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Big day in the NHL yesterday, as the Stars and ’Canes unveiled new uniforms. You can see my thoughts on Carolina’s new set in this ESPN piece from yesterday afternoon. As for the Stars, I didn’t see the unveiling (I was in Manhattan with a bunch of friends, seeing former Kink Dave Davies limp through a rather embarrassing set, followed by eats and drinks at the always wonderful Ear Inn), but I caught up on everything when I got home.
Obviously, this is way better than what they had. And I’m generally inclined to like any uniform whose primary color is green. But is it actually good? Some thoughts:
• Too. Much. Beveling. Come on, guys — the beveling thing was cute for about five minutes, but that was back in 2004. Enough! (That little notch in the “D” doesn’t help either, but at least that little typographic quirk isn’t repeated in the uni numbering or NOB lettering.)
• As Chris Creamer notes, this marks the first time in franchise history that gold has been eliminated from the team’s color palette. A pity, since gold pairs so well with green.
• The shoulder patch isn’t bad, but it kinda feels rote — so many NHL and MLB teams have this type of circular patch these days.
• They’re going with black pants for home and road. Wish they’d gone with green pants for the road uni instead. (My thanks to Chris Hilf for that mock-up.)
Overall, though, these are fairly minor quibbles. So while this set isn’t as good as it could have been, I’d say it’s good enough.
Wanna see more? Sure, I’m in a good mood: Here’s the logo style sheet and the uniform style sheet. Try not to laugh too hard at the shade of green being called “Victory Green,” tee-hee (oops).
Meanwhile, I have a new ESPN column on the NBA Finals. Enjoy.
Hornets redesign reminder: I’m currently running an ESPN contest to redesign the Bobcats-turned-Hornets. Deadline is Friday. Details here.
“Candela” update: When my New York Times article about the World’s Fair Marina pavilions ran 10 days ago, I sent it to all my research contacts from several years ago, when Kirsten and I were working on the Candela museum exhibit. One of them, a Coast Guard historian, wrote back yesterday with the news that he’d discovered an archival photo of the Coast Guard pavilion from the Fair (click to enlarge):
The Coast Guard pavilion, of course, is the same one that was eventually auctioned off, carted upstate, and repurposed as a summer cottage in the Adirondacks, where it still stands today. Really cool to have this up-close view of it in its former life.
Uni Watch News Ticker: In addition to their new uniforms, the Stars are retiring Mike Modano’s number. ”¦ Golfer Lee Janzen was DQ’d from a U.S. Open qualifier on Monday for wearing metal spikes on a course that doesn’t allow them. ”¦ The U.S. Dept. of Education has rejected Michigan’s attempt to ban Indian mascots. … Shawn Monk has given his motorcycle helmet an ASU theme. “The hardest part was figuring out how to angle the pitchfork decals so they lined up like the ones on the real helmet,” he says. … Some dude who plays for Coastal Carolina has the weirdest batting stance in the history of ever (big thanks to Comrade Robert Marshall). … No photo yet, but the Texas Rangers will wear a patch on July 6 in honor of the explosion-ravaged city of West (from Tim Perkins). … Meanwhile, the Astros will be wearing a patch for the Houston firefighters killed in last Friday’s hotel fire (from Chris Pierce). ”¦ Incidentally, note that those last two links both refer to teams wearing “a special patch.” Enough already with the “special” — every patch is special, every alternate uni is special, blah-blah-blah. When you call everything “special,” nothing is special. ”¦ Justin Kline has made a fun series of NBA and NHL iPhone wallpapers. “I started with the NHL sweaters, as I wanted a Buffalo Sabres wallpaper for my phone,” he says. “Once I finished that, I never closed Illustrator and just kept going. Once I had one uni set for every NHL franchise (plus an extra for Hartford, because I love those Ron Francis-era jerseys), I felt like making an NBA version for the first player I could think of from any given franchise. This will be an ongoing project for me, and I plan to move to MLB once I’ve got a road jersey for every NBA franchise.” … You’ll start seeing the Big Ten logo appearing at Yankee Stadium next season, thanks to a new deal involving the Baseball Cap Bowl (Chris Flinn). … This is really old news — from last fall, in fact — but the Coast Guard’s latest sports logo is so hilariously bad that it deserves special notice (from the Hungry Hungry Hipster). … New logo for the Redskins’ new training center (from Tommy Turner). … New away kit for Liverpool, and it’s a doozy (from Yusuke Toyoda). … Very nice Northwestern-striped stirrups for the Eau Claire Express (from Jeremy Zeimis). ”¦ Here’s cool video providing a behind-the-scenes look at the printing of the leaders’ jerseys at the Giro d’Italia (from C.J. Hague). ”¦ Two items from Phil: The Binghamton Mets wore racing silks-themed jerseys last night; further details here. And the Fort Wayne TinCaps are wearing the ultimate Twitter jersey — or as Phil calls it, “possibly the worst minor league jersey of all time.”
