Wrapping up MLS Jersey Week

By Phil Hecken

As you guys are likely aware, in the build up to the kickoff of its 2015 season, MLS (Major League Soccer) holds “jersey week” in which new jerseys for its clubs are introduced. They come out piecemeal, and we really haven’t had any extensive coverage of the jerseys except for a few slots in the ticker.

If you don’t (or haven’t been) following MLS recently, 2015 is the league’s 20th season. New for this year are two clubs: New York City FC and Orlando City SC will begin play in MLS in 2015. An expansion club in Atlanta will join in 2017. And there are additional plans for an expansion club in Miami. If you’re into soccer, particularly US soccer, it’s a pretty big time.

The league also introduced a new logo for 2015 — I happen to like it a lot — and each team will wear a variation of that logo (with team colors swapped in the for MLS logo) on their kit. It marks the first time in the league’s history they haven’t used a logo with some type of boot kicking a ball.

The season began last evening — but it almost didn’t happen. Labor strife had threatened to halt some or all of the season, but the teams and players union agreed on a deal. Everyone’s happy.

I hadn’t planned on doing a post on the new jerseys, but Paul received an e-mail during the week from Harrison Hamm, which simply asked:

I have another story idea for Uni Watch: A recap of MLS jersey week. There are so many new jerseys unveiled for jersey week, instead of just having them appear day-by-day in the ticker, why not have them all in one place, in one article?

Paul asked if I was interested and I said, “Sure.” So I contacted Harrison and asked if he’d like to show off the new jerseys (or kits) and give us a brief description. There are a lot of them, so he was very brief.

Here we go (click on any images to enlarge):

. . .

Full recap of MLS Jersey week
By Harrison Hamm

MLS jersey week is something that the other major professional sports don’t have. All teams unveil new uniforms for the upcoming season. It is very interesting to see the new designs, so I decided to put them all in one place.

. . .

Portland Timbers:

This is Portland’s beautiful new primary kit. The gold stripe across the chest is a very nice new addition. (More information here.)

. . .

Seattle Sounders:

The Sounders new home kit adds some not-so-good white pinstripes, and the new away jersey went GFGS with gray pinstripes. More.

. . .

Real Salt Lake:

RSL’s new away kit adds blue sleeves with yellow stripes across the top. More.

. . .

Houston Dynamo:

Houston’s new home jersey has their signature creamsicle orange fading to white on the bottom, revealing a new checkered pattern. They also add the Texas flag to the bottom. More.

. . .

Columbus Crew:

The Crew have similar kits to last year, but add the checkered pattern to their away uni. More.

. . .

Los Angeles Galaxy:

The reigning champions Galaxy unveiled a new “blue on blue” jersey. More.

. . .

DC United:

DC United’s new secondary kit features red on top and white on the bottom. On the neck tape, they have the fan’s favorite chant: “Vamos United Esta Noche Tenemos Que Ganar” (Let’s Go United Tonight We Have To Win). More.

. . .

Sporting KC:

Sporting KC have a new light blue jersey with this checkered design. More.

. . .

FC Dallas:

FC Dallas gets new secondary kits, with blue stripes. More.

. . .

Philadelphia Union:

The Union will have the “We Are One” slogan inside the collar. More.

. . .

Toronto FC:

Toronto has a new red home jersey for the upcoming season. More.

. . .

Chicago Fire:

The Fire have a new secondary kit that includes the addition of light blue for the first time. More.

. . .

Orlando City FC:

The newest MLS team added a white alternate jersey. More.

. . .

Vancouver Whitecaps:

The Whitecaps have a white jersey that includes icy blue at the top. They also have 1974 on the back to celebrate the team’s founding. More.

. . .

New England Revolution:

The Revs have a new secondary jersey that was inspired by the Flag of New England, which is on the back of the jersey. More.

. . .

Montreal Impact:

The Impact have a new white jersey that was seen in action at a Champions League Match. More.

. . .

Colorado Rapids:

The newest team to unveil a new jersey, the Rapids have a new state flag themed away gold jersey. More.

