By Phil Hecken
There were a few new looks and a couple of surprises during week seven of the NCAA football season, including the neon glow of Purdue’s Boilermakers, who wore special uniforms and helmets for some sort of cancer awareness thingy. I guess we should be grateful it wasn’t pink, right? Although there was one game (Friday) where UNLV wore pink ribbons incorporated into their gray helmets, and those actually looked pretty good (all things considered).
Something like four teams wore chrome helmets yesterday, which just might be a record, if those sorts of records were kept.
As always a few teams broke out special looks, or wore uniforms (or combos) they’d never worn before, but all in all it was not that crazy of a week for the NCAA. And that’s always a good thing. But to catch you up to speed on all the new stuff, and stuff you may have missed, here’s my able assistant, Terry Duroncelet, Jr., with your…
Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet
I would like to dub this weekend “Sharp Cheddar Saturday”, because there was a fair deal of yellow/gold on the gridiron for week 7 of the 2014 college football season, including Missouri, who I’ll throw in there just because. Also, I was having trouble finding images to use for today, so this may seem a bit thinner on content than normal. I promise I will do better next week. Without further ado…
From Friday:
• Way to go, Stanford Black. Way. To. Go.
• New Mexico wore dark grey jerseys which sorta clashed with their silver helmets. And those pants need work, as well. I think in another world, these would’ve worked. Also, you think the Lobos could’ve waited another three weeks before dressing up for Halloween? Gotta love that field graphic/uniform interaction.
• UNLV not only wore all-grey, but they also wore pink ribbon helmets.
From Saturday:
• Minnesota wore their new gold helmets with maroon tops and gold pants on Saturday. The verdict? They wore those against Northwestern, who wore all-white. My nominee for the top 5 in the 5&1.
• Illinois wore their blue helmets for the first time against Wisconsin.
• Georgia Tech wore their throwback uniforms for the second time this season against the Duke Black Devils.
• Cincinnati wore white/white/red with red decals. I like.
• There’s something monumentally ironic about the wording of this tweet that I can’t quite place my finger on.
• Marshall hasn’t looked good at all at home, but the improved numbers are a step in the right direction.
• Good going, Texas Tech. Although, he did score his first two career TDs in this game, so he may want to keep that jersey.
• Anyone know the story behind this? Anyone?
• I haven’t eaten at McDonald’s since March 1st, 2012. Iowa State’s uniforms from Saturday have only made me happier with my decision. Okay, they weren’t that bad. In fact, the game itself looked pretty decent. That being said…
• …They didn’t take advantage of the possible contrast frenzy, like Central Michigan did when they played NIU. On second thought, this wasn’t one of the better color-vs.-color matchups. I’m sorry, but I can take dark monochrome with white helmets seriously.
• Memphis wore these helmets against Houston. It sort of reminds me of the old Jacksonville Jaguars logo.
• NC State’s helmets over the weekend featured Tuffy. Me likey.
• Purdue wore this at home against Michigan State, for their Hammer Down Cancer campaign. I’m torn on this. On the one hand, I personally don’t feel you have to pull a “look-at-me” stunt every single time to garner attention and awareness for your cause. On the other hand, it is refreshing to see something other than the usual Pepto Bismol drunkening that we’ve come to associate with October and sports in recent years. Plus, I give Purdue props for pairing the new gear with their white uniform, which — if you remove the logo on the collar and pants — is entirely black and white. A simple canvas to make almost any extra color work.
• Arkansas wore throwback uniforms against Alabama in honor of the 1964 National Champions (a title shared by — oddly enough — Alabama). I liked just about everything about these unis, right down to the way the back numbers were positioned on the jerseys, due to no player names (best shot I could find). I even dug the font used for the T.V. numbers on the back of the helmets. Although, I will say that had it not been for the different shades of dark red and the lack of a helmet stripe, I might’ve mistaken this as an intra-squad game. Also, look at the “64” logo here. It reminds me of the logo for drummer Eric Moore.