I’m sure you saw or were told, but the Candela made an appearance on the Venture Bros. season premiere as a building on the Venture compound.
It’s not just me, right?
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If you are looking for a screen cap of the Venture Bros. Candela, here you go.
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Fascinating WSJ story on how in the annual musical-chairs of minor league affiliation, the Las Vegas 51s are the chair no big-league team wants to sit in, and the Mets are the butt no minor-league team wants on their seat, and how they ended up together as one of the most distant MLB-AAA pairs in history.
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Phil and I, both Mets fans, were commiserating over that piece yesterday. It’s really hard to be a Mets fan right now….
“Right now.” Bwahahahaha!
Seriously, though, the Mets used to be my team in the NL long ago, and I’ve been a Twins and Nats fans through mainly lean years, so you’re not alone in drinking the occasional salty beer. Condolences. Or, technically, condolences starting Friday, once your Mets are no longer playing the Nats.
Some years back the Marlins had a team in the Canadian Rockies (probably the Calgary Cannons) as an affiliate. That seemed both odd and impractical.
Oops. Should have read the article first.
Calgary was a Seattle affiliate before that, which made slightly more sense (at least there are direct flights between Calgary and Seattle). The Miami years were pretty grim.
On the other hand, Calgary was such a terrible place for a AAA team, it made perfect sense for Miami to get the best deal possible.
Before the Phillies made their AAA affiliates accessible via the NE Extension of the PA Turnpike, their top-tier minor leaguers had to play in the PCL: San Diego (’66-68), Eugene (’69-’73) and Portland (’83-’86).
Always liked this Beavers uni:
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Another winning move by the Wilpons, who must have a sizable life insurance policy on Commissioner Bud.
The Hawaii Islanders last affiliation was with the Pittsburgh Pirates. But Hawaii and anybody makes for plenty of superfluous travel.
quick cheap paint version of the Stars with green pants:
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So much better! I’m going to link to this in the main entry.
That looks really good. Darn it, I want the Stars to be ugly, to help sustain my grudge against Norm Green and the team for screwing all of us over in Minnesota (bring back the Mooterus!). Now, suddenly, they look almost as good as they ever did in the Land of Sky Blue Waters. Adopt the green pants, and it’d be really hard to maintain the grudge against such a fine-looking team.
Yes, I share that grudge and, yes, they look very good now. They are far superior to what the North Stars were wearing in their final season in Minnesota.
But… they get what they deserve with that minor league looking logo.
I like the unis they won the cup in. This stuff is okay
Now change all the black in the road set to gold and I think we’ve got a winner
Such a good call on the green pants, Does any other NHL (or any hockey) Team have 2 brezzers?
Yes. link.
Heck, the early LA Kings had gold breezers to go with the gold jerseys as well as purple breezers with the purple jerseys. Quite the sight.
-Jet
In fact, here’s a screengrab: link
I get that in the abstract, beveling is a “done” style fad. But the beveled star is also a traditional symbol of Texas. It’s absolutely appropriate for the Stars, and they execute it about as well as anyone has recently.
Still, though, the black-and-white versions of the D-star logo are more striking to my eye than the full-color, beveled versions.
And how is the alternate mark with the state of Texas and the D-star not the shoulder patch?
It’s more the beveled “D” that bothers me – the star is fine, but when combined with the letter, it ends up looking like a minor league team from 10 years ago.
I don’t know. I can’t get behind it when the logo is as well done as this one. I never thought this would work the way it’s constructed, but it does. The non-beveled version is fine, but I think the bevels do a good job of visually separating the D from the star, and obviously, as mentioned above, if anyone should be using a beveled star/logo, it’s a team from Texas.
I can’t wait for all the puns when Dallas plays Anaheim in the Ducks’ alternates. /sarcasm
Granted I haven’t read all the comments yet, but has anybody noticed that the “perspective” on the D is three dimensional on the right side but not on the bottom?
There should be solid black going across the whole bottom of the letter, no?
The beveling has a very Todd Radom look to it.
I always thought they missed a great opportunity when they didn’t name the team the Dallas Lone Stars.
So… Lone (denoting solitary or single) Stars (denoting more than one)? Does not really work.
No more or less number-inappropriate than the Minnesota Twins.
All I see is the link.
If only the Stars’ green were that vibrant. It looks really washed out and faded.
Can’t wait for the big game between North Dakota and Team Canada next year in Raleigh.
Stars: Thank goodness the round logo isn’t the primary one on the jersey. Way, way, way overdone in hockey. I think it’s fine as a shoulder patch, but I don’t like a shoulder patch that contains the primary logo. Redundant. Need less bevel and gold instead of silver. I also see the home jersey as a missed opportunity for a North Starsesque white shoulder yoke.
