while honoring our rich history. I want to thank Nike and especially Nike President and former USU football student-athlete Charlie Denson for his passion and commitment to this project.”
OK…so Nike wrote this release. Interesting. Sounds like one helluva partnership. Hope they get at least 4 box seats and some of the concessions because I can’t imagine there is much of a merchandizing goldmine in USU gear. But maybe there is. Anyway, enough about that — what do the new logos and unis look like?
See for yourself:
So…how’d they do? I’d say it’s a tremendous improvement, since their old logo was much more cartoonish and stood upright, all muscular, with a scowl. The new logo looks more like, well, a bull. And the uniforms? Well, here’s what the old templated unis looked like. They’ve also been fairly plain and more templatey and pre-nike, kinda all over the place. So the new look, especially with the white helmet (there is also a blue/navy gradient helmet) looks nice. The road uni is also pretty staid. I like it. Looks like (at least from the pics) there is only one pair of white pants. And it appears the blue helmet will be worn with the road uni, while either the blue or the white lid will go with the home.
Nice job, Nike USU Nikeusu! Well done.
And finally…
Last night, uber-prospect (and someone many people consider to be a grade-A douchebag) Bryce Harper made his major league debut against the Dodgers. MAN! Boy, do his lower-leg stylings look great! Say what you will about him, but the kid knows how to wear a uniform (even if that uniform is a clownish BP top and the Braves home cap). More photos here.
Funny moment occurred during the game too — when Harper got his first hit, it just so happened that the idiots in the expensive seats missed it because they were doing the wave. Now, on every highlight show, whenever Harper’s first hit is shown, that will be in the background.
So, when the d-bag tweeted to his buddies he was “there for Bryce’s first hit,” they’ll have video proof that, “maybe you were there, but you didn’t even see it.” HAH.
That’ll do it for this fine Sunday. Don’t forget to vote, and give a word of thanks to ALL the concepters, and congrats to the semi-finalists. And a big thanks (again) to JTH for the poll. Peace.
When I was 10 I chose the Bengals as my favorite team based on their helmet design. And as you can probably guess, we’re not talkining tiger stripes. ;) — Jim Hamerlinck
Hmm. Another new uniform with a pattern on the numbers. If this is going to be the new cool thing to do, I can’t wait for the Bengals to go to tiger striped numbers.
I’ve noticed that, in the HD era, uniforms have become a lot more detailed. The number pattern is a nice selling point, but it also often shows up well on TV. I wouldn’t be surprised to see 10x as many in the next couple of years.
If you look at the gif of the “wave” during Bryce’s hit, the young “men” behind him are actually turning around and mooning the camera, not just doing the wave. ESPN has been showing a side angle of the hit instead, and MLB.com has a zoomed in version.
My OCD side can’t get past the fact that “deer” (not deers) is the proper pluralization of “deer.”
The Maple Leafs and the Red & White Sox don’t see what the problem is.
I think if you like the concept, you should vote for it anyway… removing one letter isn’t going to change the overall look.
Darn right. Take out that extra “e”.
Damn, talk about a missed opportunity. I need to go invent a time machine so I can submit a concept for “The Clevelanders”.
Yup, not the Cleveland ________ (anything).
Just “The Clevelanders.”
Name ’em after anyone and everyone who feels or claims some connection to the city.
Would be nothing wrong with keeping the colors, or just altering the unis a bit, etc. Lots of equity and long history of affection for them. After all, not totally re-branding the franchise or tossing aside the past, just changing the nickname. Still the same team with all the same memories.
Maybe if the Islanders move to Cleveland, they could be the “Clevelanders.”
Ohio with TWO NHL teams?? Wow. They barely even support the Blue Jackets as it is.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the Blue Jackets end up being the Cleveland Barons some day.
I have checked in my Chambers Dictionary which is the official reference for the UK National Scrabble Championship.
The plural of “deer” is “deer”. There is no entry for or mention of “deers”, and therefore whatver other dictionaries may or may not say, in the UK “deers” would NOT be acceptable in Scrabble.
