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Which Is Better on the Ice: White or Color?

I was watching Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals the other night and was struck, as I often am, by how beautiful the Rangers’ road uniform is. The red and blue tones really pop on the white jersey and socks. I’m much less fond of their blue home uni, which I think is rather blah by comparison. It feels like a weak knockoff of the white design.

I’ve always thought this about the Rangers’ two uniforms, all the way back to when I was a kid. Of course, back then the white uni was worn at home and the blue one was worn on the road. That arrangement ended in 2003, when the NHL changed its uni protocol from white at home to color at home.

Many Uni Watch readers over the years have said that they prefer the old white-at-home arrangement. Some readers even make of point of saying, “as God intended” whenever referring to the white-at-home era.

But that apparently wasn’t what God intended prior to the 1970-71 season. Many younger fans don’t realize that NHL teams wore color at home up until then. Hell, that’s why the Rangers are nicknamed the Blueshirts and the Broadway Blues — because they wore blue at home for decades. So when the NHL switched to color at home in 2003, they were actually changing back to the league’s original uniform protocol. In fact, if you go back to the league’s early days, many teams didn’t even have a white uniform.

Now, I happen to prefer the white-at-home format myself. Part of it, I’m sure, is that it’s what I grew up with and got used to. But there’s more to it than that. If we look at all of the current NHL uni designs, I think every team looks better in white. Every single one. One reason for this is that the pants on the white unis always provide a measure of contrast, while some of the colored unis are essentially monochromatic, which doesn’t provide as much visual interest. Yes, I realize some colored uniforms do have contrasting pants, but I still find those uniforms less satisfying than their white counterparts.

With all of this in mind, here are some questions for you folks to consider:

When it comes to NHL uniforms…
 
 
 
  
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When it comes to the NHL’s uniform protocol…
  
pollcode.com free polls 

For that last question, I’m particularly interested in hearing from readers who are, say, 20 years old or younger, because those readers have grown up in the color-at-home era — it’s the system they’re familiar with. So let’s repeat that question only if you’re 20 or younger:

I’m 20 years old or younger and…
  
pollcode.com free polls 

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Design contest reminder: I’m currently taking submissions for my latest ESPN design contest, which is to redesign the World Cup soccer ball. Get the full scoop here.

And speaking of the World Cup: As you may have noticed, reader Trevor Williams has become our go-to guy for soccer news. He was kind enough to be my co-writer for an ESPN piece ranking the World Cup kits.

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Baseball News: The Brewers and Twins once again wore 1980s throwbacks last night, just as they did earlier in the week. But this time the game was in Minnesota, so the home team was wearing road unis and vice-versa. ”¦ The cap that the Nats are giving away on Aug. 15 will have a built-in bottle opener. I eagerly await the Swiss Army Knife cap (from William Yurasko). … I already knew that the bumblebee-era Pirates used larger NOB lettering for surnames of three or four letters, but it’s still jarring to see it. That shot comes from this photo blog, which is full of great photography, including lots of great uni images (big thanks to Scott Kneeskern). … The Lotte Giants — that’s a Korean team — wore camouflage uniforms yesterday (thanks, Phil). … The American Mustache Institute isn’t happy about the White Sox telling Chris Sale to shave his beard (from James Poisso). … The Padres have already had three different players wearing No. 40 this season (thanks, Phil). … Double-whammy: Dan Geraci was caught on TV weaing a Cubs track jacket over a Mets jersey the other day. “I planned on wearing the jacket under the jersey when we got to the stadium — which never happened due to me caring less after having a few 312s,” he says. … The Fort Wayne TinCaps are having a jersey design contest for their “Stand Up to Cancer” Night. ”¦ How do you celebrate your 65th wedding anniversary at the ballpark? Like this (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Also from Phil: The Memphis Redbirds are doing the Memphis, Egypt thing again this Saturday. … Very interesting article on the relative merits of hockey-style vs. traditional catcher’s masks.

NFL News: Check out this super-cool Bills-themed motorcylce helmet. I lovelovelove that they painted the facemask onto the shell (from Timothy Tryjankowski). … The new version of Madden will including 49ers QB Colin Kaepernick’s tattoos. … Here’s the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee logo.

College Football News: Looks like UCLA may be going back to the Clarendon font. Now if they could just restore the full UCLA stripes (thanks, Phil). … As you know, NCAA schools don’t sell jerseys with their football players’ NOBs. But now Arizona, Northwestern, and Texas A&M are going further: They’re going to stop selling jerseys with players’ numbers.

Hockey News: Whoa, check out Miss Hockey of New York, 1928! That comes from an excellent Todd Radom piece about the Rangers’ “lost” uniform era. … Speaking of the Rangers, my recent ESPN column mentioned that the New York Rangers are the only team I could think of whose drop shadow goes down and to the left, but some commenters have come up with three additional examples: the 1967-68 Penguins (here’s the rear view), the the current Pitt football team, and Wisconsin’s motion-W. … Here’s a photo of Kings goalie Jonathan Quick as a Little Leaguer — sponsored by Jewish War Vets! (Nice one from Pete Woychick.) ”¦ Here are the second and third installments of those Simpons-ized NHL team logos (from Seth Moorman).

NBA News: Here’s how the NBA Finals patch looked last night on the Spurs’ and Heat’s jerseys. … The Hornets’ new mascot, Hugo the Hornet, has his own logo. “Do any other sports mascots have their own unique logos?” asks Mark Collins. … And Duncan Wilson points out that Hugo also has the North Carolina Blue Cross logo on the cuffs of his gloves — mascot logo creep!

Soccer News: “Microsoft is revealing some sort of Xbox One app to go along with the World Cup, and they’ve been using a promo image allegedly showing a match between Brazil and Croatia,” says Justin Dilks. “But if you look closely, the two teams shown are actually the New England Revolution and Seattle Sounders FC. Presumably they were chosen for their similar colors.” … Nike’s World Cup gear for the USA was not made in the USA (thanks, Phil). … Here’s a design competition for an unusual soccer team representing a group of exiles trying to get back to their homeland in the Chagos Islands (from David Vine). ”¦ New home kit for Paris Saint-Germain (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Also from Phil: New 50th-anniversary logo forthe Marquette soccer team and a new logo for the Colorado Springs Switchbacks.

Grab Bag: UPS drivers who maintain an accident-free record for 25 years get a sleeve patch (from Tommy Turner). ”¦ Also from Tommy: Really interesting article on the challenge of designing and manufacturing a perfect T-shirt. … New jerseys for — wait for it — the USA Quidditch Team (blame Phil). ”¦ Aussie football news from Simon Alp, who writes: “In tonight’s AFL match, Carlton (home team) ran out onto the field wearing their away white shorts. They then left the field and a box of blue shorts was shown being delivered to the field entrance. Then they changed into the blue shorts.” ”¦ A big bakery operation is offering bread rolls shaped like various sports balls. Love that domain name (from Chris Cruz).