• Georgia Southern wore grey uniforms against Idaho. That helmet is definitely a keeper.
• Currently, I’m having a difficult time finding pictures as I type this (for multiple games. Maybe Google hates my guts), but four teams wore chrome helmets on Saturday, including Baylor, Tulsa, Miami (OH) and Akron.
• Michigan, Michigan, Michigan. You were already having a not-so-good season (save for last night’s win against Penn State), but the desecration of the home uniform from your game against Penn State personifies how this season has gone so far. If you look closely, you can see shiny stripes that are the same color as the jersey, which brings to mind past one-offs that Michigan has worn, to much better effect, obviously. I don’t even have an issue with the jerseys, but the pants couldn’t be more wrong if you called them red pants. For shame.
That’s it for this week. Tune in next week as… um… *whispers to self* crap, I’m not good at coming up with outros. Er, Johnny, play me out, see you all next week!
Thanks, TJ. Good for you on the Mickey D’s thing. I, myself, have not eaten McDonalds since October 10, 2014, so I’m right there with ya. — catch you next Sunday.
Catherine Ryan’s 5 & 1
Every Sunday, Catherine will give us the rundown of her best five and one worst uniform matchups from the College Football games played this week. Since it’s practically impossible to watch every game, you guys can help by sending your thoughts on “good” and “bad” matchups (and hopefully with photos from that game) by e-mailing her at UW5and1@gmail.com.
OK, here’s Catherine with this week’s 5 & 1.
5. Texas vs. Oklahoma: I love watching these teams play as Texas is the only team I enjoy in all-white “road” unis.
4. Northwestern vs. Minnesota: Unlike Texas, Northwestern’s all-whites do nothing for me. However, Minny’s unis are enough to get them on this countdown.
3. Middle Tennessee vs. Marshall: Beautiful contrast in this game and I’m a huge fan of Marshall’s green unis.
2. Oklahoma State vs. Kansas: I think Oklahoma State looked gorgeous here. It took a little while for me to decide whether or not I liked Kansas’ here but ultimately I decided they looked pretty sharp.
1. Fresno State vs. UNLV: I’m a big fan of these Fresno State unis. UNLV went with the all-gray unis this week and they had a nice contrast on the field.
+1 Central Michigan vs. NIU: Received a couple of tips about this one and I have to agree: Wow, what an ugly game.
Thanks, Catherine! OK readers, how’d she do?
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.
Young Tim actually had a wedding yesterday, and try hard he did to get the Ducks combo before the wedding, he wasn’t able to.
Since I’m not the graphic artist that Tim is, here’s what I’ll give you for today’s Duck Tracker (click to enlarge):
Stormtrooper! White over white over white. Which I happen to love (much to the chagrin of many Uni Watch readers and CorCers). If you look at the graphic, it almost appears the numbers can look green or yellow, depending upon the light.
As the game played, however, it seemed as though the numbers and shoulder wings appeared only to be green. Still, it looked clean. And at least one of those colors is actually a school color, so bonus points for that.
The Ducks also wore their “Mach Speed” templates again — remember they have those in white and black only (or at least so far — the Nike engineers are far too busy trying to create a midnight green for the Eagles to devote any time to giving the Duckies a yellow, green, gray, pink or purple version of the Mach Speed Template).
It was a also a nice win for the Ducks (coming off their pinktober embarrassment against Arizona a week ago Thursday), and the contrast with UCLA was good too.
When he recovers from his hangover and creates the graphic, you can follow Tim over at the Duck Tracker and on twitter (@DuckTracker). And if you like pain, you can also follow his Northwestern (@NUniTracker) and Indiana (@Hoosier_Tracker) trackers if you so choose.