A UK definition may not be relevant when discussing a baseball team – but we did invent the language :)
No, in English you add an “s” to make the plural when you’re referring to a group of people. This has been true since before Shakespeare’s time. One woodland animal is a deer; two are deer. One person on a team named for the woodland animals is a Deer; two are Deers. See every army regiment or ship’s crew in history, or see the Maple Leafs and Bisons and numerous other sports teams through history.
A Scrabble dictionary does not overrule six centuries of established English usage!
Now you’re just making things up
“you add an “s” to make the plural when you’re referring to a group of people”
Man –> men
Child –> children
Your argument doesn’t hold (besides the fact that in my 60 (quite educated) years I’ve NEVER heard of that)
I’m not being clear. When a group of people take a collective name from another thing, then the nickname is pluralizes with an “s” regardless of how the thing itself would be nicknamed. So if a ship is called HMS Astra, then the crew is knows as the “Astras” even though the plural of “astra” is “astrae.” And yes, if a ship were called the USS Golden Child, then the crew would collectively be called “Golden Childs.”
“Maple Leafs” confused me too, until I learned a little history.
You could argue that it would be like a different group of people. Peoples is a correct usage for different groups. Being a team would make you a part of a group.
A word not being playable in Scrabble doesn’t mean it’s invalid in regular everyday usage.
For example, “internet” is not playable in Scrabble. Yeah, that word’s TOTALLY bogus!
That’s because it’s properly “Internet”, and thus a proper noun. Proper nouns aren’t allowed in Scrabble.
Yes, I know the reason why, I just think it’s bullshit. NOBODY capitalizes “internet” anymore.
Because of this BULLSHIT reason I was denied a 131-point triple-triple bingo the other day. Not a good feeling!
I couldn’t get passed the “s” at the end of “Deers”. I love the design, the color…. the freakin’ “s” drove me nuts. I don’t care if it can technically be proven to be okay. I LOVE the design though. Hate the “s”.
I can’t believe how many amazing designs there have been to look out. The uni-watch readership is one talented group. Wow!
Why so negative on Brice Harper? Have I been drinking the KoolAid of recent interviews?
He’s kind of arrogant asshole. Unlike truly great players like Cobb or Ted Williams or Reggie or … wait, on second thought, why are we so down on young Bryce again?
Because he hasn’t earned his right to be a cocky asshole plus all the hype done by the media is sickening & he just eats it up because he’s a shithead 19-year old. Can’t stand this generation of look-at-me attention whores.
First, it’s ridiculous to hold “media hype” against Harper. If he doesn’t write it, then it’s not his fault. Second, “this generation”? How little we remember! Or does nobody else recall, say, the mid-1980s and Strawberry, Gooden, etc, or the 1990s, when we had young A-Rod? Highly regarded draft picks have gotten this kind of treatment, and have often responded like the overgrown teenagers they still are, since at least the 1970s.
I don’t see Harper telling the media to ease up or back off. Face it: he loves every single bit of it, and he’s going to use it all to his advantage to get as much money as possible in his future contracts. I don’t like cheerleaders & I sure as hell don’t need agents or the media doing it for players, either. The media does it because they think it’s their job (and they do this basically every year) to create hype for players just for the sake of getting people excited. The mere fact that he was only hitting .250 doesn’t justify a call-up at all & just reeks of some cheap marketing stunt by the Nationals.
The last thing we need in sports is some young punk-egotistical maniac who believes he’s greater than he really is.
I don’t get the over negativity I’ve seen either. He’s had LeBron-sized hype on him since he was 16, when he was dubbed by SI, “The Chosen One”. How would any of us react under those circumstances, and being subject to that much scrutiny in an age social media?
This is why I can’t stand SI or the media. You shouldn’t label young athletes the second coming of Jesus just because they need to fill a deadline. There’s a thing called humility & Harper needs it.
Were you this upset at Junior Griffery when he was the most hyped prospect in the 1980s and was also an arrogant SOB?
It was really cool the way he knocked his helmet off on purpose after rounding first. I think we were all happy to get a chance to see his neat haircut. Does he have a nickname yet? My vote is for “Mr. Awesome”.
I vote “FIGJAM” for Bryce Harper.
i absolutely love that first cleveland browns concept. looks amazing! nice work, sean1245!
Agreed. Those are the first acceptable modernizations of that uni that I could accept. Great job.
