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Full Speed Ahead

Army Navy 2012


By Phil Hecken

Once again, the Naval Academy proved it was the superior team, albeit just barely, over Army in the 113th edition of “America’s Game.” It was a squeaker, with Navy leading 17-13 and Army driving late in the 4th quarter…when Army fumbled and the Middies held on. It was the Cadets eleventh straight loss to Navy. So close.

Of course, on Uni Watch, the story isn’t about the Cadets atop Ranger 3 and Stryker, or holding a hoisting an effigy of the Veep (that’s the one on the right). In fact, Mr. Biden attended in POTUS’ stead and had the honor of the opening game coin toss. No. We’re all about the uniforms — and Nike once again created special unis for Army and Navy.

Instead of doing an extended recap of the game, though, I thought I’d turn to one of Uni Watch’s readers — who also happened to spend four years in the Navy — for his take on the A/N classic. So, today, I’m pleased to introduce to you Coleman W. Mullins — Navy vet, Mountaineer and Packers fan — who’ll give you his rundown of…

. . .

America’s Game
By Coleman W. Mullins

In a move that will surely get him fired, and possibly sent for a CAT scan, Phil asked me if I would like to do a review of yesterday’s battle between Army and Navy.

See what I did there? Yeah, it’s okay to say it in this instance because these guys actually, you know, go to battle. But I digress. This game always means a lot to me for two main reasons. I served in the Navy, and more specifically, I served on board the USS Annapolis, which is of course home to these guys.

Oh look, a birdie!

Ok, on to America’s Game: Mono-black versus mono-white has never looked so good. For the 11th straight year, Navy defeated Army, and in doing so, regained the Commander in Chief’s Trophy. There isn’t much about these two uniforms that hasn’t already been covered here at UW, but it was great to finally see them in action. I’ll simply go through my observations of both sides. As is tradition, the losing team sings first.

Army looked pretty darn sharp. The Battle of the Bulge theme looked pretty nice here, but not so much here. Minute details like that just don’t show up too well on a tv screen. One thing a really liked was the number treatment. I always enjoy seeing Army use their stencil font, and I personally had no trouble reading it, Stealth Font or not. One thing I am not a fan of is the gold that Army used for this uni, or more specifically, the helmet. I understand it’s a special uniform, but that color just didn’t say Army to me.

Now, for the victors! Navy went mono-white and looked wonderful. That shot shows something I didn’t even notice before the game. Those stripes going down the shoulder seem to imitate the shoulder boards of a Midshipman uniform. Very cool. I also enjoyed the font Navy used. Now about that helmet. What could have been a great looking piece was lessened by all this. I guess the flags spelling out “BEAT ARMY” are sort of cool, but when you add that to a uni number, the First Navy Jack, and a “get well” sticker in that small amount of space, it’s bound to look terrible. As Ricko pointed out last night in the comments, and I tend to agree, the helmet certainly brings to mind the Midshipmen’s cover, or “hat” in civilian speak.

That about does it for my first official write-up, please be gentle!

Oh, I also found this gem while looking up all these pictures that I simply couldn’t leave out. GO NAVY!

__________

Coleman W. Mullins was born and raised a Mountaineer fan (and hates the GFGS unis they broke out this year), bleeds Packer Gold & Green, served in the Navy for four years, and thinks Uni Watch is the greatest blog in the history of ever.

. . .

Thanks Coleman! Great job — and I appreciate the perspective of a naval man. Wait, what? Anyway — I tend to agree with that assessment pretty much 100%. Well…not quite. Loved Army’s “gold” (now that is what ‘gold’ should look like) and I have no problem with ‘stealth’ numbers (although the “Battle of the Bulge” theme, *cute* as it was, was completely unnecessary, and was only visible up close). I was not a fan of Navy’s number fonts (I thought they were too thin) and while I got what they were going for with the helmet — it didn’t work for me. I did like the ‘shoulder board’ treatment, but the Nikelace was awful.