 
  
 
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Comments (220)

    I prefer white at home for NHL teams. I loved seeing the colors of the visiting team when I was an NHL season ticket holder. Such as the all red Flames & Red Wings, Canadiens, Nordiques.

    As a 24 year old, I can still remember some of the white at home era, but most of the hockey I have seen is with color at home. I agree that the reason I prefer white at home is because I like seeing the other team’s colors. I go to a lot of Sabres games and I am so bored with their tired navy uniforms with senseless piping and pit-stains. I do like seeing the Isles, Rangers, and Canadiens come into town wearing white because those are beautiful sets. But it is boring to see Navy vs. White every game. It’s cooler when you can see Dallas wear green or Philly wear orange now and then.

    It was great going to Islander home games in the 70’s and seeing the colorful unis come to town – Kings in purple (sorry, Paul), Seals and Northstars in bright green, Blues and Sabres in brilliant blue, Flyers in orange.

    I can’t imagine seeing a string of white jerseys coming to town game after game. Boring!

    -Jet

    I’ve always loved the Rangers blue sweaters; the white always seemed washed out. But I miss the blue sweaters that say “New York” down the front. So white and home and color on the road for me!

    It should be pointed out that the NHL didn’t have a formal uniform protocol until 1951, which was the year the Rangers finally got their white jersey. At that time, teams decided to wear white at home, but in 1955, the league switched it around to dark at home.

    I remember that information coming from the Official NHL Guide and Record Book, which I used to pick up annually back in the 1990s.

    Pretty sure the Colo Spgs Switchbacks aren’t having a 50th anniversary.

    Did I miss the “Establishment” logo results or were they suppressed as a way of sticking it to the man?

    White at home…as god intended.

    I’ll add to Paul’s excellent assessment of the situation when I was but a lad.

    Growing up without cable, I was restricted to watching the NHL (and my Isles and the Rangers) on network TV. Unless either team happened to be on a national broadcast (rare, even for playoffs), we got ONLY away games on TV. As such, seeing the Islanders in blue meant they were on the road. I had to physically go to the game to see them in their beautiful home whites. And that made seeing the whites even more special. I’ll ALWAYS equate white with being at home — even today when I turn on a game, I instinctually think the team in white is the home team.

    Now, does that have something to do with my preference for white at home? Undoubtedly, since I (like Paul) grew up with it. But with few exceptions, I feel a team in white at home looks better as well. Not that there aren’t some good dark uniforms, but white at home just works.

    Just my $.02. YMMV.

    Where’s the option for “I’d prefer both teams to wear color if there’s sufficient contrast”?

    I guess hockey does white uniforms better than football since there aren’t any teams in mono-white (which would probably be rather dumb on freakin ice), so it has that going for it…. but colored jerseys are still superior in my eye.

    It must be that time of the year because I’m agreeing with The Jeff.

    Unlike baseball, hockey never had a practical reason for wearing white at home/dark away. Teams should wear their team colors whenever possible.

    I’ll be even more of a reactionary and offer the option of a gold(yellow) home uniform, for teams such as the Preds, Bruins, Kings, Canucks and Seals. Hey, it’s my fantasy, dammit!

    Do a GIS of Marcel Dionne, Butch Goring, or Rogie Vachon. Startling yellow home uniforms to match the Lakers. Mind you, I’d question the sanity of any GM who scraps the sweaters the team wore while enjoying success, to restore a garish bunch of suits worn when the team stunk. But hey, the sky is tangerine on Planet Walter!

    Regarding the NHL color-at-home debate… I always thought it would be cool to split the season (either at the 41-game mark, or all-star break) and have one half white-at-home and the other half color.

    I believe the NHL did this one year… 1991 perhaps?? It was the season the original six wore throwback sweaters. I distinctly remember the Rangers wearing dark at home for one half of the year.

    Yes, I think after the ASG in Spring 1992 (75th anniv season), all teams wore white on the road. I was at a Whaler game and the visiting Kings wore white.

    I used to attend IHL games back in the late 90’s and they switched midpoint in the season. If they’re looking to sell jerseys wouldn’t that be the best thing to do?

    I have said this a zillion times. Start the season with white at home. Then, either at the All-Star Break or at the exact halfway point of the season (the NHL individually gives each game on the schedule a number), switch to dark at home. For the playoffs, alternate every season between white at home with dark at home.

    It’s win-win!!

    “…For the playoffs, alternate every season between white at home with dark at home…”

    I’m an Islander fan. You must mean alternate every 5 or 6 seasons with white and dark.

    link

    The OHL does this (or at least they were as of 2 seasons ago). They where 1 color until the half way point, then the other. I assume it’s for jersey sales.

    I believe the home team should be able to choose which jersey they will wear at home.

    That would be the ideal option, of course. There’s no reason the league needs to mandate anything. Home team announces what uniform they’re going to wear a week or so ahead of time, road teams packs appropriately. Maybe that means color vs color, maybe it doesn’t. Let the teams wear what they want.

    The problem with this is that if a team is on a multi-game road trip, they might have to pack two sets of unis.

    Oh how terrible. We’re talking about multi-million dollar franchises, not little league teams. Does an extra set of jerseys and/or pants really take up that much space?

    If they’re flying their own planes, I can’t imagine they’d have to extra baggage fees.

    Paul’s got great equipment manager contacts, and Dana Heinze of the Pens is pretty good at responding at Twitter. But it would be worthwhile to ask about the expense and hassle of packing multi-uni’s.

    I think the advent of the Alt-uniform essentially kills every going back to white at home for the NHL. It is probably just as much cost as practicality now of going white on the road, except for the occasional one-off road trips.

    This is exactly my thought as well.

    If the home team wants to wear white, they can, if they want to wear color they can, If they want to mix it up, they can.

    Seems simple to me.

    Lee

    65th anniversary link in the baseball section goes nowhere. Extra character at the end of the link.

    If those colors are white for the home team and gray for the visitors, then I agree.

    I don’t believe I’m aware of the notion of white v. gray in baseball.

    Can you inform me of why white v. gray in baseball “should” happen?

    No offense, Tony, but if you have a Uni Watch membership card, I hereby request it be revoked. If you don’t have one, please order one, so it can be revoked.

    I’m good with CONTRASTING color-on-color games, everywhere BUT baseball (as I am a red-blooded American), which should always be white vs. grey.

