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Uni Watch

Beastly Bruins

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I can no longer bring myself to get worked up about lousy college football uniforms. The whole enterprise now has little to do with uniform design and is more akin to toy design, with the fairly obvious goal of allowing teen-age athletes (and, by proxy, the portion of their fan base that uses “sick” as a compliment) to indulge in some sort of juvenile comic book superhero fantasy. I don’t even roll my eyes at this stuff anymore — I just put it in the Ticker and move on.

But I’m going to make an exception today for UCLA.

UCLA should always be one the best-looking teams in college football. They have an unbeatable color combo, a unique number font, and a shoulder stripe pattern so iconic that it’s named for the school. How could you screw that up?

Like this:

That’s the new UCLA home uni, which was released yesterday (further info, full of embarrassing marketing-speak, here). Yeesh — no more Clarendon numbers, those diagonal lines through the numerals, the horizontal lines through the shoulder stripes. What a mess. And that’s not even counting Adidas’s new tire tread fabric pattern (which, as reader Ryan Berg pointed out to me yesterday, makes it look a bit like UCLA is sponsored by Umbro):

This isn’t the worst uniform in college football, but it might be the biggest failure in terms of wasted potential. It takes some serious work to make UCLA look miserable, but somehow they managed.

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T-Shirt Club update: My thanks to everyone who participated in yesterday’s NOB poll regarding the next Uni Watch T-Shirt Club design. “Alternate” was the overwhelming winner over “Softball Top” (last time I checked, the margin was something like 88% to 12%), so the shirt, which will launch next Tuesday, will look like this (click to enlarge):

• • • • •

Raffle reminder: In case you missed it yesterday, I’m raffling off a pair of Mizuno MLB All-Star Game cleats, Size 10. To enter, send an email with your name and shipping info to the raffle address by 7pm Eastern next Tuesday, July 14 — the date of the All-Star Game. One entry per person. I’ll announce the winner on Wednesday the 15th.

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’Skins Watch: Another legal setback for the ’Skins, as a Federal judge has ordered the cancellation of the team’s trademarks, although the team says it will appeal. ”¦ I’ll say this much for the ’Skins and other teams that use Native American imagery: They’ve got nothing on the town seal of Whitesboro, New York. Wow (from Chris Scavo). ”¦ Former ’Skins QB Joe Theisman appeared on TV to talk about the team’s name yesterday, and it was quite a bravura performance.

Baseball News: Yesterday’s Ticker mentioned that this year’s MLB All-Star Game jerseys would feature the players’ signatures and number of ASG selections, but it wasn’t clear where that would be appearing. Now Nick Schiavo has let us know that it’ll be on thie shirttail. In other words, just another retailing gimmick. ”¦ This isn’t the first time that an ASG uni element will have the players’ signatures, incidentally. From 1998 through 2000, the signatures were included on the players’ caps. ”¦ In additional All-Star news, Yankees OF Brett Gardner was named to the American League squad yesterday, and he had a great quote about his ASG BP jersey (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Here’s something I didn’t know: When the White Sox held MLB’s first throwback game 25 years ago this Saturday, they sold this souvenir T-shirt (from Ryan Gamble). ”¦ A very early case of lost/misplaced uniforms: Way back in 1889, the New York Giants had to borrow old uniforms from the Indianapolis Hoosiers due to a storage trunk being left behind in Chicago (big thanks to Tom Shieber). … Probably the single most pleasing thing I saw yesterday was this super-spectacular shot of sotball players in Central Park from 1960. Looks like it was from a Broadway league, judging by the baserunner’s “A Raisin in the Sun” jersey (thanks for making my day, Ben Fortney). … Star Wars jerseys tomorrow for the Harrisburg Senators (from Ran Canfield). … In Finland they play an obscure version of baseball called pesäpallo, which has some crazy-looking uniforms (from David Dyte). ”¦ A couple of Blue Jays fans showed up in full uniform for yesterday’s Jays/Chisox game in Chicago (thanks, Mike). ”¦ You’ve heard of frankenjerseys? Here’s a frankenstadium — the best of Wrigley and Comiskey (from Jamie Uthe). ”¦ The Madison Mallards did a bobblehead giveaway with a nasty typo on the box.