U.W.F.F.L. News
Premier League Games
By Rob Holecko
Hello again it’s time for Week 2 action in the UWFFL Premier League. Of the six games this weekend, only one features two 1-0 squads as the San Francisco Reign Fire and the Vancouver Seawolves face off in a key West Division tilt. These two teams met in August in San Francisco in what was supposed to be the ‘kickoff game’ of the Fall Season, but someone in the league office (ahem) screwed up and the results of that game were thrown out. That matchup has been rescheduled for Thanksgiving, however this week they face each other in their regularly schedule match on Vancouver’s home turf. (and this time we even have the teams in the proper uniforms!)
Head on over to uwfantasyfootballleague.com to vote on all of today’s action, plus check out yesterday’s games, AAIFA action and a whole lot more! We will see you next week!
Uni Watch News Ticker:
Baseball News: It’s just like when Congress insisted on calling french fries “freedom fries” at the beginning of the Iraq War, only different: the KC Royals changed name of Baltimore Avenue to Royals Avenue for the ALCS (from TommyTheCPA). … “Thought this was interesting,” writes Jason Christie. “Eric Hosmer has a sort of fluorescent yellow tape wrap on his bat. Problem is, it’s awfully close to the ‘green screen’ color in the background and makes for some interesting bat shades.” … Here is the logo for the 2014 Nippon Series (thanks to Pacific Rim Correspondent Jeremy Brahm). … On last night’s Giants/Cardinals telecast, the pink background had the odd effect of changing the Cardinals’ bat pink (great grab by Erik Spoonmore). … Reader Marc Hammill was at an antique store near Toronto and saw this patch. “Not very Canadian” he notes. … It’s not quite Alex Rocklein’s Playoff Tracker (and no, not sure what happened to him), but the Diamond Uniform Database does have the uniforms worn this MLB postseason covered.
NFL News: Interesting New York Times article entitled What I Saw as an N.F.L. Ball Boy which describes how ball boys were playing their part to keep injured players on the field…and more (thanks to TommyTheCPA). … This was tweeted at me by @DJMFF9 from the Dickerson A Football Life piece: Possible memorial sticker for Elmendorf? Anyone know? … There was once a time when football trading cards had the logos airbrushed off the helmets, but I don’t think that is the case here (nice spot by Ryan Perkins).
College, CFL & High School Football News: John Hardin HS in Kentucky had a pink stripe on its helmets for Friday’s game (from Josh Claywell). … The South Christian Sailors honored their teacher, coach Rod VanDyke with decorated helmets. Submitter Joe Hollomon describes it is “unusual duct tape.”. An interesting unfortunate typo in the UK Football tweet is actually pretty funny (great spot by Casey Hart). Come to think of it, maybe that’s not a typo. … Check out these T-shirts from defunct CFL teams. Submitter Kenzie Horn says, “These are cool.”
Hockey News: Union College has a minor sweater change compared to last year. Sender Brian Klejsmyt notes “The yolks (sic) have a slightly different look (Thinner white line that goes completely around the black of the yolk for 2014/15 compared to 2013/2014).” This was also reported by Bobby Pinkham, who writes “Ever so slight change for Union College, who for some reason wore their garnet sweaters at home (Friday) night: Last Year vs. This Year.” … I’m not sure if hockey is just a “club” sport at Maryland, but no matter, these goalie pads may be the best in all college (or pros, for that matter) — sent in by Tommy Richardson. Crabcakes and Goalie Pads: That’s what Maryland Does. … The Flyers took their new “Classic” jerseys out for a spin last night. Here’s a small-ish writeup w/photo (via Mike Engle). … While at the antique store (mentioned in the Baseball ticker) Marc Hammill came across these table hockey pieces. He asks, “Can you tell me what team wore the uniform on the table hockey player?” I’m pretty sure that’s the California Seals — anyone know for sure?
Grab Bag: Boca Juniors sponsored a car in the 2005 Argentinian Top Gear V6 stock car series, with the car being painted in the club’s colors of blue and yellow (thanks to Graham Clayton).
REMINDER!
Paul is running a Nolan Ryan raffle (for one of two autographed copies of The Nolan Ryan Beef & Barbecue Cookbook and a bunch of Nolan Ryan bobbleheads). Details are in the bolded link above.
