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Uni Watch

And You Thought Only Nike Could Pull a Stunt Like This

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Amusingly over-the-top move yesterday by Indiana football, which came out with five new helmet designs to go along with the one they already had (you can see video of the unveiling embedded above). Obviously, no team needs six helmets, but here’s the thing: I think most of these new designs are pretty good. Let’s take a look:

1. Red helmet with a white star-spangled thingie:

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The helmet logo is based on the Indiana state flag. I’m generally in favor of state flag imagery (as long as it isn’t turned into some godawful “pride” uniform), although the they lose a few points here because the team colors don’t match the flag colors. Still a cool helmet design, though.

2. Red helmet with a white “I” logo:

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This is the only one I don’t like. Too plain, too blah. Not nearly as interesting as their “IU” helmet logo (which is being kept as part of the rotation).

3. White helmet with thick red center stripe and a red “IU” logo:

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At first I thought I reallyreallyreally liked these. Then I saw how the center stripes come to a point, instead of continuing all the way to the back of the helmet — not a fan of that. So I still like this design, but I no longer reallyreallyreally like it.

4. Same as above, but with TV numbers instead of the “IU” logo:

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Nice. Kinda wish they’d split the difference and put the logo on one side and numbers on the other, but I guess that would cut into their helmet count, eh?

5. Chrome-finish helmet with red candy striping:

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You know me — I like stripes. So I kinda dig this, especially since it references the basketball team’s warm-up pants. Wish they’d gone with red and white, ’steada red and chrome. But hey, that just gives them an opportunity for another alternate version, right?

As more and more college teams keep adding more and more helmets to their wardrobe, I can’t help but wonder: How long will the NFL cling to its “No alternate helmets” policy? I’m betting one more season.

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This is so totally great: Awesome sequence of events last night in Atlanta, where Pirates pitcher Ryan Reid was called up prior to the game and ended up making his big league debut in the bottom of the seventh inning. Just one problem: They neglected to include his uni number on the front of his jersey:

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Someone must have noticed, because Reid was soon sporting a DIY number made from athletic tape while spending the top of the eighth in the dugout (click to enlarge):

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Okay, so they positioned it too high, but it’s still pretty awesome. Unfortunately, Reid had removed the tape number by the time he came back out to pitch the bottom of the eighth. Dang.

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Collector’s Corner

By Brinke Guthrie

Okay, we have a steal right here: Ten bucks for this NFL Goalpost Kit from the 1970s. It’s missing the Niners, but you can find that on eBay. Go! Now!!

Here’s the rest of this week’s haul:

• Nice-looking 1979 Denver Broncos poster here. Same era for this New York Giants poster.

• Normally you’ll see Tommy Lasorda’s signature on a baseball, or maybe a dinner menu. But how about an authenticated crab shell signed by the man himself. Sent in by reader David Polakoff.

• How’s that Steve Miller song go? “I wanna smell like an Eagle….”

• Great cover art (including a white football!) on this 1968 Bart Starr book. I had this one. Probably got it from the Scholastic Book Club.

• Here we have a late-1970s/early-1980s Expos poncho.

• Cubs fans, check out this great-looking 1960s bobblehead.

• From reader Mike Clary, 1960s Chuck Taylor football cleats.

• Classic Cliff Engle look for this 1970s Lakers sweater.

• And from reader James Ryan, look at this Blue Jays T-shirt with a weird logo based on the old Orioles logo.

Seen something on eBay or Etsy that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Big day for NHL uniforms, as there will be unveilings for the Hurricanes (noon Eastern) and Stars (7pm, I think). Looks like Carolina’s new design will be more of a tweak than a makeover, but whatever — once the unveiling is over, I’ll have a reaction piece up on ESPN, with a link here. … Here’s an article about how golfers have gone from lumpy to pumped-up. … Washington Post sports columnist Tom Boswell was asked about the Redskins’ team name in a recent Q&A with readers and gave a short but eloquent response (from David Goodfriend). … New football jersey patches for Conference USA (thanks, Phil). … A legal attempt to revive the U. of North Dakota’s “Fighting Sioux” nickname has failed (from Chris Bisbee). … Meanwhile, that wooden Indian mascot statue that had been removed from the gymnasium of an Indiana high school is on its way back (from Tony Miller). ”¦ Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Here’s the evolution of the Star Wars logo and lettering. … Funny move by Adam Jones of the Orioles, who put on the Orioles mascot bird’s cap the other day (thanks, Brinke). … Jim Kelly never played a down for the New Jersey Generals, but he did suit up for them, at least for a Sports Illustrated cover (from Michael Clary). … The Toronto Star is inviting its readers to redesign the Raptors (from Gavin Whitehead). … New basketball court design for Cal (thanks, Phil). … That guy who named his kid Adolf Hitler showed up for a custody hearing in a Nazi uniform. … The Japanese baseball folks have come up with a new logo for an elementary school girls’ baseball tourney (from Jeremy Brahm). … Now that’s a real Oregon fan. “The weird thing is, this guy was in Jackson, Tennessee,” says Dustin Semore. ”¦ The Round Rock Express went G.I. Joe last night. “It was paired with a red cap and red undersleeves, and the numbers on the back were red, creating a really gross contrast Christmas-y effect,” says Patrick Walsh. “My girlfriend said the jersey looked like a tacky Hawaiian print from a distance, and she’s not imagining that. Awful.” ”¦ Here’s what has got to be the trippiest World Series TV set ever. That’s NBC’s opening set from the 1969 Fall Classic. The commentators, from left to right, are Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, and Jim Simpson (great find by Matthew Prigge). ”¦ Several interesting things in this old Giants/Vikings photo: First, they appear to have sewn some stretch panels into Jim McMahon’s pant legs to accommodate his knee braces. Second, Lawrence Taylor’s jersey was sewn up on the sides, something I hadn’t recalled him ever doing (although teammate Jim Burt did it routinely). And McMahon was wearing a glove on his throwing hand, which was very rare in those days. That photo, incidentally, comes from this fun slideshow of Giants uni history (from Jeff Stark).

 
  
 
Comments (234)

    I seriously hate teams having so many uniforms. Schools no longer have an identity. Football is different than other sports, you can’t see the players faces, and there are so many players, a continuity of uniforms helps fans establish an emotional bond with their team. The patch work approach defeats this.

    I liked the days when uniforms meant something, it must have been a thrill for a kid to don a Notre Dame, Alabama, Michigan or other uniform for the first time. Now it’s just another costume.

    Plus, when I turn a game on, or walk into a bar and see a game on the TV, I have no idea who is playing.

    Which is why I don’t think the NFL will as easily move to alternate helmets. They may ease up the rules a little bit, but the NFL recognizes the importance of branding and identity.

    Agreed. They’re breaking rule #1 in branding: Stand for something (differentiate).

    If everybody’s doing it, nobody’s unique.

    And, then they also break rule #2: own your truth (i.e., a brand is not “aspirational” a brand must be true and honest to where the organization is AT THIS TIME.)

    Oregon owns the “change” brand identity in college athletics. They made it part of their DNA years ago to be the change artist. Anybody else who follows along … isn’t being truthful. They need to claim their own “identity” because what’s happening now is simply follow-the-leader.

    Sheep.