Hurricanes: Totally agree that these are nice, simple jerseys that totally take away all the character that the old ones had. I like simplifying the font, shrinking the massive logo and de-cluttering, but the losses of the secondary logo on the shoulder and the hurricane flag striping are huge. And the home jersey and away shoulder yoke both look just like Team Canada.
In the end, both teams went with nice, simple looks that lack any originality. Teams don’t seem to get that the two concepts aren’t mutually exclusive (especially in the Canes case, where they already had some of those unique elements).
Side note: I think people are way too harsh on the Stars’ old uniforms, but I am glad to see the nonsensical, tapered arm striping go away. That started a horrible mini-trend.
One thing I forgot to mention: The Canes set reminds me of when Tampa Bay went blue and simple for the sake of classicism, forgetting that there was nothing classic about its franchise. Too vanilla for a chocolate-swirl-with-sprinkles brand. Then the Lightning put the bolt back on the pants, and all was well, except for the train-wreck “Bolts” alternate that they continued to wear. Tampa now has a nice balance of a classic, simple look that’s true to their not-so-classic brand.
“Logo” – pastiche, really – for the new home of the independent-ball Loudoun Hounds released yesterday at the groundbreaking ceremony:
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My question is, if I promise to go to a few games every year at Edelman Financial Field, will Edelman stop spamming me with email all the time? That bargain could be an effective way to get people to the ballpark, if the people I know in DC are representative.
I can’t believe I majored in art in college and was never taught the word “pastiche”. My new favorite word!
I looked all over that web site, at the stuff aboutthe field, the team, and the renovated downtown district, and I still don’t know what state Loudoun is in, because they never tell us.
Finally I gave up and Googled it; it’s in Virginia. Are we fans expected to somehow know this?
Apparently, Phil hasn’t seen the new Boise Hawks jerseys yet, because they are godawful in comparison to the Tincaps jerseys.
That Tin Caps jersey doesn’t look half bad compared to a lot of the one-off jerseys minor league teams wear.
My point exactly, it just looks generic.
I’m torn on the Stars new unis. I love the change to more of a kelly green…I think it’s going to really pop both in person and on tv. The green pants on the road would absolutely be an upgrade.
However, I don’t like losing the gold. The team can say all they want about how it’s impossible to keep the color consistent throughout all materials, souvenirs, etc, but gold is a huge part of the team’s history. Even just using it in the shoulder logo would have been nice.
All of that said, these are a HUGE upgrade over what they had. Hell, going back to the Mooterus would have been an upgrade…
Ahhh… Always happens without fail. Justin Kline, you crack me up. One jersey per NHL franchise and you only put Hartford instead of Carolina. Funny, because there are no fans in Raleigh, right? Oh right, they never should have moved, right? Nobody could ever want something from their own current team… Yeah… Fuck off
Instead of being an absolute prick about a guy’s honestly awesome work, how about you take a quick peek at the vast majority of the NHL wallpapers and realize that he’s done them in old logos that are no longer used?
Yeah, not so uppity now with all that egg on your face, right?
“Grumpy Asshole” is Beardface’s default setting. He gets particularly defensive about his Canes when he thinks they’re not getting the respect they deserve.
Beardface and I have a long and historical battleline drawn over the god-awful Hurricanes’ alt jersey. Sometimes, though, one just needs to point out the obvious before attacking the Hurricanes.
Then again, welcome to the Atlantic Division, Hurricanes. You’re about to become the most irrelavent team in the division. Thanks for coming!
It’s just too bad the Hokies didn’t also unveil a comically bad uniform this week.
Did I actually spell irrelevant incorrectly? LOL
“It’s pronounced ‘beard-fah-SAY!M/i>'”
(Sorry, couldn’t resist…)
… and I derped the code. *facepalm*
Having a fit over the Canes is one thing but admiring someone who took the time to make these is what it should be about. I snagged a few from Justin for my phone. Both Bruins, both California/Oakland/SF Seals designs and juts to throw salt in the wound all the Hartford Whalers designs.
The coast guard bear looks like a “simpsons” character.
Seriously. And I understand that the nickname comes from a boat and not the animal, but you’d think one that’s based on water or lifesaving would be better, right?
Yes the nickname comes from the Coast Guard Cutter Bear that patrolled the Alaskan waters in the 1880s.
Haha I was going to say that, too! Especially Season 1 of The Simpsons!
I like the logo. The bear has Brezhnev’s eyebrows. It makes me smile.
Aren’t bears good swimmers? And smart? Who’s to say the Coast Guard isn’t training an elite team of grizzlies, to board ships suspected of soiling our shores with contraband? Encountering an snarling orange bear with the facial hair of a long dead Soviet premier on the high seas would scare anybody straight.