    It’s funny how so many people are stuck on the idea that baseball must be white vs gray, when it’s actually the one sport where contrast doesn’t even matter. One team is fielding, the other is batting. There’s really no chance of player confusion. Back when I was a kid in the little league, my team only had one uniform, and half our games ended up being gray vs gray because of that. Sure, it’d be annoying for someone who’s watching the game in the background and not paying much attention, but it’s perfectly playable. If any sport could really embrace the idea of letting the teams wear whatever the heck they want to, it’s baseball.

    has nothing to do with contrast do to player confusion. it has to do with that visually it’s more appealing. I have an HD tv for a reason. i don’t want to see two of the blandest colors out there every game.. it’s boring

    do what you think you must(i don’t have a card btw, and don’t think i ever will), i am just not tied to this antiquated mindset that it has to be grey and white all the time

    Always “white vs gray?” How about powder blue? I even thought khaki was not a bad choice in that old San Diego set.

    As far as baseball is concerned, always bet on the teams that like their uniforms in the missionary position. It’s a hidebound culture.

    I disagree about baseball, but also not a “it must be white v gray” person either.

    Home team wears white, visitor wears any other color but white.

    There, fixed, done.

    Lee

    That works perfectly. No reason to be obsessed with gray — a color so dull it’s not even in the spectrum.

    I don’t see the NHL ever switching back to white at home, and my reason is based on merchandising only…..it’s really hard to create a second alternate white jersey.

    I know many won’t agree with me….

    No, it’s not “hard” at all – it’s a matter of the league not allowing more than one alternate per team (special-event jerseys notwithstanding) after the Ducks had two back in the late 1990s.

    Away team color vs. Home team alternate color jerseys wouldn’t be that hard to coordinate. Most alts would be alternate color or accent color anyway which away teams are probably not wearing. In the case where say the Rangers alt is blue, playing the away Islanders, Islanders could wear white.

    I’d really like to see everyone by the MLB follow soccer’s habit of a having a primary and secondary uniform so we’d have more color on color matchups. There’s something about teams wearing their primary colors that just adds a level of intensity to me as a viewer.

    If that can’t happen, I’d rather keep the NHL uniform policy the way it is now.

    With HD TVs now, the NFL could go back to more color-vs-color matchups, again provided there is enough existing contrast between the teams. The main reason behind the creation of white jerseys for all teams was that it enabled a definitive contrast between teams on black-and-white TVs back in the 1950s. Prior to 1950, the Eagles were just about the only NFL team to utilize a white jersey option on a regular basis.

    Curiously, HDTV and their bandwidth consumption are cited as the reason why FIFA is insisting on more contrast between opposing uniforms and all-dark or all-light kits.

    I’m pretty sure FIFA are full of shit on that aspect. I’m not exactly an expert, but I have watched a rather large amount of downloaded video in time on the internet. With the amount of crowd shots and just movement in general, an extra color or two on the team uniforms isn’t going to effect bandwidth in any noticeable way. The audio takes up more space anyway. Broadcasting in just stereo rather than 5.1 or 7.1 surround would save far more bandwidth than making a team wear mono-blue instead of blue over red.

    “I’m not exactly an expert…”

    ~~~

    Agreeing with THE again today…

    As a Pens fan, I like our white uniforms better than the all-blacks, due to the contrast in jersey/pants that was mentioned above. However, there’s something that almost every team could do to make all of their uniforms better: switch up the helmets. White helmet with colored jersey, colored helmet with white jersey.

    link
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    I remember watching the Winter Classic in 2011 and how surprising it was to see the Caps with red helmets and white jerseys, but it didn’t take me much longer to realize how much I liked it. It took me a little longer to realize that USA hockey was doing things differently than NHL teams, but it took me even less time after that to realize that I also liked it.

    Think about how many NHL teams would look better with their pants matching their helmet with a white jersey in between. Think about how many teams could use their white helmet to break up some of the monochromatic-ness they have going on (certain teams wouldn’t pull it off as well like the Devils, who should just wear their black helmet all the time).

    I really can’t give a reason as to why I feel this way other than it’s just more visually appealing to me, but I think it would really help a lot of the white roads, especially. I get the idea that teams playing each other would want to wear different colored helmets since players looking for passes sometimes look quickly just at a head instead of the whole body and that this would sometimes be put in jeopardy with teams like the Devils, but I would think that would be easily figured out with a quick discussion between the two teams as to who wears what, or maybe it would just take a year or so to get used to…since there ends up being lots of matchups where football teams wear the same colored helmet.

    Then I’ll bet you liked the seasons in Mario Lemieux’s tenure when the pens wore gold helmets with their white uniforms. I always thought that was a unique and exceptional look.

    I agree with this sentiment 100%. As far as I can remember, NHL teams have always been required to wear white helmets with their white sweaters. However, this protocol isn’t strictly followed in the junior leagues AFAIK. If the NHL doesn’t want teams wearing similar-colored helmets during the same game (for whatever reason), then, ostensibly, teams could employ two different colored helmets (i.e. one primary-colored and one secondary-colored) instead of color and white, with the home team given discretion and the visiting team required to don a contrasting or dissimilar color.

    Then again, I don’t know the specific reason for mandating contrasting helmets to begin with. If a team, for example, looks better wearing their team-colored helmet with both sweaters, why not let them wear only that helmet? Is it a big deal if it occasionally matches the color of their opponents’ helmet? What are the drawbacks in such a scenario?

    Speaking of logo creep, the new Hugo the Hornet is also wearing Custom fit Air Jordan 11 “Concord” shoes complete with Jumpman logo.

    I kind of like the Jordan’s on the mascot.

    VICK Eagles Jersey Photo Inquiry:

    Is this just a bad (or very good) Photoshop job? It looks like a Falcons jersey in style with Eagles wordmark and sleeve logos added.
    Paul, your thoughts?
    link

    ECHL actually splits white at home for first half season and then color at home for the 2nd half.

    Actually nice as a season ticket holder, basically get to see everyone’s white and dark jerseys (well, at least the teams in your conference).

    I’m just curious as to why it ended up in the NFL section when it would seem to be more of a Grab Bag item.

    After 115 comments, I’m surprised no one else said it…so I will:

    Eat the Ball bread is going to give a whole new meaning to “Pass the bread, please” at the dinner table.

    I grew up as a Ranger fan in the 60s with them wearing the blues at home and I still prefer that protocol. I went off to college in Houston right about the time they made the switch and wasn’t able to see much of the white-at-home Rangers. So my instincts have always been color-at-home.

    Not that the whites aren’t beautiful.

    I don’t if you’d call it a drop shadow or 3D effect, but the first years of the Washington Nationals uniforms went down and to the left. link

    Remember a few weeks ago, when Mike asked what our favorite “ugly” uniforms were? Those Nats’ uniforms with the beveled lettering didn’t get much love, but I sure liked ’em. Of course, quality control seemed to be an issue.

    The NHL has provisions for “reverse color” games, where the home team wears white. The home team has to petition for it, and the league says they liberally grant the petitions. The one proviso is that they check with the visiting team in question to ensure that it’s not an inconvenience. (In terms of packing the extra equipment).