I concur. Great work! It’s a sacred cow but if The Yankees can break down and wear an alternate, why not The Browns?
While I prefer a more traditional look on football jerseys, I must say I can live with these Browns uniforms and helmets. Moreso if they were a third jersey. I’m not sure how the average Browns fan would react, though.
Someone will have to explain to me why “Cleveland Tribe” is any more appropriate than “Cleveland Indians”. Discuss.
William & Mary is still called the Tribe and theyre free of Native American reference. A tribe can be any collection of people.
Tribe (noun)
1. any aggregate of people united by ties of descent from a common ancestor, community of customs and traditions, adherence to the same leaders, etc.
Because a tribe isn’t specifically defined as Native American.
tribe /trīb/
Noun:
A social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties
It is a bit borderline, since I guarantee the fans would still do the Indian facepaint and stuff.
Warriors are also not specifically defined as Native American – you could use a GI Joe figure, Roman centurion, or Emmitt Smith – but schools have dropped it because they used N.A. imagery with it, and the connection is still in the mind. Same thing with Tribe, and I’m surprised neither William nor Mary has been called out for it.
True, though it’s much, much easier to use Warriors without Native imagery than it is for Tribe.
Im pretty sure the Utah State gradient pattern is Navy & Black on the dark helmet and on the white jersey’s numbers. The website said there are 2 helmets, 3 jerseys and 3 pants, so there is a Gray set, it was just kinda hard to see in the photos but heres the gray: link
I can’t vote. Actually, that’s inaccurate; I can, but I won’t. Every one of these designs is a winner.
Chicken! ;)
But seriously I think we are stretching the voting out a little more than needed. Instead of voting now for a top 3 then voting again, why not just use a point system? Pick a top 3 – 5 points for number 1, 3 for 2 and 1 for 3, the most points wins. If we somehow get a tie, then we vote again.
Why do the Tribe and Founders have the same logo?
That US-flag looking part is actually the city seal for Cleveland. link
Both concepts decided to borrow it for the uniform, kinda like how the Orioles & Ravens both borrow from the Maryland flag on their sleeve patches.
Ahhh, I did not know that. Thanks!
Nice work by all of the Cleveland finalists. My preference would be a hybrid of the Rockers (best name) and the top-hatted Wahoo (by far the best logo, and he easily could be dressed as a rock star). Or a hybrid of the best elements of the various Spiders designs.
I hate to be a hater, but most of those uniforms straight put me to sleep.
I want to see new ideas. Not recycled throwback styles.
I completely agree, MRB!
And wanting to see new ideas?
AMEN TO THAT!
Yep, these are brutally bad. Nobody with any real design skills (such as myself) is going to waste it on a low-rent contest like this. So you get these amateurs who recycle old clip-art style stuff into garbage.
El. Oh. El.
Wow. That was pretty harsh.
I will still say I agree with what MRB said, but I think X crossed the line just a tad.
You won’t stoop yourself down to enter a contest such as this but you’re willing to stoop yourself down to bag on them?
Should I kiss the ground you walk on as well, your highness?
(Don’t mind me it’s Sunday and I’m not in school)
I’m not an artist, and the revision tweaks aren’t really my thing. But I can surely appreciate the time and effort these folks put into it….I know it’s way above my talent level.
But you’re just a troll. So get offa this site if you don’t approve.
Clear?
I object to the Cleveland Founders logo, as it is a cartoonish looking white man, with goofy eyes and a silly grin. Clearly this is insensitive to white people, and borders as racist, portraying white people as some sub-human class subject to ridicule by the other races.
Indeed. I stand by my assertion from a few days ago that if Uncle Sam-Wahoo is acceptable, then Chief Wahoo isn’t offensive either. Sometimes a goofy smiling cartoon character is just a goofy smiling cartoon character.
Umm… ordinarily I’d stay away from a comment like this, because you may be stepping on a hornet’s nest here, but I’ll let others go there if they want. All I’ll say is, the 1:1 comparison only makes sense with all else being equal, which as we all know, it is not.
I still think the real underlying issue is the name.