    I don’t think the NFL will ever allow a team to have five helmets. But I can see them allowing two — one for home and one for road (or one for the colored jersey and one for the white jersey).

    I’m not saying I want this to happen. I’m just saying I think it will happen.

    I think the NFL will stick with the one helmet rule, with the exception being for throwbacks as it is now. Personally I’m kind of over the throwback thing. I like that teams have alternated jerseys and alternate pants. Mixing and matching is fun, but pick a logo and a color scheme and go with it. For Tampa Bay to roll out one week with the jolly roger in pewter and red, and then next week it’s mandarin orange and Bruce the Buccaneer is stupid. It’s all that commercialism and marketing you are so dead set against when it comes to something patriotic Paul! If you hate commercialism then be consistent about it!

    Which NFL team would be the best candidate for a 2nd helmet?

    Probably the Cowboys, since they’re really close to already doing that anyway. They wear the white jerseys for nearly every game, so the white helmeted throwback uniform could easily become their “forced to wear a dark jersey” uniform and be worn for 3 or 4 games instead of just Thanksgiving.

    Next likely would be the Seahawks, who many think should have had a gray helmet to begin with, so making one as a home helmet and wearing the navy on the road would work quite well for them.

    I see the Titans as an obvious candidate for an alternate – they can go with an all-blue look or an all-white look.

    That said, I agree with other commenters – NFL won’t allow multiple alternates, even if they loosen up the current rule. The league seems to understanding that moderation is sometimes necessarily to maximize profit (see: TV schedule).

    I find the use of the words “colored” and “white” to be offensive and I will lobbying Congress to ban their use on this blog and others.

    “The league seems to understanding that moderation is sometimes necessarily to maximize profit.”

    Had the exact same thought as I flipped past yet another hour of coverage of the combine.

    “…Plus, when I turn a game on, or walk into a bar and see a game on the TV, I have no idea who is playing…”

    I can agree with folks not liking the fact that some teams have 5 or more uniform combinations or limitless combinations (Oregon) but I just can’t get behind the small problem of not knowing who is playing simply by identifying the uniforms on what might be a faraway or CRT TV. Every channel has a scoring bug to begin with which identifies the teams, and apart from teams with unique color combinations (LSU) most teams share combinations with other teams. Even as a fan of FSU if I see Boston U on TV it isn’t easily discernable at first glance.

    It certainly seems like Indiana is spending a lot more effort on its look (for better or worse) than the product (or lack there of) it puts on the field.

    my exact quote this morning is that we now have twice as many helmets as wins.

    3-8? Are we back to playing just 11 games now?

    3-9 is a more likely record.

    Interesting on that Star Wars page, about 80% of the way down, on the radio show performance poster in the credits C3PO is spelled out ‘See Threepio’. Never seen that before.

    link

    The first C-3PO action figure ever made had that on the card. “See-Threepio (C-3PO)”

    If you read the partial article about Star Wars from the sci-fi mag it’s spelled that way too. First I’d ever seen of it myself! Had never scene the “From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker” tag before either. Too cool, man!

    I’ve that spelling many times. I’ve also seen “Artoo Detoo.” Why would you need to spell out what is already the simplest form of the “name?” Is it an attempt to humanize them by giving them a name and not a number? I dunno… it’s pretty damn goofy.

    The “spelled-out” versions were pretty rampant in the media that surrounded the original movie–novelizations, fan magazines, etc.

    I saw that guy on the Oregon motorcycle right outside of Birmingham. I honked at him and gave him a thumbs up haha

    If i remember right, the block I is the helmet we had under bill mallory in the late 80s / early 90s, the lastbyime we were above average and hoing to marginal bowl games.

    At leastbthey havent gimmicked up the badketbsll uniforms.

    Cool Giants slideshow. One mistake, though: In the Brad Van Pelt photo (Photo 11), the cutline says the Giants won, 24-10. Actually, it was the other way around: Rams won, 24-10.

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    In addition to the things noted in the Giants/Vikings photo, it looks like Lawrence Taylor isn’t wearing any knee pads. This is something that didn’t come in vogue in the NFL until ten years after this photo was taken.

    Indiana whose name means “land of the Indians” is clearly racist and frankly I’m surprised to see this website support any such missapropriation of Native American history or culture. From now on I will not refer to to the geographical location as “Indiana” but rather as “that area between Ohio, Micigan, Illinois and a big lake” in solidarity with those whose lands were stolen. Shame on all of you.

    New rule for college football. A team cannot have more uniform combinations than wins from the previous year. If a team does not replicate the success – meaning if the team can’t replicate the success and win as many games as uniform combinations worn – then the team is allowed only one home and one road combo the following season. If everyone’s going to go uniform stupid, then the whole thing should at least be incentivized.

    Well that went in the wrong place. Too early for me I guess.

    I’m with you Matt, was going to post:

    Now Indiana has more helmets than wins … over the past couple years!

    And hoosier is a synonym for redneck that will start a fight in any bar in St Louis.

    “… Here’s what has got to be the trippiest World Series TV set ever. That’s NBC’s opening set from the 1969 Fall Classic. The commentators, from left to right, are Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, and Jim Simpson (great find by Matthew Prigge). …”

    The acme of acmes. Dear Lord, how magnificent were we once! The dreams, the visions!

    Who can not think of Wordsworth at such a moment?

    Oh! pleasant exercise of hope and joy!
    For mighty were the auxiliars which then stood
    Upon our side, we who were strong in love!
    Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
    But to be young was very heaven!…

    Yeah, that 1969 World Series set is glorious. I’ll have to dig around for a press/wire photo of it, hopefully it would be higher res.

    I can just imagine what those guys said when they walked on the set the first time. I don’t think the initials stood for Wednesday Thursday Friday.

    I thought sure it was a Laugh-In sketch or a segment from The Electric Company!

    FUN FACT – Cue this clip up on youtube, turn down the volume, and play In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida over it. The lyrics match perfectly with Sandy and the Mick’s mouths.

    Also, you need to be high for this to work.

    A couple years ago, NBC (I think) ran a feature on the 1969 Series, featuring their broadcast video tapes and commenting team. The background music was the long instrumental bridge of the Doors’ “Light My Fire.” It wasn’t quite the song of that hour, but it really struck me how the combination of a familiar song and an historic series reinforced each other and put the game in an even more concrete time period.

    Thomas Frank wrote a pretty great book a couple of years ago, “The Conquest of Cool”, which chronicled the co-opting of counterculture art and values by mainstream media, particularly advertising.

    This is exactly the sort of stuff he writes about.

    Interesting!
    I’ll have to give that a reading. Seems like “Mad Men” might be heading into that territory. Here’s the book on Amazon:
    link

    I’m a little too close to IU perhaps to like some of this, even in a vacuum.

    I posted my full thoughts here link but basically I just think that these are just mostly bad in general and the chrome is a bad joke.

    IU has a great logo for a helmet and a great history in the double helmet stripe. IU doesn’t need 15 helmets (especially when they steal the best design from IU LAX link ) They just need to update their unis to this:
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    I actually think the white/red front/IU trident helmet looks pretty good. I think the trident looks best when its crimson on a white background. A crimson helmet with a white helmet is also done by Oklahoma but the white with crimson front is unique but not garish.