    I don’t recall too many reverse-color games this season (Detroit had one, perhaps Columbus). Could that be because the teams prefer to wear their colors at home?

    They had “reverse color” games in the days of white at home. I remember Montreal would wear their red jerseys at home a couple of times a season. The reason given was so the team’s photographers would get a chance to get pics of the team in their red unis.

    I believe the 1st version of the Cleveland Browns in 1946 (AAFC) had 2 different dropshadows. The white jerseys dropped down to the viewers’ left while the brown jerseys ‘dropped’ up to the right. Originally with orange numbers shadowed in white, the central orange was dropped early in the season as it made reading the numbers from the stands difficult. The Browns went the rest of the season with plain white numbers on their brown jerseys.

    Interesting in the Pirates big NOB photo, Stargell is in the center of that photo, with the stars on the crown of the cap, not the brim like the auction item from yesterday. Has anyone ever seen photo evidence of a game cap w/ Stargell Stars on the brim?

    Not on Stargell, but here’s a shot of Phil Garner and Dale Berra:

    link

    Is that what you mean?

    If i were a season ticket holder in the NHL I would think it would get pretty boring watching your home team in the same uniform vs. the white visiting team all the time. I’d much prefer to see the different dark uniforms come to town.

    I thought the Milwaukee MLB team was going to wear period-correct(?) pullovers not their button-front fauxbacks.

    preference in order: 1) color v. color, when contrast allows 2) White at home to allow the home fans to see the visitor’s colors

    With color at home rule going on, it’s a merch move if nothing else. It’s easier to sell dark colored sweaters to home fans (less worry about getting it dirty, more association with home team colors, mostly look better than white sweaters, except maybe Montreal)

    I agree with Paul the NHL teams look better wearing white jerseys at home. I wish the NHL would change the protocol and go back to wearing white jerseys at home.

    I like “white at home” for utilitarian reasons. Let’s say you walk into a bar, and a NHL game is on. Who’s playing? I’d like to study the colors, and note which logo is on center ice. That would make it really easy. If the home team is wearing color, then you just get double-confirmation who the home team is, without really knowing who the away team is at first glance. Not as good, IMO.

    …or you could look at the ever-present scorebug in top corner of the screen which tells you rather blatantly that it’s DET vs CHI, or LAK vs NYR or whoever.

    Easy to do at home, but hard to do at a bar when you might be some distance away. Ever since law school, my ability to read text from far away has gone down the toilet.

    hows that harder to do at a bar… normally there are multiple tvs with the same game on them.

    If you want an example look no further than the Blackhawks. Their white jersey is absolutely gorgeous and IMO much nicer than their red jersey.

    The white jersey may allow the color detail of the Hawks’ crest and shoulder patches to pop. The home reds emphasize their team color. Color (whether a mostly solid one, or a pattern such as the Canadiens’ striping) is as powerful a symbol as a logo.

    No way do the Wild, Capitals, or Bluejackets white jerseys look better than their color jerseys. Anyway, even if it is the case that most NHL teams currently have more attractive white jerseys than color jerseys, the logical implication is not that the league should mandate white at home. It’s that NHL teams need to design better color jerseys.

    As to the league-wide rule, I honestly don’t have a strong preference. The Rangers are a good example of a team that probably should wear white at home, in part because their white uniform is actually quite visually heavy with team colors. The white makes the blue and red pop. But a lot of teams have white jerseys that are much more, well, white, and so they do a weaker job of communicating team team identity. And the NHL’s current rule has one virtue: It prioritizes the home team clearly expressing its visual identity. Personally, I’d rather see the rule become a matter of home team decides – maybe not game-by-game, but just by designating one jersey its home, and the other its alternate. And I’d rather see color-on-color permitted with contrast rules akin to FIFA. But the current NHL uni regime is at least defensible, even if it’s not necessarily what I would prefer.

    “…As you may have noticed, reader Trevor Williams has become our go-to guy for soccer news. He was kind enough to be my co-writer for an ESPN piece ranking the World Cup kits…”

    And a good job, too. Though you’re both frequently wrong.

    Does the piece run anywhere as a single feature? Or do we always have to piece together Part 1, Part 2, et al?

    No single-page version, alas.

    I can’t speak for Trevor, but I have no doubts that I’m indeed wrong throughout much of the piece.

    Seconded as to both of Conn’s observations. The most conspicuous difference I have is as to Nigeria. Those should be rated quite highly.

    If the Nigeria home had switched the shades of green so that the side panels were lime, I would’ve rated it higher. Just curious, how would you rank the kits?

    A fair question. This is derived on the quick from the comments on March 5 where I graded all the then-available kits:

    1 Algeria
    2 Croatia
    3 Greece
    4 Nigeria
    5 Cameroon
    6 Netherlands
    7 Russia (on the strength of the white kit)
    8 Uruguay
    9 France
    10 Colombia
    11 Chile
    12 Ghana
    13 Ivory Coast
    14 Mexico (hurt by the red kit)
    15 Germany
    16 Brasil
    17 Iran
    18 South Korea
    19 Belgium
    20 Costa Rica
    21 Italy (hurt by the white kit)
    22 England
    23 Japan
    24 Ecuador
    25 Honduras
    26 Switzerland
    27 Spain
    28 Argentina (they tarted up and ruined one of the best kits in all of sport – go back to the 1978 jerseys and they’re very near the top)
    29 Bosnia
    30 Australia
    31 USA
    32 Portugal

    I see we agree on a couple teams like Spain and have different opinions on others. What do you like best about Algeria and Nigeria?

    Algeria – remarkable unique shade of green, the flag roundel, the truncated sleeve stripes, a very nifty crest.

    Nigeria – the shade of green on the secondary, the wide stripes coming off the collar on the secondary, the widely spaced pinstripes of the primary, the collar of the primary

    BTW Brasil would be much higher were it not for the diastrous 2d and 3d choices.

    Ranger road (white) beats road IMHO. Shoulder yoke gives it a little more visual interest. Also, the ‘RANGERS’ letters on the front of the white look slightly less fercocked than they do on the blue.

    Optical illusion? Maybe the Edge template with a shoulder yoke leaves a little more space in the front panel?

    Drives me mad that the letters are so goofed. Look at any Ranger pic pre-Reebok Edge era. Those letters are well-spaced and slide down the front on a pure 45 degree angle…

    The Rangers are an oddball team in that they do use two different templates for their home and road unis when there really is no need to do so. Their blue home unis use the template used by such teams as the Avalanche, Panthers, and Kings, while their road whites use the more “traditional” template favored by the rest of the Original Six and several other teams.

    The thing that bugs me about the Edge treatment of the white jerseys, though, is that because of the way the shoulder yoke is designed, the stripes narrow a bit at the sleeves. The pre-Edge unis used straight seams, and the stripes remained straight as a result.

