By Phil Hecken
With a headline of “MMUW,” you know that football season is here. Or, it’s pretty close, actually. This past weekend (and as well as Thursday & Friday) featured a ton of NFL preseason games, some of which gave us our first glances at new uniforms (or tweaks) as well as another round of college football uniform unveils. Johnny Ek covered some of the college unveils over the weekend, but there were others as well.
There’s a LOT to get to (and that you may have missed), so lets dive right in, beginning with the NCAAFB:
• Kent State Golden Flashes:
Nike has tweaked the Flashes (in a good way) this year — they’ve dumped the superfluous contrasting-color collar and side striping and stuck with solid blue jersey. They’ve also replaced “FLASHES” as the wordmark and replaced it with “KENT STATE.” No news on if there are new helmets, and the pants look to have stayed the same (solid gold).
• Colorado State University Rams:
The Rams switched from Russell to Under Armour as their uniform supplier, and surprisingly, these are very conservative. They’re not all that different than the uniforms that the Rams wore last season, and homes are still are green, with gold numbers and gold lettering on the jersey, while the road jerseys are white with green numbers and lettering. The gold pants have a wide green stripe running along the outside, while the white pants have a green stripe along the outside from the hips to the knees. You can read more about the new unis here
• Furman University Paladins:
Furman will go with a bunch of possible uniform combinations this year, as they have a white, purple and black set (the black jersey and pants are new). The six uniform combinations include white pants/purple jerseys, white pants/white jerseys, white pants/black jerseys, black pants/purple jerseys, black pants/white jerseys, and black pants/black jerseys. That’s a really long video (at least as long as video reveals go) so if you just want to look at some stills, look here (h/t ModernUni @TheModernUni, Furman Football @PaladinFootball, and Eric Chamberlin).
• Louisville Cardinals:
The Louisville Cardinals haven’t done a “full” reveal yet, unveiling a their new home jersey on Twitter. According to this article, “While they have only showed us the front of the jersey, we can already tell that the number font seems to be the same as what the basketball team wore this past year. The sleeves are also pretty cool ”“ one side reads “Cardinals”, while the other side has the script Louisville ‘L’.” Note the new black pants as well. The jerseys, not surprisingly feature the trademark treadmarks, and we also get a glimpse of the new “AAC” patch on the left shoulder.
• Wisconsin Badgers:
No photo (or video), but the University of Wisconsin Badgers football team will wear a decal to honor former manager Kevin Green (h/t R.J. ”@BrachTalk84).
• The Ohio State University Buckeyes:
Not a major tweak or news, but the OSU Buckeyes have changed their pants’ stripes — on the left is their old set, with the thick black stripe, and on the right is what they will wear this season. This is in addition to the previously announced changes: New collar with Nikelace, the buckeye leaves on the back of the collar, and a new NOB font (notice the letters look thinner, taller, and closer together, and the “S” is different in this example).
• Toledo Rockets:
Toledo already has some of the worst uniforms (and probably the worst number fonts) in football, but the new gray uniforms have a noticeably smaller wordmark from last year, and no outlining around the numbers or the word “TOLEDO”. It’s hard to tell from that one shot, but the piping may have changed as well. (h/t Dan Bly)
And in the League where they play for pay, there were three completely new uniforms this year (one of which we saw last week, with the Dolphins), but the Jaguars and Vikings also broke out their uniforms in game play for the first time. In addition, there were some tweaks and updates to several teams.
• Jacksonville Jaguars:
OK — when one cannot say anything nice about something, one shouldn’t say anything at all right? That’s kind of the way I feel about the Jaguars new uniforms. Whether it’s the odd fonts or the shiny shoulder material, or teal “sleeves”, or the color-shifting helmet — I really don’t like any of those things (nor the pants “stripe” that isn’t really a stripe but is truncated). But, when you consider what the Jags used to look like, this is actually an improvement. And the uniform, despite the monochrome look, actually looks OK from the front. Yes, it will take some (a lot) getting used to, and now, it’s not what your daddy’s NFL player’s wore, but it is what it is. And I understand the J-ville fans like them. So that’s what is important, right? Maybe not on Uni Watch, but for better or for worse (five years, anyway), this is what the Jags will be wearing. You can see more photos here.