If Indians is acceptable, then I fail to see why a cartoon logo is offensive. I see a smiling cartoon character, what the hell do you see? What features does Wahoo have to mark him as an Indian – a feather and red skin. Is that really wrong? I mean, how else would you draw a cartoon Indian if your color palette is limited to red, white & navy?
If you render Wahoo with a patriotic top hat, he becomes Uncle Sam-Wahoo. If you render him with a horned helmet, he’s a Viking. If you give him a 10 gallon hat, he can be a Cowboy. Why does he suddenly become “offensive” if he’s an Indian, if Indians is an acceptable name?
I understand if you feel that Indians isn’t acceptable, but that has absolutely nothing to do with Chief Wahoo.
I just don’t think all caricatures are created equal. I also think that what is “offensive” depends a great deal on who is offended and why, and who is the offender and why he offends; i.e., I don’t think anything can be objectively “offensive” or “inoffensive.”
I’m not an Indian and I don’t personally find Chief Wahoo offensive, neither am I saying that the caricature is objectively offensive. I just don’t think it’s fair or reasonable to make or imply a 1:1 relationship between Indian Wahoo and Uncle Sam Wahoo, because the context (a) is not the same and (b) matters a great deal.
It’s offensive because it’s straight from the tradition of racist Indian caricatures that exaggerate specific stereotypical ethnic features, particularly the hook-nose and the buck teeth. It’s the red version of a Sambo.
Also, why is “Tribe” acceptable if “Indians” isn’t.
Great article here: link
^Read the description for the submission, or the thread a few comments above. Tribe is not exclusive to Native Americans (see 12 Tribes of Israel, or the definition of Tribe).
tribe /trīb/
Noun:
A social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties
The badge worn on the sleeve features the colors of the other 2 teams in the city, at the center of the badge is the city seal. The only imagery that would be used would be directly tied to the city itself and letters (the C and the T). It’s all in the description.
Not to say they look bad, but the softball top + stirrups doesn’t feel right. I think it’s because too much color. Stirrups with white and grey balance the tame uni colors with the cap. With a bright red top, it feels like too much.
Why do you hate color?
Why do you hate white & gray?
Because white and gray are in complete opposition to the concept of Team Colors?
“Our team colors are royal blue and orange, but our uniform is 97% gray.” Brilliant.
Yeah you don’t get it. Uniforms aren’t supposed to be 100% team colors. Come on.
but you would expect them to be more than 3% team colors wouldn’t you… I don’t get the disdain for so called softball tops, I get not liking some (I like the Braves blue alts, but I understand why they are unpopular), but there are plenty out there that are gorgeous and nice breaks from the white and grey options. For instance the Orioles orange alternates are gorgeous (granted they have some pretty crummy black ones).
Dark tops over white or gray pants just looks ridiculous for a baseball uniform. I think the Boston Celtics would look equally silly if they took the basketball court with a green jersey and white shorts.
maybe if the pants wern’t gray it would be better. but half color, half gray looks like crap.
Exactly. If a baseball team wants a red jersey, wear red pants, too.
doesn’t have to be red. Red shirt, blue pants, white pants, something.
Holding onto the gray pants tradition but not the gray shirt looks bad
Grey shirt + grey pants = classic
Red shirt + colored pants = probably good (see nhl, nfl)
red shirt + grey pants = confused and uncoordinated.
I teach a grade 11 class and showed the movie. When we, as teachers, ask questions about the appropriateness of the content, we must ask ourselves and those who might support complaints, “what did you think a movie or play about Macbeth would look like?” The play contains violence, “real” witches, with a healthy dose of sexual and psychological content. That said, I think the closest I came to thinking about censoring it was during the Porter’s scene when he opens the gate for Macduff. The Porter makes some overtly sexual movements, including hip gyrations, before and after relieving himself in the sink. Don’t worry, no full Monty. It is questionable, but, you know, it is a taste of what Shakespeare’s audience would have experienced, in terms of bawdiness.
Not the Roman Polanski version … ?
Sorry “deers” is wrong. 1 deer, 2 deer, 3 deer. Unless the designer meant “dears” as in more than one sweet, elderly baseball player…Even with the correct plural, deer is not a good name for a baseball team.
Agreed. Nobody says “deers”; not ever. “That’s some sure fine hairs on them deers over there”.