    I wonder when the uniform madness will end – jump the proverbial shark. The problem is, there’s always new kids. Not only new kids that have to be recruited and shown the latest and greatest that State University is doing, but there’s also all the new kids to buy the jerseys. Obviously merchandising is 75% of what’s driving this, but the recruiting is too. And I just don’t know if we can ever return to days when teams had 2, maybe 3 uniforms at most.

    That being said – these Indiana changes aren’t bad (except that chrome helmet, yuck), but is there really anything interesting about them? Different helmets won’t really drive too many merchandise sales, and I don’t see recruits getting too excited about this. So what’s the point? Just so they can say, “Look at us! We change our uniforms! We’re cool, too!”?

    Just a note of clarification: By definition, a thing “jumps the shark” before it ends. Unless, like for example Magnum PI, it ends without ever jumping the shark. So, when will it end? Not soon. When will it jump the shark? I’d call it roughly 2008.

    I think Magnum PI jumped the shark when they began to focus more on story and less on chicks in bikinis. It was like the Baywatch of the ’80’s. With a mustache.

    Baseball uniforms jumped the shark with the unveiling of the original Tampa Bay Devil Rays uniforms.

    Football uniforms jumped the shark when wide receivers quit wearing thigh pads and started wearing bicycle shorts.

    Hockey uniforms? Those Reebok tails.

    Baseketball? I want to say when the Bullets became the Wizards, and they started wearing those bluish-grey things, but that’s only because that nickname and that uniform deserves to be blamed for something.

    The original Rays uni’s weren’t so bad. What bummed me out was when guys like John Kruk and Joe Carter started rocking the high top shoes above the cuff of there pants, and that’s when baseball lost sock. They even created special baseball pants made with cuffs to fit inside the shoe. The black for black’s sake as Paul calls it, was a dark time for all sports uni-wise. In the NBA the all time worst uni was the Sixers black, gold, red, and blue set. I can’t believe it took them so long to get back to red, white and blue. The loud over-the-top designs and the proliferation of alternates are what did the NHL in. Thank God for the original six who’ve kept it real for the most part. The elimination of jersey sleeves is when the NFL jumpe, IMHO.

    The over the cleats cuffs is a good shark jump point for baseball. Same with the disappearance of jersey sleeves in the NFL

    Twenty years from now, those Devil Rays unis will be considered classics, like the Tequila Sunrise and Padres Taco Bell outfits.

    Football: the ban of the single-bar facemask for all players.
    Hockey: the ban of the full-face goalie mask in favor of the cage.
    Baseball: the adoption of hockey-style cages by many catchers.
    Hoops: “Air Jordans”.

    Touché. Though one might be able to argue that it jumped the shark for us uni-watchers long ago, but not necessarily the general public. It does seem as if a lot of casual fans I know are starting to get tired of this stuff, however.

    [i]The problem is, there’s always new kids. Not only new kids that have to be recruited and shown the latest and greatest that State University is doing, but there’s also all the new kids to buy the jerseys.[/i]

    I hate this whole trend of creating multiple uniforms under the assumption that kids are swayed by shining things. That’s so much of the tail wagging the dog. Win games. That’s what it takes for people to buy t-shirts and jerseys, and for top recruits to sign a letter of intent.

    The New York Yankees have just about the least flashy uniforms in all of sports, and yet you see people wearing Yankees caps all over the world. How many kids in Little League have dreamt of wearing those classic pinstripes? Would any football recruit in the US tell Nick Saban he’s not going to play for the Tide because they don’t have multiple uniform options? Seriously? I’m certain that Saban won’t lose a minute of sleep over that kid signing with Maryland, Indiana, Oregon or any other school.

    It’s utter bullshit and I seriously wish schools and Nike / Under Armour would stop trying to sell me (literally) on the pretext.

    I don’t know, I think Alabama can keep its classic uniform because it’s an established brand that’s been built through performance on the field. Other programs don’t have that luxury – they don’t have a brand to build on.

    If Alabama’s on-field record was more like Mississippi State’s, you can pretty much bet that they’d be doing whatever their apparel supplier asks them to do.

    If I were coach or athletic director of a school – whether it’s Alabama, Mississippi State or East Bumfuck Teachers’ College – and a kid told me he didn’t want to play for my school because we didn’t have 20 different uni combinations, I’ll consider myself well rid of the guy.

    Athletic suppliers create multiple combinations so they have more product to sell. If they can steamroll colleges to accepting whatever they supply, fine. But stop saying they’re doing it because some 17 year old in Corvallis or Fresno or Tuscaloosa demands swag before he’ll sign with a program.

    What a random selection of teams for that mini helmet goalpost. I suppose it MAKES you buy the others in order to complete even ONE division.

    Just an FYI the “star-spangled thingie” is part of the Indiana State Flag…but I’ve never seen it on a red background, supposed to be on Royal Blue…eww

    The only thing I can say about the chrome-red striped helmet is that a white-red striped would look *even more* like the Imperial Japanese flag.

    ed

    Boz is talking out of his ass in the Redskins response. He writes, “Also, the person most associated with the nickname, George Preston Masrshall, would probably be on the list of the half-dozen most virulent racists ever to have a major position (owner) in a major sport.”

    Bullshit. Marshall is not one of the half-dozen most virulent racists in sports. The guy is one of the two most virulent racists at that level in sports, and the longevity and late-in-history timing of his career make him clearly the most impactful bigot in his sport and possibly in American sports entirely. Boz lets Marshall off way too easily. If Marshall did not mean “Redskins” as at least in part a dig at the native savage, it would be about the only thing he ever did, professionally, not to have been tainted with outright racial bigotry.

    Poor Boz! I’ve rarely seen someone called on the carpet so thoroughly for not excoriating someone else enough!

    I used to check out Helmet Project and MGs Helmets with regular frequency to keep up to date on helmet designs and changes. Now this whole helmet for different days of the week is too much for me. I am so bored with it. Kill me now

    Jim McMahon was on the Vikings in 1993 but he wore a glove on his throwing hand waaay before that when he was on the Bears in the 80’s.

    HHH is right. Jim McMahon even wore a glove on his throwing hand in Super Bowl XX which was played in the Superdome.

    At the bottom of the article about the Fighting Sioux nickname, it says “UND now uses the nickname Coyotes.” I can’t find any conformation of this anywhere else. Its worth noting that the University of SOUTH Dakota’s nickname is the Coyotes… perhaps someone was a bit sloppy?

    It’s high time Notre Dame ditched The Fighting Irish and that offensive logo! As an Irishman I’m happy to see The Golden Dome acquiesce to political correctness! Ha!

    Ignore me Yoomie and I tend to go away! It may take some willpower on your part, because I’m well aware of the magnetic personality The Lord hath blethed me with!
    But if you do choose to engage me, keep it pithy! Yeth, pith. Ha!

    I’m not tired of you. I’m tired of people trotting out the stupid Notre Dame canard after it’s been repeatedly pointed out as apples to oranges.

    Yeah. I went to UND’s website, and there’s no mention of any nickname. I even listened to the first part of a radio broadcast for their baseball team, and while their opponents were referred to by a nickname, UND was simply called University of North Dakota. Wikipedia reports that they currently don’t have a nickname, so I think you’re right about Coyotes being in error.