. . . . .

And that’s going to do it for this review of Jersey Week. Big thanks to Harrison for the suggestion to review all the kits, and for his writeups. OK readers, what do you think? Do you guys like the idea of an entire league releasing jerseys in a one-week span? Does that maintain (or encourage more) interest?

I know I will have increased interest in the League and in the beautiful game this year. I’ll also (hopefully) be taking in my first-ever MLS game, as Chance Michaels and Conn Nugent promised to include me in at least one of the new NYCFC games in Yankee Stadium this year.

And as an added bonus (h/t to Paul), here is a SUPER HI RES image of the new MLS kits. If that’s “too big”, here’s a smaller version. Neat.

Looking forward to the 2015 MLS Season!

Colorize This!

Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.

Back today with our good friend and long-time colorization expert, George Chilvers, who has another set of new colorizations for us, including one he alluded to during the comments earlier this week. And we also have a great one from Bruce Menard, our baseball historian and old photo master. So it’s a fantastic set today. Enjoy!

We’ll start with George (click to enlarge):

. . .

>

Hi Phil

This picture dates from the 70s, a game between Tottenham (in white) and Man United. I love the way the focus is on the crowd (and the ladies) and the players are slightly out of focus, and in the crowd not one replica shirt is to be seen.

The picture appears regularly on football message boards and Facebook groups – usually with a caption competition.

So I’ll start off with “Here, Edith. I told you we should have turned left not right”

George

. . .

Of course, one is good and two is even better. Here’s the second:

Hi Phil

No – I haven’t completed this between this afternoon’s comments and now – I have had this on my partially completed file for a while, and decided the time was right to complete it. Proof that you don’t need a ball in view for a great football photo.

The protagonists in this are Dave Mackay of Tottenham in the white shirt, who died this week, and Billy Bremner of Leeds. Another iconic image (at White Hart Lane, home of Spurs, just like the other photo of the two ladies), Dave Mackay actually hated this photo as it shows him at a point he “lost it” with his Scottish team-mate Bremner. Billy is looking angelic and innocent of course, but in fact he was one of the hardest players round at the time. This was an era when I first watched football live, late 60s and into the 70s, when “men were men”. I’m not at all sure what today’s prima donnas who fall over and roll around in agony if you just look at them wrong would make of being tackled by Bremner or Mackay.

RIP Dave Mackay.

George

. . .

And next we have Bruce with a colorization for an old baseball card.

Hey there Phil,

Here’s that 1909 T-204 Willie Keeler card that I colorized.

I attached the original for comparison.

Let me know what you think….

Cheers!

~Bruce

. . . . .

Thank you gentlemen! Tremendous work, as always.

Uni Tweaks Concepts

We have another new set of tweaks, er…concepts today. After discussion with a number of readers, it’s probably more apropos to call most of the reader submissions “concepts” rather than tweaks. So that’s that.

So if you’ve concept for any sport, or just a tweak or wholesale revision, send them my way.

Please do try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per image — if you have three uniform concepts in one image, then obviously, you can go a little over, but no novels, OK? OK!. You guys have usually been good with keeping the descriptions pretty short, and I thank you for that.

Like the colorizations, I’m going to run these as inline pics — click on each one to enlarge.