Horribly bad? Nope. I say, “Right on!”
It looks like a small school in-sourced the design to students. So I’m going to assume that’s what happened, and I say it’s awesome. The worst original student-designed logo is better than the best professionally designed logo. Sports at this level is supposed to be amateur – it’s a feature, not a flaw, if logos and uniforms look it too! Far better to have this logo than to have whatever the heck you call what’s going on at places like Oregon, Maryland, Indiana, and the like. Give me this Poochy caricature every day over that.
Man, that shade of green and those stripes — the new Dallas Stars jersey makes me of think what the Philadelphia Eagles should look like.
Justin Kline: you picked THOSE caps jerseys? Granted, they were the jerseys for the Stanley cup in 98, but oh dear lord, should have gone with the classic original logo.
I concur. I wish we could bury the blue and bronze forever somehow. It’s unfortunate that they had to be wearing those jerseys on the Stanley Cup run.
Justin did great stuff, but seriously – the blue and bronze was a horrific look for both the Caps and the (I’m still calling them Bullets) Wizards.
I can’t say anything negative about Justin since he’s provided HOME AND AWAY wallpapers for the California Golden Seals! But I can agree that those Caps jerseys were and are awful. At least they’re not dull–like the new Canes jerseys.
“That little notch in the “D” doesn’t help either, but at least that little typographic quirk isn’t repeated in the uni numbering or NOB lettering.”
The notch in the ‘D’ of the logo is there for a reason. The interior of the logo ‘D’ is a silhouette of the ‘D’ from the wordmark.
That’s a stretch if I ever heard one.
it does match up pretty darn close though
Yesterday, Japan became the first team to qualify for next year’s World Cup in Brazil, and all they got from adidas was this lousy t-shirt:
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And the Fort Wayne TinCaps are wearing the ultimate Twitter jersey – or as Phil calls it, “possibly the worst minor league jersey of all time.”
Aw man, all I had to do was follow them and I too could have had my twitter handle on a minor league baseball team that I don’t care about’s uniform? Shame I missed that one.
I dunno… I feel like the Stars new uni is a little too AHL… I think its the thick border on the logo thats doing it. Love the colors (minus the loss of the gold) and absolutely agree that the pants should be green on the road.
On a related note, in addition to rendering the new uniforms, Andrew at the “unofficial” NHL Uniform Database has link.
I finally got around to listening to ‘On the Media’ with the Joe Johnson segment. So weird to hear Bob Garfield say “Uni Watch”, probably because I’d never heard anyone actually say “Uni Watch” in person.
Also, I’m going to start a site called uniwatching.com that’s all about sea urchins, so I can siphon off page views and the resultant ad revenue from this site.
How can I copy and use those NHL iPhone logos? Cant seem to get them to save to my phone! They are awesome….
if you have an iphone, just click and hold the image, then select, save image.
Its not letting me save….booo
GOT IT! woo!
Ah, I wish there were desktop versions!
The battings stance guy looks like a cross between taking a dump and a Gene Simmons album cover.
Nice work, Justin, on those logo wallpapers. I find it interesting that people here are laying heat on you for which version of logos you used. I went looking for the Avalanche and was actually pleasantly surprised to see the Nordiques.
Good job, sir.
I think Dallas missed the opportunity to bring back yellow as an accent color. I love the green, but they could have used yellow – like the North Stars did – as an accent color to really make things pop.
Of course, they can’t overdo it either otherwise the green gets washed out by the yellow, but some slight accentuation in yellow would set that uniform off in a magnificent direction.
The green and black work so well together, and look so good, adding the yellow (even though it makes sense historically) would throw everything off.
I like the addition of the grey. The only thing that would make them better is going with the green pants.
No, because link. link.
You add a little yellow piping to that uniform in some key spots, and that green would light up your hi-def screen. It’s a contrasting color, and that’s what makes the green pop.
I think the problem was the green was the most important color and to do it right it had to be that shade (for tv viewing etc.) so when the gold was used with that green they just didn’t go well.
How do Mets prospects feel about playing in a stadium named Cashman Field before making the jump to the Big Leagues?
Why should they care? For a guy to play for a Big League team, the Mets would have to trade them before they’re called up.
Am I the only one who looks at the new Stars away set and sees the old Washington Federals?
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And the ‘Canes have lifted parts of the 2010 Canadian Olympic unis.
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Their logo change prior to the Dallas move resembled the one used by Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars, so why not draw from the USFL well once more?
Can I make a pedantic whine about the Stars’ alternate mark? It puts the star closer to Austin to San Antonio than Dallas. I realize the logo wouldn’t look as good, but won’t anyone think of geographical accuracy?