    Couple of my ticker contributions that didn’t make the cut:

    An SI.com slideshow on misspelled NOBs and team names on jerseys – I think most of it has been covered on this site and on Paul’s ESPN column, but it’s nice to have them all in one place: link

    A snazzy suit with a snazzier SF Giants insignia: link

    A Charlotte Hornets apron with an awesome basketball-shaped oven mitt. All hail Tripucka: link

    For the record: Only reason we didn’t include the Hornets apron in COllector’s Corner was that you’d already bought it! We try to keep CC items limited to things that are still open for bidding/purchase/etc.

    I’m fairly certain that SI slideshow has been linked here before, though it does look like it has a couple of new additions.

    I figured it was new since the caption references the Scripps National Spelling Bee, though it wouldn’t surprise me if it’s just an update of an existing slideshow.

    I think those hideous black Pirate jerseys look better without the number on the front. I’d still love to see the Suck-ohs add a yellow jersey, and the black needs to be overhauled. Get back to something closer to the seventies Fam-a-lee style with a button down front. It’d be nice to see the black and yellow trousers make a comeback, which I know will never happen aside from the odd throwback day. But a guy can dream! And bring back the pillbox hats while you’re at it!

    Remember how the state of Michigan sought to ban the use of Indian mascots by schools?

    Well, that didn’t fly with the USDOE’s Civil Rights Office:

    link

    “…Michigan officials provided no specific examples of racial incidents or American Indian students suffering specific harm because of the reported discrimination.”

    Bummed me out when Eastern ditched the Hurons nickname. Think of all the people who’ll never be aware that a Huron tribe ever existed all because of political correctness. Team nicknames are a good opportunity to educate people about these tribes and keep them in public consciousness. But nope, a few people were offended so many will never know these tribes were ever in existence.

    I don’t think Paul or most people here (or most people anywhere) are actually offended (or “offended) by Indian nicknames. The issue is when Indian nicknames are insulting or accompanied by caricatures or misappropriated imagery.

    IMHO, dropping the Hurons were a mistake, especially since the tribe approved the use. That’s not political correctness – that’s missing the point.

    But your last sentence, “a few people were offended” kinda tragicomically gets to the crux of the discussion. Sometimes, the decent thing to do is for the majority to consider the point of view of “a few people”.

    The “decent thing to do?” Seriously? There are always going to be a “few people” offended by everything! I’m offended by Paul’s links to articles about the porn industry, but I know that his audience probably enjoys that sort of thing so I’ll suck it up and get on with it. Sometimes you just have to thicken up your skin a bit. There’s bigger worries in this world than a logo on a ball cap.

    The decent thing to do is to not appropriate or create caricatures of other cultures. YMMV.

    Oh, and that “There are more important issues” fallacy again. No matter what cause you pick up, there are always more pressing issues in the world.

    The decent thing to do is to not appropriate or create caricatures of other cultures. YMMV.

    Even if the culture is from 200+ years ago? Unless you’re saying that the modern Native Americans are the same culture… But you can’t possibly think that, can you? Seriously, the people of today are a different culture than the people of 200 years ago. While our evil white ancestors are the reason for the specifics of the difference, the fact is that so many years of interaction between multiple cultures is going to change them, regardless of what that interaction actually is.

    It sure seems that the Natives of today (at least the ones who claim to be offended and file lawsuits) don’t want to be associated with the feathers, warpaint & tomahawks and other stereotypical imagery of the past. They aren’t saying “stop using our imagery”, they’re saying to “stop using this imagery because people wrongly apply it to us.” Nevermind of course, that it’s only a small minority of the Natives who happen to be offended, as the vast majority appear to not care, at least based on various surveys of the last decade.

    Maybe you and I need to swap usernames, because I think that there is a point at which it’s acceptable to tell a small group of people that you don’t care what they think. This isn’t about discrimination or civil rights violations, it’s about the names and logos of sports teams. There’s 28 MLB teams and 30 NFL teams that don’t use Native American imagery, feel free to pick one of them if you don’t like the Indians/Redskins/Braves/Chiefs.

    The J,

    The imagery may be from 200+ years ago, but it still persists, along with the perception of Indians as “savages” or wahoos. Feathers and tomahawks may be anachronisms, but they’re still part of the cultural identity.

    Also, I see defenses of the nicknames and imagery that talk about in terms of number of people “offended”, I find that to be unproductive (not to mention that “offended” is often used as a passive-aggressive code for whininess). Again, asking the majority misses the point when we’re talking about mimicking a marginalized minority group.

    It’s not so much whether people are offended – it’s *why* those people are offended. And the “why” here is that sports nicknames and mascots often makes a mockery out of someone else’s ethnic group. To me, that’s wrong, no matter how many people are targeted by the mockery.

    And I don’t disagree – it’s okay to tell someone you don’t care what they think. Except the Redskins (and other Indian mascot apologists) have done the exact opposite. They tell us that they very deeply care about what other people think and have gone to great pains to tell us that “Redskins” is about “pride”, or something.

    As you should know by now, Robert, the term “political correctness” is a non-starter here. Please refrain from using it. Thanks.

    Apparently not a far as Mr. “Terrible Human” is concerned! But, it’s your house Pauly, so I promise not to piss in your sink.

    Think of all the people who’ll never be aware that a Huron tribe ever existed all because of political correctness.

    Umm, ever heard of Lake Huron? I learned about it – and the native people for whom it’s named – years before I’d ever heard of Eastern Michigan University.

    “Yeah, but that was before our educational system went down the drain.”
    Maybe so, but what does that prove? Can anyone actually think that Eastern Michigan’s sports teams’ former nickname provided the Huron and Wyandot people with more exposure than, say, having a Great Lake named after them has?

    I know lots of educated people who don’t know much of anything about Eastern Michigan and couldn’t tell you if its athletic teams are nicknamed the Hurons, the Eagles, or the Smurfs. I also know plenty of people (at a variety of different levels of education) who have never heard of the EMU in the first place. Conversely, most people I know have heard of the Great Lakes. Many of them can actually name all five. I’m not saying they’re all intellectually curious enough to investigate the history and culture of the Huron and Wyandot nations, but the reason most of them know the term “Huron” isn’t because of EMU.

    Most people don’t think twice about the origins of the name of a state or a lake. What people think about are sports team nicknames and logos. Don’t agree? Where are you now, smartypants? Ha!

    “What people think about are sports team nicknames and logos. Don’t agree? Where are you now, smartypants? Ha!”

    This from the guy who just said, “There’s bigger worries in this world than a logo on a ball cap.” That’s rich!

    ‘“What people think about are sports team nicknames and logos. Don’t agree? Where are you now, smartypants? Ha!”

    This from the guy who just said, “There’s bigger worries in this world than a logo on a ball cap.” That’s rich!’

    I ain’t sayin’ it’s right, I’m just sayin’ it is.

    ‘“What people think about are sports team nicknames and logos. Don’t agree? Where are you now, smartypants? Ha!

    I don’t see how that proves anything at all. An interest in sports and athletics aesthetics does not impy a lack of knowledge of any other topic. If anything, it seems that most people who comment on this message board are pretty knowledgeable about a wide range of topics in addition to sports.

