By Phil Hecken
One day after FSU released new uniforms, the University of Miami released a new set themselves yesterday afternoon. The new set replaced the set they’d been wearing since 2006.
Called “Renewed,” Nike and the U introduced four separate sets of pants and jerseys, and two new helmets (click on any images to enlarge):
According to the U, “In South Florida, football is played with a sense of speed, style and swagger that transcends the field of play. The University of Miami Hurricanes have become more than a team – they embody the soul of Miami and have defined the culture of the sport.” Right. “Swagger.”
Before we go any further it is important to note two things. Each of the four uniforms (every one has its own designation, or name, by the way) is shown in monochromatic form, and Miami has stated that the team will use the orange uniforms at home with a white and silver helmet, while the white jerseys will be worn on the road primarily. There will be two alternate uniforms (to be worn monochromatically) and the team can also mix and match with these sets. I’m not 100% certain if the orange at home will be with orange, white or green pants (nor am I clear on what color pants will be on the road). The U has assured traditionalists that although there are two new helmets, the traditional (classic) helmet will be a part of the rotation.
As noted above, there are four “named” uniforms. The orange set is called “Juice,” the green set is “Surge,” the gray is “Smoke,” and the white is — wait for it — “Stormtrooper.”
Nike talked about all of its latest innovations with this unveiling, but really, we’ve heard it all before. They also spoke of “tradition.” To wit, “The new Hurricane uniform design reflects the vibrant, bold style of the city – from the beach to the architecture to the people. Modern accents, such as the school’s ibis logo, have been added in order to harness the team’s early cutting-edge style both on and off the field.”
The “Ibis” logo that they talk about is this:
The ibis logo has “long been an important part of the university’s heritage. The existing Miami ibis logo captures the essence of the bird, the storm and the speed of Miami Football.”
It is seen as a design motif (one of Nike’s favorite things) throughout the new uniforms, including on the new white helmet.
Let’s look at each of the uniforms.
Juice:
According to the ‘canes, “The orange jersey is accented by green directional graphics at the shoulder. A clean white and silver helmet or new orange helmet, featuring an anodized finish and grey facemask, completes the look.”
You’ll note that, like FSU, the jerseys all have a sublimated design incorporated into the sleeve patches. In the closeups, you’ll note the ibis design is present on the sleeves and the pants (and on the helmet). The orange, green and white (“Juice,” “Surge” and “Stormtrooper”) uniforms have green sleeve inserts (again, similar to the FSU treatment), while the gray (“Smoke”) uniform has gray sleeve patches.
Yesterday’s uni unveil had a mannequin wearing the new white helmet, green jersey, and orange pants:
Here are the other three uniforms:
Surge:
Stormtrooper:
Smoke:
And finally, there are the new helmets. The main one is white like the classic helmet, but it’s missing the center stripe and it’s got that sublimated ibis pattern on it.
The orange helmet also has the ibis sublimation, but it’s much less noticeable than on the white helmet:
As with the special helmet used with last year’s “Smoke” alternate, the “U” is larger on the new helmet than on the classic helmet.
Like the FSU uniform redesign, there are probably too many uniforms (and options), but unlike the FSU redesign, the current Miami uniforms were in need of a change. Fortunately, Miami has a great color palate so Nike wisely kept the orange and green (and they’d already worn the “smoke” color last season). But the jersey featured an “eyebrow” pattern on the front that just never looked right. Those “eyebrows” were also on the back of the uniform. Now they’re gone.
It was present on all the uniforms (except the smoke alternate), and just seemed to be a unneeded bumpersticker. The pants had two different colored stripes, one of which wrapped around to the lower lumbar region (we frequently refer to it as a “tramp stamp“). Those are now gone as well.
The one cool feature of the old Miami pants was the fact that, either inadvertently or intentionally, they resembled the outline of the State of Florida. But other than that…meh.