And that’s going to do it for this fine Sunday. Everyone enjoy the NFL games today (including that Eagles game tonight, where they’re in “Midnight Black” from shoulder to knee. Thanks Nike!
Big thanks to Catherine, Terry, Time and Rob. Back atcha next Saturday. You guys have a great week!
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
“Moonshiners is fun, but also a little corny. There was a huge backlash when the Arkansas Travelers unveiled their redneck possum logo, and I wonder if Morgantowners might be similarly embarrassed by the ”˜Shiners.”
–AlMaFi
“Can you tell me what team wore the uniform on the table hockey player?”
Those are the Seals, with the Penguins in their first-year unis next to them. (I had a game with those two teams in the early ’70s.)
Not just the California Seals, the OAKLAND Seals when they first entered the NHL… this uniform predated 1970.
They were initially the California Seals before changing to Oakland a month into their first season. The logo on those pieces is definitely link.
Definitely the Seals, I have a hat with that logo, but shouldn’t the have white skates!
Nice find, I would have bought them all.
No, they didn’t wear white skates until Charlie Finley bought the team a few years later.
These may be the worst Ducks unis of the Nike era. White uniforms with nothing but actual Oregon school colors? How are casual fans supposed to know it’s the Ducks? Pretty much the first rule of modern NCAA football is that Oregon doesn’t wear University of Oregon school colors. Once you establish that rule, you can’t break it by just wearing your school colors on white!
What’s the big deal about the Randy Baldwin football card? Football cards will very often use a photo from the previous season with the new team and logo on the card. I could probably find 100 examples of this in my collection.
Yeah, that was my thought too. It’s certainly not uncommon to see that… especially with the players who ended up with the Panthers & Jaguars in 1995.
Gentlemen,
We’ll you are both right.
Way back in Nineteen and Ninety Four, the NFL was expanding faster than the crab nebula and as control freaks often do, when they come face to face with the fact that they cannot control everything, went right on and chose to control something else. in this case the marketing and media relations of the Leagues’ latest expansion teams (Panthers/Jaguars).
They decided that they wanted to put a lid on the new team “uniform leaks”. It’s easy to see how they thought they could control this – especially since they were the ones who for months were leaking the information in the first place.
Yuuuup, the league was now suppressing uni-related images. In this case the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars, although I am not sure if the Jags are still playing pro ball today. They did not want the new uniforms of the expansion teams shown until the regular season began. In other words – even back then – they were absolutely clueless about relations with licensees and the media. Now I am sure Paul, Phil and Todd Random have covered this topic more than once – the launching a new brand – and the pitfalls that can occur (Jaguars Unis – helmet design, etc.). I just want to add one more crouton on the salad of stupid that is the NFL with this…
In the summer of 94- at a meeting at NFL corporate in Nueva York attended by NFL Licensees, the League told us their reasoning for all the cloak and dagger silliness. The League wanted a “Big Surprise Factor” for opening day 1995 – as I was told back then.
Never mind that the NFL had already released the Uni-designs months before. Never mind that during training camp and pre-season teams, as teams do, actually WORE the uniforms that would wear during the regular season and covered extensively by local and national media.
I pointed this out to the NFL rep saying “What about trading card companies?” “They go to into production in late August and release more or less at start of the regular season.” So by the time the trade and consumer get to see the new cards, the season would have already begun. We were being told under no circumstances to show, add (digitally or traditionally) game related images of the new teams uniforms. Notice they said nothing about the players that wear them – different Union. They just did not want to show the new duds until opening day action.
So even though we had live game shots of the new unis, including custom photo shoots of Rookies in their new Uni’s, we were unable to use them. This blows since all of the major trading card manufacturers were stuck with placing players in their old teams uniforms as shown in the Impact line from the Skybox set.