Considering that they are the only NHL team in Texas, they kind of have rule over the whole state in terms of its market. So “accuracy” says they could put the star where ever they like.
But then, that would ignore the existence of the AHL affiliate, who actually play near the location of the star! Minor league hockey gets no respect, or something.
No, that’s exactly right. The Stars know they are the big hockey draw. Cedar Park and the Texas Stars are in the bottom half of AHL attendance, and the San Antonio Rampage hovers in the middle of the pack.
I think it would look better if the star was shifted to the Northeast. It looks unbalanced as is.
New Manchester United home kit (love the collar and buttons personally).
Best part? No more gingham!
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Dammit – I liked the gingham. Best they’ve looked in a long, long time.
I’m guessing you won’t like the away kit, which is a lumberjack-style blue/black plaid:
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Actually would buy that kit.
It took a few hours, but United finally posted, via their Facebook page, the technological edge the new shirts give them. Or some B.S. like that.
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Oh, Nike…
That new Liverpool away kit is the worst. It reminds me of some of the horrible graphic texture patterns from the early and mid ’90’s. Liverpool needs to ditch Warrior ASAP! They had some of the classiest kits when they were with Adidas.
The rumored/likely third shirt isn’t much better:
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But yeah, I guess we’re going back to the 90s now.
Wow. Now THAT is a horrendous jersey. Instantly on any “Worst” list.
Finally the link have a challenger as worst kit ever!
That Liverpool keeper’s jersey is almost ugly enough for me to wait for next year’s Purple Amnesty Day.
Is it too early to put those new Liverpool abominations on the “Worst UK Football Kits of All-Time” list?
Green Stars Uni is almost like a St. Patrick’s Day Hawks uni. I don’t hate the new look, but they should have kept the gold.
Ummmm… almost?
Add an extra black stripe on the hem and it’s link. And the Blackhawks don’t have a particularly unusual number font, but the 1 is distinctive and the Stars are even link.
Of course, the Stars have a lace-up collar and the Blackhawks never actually wear those green jerseys, so I guess it really doesn’t matter.
What a great find on that Coast Guard pavilion photo. Outstanding.
In the Candela building next door I’m thinking those have to be outboard boat motors. Can’t tell if they are hooked on to boats or not. I assume this structure was also an extension of the Coast Guard Exhibit. Excellent picture. Wish I could read the sign between the buildings.
The two pavilions on either side of the Coast Guard building were both for outboard motor companies — one for Johnson and one for Evinrude.
Here’s an interior shot of the Johnson pavilion:
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You can make out the Evinrude sign on the left here:
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That Johnson logo is fucking amazing. Probably the most under appreciated and under recognized logo of all time. Reminds me how I first was exposed to it: it was on a sign outside a store near my college and I drove by it so many times that it was burned into my subconscious and it ended up influencing the colors and style of a logo I had to design for class. I didn’t realize my inspiration until after I had already submitted the logo for grading and drove by the logo again and then it dawned on me.
You know a logo is good when it buries itself into your brain and inspires your artwork without you even realizing it.
You’re right. Funny, I never noticed it before. I must have seen it hundreds of times.
Kind of surprised that the numbers on the Stars jerseys have no trim or outline whatsoever. Looks like they had the numbers put on at the rink pro shop.
The Hurricanes are now one of the best looking teams in the NHL.
The weirdo elements that come and go, the fads and gimmicks which plague jerseys, are slowly being eliminated. This is very good news.
Yes. They’re easily in the top 20 now — possibly top 15.
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The fads aren’t being eliminated. The fad has just become oversimplification — making your jersey look like a classic jersey by borrowing another classic team’s striping pattern.
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I didn’t necessarily NEED a good laugh this morning, but one is always appreciated.
Honestly. That is absolutely ridiculous.
I commented on this on your ESPN column, but I figured I would repeat it here. Karmanos tried to buy the Red Wings as his company, Compuware was based out of Detroit. After he stole the Whalers from Hartford, it’s only right that he tries to make their uniforms look more and more like the Red Wings….(more the home sweater).
New York Cosmos just signed a kit sponsorship deal with Emirates Airlines. The club plays in the NASL, which is a Division II league, a step above the USSL, a step below MLS.
Emirates other shirt sponsorship deals include Real Madrid, Arsenal, Paris-Saint Germain and AC Milan. So why would a major airline who already sponsors four of the biggest clubs in the world, hitch themselves to a minor league team in America?
Because one of their upstart rivals for the lucrative Middle Eastern market, Etihad Airlines, is owned by the family who controls Manchester City, and Manchester City just bought the second NYC franchise in the MLS.
I have a feeling that over the next couple of years, New York is going to be inundated with ads for those two airlines. The soccer teams are secondary to trying to control the NYC to Dubai trade.