While I’ll need to see these uniforms in action, I’m actually a fan — if only because of what they’re replacing. And Florida has, in recent years, had a history of pretty questionable uniforms. My buddy Clint Richardson spent a few minutes after the reveal yesterday to remind us of some of the uniforms and alternates that Miami has trotted out in recent years. The U probably reached its uniform pinnacle with these beauties (they also wore black cleats then — something it appears they’re bringing back now).
Too many uniforms, too many helmets and too many options — but other than that, a definite upgrade from their previous set(s). If using Paul’s “good or stupid” scale, I’d call these new duds “good” (only the almost infinite number of combos is “stupid”) and if I were giving them a letter grade — it would be a solid B to B+.
You can see closeups of the uniforms (including the intricate details), plus Nike’s and the U’s “descriptions,” by clicking on this link. (Big thanks to @CanesCove for some of the photos seen above.)
Well, readers — what say you?
Lewis & Clark Uniform Design Contest
Every Sunday, we’ll have news and updates on the design contest being sponsored by Ross Clites. If you missed the introductory post on this, please click here. Last weekend, we introduced Part IX which is the second article here. You can also visit the Lewis & Clark homepage for more information and updates.
Yesterday we revealed the seventh set of concepts for the “Pathfinders” (you can still submit for the the Pioneers [deadline 4/16] and Travelers [deadline 4/23]). And today, we’ll reveal the tenth team for concepting.
If you missed yesterday’s post, which revealed the readers submissions for the “Navigators,” you can vote for your favorite concepts (you may vote for up to three). Link here (scroll down to second article).
Here’s Ross with this week’s updates/information:
Fantastic Voyage
By Ross Clites
The final stop on the Lewis Conference journey is with the Voyagers. I put together a (primary) gray uniform with bright orange accent color scheme in 2012, and then Tennessee football must have copied off my page. I think this palette gives you a world of options.
Let’s focus on 19th century voyages and not take the bait on intergalactic references, please. The Voyagers are one of the rare nicknames in the league, as they could literally be defined by anything. You could show any portion of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. You could show Native American iconography. You could use and animal. You could go down just about any road you want to explore, that you recurring LCBL designers have not taken yet.
Strangely enough, though, the manager for the team is a huge Mets fan. He is requesting a secondary logo (patch on the sleeve) that closely resembles Mr. Met. It may not work with your theme but try your hand at getting a guy with an oversize baseball head to fit in with a Lewis & Clark motif. Call it extra credit.
Good luck to all.
As for the winner of the Navigators:
To all that entered the contest for the Navigators of the LCBL, thank you for your thoughtful presentations. It was, by far, the best group of submissions all year. Big thanks to all the readers that cast votes. The board is in a complete stalemate on which graphics to go with. So much so that we might be throwing Scott’s crescent moon on Ryan’s compass rose and Bert’s sextant man with Bill’s paddling men. To top it off, Denver had another amazing uniform lineup. Call the results on this installment “pending” as we discuss with each designer options.
We will circle back to the River Men next week. Ultimately, imagery like Bill’s silhouetted paddling men could find their way into the top two if recycled, cleaned up, and blown up to primary stature. The nautical theme really ties the two Clark Conference teams together. The work was so good last week that it would be a shame to not use some of the proposals.
Thanks, Ross!
Uni Tweaks Concepts
We have another new set of tweaks, er…concepts today. After discussion with a number of readers, it’s probably more apropos to call most of the reader submissions “concepts” rather than tweaks. So that’s that.
So if you’ve concept for any sport, or just a tweak or wholesale revision, send them my way.
Please do try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per image — if you have three uniform concepts in one image, then obviously, you can go a little over, but no novels, OK? OK!. You guys have usually been good with keeping the descriptions pretty short, and I thank you for that.
Like the colorizations, I’m going to run these as inline pics — click on each one to enlarge.
Today is going to be somewhat of a tweak to the usual tweaks — in that I’ll be featuring uni concpets for three college football teams from one single reader — Marcus Dilley, who approached me with some ideas a short while back. I’ll have three sets from him today, and likely three more sets down the road.