So fast forward today and I look at a card of a Panther player of whom we had literally dozens of game action shots to choose from and were stuck with using a Cleveland Brownie uni. Typical NFL management effort with typical results. A minor thing really, but gives one a clue to how the NFL was run then, and sadly is still run today.
Thanks (seriously) for sharing.
I’m not sure if that’s entirely true. I just skimmed through one of my binders of football cards… and aside from wishing I had them organized by team instead of player last name… and wondering why I haven’t just sold them since I haven’t bought a new pack since 1999, I found a few Carolina Panthers cards featuring images from the previous year… but I also have a Kerry Collins rookie card showing him in a Panthers uniform.
Yuuup,
We chose to run that one anyway… a small bit of image mutiny aimed at the empty suits of the NFL.
Just noticed Oklahoma state’s helmet has the cowboy on one side look to the facemask and on the other side he looks to the back of the helmet. Now I’m thinking of other non letter logos that don’t go with mirror images on opposite sides.
Ravens… sort of.
Looks like the Oakland Seals – before their rename to the California Golden Seals.
“the KC Royals changed name of Baltimore Avenue to Royals Avenue for the ALCS.”
That reminds me of when the town of Buffalo, Texas changed it name to Blue Star when the Cowboys played the Bills in the Super Bowl. And to Green Star when the Stars played the Sabres in the Stanley cup Finals.
The NFL jersey on the UNC sideline is worn by student assistant and former QB Caleb Pressley as a way to distinguish his role as signal caller and showcase current UNC alums in the pros. Here’s a USA Today article from a few weeks back: link
I know several people have tweeted Paul and maybe Phil about this and since I hadn’t seen it on the ticker I just assumed it wasn’t noteworthy. Personally, considering the sorry state of UNC uniforms (and their record) it’s the only noteworthy thing so far, until Marquise Williams tore the Notre Dame defense a new one.
I know it’s a late reply, but thank you for the info!
I’m sorry, Catherine, I know it’s subjective and everything, but I have to say I cannot fathom this 5 & 1. Texas/OU could/should be #1, your #1 could/should be your +1, and why is Oregon/UCLA not in the top 5? Strange, strange list today.
Maryland does not have a varsity ice hockey team but D2 and D3 club teams.
Does link count as uni-related? I thought it was funny.
Purdue wore white at home. I think another team on TV wore white at home. I see this more so this year.
Does anybody know how far ahead the home team wanting to wear white lets the opponent know they will wear dark?
Penn State vs Michigan for the 5 and 1?
In regards to Union College. Yesterday’s game against UNH, the Dutchmen wore their normal white home sweaters. I believe they wore the road sweaters yesterday as a tribute to the national championship team from last season. Also the piping on the yolks was similar to he road unis from Friday with a thin garnet piping around the black. Unlike last year where it was a thick garnet stripe.
The “and 1” maybe. The most boring uniform in the NCAA vs really dumb blue pants and striped numbers. Ick.
lol… whoops… meant to reply to Tim.
The two years the Dallas Cowboys played the Bills in the Super Bowl, the town of Buffalo, Texas changed its name to Blue Star for Super Bowl Week.
I just saw that Joseph beat me to the Blue Star thing. Sorry for the redundancy.
I didn’t have time to read all the comments, so someone may have commented on this already.
1. Chrome helment – USF wore a chrome helment vs. ECU last night
2. Bengals jersey on the UNC sideline – the UNC team has some sort of student assistant “hype man” that wears a jersey of a former UNC player in the NFL. ESPN announcer said something about this during their game vs ECU earlier this year. The dude was wearing a Dallas Cowboys jersey in that game.
This is only the 30th comment of the day, so you must really be busy!
There was a comment on the Bengals jersey, but not on USF.
So that’s 5 teams that wore shiny domes over the weekend.
I believe the Blue Jays logo on that patch is a Dunedin Blue Jays logo.
link
Just a thought but how many Brooklynite NY Rangers fans will be trading in there Rangers sweaters for NY Islanders sweaters when the Isles move to Brooklyn next year?