NFL News: Terrelle Pryor, newly acquired by the Browns, has removed any doubt about which position he’ll be playing via his uni number assignment. ”¦ Phil’s latest Sporting New piece is a ranking of NFC uniform sets. ”¦ Checkout the mismatched fonts on Dan Pastorini’s chest number and TV number (good spot by Matt Shevin).

College Football News: New gloves for Arkansas (thanks, Phil). … Also from Phil: New “oxidized metal” helmets for Michigan State. Remains to be seen when or if that’ll be worn in a game. ”¦ If you got to the 12-minute mark of this podcast, you’ll hear a reasonably intelligent discussion of the role of uniforms in college football recruiting (from Jim Wagner).

NBA News: Twitter is so weird. Yesterday I tweeted out the link to this interesting but seemingly innocuous story about the Spurs unretiring Bruce Bowen’s No. 12, with Bowen’s blessing, so LaMarcus Aldridge can wear it, and it got well over 100 retweets, by far the most RTs of any of my tweets yesterday. By contrast, my tweet showing the new UCLA uni barely moved the needle. I don’t tailor my tweeting to generate RTs, mind you — I post what makes sense to me, and people can react however they like — but it’s interesting to see what people do and don’t respond to (from Andrew Cosentino).

Soccer News: Lots of teams unveiled new kits yesterday, including Benfica, Atlético de Madrid, Sevilla FC, Leeds United, and FC Zenit Saint Petersburg (home and road).

Grab Bag: The Brooklyn Museum, which is located about a mile from my house, has a new exhibit about the rise of sneaker culture. Further info and a slideshow here, and there’s a review of the exhibit here. ”¦ The teams at Freeburg Community High School in Illinois are called the Midgets, which has led the Little People of America — self-described as a support group “for people of short stature” — to stage a protest (from Andrew Goetz). ”¦ “The North Melbourne Kangaroos, who play in the Australian Rules Football League, have released the jersey they will wear to commemorate Brent ‘Boomer’ Harvey’s 400th game,” says Kerry Hudson. “He will become only the fourth player in the history of the league to reach this milestone.” … New uni number assignments for the Edmonton Oilers (from Steven Schapansky).

 
  
 
Comments (118)

    Um, just how much have those Bruins pictures been photoshopped? Anyone seen a football player with a body shape like that? They look like the player is wearing a corset!

    I was just about to make a joke about this being Adidas’ new ‘CorsetTech’ jersey template.

    Am I right in thinking that the ‘Skins could still *use* the name “Redskins”, they just cannot protect it as a copyrighted/trademarked name?

    Correct. The trademark case has never been about banning the name (nor has any other case or legislation that I’m aware of ever put the name itself in the legal crosshairs). It’s just about whether the name is entitled to trademark protection under current U.S. trademark law.

    That’s my understanding but it wouldn’t make much sense for them to do that because as a non-trademarked name/image anyone could legally make and sell products containing their name and/or logo, and moving product is what the NFL is all about now right?

    Yes, if they don’t own the trademark of their name, logo, wordmark, etc., they have a lot of financial motivation to get a name, logo, wordmark, etc., which can be trademarked.

    No, Skye, that’s not entirely accurate. The name “Redskins” is still a valid, common law trademark, and the team can still take legal action against those who sell unlicensed merchandise. What the ruling (pending appeal of course) does, however, is remove the name’s federal trademark protection (i.e., registration through the US Patent & Trademark Office). The practical legal significance of this if the mark has USPTO registration, it reverses the burden of proof in an infringement case: the alleged infringer has to prove that his/her use of the mark is valid. Meaning that if the decision stands the legal costs to the Redskins of protecting their trademark will increase dramatically.

    Correct. Except copyright has nothing to do with it. Copyright is a separate issue. Trademark is what’s at stake here: Trademark is a special government-granted commercial monopoly for the use of a specific name or logo. Copyright is universal: If you create certain kinds of work, mainly but not exclusively pictures and written texts, you have copyright over that work for a period of time such that others may not reproduce it without your permission.

    The vast majority of business logos are not trademarked. Nearly every local business – plumber, body shop, maid service, you name it – has a name and a logo that is not trademarked. Whether or not the Redskins have a valid trademark registration for their name and logo, they are free to use whatever name they want. And a non-trademarked Redskins organization will even be able to use civil, as opposed to criminal, suits to defend their name and logo against most unauthorized commercial use.