• Minnesota Vikings:
The Vikings also introduced their new uniforms during pre-season action. A couple of things stand out — most of which falls into the category of addition by subtraction. They’ve dumped their awful older duds, with all the superfluous bumperstickers (and contrasting collar a/k/a neckroll), and cleaned up the look — the shoulders have a gold stripe with a still-amorphous white shape, and an asymmetrical pants striping, but that looks OK. It’s the crazy custom fonts (where the first number of any two-digit number appears to “bleed” or “sail” into the second number) that look a bit odd. And then there are the helmets — the shade of purple on the helmets doesn’t match the shade of purple on the jersey. Yes, I know traditionally, more recently, and even on the throwbacks, the purples haven’t matched. But — they they basically fixed that problem with the previous set. This is a NEW set in 2013, not a throwback. There is no excuse for the purples not to match now. You can see more photos here.
• Teams to Keep the “Neckroll” (Rams, Bengals, Saints):
The Bengals don’t look that bad with the neckroll, since they have those “stripes” on the shoulders, but the Rams and Saints continue to look as bad as ever. These are the only three teams that elected to keep the Nike signature “neckroll” collar on their 2013 uniforms.
• Teams to Ditch the “Neckroll” (Ravens, Broncos, Redskins, Chargers, Bills, Buccaneers)
The six aforementioned teams have all elected to dump the neckrolls (thankfully) for 2013. Over on Chris Creamer’s Sportslogos.net there is a nice article detailing those changes and showing the “before” shots. The Bills didn’t just dump the neck roll, they got a non-Nikelace this year.
• Chargers New NOB color:
The Chargers didn’t just dump the neckroll, they also changed their NOB to gold (on the blue uniforms) and a gold outline (on the whites), plus they added a gold stripe to their white socks.
• Patches & More:
The Browns, after several years, have finally ditched the “AL” initials on their sleeve, while the Titans have a 15 year anniversary patch, and the Colts have a 30 seasons away from Baltimore patch.
Phew. That’s some rundown (and there are surely some changes I’ve missed — so if I did — please shoot me an E-mail, tweet at me, or post anything missing in the comments below). I’ll make sure to get them into tomorrow’s post.
OK readers — that’s quite a bit for a Monday morning, so I’ll just grace you with a (rather large) ticker today. I also ended up having major computer problems late in the evening, so that’s going to do it for today.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I’m pretty sure we’ve seen these before, but another look doesn’t hurt: Michael Schwartz found this great NYT photo of Army QB Rollie Stichweh in the air, knocked around by two Navy defenders. “Check the name on those jerseys. Drive for Five. That little font on the helmet? Beat Army. I found you feature the Beat Army helmet in a post December 10th, 2011, but nothing on the P(hrase)OB. This link has an explanation of the Drive for Five, a motivational saying used by Navy coach Wayne Harvin.” … The University of Wisconsin-Parkside Athletic Department has released a new identity package (thanks to Mark Albanese). … Posted this last week, but one more time in case you missed it — The Detroit Free press is having a best logo in the state contest (thanks to Forrest Page). … “Here’s the third shirt for my favorite soccer team” says Robert J. Hudson, “FC Sochaux-Montbéliard – who is owned, as the jersey sponsor emphasizes, by Peugeot. … Mesut Özil doesn’t look hugely thrilled at getting his own logo, created by top advertising agency Ogilivy and Mather. Much more here (from Cort McMurray). … Here’s a slideshow of many, but likely not all, “official partners” of Manchester United, says submitter Yusuke Toyoda. He asks, “Say, who is the official telecommunication parter of Uni Watch in Malaysia?” … One of Thursday’s Shorpys seems of interest (nice find by Charles Rogers). … The Golden State Warriors have introduced a new secondary logo (from Mike Rowinski). … Apparently NFL.com hasn’t gotten the memo that the Dolphins have a new helmet (great spot by Ryan Bohannon). … UW’s “Sunday Morning Uni Watch” guru Terry Duroncelet is also a drummer. So, he writes, “So I was trying to look for some videos on the DW 8000 longboard pedals for shiggles in the wake of DW releasing the 9000XF longboard pedals (finally!), when I came across this band playing a live show with a kit that had the Royals’ KC logo on the bass reso.” … Justin Kline saw this on the Facebook page of Ronnie Richardson, an MiLB (Eugene Ems) player that he went to high school with: bats emblazoned with the guy’s Twitter handle. “I’m sure Rovell will want one of these,” says Justin. … The NFL won’t allow Colts defensive end Robert Mathis to use his special face mask on game days (thanks, Brinke). Here’s more on that (from TommyTheCPA). But, apparently the funny facemask ban doesn’t extend to everyone (thanks to Brooks Simpson) … We’ve definitely seen the white pillbox caps worn by the NL All-Stars in 1976, and this wire service photo was featured back in 2010, so many of you may not have seen