Sunday Morning Uni Watch

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By Phil Hecken

Quite a bit of NCAA gridrion action yesterday (and some exciting games), and there were a bunch of new unis broken out (one offs like Notre Dame and Maryland) and some new combos. It was also notable because a LOT of teams chose to go stormtrooper all white. Now, I happen to like that look (if one absolutely MUST go with an alternate), but I know many of you don’t like it. There was also a cool tribute to Welles Crowther, who was known for his wearing a red bandana. This, I’m certain, and more, are all below, as Terry “TJ” Duroncelet brings us today’s…

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Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet

You ever pick up a shift at your job, thinking it’s going to be pretty stable, but you end up getting swamped with approaches left and right? That was basically me yesterday. Harold, if you’re reading this, I feel your pain.

From Thursday:

• With this past Thursday being the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, teams did the usual thing of wearing flag-emblazoned gear of some sort. In Houston’s case, they wore helmet decals. For BYU, not only did they wear flag decals with this particular one on the back of the helmets, but they also used this as their midfield logo.

• Louisiana Tech got in on the act as well.

From Friday:

• Cincinnati was supposed to wear chrome decals in their game against Toledo, but apparently scrapped those plans last-minute.

• The Buffalo Bulls wore full-black with new black helmets against Baylor.

From Saturday:

• Georgia Tech wore throwbacks on Saturday. It looks like they’ve fixed the sleeve stripe inconsistencies from last year. They also have decals on the helmets this time around.

• Speaking of throwbacks, Texas Tech wore retro uniforms against Arkansas. Great look, but it would’ve been better if Texas Tech and Georgia Tech were playing each other on a Thursday.

• Ohio State’s current emotion: Feeling Facebook-y. For reasons that escape me, tOSU set up a thing that is actually a Facebook emoticon at the ‘shoe in their 66-0 trouncing of Kent State. [Those are actually cue cards, used during the 2nd Quarter of OSU games; something I only learned yesterday — PH]

• Vanderbilt once again wore their gold tops at home, but thankfully wore black helmets and pants to add some balance and contrast. Also, the “Anchor Down” slogan has been moved to the sidelines. Also from Trés Lawless: “I don’t have a picture, but this year, Vandy’s jerseys have captaincy patches on their jerseys.”

• ♫These colours don’t run, like colour from the hair♫ The story behind the hats worn by Virginia’s coach is that he wears a different military branch during each quarter. The 1st quarter had him wearing a Marines hat, and the 2nd quarter shows him in a Navy cap. I haven’t a clue what the 3rd and 4th called for.

• I read that the NFL (I believe) has banned fancy eyeblack, but it’s apparently a-O.K. in college. Thanks to Michael Ferguson for both of those pics.

• South Florida wore their green helmets for the first time against NC State. Not bad, even though the greens were kind of off.

• Lendel Martin sends this in from the Oregon game: “True freshman linebacker Jimmie Swain had “IV” on his jersey. Seems to be a growing trend over the past year or so”

• Nothing life-changing from the Georgia/South Carolina game, but there is this: You know that jerky commercial where the lady has an eagle emerge from out of her stomach? Methinks that’s what happened with Todd Gurley, which could explain the rip in his jersey. Many thanks to Preston Feiler for sending that pic in.

• Notre Dame wore their Shamrock Series uniforms against Purdue. The helmet and jersey are fine in my book, but the pants… bleh. Also in that same game, Purdue wore those black helmets with the track stripe from last year.

• You might be surprised to find that Oklahoma and Tennessee have never played each other in regular season play until yesterday, and have only played each other twice, one of which was a color vs. color game in the 1968 Orange Bowl. They also played each other in the 1939 Orange Bowl. Wish they would’ve dressed for the occasion on Saturday.

• FAU wore shiny red chrome helmets [First time ever — PH].

• I don’t think even snorting an entire line of wasabi will come as close to sobering as seeing the contrast between Rutgers and Penn State.

• Mississippi State added helmet decals in honor of Jack Cristil.