And so, lets begin:
CLEMSON:
Clemson
-Wanted a more traditional look for Clemson uniform on the new pattern
-More use of the purple used in the helmet stripe.
-Oversized helmet logo and stripe to fit in with the rest on the uniform
-Helmet stripe theme used on shoulders
-Stripe continuity from jersey to pants
-Purple player names to add contrast
-No TV numbers simplifies look
FLORIDA STATE:
FSU
-Wanted to keep simple and honour the traditional uniform
-Scratch effect hydrographic on helmet (as if by spears).
-New simplified feather detail on sleeve stripe rather than around neck/ sleeve opening
-3 stars on back of neck to represent national titles
-“Seminoles” on pants keeps with simple past uniforms
-Slight font change with numbers/ letters
-FSU logo in centre on front
MICHIGAN STATE:
MSU
-Spartan logo used as inspiration on this uniform
-Helmet “Mohawk” added to each sleeve to use the cured part of the jersey pattern as a guide
-“Mohawk” detail added as a pant stripe
-Kept existing font created by Nike
-Thick helmet stripe to look like Spartan helmet
-All white (including helmet) for the road uniform makes the uniform as a whole cleaner.
And that’s it for today. Back with more next time.
Uni Watch News Ticker:
Baseball News: The UMD Bulldogs Softball team all wore Number 14 jerseys to memorialize slain former UMD softball player Mandy Matula. … David Steinle noticed on Wednesday evening his alma mater, LSU, wore light blue batting helmets as part of a prostate cancer awareness night during its baseball game vs. Lamar. LSU wore their batting practice jerseys (which are NNOB) for the game. Lamar wore its usual road grays. … The Golden Gophers were certainly looking golden yesterday (shoulda worn gold sanis, though). Pic via Mike Menner. … Here is the logo for the 80th Anniversary of Japanese Professional Baseball (thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … It’s always nice to have Stirrup Saturdays (from Steve Vibert who posts as “Boxcarvibe”). … Interesting development in Chicago, as the White Sox wore the ‘1983 throwback caps’ with their Beach Blanket Bingo unis (more photos here), after announcing they’d be wearing a redesigned cap with that uni (nice spot by Bob Gassel). … Mississippi State had some nice unis yesterday for their game vs. Ole Miss. … On the opposite side of the coin was Alabama, who went with hunting shirts camo tops and caps yesterday. … On the MLB diamond, breaking with tradition, the Brewers wore their ball and glove throwbacks on Saturday (previously, they’d restricted their wearings to Fridays). Because winning streak. … Comcast Sports Network California is using the A’s road cap from last year in its promotons for upcoming games (good spot by Rich Paloma).
College Football News: The College of Idaho has unveiled a new helmet (and announced the resumption of play after a 37 year absence). … Looks like the Tennessee Vols will have some players using the new SpeedFlex helmet come fall (h/t to Chad Fields). … East Carolina University Pirates have revealed new helmets and also a new infield logo (thanks to Leland Privott). You can read a bit more on both here. … Old Dominion has new uniforms and a new helmet that looks a lot like Navy’s special HGI helmet. Thanks to Clint Richardson for the tip. You can read more about those unis here (thanks to Jim Kohler). … Why was Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini walking on the field carrying his cat for the Spring Game? There’s a bit of a backstory on that one (thanks to Glen Matthews). … Central Arkansas, which plays on a purple and gray field, wore purple and gray uniforms for their spring game. … Football is king at THE OSU, as they packed 61,058 fans into the ‘shoe for the spring game. And security made sure things were orderly. … Meanwhile, over 72,000 showed up for Penn State’s spring game. Football is popular in Happy Valley too. … And some 68,000+ showed up for Tennessee’s spring game. … The grass wasn’t always greener for Purdue’s spring game. … James Benefield loves it when the CU Buffs go all white with gold helmets as they did for their spring game. … Here’s a couple more looks at the new FSU uniforms unveiled Friday, including a shot of Famous Jameis. Here’s a shot of the new logo on the field from the press box (h/t Chris Creamer). … Also joining the SpeedFlex parade is the NC State Wolfpack (thanks to Drew Johnson).