Etihad Airways vs Emirates is itself a proxy rivalry between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, right? Time to warm up the popcorn, I guess.
Oh, and how long before Qatar Airways get involved in the American soccer sponsorship arms race? Can’t you just see a Miami expansion team nominally headed by David Beckham, but backed by the billions of Mauricio Claure and the Qatari government?
That’s a great point.
It will be sort of like the Brooklyn Nets, where Jay-Z is the franchise’s face, but the money men are Russian oligarchs and a bank looking to launder its image.
Past tense on Jay-Z, as he has cashed out his interest in the Nets to begin his player agent company
Yet people still associate the Nets with Jay-Z. Shrewd move, I say.
I had no idea Jay-Z divested himself of his Nets interests.
The oligarch is still in charge, though, right?
Yes, Mikhail Prokhorov is still the majority owner. Jay-Z claims, in song, I still own the building, I’m still keeping my seats.
The Dallas Stars rebranding is a perfect example of taking what was a bad identity in the black, gold and barely green and trying to improve upon that look. The best the (North) Stars ever looked was back in the late 1960’s when they joined the league.
This should have been the starting point for the rebrand of the Stars, and this is why the Stars missed on the rebrand.
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The Hurricanes have a video (10 minutes long) on their uniform redesign process: link
It’s fun to get a peek at designs that didn’t make the cut.
Is it just me, or do the Stars’ new number fonts have a distinct Dallas Cowboys feel to them?
I think that’s just you. It’s not the same font.
Today’s ESPN column is up:
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Point 10) That’s Chris Andersen. No O. Danish heritage.
Right. Duh [slaps forehead]. Just asked my editor to fix.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention how the Heat’s alternate black numbered black jersey resembles the black numbered black jersey that the Spurs wore back in the 70’s.
Good point. Hadn’t thought of that! Where were you when I asked for suggestions two days ago??
The Redskins groundbreaking/grand opening/whatever photo link cracks me up. A bunch of stiffs in suits, wearing ridiculous hard hats, basking in all the attention feeling like world class heroes (flag pin makes it so). I have to wear the hat and suit at these from time to time and always want to crawl under a rock. You can tell which one is the contractor (no tie, different hat logo, name on hat).
True enough, but groundbreakings and such have always been like this, going back at least 50 years, no?
Going back as far as I know, yes. Not a better time for politicians to come give insincere speeches and look like a dolt. Especially to the real workers on the job that actually look right in a hard hat.
The Stars uniforms are an upgrade from what they just had but not even close to as good as their 1999-06 set. Agree with most comments on them. Lack of gold is disappointing. Those shoulder patches are pointless; better off with no shoulder patch (maybe change the green jersey’s shoulder to white then otherwise will look too plain – not sure moving numbers to shoulder then would look better or worse). The main crest logo is far from great but at least it’s somewhat of a logo now. In any case they have moved from one of the worst jerseys in the NHL all the way up to achieving mediocrity.
Frankly the Hurricanes are a minor downgrade; pretty sad when their black 3rd jersey is now their most interesting. Only changes that could make any real difference in my mind is getting rid of what I have always called a ‘toilet bowl swirl’ main logo.
Not sure what you could use for at team with a name like Hurricanes. Maybe a palm tree bending over in the wind?? or using a font like Pasdenom for the name?? Don’t know – Maybe for a 3rd – just spitballing ideas. Anyone see any concept designs without the current Hurricanes main crest or the flag that they think look good.
Love the New York Times article, Paul. Interesting topic and research you’ve been working on these past few years. Which, of course, goes for most of your projects.
Thank you!!
I just don’t see “green and black” as Dallas colors.
When they moved to Dallas from Minnesota I would have thought they would have gone from “North Stars” to “Lone Stars”.
That being said, I would have also thought the color scheme from the Texas state flag would have inspired a more “Texan” look.
Don’t get me wrong. In professional sports Green and Black are somewhat cool and non-traditional. Like I said, I just don’t see it in Dallas.
The article on the Stars’ website went into the creative give-and-take. There were people that wanted Texas red, white, and blue. Others wanted to go with a shade of blue as the primary color to synch up with DFW’s other teams (Cowboys, Rangers, Mavs). They finally decided to stick with green as the consistent color of the Stars from their beginnings in Minnesota to the present.
When they moved to Dallas from Minnesota I would have thought they would have gone from “North Stars” to “Lone Stars”.
Let’s see… *ahem*
“How can you pluralize the Lone Ranger? There’s 3 of you, you’re not exactly lone.”