    Apparently not a far as Mr. “Terrible Human” is concerned!

    Seriously? You realize that: (a) you’re the one who initated use the term “political correctness” into the discussion, and (b) all he was doing he was responding to and refuting your use of the phrase. Yeah, I’m pretty sure what terriblehuman isn’t a violation of Paul’s rules.

    *”what terriblehuman did isn’t a violation of Paul’s rules.”

    As far as my abiding by the rules of the comment board, that’s betwee me and Mr. Lukas. :-p

    As far as my abiding by the rules of the comment board, that’s betwee me and Mr. Lukas. :-p

    I don’t have a particular interest one way or the other in Paul’s rules, how he enforces them, or whether you follow them. But when you make a public comment that is both hypocritical and a mischaracterization of someone else’s adherence to the rules, I will continue to feel free to publicly respond.

    Such a sweet look. They almost have the effect of the best minimalist logos. Sure they aren’t the uniforms that immediately come to mind but they are stripped down beauties.

    That is the uniform I expect the Rams to wear for “throw back” games but they never do. Then again, they rarely do anything well.

    I tend to think that the 80s look was a bit much with the sleeve horns and the triple striped pants. I think they should have simply changed the horn, the sleeves and the pants to gold on these uniforms and called it a day (obviously, the blue jersey would have gold numbers and shoulder loops, similarly mimicking its sleeve horn counterpart).

    Can we start referring to this kind of crap as “uniform polygomy?”

    We can’t really find a helmet, (cap, jersey, pants, etc.) that really speaks to who we are as a team, so we’re going to wear a bunch of different, unrelated stuff (that may or may not be in our school/team colors) and really water down our brand in hopes that a prized recruit likes at least one of them.

    Obviously I like this whole flag trend but it’s starting to get out of control.

    Did I anticipate it back in 2009? Or did I create it?

    Let’s just get it over with and have the NCAA require that every state college football team have a state-flag based alternate uniform. However, some states have multiple state universities so how do you decide which school gets to wear a flag uniform? I guess you could have teams take turns every other season or have them earn it, like whoever has a better record at the end of the season gets to wear a flag uniform the next season. Or you could even have a flag uniform game/scrimmage at the beginning of the season between state schools, where whatever school wins the game earns the right to wear a flag uniform the rest of the year. What team will become the pride of the state and earn the right to wear its flag?

    Lots of possibilities here.

    Answer to first question: No
    Answer to second question: No
    Answer to third question: None

    Um, yeah they are. The listing for the Giants poster even has a closeup of the (C)1979 National Football League Properties text on the poster.

    Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive. My local dollar store has lots of things from 1979.

    A friend had the Bronco poster by early 1980. He threw a big party in what was then one of the easternmost neighborhoods in town. A ditzy girl who lived on the west side of town had a bit too much fun at the party and took a wrong turn when she left the party. She ran out of gas about halfway between Denver and Kansas, not having noticed that she was in the middle of nowhere. She never lived that one down.

    Shit. If I had known someone would be willing to pay $25 for something that I got at a dollar store I would have thought twice about writing “Brad Baxter” on it in big letters.

    Strange that some posters from a dozen years earlier would end up at that kind of store.

    i like the white IU helmets with the red mowhawk stripe. thats sharp. they should stop there. too many helmets… ugh

    but if it makes iu competitive in the b1g then i guess im for it

    “Amusingly over-the-top move yesterday by Indiana football, which came out with five new helmet designs to go along with the one they already had”

    Well, actually, they wore two helmets last year. And do we know for sure they’re keeping one or both of them?

    “Okay, so they positioned it too high, but it’s still pretty awesome.”

    No, they positioned it pretty much right where it should be, which is pretty awesome. The real front numbers on those Pirates jerseys are way too low.

    On the Conference USA link, Old Dominion’s uniforms are particularly interesting – the C-USA patch is not quite big enough to cover up the Colonial Athletic Association logo that was originally embroidered on the jerseys. You can see the C on the CAA logo on the BFBS jersey, as well as the arc that runs underneath the letters “CAA” on the white and blue. The silver/gray didn’t have a logo embroidered, since I believe ODU just started wearing those this past season.

    Surprising that the emblem supplier didn’t take enough time to make the twill patch big enough to cover up (kinda like Reebok covering up the vector patch on the back of its hockey jerseys with the new word mark).

    If it’s like that on all of the jerseys, that’ll be a sloppy look for ODU in its first C-USA year.

    Why was ODU included in that anyway? They’re still an FCS independent in this coming season.

    ODU actually had a CAA logo on their field, I believe, while they were still technically an FCS Independent after starting their football program. I’ve seen a number of Division I programs, in new sports especially, wear their conference affiliation on their uniform in anticipation of their upcoming membership.

    The school officially joins in all other sports July 1st of this year, football is the only one that joins in 2014. It does make you wonder, I’m sure the CUSA has no problem with them wearing them this year, but its going to be weird seeing a team not eligible for the playoffs and playing at the FCS level wearing an FBS conference patch.

    Thinking about yesterday’s entry, and the 4th of July hats: do the number of hats marketed by major league baseball exist in inverse proportion to the number of Americans who actually play the game?

    I don’t know anyone who plays baseball anymore. Well, my 10 year old nephew is on a team, but he lives in upstate New York, which is a little like being suspended in amber.

    There is a distinct possibility that by 2014, the Yankees will share their home stadium with an MLS soccer team. Baseball occupies a smaller and smaller place in the national memory. Eventually, it’s going to be like the Wicked Witch of the West: all that will be left is the hat.

    True, baseball is not being played as much. When I grew up, every elementary school had a sandlot and a backstop. All of those fields I grew up playing on in the eighties are gone, some replaced by soccer fields. But the fact is, MLB attendance continues to soar and the merchandise flies off the shelves. With a world-wide talent pool and apparently no shortage of cash to keep payrolls soaring, I don’t see baseball going anywhere in the near future.

    The thing that’ll keep baseball alive for the foreseeable future is that baseball has almost always held its appeal in nostalgia (even its founding myth is a manufactured Americana). It’ll evolve just enough to keep up with modernity and but be anachronistic enough to maintain relevance.

    Even if NFL gets more national attention and NBA captures the youth audience, in most cities, baseball is more closely tied to civic identity than almost any other institutions.

    Baseball is like that Urkel guy: all the high school kids know who he is, but they weren’t born when his show was in its first run. Baseball is a charming anachronism, Lucy selling Vitamitavegamin, or rotary phones. The thing about nostalgia is that the reference point changes by generation. Eventually those huge crowds are going to dry up.

    I love baseball. Aesthetically, it’s the purest sport I know. But I haven’t watched a full 9 inning game in maybe three years, and where I used to go to five or ten games a year, now I maybe go to one. And there’s only one reason for that: my sons have zero interest in baseball. One of them is a hockey fan; one loves soccer. That’s all we watch, pretty much the only sports we talk about. This is true in millions of households.

    Um, baseball will ALWAYS be more popular than soccer and hockey in America. You are in the distinct minority if you think those sports are gaining any traction on baseball (or football or basketball). I heard the same thing in the 1970s that baseball was dying and soccer was the sport of a new generation. Didn’t happen then, and it’s not going to happen now.