Not to mention what you could rhyme with it.
“Marlin” is already plural. No one is jumping on that one.
ESPN running a piece on RGIII’s introduction in Washington. The were interviewing him in the locker room and there was a Skins throwback uni hanging in his locker. It was the Lombardi-era darker maroon jerseys with the gold helmets with the R inside the circle
USU thoughts:
1. Love the collar on the blue jersey;
2. That white jersey will look pretty weird late in a September or October game with the bigger and more intricate sweatbox on the front;
3. Now that sleeves have been effectively removed from football jerseys, the collars and the numbers are increasingly going to be where teams try to stake out their own unique looks.
“… Great stuff, Gary, and welcome back!…”
It is really great stuff, Gary. That Cheyenne Indian team photograph is historically important and aesthetically compelling, and you’ve done it justice.
“… Phil,
Connie liked this picture earlier in the week, and claimed he’d been a good boy so could it be colourised. Well I’ve no way of knowing whether he has, and I suppose it depends on your definition of “good”, but as he’s always kind to my work here you go, Connie.
Chicago Bears, 1938, and I had to check out that the knee padding was inside rather than patches on top. I’ve gone with the Uniform database on this. The socks are of course awesome, but another problem in doing this was trying to figure out what the heck the thing to the right of the guy is. It looks like a building, but if so the windows have the strangest pattern.
You all just don’t understand the Angst involved in being a colouriser :)
Best wishes
George…”
George is too nice to me, of course, but we’re all the beneficiaries of his technical skill and that rather unnerving idiosyncrasy of worrying about kneepad authenticity. George could also have been dead drunk when he composed his kind note. His Wigan footballers won again yesterday, against a top team, and they won big (4-0). So I wouldn’t be surprised if he were to have celebrated with the classic North of England joyful gesture of elbow bending.
Scott is right, mostly, about that pluralization thing. I think. But to me, the one big inexcusable lapse of the linguistic Mother Country is when the Brits use a singular noon to go with a plural verb. When speaking of the English team playing in an international soccer match, sportswriters and fans say “England were in great form yesterday while Russia were obviously nursing a giant hangover.” Can’t stand it.
“George could also have been dead drunk when he composed his kind note.”
~~~
so that explains it
Or you could consider that George is ALWAYS dead drunk….;)
Thanks.
I love the English use of plural verb forms with collective nouns, e.g., “England were in top form…”
agreed…love it when i hear phrases like “the audience were laughing” or “the crowd were cheering”
or the like
Ron G. didn’t even design an away uniform and he’s a finalist? We can only assume he intends his Spiders to wear white for every game. Sheesh!
And I think his logo would look a lot better if the web was white. Red on navy blue doesn’t have enough contrast and a white web would really make the logo pop. As far as the secondary logo, I’ve never seen a spider with an abdomen that big. When I first looked at it I thought it was a spider standing in front of a baseball (and I imagined the spider was about to get squashed by the baseball rolling on top of it). The stitches forming a “C” completely went over my head and I didn’t notice that until I read the submission description.
Also, Ron G.’s concept looks really, really similar to Shaun Ploenzke’s in many ways. Was it really necessary to include them both???
So vote for my concept instead. ;)
HOLY CRAP! I just noticed in Ron G.’s logo there is a subliminal arrow in the negative space pointing to the center of the web:
link
If that was intentional, that is pure genius!
Reminds me of the subliminal arrow in the FedEx logo:
link
The FedEx arrow points towards the right, Ron G.’s arrow points towards the left.
HOLY POOP!
I actually voted for Ron G. because of the cap logo. It’s pretty nice. That negative space arrow is pretty freakin’ sweet. Glad I voted for him.
What does the arrow have to do with Spiders, tho? Given the web design, this may had been accidental. Even Shaun’s web-C logo has half an arrow in it.
The arrow is pointing towards the web, implying movement towards the web, and everyone knows anything that moves towards a spiderweb gets stuck in it. Therefore, it implies that your opponent will get stuck in your web and then devoured by the spider, your mascot. Also, the fact that the arrow points directly to the center of the web, where a spider sits and waits, makes the subliminal arrow THAT much more genius.