One very cool feature I didn’t notice at first. Despite Philadelphia, where the game was played, being about mid-way between Annapolis and West Point, Army was the “home” team — which means that Navy supplied their own balls. So, they put the “BEAT ARMY” signal flags on the ball. Nice touch.

Well readers — give Coleman a nice round of applause for a nice writeup — and tell us — what did you think?

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Baltimore Colts Logo - Gary Chanko

Logo … a-Go-Go

You fine readers will recall several weeks ago I ran a post that featured Ricko and some of his ideas for creating MLB logo t-shirts. Several readers expressed interest, and one even turned this mockup into this reality. Good stuff.

Around that time, I got an E-mail from colorizer-extraordinaire Gary Chanko, who had an idea along similar lines:

Phil,

A few weeks ago you highlighted a set of vintage MLB logos from the Fifties. I thought these were terrific and wished for a set of NFL logos from the same period.

I started to look and easily found a few. But the resolution was generally poor for these bit mapped images. So I decided to create a new set based on vector graphics to eliminate the scale up problems with the jpg grapghics.

My team in the Fifties was the Colts, the real Colts from Baltimore. So I started with their team logo from that time period. (The graphic format is editable PDF) If there is reader interest I’ll continue to work on the vintage logos from all the NFL teams from this era.

Just let me know…

Gary

So — readers — are you interested in having Gary create a set of NFL logos for us? If so, drop me a line or say so in the comments below. OK? OK!

Big thanks to Gary for the offer!!!

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all sport uni tweaks

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.

Like the colorizations, I’m going to run these as inline pics — click on each one to enlarge.