Also, Spaceballs: The Hockey Team
I was surprised to learn that there are no Lone Stars in Texas:
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They actually were supposed to become the Lone Stars for their second season in Dallas, at least that is what I recall the plan was. The relatively late date of the move (I think it was in February of 1993 when it was finalized) meant that they decided to just stick with the existing logo (which conveniently enough didn’t include the “North” in “North Stars”) and go just with “Stars” for the first season and then come back with a redesign to Lone Stars for 1994-95. Not sure why that didn’t happen — maybe the impending strike/lockout/whatever the hell it was put nicknames and uniform redesigns on the back burner?
Um… no, no, and no again.
The Minnesota North Stars lost the “North” portion of their name in their final season in Minneapolis. They were called the Minnesota Stars in their final season in Minnesota because they already knew in 1993 that they were being moved to a new city. Norm Green had wanted Anaheim badly, but he chose Dallas after the NHL informed him of the expansion intentions.
While link, nothing was ever formally presented to the NHL regarding a name change, and the Minnesota Stars became the Dallas Stars.
I’ll add more. link. Notice the name on the uniform? Just “Stars”. The “Stars” name was firmly entrenched on this franchise before “Lone Stars” was ever considered due to Green’s wanting to move to Anaheim.
Yeah, the logo just said “Stars” but they were always officially the North Stars, just like the White Sox’ logo just says “Sox,” the Knickerbockers’ just says “Knicks,” etc.
I can’t recall anyone referring to them as just the “Minnesota Stars” in general usage during that pre-move period. Around here, anyway, we pretty much just stuck with calling them the “Minnesota North Stars”, “North Stars”, or just “Stars”, but not “Minnesota Stars”.
It seems like everybody just ignores the dropping of the “North” prior to the move anyway, mainly because the man responsible was a Motherfucking Shithead Rat Bastard.
Incidentally, on the North Stars’ 25th anniversary patch, it still says “Minnesota North Stars”. (It does give 1967-1991 as the years, though…)
I’m somewhat confused by your post, since that article to which you link seems to back up what I recall, that there was an informal plan to become the Lone Stars.
Further, here’s an SI article from their last spring in Minnesota, which shows that they were still officially the North Stars through their last season:
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Enough already with the “special” – every patch is special, every alternate uni is special, blah-blah-blah. When you call everything “special,” nothing is special.
bingo.
Plus, a commemorative patch should be, by definition, special. If you have to point out that a patch is special, then you’re doing it wrong.
For what it’s worth, the “Victory” in the “Victory Green” for the “official” shade of green the Stars are using is almost certainly referencing the fact that the American Airlines Center, where the Stars play, is located within a larger commercial development called Victory Park.
The Dallas Stars shoulder patch reminds me of the Brooklyn Lager label. Even more so if they hadn’t ditched the gold.
The primary mark, for some reason, looks like something from the can of an off-brand energy drink. Like it should also say “Drink DOLT!” I think that’s because the white/gray beveling looks like a beverage can to me.
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What’s ridiculous about the Dallas Stars is that they took a year, looked at “at more than 230 variations” and created a “36-page brief to the NHL” only to have a inferior design to the 1997-2007 era jersey that was taken from the All-Star game design.
…and they never even bothered to contact me about using my design. Bastards :(
Can you link to your design again? I don’t remember what it looked like.
I feel your pain;)
Trevor, on your link there is a poll to see what fans think of the uniform, and it’s nearly neck-and-neck among the four choices: “Love It”… “Like It”… “Getting Used to It”… and “Hate It”.
-Jet
I was going to post this Daily Dish (Andrew Sullivan’s blog) link with the lede, “Paul Lukas, thought leader”:
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But lo and behold, two stories further down on the Dish, we find:
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Paul Lukas, winning the Internet.
Stars go white tail on the green sweater in salute of deer overpopulation and in honor of everyone who has ever worn a top that shrank so much that their t-shirt suck out of the bottom. Hey, if the Blackhawks can do it it has to be right, right?
The Ear Inn is a very fine place.
Anyone know of a site where I could get team-specific ACC patches? I recently purchased a game-used Georgia Tech jersey but it has just the ACC (no pennant patch), and I’d like to get one and put it there.
I’ve tried Ebay and will continue to check (currently there is either a UVA or a Clemson patch available but that is it), but I was wondering if anyone knew of a site where I could go to get one? I’ve tried googling it but not many sites popped up and the ones that did didn’t have any.
Was watching SVP & Rusillo earlier and saw a football helmet I’ve never seen. It was gold with some sort of cartoony bird that had what looked to be a T on its chest. Anybody know this one ?
Need a little more. What kind of bird? Was it a full bird, or just the head? What color was the bird? What other colors were there?
Another wrinkle in a college mascot controversy. Disney-designed Denver Boone is link because a (presumably white*) male mascot is considered offensive by some.
*Lots of the earliest pioneers were Metis/Mestizo and there’s really no reason to assume DB isn’t Mestizo/Metis.