If Ron G. mentioned any of this in his submission description I TOTALLY would’ve voted for him.
It would had been interesting if someone had somehow incorporated the web in a baseball glove since it is called webbing.
I’ve been on The Ron G Bandwagon form day one. The arrow only reinforces it. Kinda like the classic Brewer Logo forming a glove. This rebranding contest has been great. Good to see it being picked up by other outlets. Deserves to be exposed to people outside our circle
Yeah no bitterness there.
No offensive at all HHH, your concept reminded me a lot of the Brooklyn Cyclones with the roller coasters. Just saying.
or offense, I mean.
No offense taken, but I was indeed aware of the Brooklyn Cyclones before I came up with my concept, I just didn’t look at their logo before I designed mine.
Now that I’m looking at their logo, the only similarity I can see between the Cyclones logo and my logo is the inclusion of roller coaster support beams.
But the Cyclones are a minor league team. What’s wrong with a Major League team and a minor league team having similar branding? Also, my team had a completely different nickname, it’s not like I called them the Cleveland Cyclones.
Moreover, there are major level teams in the same league that have similar mascots. Look at the NFL: 5 different teams have a bird mascot. Don’t even get me started about “big cat” or horse mascots.
So is there any significance to a Major League team in *Cleveland* being somewhat reminiscent of a *minor* league team in *Brooklyn*? I don’t think there is.
It’s one thing for minor league teams to mirror MLB clubs, it’s another if it’s vise versa. The fact that the Cyclones are credited for reviving baseball in Brooklyn since the Dodgers left is no small feat in itself.
I’m just saying that the roller coaster support beams is a pretty unique symbol for a logo & one that was not unprecedented, that’s all. I just think people could draw conclusions to the Cyclones and would knock Cleveland from drawing inspiration from a minor league club.
The Raiders and Buccaneers are probably the best examples of two teams in the same league having similar mascots. Did Al Davis have a conniption fit when Tampa Bay came to be?
I’m sure he did. The guy was sue crazy! Is that why the Bucs switched from the AFC West to the NFC Central after their first season? I’m sure Al LOVED having another pirate team in his own division of all places! I’m surprised he didn’t add “The REAL Pirate NFL Team” as a slogan in 1976. I mean, didn’t he want to sue the Carolina Panthers just because they had silver and black in their uniforms?
I think the switch had more to do with the Bucs being in central Florida than anything. Why they didn’t put the Seahawks in the AFC West in the first place, I’ll never know. Besides, divisions are a fallacy anyway. They’re designed solely to sell T-shirts and hats.
If anybody sees this:
The two expansion teams played one game apiece against each team in their conference and home-and-home with each other the first two seasons. It made sense to put them in the conference they played in, knowing that they’d switch conferences after 1976 and each play every existing team once in those first two years.
When the visiting team is wearing BLUE, why on earth would the marketing department of the home team give away BLUE T-shirts to the crowd?
This one’s for you, Oklahoma City!
link
(although truth be told, what big time marketing genius would chose to work in Ok City?)
Reason #47 why mandatory “white at home” rules should not exist.
I still don’t know if the Thunder’s primary color is blue, orange, or yellow.
Agreed. They should have given out white shirts.
Also the NHL should bring back white at home.
NHL should do what they did in 1991-92. White at home first half of season, dark at home second half of season. Then alternate year to year with white at home even years and dark at home odd years for Lord Stanley’s run.
Or bring back white at home full-time, the old 4 Norris, Smythe, Adams & Patrick divisions & basically everything the way it used to be before overexpansion & Bettman ruined it with his brand of stink.
+1 (to concealed)
Love the Browns tweak with the helmet logo.
I wanted to vote for the Blue Socks based on the idea. A bunch of socks on a spider is awesome. But the whole uniform lineup looks too much like Columbus Blue Jackets turned Minor League Baseball team. It’s a clean presentation, and will get plenty of votes— I just don’t need another team to look like “that”.
Hey you posted a reminder for the Hornets rename contest but the deadline was a few days back. Or did you mean the deadline to be May 27?
Does anyone else find that the round Cleveland Founders logo looks a lot like President Obama’s campaign logo?