it yet (found by Leo Strawn). … Fans of the Waffle House streak may also like this “nice” Braves retro wallpaper (Brinke, again). … Some sad new out of Seattle as the Huskies’ Helmet Car is now part of history (thanks Matt Busch). … Good spot by Andrew Domingo who noticed that when the San Diego Chargers were playing on Thursday, CBS used the old logo to transition from real time to replay. … Here is the logo for the Japanese Volleyball League’s (V.League) 20th season (from Pacific Rim Correspondent Jeremy Brahm). … What’s that logo on A-rod’s left sleeve? asks Brinke. “Does he have his own Nike logo? (Like Swingman for Griffey?)” … Not sure if Paul can add this to his list of “players who wore zero,” but this Chargers’ fan jersey is pretty clever (thanks to Brandon). … Busy man Brinke also found this article which states Mark Sanchez should strop trying to make his signature headband happen. … Season ticket holders for the 2013 Western Hockey League champion Portland Winterhawks will get their own championship ring, (from Harvey Lee). … Many of you sent this in, but Ahmad Billal Samady was the first: pictures of LeBron James wearing his alma mater’s new football unis, which he donated to St. Mary’s St. Vincent’s for the upcoming season. … Omaha Storm Chasers (AAA Kansas City) were the Omaha Force Saturday night for Star Wars Night (thanks to Eric Leach). They went all out with matching hat and check out the stirrups! … Check out this special football “throwback” that J.E. Burke High in Dorchester is busting out this year. For their Thanksgiving Day game with rival New Mission, they will be wearing special gray uniform with a large “B” over the stomach and chest, with a small number in the left corner. It’s very similar to what Michigan, Nebraska, Wisconsin, etc. have done the last few years (h/t to Brendan Hall). … Kevin Clark, the New Jersey Devils PA announcer, wanted to pass along the new Stadium Series logo. … Check out the batting practice caps worn by the Kansas City Royals on August 9th. They were made by Luis Mendoza’s wife. Pretty cool! (thanks to Aaron Johnson). … As Ken Griffey, Jr. was inducted into the Mariners Hall of Fame on Saturday night, the current Mariners squad decided to honor The Kid by rocking his signature look while gazing on from the dugout (Brinke yet again). … Paul forwarded me this picture of a shank bone taken at the Yankee Stadium steakhouse by a friend of his. I can’t quite make out what it says — anyone? … The new World Cup 2014 Referee Kits have been leaked (thanks to Pat West). … This one comes from Chance Michaels: ” Milwaukee Braves shortstop Johnny Logan passed away on Friday. The first photo in the accompanying gallery is interesting. It’s captioned ‘Shortstop Johnny Logan in his Milwaukee Braves uniform in 1955, the year he led National League in doubles,’ but that’s wrong. The jersey is a dead giveaway–the Braves never wore the city name–that it’s from his time with the minor league Brewers, 1948 or ’49.” … Awesome — the front page of August 9th’s Lake County News Herald has a Browns helmet buggy on it! (h/t Jay Mazzone). … Oops! JayJay Dean caught this during the Hawks/Chargers game — two 46s on one play! … “Saw this shirt at the Crazy Horse Monument & Museum in SD,” says Eli Swanson. … “Noticed this interesting sock detail while checking out photos of the Falcons game,” says Andrew Edwards “Former fellow Beav, JacQuizz Rodgers using a seperate red wristband-esque wrap around his calf with standard white crew socks. Haven’t seen that technique used before in acheiving the two-tone NFL sock look.” … Good observation from Aneury Pichardo who asks, “Since the patriots end zone logo will change (and the new logo is used on the website as well), wouldn’t it make sense to change the logo on front of their uniform too?” … Meet the ‘Simpsons’ writer who named the Dodgers-affiliated Albuquerque Isotopes (thanks to Christopher C. LaHaye). … This is pretty cool: Hyatt Werling was given some old memorabilia by a fellow Steelers fan, which included some old tickets from Steelers games she had attended. One of these tickets was for a Steelers-Jaguars game, and he was surprised to find that the ticket featured a picture of one of the unused Jaguars prototype helmets. … Speaking of cool — this is a cool chart of the Red Sox/KC game on Friday night (thanks to Lose Remerswaal). Paul linked to their charting of the All Star game a few weeks back. … And, yesterday the Blue Jays wore their red tops for “Canada Baseball Day.”
OK guys and gals. That’s all for today. Apologies if there are some small mistakes or misspellings or anything else — like I said, I had major computer problems last evening and was trying to work this off the laptop instead of the desktop.
Have a great Monday, and I’ll be back tomorrow and the rest of the week with some more very special posts and guests.
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
“Can we just stop calling them uniforms already? There is nothing uniform about them. This may make me sound like a fossil, but I miss the days of being able to turn on a tv and know in 2 seconds what teams were playing. Once upon a time uniforms meant something, now they are just costumes.”