And so, lets begin:

~~~

First up is Steve Wojtowicz who is missing hockey:

NJD ReDesign 4b - Steve Wojtowicz

Hey Phil,

I have been looking for ways to fill my time with no NHL hockey, so, attached are a few ideas I had for ways the New Jersey Devils could re-design their jersey’s. The home and road are basically exactly like their old “Christmas Tree jersey’s but with black replacing the green and the grey would be an alternate. It would be cool to know what you think. Keep up the great work.

Sincerely,
Steven Wojtowicz

. . .

Next up is Marcus Hershberger who’d like to tweak the Colts:

colts home - Marcus Hershberger

colts helmet 3 - Marcus Hershberger \colts road - Marcus Hershberger

colts alt 1 - Marcus Hershberger colts alt 2 - Marcus Hershberger colts road 2 - Marcus Hershberger

Hey Phil,

Here are some tweaks for the Indianapolis Colts. They haven’t had a uni change in a while, and I thought looked pretty cool.

Marcus

. . .

We close today with Andrew Seagraves, who has a bunch of suggestions on how to improve the SCar Am-Pac/WWP unis:

South Carolina Battle Grey - Andrew Seagraves

South Carolina Battle Grey Shoulders - Andrew Seagraves South Carolina Battle Grey Shoulders digital pants - Andrew Seagraves South Carolina Battle Grey full digital - Andrew Seagraves

South Carolina Battle Grey digital  - Andrew Seagraves South Carolina Battle Grey 2 white pants - Andrew Seagraves South Carolina Battle Grey 2 red pants - Andrew Seagraves South Carolina Battle Grey 2 black stripes digital - Andrew Seagraves

Phil,

I know I sent you a ton of links for my “Letter Front Jersey” obsession (my historical links to those uniforms is lost now photobucket has changed it’s tune) and with all you’re involved with I’ll keep my description of these brief.

As we were discussing the Battle Grey South Carolina tops, some suggestions in the comments section on Sunday (9/14 I believe) were made about how different pant colors could work if they were combined with the Jerseys. So, I took those suggestions to heart. I did tweak the jersey a bit so those shoulder stripes didn’t bug me anymore, and even changed the digital camo pants on a couple of sets so the stripes matched the helmet and the color of the camo wasn’t a navy blue grey. On a few I included camo in the area between the front and back shoulder stripes and did one set in complete digital background. The template I used was from Tim E. O’Brien and I kept his name on there to give credit.

Let’s see if they show the Grey top’s potential.

Cheers!

Andrew Seagraves

. . .

And that’s it for today. Back with more next time.

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Johnny Football. Congrats.

That’s it for this fine Sunday. Enjoy the pros today, and have a great week. Big Bowl Previews and Predictions coming up next weekend. Stay tuned.

. . .

“Navy’s helmets look like a pin my aunt would wear.”
–Jennifer Sweet

 
  
 
Comments (88)

    I guess I’m in the minority, but I think Army and Navy both received embarrassing uniforms, especially when a) this game is the paradigm of tradition in college football, and b) it’s not like these schools need these gimmicky uniforms to get attention.

    I know more people who tune into that game to see the new uniforms rather than the teams playing the game.

    Honestly, I don’t think Army or Navy were well dressed at all. Too gimmicky, too flashy, Army’s numbers had very poor contrast but I liked Navy’s single-color wide block numbers.

    But overall, they look like caricatures of the service uniforms. Sometimes a football uniform just needs to be… a football uniform. Another Nike fail.

    Is it just me, or does the Army/Navy game seem about the most inappropriate place to trot out the “Pro Combat” line? Or perhaps the most appropriate because they will be getting paid to fight in wars and such upon graduation…

    I’m really impressed with how well Navy’s “aircraft carrier” number font works on the jerseys. This is one place where drop shadows would have made things <a href="link better.

    “This is one place where drop shadows would have made things better.”

    ~~~

    shiga please…

    Agree.
    Long, long time ago (back in the days of ink and brushes) I cleaned the original Cowboys “football player on horse” logo. Have NO idea where that artwork is now, though.

    Yes, they did. But I’ve always thought that brown horse version was a later incarnation, perhaps for line art game program covers. Don’t remember seeing it much with the early Cowboys. I know at first the logo was simply all royal on a white background.

    (Just checked) Creamer’s site calls the brown horse version an Alternate Logo that wasn’t used until 1966. Cowboys first played in ’60, of course.

    Stupid dome.

    Without it, Bears-Vikings would be a major snow game today. TV saying four to five inches of snow by second quarter or so, and continuing through the afternoon with 6 to 10 inches total by midnight.

    But, hey, everyone knows weather isn’t supposed to be a factor in football, right. (eyeroll)

    Watching football affected by weather was one of the great pleasures of my childhood. The weather defined the NFC and AFC Central Divisions. Weather had so much to do with the games’ aesthetics. Sure miss that.