    Oddly enough, I think the Rangers would be improved if they used the Calgary Flames’ home/road template (also used by the Lightning’s “BOLTS” jersey). Obviously, they wouldn’t have the piping down the sides, but as the shoulder panels are a consistent width down to the elbow panels, they could render the white jersey’s shoulder stripes the way they used to. In addition, the Flames template would give a little more room for the RANGERS wordmark, because the template’s underarm panels don’t do the Broncos Point-At-The-Collar thing.

    From link:

    — Many sites like this one carried a photo of cornerback Justin Blake from the Steelers web site wearing what appeared to be a visor with the Twitter address of @Steelers etched onto it. It caused some debate at various sites. It was not real. The @Steelers was added via photo-shop at Steelers.com.

    Wow… Why not just put the “@Steelers” on the practice jerseys on the shoulder that doesn’t have the stupid ad patch, instead of actually paying someone to photoshop it onto a visor?

    Also, the Steelers really look good in yellow jerseys don’t they?

    When I turned on the hockey game the other night, my instincts told me that the game was in New York because the Rangers were wearing white and the Kings were wearing black. The puck eventually crossed center ice and the Kings logo and–for the millionth time– I was confused, then disappointed.

    White at home forever.

    Exactly what happened to me.

    I don’t watch a LOT of hockey, but it was a good 5 minutes of game time before it dawned on me that the game was in LA.

    Lee

    Ditto. In fact, this happens with every hockey game I watch; I always have to do a mental re-set. Seeing the visitors in bright white just seems weird to me.

    Like others, I’m sure this is from living through the NHL white-at-home era, but I also think seeing teams in other sports (e.g., MLB) wear white at home during the same era is an influence. Funny how it (mostly) doesn’t apply in the NFL.

    The Capitals wore white pants with their red uniforms for the first couple of seasons of the franchise’s existence.

    Actually, that was just for the first few weeks of the regular season. But yeah, it was just with their red jerseys.

    Thankfully, we were spared all-white Caps going against link. That would’ve been frightening.

    Right, those white pants didn’t last long. The joke was that they were getting soiled brown with the way the expansion Caps were being blown out game after game.

    -Jet

    That look reminds me of the WHA Winnipeg Jets, whose color scheme aped the Rangers, only with red helmets. It made for nice blocks of contrasting color.

    What’s kind of funny about the WHA-era Jets is that their sleeve and waistline striping was closer to what the Rangers adopted after the Ferguson jerseys, with separation on the blue jersey’s stripes and having the waistline stripes set above the hemline.

    My guess is that light colored pants would look grimmy very quickly. Hockey pants are so bulky that they really aren’t washer friendly, at least not in the volumes to keep up with a 25 man roster..

    The closet example to light pants were the 2007 all star game with their wide white striping and white gloves. I thought they looked great, but the white side panels on the jersey ruin the look for me. I’m surprised you don’t see more teams where white gloves i guess it’s an awkward contrast.
    link

    I don’t see how they’d look grimy… they’re playing on frozen water, there’s no dirt involved. I’d think that white football and baseball pants would be soiled far quicker, and those are both ridiculously common.

    When the skaters get knocked down, they slide around on the ice, and their body heat melts the accumulated ice shavings. Think of the way a light-colored nylon windbreaker looks in the rain as opposed to a dark one. With breezers any lighter than the Rangers or Blue Jackets, it tends to become unsightly.

    Interesting photo.

    Its Cal Ripken and Eddie Murray but Cal is wearing batting helmet with the team’s home uniform and Eddie is wearing a glove and the road uniform.

    Must be from Spring training. I didn’t know a team would square off against itself, even wearing different uniforms.

    link

    Intrasquad scrimmages are common during spring training.

    Murray’s also wearing a windbreaker under his jersey — another classic spring training move.

    While the striping on the New York Rangers is sharp, I always felt the overall uniform was lacking a logo. Having a city name or nickname as the main design element on the front of a hockey jersey seems kind of bland. I think that franchise would have been better off using the shield logo as soon as it became available.

    I understand having the same uniform style for decades has a certain appeal, but it can also be linked with long periods of struggle. I always had the Rangers ranked 6th among the old Original Six franchises, and it’s difficult for me to think of a Rangers homegrown player who is regarded on the short list for greatest of all time. I think if you’re going to have the same long term uniform style, it should be associated with a high level of success, or else it becomes a double edged sword.

    The thing that bugs me to this day about the Rangers’ unis is that they decided to go retro in 1997 for the sake of going retro, even though the team was coming off its most successful period since 1940, a period that arguably started with Ferguson’s departure and the introduction of the modernized Rangers jerseys in 1978-79.

    Granted, that success was already falling apart by the time they introduced the retro blues in 1997, but it somewhat amuses me that the Rangers failed to qualify for the playoffs again until after the 2004-05 lockout.

    white at home.

    Why?

    1. The good guys (home team) wears white

    2. It allows for a variety of color to come into your building. Rangers white vs North Stars green, Rangers white vs. Nordiques blue, Rangers white vs. Devils red. Those made for some interesting and beautiful color matchups

    Nowadays every home game looks the same. Rangers blue vs White.

    it’s boring.

    As for what looks better? eh. Case by case. I think the Devils look better in red at home. The Habs look better in red at home. Vancouver however I feel looks better in white at home, as does Detroit and Toronto

    Also does anybody else prefer the 94 era (I think they wore these up to the early 2000’s) style jersey to the current rangers jerseys?

    Slight differences but they’re noticeable to me

    In 1994 the rangers stripes on their jerseys had more space between them. The socks striping was more spaced out as well. Plus the red and white piped color is WAY BETTER than the solid red fake lace up they wear now. Road jersey too.

    The Rangers current striping just seems too cluttered compared to what it used to be

    link

    link

    I’d say Hockey is 100% Case-by-case. Yes, the Rangers look better in white. But I’d say the Wild look far better in their “throwback” green then in their White.

    In another Minnesota note:
    I actually like the idea of a home team occasionally flipping to their road jersey, especially if a visting team is not from nearby. If the Twin play a series at home against the Reds, why not play one game where people get to see the Red’s home jersey for once? It may be the only chance for many people to see that jersey in person in their life, and even if you do that 3 games a year they see their own team’s Home jersey 79 times a year. Let them see the Road jersey 3 times. Road teams can get to laundromats now, let them where white.

    Plus, it would open the door for more color/color games in baseball, the one sport where teams could play wearing nearly identical uniforms with few issues.

    Why can’t the home or “primary” uni designation be up to each team? That’s how it is in soccer.

    Regarding the Rangers, are we drawing a distinction between a dropshadow and a blockshadow?

    I’d call what the Rangers have a blockshadow, since it has link. This is rare enough in sports -the link of the 1940s, the link (in different colors!), and a few others. And as you say, only the Rangers have the blockshadow trailing to the left (although the 1950s Washington Senators went link).