Almost none. For whatever reason, the Knicks/Nets dynamic was totally different. Maybe it had to do with different leagues at first (NBA/ABA), and then a move to annoying-by-transit-and-expensive-to-drive-and-park New Jersey.
Rangers/Islanders has always been different. 1940, Potvin Sucks, Rangers suck, We Want Fish Sticks…
You forgot the oh-so-clever, “Beat your wife Potvin, beat your wife!” (clap clap).
There was also one Isles fans had for Barry Beck, probably almost as witty as the Potvin one above, but I’ve forgotten it now.
Nine-Teen…Four-Tee, until 1994, was the best.
Yeah, unlikely Rangers fans will EVER become Islas fans and vice versa, though I would say the Nets is a different dynamic in that they started in the ABA, in Jersey (yes!), moved to Lawn Guyland, eventually to the Coliseum and won a couple ABA titles there.
Then came the NBA merger, and their move to Jersey, and the few fans they had on the Island may have switched allegiances to the Knicks at that time, possibly returning as Nets fans once they moved to Brooklyn.
Isles never played anywhere but Uniondale, and their fans are cemented (as are long-time and bandwagon fans for the Rangers). I doubt you’ll see any changing of allegiances like might have happened in the case of the Nets.
Les – from the small sample of my friends, I think the Isles will do great business with younger Long Island-raised NYC-resident fans. Enough to sell out frequently? We’ll see.
It’s actually something that’s been tugging at my heart strings ,I’m not a die hard hockey fan but when I watched it is usually the Rangers I root for ,but I got to thinking if the Isles where of the verge of bringing Brooklyn it’s first major Champioship since 55 could I really root against them ,I’m not sure I could there’s nothing I’d love more than a Mets or Giants title than one coming back to Brooklyn .
Phil’s right at least in the case of this Rangers fan. I’ll never switch hockey allegiances by I wouldn’t mind seeing the Brooklyn Nets holding up the Larry O’Brien trophy. The Knicks-Nets has never been a red hot rivalry the way Rangers-Islanders is.
During the FSU-Syracuse game, one of the broadcasters said that this was going to be the last game that FSU would be wearing the white jerseys with the gold numbers. The new ones would be ready for the next time they would need them.
So that (barring any surprises) should be the October 30th game against Louisville, then?
In regards to the gif in the headline – I wonder how long it will be before a tag-team in the WWE will use that double German suplex manuver as a finishing move.
aiiiight, man, those Iggles unis look tight… black buckets, black shirts, black britches.. best #1 uniform ever, bro.
Karolna Panthrs all-black no longer number one evar duuuuude. Got sum competition.
my bad the lids of course are green, but overall my point still stands
It could have been worse, at least they have stripes on the pants.
The 42 on the back of Dickerson’s helmet is in memory of Kirk Collins, a cornerback who died of cancer in 1984
Eagles mono-BFBS, a new low.
The entire eagles team coaching staff and players combined did not wear an ounce of pink tonight.
Found this great color photo of the 1947 Philadelphia Warriors, short shorts and shiny warmups: link
I think Purdue deserves credit for a couple things. 1) If you’re going to do uniform shenanigans, do something different. 2) If you’re going to do cancer awareness… keep it local. In this case, they succeeded at both. They aren’t wearing pepto pink. They’re promoting awareness of ALL cancers. And doing so in a somewhat understated way. They didn’t get crazy or garish. In fact, of all the neon looks I’ve seen over the years… this one fits quite nicely. And a classy nod to the ribbon on the helmet. Also, they succeeded greatly by keeping $$ on campus. Not to detract from the fine work of Koman, among others… yet they have huge administrative/operational costs that take significant portions from donations. Purdue kept it local. Kudos to all involved for a thoughtful, strategic approach, in this case.
OK, what you think will be next ?
Return of the red helmet stripe on the Kansas Jayhawks.
It’s the first time they have had the red stripe on the helmet since Mangino was head coach.
link