Shoulda brought back the mooterus
I appreciated the thought that went into that uniform. A convergence of Texas and stars would include Taurus, the big longhorned steer in the sky. So the rendering was a bit on the hamfisted side. Their heart was in the right place; the mooterus was the best uniform of their recent history.
Stars can’t have green pants on the road because NHL mandates that you can only have one set of pants for home/away plus one more for alts
Really? I confess that I did not know that.
I think the Stars did well with their new look. This is a clean, sharp, professional look, far better than the new Hurricane togs or the faux-classic (gosh, i’m coming to really dislike how overused that word is) Tampa Bay Lightning unis.
Unsaid is how the Stars seemed to get caugth off base when the NHL reversed its home whites/road colors policy, leaving the team to play its home games for a time in black jerseys with the “Dallas” word-over-number rollerball design, while their white road unis had the Star logo.
Uh, Paul, about the Hornets design contest, don’t you mean the deadline is *Friday*? Tomorrow is Thursday, June 6; and in the ESPN.com article, you state that entries are due at 5pm Eastern time on Friday, June 7.
Yes, sorry, that’s what I meant. But if it helps light a fire under someone’s ass, all the better.
I was down in Kill Devil Hills, NC, last week and I saw a goofy looking house that was boarded up that made me think of the Candela structure (it’s not one, of course).
I didn’t get the chance to take a picture of it, but here it is on Google Street Viewer: link
Also, I got a delicious knish shirt in the mail today. Very nice!
I disagree with Paul a lot, but I have to give him Kudos when they are due, and the Candela story is very deserving. Outstanding work Paul!
Also, the Coastal Carolina batting stance link in today’s ticker made my day! Thanks!
Thanks, man — appreciated!
Via MLS, designfootbal.com is holding a competition to design a crest (logo) and kits (uniforms) for New York City F.C. The site will decide the best crest, home kit, away kit and alternate kit in the contest. Home kits must incorporate light blue and white, but everything else is fair game. The contest runs ’til June 22nd, 2013 at 00:00 (12:00 am) GMT.
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Since Paul lives in Brooklyn and the team plans on playing in Queens, maybe he can host his own “design NYCFC” contest here on Uniwatch. This one can be open for wider interpretations and could even let the designer come up with a different name if they wish. Would you please consider it for us soccer aficionados, Paul?
I really like this crest: link
The pigeon is a nice touch and feels more New York than the Empire State Building (which itself is trademarked, btw) or the Statue of Liberty (which is technically located in New Jersey).
The ‘Canes went with Univers Condensed as their uniform typeface.
I wonder what Adrian Frutiger thinks about that.
Welcome to the NHL Carolina Hurricanes. You finally got rid of your flashy outrageous expansion “look at us” ugly uni’s. Now when you play teams like the Maple Leafs or Red Wings etc. it won’t feel like an exhibition game (or at least look like one).
As for Dallas, glad to see more green. Their logo, meh.
Now the Anaheim Ducks need a makeover. Real ducks have wicked colors to work with, this team could actually look sharp!
When they won that cup back in 2007, it pretty much solidified they would keep that awful color scheme forever. I get what they are trying to do with the Orange (Orange County), but it looks awful when paired with Gold and Black.
Those Candelas sure look a lot like the inspiration(?) for the “La Concha Visitors Center” at the Las Vegas Neon Museum (where old hotel/casino signs go to die). See the picture in the bottom left (and another on the click-thru page). Also, Googling has many more: link
So, am I the only one who really doesn’t have much of aproblem with the TinCaps unis? from a distance it just looks like horizontal green pinstriping. And up close it’s mildly interesting to look at/read.
I am happy that the 76ers made the decison to have the blue jerseys become their road uniforms while making their red jerseys alternates. I was always a fan of their blue uniforms.
76ers blue uniforms comment mistakenly placed in June 5th column the intention was to be placed in the June 6th column
By the way, make sure you go to the third page of those hockey programs – it’s not just college and minor league teams; the third page has some WHA programs!
-Jet
I like the Stars uniforms, a definite improvement, but don’t care for the logo. I agree with others that the bevel is minor league and passe’, and I agree with what one person said that the silver makes it look like a beverage can logo.
But the uniform, sans logo, is very nice. Clean and traditional, and its nice to see a truer green in the league again.
-Jet
I also like how the black in the uni is no BFBS, but appears an integral part of the design, like the black trim on the Blackhawks unis. (I’m talking the black in the uni, not necessarily in the logo)
-Jet
I liked the Canes original uni better. The red jersey reminds me too much of the 1970’s Russian national teams:
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And why is there no black trim at all on the red jersey? Reminds me also of the new Lightning unis where black trim was always part of their logo/color and they dropped it to wind up looking too much like the jersey of another team.
The Canes white jersey… thought those socks looked familiar:
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-Jet