And numerous others we could find, even (sorta) a Super Bowl logo from a couple years ago. Not an at all uncommon treatment of the flag’s stripes.
This, for example…
link
Obama’s campaign logo reminds me more of the Bank of America logo.
Just when I was beginning to think that the new Seahawks unis would be the worst we’d see from Nike this year, they’ve managed to link
Gary, I was the one who found that photo on a site that was posted a while back. It was after all the talk about Indians names. Great job colorizing.
And as usual a great job by John and George and keep them coming.
Jeff Bahry’s design skills are indisputable. However, I cannot in good conscience vote for Cleveland’s MLB team to adopt the name of a defunct WNBA franchise. Frankly, putting this contest aside, this board would be up in arms if the Indians announced out of the blue that they were changing the name to the Rockers. Arena football? Fine. AAA baseball? Go for it. American League Central? No thanks.
Also, I love the creativity behind the Founders “Uncle Sam” logo. I think a certain other American League franchise would have a problem with the top hat, though…
I’m in love with the hockey concepts for the American football uniforms.
Me too!! I would love to see more of those out there!
I rarely comment on the colorization, mainly because “wow that’s cool” isn’t an interesting thing to say once, much less every week. But this week’s set is particularly awesome. Love how the red and greens of the background make the setting pop in the Rams-Packers one.
The new (well, not really new anymore, but you know) format is awesome, too. I’m sure it’s a lot of extra work, but I’d love to see at least some tweaks given the inline-image treatment too.
Thanks, I did forget to mention that on the Rams-Packers I added a “Technicolor” Filter as well, so that is why the colors are so rich. Also, there is a bit of an orange hint to Rams jerseys . . . on other versions of that I have less color . . . but the one comment I was hoping for was the 1950s car in the bottom left corner . . . I made it a peach color, but was hoping some car buffs would know what make and model it is.–JT
(also I posted this comment after wrong comment)
Utah State Aggies – the logo is a definite improvement (tho initially I thought of financial broker link and link ) but of course like all new logos, it has really thick lines & sharp jagged points on it. The uniforms are still pretty awful.
Thanks, I did forget to mention that on the Rams-Packers I added a “Technicolor” Filter as well, so that is why the colors are so rich. Also, there is a bit of an orange hint to Rams jerseys . . . on other versions of that I have less color . . . but the one comment I was hoping for was the 1950s car in the bottom left corner . . . I made it a peach color, but was hoping some car buffs would know what make and model it is.—JT
John is right about the Rams and Packers colorized picture. It does look like they are playing in a backyard.
Jeff Bahry’s Rockers logo reminds me of two things:
1) Johnny Rockets
link
and
2) The Hard Rock Cafe
link
I’ll leave it up to Uni Watch readers to decide if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
Yeah definitely not bitter.
“Bitter” might be too strong of a word, but I WILL say I’m definitely surprised I’m not a semi-finalist.
I mean, my Coasters concept got A LOT of positive feedback in the comments. Jim Vilk himself said my logo was his favorite.
This reminds me of the backlash from Uni Watch readers after the “Design an NFL Jersey” contest semi-finalists were revealed. My Arizona Cardinals flag jersey was repeatedly bashed in the comments and yet it somehow made the cut as a finalist. Likewise, other jerseys I was SURE would be finalists because of the onslaught of positive comments didn’t make the cut even though it was said comments would be given heavy consideration.
So when it comes to these contests here on Uni Watch, you really can’t be sure what the semi-finalists will be. You definitely can’t guess based on reader feedback.
Jim Vilk also eats ketchup on a hot dog (couldn’t resist, Jim).
I figured if anything, the Rockers concept had going against it was the name of someone who was the most hated MLB player (for awhile).
“Jim Vilk himself said my logo was his favorite”
~~~
which probably worked against you, on any number of levels
I agree with Triple H, why isn’t my concept in the final 12?! I saw my name get mentioned, therefore, PRIZE ME!
Just kidding, I’ll get my victory in the Washington rebrand.
Hey Ricko. I found this 1967 Minnesota vs Indiana color picture last night. Tim E. O’Brien posted an early Hoosier pic from the site.
link
Just perfect day @ AT&T Park. Giants wearing the orange bill Sunday only cap. I think the orange/black should be the full-time home, the all-black for the road.