–William Smyth
I thought the Pats had already said they wouldn’t be using the new logo on the front of their jerseys.
I thought we heard the opposite. I threw a comment up during the game on Friday with this observation, but then I noticed coaches with giant old wordmarks on the backs of their shirts. Seems pretty un-NFLish to be inconsistent with something like that.
They aren’t the first team to use 2 drastically different wordmarks. The Raiders endzone font is terrible, and doesn’t match anything else the team uses. The Patriots appear to be doing the same thing with this new mark of theirs.
I thought they said they would eventually be switching entirely to the new wordmark, but a lot of stuff – apparel, etc. would still have the old one for awhile because it would take time to change it.
Ugh. Damn Vikings. They’re so close to fixing their uniforms, but they didn’t quite succeed. There’s no reason at all for the purple helmet to be a different color than the jerseys, and the black facemask is just pants-on-head retarded.
The Jags need more gold on the rest of their uniform for their 2 color helmet to work properly. As it stands, they look good from the front, and stupid from every other angle.
As for the comment of the day, everyone on the team is still wearing the same thing, so they are still uniforms. While there are a few too many combinations, most of the new uniforms are actually more distinctive. With so many colleges using the same colors, the custom number fonts and whatnot actually do help quite a bit with telling teams apart, if you’ve been paying attention during the offseason anyway.
Nothing the Jags could wear would make their helmets work more properly. The helmets are designed to be fugly, and they succeed at that perfectly.
“Uniform,” the word and concept in sports, has two axes. One is the uniform appearance of players on a team within a game. The other is a team having a uniform appearance from game to game. It’s a valid critique to question whether a team’s uniforms are, well, uniform, if the team isn’t easily recognizable as itself from game to game. Now, I know my own opinion against the too-many-uniforms thing is driven as much by emotional dislike as by rational thought. But when teams base uniforms on colors other than their actual team colors, I think that is an objectively true failure of design and a negation of the concept of “uniform” in sports.
It’s a valid critique to question whether a team’s uniforms are, well, uniform, if the team isn’t easily recognizable as itself from game to game.
I dunno Arrrr, I think that argument went out the window as soon as home & away uniforms were introduced. Every team already has 2 quite distinct looks. As long as school colors are still involved, I think there’s quite a bit of wiggle room for any given team. Sure, the Michigan Wolverines wearing black would be wrong, but would a uniform with blue pants and a “maize” jersey not still be theoretically acceptable?
Many teams have quite similar home and away uniforms that mainly reverse color elements (football) or replace white with gray (baseball). These are known, in technical terms, as “the good ones.”
Further, it’s inherent in the fact that games are played between two teams, rather than by one team playing solo against a clock, that each team needs to have at least two uniform sets in order for the teams to wear contrasting uniforms on the field of play. So it’s not like the fans of any league are all confused about why teams sometimes wear one outfit, and sometimes another.
When teams have actual uniforms, even casual fans tend to learn to “read” the home and away unis of most of the teams in their league. I mean, look, I hardly follow the NFL at all anymore, but when I see 3 seconds of highlight film on TV, I usually know instantly which teams are involved. Not because I’m a hardcore fan or a uni-geek, but because sports fans just pick up on this sort of thing. Time was, the same was true of college ball, at least Div-1. Nowadays, I regularly see college highlights on TV and have literally no idea who either of the two teams are. Not even a good guess. (Used to be, when I saw a school that just looked like ugly, instead of an actual school, I could assume Oregon, but even that’s out the window.)
Is that not also due in part to the increased media coverage? Teams from the MAC and other “lesser” conferences are televised far more today than they ever were in the past. I doubt that you’d have recognized a Rockets/Zips game 25 years ago, either.
What bugs me visually is that the helmet is that the colors meet in the middle vertically. I feel like it could be more visually satisfying if that it was angled more back to front
At least the jerseys aren’t a black-to-gold gradient too.
SSSHHHHHH! Don’t give them any ideas!
The last paragraph of this link talks about the different purple and the author’s opinion on the causes. Not sure I agree with it though.
link
According to the author, the difference is almost non-existent in person. It shows up in some pictures, but not all. It is a glaring, impossible to ignore difference on TV.
They either need to get the colors right (as they did with the last set) or switch to contrasting helmets and jerseys (ala, the Packers).
Man, I still snicker every time I see/hear the terminology “Purple Helmet” being used.
link
Nice to see such a presence of hockey logos in the Best Logo in Michigan contest….6 of the final 16 are hockey teams. Not to mention U of M and MSU which have great hockey programs.