And so, lets begin:

~~~

First up today is Cole Hammers, who has an idea on how to “fix” the New York Football Giants:

Hi Phil,

My edit on the Giants uni is to remove the gray from their uni entirely and replace it with blue.

Thanks!

Cole

. . .

And we close today with Bobby Tighe who has some new looks for the Lions:

Hi Phil,

I am a huge Detroit Lions fan, but the fact that their uniforms are better suited for NFL Europe has finally pushed me to the brink. So, I decided to take measures into my own hands and spent the weekend learning how to make my own concepts in Photoshop. Huge shout out to Chris Creamer’s forum, btw.

Anyways, the gist of my concepts are as follows:
1. Ditch the black completely.
2. Go back to Honolulu Blue
3. Add white as a team color
4. Make the retro blue and silver striping a focal point

I think the white helmet looks great and really makes the blue and silver striping pop. I would not want to see the Lions don the all-silver alt, but I like the versatility to mix and match. I also figure people might be partial to the silver helmets since they have been around since the beginning.

Regards,
Bobby Tighe (Chicago)

. . .

And that’s it for today. Back with more next time.

Uni Watch News Ticker:

Baseball News: SI’s Headline: “Justin Verlander and David Price wore cartoonish golf outfits.” The real headline: JV & DP wore OUTSTANDING gold outfits (although Price really should be wearing a shirt under that vest). Nice spot by Jeffrey Sak. … The Vols went with a combo never worn before last night: Orange tops with the throwback stirrups (via Riley Clem). … This is a disturbing trend. … Beautiful photo of the 1906 Cubs (via The Skimmers). Also from The Skimmers, check this neat shot of Jack Chesbro of the NY Highlanders. And here’s one of Addie Joss. … Fantastic article on Baseball Propsectus by Jeff Long, “Pitching Backward: In Search of the Winningest Logo”, which is definitely worth your time (thanks to Jonathan Daniel for the spot). … Great photo from Bruce Menard of Babe Ruth resting on a Rubbing Table after a Spring Training workout (March 6, 1930). Interesting the caption reads “The Bam” (obviously short for “Bambino”). …The New Mexico Lobos are wearing at “TG” sticker on their helmets in honor of Tony Gwynn (thanks to Greg Williams). … “Great to see a young kid knowing how to blouse” says Steven Robinson. “Nats’ Wilmer Difo. He’s even going wool socks.” While I wouldn’t say that is a great example of textbook blousing, it’s still great to see sock. … Check out this very cool old cigar box picture taken at “The mistake by the Lake” (from Christopher LaBella). … Tough to tell from these screen grabs, but what was up with David Price’s pants yesterday (from Bronson Marlett and Nicholas Schiavo respectively). … When SF’s first ballpark opened in 1868, the SF Eagles faced the Oakland Wide Awakes. A sack race got equal billing. Submitter Hugh McBride notes, “The OAKLAND WIDE AWAKES #BestTeamNameEver.” … Fansided has taken a look at Paul’s MLB uni rankings, and the author has a bit of a disagreement on the Orioles ranking, and specifically the white-panel cap. Hmmm. Does Jim Vilk write for them under a pseudonym? … Here’s a neat article from Jim Romenesko with a cool anecdote about a guy who wore a Yankees cap to a job interview. And that interview just happened to be with the BOSTON Globe. … Whoa — check out the all new, black & gold pinstriped numbers Vandy broke out last night vs. UCLA (h/t Trés Lawless). Here’s a full length look (via Sporting News Baseball). … Yesterday, the Cubs paid tribute to Ernie Banks by cutting the #14 into the outfield grass & wearing these hats (h/t JBott32). … Hey, here’s one time a Met gets it: Jay Horowitz wearing last year’s BP cap (which looks about a million percent better than the new pieces of shit). Thanks to Steve Dodell.

NFL/College/Other Football News: Reader Alex Sinclair has done a full league redesign of the old NFL Europa teams, and it’s pretty neat. You can check them all out at his Revisit Europa site. … Aram Gyan came across the epic drawing by Mad Magazine’s Jack Davis showing the AFC in all of its 1970s glory. … “I think this link to this video shows Otto Graham wearing a Brown facemask in the 1955 NFL Championship v. the LA Rams,” writes Kevin Whisman. If you recall, Paul recently uncovered the fact that some Browns did have Brown facemasks back in the 1950s. Graham, of course, was also famous for wearing a clear faceguard. … This is neat: American football “scrimmage aprons” from 1941, designed to lessen injuries during practice sessions (from Graham Clayton). … Great observation from Benjamin Thomas, who writes, “I never noticed how, at least this barefooted kicker, wore the sock tops. This is Rich Karlis. Ever notice that before?” Paging Jim Vilk.