    While I’d agree that baseball’s place as America’s pastime won’t be challenged, do you really know what’s going to happen in a generation or two? Tennis and golf were headline sports just 20 years ago. They’re not niche sports, but their relevance is fading. Boxing and horse racing were much bigger 30, 40 years ago. Now they *are* niche sports.

    And something not happening 30 years ago doesn’t preclude it from happening 30 years from now. Kids who grew up watching NASL in the late 70s and early 80s are now raising kids, and you can see it. Hell, kids in Messi jerseys outnumber kids in Griffin III gear around here. And no NFL team has built a stadium that can’t be configured for international soccer since, I don’t know, the 80s? Summer exhibition matches have been selling out NFL and MLB stadiums for the past decade. And while MLS will likely never be major, it’s in its 18th season, the longest any league has been around outside the Big 4. I don’t know if soccer will overtake baseball in my lifetime, but I wouldn’t bet against it either.

    Not lots of players, but lots of spectators. The same is true of several sports I don’t follow like Boxing, Racing and Golf.

    A weak MLB team sells at least 1.2 million tickets every regular season. The single-season record is over 4 million (1993 Rockies). Many teams routinely sell over 2.5 million tickets per season.

    An average NFL team sells about half a million tickets per each regular season. There isn’t one that sells a million given number of games times stadium capacity.

    An team in NBA or NHL could theoretically sell about a million tickets per reguar season, if every game sold out and the building were one of the bigger ones.

    The Sounders will likely be the first MLS team to break the million ticket per season barrier. Good on them. Most MLS fields can’t do that as there aren’t that many seats available, nor would that many be salable.

    I think it’s worth noting that boxing and racing used to be much bigger parts of the American culture. Now they cater to gamblers and a niche audience for the most part (even if a heavyweight title match is still the biggest payday in sports).

    Certainly, team sports have the advantage of tying their brands to their home cities, but consumer tastes can change quickly and without people noticing. The state of baseball is very, very good. But I do wonder what will happen if the percentage of players from Latin America outnumber homegrown players (then again, it might not matter since baseball players are rarely recognizable without their uniforms).

    The ticket numbers are about as reliable as daily kill figures from Vietnam, circa 1968.

    “Number sold” and “Number passing through the turnstiles” are very, very different. Most teams rely heavily on corporate sales and group sales to move tickets. That’s fine, but it changes the dynamics of the crowds and it means a lot of sold tickets go unused. TV ratings — the true measure of popularity — are in the Pro Bowler’s Tour range.

    The neocons have long cited baseball and football as classic examples of American Exceptionalism (and if you don’t thing all that star-spangled crap is not a cynical way to tap into that Lee Greenwood crooning, “Don’t Tread On Me” flag waving, “Obama is a Kenyan” market, you’re dreaming). So terriblehuman’s point is well taken: when most of your players aren’t American, do you obliterate your US fan base?

    Except you’re talking about national TV ratings. Local TV ratings for baseball teams are exceptionally strong. How do you explain the millions of dollars TV stations are paying for broadcast rights for baseball?

    I think baseball will have strong regional support for a long, long time. NFL and NBA are bigger nationally, i.e. the best NBA teams and players have national followings, but baseball players tend to be the local heroes.

    The flipside, of course, is that MLB teams and players usually don’t enjoy much popularity outside their local markets.

    Forty percent of the homes in metro Houston can’t even watch the Astros on TV: they games are only available on Comcast cable. If you have a satellite dish, you simply can’t see the games.

    Life has gone on.

    Everybody gets upset when the classic rock radio station switches to a Tejano format, or when the little bakery their grandmother shopped at goes out of business, but when you press them, they always admit they hadn’t listened to the station since Bill Clinton was president, and they can’t abide the carbs, so they never set foot in a bakery. Baseball, I fear, will be like that.

    This is not the Seventies. In the Seventies, you couldn’t watch every single EPL match on your TV, or follow Serie A, or watch the Bundesliga. The nation’s demographics are changing, too. Last week in Houston, 64,000 people went to a friendly match between Mexico and Nigeria. El Tri has adopted Houston as its home away from home. In the Seventies, some NASL teams were playing in glorified high school stadiums.

    And I keep coming back to the notion that no one plays baseball anymore. Every kid in my neighborhood plays soccer, and they play it the way we used to play baseball: pickup games, sandlot games, goofing around in the back yard. When was the last time you saw kids playing baseball in a non-organized setting? Baseball is all about trophies and uniforms and adult supervision these days.

    Scott, sports are attractive to advertisers, because they are “DVR proof”: viewers are bombarded with advertisements; they can’t escape from them. Teams create sports networks to broadcast their games, because the cost of producing the games (and the hours and hours and hours of studio programs, highlight shows and other programming) is fairly cheap. Low cost programming plus advertiser demand means profit.

    Look, I don’t think baseball is going to disappear. But its future is not exactly shimmering.

    As an IU alumnus, I absolutely hate the lone “I” helmet. It’s too close to Illinois. As for the candy stripes, it’s been a basketball thing so leave it the basketball players. The state flag looks cheap on the red – more like an IN highschool all-star game helmet.

    IU needs to worry about their play on the field more than what uniform they’ll get beat in.

    IU has way more history with a block I logo than Illinois does.

    Prior to last year, had the Illini EVER worn a block I on the helmet? To my knowledge, when they’ve had a logo, it’s always been either the arched ILLINI or the NY Giants ripoff ILLINOIS.

    I seem to recall seeing the Chief on a helmet at one point (I could be wrong).

    True JTH, but Indiana’s brand is “IU.” It feels like taking off the “S” in Michigan State University to me lol. Illinois brands themselves with the “I” and Illinois.

    Indiana Basketball Court:

    link

    Illinois Basketball Court:

    link

    Indiana is IU, you show me a block I and the first thing I think of is Illinois, you show me an interlocking I and U, and I think Indiana. Sure Illinois has barely worn the I on their helmets and Indiana has more history with the I, but they already have an excellent logo that is not used by anyone else, why confuse your brand identity?

    “Amusingly over-the-top move yesterday by Indiana football, which came out with five new helmet designs to go along with the one they already had”

    Well, actually, they wore two helmets last year. And do we know for sure they’re keeping one or both of them?

    Ugh. If you’re gonna repost something you already screwed up, don’t screw it up again.

    Fonzie jumped the shark in 1977, less than halfway into Happy Days’ run; the show continued for seven more seasons. I thought what Oregon and Maryland did with uniforms was groundbreaking and distinct, when limited to just those schools. Now that everyone is getting in on the game you can’t recognize who you’re watching anymore and its getting to be a mess. We are jumping the shark right now.

    Happy Day’s jumped when they replaced “Rock Around the Clock” with that cheeseball “These Days are Ours” as the opening theme. But really, when Fonzie went from this enigmatic bad-ass to a cartoon character who essentially had superpowers is when the show went in the tank. Season one focused on the travails of Richie and Potsy with the Fonz as sort of an outsider. Had a grittier vibe, and an older brother…

    It’s hard for me to badmouth a character who shared the same name as a member of the Red Wings fabled Production Line!

    I used to like the early Happy Days. As said they just got too goofy and cartoonish.