And bring back the 80s retro look!
I think Cleveland Rockers is a great name, and I like the use of the guitar to underline the logo. However, I have to wonder if MLB would want to have a team called the “Rockers” when they already have a team called the “Rockies.” Apart from the CFL’s well-known Ottawa/Saskatchewan thing, has any major sports league ever had two teams with such similar names?
Bulls/Bullets?
Canadiens/Canucks?
Red Sox/White Sox?
I can’t think of any others. If course “Rockers” and “Rockies” are not thematically similar. There are plenty of those; Colts/Broncos, Raiders/Buccaneers, Giants/Titans, Lions/Panthers/Bengals/Jaguars, Magic/Wizards, Indians/Braves, Yankees/Nationals, and nearly half the USFL (Outlaws/Bandits/Gunslingers/Wranglers/Gamblers).
If Arena Football counts, they had Rush and Crush. I think they even played each other for the Arena Bowl once.
I’m glad to see I’m not the only one who detests the wave. To me, it’s basically telling the players that you don’t care what’s happening on the field. I refuse to do it whenever some drunken idiots try to start it at the game.
I wonder if one solution to counter it would be to start a second wave and send it in the opposite direction, such that when the two waves meet, the fans are confused about having to jump up a second time, thereby causing it to die out. Fight fire with fire, or something like that.
I agree the wave has run its course, but I don’t think the concept is a bad thing. Interactive entertainment for the fans makes the whole experience better. I love the singing and chants at soccer games.
They’re still doing it at Fenway Park, which supposedly has the most knowledgable fans in baseball.
I wonder if one solution to counter it would be to start a second wave and send it in the opposite direction, such that when the two waves meet, the fans are confused about having to jump up a second time, thereby causing it to die out. Fight fire with fire, or something like that.
Fans at Tiger Stadium were exceedingly expert at waves. Double waves, upper deck/lower deck in opposite directions, slow motion, inverse waves (everyone stays standing and quickly sit down to create the wave), etc.
Frank Robinson’s #link was still on the field today, one day after the unveiling of his statue at link link
link
Orange Hats Held Hostage – Game 21:
link
Stay tuned to this blog for further developments.
I’ll go to bat for HHH. Not just bitterness on his part. He is right. I am a fan of simplicity, so his Coasters design didn’t appeal to me. But it was original. I guess this contest was really about who could name the team the Spiders and keep the uniforms as similar to the existing unis as possible. We now have three Spiders unis that all look very similar, and a Founders entry that also looks similar AND pays homage to the most offensive image in sports. At least the other entries are good picks. I hope the Redskins contest awards more points for originality, rather than rewarding designs that clearly cater to a fan base that is unwilling to let go of the past. How sad that a contest to that could have rewarded progress on this important issue ends up rewarding entrants who apparently love the good ol Wahoo wearin’ Injuns of the past.
Interesting point. I guess I was thinking that the teams wouldn’t want to throw away the non-offensive parts of a team identity (team colors, for instance) even though they change the name. They might be more likely to make the change if they can do it the way St. John’s here in NY did, when they went from Redmen to the Red Storm. And for some reason, I’m more tolerant of the Indians historical color and design schemes than with those of the Redskins (I don’t know why that is).
The “Utah State” and “Aggies” text looks a little too much like what Penn State uses but other than that i’m loving the uni re-design
I had no idea that playing around with Chief Wahoo would generate such a reaction. I was being a little tongue-in-cheek, but I guess it goes straight to the question of what is offensive. Is it the name or the portrayal/mascots or both? Is contextual or just offensive on its face? And is anything of the current identity for these teams salvagable, or does it all have to go?
Honestly, I had been looking at a lot of Uncle Sam pics for the Redskins contest, and noticed he (Uncle Sam) was often portrayed with a big nose. When I looked at Chief Wahoo, I thought, you know, with a top hat….
I really just want to say thanks for including my design in the top 12! I thought all the designs were great. I couldn’t make a spider logo look anything but ugly, but these guys succeeded. And the name thing really drove me nuts, with so many good team names already used by former and current Cleveland franchises. Can’t wait for the Redskins results.