• What else can be said about Maryland except it really takes a rather… creative mind to turn the Star-Spangled Banner into a uniform. I like. More on this look here, along with close-ups here, here, and here. Also from that same game, West Virginia wore gold/blue/gold.

• Colorado wore full-black uniforms with matte black helmets and charcoal decals.

• Boston College wore red bandana shoes, helmet stripes, and other adornments against USC. You can read up on the story here.

• I LOVE these helmets worn by Kentucky. Also, stay classy, Gainesville.

• LSU wore their purple tops against Louisiana-Monroe. For those unaware, LSU wears their white tops for their first home game of the season, no matter what. For their other home games that aren’t against conference opponents, they wear purple.

• And then there’s the plethora of teams that went full-white yesterday, including (but not limited to): Indiana, Illinois, and many more that I could go on about, but you get the picture.

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Thanks, TJ — good stuff!

A Surprise Guest Five And One…

Usually in this space we have the lovely Catherine Ryan providing us with the Five and One, but (and I hope everything is OK) I didn’t hear from her yesterday.

Luckily, in a pinch, Robert Marshall was able to provide a Five and One in a pinch.

The bad thing is we miss Miss Ryan, but the good thing is we get a new perspective on things. And with Comrade Marshall, we just might get as many bad games as good.

Here’s Comrade Marshall:

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#5: Duke v. Kansas – Just purdy. Both teams with pants stripes too, which is nuts for a new uniform like the Jayhawks sport

#4: Georgia Tech v. Georgia Southern – Georgia Tech in their best look, complete with mismatched golds against blue Alabama.

#3: UCLA v. Texas – classic

#2: Iowa v. Iowa State – Always a sunny day for this game, and when Iowa is at home, it’s a beauty.

#1: Stanford v. Army – Stanford as they should be, and Army is poifect in grey bloomers that hearken their overcoats with a right proper dome, and a simple but nuanced jersey.

“So close” Oklahoma v Tennessee … If only it was colour on colour or if UT wore orange pantaloons.

+1 (tie)

Arkansas v. Texas Tech – Arkansas looked like garbage. And I love throwbacks, but that TT number has always been a dog.

Purdue v. Notre Dame – ND looked like a MAC team, and Purdue’s helmet begged you to be snidely whiplash, run over nell fenwick and stiff arm dudley doright on the way to the endzone. Could you be more literal Purdue. Maybe next week they can all carry a huge base drum on their backs.

Illinois v. Washington – Illinois in the tired all white roads while Washington goes away from their gorgeous gold-purple-gold which even looks good with the modern silliness like black shoulders and sans pant stripes. To go white-purple-white leaving us with waaaay too much white.

Duck Tracker

Each week, as we have done on Uni Watch for the past five seasons, we’ll be tracking the uniform combinations of the Oregon Ducks. Back for his third season is Tim E. O’Brien, who’ll show you what the Ducks wore in their last game, and add a few words of wisdom.

The Ducks went black/green/gray in their rather routine win (but neither covering nor hitting the over, much to the chagrin of the CorC) over Wyoming yesterday; they continue to wear last generation unis, having only the white and black tops in the new Mach Speed template. Ho hum.

Here’s Tim E. with the DT (click to enlarge)…

Here’s Tim:

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This post will be like yesterday’s Oregon uniforms: Lazy and drab.

Get it together Oregon

As usual, things are updated over at the Duck Tracker and on twitter (@DuckTracker). You can also follow my Northwestern (@NUniTracker) and Indiana (@Hoosier_Tracker) trackers as you so choose but only feel the need to force myself watch those two awful programs (Oh, NU. What happened to you”¦smdh).

EPL Tracker

Each Saturday, Alex Gerwitz will be tracking the kit combinations (shirt/shorts/socks) of the teams in the English Premier League from the previous weekend.

