And Now…Your Final Five SBXLVIII Logo Contenders

By Phil Hecken

Last weekend, Uni Watch proudly displayed 30 (count ’em) submissions for a possible new logo for Super Bowl XLVIII. After a week of voting in which more than 8,000 votes were cast, the list has been narrowed down to the final five. After a final look at the five finalists’ entries, you, the reader, will be asked to cast your final vote for your favorite.

We’ll now look back at the final five, in order of number of votes received (click on each logo to enlarge):

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Jason Villanti
(1,102 votes)

[No Description]

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Derek Reese
(1,059 votes)

The Lombardi Trophy is front and center, joining a skyline of the Empire State Building and Citigroup Center, with the GW Bridge leading to MetLife Stadium in Jersey. Blue and green color scheme for the Jets/Giants, but unique shades of each to give the game it’s own identity.

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Gary Chanko
(837 votes)

Conceptually I wanted the design to leap out as New York. First I placed Lady Liberty carrying a football on the Lombardi trophy pedestal.Then the logo was wrapped in an outline to echo the landmark Chrysler building and finished with New York appropriate colors and a snow filled skyline.

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Sam Stuber
(781 votes)

Hey, here’s my logo for the first outdoor, cold-weather Super Bowl! I’ll just let the logo speak for itself :)

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Daniel Gold
(665 votes)

This logo pays homage to the first game in cold weather with the roman numeral x doubling as a snow flake. It offers hints to NY with the i as the Empire State Building and “Gotham” typography used throughout. Stars fit into the skyline, and represent the NFC and AFC.

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So, there’s your look back at the top 5. Now it’s time to vote. Please give another big round of thanks to James T. Huening for this poll. We’ll keep the poll open for a week and the winner will be announced before the Super Bowl!

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Thanks to all who participated and good luck to Jason, Derek, Gary Sam and Daniel. Make sure you vote for your favorite!

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Putting a Bow on the Bowls, Part II

We’re now ready to bid adieu to our Sunday Morning Uni Watch for the 2012(-13) season, as Terry “TJ” Duroncelet completes his wrapup of the final sets of bowl games for the year. If you missed Part I of the roundup, look here. So, for the final time this bowl season, here’s TJ with his…

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College Football Bowl Game Roundup Part 2
By Terry Duroncelet

We have now arrived at the end of the bowl game season, which also marks the end of the 2012 NCAA football season. It’s always bittersweet, but hey: these guys are also students. So before we let them off their merry way to receive their degrees, let’s go through all of the games from New Year’s Day and beyond.

Heart of Dallas Bowl (held Tuesday, January 1st, 2013); My mind has a habit of analyzing the smallest connections. Like this bowl game: Oklahoma State University (in Stillwater) calls their athletic teams the Cowboys, and Dallas has an NFL team called the Cowboys (even though JerryWorld isn’t exactly in Dallas), and all-around awesome man Drew Brees (who went to Purdue University [Okie St.’s opponent in this bowl game]) was named after Dallas Cowboys WR Drew Pearson. It’s like the “stars” in Dallas aligned or something! Anyway, the Not Dallas Cowboys dressed in black from head-to-toe (an aesthetic repeat of last year’s orange bowl against Stanford), while the Boilermakers went with their usual gold helmets atop a mono-white road uniform. Also, while searching for those photos, I found this. Oklahoma State would come out on top.

TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl (held Tuesday, January 1st, 2013); New uni elements from both parties. The Northwestern University Wildcats had a new helmet for this game: a matte-black helmet with a monotone ‘N’ on the sides (helmet numbers were in a similar style). This was paired with their purple jerseys and black pants (poor lighting, but it was the best one that I could find). The Mississippi State University Bulldogs also changed things up a bit as well. In addition to dusting off their Snow Bowl jerseys from a short while back, they also had new grey pants (I think the grey facemask is new too). A well-dressed and fought game on both ends (even if Miss. St.’s numbers were kinda hard to see), but NU (not NWU) would come out on top to win their first bowl game since 1949. Looks like those nose bumpers came in handy. Good on ya, ‘Cats. Speaking of Adidas teams using hard-to-see numbers…

Outback Bowl (held Tuesday, January 1st, 2013); The University of Michigan Wolverines wore this on New Year’s Day. … *sigh* … You know, when UM comes out with a one-off road uniform, there’s always one thing that could’ve made it just right. *pretend I’m speaking with AVGN’s voice for this next bit* The first one from 2011 was amazing, but it lacked the “maize” pants. The second one from the 2012 Sugar Bowl had the same font used on the aforementioned white and on the night game uniforms against Notre Dame earlier that season (which is fine), but this uni’s jersey numbers had a stroke around them, giving them this sorta-odd, unbalanced effect that I would put on par with Athletic Block (which is not fine). The third white from this past season was almost a hit, but the shoulder yoke created a maize overload, and this Outback Bowl top fixed the shoulder issue, but now the numbers are next-to-impossible to read from afar, even on an HD T.V.! Trust me, I had a hard time trying to make out who’s who in the sunlight, and I’m sure some of you who saw the game did too. Regarding the matte helmet: I have mixed feelings about it. I don’t hate it by any means, but I don’t know if that would make a good full-time addition to the Wolverine’s “identity”. As for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks, they wore their usual white helmets, garnet jerseys, and garnet pants, and would come through with a last-minute touchdown to win the game. Congrats, South Carolina. Here’s your reward.

Capital One Bowl (held Tuesday, January 1st, 2013); A classic, no-fills matchup between the University of Nebraska (in Lincoln) Cornhuskers. and the University of Georgia Bulldogs. The Huskers dressed in cream helmets and pants with scarlet jerseys, and the Dawgs dressed in red helmets, white jerseys, and light-grey pants (or are they silver?).

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And now, onto the gems that Rarity drools over as a college football fanatic: the BCS bowl games. As with last year, I will be addressing some of them Rose Bowl-style: meaning the sponsor as a supporter, not a title. Vizio may make fine flat-screens, but they’re not the reason men have been going crazy over roses apart from Valentine’s Day for nearly 100 years.

Rose Bowl presented by Vizio (held Tuesday, January 1st, 2013); My favorite bowl game! So many things to smile at: the parades, the stadium, even the name: A game with a flower attached to it, and you have men usually between the ages of 18-21 battling for the title. But then again, I’m one of the MANY 21 year-old males who enjoy a show about colorful talking ponies, so I should probably shut up about that and get to the uniforms. On the left, you have The Leland Stanford Junior University Cardinal (Pac-12 champs) in, what else? Cardinal jerseys, of course, with the white helmets and white pants. The merit decals (which are little axes) were removed. Must be a bowl game thing for them. Also, the coach had a little Rose Bowl logo pin/patch thingy on his shirt. On the right, the University of Wisconsin (in Madison) Badgers (B1G champs) arrived in the style we’ve grown accustomed to for the past three three years: white helmets, white jerseys, and red pants. A hard-fought game on both ends, but Stanford would come out on top as the 2013 Rose Bowl champions. For Wisconsin, they would go home smelling like Old Spice and maybe a little leftover sweat, but not like roses, which is kinda sad, because unlike this thing, Wisconsin actually did give a shit about this game. This marks the third consecutive year that they’ve made it to Pasadena without a Rose Bowl victory. I can only imagine if they make it again next season against, say, UCLA, and the media will probably start associating them with the 1990-1993 Buffalo Bills and how they lost four consecutive Super Bowls. Not saying it will happen, but you never know.