Hockey News: For yesterday’s penultimate regular season game, Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury again wore the mask he wore during the Penguins’ Stadium Series game vs. Chicago (thanks to Aaron McHargue).
Soccer News: The Houston Dash are a ladies soccer team, and unfortunately, yesterday evening, they had an unfortunate NOB misspelling (via Kenny Ocker). Here’s another view (via Ben Hoskins). … “There’s a site called StatsFC offering Premier League widgets for blogs, etc,” writes Casey Hart. “They represent team with simple icons of their jerseys. Those icons don’t include team or sponsor marks but at least occasionally include logo creep.” That widget is from evertonarentwe.com.
College Hoops News: Oooooohhhh. Check out these custom sneakers for UConn coach Geno Auriemma (great find by Bruce Menard). Says Bruce, “Pretty cool.”
Grab Bag: Here is a few snapshots of the last 20 years of the V-League, Japan’s volleyball league, courtesy of Jeremy Brahm: For the women’s game, and for the men’s game. … These Nike cowboy boots can’t be real, right? … Leo Strawn, Jr. has couple of special jumpers to report: This weekend Port Adelaide Power wore throwbacks to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their 2004 Premiership. The throwbacks had members’ names along with former Power players on the guernsey. Also, Leo’s Collingwood Magpies will wear a similarly themed jumper during this season, honoring all past Pies players from 1892 thru 2013. And as a side note: Leo passes along this colour on colour last week between Adelaide Crows v Sydney Swans. … The Denver Pioneers wore 1984 throwbacks yesterday (h/t to Jared Buccola).
Ok — that’s another weekend in the books. Thanks to Marcus for his concepts, and Ross for the next round of the Lewis & Clark uniform design contest. Hope everyone enjoys the Masters, the end of the hockey regular season, the almost end of the basketball regular season, and baseball today. Plus whatever other sports may be on your tube/computer/tablet/phone/device.
Paul, enjoy Beefsteak today — hope your “meer” coma is worth it!
You guys have a great week, and I’ll catch you next weekend.
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
“I refuse to replace my huge fathead logo on my wall. I nicknamed the new logo, “The Climaxing Indian.” Look at it! He’s coming! It’s horrifying! It is not allowed in my house! The old logo is everywhere in here and it will remain that way. To me, it is iconic.”
–Dave Johnson
The state of college football “uniforms” must be pretty poor for you to give that garbage a B+. Well, to each his own.
“Well, to each his own.”
~~~
Yes, to each his own. And I said B to B+ (not that there is much difference).
I am curious — if you feel “that garbage” is so bad, I’d love to hear why. You don’t need to be 900-words specific, but I’m wondering what about the unis makes them so bad.
I like it. I hope they wear the orange hats with the orange shirts and britches.
I think Miami ought to drop this whole “The U” thing and use that birdicane logo as their primary helmet logo instead of as a sublimated background pattern.
The U logo was around for years before anyone began referring to the school as “The U”. There’s “The U” aura, mystique, whatever you want to call it and then there’s the U logo. Two different things.
In case you are talking about the U logo, I have to disagree.
Miami helmets have featured the U logo since the 1970s. More than forty years. Roughly since the time that other college teams began adding logos to their formerly plain helmets in the 1960s?
Can’t picture Texas dropping the longhorn head, USC dropping the Trojan, Nebraska dropping the “N”, Georgia dropping the “G”.
I guess I’m talking about both. Miami using the U is just as dumb as certain other schools emphasizing STATE. I don’t care how old it is, I’ve never liked it.
The story goes that when they restarted the football program in the 1970s, the school had originally wanted to put “UM” on the helmets but thought it would be too easily confused with other UM’s like Michigan & Minnesota. So they went with the stylized U instead.