    The only other instance I can remember of a blockshadow going to the left is the Wisconsin Badgers’ link. They unveiled a new look, got slaughtered by Colorado and went back to a more traditional uniform the next week. You can see dropshadows on the shoulder logos and blockshadows on the numbers.

    Kind of funny the Badgers should be liked with the Rangers in that way, since Wisconsin’s hockey teams have long had a link.

    Wait… what’s with the Lakers picture? Which player is wearing the wrong jersey, or were both jerseys actually worn during the same year?

    Makes sense… still a bit odd to see them side by side like that.

    To answer my own question, Magic’s first year was 79/80, which was the 2nd year of the purple numbers (assuming sportslogos.net’s uniform history is accurate), so Kareem is the one in the wrong/old jersey.

    I used to make the block/drop distinction, but it seemed to confuse everyone, and people kept using the terms incorrectly, so I gave up.

    Given that we’re all watching the games on big-screen HDTVs instead of tiny black-and-white sets, I would love to see the color-white dichotomy disappear altogether. Instead, I’d like every team to have a colored jersey and an alternate jersey that *could* be white, but doesn’t need to be. So the Red Wings would have a red jersey and a white jersey, as those are their only two colors. But a team like the Blackhawks could choose to go with red with black alternates instead of white.

    I’d like to see that in the NFL and NCAA as well.

    As a 40 year-old Blackhawks fan in Chicago, I have to admit, I’m still not completely used to the NHL’s current color at home/white on road mandate. At times, I still have to re-set my brain when turning a hockey game on as to who’s home and who’s road. Growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, Blackhawks home games were of course never locally televised, so we very rarely ever got to our Hawks live in the whites. The only broadcasts we got to see were on the road, so we always saw them live in the red. Even though it’s been 10+ years since the switch, something in my psyche has never quite adjusted.

    I’m with you, I don’t really have an opinion on what color at home since there’s historic precedence for both. Still I’m so used to growing up with the Wings wearing white at home, it doesn’t look right to me.

    I think it’s definitely a case by case for what looks best. I think the wings and rangers look better in white, but the habs and blackhawks look so much better in color. Leafs and Bruins I like both.

    So funny how people perceive these things — I think the Habs and Hawks both look SO much better in white.

    Different strokes….

    I had the exact opposite experience while watching Blackhawk road games in the mid-to-late 1960’s. All I ever saw were their white uniforms but then again, our television was black and white. Only saw the red uniforms in photographs.

    To this day I prefer color at home…

    Funny. I grew up watching hockey teams wearing white at home, but I still prefer team colors. There’s something about the white jerseys against white ice, washes out one of the teams.

    Quick baseball note – this article in the Daily News says that the Rays are planning to wear retro Brooklyn Dodgers #23 uniforms on Saturday in tribute to Don Zimmer.

    link

    Well, maybe.

    It’s the stories like those his many friends will be recounting with warm laughter on Saturday at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, where the Tampa Bay Rays, his final baseball team, will have a memorial celebration of his life prior to their 4 p.m. game with the Seattle Mariners.

    In his honor, the Rays are said to be planning to wear retro Brooklyn Dodger uniforms with his No. 23. There will be speakers, Torre for sure, but the ceremony will be simple because that’s the way Zim wanted it. One of the things he repeated over and over to Soot was: “When I go, I don’t want no fuss being made over me.”

    Does that mean they’ll wear the Brooklyn uniforms before the game? During the game? And would MLB allow one team on its own to issue its players the same number for a game?

    I doubt it would be during the game, the Dodgers would have to grant permission for in-game use and I don’t see them doing that. This isn’t a Seattle Pilots situation where one team wears a throwback of another team formerly in the same city, the Rays have no connection to Brooklyn other than Zimmer.

    Also, since everyone wears 42 for Jackie Robinson Day, it might be possible that other exceptions to the rule against duplicate numbers are allowed. There was already one Zimmer tribute involving duplicate numbers, where the Rays’ third base coach wore Zimmer’s #66 jersey.

    Speaking of Zimmer and duplicate numbers, what numbers did he wear in 1999/2003 when his Yankees had players wearing what would ordinarily be his number?

    These days I only watch Olympic hockey, so ignore me if you wish. But here’s my thought on white hockey jerseys: they look fine out in public (I used to wear a white Nordiques jersey back in the late 80s), but on the ice…surrounded by white dasher boards…meh. The color jerseys really pop on the ice, so I’d prefer a nice contrasting color vs. color matchup.

    Or…get the pitchforks and torches ready…replace white uniforms with gray.

    I’m retired from football, so I’ll have to stick to hoops and soccer.

    How about cream, then?

    I’m just joking, bud.

    If the fans in Los Angeles were any indication the other night, the gray Kings uniform used for the Stadium Series game is very popular. Maybe gray would be a new trend? Gray is the new black? lol

    Yeah, no. The cream/off-white/”vintage”/”antique” white unis just look dirty and ugly on the ice to me.

    Cream can work just fine in baseball, where you’re standing over green grass or brown dirt, where it still looks bright. But on the ice? No thank you, and I’ll never understand how people can like that crap.

    I like to see colors at home. I realize it isn’t apples to apples, but the St. Louis Cardinals wear primarily white at home, but the fans show up in red. Wearing the same color as your team creates an aesthetic solidarity.

    Also, I know most of Uni-Watch doesn’t love 3rd jerseys simply for the sake of selling more merchandise, but when an alternate comes out, it’s virtually always a colored jersey. If they can’t wear an alternate at home, what’s the point?

    Maybe a solution is take a page out of junior hockey: The OHL (and probably others) require teams to wear white at home for the first half of the season. After the Christmas break, they wear colors at home for the remainder of the season.

    Same here. Both sets look fine to my eyes. Now football, on the other hand, I have strong opinions about. I think there are few NFL teams whose whites look better than their colors, which is why it bugs me a bit when teams go white at home. You’ve got a spiffy colored jersey, why not wear it for the home crowd?

    I agree TBone. To me, home should always be “team” colored.

    That’s why I have a hard time with college and high school rules, the visiting team chooses the colors a lot of times, because if a there’s a conflict, it’s easier for the home team to change.

    I think we all know that color-on-color match ups initially stopped because of BW television. So why in college sports (NCAA) are home football in color (or darker, exc: LSU, Ga Tech) and home basketball in white (or lighter)? College baseball is all over the place and I have no idea what’s accepted practice in college hockey.

    I’m 29 & grew up watching the home teams wear white, so I’m not entirely accustomed to watching the visiting team in white. As for the notion that white jersey > any other color, I wonder if part of it is that you’re guaranteed to not have any monochrome sets. By my count, 19 of the 30 teams have at least some way of wearing one color from head to toe at home (even if as an alternate). It’s no accident that some of the better-looking teams don’t have this option available–namely the Blackhawks, Canadiens, Rangers, & Flyers. What’s more, the home (white) version of the Blues’ atrocious jerseys they wore from ’95-’98 doesn’t look quite as awful as the road version.