Hey Phil, I think the shank bone reads F. AROID. Another satisfied Yankees fan, no doubt. Thanks for the great post this morning!
“While they have only showed us the front of the jersey, we can already tell that the number font seems to be the same as what the basketball team wore this past year. The sleeves are also pretty cool — one side reads “Cardinals”, while the other side has the script Louisville ‘L’.”
To me it looks like the “cardinals” and “script L” are actually on an undershirt and not part of the uniform. If this is correct, that may not be the on the field look at all…in fact the truncated striping looks horrendous.
Yes, the “Cardinals” and the “L” are on the sleeves of what Adidas calls the “base shirt.” Notre Dame is using a green one with the white Shamrock Series jerseys.
Thanks…so that will be “uniform”, meaning everyone has to wear it?
The base shirt? No, I don’t think the players are required to wear it.
RE: Steelers vs. Jaguars ticket. Not to mention that the Steelers helmet is wrong too, with the logo on what should be the blank side.
Judging by the ticket (which is clearly from the 1990s) and the schedules, I’m guessing this was from the Jaguars inaugural season in 1995, since it was the fifth regular season home game and “Game 7” probably included the two preseason games.
The game was a 24-7 Stillers victory, the first in their eight-game winning streak en route to their trip to Super Bowl XXX. And the last Stillers game that we still respected Art Modell.
Attended the Saints game Friday – Hideous Nike “Neckroll” Collars – totally distracting and add nothing to the uniform on any level. For those of us old enough to have been SCTV fans, I call this the Saints’ “Count Floyd” Collars.
Vegas Gold pants (better than “Jackass Junior College” Black leotards) are still way too light in color contrast to the White, and by darkening the Gold a few shades – or many shades – would be a great improvement.
My biggest gripe is league-wide – that is the placement of the front jersey numerals way too low on the jersey. Even given the ridiculous plague of Team wordmarks, NFL shields and patches, the numerals are still much too low on the front of the jerseys, creating too much space above the numerals and too little below before the beltline begins.
Can at least ONE team fix this? Or is it a league-wide travesty? At the end of it all, it simply looks horrible.
And don’t get me started on the Dolphins’ ridiculous ditching of their Orange, or the Jaguars kindergarten art project,
I have to agree with you on the jersey-front numerals. Way too low; doesn’t look right. It’s obviously done to accommodate the wordmark under the collar, but jeebus.
Even teams like the Jets who have the logo on the shoulder, not in the center, have the front numerals down too low.
Why are those stupid wordmarks even needed? I really don’t get the continued proliferation of those things. Well actually, I suppose I do: it helps with merchandise sales. Of course, maybe replica jerseys wouldn’t need a wordmark to tell you whose jersey it is if the damn things didn’t look difference every year. I know that’s more of a problem in the college world, but still.
I think it may have something to do with how easy it used to be to get yourself an NFL jersey without paying for an NFL jersey. Jerseys used to be fairly generic; you could, e.g., buy a green jersey with two white stripes on the sleeve, put white numbers on the front, back and shoulders, and you’ve got yourself a Jets jersey. Buy a plan black jersey and put gray/silver numbers on it, and you have a Raiders jersey. Buy a purple jersey with white and yellow Northwestern stripes on the sleeves, number it up, poof! Vikings jersey. And so forth.
Why are those stupid wordmarks even needed?
Because when a fan puts a coat on over his authentic retail jersey, the team loses all its branding. Unless they put a nice fat logo right at the throat, where nothing can cover it up.
I take offense to the phrase “Jaguars kindergarten art project!” My pre-schooler has much better skill and taste than the designers of that abomination.
Here’s what the Fighting Whites thing is all about. link
This guy named Solomon Little Owl started it as an intramural basketball team at the U. of Northmen Colorado to protest a local high school team, the Eaton Reds. Denver radio personalities. Also got involved calling for the Eaton team to be named the Beavers. They showed up at the school one day and handed out uni-t-shirts, number 69 of course.
link
I realize it’s still pre-season, but shouldn’t the Seahawks have been penalized for putting two “46”‘s on the field together?
This is strange. James Konz(@JKonz46)is listed as #47 but has worn 46 during training camp and in 2011 when he played one game. Officially John Lotulelei is #46 on the roster. Both are line backers. Hhhmmm.
Maybe it doesn’t matter because it happened on a kickoff? I dunno…but obviously it caught my eye.
Over on Chris Creamer’s Sportslogos.net there is a nice article detailing those changes and showing the “before” shots.