    “Happy Days” ‘jumped the shark’ before Fonzie jumped the shark…with the introduction of Chachi Arcola.

    New Canes unis are an upgrade over the old ones, but the inconsistent stripe patterns are a problem. They should take the stripes from the white jersey and apply them to both of the unis. Overall though, pretty nice.

    The road white uni is the clear winner of the two. Great looking hockey jersey.

    Upgrade? I respectfully disagree. To me, the new ones are boring. The old ones were more interesting.

    I’ve never understood this line of reasoning. You’re never going to see both uniforms worn at the same time, so what does it matter if they aren’t exact (reverse) duplicates of each other?

    Jason: The old ones look like minor league jerseys.

    Andy: There’s something to be said for a consistent look across a uniform program, hence “uniform.” They don’t have to exact — Blackhawks, for instance – but at least look like they belong together.

    I disagree that they’re an upgrade. Agree with JLemein that the Road is the winner. Does this mean they also got rid of the black Alts? I think they would have looked better with the bigger crest, and the Storm Warning flag patches on the shoulders. but what do I know. a 20 year old team is “Classic”

    Aside from the color, I don’t really see much resemblance to the Wings. Here’s what I do see.

    Home jersey: take a blue Maple Leafs jersey and make it red. Throw on a black collar because oh, yeah, that’s one of the team colors.

    Road jersey: take a white Devils jersey and swap out the black yoke for a red one. Then take the stripes from a white Blackhawks jersey and split the difference with the stripes on that Devils jersey.

    The Red Wings thing was just my first impression, and you’re right, it’s more Toronto than Detroit. I just thought Red Wings because it’s solid red with white stripes with little else.

    Dude, I’m diggin’ ’em! I thought the Jets got it right with their new look, and I really like these. Let’s hope it’s the start of a trend in the NHL.

    Road uniform is pretty nice.

    Home uniform is clean but the double white stripes on the plain backdrop is a little too Toronto for me.

    The new crest is great (provided you’re willing to ignore all the usual corporate nonsense). I like that it flexes and takes up a little less space.

    Sticking the warning flags inside the collar is stupid, as is every collar motto.

    The non-aligning away kit is nice touch. It’ll probably grow on me in due time.

    Getting rid of a lot of the rococo little details and piping and whatnot is an upgrade. Getting rid of the hurricane flag motif is a huge downgrade. Aesthetically, I think I prefer the new set. But intellectually, I don’t think I can call it an upgrade.

    I guess having two different striping patterns doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing, but when you put the two uniform sets next to each other like that, it’s looks pretty silly. The plain white striping on the red uniforms looks incomplete, as if the seamstress forgot something.

    The Philadelphia Eagles soap claims to be “vintage”, from the late 80’s or early 90’s, but the logo on the tin wasn’t even used by the team until the 1997 season

    The end of the “Fighting Sioux” nickname article finishes with saying that UND uses the nickname “Coyotes” now. They don’t in fact use a nickname at all and I believe may have been poor journalism, because one state down is the USD Coyotes. As an alum, I still make it to the hockey games….trust me the name is only dead on the sweater.

    Interesting. A year ago, the Lightning released a home uniform that was essentially a blue version of the Red Wings:

    link
    link

    Today, the Hurricanes released a home uniform that is a red version of the Maple Leafs.

    link
    link

    I don’t mind the decision to simplify the uniform set, but I think a better direction would have been to eliminate some of the extraneous piping and striping from the old uniform design while keeping the warning flag motif intact. As it is, the Hurricanes have lost most of what made their uniforms unique and interesting.

    I’m with you, Paul. I liked the uniqueness of the warning flag stripes, and the new home unis are far too bland.

    And another team adopts those goddamn laces.

    Also notable in the McMahon/LT photo is that the Viking’s lineman is wearing a pair of Reebok Pumps, as any sneakerhead would immediately notice

    What’s the deal? Is the new trend in the NHL to go minimalist and try to put out old school classic uniforms?

    The new Hurricanes uniforms aren’t ugly. But they’re boring. And I concur that they should have kept the hurricane warning flag trim. It was definitely unique and was relevant to the team name and design.

    The main problem with the Lightning and Hurricanes trying to go old school is… That neither of them are old school teams and do not have a history of these minimalist old-school uniforms. The Original Six teams can do it. And some of the early expansion teams can as well. But newcomers like the Hurricanes and Lightning do not have a history to fall back on. These uniforms are just plain and boring and are just following some sort of fashion trend.

    “What’s the deal? Is the new trend in the NHL to go minimalist and try to put out old school classic uniforms?”

    Shit, I hope so!

    Many teams aspire to an “Original 6” standard, even if they’re a relatively recent expansion or relocation. Recall Wayne Gretzky’s rebranding of the Coyotes during his time in Phoenix. Steve Yzerman wanted a Red Wing-like look when he took over at Tampa Bay. The Devils adamantly refuse to add a third (notwithstanding the annual red-and-green one-off). Now Carolina, who even back when they moved to North Carolina, expressed the hope that their new logo would someday be seen as a classic logo “like the Original Six.”

    At least the shoulder patch is gone — it always irked me that it was the signal for a tropical storm (one red flag with a black square), not a hurricane (two flags).

    I must be in the minority, because I always thought that Tampa had decent uniforms and logos. They totally went overboard to a plain blue and white uniform and ripped off some electric company’s logo.

    I wish teams would try to be themselves and not try to copycat others. I think that is one element of what makes a classic.

    Obviously, there’s no middle ground between a look that’s restrained and one that’s garish. Either you go ugly or indistinguishable.

    That article about golfers going from “Lumpy to Pumped-Up” reminded me of a photo I had seen on ebay.

    link

    I thought, “Boy that guy kinda does a disservice to that uniform – his name seems familiar, but I don’t remember anything about him being on the Cubs”. After a few more clicks I found this…

    link

    …these…

    link

    link

    …and most embarrassingly, this (notice that in the item description it is referred to as a “Very Large” Raymond Floyd Polo Shirt).

    link

    RE: Hurricanes

    Looks a lit like Team Canada. Slightly less lazy than the Detroionto Bay Maple Wing-nings “revamp” of the Lightning.

    The decrease in scale of the crest could be a tactic to make shooters have to focus more on a smaller circular target and draw them away from other corners of the net (more on this from a 2006 UW post link).

    By removing the storm flag striping and shoulder logos, wouldn’t that mean the franchise wants to reinforce the crest as THE BRAND of the team? Having secondary and tertiary marks (even as simple as a striping pattern) would dilute the impact/importance of the primary mark. This isn’t an endorsement of the move itself, but maybe a reason behind it. As much as the stripe and the tattered flag/stick images were a part of the team, they were not the prime branding image.

    I find it hilariously ironic that that Indiana helmet video is set to the instrumental of a new Kanye West song entitled New Slaves. The song has some pretty heavy anti-consumerist meanings. I understand that it will probably be a hit song, but they should have looked into it before just slapping it onto their video.

    Lyric breakdown to the song:
    link

    Apparently, Brazil has an all-black “third” kit that they don’t intend to ever wear on the field:
    link

    Um.