Here’s Week 4, Part I; These are through Saturday’s games. Today’s games will be combined with next Saturday’s tracker (click to enlarge):

Uni Watch News Ticker:

Baseball News: Here’s a 1981 WS Game 5 observation from David Taub: at 12:19 of this video, Steve Garvey is not wearing the LA anniversary patch on his left sleeve that the rest of his team is wearing. … “In reading an article about the passing of Frank Torre, I noticed this picture which shows Joe Torre wearing #24,” writes David Feigenbaum. “There is no record of him wearing that number in any of the references I checked yet this looks like a photo taken in a major league park, not a spring training photo. Any way you can find out if he ever wore this number while on the Braves’ major league roster?” … The Seattle Mariners became the Marineros (no “Los”) last night, as a salute to Latin America Beisbol. … Also doing the Latin tribute were los Gigantes, for “Fiesta Gigantes” night. … Doug Fister was missing his squatchee last night (via Noah Petro). … “The orange of the Orioles jersey on Saturday looks red in all the Fox shots except for the camera they use to shoot the on deck circle,” says Allen Yelent. … Groundbreaking has begun on the new Braves stadium, and here are the construction helmets (h/t Kyle Betes).

NFL News: Reader Jeffrey Sak noticed Lions captain patches were missing on Monday night so “I did some research and found this.” … Roberto Zanzi notes “Conspicous by his absence, Ray Rice is not in Niketown New York’s New NFL display. The salesperson told him they got the set up on Wednesday and a Baltimore mannequin was not included. “Also, they said that they sent all their Ray Rice jerseys back. AP mannequin is there and his jerseys are still for sale.” … In last Thursday’s game against the Packers, Marshawn Lynch was wearing socks with “Beast Mode” on them (thanks to Joanna Zwiep). … “Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo used this wire service photo to illustrate a blog entry about professional football,” writes Greg Mays. “I assume that Chargers vs Bills in the 60-62 era, but Charles Avery at the Helmet Project says that helmet had blue numbers on the side. Maybe pre-season?” … Here’s a look at the Browns new endzone (fan vote determined the design). … Remember the modified Ray Rice jersey that became “Be Nice To Girls”? Well, Joshua Kramer has modified his AD jersey to have the number for the National Child Abuse Hotline on it. “It’s a small gesture, but one that I hope helps someone out there.”

College Football News: Most of the College Football news is above, with the SMUW, but here’s a nice article on the Princeton equipment manager and the new football uniform design he’s going with for this season (big thanks to David Barndollar).

Hockey News: We talk a lot in the NHL about “white at home” (as God intended), but we don’t ever talk about the possibility of going color vs. color. Well, the Winnipeg Jets and the Calgary Flames went color v color in a rookie tournament on the 12th. THE Jeff just became a hockey fan (pic from Harrison Hamm).

Soccer News: Following up on yesterday’s ticker item about the nationalist uniforms used by FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, D.T. Erane notes “Both kits are based on the respective regional flags, the catalonian Senyera (FC Barcelona) and the Basque ikurriña (Athletic Bilbao), both regions are seeking an independence referendum like the one to occur next week in Scotland, and, additionally, this match was played just one day after the catalonian national day “A díada”, that commemorates the battle of Barcelona held on 11-Sep-1714 during the spanish seccesion war. In short, they used the most possible symbols to show that these are breakaway regions within Spain. It is notewirthy that in the Madrid-based sports newspapers, the uniforms got more comments than the match itself.” … Tampa Bay Rowdies (NASL) player Rudy Van Deer Veen had an unusual NOB back in the late 1970’s, due to the length of his surname (thanks to Graham Clayton

Grab Bag: This really cool 1943 NFL offer letter from the New York Football Giants reveals the one piece of equipment the team wouldn’t pay for (thanks, Brinke … I think we can probably all agree the Colombia Women’s cycling kit is a disaster. And if you think that’s photoshopped, here’s another shot. You can read more here. … Attention Paul, the humble Brannock device finds another use (great find by David Kendrick).

And there you have it. Thanks to TJ, BIG THANKS to Comrade for pitching in on the 5 & 1 (very late last night, I might add), Tim & Alex. Everyone have a great Sunday, and I’ll be back next weekend.

Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.

Peace.

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“Soccer’s ‘change kit concept is a far better idea than forcing teams to wear white. They still screw it up sometimes by having a ‘red & white’ team wear blue or something, but the idea is solid.”

— THE Jeff Provo