Orange Bowl presented by Discover (held Tuesday, January 1st, 2013); The second of the BCS bowl games to be played on NYD. This year’s contest featured the Florida State University Seminoles, in the gold helmet/garnet jersey/gold pant look that we’ve come to recognize Tallahassee’s team by (side note: I really like the feather design on the cuffs and collars). Who would their opponent be? Fillies and Djentlecolts, I give you… the Northern Illinois University Huskies. “Wait, what?”, some of you might be saying. I’m not an expert on bowl rankings, and I would like for us to not focus on whether or not NIU should even be in this game, but rather, to focus on their bowl game unis that they wore. Their typical black helmets with Adidas TechFit jerseys (white) and TechFit pants (red). The numbers were silver with black trim, and were supposed to reflect the typography used in the logo. I really like these, especially compared to their usual uniform. Let’s hope they keep this and create a home version for 2013. The QB had pads that had different trim colors on each side.

Sugar Bowl presented by Allstate (held Wednesday, January 2nd, 2013); A surprise from the University of Florida Gators (I secretly wish that the name was Florida University, for obvious reasons), as they wore orange helmets, blue jerseys, and — wait for it — orange pants! This marks the first time that they’ve worn this look since 1999, which was also the last time that they lost in that look. Their opponents were the University of Louisville Cardinals (with teeth!), who dressed in all-white. This was the most colorful 2013 BCS game yet. And given the predictions, Florida would surely come out on top… right? Amazingly, Louisville was the victor in this game, and Florida showed their frustration in more ways than one.

Fiesta Bowl presented by Tostitos (held Thursday, January 3rd, 2013); Speed in the bed is bad. Speed on the field is good. Know the difference, it could save your life. For some reason, I thought The University of Oregon Dighting Fucks Fighting Ducks would come out in green helmets and pants with yellow jerseys, and I really wanted them to. Turns out I was 66.6% correct. They looked great, but part of me still wishes for the yellow jersey. Then again, the Lightning Yellow (their official name for the golden hue) top looks to have been built for only black and grey elements. There’s no green whatsoever. As for the opposing Kansas State University Wildcats, they wore their very classy silver helmets, purple jerseys, and silver pants. On the back of the helmets was the same Sandy Hook memorial that the Patriots wore just days after the shooting, as well as the lion thingy on the back. A game that was memorable by fast plays and even faster head scratches from this call would ultimately be awarded to perhaps the fastest team in the land. Maybe that’s why we kept seeing this slogan all season.

AT&T Cotton Bowl (held Friday, January 4th, 2013); Going back to the non-BCS bowl games for a brief moment, who knew that the Texas A&M University Aggies would be facing an old Big XII foe so soon? The newcomers to the SEC came in wearing all-white, while the University of Oklahoma Sooners were in their crimson helmets and jerseys with white pants.

BBVA Compass Bowl (held Saturday, January 5th, 2013); This game would have the University of Mississippi Rebels in blue helmets, red jerseys (notice a theme here?), and grey pants. Seems like they’ve worn the red shirts a lot this past season. They took on the University of Pittsburgh Panthers in gold helmets, white jerseys, and gold pants.

GoDaddy.com Bowl (held Sunday, January 6th, 2013); Arkansas State University looks pretty normal, what with their black helmets, black jerseys, and red pants, facing off against the Kent State University Golden Flashes, in their HOLY HELL WHAT IS THAT STARING INTO MY SOUL??????? That just so happens to be a new helmet for the Flashes. A gold shell with a large ‘K’ on the back (too bad it doesn’t stand for K Custom), and these eyes on the front. They’re supposed to resemble eagle eyes, since the eagle is Kent State’s mascot. This helmet was paired with white jerseys and gold pants.

2013 Discover BCS National Championship (held Monday, January 7th, 2013); Out of all of the marbles these teams have played for in the 3+ week span, these are the shiniest. The golden domes verses the boys who bleed crimson. Who will win it all? These guys, that’s who. Anyway, in this national championship, we have the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who wore navy jerseys (with player names added, as is their tradition for bowl games/championships), gold pants, and golden helmets. Standing in their way was the team that had won last year’s game against LSU: the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, who did not wear much crimson in this game, but looked amazing nonetheless. They would wear their iconic numbered crimson helmets, brand new white Nike Pro Combat Hypercool jersey tops (Nike changed the name AGAIN? Grrrrrr…) and white pants (which look to be brand new as well). Much like a lot of the championship games, the hype train was two shovels of coal short of the speed limit, as Alabama would win with ease, thus winning their third natty in four years.