…or Penn State dropping the
I see what you did there;)
“The U” is shorthand for the local state land-grant university in maybe 30-plus states of the union. Outside of Florida, “The U” is understood to mean “… of Miami” almost never, so it really doesn’t matter if Miami makes a big deal of calling itself The U. Rick Scott could call himself “The Governor” all he wants, but nobody in any other state will think the name refers to him and him alone.
As for the U logo, it communicates “Univeristy of Miami” as immediately and as well as any logo in the world. It really is up there with the McDonald’s arches or Canada’s red maple leaf. Barring a catastrophic reputation-destroying scandal of truly epic proportions, Miami would be foolish to even consider not using the U logo. The birdicane is a nice image and all, but far more than it says “U of Miami”, it says, “Didn’t that team move to Winnipeg or something?”
Not so sure about that….With Michael Irvin and Warren Sapp running their large and prominent mouths over the past two decades I think Miami being known as the “The U” is pretty well-known everywhere.
Hey, leave us out of this, Scott. Winnipeg has enough trouble with its own football team. LOL
Arr…
You mean another catastrophic reputation-destroying scandal of truly epic proportions… even when you do have one… It appears to be one tough logo to get past.
Iconic in it’s design, relentless staying power. Incorruptible… the logo, not the program, the school is a poster boy for collegiate mischief. The logo has become a serious brand. I did not at anytime say I liked the logo, or the football team. Just speaking as a graphic designer.
As a Miami grad, I can’t find much wrong with this design.
My only quibbles would be that…
…The white helmet needs a white facemask to truly be “Miami.” Maybe that will get corrected in the same way that the FSU helmet was said to be getting a red facemask instead of the gold one depicted. At least it was mentioned as being part of the rotation, just not shown at the unveiling.
…I’m not a fan of the background ibis on the helmet while I do like seeing that logo used on the sleeves.
…The spread out V-shaped connection from the armpit to the collar would have been much improved, in my mind, if it came in a similar connection made of 3 thinner stripes, instead, using the non-jersey colors similar to the white-green-white sleeve stripes on the orange jersey from back in the Ray Lewis days.) link
…Not sure I’m a fan of the non-striped pants, either. I think I’ll need to see them on the field to draw a final conclusion.
Overall, it’s an improvement over what we’ve had the last ten years without being overbearing or grotesque (as it could have been). As a 42-year-old whose idea of the ‘Bling-Effect’ is quite different from that which 18-year-olds apparently require, then “Great.”
Bill Schaefer
GUD
Seems odd to me that the Miami uniforms would be presented to the public with nicknames. I mean, it’s natural in the design process to come up with shorthand for various design options or for desired final products. But to keep the nicknames and pass them along to the public? Odd. Especially given that the uniform elements are supposedly meant to be mixed. Take the green jersey and orange pants – is that Surge, or is that Juice, or is that Jurge, or maybe Blender? Or is green over orange Carrot, and orange over green is Salad, and white over green is Blizzard, and green over white is Roquefort, and orange over white is Snow Pee, and white over orange is Julius, and so forth?
Also, “Stormtrooper”? Is Nike telling us that The U is easily defeated and can’t shoot straight, like Star Wars stormtroopers? Or is Nike telling us that The U supports fascism and genocide, like real-world stormtroopers? Really need to find a better name for clean white designs. It’s like, hey, Nike, 1978 called and it wants its clever pop-culture reference back.
“Stormtrooper” is probably going to be a big hit with New York/Philadephia Jewish transplants in Miami.
Doesn’t some George Lucas guy own the rights to that name when paired with a fairly similar white plastic uniform?
No, that’s Disney now, which is probably worse.
Miami fans have referred to the all-white look as the Stormtrooper look for years now. Also, the “Juice” look started last year and Nike is just using the names that Miami fans have been using to describe those looks.
“East” Carolina University
Ugh. Yes.
Now fixed.
Way off topic: spotted link.