    And playing football in extreme weather conditions is invigorating. I don’t care what anyone says. It’s stimulating; the senses in overdrive for three hours.

    Meanwhile, in 1934 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, uniform details didn’t much matter in the Army/Navy tilt.

    At least you get to watch a real game, even if it is in a stupid sterile dome. I’m stuck with KC & Cleveland, because that game really matters.

    I found that article the day before the game while I was looking up old Army Navy pics. I saw that gem coleman posted of the 1944 game program. They had a video clip of that game too.

    Great job today Coleman.

    I liked the Army unis more than Navy. I think somebody yesterday posted what the color of the Army helmet was called. I prefer that shade of gold or the old style gold helmet Army used to use. The helmet they use this season, I do not care for.

    Yes, Ricko. Sorry about that. I went over my review after I sent it to Phil and thought “If I’m gonna say I agree with Ricko I should probably use the same photo”.

    Loved both uniforms:) Nike did a great job with the little details and didn’t go overboard.
    I’m a Army kid but the Navy uniforms stood out a little more ( sorry). But loved Army’s Battle of the Bulge theme and solid black uni’s. Till next year Go Army!!!

    I loved Army’s uniforms and wish the Saints would take a cue from them in redesigning their uniforms by eliminating as much white trim and going for a much more basic, warrior look. If you’re going to wear black then don’t do anything fancy. I thought Army’s unis were bad-ass…

    Shouldn’t the Saints, by definition, NOT be bad-ass? Maybe instead of mono-black, they should start wearing mono-gold.

    I guess the darker gold would be an improvement to their current look though.

    A dark GFGS New Jersey Devils uniform. Is dark gray a Devils color? I don’t see how it fits or helps their brand.

    “Hmm. Red jersey — good. Stupid spanish name with los in front of it — bad.”

    ~~~

    (fixed)

    “We found there’s an appetite with our fans that they love things with Los Rojos on it, because it’s fun,”

    No it’s not. It’s dumb. Too much of this A.D.D.-“we need to feel special for a game” alternate jersey business. Don’t they realize that future generations are going to see this and go, “WTF were THEY thinking?? They thought that looked good??” Just like bell bottoms, parachute pants, etc.

    Maybe the fans need to get better appetites. And for cripe’s sake, get all the black off the Reds caps & wordmarks.

    Well done Coleman!

    I wish Army’s sleeve stripes went the whole way around the arm. Otherwise, I can’t complain at all about that game.

    What no 5-1? Allow me to rectify that.

    (Excluding Army Navy, there were 3 other levels playing yesterday)

    5. link
    4. link
    3. link (Even though EWU plays on this: link)
    2. link
    1. link

    And these will be the And 1-Plus 1 because for what seems like the 19th straight year, two teams with purple as their main color will play for the D3 title. Yuck.

    link
    link

    Great job. Nice to see that someone recognizes championship college football continues to be played.

    yeah…i know there were other games being played yesterday, in fact, i watched the entire ODU/ga southern game — couldn’t but help think that if the game were in B&W, it might have looked like miama was playing alabama — love ga. southern’s unis

    was hoping ODU would have another 700+ yard passing game too

    Go Mt Union Purple Raiders. I like Mt Unions purple but as I said for Northwestern and TCU, wear white with it instead of black.

    One very cool feature I didn’t notice at first. Despite Philadelphia, where the game was played, being about mid-way between Annapolis and West Point, Army was the “home” team

    Um, the teams alternate the “home” designation each year. Do you not recall Navy’s all-blue uniforms from last year’s game?

    um, that’s why i put “home” in quotes

    just like the super bowl, despite being a neutral site, alternates “home” teams

    and yes, i know they alternate home/away designations every year when the game is in philly — where it usually is (83 or 84 times so far), but it’s also been held in chicago, ny, annapolis, west point…last year was in landover, md, and 2014 & 2016 will be held in ballmer (m&t stadium)

    Your paragraph structure created the assumption. You contrast Army being designated the “home” team with the contention that — contrary to the normal practice that the home team supplies the balls, like they do in baseball and basketball — Navy supplied the balls. Which is wrong. Army used their own balls when they were on offense.

    Thanks for the kind words everyone. I’ve looked through the entry a few times now, and I see where I could have made some better points, explained a thing or two in a little more detail, etc. All in all, though, I’m just happy to have been offered a crack at writing for the site.

    I did see a few more photos floating around this morning that weren’t available an hour or two after the game. Oh well!

    Phil/Gary,
    I would love to see more updated old-time NFL logos, specifically the Packers.