    Paul,

    I’m not sure when we’ll have the next question session (sorry if this has been advertised and I missed it). So let me just ask this now:

    Have you ever taken a Myers Briggs personality test? If so, what “type” are you categorized under?

    What’s the difference between using a state flag as part of a uniform and using the U.S. flag? You’re against one but support the state flag being used?

    What about all those poor kids from outside of Indiana who are going to be forced to wear them?

    State flags tend not to have a history of being used for jingoistic purposes and haven’t been oversaturated throughout our culture. On the contrary, state flags are largely unknown, often even to state residents. So using their imagery functions as a nice civics lesson.

    Also, the Indiana flag is a pretty good symbol for, you know, THE UNIVERSITY OF FUCKING INDIANA. Last I checked, none of the MLB teams wearing flag-desecration uni elements represented the entire nation.

    THE UNIVERSITY OF FUCKING INDIANA?

    So disappointed, Paul. It’s INDIANA FUCKING UNIVERSITY.

    So you’re against the United States flag being used because the MLB is showing extreme forms of patriotism (jingoism) and that the flag is used to much (over-saturation) but for state flags being used because people don’t know what they look like?

    To use your example from yesterday, Venezuela’s flag hasn’t been used in an over-saturated or jingoistic way in my view, yet you were against Americans having to wear their flag if they played there.

    Last time I checked 29 of the 30 MLB teams were in America so it’s not much different than Indiana doing it to represent their state.

    I don’t like the USA uniform stuff but you’re talking out of both sides of your mouth here and your argument for the state flag use is pretty weak. If you’re going to claim one is flag desecration it is flag desecration all around.

    It’s only flag desecration if you’re violating the flag code. These helmets don’t violate the link.

    Too many logos for IU helmets.

    They got the iu, the flag, tv numbers, block I, and candy-cain stripes. holy guacamole. all they need know is the old black helmet with the early 2000s iu logo (circa antwon randle el).

    I think tv numbers is crossing the line. they should take away the tv numbers and i think it’d be fine.

    Wow. Indiana only needs a black or matte helmet to hit all the stupid trends.
    I like the Pirates black alts but I’ve said all along they would look better without the front number. Seeing this it is now confirmed.

    Also not sure if it was mentioned yet but the Astros will be wearing a patch to honor the fallen Houston firefighters on their next homestand:

    link

    As a firefighter myself I say good for them to be doing this and RIP to the fellow brothers and sister.

    That hotel was on the frontage road of one of the most heavily traveled freeways in Houston. Thousands and thousands of people drive past it, every day (including me).

    It’s such a sobering scene. I’m very glad the Astros are recognizing this terrible loss. And the Texans have announced that every player on the active roster will be in attendance at a memorial service tomorrow, to be held in Reliant Stadium.

    I wish I could be there tomorrow as well. Unfortunately living in Pa it’s just not possible.

    New Dallas Stars uniforms:

    link

    A brighter green, apparently black pants. Not bad. The home uniforms have a Blackhawks/Sharks vibe, which is not bad.

    Agree on the Blackhawks (and North Dakota), is it me, or are the numbers on the back over-sized, that would be really cool. I like the look overall – I like green and black, the logo seems a little boring (but when your team is called the Stars – it’s boring to start with)

    link|NHL|home

    Seeing the full uniform style guide sheet … yeah, it does give off a North Dakota vibe as well.

    That green jersey definitely reminds me of those green fashion jerseys you see way too many people wearing at every Hawks game.

    Even the number font looks like the one the Blackhawks use.

    Good move sticking to one black hem stripe to keep it from being a complete knockoff. I guess.

    Well anyway, Dartmouth green or whatever they want to call it is a good color for them.

    What I find amusing about the five Indiana helmets is:
    they only play TWELVE fucking games!

    I like the Stars new unis. They really dig out a unique identity in the NHL, being the only team to primarily use green. Whereas the Hurricanes now are to the Red Wings as the Lightning are to the Maple Leafs. Or they just threw the Red Wings and Coyotes in a blender and came up with the most minimalist idea. They really lost a lot by ditching the hurricane flags.

    Nothing will ever match the Stars’ pre-Reebok Star pattern jerseys. Those were and are terrific, and I wish they’d go back to them.

    Failing that, though, these are pretty good, a significant upgrade. The logo is very nice, and I’m glad they’re emphasizing green again. Although I’m agnostic about the deletion of gold–it looks good with proper amounts of green, but if there’s not enough green it’s too much.

    This is one instance where the NHL is following college, though–these are basically North Dakota uniforms.

    Steady visitors to this site might remember I submitted a concept for the Stars of Dallas, the main feature of which was a snowflake superimposed over a six-pointed sheriff’s badge. I’ll bet stuff like that falls into the “too cute” pool alluded to by the team president. I’m sorry, but the new insignia is un-clever and obvious. I’m old-school; the logo should make you think the designer had his thinking cap on. Even the hoary Original Six symbols have a terse humor to them.

    Yeah, that logo is dated already. And beveling? I thought that trend had seen its day.
    The jersey is a definite improvement, though.

    Even though some of the Hoosier helmets are fine, this is so out of hand.

    As Paul said those ones with the wide stripe should be the same width all the way back. They did just like they did for Ohio States helmets and had it tapered. Why?

    I actually liked the Hoosiers interlocked IU. They did not need all these.

    Can a college team still change jerseys at half time as Notre Dame once famously did? What if a team is just so overwhelmed with choices that they come out in a different combo each quarter? Or it gets so bad that they’re taking ‘delay of game’ penalties just to run back to the locker room and find jerseys/pant combos that make their butts look BIGGER.

    “This is so fucking great: Pirates pitcher Ryan Reid was called up prior to the game and ended up making his big league debut in the bottom of the seventh inning. Just one problem: They neglected to include his uni number on the front of his jersey”

    Awesome! Busy all day and night working and can not catch every single uni event…one of the main reasons I come to this site.
    That shit is insane in the membrane. Shit like that should not happen in the professional field of business. That is half assed; “hey kid! these are the pro leagues get outta here”!! Seriously, this pro athlete (who is clueless mind you) should not have been able to play until he was properly dressed(to the nines). I’m just comparing this to regular work people who (themselves) forget to pin their name tag on their work uni. This pro had a part of a jersey/uni in which someone in the clubhouse forgot to stitch on or “had no time to”.
    But maybe I am going overboard.

    I think not. If teams just had a home and away uniform, Reid could have had a set made up. Too many mutations; too many opportunities to fuck up.

    By the far, the worst thing about Indiana’s striped helmet is that it’s shiny red/chrome, instead of red/white. But the other thing wrong with it — even though they have the candy-striped basketball pants — is that it looks like they are copy-catting conference mate Michigan.

    The Indiana chrome helmets remind me of the Memphis Pharaohs for some reason.

    As for the Canes and Stars new looks? I guess the colored shoulder panels on the road are this year’s trendy thing? I don’t hate that and it’s sure better than putting numbers and “Dallas” across the front. The Stars still feels unfinished to me but it’s a big upgrade over the previous look. The Canes remind me of the Coyotes now. They should just go back to the first look they had in Carolina. It was a much better look.

    A very Uniwatch-leaning “Behind the Scenes” shows the design back and forth in creating the Stars’ new uniforms.

    link|DAL|home

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