No offense to Creamer’s coverage or Phil’s above, but for the most in-depth break-down on the changes to NFL teams’ collars, check out Bill Schaefer’s piece in the GUD blog, “Shoo, fly (wire), shoo!”
link
Is it me or do teams wear monochrome white a whole lot in the preseason?
Quote Of The Day – “Can we just stop calling them uniforms already? There is nothing uniform about them. This may make me sound like a fossil, but I miss the days of being able to turn on a tv and know in 2 seconds what teams were playing. Once upon a time uniforms meant something, now they are just costumes.”
To me what it means to be “uniform” is when all eleven players on the field at the same time are wearing the same thing. I don’t care if Oregon has a gazillion combos they mix and match week to week, as long as everybody is dressed alike on the field, it is by definition uniform.
When a football team back in the fifties had linemen wearing a different color helmet than backs and receivers, or FSU in the 60s had three different helmet logo, that’s when they are violating the concept of “uniformity”.
(Soccer goalies and volleyball liberos, notwithstanding of course.)
There’s also the WFL’s color coded pants: link
Talk about a fail…
What the hell was that?!?!?!
[Googles] Wow, WFL was weird, man…
They are not even costumes as much as marketing vehicles to sell merchandise to fans…and wait until they have ads on them.
Wisconsin is already wearing the memorial decal in practice. You can see it here:
link
Remember when there was a contest to rename/redesign the New Orleans Hornets now Pelicans?
Can there be the same thing for the Toronto Raptors? Please? I actually don’t mind the name, make it a bird of prey type theme, but the cartoon dinosaur is looking drastically dated these days.
Is there any other team (outside of the Washington NFL franchise…different topic) more desperately in need of an update?
Somehow, I think if the team was more successful they wouldn’t look so “dated”. What’s a Steeler? I mean, is the steel industry really that prominent in the public consciousness today? Then there’s the Astros. The space program isn’t so hot anymore, and no one cares about the Jetsons, either.
Leave the Raptors alone. Sure, maybe they’re “dated” but that’s what makes them cool.
You might have a point. Not in terms of success, but of age. The Cubs for example, are essentially a baby bear cartoon. And they’re okay because they’re old.
I have heard suggestions on re-naming the Astros, though, and fairly recently, when the team was last sold.
I have to agree with Jeff. If you want to get philosophical about it, what’s a mascot, anyway? They are pretty silly when you really stop to think about it. But the diversity is what makes them fun. Though I agree that a lot could have been done from a “bird of prey” standpoint with the Toronto Basketball Club, they are the only dinosaur mascot in pro sports. We have enough birds, let them be different.
Though if you want to talk about updating their uniforms, I’m all for that. For starters, go back to purple.
The makes an important point, but also elides an important corollary: Just because some names that would be laughed out of the park today have become institutionalized by long familiarity, it is not the case than any nickname plus time equals acceptance. Cubs is a survivor; Remnants, Colts, and Orphans are not. The era that gave us such not-rough-and-tumble nicknames as Cubs and Cardinals is littered with names that didn’t catch on then and wouldn’t catch on today.
The dino-centric Raptors feels to me more like the Orphans than the Cubs. Or maybe a better parallel would be, imagine if instead of a bear cub, the Cubs had adopted a link as their mascot. Would they now be considered a classic team identity? I submit not.
My favorite relegated name has to be the Excelsiors! link could be the logo?
I’d have gone with link, but totally agreed with Excelsiors. Interesting also the colors that didn’t make the cut over the years: Grays, Browns, Blues, Scarlets.
The pants finally got fixed at Ohio State. Only took them more than a decade.
I am waiting for them to bring back the gray sleeves. They already have that pattern on helmet and pants and sleeves.
Out some gray back on jersey with the much better looking and traditional gray sleeves.
if they took the last season’s rivalry sleeves and fixed them to look like the old sleeve stripes.. i think we’d have a winner
This hadn’t occurred to me before, but perhaps the “neck roll” jerseys are an attempt to make NFL jerseys look similar to traditional football (aka soccer) jerseys: link
…because we know the NFL always makes well reasoned decisions about uniforms.
I’m lovin’ that quote from William Smyth at the bottom of today’s entry!
-Jet
In other NFL uni news, it appears the Jets have failed to correct the shade of green on their jersey fabric. The link still appear to be Army green and do not match the helmet decals and shoulder inserts which are still (thankfully) the right color.
Seems that this could be a common problem throughout Jets history, with green in all those different spots.
link
Ah…so, like the Vikings with their mismatched purples, Nike is just harkening back with the Jets too (and that one I could actually buy since the Jets uniform is, for all intents and purposes, a throwback — despite not being kelly).