There’s something slightly wrong with it, and we’ve seen a similar error here on Uni Watch a few years ago with a Yankees home jersey. What is it?
The “2” is wrong. Should look like this:
link
Exactly. A few years ago we saw link, but I don’t think we’ve seen one with the correct font, only with one of the numbers cut incorrectly.
the correct font, only with one of the numbers cut incorrectly
How does that even work? If one of the numbers is cut incorrectly, then it isn’t the correct font. There really isn’t any middle ground. Either the numbers are right, or they’re not.
Let’s hear it for Phil, who has produced two days’ worth of really excellent coverage of the breaking news out of FSU and Miami — all while providing his usual smorgasbord of weekend content.
Great work, Phil. Take a bow — you deserve it.
Big Cheers For Phil!
Congrats, Phil!
Big ups, dude.
RE: StatsFC logo creep
Looks like they are just using the team shirt graphics from Wikipedia
BFBS is now GFGS as Lukas has pointed out and Miami joins the trend. I don’t care for their new unis. Too busy. Only want to see details is on closeup TV shots which may be why they did it. I wonder if all these fancy unis will help them win more games or put more butts in the seats since their attendance is horrible. I doubt it in either case.
I wouldn’t be surprised that the logo cap by the White Sox violated some kind of MLB rule about uniforms. The uniform isn’t in team colors, so I can believe it would have only have the MLB’s blessing if it stayed in a strictly historical context.
I like the cap and jersey a lot, but I did feel that it should had been in current team colors.
You think the league which actually forces teams to wear stars & stripes and camouflage caps cares about enforcing “team colors”?
Yes. “Camo” and “stars & stripes” are least under the MLB’s thumb; and in the case of the Mets and the Braves, they still retain team colors in their offerings. The Sox uniform is one team getting too big for its britches.
What is it like going through your entire life hating EVERY goddamn thing? Seriously how does your heart take that constant being enraged by EVERY SINGLE GODDAMN THING.
You must be a REAL treat at parties, oh wait, you never get invited to any.
I highly doubt that it’s due to any sort of MLB rule about only using “authentic” throwbacks – they’re wearing various jackets and sweaters using the 83 logo/colors but using current templates. Also, the MLB Shop has an 1983 batting practice uniform in the current template, I haven’t seen any pictures to confirm for sure if they are using them, but they are using the new hat so I bet they are. They were probably always just going to use it as a BP hat and there was just some miscommunication somewhere.
…So if Miami wears the orange shirts with the green pants, they can be called “Aquaman”?
Yes. In fact, that will be encouraged.
I think the new hurricane uni’s are a big improvement. I hated the piping they have had in the past. You didn’t show it, but there are more pics of mixed combinations, and the unis look fantastic. Orange jersey and green jersey with white pants look fantastic. I’m not crazy about the helmets. Those feel oregonesque
I saw on ibis that looks like that once, on A1A just north of Lauderdale. I mean, literally on A1A.
Not sure if this has been mentioned yet, but yesterday Notre Dame announced that they will be switching to a synthetic field this fall. No word yet on whether they will change the design of the field (currently no midfield logo and a simple white diagonal endzone). Personally I hope they leave the field design exactly the way it is.
The main turf practice field has white diagonal end zone stripes and an old gold ND monogram trimmed in navy at mid-field. Perhaps they’ll go with that.
I wouldn’t mind the U unis(might actually like them) if they just kept the original damn helmet and did not have those stupid gray unis. You have vibrant bright colors and you want to wear gray???? For gosh sake… So stupid.
Just in general all these college football unis are rediculous and stupid… Pandering to 18 year olds with no fashion sense. I wonder how they will feel after 5 years of graduating they look at their alma mater football team and can’t even recognize it from the crap they were wearing 5 years ago.
All football teams need is 1 home 1 road 1 alternative and 1 helmet. And maybe once a year have a stupid special uni that is fugly with a different helmet.
And why is nfl only allowing 1 helmet while college gets a new one each week?