    I’ll also echo Eric B’s sentiment stated a few posts prior to mine: I’d much rather see color-on-color match-ups, the way soccer does. The problem I’ve noticed a lot in hockey & football is that, while each team is supposed to wear a white or colored version of its uniform, often other elements still clash–two football teams wearing white or navy helmets, or the same shade of pants; two hockey teams wearing similar shades of breezers. I would think that, when many decisions during the game come down to a split-second reaction, it would be more beneficial for each team to have distinctive colors.

    While we’re on the subject of hockey home/roads (YAY!), can anyone think of another example like the WHA Chicago Cougars of the 70’s, where both jerseys were essentially “light” colors – white at home and yellow on the road. Their color scheme included green trim so it was odd that they didn’t make the road jerseys green!

    link
    link

    -Jet

    The Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA also wore white and home and yellow on the road.

    I’m a huge Simpsons fan, not really an NHL fan at all – which may be why I’m not really into the logo-mashups, but re the Wiggum/Ducks mashup:

    link

    Rumble the Bison, the Oklahoma City Thunder mascot, has his own logo. It’s on his jersey, as well as part of the uniform of his handling team.

    link

    Background: Grew up on Long Island in the 70s & 80s, moved to Maryland in 96. Both my children play hockey (daughter, age 14 does Travel and House; Son, age 11 does house)

    I have been a white at home fan for as long as I can remember, even though I do enjoy the CAPS “Rock the Red” but I have falling into the color-on-color camp due to my children’s house hockey game (teams only have one jersey). I know it could be a problem since there are several Red based teams but I am sure they could work something out.

    one interesting aside with my son’s team… their jersey were Purple and they were playing a dark blue team. The ref decided that the colors were too close to each other and we as the road team had to put on “pinnies” over the jerseys. Since we didn’t have enough of one color for the whole team we had to use several different colors and it worked out that our 4 defense were one color and each line was a different color. The pictures looked great.

    The first one is odd in that the shadow is black, same color as the car, so had to be outlined in a light color to define it. Quite unusual.

    -Jet

    Regarding the Simpsonized NHL logos… SLUG? Why the SLUG?? Why must we Sabres fans always be haunted by the slug? Go away, slug, you don’t live here anymore!

    Re Mark Collins question about mascot logos, I’m not sure these things count as “logos,” but a number of teams have graphics for their mascots that they consistently use in merchandise.

    Here are all the Brewers racing sausages together (I’ve seen these same images on shirts, key chains, etc.).
    link

    If you have kids, a great book with the mascots of each team and background on the stadia and key players for each team can be found from Mascot Books:
    link

    They also make books about various college and pro teams/mascots with some being well thought out (the Red Sox books) and some being pretty lame (Hello Mariner Moose).

    Here’s what I found on mascot logos for Denver teams:

    Denver Nuggets – link doesn’t have his own personal logo, but his entourage – “Super Mascot Rocky’s Super Squad” – does.

    Denver Broncos – link appears to have a link on his web page, but I can’t find it in use anywhere else. I thought it might be used on the link that Miles uses to travel to and from scheduled appearance, but upon closer inspection, the fonts are not the same.

    Colorado Avalanche – link has a personal logo that he wears around link and link. It’s a modified version of the Avalanche’s link, stylized to look like link. Curiously, the logo isn’t used on link other than on photos of Bernie himself.

    “Denver Nuggets — Rocky doesn’t have his own personal logo, but his entourage — “Super Mascot Rocky’s Super Squad” — does.”

    Forgot the link to the “Super Mascot Rocky’s Super Squad” logo. Here it is: link

    link use link of their link as link for their link link, but rarely does the mascot itself have a logo. The best example I’ve found so far is for the University of Iowa’s Herky the Hawk.

    Herky has appeared as a link for the Iowa Hawkeyes in link link (and link link link link) over the years. At some point, it appears that someone designed link. They’re based on the version of the Herky Mascot that patrols the sidelines at Iowa link games (among link), which is different than the Herky used for link.

    These logos appearing to be designed for the mascot itself rather than for the university’s athletic teams. Interestingly, the only place I’ve found these images is as part of a set of vinyl car decals on link. But each image has a “TM” on it, meaning someone is claiming trademark rights to the logos. And since the University of Iowa is the only one who could assert trademark rights for images of Herky, my assumption is that they’re officially licensed merchandise.

    Aha! It looks like those Herky logos may have been designed in connection with the “Herky on Parade” sculpture event taking place in the greater Iowa City area this summer.

    link

    Speaking of using larger letters on smaller NOBs, the Knicks used to do that when they had that beautiful vertical arching in the 60s and 70s…compare REED to BRADLEY

    link

    link

    Lived in Toronto my whole life (33). I will never like dark jerseys at home for the Leafs, or any team. White at home, with an exception to a “special” game here and there. I’m also surprised more teams don’t go with a white alternate.

    Hey Rad, how many Stanley Cups did the Leafs win wearing white at home? I’m waiting. Oh that’s right. ZERO.

    Is that even relevant? I fail to see how that’s even close to being remotely relevant when the Leafs haven’t won since there were six teams in the NHL.

    Sorry to keeping you waiting, David.

    Last time I checked, this website was called uni watch, not superstition watch.

    Most of today’s entry just served to remind me that I’m much closer to 30 than I am to 20. What went wrong?

    Why does everyone want hockey to be like baseball and basketball with white at home? The NHL should never, ever, ever want to mimic the NBA.

    Hate to tell you this, TH, but in a SportsCenter survey in the second round, 64% of those that responded said the NHL Playoffs were more exciting than the NBA Playoffs.

    People are watching. NBC’s numbers for Game One of the SCF was the highest-rated TV program on paid cable AND free-over-the-air on Wednesday for the 18-49 demographic. That’s right: most-watched TV on any network.

    People are watching.

    Are you sure about that? I seem to remember seeing that poll–or perhaps it was one conducted in the first round, when my Blues were still in it–and voting for NHL, and thinking the majority were out of their minds for preferring the NBA’s playoffs to the NHL’s.

    Either way, though, the NBA is more popular than the NHL.
    link
    link

    How is the poll conducted? Because I’m guessing a sampling bias here. And last year’s Stanley Cup Final pulled in a 3.3 household rating, the highest ever recorded, while last year’s NBA Finals pulled in 10.5 (which was also relatively high).

    Someone on another site meanspiritedly compared NHL fans to Tea Party supporters on the Internet. While I think it’s really unfair, there’s a ring of truth – internet hockey fans tend to be vocal, defensive and unnecessarily combative, and often overstate their prominence.