NBA & College Basketball News: Last night, the Wizards became Los Wizards for the first time. According to this article, “Each year a few teams in markets with significant Hispanic populations have participated and worn special bilingual jerseys to commemorate the event. This season the program is referred to as ‘Noches Éne Bé A’ and the Washington Wizards will take part for the first time.” Here they are in action (more photos here). … Akron wore purple & PETERS on back to honor late Bearcats coach Dan Peters (via Doug Smith). … “What should we call this? EOB (Eyes on Back)? Any other suggestions?” asks Alex Hider. That’s Paint Valley High School in Bainbridge, Ohio. Fitting they poach Cincinnati’s eyes logo when they’re nicknamed the Bearcats. … Speaking of the Bearcats, the Adidas March Madness shorts UC “supposedly” turned down are now at outlet stores (via Nick Walter). However, a little birdie told me, “Just as a heads-up. Those Bearcats adidas post season uniforms are very real and very much happening. The fans saying they were rejected don’t know what they are talking about. adidas just didn’t put them in the release after UC signed with Under Armour. But they are planning to wear them in conference tourney and NCAA. Jerseys have sleeves.” … Oooohhhweee — check out what the Atlanta Hawks were wearing last night. Lots more photos here. They were worn for Dominique Wilkins, who was honored at last night’s game. … On the opposite of the spectrum were the Spurs, who wore their sleeved G.I. Joe unis last night. … Georgetown will wear these new uniforms today vs. Seton Hall (h/t Georgetown Hoyas). … This is pretty cool: Deron Williams supports the #EndItMovement with the Red X on his shoes (via Sole Collector).

Hockey News: I’m not quite sure of the provenance of this graphic, but it looks like the St. Louis Blues will have black jerseys, probably for warmups (graphic from Joseph Beckerjeck). … Last night the AHL Icehogs wore jerseys in support of local Rockford youth hockey (via Brant Hulsebus).

Soccer News: Check out Pele’s shirt from the 1970 final. An Umbro piece (thanks to Nile Smith). That sure is a beaut. … Here’s a ranking of the best Airtricity League of Ireland kits as they begin their Premier League season. … Interesting crossover here: Apparently the paramedics in the EPL are NFL fans (via Nicholas Moe).

Grab Bag: Binghamton “was named 6th most intimidating logo by some website, looks New York based,” writes Bob Nolte. “The inclusion of Monmouth makes me question their understanding of intimidating.” … In Thursday night’s installment of At Midnight on Comedy Central, comedian Nick Thune wore a personalised Dodger jersey with no. 22. Submitter Ferdinand Cesarano notes, “Unfortunately, host Chris Hardwick didn’t make any mention of it.” … Here’s a look at Colorado State’s lax helmets for this year (from Helmet Guy). … Interesting NC State University themed helmet that Harrison Rhodes will wear for NASCAR Xfinity series (h/t Tweety McTweets). … “And you though ads on UNIFORMS were bad,” writes Terry Corby. “Apparently celebrities can get free tickets to Pacquiao/Mayweather by wearing advertising.” … Here’s a tremendous photo (thanks to Mike Styczen) from the 1980 Brier (now the Tim Hortons Brier). Love those jackets. … Here’s one from Brinke: “‘Supergirl’ Costume Revealed: First Pics of Melissa Benoist in Full Super-Suit” … “Did you know Mario, the Nintendo franchise, has a pretty specific style guide with PMS colors and specific application instructions?” asks Mike Engle. “My favorite piece: don’t just flip Mario and think you’ll get Luigi–that’s unacceptable and the fact that L isn’t vertically symmetric like M is will out it as wrong.”

And that will do it for today. Thanks to Harrison, George, Bruce and the concepters, and of course everyone who submitted for the ticker. I’ll catch you guys tomorrow — everyone have a Super Saturday.

Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.

Peace.

.. … ..

“(T)hat new Twins home uniform is godawful. Ugliest thing the team has ever worn. And the gold isn’t even an issue: It’s completely invisible, even in batter or pitcher closeups on a large HD screen. … I love the Twins, and I really want to like anything the Twins do, but man, I’d take Miami’s unis over this garbage.”

–R. Scott Rogers