OK. Time to be fair and be equally harsh on the Miami design.
The new helmets suck. I hope they at least have the old helmet as an option.
The new uniforms themselves? Very pain. They look like practice gear to me. It wouldn’t exactly make me do all the dancing the Miami players did. But as Paul says kids like shiny things. Maybe they saw that orange helmet first.
I’m getting really tired of the monochrome look Please use the orange over white at home and the white over orange on the road as the primaries. Mix & match the rest how you want as long as it’s not monochrome.
I love the “stormtrooper” name. I guess Nike reads UW. But I’m disappointed that gray is the new black so there’s no “Darth Vader” or at least “Dark Helmet” as well.
I do like finally seeing the Ibis included in the schools identity. That’s a great image and should’ve been done long ago. But the way it has been done is awful. The sublimation on the uniforms makes it look like the Gatorade lightning bolt to me. Not good when you’re a different team from Florida. But still better than an Elvis/Ronald Reagan looking Seminole logo I guess.
As far as my logo/uniform design preferences I don’t consider myself a classical or a modernist anymore but I do still lean more towards the modern than the classical. I WANT to like all of these new designs that come out. I really do. But other than a few like Seattle’s rebrand most of them are total crap. Not every team has to look like the Yankees or the Packers but it saddens me that there’s no way to include a good look in a modern design any longer.
“In South Florida, football is played with a sense of speed, style and swagger that transcends the field of play. The University of Miami Hurricanes have become more than a team — they embody the soul of Miami and have defined the culture of the sport.” Right. “Swagger.”
Have you been in a coma for the last 35 years? Miami has defined ‘swagger/taunting/ in college football, so to deny it exists or to sneer at like you do makes you look like a doltish moron. Granted it has little to do with the uniform and more the overall attitude, but still.
“to deny it exists or to sneer at like you do makes you look like a doltish moron”
~~~
I was neither sneering nor denying. I simply found it interesting that, for an attitude which probably originated with The U (and I hate the term “swagger” but it is what it is) that they’d actually use it in their description.
I’ve never thought of “swagger” as a positive term. It’s like calling yourself “cocky.” But I guess in this day and age, just like there is no such thing as bad publicity, words that were once viewed with negative connotations are now seen as positives.
You’re correct in your assessment that “swagger” has little to do with the uniform and more to do with the over attitude. I just never thought that having “swagger” was a good thing and certainly wouldn’t use the term to describe the way football is played. But that’s just me.
Exactly! Miami has been the anti-traditionalists and the rebels for years. If anybody should come out with a wild and bold design and go crazy like the Seahawks did or Oregon does and spit in the face of the classical looks of Alabama, Penn State, ND, and the rest it should be Miami. Not that most of us would like it but they’re the ones that should be doing it. They missed out on this. A bit of sublimation and fancy costume names don’t make me think “swagger”.
Personally, I associate “swagger” with either “asshole” or “braggart who can’t back it up.” If there’s a contest involved – a ball game, or a wager, or whatever – if the other guy says the word “swagger,” I take that as a sign that I’m going to win, and it’s usually true. I hate that word and what it signifies in modern America.
But if by “swagger” Miami means a certain brash confidence, then I think these unis are close to perfect. They’re restrained in important ways, and restraint is the ultimate sign of confidence. Miami certainly could have gone with wild, outside-the-box, highly fashionable designs. But it didn’t, and the fact that it didn’t suggests that it believes it doesn’t have to. If that’s a cocky attitude, and it kind of it, it’s the good kind of cocky, the kind you admire, the kind that more often than not the person who displays it can back up with performance.
In large part because of the “swagger” on display in their uniforms, I still don’t take Oregon seriously as a football school. Sure, they’ve done well recently, but if they were really all that, they wouldn’t have to dress like hateful clowns to demand our attention. Whereas Miami’s uniforms are more about elegance – within a contemporary paradigm, where what passes for elegant today would have been outrageous just ten years ago – that makes me take Miami seriously as a football school regardless of their recent record. It’s irrational and largely subconscious, but that’s what good design does.