It just my not be possible to photograph a color, even closely matched, when it appears on twill, polyester and plastic at the same time and have it all look the same. Different materials reflect light differently.
I realize it’s related to the differences in fabric and how they photograph, versus how they appear to the eye directly, but still. If they could get the Packers’ green right, they can get the Jets’ green right.
They don’t get the Packers’ green right – Green Bay won’t let their fancy-pants materials in through the Lambeau Field door.
The Packers still use the old style of construction. But FWIW, their gold helmets and pants link under all conditions, either.
I’m amazed the Pack can win any games, what with using inferior equipment and technology. Imagine if they wore Nike’s superman costumes how well they’d do?
Chargers custom jersey….good idea…but Super Bowl is 2 words….D’oh
I agree it was a clever jersey…and surprised that he was not removed by stadium security.
AROD does have his own Nike logo like Griffey does. I think Nike made it for him when they sold his Shox cleats a few years ago.
Did a little digging on the USPTO. Rodriguez has an intent to use application for the mark in question. Thus, it hasn’t actually registered. Typically at this stage they are waiting to prove use in commerce, a requirement for trademark rights. Since he is on extension three, he theoretically has about a year to file a statement of use, which would likely matured into a fully registered mark.
He has a few marks, owned usually by AROD Corporation, which has Boulevard Management listed. That is, I assume, the company doing his representation. The mark isn’t described as a named mark in the filing, but the filename that the attorney used is telling: “hw_1744713130-182443350_._Swingman_Signature.pdf” So I would say like Jordan has the Jumpman A-Rod has the Swingman.
It is field for in class 25 which covers apparel, but interestingly the only type of goods listed are sweatbands.
I don’t know who made the logo, but Nike definitely will not own it. Also, a private law firm did the filing, not Nike’s in house attorneys. If you want to see more, it is serial number 85366976. You can go to the USPTO, click Trademarks, TESS, and then search by serial number in a “basic search.”
Also interesting is that Nike is the owner of the Jumpman logos. I couldn’t find the registration information for the Griffey Jr. logos in my quick search.
Looking through Griffey Jr. pictures that were posted to celebrate his induction to the M’s Hall of Fame, I found this interesting picture of the April 1, 1991 game with San Fransisco Giants wearing the PCL Seals uniforms. I believe this was a preseason game. Any info on this? link
Someone had said last week that the Giants and A’s used to play an exhibition game every year, that at least once, featured throwbacks. Could be along the same lines.
That would make sense, but on April 1, 1991 the Mariners link in spring training, not the Giants. Photo’s probably been mis-dated.
Matte helmets are the worst thing to happen to football uniforms, and it’s an abomination that they have now metastasized to the NFL. The Vikings would look great if they had normal helmets.
The Vikings would look great if the freakin colors matched. The matte finish isn’t the problem.
Both dude.
I’m with The. I’d prefer the Vikes had shiny helmets, and I’m also convinced that a shiny helmet would make slight color differences less obvious. But still, there’s no earthly reason the Vikings couldn’t match colors, and if they did, they’d look better, even with a matte helmet.
please oh please make it a rule that people can’t submit mobile sites.. nothing worse than an extremely zoomed in photo
I think it’s important to note the context when discussing the Vikings’ color accuracy. Historically, the technology around color accuracy wasn’t available and this made the Vikings’ (and a handful of other teams) visual identity a little quirky. Personally, I love the Vikings’ 70s uniforms with mismatched purple helmet and jersey. Today, there’s really no good reason for colors to be mismatched. The 2012 set confirms this but the 2013 helmet finish was probably produced in a completely different fashion. It’s clear they tried to match it but weren’t close enough. That said, although it’s a throwback, this is what the Vikings should be wearing full-time.
link
No, the mismatch is too pronounced.
It reminds me of what the Giants were faced with when they went to their current uniform set. They seemed to solve the mismatched helmet/jersey problem by adding a metallic flake to the helmet to make it look more royal blue. Maybe put a metallic purple flake to it, to lighten the color just enough to resemble the jersey.
I absolutely love the white pillbox caps in the link After playing some vintage against the link this weekend, who also had white caps, I’m convinced someone needs to resurrect the look full time.
Were the Reds link unis the last to feature a white cap?
Aside from flag desecration caps, I believe you are correct, as the Reds wore those until 1998 (love the Leon Sandcastle shot). The Mets wore their ill-fated ice cream cap in a few games in 1997. Though I usually detest two-tone caps, I happened to like that one.
How could I forget the Mets white cap?!? I’ll hang my blue/orange head in shame. I think I like that better than the orange billed cap they introduced.