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And so, this season officially comes to a close. What now? A poem! *Ahem*

This season has had its fair share of fun,
And had a good number of teams making long-overdue runs.
We’ve seen Northwestern wear uniforms that to a lot, were a hit,
We’ve seen Maryland wear uniforms that made me lose my shit.
We’ve seen Missouri wear helmet graphics that were the definition of fat,
And Air Force wore this while basically saying: “A good-looking uniform? What’s that?”
We’ve witnessed Rutgers play the role of a knight in shining armor,
And South Carolina wore costumes that — for the sake of the rhyme — were made by UnderArmour.
Teams wore chrome domes on their way to the goalpost,
But for TCU, the helmet would hit home the most.
Oregon of course had a different uniform for each game,
And Notre Dame wore uniforms that make Two-Face hang his head in shame.
We’ve seen blacks, whites, greys, and other various hues,
Including the one for the sake of boobs. Ew.
We’ve witnessed flag-desecration spectacles that were for the most part, lame.
But they all took a seat to what is truly America’s game.
We’ve seen scissors, ponies, and bowl games played for a friend,
But for two-thirds of a year, that has come to an end.
And even though the Crimson Tide would ultimately win it all, Notre Dame still has… the best helmets… in college football.

I want to thank you all for reading, for putting up with my pony plug-ins, and I’ll see you in eight months. Oh! I almost forgot…

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Thanks, TJ. And thanks for a fantastic College Football Season at the helm of Sunday Morning Uni Watch — what a season it was! Just a quick note — Terry sent me that a couple weeks ago, and it appears some of the links are no longer working (WTF? Link rot shouldn’t happen for six months, not two weeks), so my apologies if one or two came up with a “404.” Still, plenty of fine game shots and assorted other stuff.

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“Benchies” first appeared at U-W in 2008, and has been a Saturday & Sunday feature here for the past two years.

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Wayback Machine cont’d: Everyone needs a winter fitness program…

Click to enlarge

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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.

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

And so, lets begin:

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Just one (BIG) set today, and it comes from Matt Malinoski, who you may recall earlier had done a fantastic American League Central Package. He’s back today with the AL East (and one tweak to his AL Central) set:

Hi, Phil:

First, I added a flying sock sleeve patch to my White Sox concept.

Now here are my concepts for the AL East:

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Blue Jays: Added trim to collar. Added dark blue outline to script on home jersey and to numerals on both jerseys. Removed redundant bird logo from jerseys. Also added stripes to stirrups and undershirt sleeves.

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Orioles: Sixties road uniform with matching home uniform.

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Rays: New uniforms. Used thick script, trim, and numerals. Incorporated sunshine graphic and diamond background. Retained current stirrups.

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Red Sox: A little different than the last one I sent in. 1967 uniforms but script on road is same typeface as home.

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Yankees: Not really a concept, but I wanted to include it to complete the division. 1946”•72 set. Early fifties jacket.

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

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Well — there you have it — make sure to vote in the contest, and thanks to TJ for his season-long NCAA updates. The NHL is back and there are two giant playoff games today (in what is, IMHO, the greatest day in the NFL — better than the Super Bowl). Niners and Falcons get things started at 3:00 ET, followed by the Ravens at Pats in the night-cap. And it’s Inauguration Day tomorrow, so it’s just one huuuuuuuuuge weekend of spectator sports. You guys have a great Sunday and I’ll catch you next weekend.

Peace.

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One TWO For The Road

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“Today I am wearing a beautiful Houston Colt .45 retro t-shirt to a Gun Appreciation Day event at my state capitol! Love the site!”
–Terry Metcalf