“they wouldn’t have to dress like hateful clowns to demand our attention.”
~~~
HA! I simultaneously laughed and winced a little at that comment.
I wouldn’t go so far as to say Oregon’s costumes are the dress of hateful clowns, it was still funny. I guess.
I’m sure a LOT of the country doesn’t take Oregon’s schtick, but they invented it. I’d say the hateful clowns are all the myriad imitators out there who thought Oregon’s costume parade was something to be emulated. Ruined it for everyone, including Oregon.
So you like the “swagger” present in Miama’s new unis, but not the “swagger” present for U of O? I mean, isn’t swagger swagger?
Hateful clown…that’s a phrase I’ll need to use down the line…
…but they invented it.
And the French invented the guillotine. Should we say it’s all right for them, but nobody else?
The Ducks just took the bumblebee Pirates idea and expanded it include non-team colors. They ruined it all on their own.
I’m awaiting moderation on my thoughts on the new Miami uniforms so to add a few things to my first comment before I forget them.
#1. Plain. Very PLAIN for the uniforms. Although pain does work. Stupid autocorrect!
#2. Yes, I DID see the part about the traditional helmet still being part of the rotation but does that mean they’ll wear it once against the season opening D-3 cupcake and it never sees the field again or will the others only be worn once each and the traditional helmet is the main helmet? Kids and their shiny things love will decide this I guess.
Overall not a “bad” design in a vacuum. But I still don’t look at it as being better than what they were wearing in the late 80’s and into the 90’s. Step up from what they had previously? Yes. But still not a great overall look. So much more that could’ve been done with the color scheme and logos and all the hurricane imagery.
“I still don’t look at it as being better than what they were wearing in the late 80′s and into the 90′s. Step up from what they had previously? Yes.”
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I think that’s pretty much what I said. Maybe not in as few words, but yes. Better than what it’s replacing but not as good as it once was. Sounds like a lot of new uniforms these days.
I wouldn’t be surprised that the logo cap by the White Sox violated some kind of MLB rule about uniforms.
I think the “batterman” cap is simply a newly-designed batting practice cap (made in the same material that the other BP caps are made of) that goes with the 83 throwback uniform. The Sox are wearing the 83s again this afternoon, along with the uniform-appropriate caps.
That appears to be the case – I saw pictures pregame today and they were wearing the “batterman”. This scenario always seemed the most likely to me, there was just a lot of confusion based on how the Sox announced it.
Brew Crew completing the weekend series in the throwbacks.
link
During yesterday’s spring game UNC wore their old uniforms from 2012, not the crap they trotted out last year that featured heavy doses of black. Does anyone know if this is a sign of things to come or are they sticking with last year’s uniforms?
Nice job Phil the last 2 days of college football uniforms.
The storm trooper and surge sets are nice as well as the helments & i’m glad that trampstamp is gone from the uniforms to me it it made the uniforms look ugly
Does anyone know why these uniforms are not using the new “Mach Speed” Template/system that Oregon debuted last bowl season?
Apparently the Mach Speed is unique to Oregon.
It appears that the Ibis graphics on the sleeves and pants are not sublimated as you cannot get a change in texture with sublimation. It’s likely a heat transferred graphic or textured print like a plastisol.
In re: the Nike cowboy boots, I seem to remember that in the 90’s, Garth Brooks was so big that Nike considered signing him and designing a custom cowboy boot. I can’t find a record of this online, I just remember it from an interview or tv special.
On the Stormtrooper name Nike is just following the fans. In their heyday the Canes were one of the first teams to adopt the Imperial March when on defense since it fit with the team’s reputation. In the last couple of years nothing made rabid fans more giddy than the all white ensemble that they christened “Stormtrooper”. Canes finally capitalized on that in the bowl debacle against Louisville when Sebastian led the team onto the field wielding a faux light saber and dressed as Darth Vader.