Ravens also got rid of the Nike flywire…
Charting the evolution of team colors in the Breaking Bad League:
link
I think a case can be made that the increasing prevalence of black is not a case of BFBS.
I live within pissing distance of the Metrodome and I was so disappointed to see the new Vikings uniforms. The purple is still is not dark enough, so the fact that they are mismatched only makes them funnier. Plus, those insane mismatched number fonts. They make my OCD itch.
As I say to my friends who are Vikings fans, “50+ years of failure…”
On a side note, did anyone else think the new uniforms looked blue on TV? I didn’t think so, but I work in a bar and I kept hearing people say that the entire game. Weird.
I’m wondering how the Viking’s helmets will look when they are playing outside. It would not surprise me at all if the 2 purples matched up better under natural light (or outside at night under the lights).
I think the fluorescent lighting of the Metrodome is the main cause behind the mismatch. If you look at the pictures from the unveiling the purples look almost identical.
And keep in mind they will only be in the Metrodome for this season, then they move outside. Of course after 2 years they move back inside, but their new home should have better lighting (of course that still doesn’t mean that the lighting won’t cause the issue).
The Onion weighs in on the Washington mascot issue: link
I can’t decide whether this is the greatest abomination in sports history:
link
Or whether it’s what every GI Joe sports uni should look like. For fighting breast cancer, from a duck blind or something.
I’ll give you a hint. It’s the former.
But it’s so bad, so demeaning to wear or even to witness, that part of me thinks we ought to campaign to get MLB to use it (in honor of veterans with breast cancer?) in hopes that it will awaken some people to the absurdity of all sports camo.
It is, I propose, not a coincidence that this cap surfaced the same day that footage of The Day the Clown Died also showed up.
Cried, not Died.
Ah, thanks. Spoiler alert: the clown dies.
The Vikings odd shoulder treatment is nike’s effort to direct your eyes to their logo, just like the Seahawks. Nothing more.
Jacksonville, you make me dizzy.
I agree. The Seahawks’ swoosh, in particular, sticks out like a sore thumb. It’s like the markings were built around it. This is egregious!
Someone ought to see if Old Nick has broken out the popsicles and there are icebergs on the Rivers Styx and Lethe. There’s finally a football uniform element worse than those of the current Atlanta Falcons: the Jackwagons’ new lids.
Brinke,
Yes, A-Rod has his own logo like the Swingman logo that Griffey had. So does Derek Jeter. Nike makes a lot of those personalized logos for certain athletes.
I’m a Packer fan and I must say, I think the new Vikings uniform is one of the best in the NFL. It’s by far the most tasteful update Nike has completed thus far for an NFL team. Every element of the design seemed very intentional and conceptually unique to the team. To critique this uniform is really grasping at straws, in my opinion. On the other hand, Minnesota fans don’t have great taste so I doesn’t surprise me that many of them would complain about the new look.
You’re of course welcome to your opinion, as am I to mine, but do you really, honestly think this is the “most tasteful update”? Obviously, it’s better than the Jaguars, and I wouldn’t necessarily call the Seahawks new duds “tasteful” (but I fully admit, they are growing on me, and as long as they don’t go monochrome navy, I don’t hate them), but you think it’s better than the Dolphins? Seriously?
And no matter what you say, you aren’t wrong, since we’re speaking of matters of opinion. I “get” where the designers were going with the “sail” numbers, but IMHO it just. looks. stupid. I wouldn’t like it regardless, but if they had at least made the second number have the same “wind” element, I would have worked better. But having ONLY that one first number with that…yeesh.
Yeah, I do think these are better than the new Dolphins uniform. Not enough use of orange, which is the only element that justifies that shade of blue. As long as the Dolphins never wear that blue home jersey, I’d probably agree with you (all white looks great).
I’m going to try say this without implying the word “boring” because I hate when people say that when critiquing a uniform. However, I think the new Dolphins uniforms are not… bold. When I saw them play the Cowboys a couple weeks ago, they hardly stood out. It almost appears like the uniform was designed before the logo was approved – with no conceptual direction or inspiration to work from. Like I said before, more orange would help – orange numbers on the blue uniform, or even an orange face-mask.
Not a fan of the Vikings at all, so their “tradition” doesn’t mean smack to me, but the number treatment is very jarring. If they kept everything else and used more traditional numbers, it would be a very nice update. As it is, it feels incomplete (thought definitely a big improvement over the Giant Side Panels).
The shank bone says “Go Aroid”. Photo taken by a friend of mine.
ElPrimo181
Vikings purple helmets actually match the purple jersey. The light just bounces off them much, much differently. You can have that exact same issue with ANY team’s helmets/jerseys (well, except for the Cowboys for some reason).