    An ESPNW poll: link. Numbers are worse for the NBA.

    I went digging for the ESPN poll, and it seems Ryan was right. I was referencing a poll from earlier in the season about the NHL vs. NBA.

    Here are the link.

    The reason hockey fans are vocal? Because we keep trying to remind everyone that they’re missing the best playoff of any sport. The drama, the intrigue, the hatred… it’s all there in spades over a seven-game series that literally is won with blood, sweat, and tears.

    Always worth tuning into the NBA each season to see which of the four teams with a realistic chance of winning the title will ultimately prevail. Also fun watching the other 26 teams play out the string.

    “Dan Geraci was caught on TV weaing a Cubs track jacket over a Mets jersey the other day. “I planned on wearing the jacket under the jersey when we got to the stadium – which never happened due to me caring less after having a few 312s,” he says.”

    Pleading ignorance: who is Dan Garaci and what are 312s?

    I’ve seen both sides of the fence with white-home color-road now I am on the fence undecided on which I prefer.
    What if one Conference had white and the other color for home games. Then when the two teams from either Conference meet the team with the better record picks.

    I’d like to disagree with Paul on his assertion that ALL teams look better in white. I’m a Devils fan and I happen to really dislike the team’s white jerseys. They are very plain and almost appear monochromatic especially when they played the Kings in the SCF two years ago. The red jerseys pop more and look very sharp with the black pants.

    A rough guide to the teams that look better in color: the uniforms are graphically equal. Teams that look better in white seem to compensate for the dearth of color by adding detail, such as the Rangers’ epaulets or the Blackhawks’ stripes. There may be exceptions; for instance, I prefer Detroit’s red sweaters to the white ones. But by and large, the first sentence holds true.

    P.S. An overlooked detail is the logo’s “keyline” which usually takes the form of a white piece of tackle twill behind the insignia. The Devils have one, so do the Flyers and Islanders. Its presence adds a tiny extra detail to the dark sweater and makes it look fuller. On the other hand, the Blackhawks keyline is the fleshtone color of the Indian portrait. Its closeness to red appears to subtract from the dark sweater but bulks up the white one.

    The Hawks no longer have the golden key line surrounding the crest; it’s simply the black outline. Back when they had black alternates, the golden key line was quite useful in preventing the black of the logo from being swallowed up by the sweater.

    Regarding the extra-wide NOB letters on those pirates jerseys: that’s because they’re made by Descente, a Japanese manufacturer.

    In the Japanese writing system, it is rare to see characters widened like that (though common to see them spaced out so that a name of, say, three characters takes up the same width as one with five), but many sports jersey manufacturers have two or three different font widths so that they can widen the short-namers and condense the longer ones. link

    As soon as I posted this I realized that it might not be a record. It’s interesting because Barrios is a pitcher who wears a single digit. But the Chunichi Dragons give their developmental players numbers in the 200s, so one of their guys might surpass Barrios.

    And the Yomiuri Giants give such players numbers with leading zeroes. So someone could go from, say, 019 to 19, and not change the value of his number at all.

    My favorites are colored jerseys with a different colored pant. Monochromatic are the worst, but some white jerseys sneak into my favorites.

    The Montreal Canadiens are, to me, the one exception to the white sweaters are better rule.

    I am about the same age as Paul and Phil and grew up watching games in the 1970s. As such, I associate white jerseys with being at home, amd visually I prefer the look. I agree that most, but not all, teams look better in their white jerseys. The Rangers most definitely do, and as pointed out by others, the Edge template accemtuates this, as the template used for the blue jerseys causes the lettering to be too squished on the front. There is not reason not to use the same template as for the white jersey, other than the fact that Reebok chooses not to.

    I believe most polls have shown that a majority of fans prefer white at home, but as with most things in Gary Bettman’s NHL, he does not care what the fans think or want; although he says he does in every single interview. There is a reason he is booed so much in every arena.

    If the teams wanted to go back to white at home, you’d either see it happen, or (more likely) you’d see more reverse-color games. I think the Hawks have had one in the last five years. Most teams haven’t had any. It isn’t just Bettman who prefers teams wearing their colored sweaters at home.

    I have to say as a giant fan of soccer, I was kind of disappointed with the uniform ranking for the World Cup on ESPN. It wasn’t that it was poorly written, I actually kind of liked the expert/novice analysis points. I just was not a big fan of the general opinions of the kits by the expert and how certain kits (like the awful and breaking with tradition Germany kit) were ranked so high and otherwise aesthetically pleasing kits (Russia) ended up so low on the list. How England’s kit cracked the top 8 or even the top 20 looks in the Cup is beyond me. France should have been at least top 3 not number 7. Ghana should have been way higher. Algeria and Ivory Coast are not good. There are just a lot of misses as far as the ranking goes in my opinion. Alas, rating and ranking the aesthetics of sports uniforms is just that an opinion.

    -White at home so we get to see the variety of visitor’s unis. -ID-ing soccer teams would be helpful if the score bug showed jersey color. “Oh look the AON guy flopped in front of the bet365 guy. I wonder which one is Stoke City?”
    -If a single jersey look is good enough for international Quidditch… link

    Count me as solidly ambivalent about the whole white vs. color at home debate for NHL teams. One reason I don’t mind color sweaters is that I usually appreciate teams incorporating more color into their visual identities. Unless white is intended to be an actual team color rather than just an accent color, I see the logic behind outfitting the home team in jerseys that allow them to represent their colors.

    Contrasting colors help for a lot of teams, such as what the New Jersey Devils and Chicago Blackhawks wear. And I wouldn’t be opposed to teams with one color in their palates besides white – such as the Red Wings and Maple Leafs – wearing white pants to break up the mono-color monotony. I don’t think those old Caps uniforms with the red sweaters and white pants look bad at all.

    All that said, I wouldn’t complain if the NHL went back to white at home. That’s what I grew up watching, so I suppose it’s still my default preference.

    I like the way the chest logos stand out against white jerseys. The white sweater works almost like a painter’s canvas in that regard. It’s a clean, sharp look, especially with the dark pants to provide contrast.

    I was going to post about how I grew up watching North Stars games on tv pre-cable (road games, always in green) and when a rare home playoff game was televised, those white sweaters looked glorious…..

    While searching for a picture to support my point, I came across this, the saddest North Stars picture ever…

    link

    Jim — if you scroll up (close to the top) to my post at 8:02 am — I said much the same thing.

    Exactly the same reason I support white at home.

    Yup, we’re on the same page, Phil.

    And for you and other Islander fans–those who witnessed the Dynasty–seeing them in blue at home must be weird at best….and at worst, blasphemous.

    Speaking of mascot logo creep, I noticed during football season that the Broncos mascot, Miles, sometimes has an Arby’s logo on his sleeve.

    Photo: link

    ESPN commercial: link

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