    Jets in white over green, Jags in all black. WE already knew this was going to be an ugly game, but Jeebus Fleebing Cripes.

    if teams are going to wear black pants (especially without “real” stripes), they have to flout the nfl’s low-whites rule…it’s about the dumbest look you could possibly have — plus, the jags are wearing teal cleats (or many of them are), so you have an entire black uniform, with white crew socks and blue shoes

    stupid, stupid, stupid

    think i’m flipping over to the bengals (in orange over white) vs. cowpokes

    I missed the New England game; Jets’ green trou appear to be the same wrong Army green shade as jerseys. Ych.

    Well, at least KC is wearing the red pants. The HoF patches are fucking stupid though.

    Attention professional sports leagues: WE DON’T NEED A FUCKING UNIFORM PATCH FOR EVERYTHING!

    So the Hall of Fame’s been around for 50 years. That’s great. Really, it is. I’ve been there a couple times and I really ought to go back again. But why the fuck do we need a jersey patch for it? If we absolutely must have a patch, shouldn’t it be worn in the preseason during the game -at- the HoF?

    I’d much rather have a couple weekends of a patch honoring the Pro Football Hall Of Fame’s 50th Anniversary than a month of pink crap for cancer awareness or a couple weekends of camo and stickers to “honor” the military.

    have the Titans always had these sky blue pants? at first glance(a very quick one) they look like the cowboys

    Yeah… it’s pretty much been the Titans’ default road uniform for the last 5 years. 2006 was kind of a weird year, the light blue pants came out of nowhere and the team wore 7 different combinations. From 2007 onward, the white jersey over light blue has been the default road uniform. They’ve done white over navy a couple times, but it’s really an oddity now.

    hmm i must not pay attention to the Titans that much. it just looks different for some reason

    It’s not. The giant cardboard head is that of Army coach Rich Ellerson, and it may very well be the last time that head sees any use after another loss to Navy to cap off a miserable 2-10 season.

    Ravens’ Dennis Pitta just got a very awesome smudge on the back of his jersey. Landed on the earhole of the painted DC helmet as he caught a touchdown.

    I don’t have any way to capture it but you can still see the endzone art for Georgia Tech and Florida State in today’s Falcons @ Panthers.

    You can’t see any of the other graphics from the ACC Championship Game, I guess they figured that painting over it in black would be good enough.

    I was surprised to see not even a mention of what Monti Te’o wore last night. I really no nothing about Hawaii or their culture but I was hoping to see something on it. Any thoughts? Also I thought it was pretty classy of the Manziel family to wear similar garb.

    Some nice jersey porn on Tony Romo today. The HOF has been falling off throughout the game and is now off completely. And part of his front number is ripped. Glorious.

    He should have someone sew it back on, it’s not like he’s ever going to get a chance to wear anything HOF related again.

    Do I wish they wore their regular looks? In most cases, yes. But the Army-Navy game is one of the few times I usually don’t mind these special costumes. They’re usually done mostly decently and not too over the top garish like those things South Carolina was wearing. As long as it doesn’t turn into something like the Maryland crap I can give them a pass. Since my grandfathers were in the Army, one was one of the many wounded at the Battle of the Bulge, and my father served at sea in the Navy it’s always a game I look forward to every year. I still wish they’d wear their regular uniforms though.

    I find myself pretty much in full agreement with Coleman on his opinions on the football uniforms in the Army-Navy game yesterday.

    The default gateway on my computer is being a real douche-nozzle right now, so I don’t know how long I can be on at any given time, but I’ll use this time to say excellent write-up by Coleman.

    I like the Devils sweater Steve. Shoulder yoke, classic striping and the gray works. Good job.

    And Gary, hell ya!

    Signs, signs, everywhere (on the sidelines) signs. ARMY v. NAVY Game

    Paul–please comment.

    Both the Army and Navy sideline crew were using posterboard signs with cryptic images. I recall seeing one with Washington D.C. landmarks (Lincoln Memorial statue, Washington Monument, etc.). and another using fast food restaurant logos (Wendy’s, McDonald’s etc.)

    Does anyone have any additional information on this quirk of the game?

    ANYONE NOTICE? In the pic of the coin toss at Army-Navy, the Midshipmen players have removed their helmets… the Cadets helmets are firmly panted on their heads.
    ???

    I really liked the uniforms Army wore in the Army-Navy Game.

    I’m also glad Army used a coppery metallic gold shell of the type that has been much more traditional for the Cadets than the pale yellow helmet introduced this season.
    I’d like to see Army go back to metallic gold helmets and old gold pants and alternate jerseys.

Comments are closed.