    Right. The team still owns the copyright to the logo design (but not the wordmark – type logos are ineligible for copyright).

    The Freeburg Community High School logo is shown two ways in that photo series–one with brown hair; the other blonde.

    I can see why you might want to give your school a nickname of Warriors, Braves, etc. – I don’t agree with it but I can understand their argument. Why would make a school (ran by presumably intelligent people) want to call themselves the Midgets?

    Estherville Lincoln Central in northwest Iowa is also known as the Midgets:

    link

    Their use of the nickname came about under similar circumstances to the story of Freeburg’s undersized basketball team:

    “In 1927, the Estherville football team was extremely short. They played a team that was very tall and defeated them. When the newspaper printed the article for the paper they referred to the Estherville team as “Midgets”. The nickname has stayed with the team and has been adopted as the school mascot.”

    (From the 2013-14 Estherville Lincoln Central Student-Parent Handbook: link )

    You know what? Let me amend that statement:

    Adidas needs to stop with making college football players look like they’re wearing trash bags, period.

    Theismann actually made an important point in that interview:

    I’m very proud to have worn the uniform. I’m very proud to have represented the Native-American nations of country [sic]

    In which he repeats the team’s official and oft-stated claim that the name represents and honors actual living Native American persons and communities today. It’s not a historical artifact or a leftover reference to 1930s dime novels, the name is intended, by the team, to refer to every living Native American, individually and collectively.

    Theismann is a comedy gift that keeps on giving, but that doesn’t absolve Deadspin’s overheated review of his performance. Nick Martin’s writing reminds me of the way I used to answer essay questions on my Regents exams.

    The thing that really bothers me about the new UCLA uniforms is how the diagonal lines on the shoulder stripes don’t match as they transition from the chest to the shoulders. It’s little details like that Adidas gets all wrong, also the big details like the numbers and overall uniform design.

    It’s amazing what adidas has become. To think their classic brand (and classically designed apparel) of Stan Smith, Superstars, Campus, etc. has this step-brother like alter-ego in the “current” adidas brand designs.

    Just amazing that some designers and executives somewhere think this is good work. It’s laughable… Zubaz laughable… NC State

    Ooops, should’ve read “NC State hoops unitard laughable.”

    Adidas designers have overtaken Nike’s in the “untalented” category. At least Nike is returning to some semblance of tradition with Illinois, UGA, Tenn, UNC, etc.

    Honestly I think Adidas needs to learn to stay out of it’s own way. UCLA’s football uniforms are iconic and really all they need to do is make a version with actual UCLA stripes and Clarendon numbers and everyone will be happy. I get that UCLA is probably among Adidas’ most visible teams but there are times to be innovative and times not to be. You don’t see Nike dressing Alabama up like it’s Oregon.

    The thing that really bothers ME is that, up until now, the color-vs.-color games that UCLA and USC have played in recent years were absolutely gorgeous. Now–not!

    The Wisconsin high school that used the new Bucks logo on its court has now found out what’ll have to happen: the NBA has concerns, so the logo will be removed and a new design is being created by the Elk Mound High School staff, but the Bucks offered to cover the cost:

    link

    The way that article is written is interesting. Most of the quotes express incredulity that the Bucks would force the high school to change, and disappointment that a big powerful corporation would concern itself with a little high school. But I thought the Bucks did a great job with this one: they addressed an obvious case of plagarism/copyright infringement by defending their intellectual property, as they should, but they did it in a nice way and offered to pay for replacement, which they didn’t have to do. It’s rare that I side with the big guy, but I think the Bucks should get more credit than this article gave them.

    That’s the way Notre Dame has proceeded with a number of schools that used the Leprechaun or the ND monogram. Generating goodwill like that, and how the Bucks are handling it, is the best way to go.

    Agreed.

    It continues to astound me that this school (and, of course, many others) would prefer to use a copycat of someone else’s logo instead of coming up with something original. A terrible lesson for the students.

    Exactly. As an art teacher whose alma mater has used lame knockoffs of both Pat Patriot and Flying Elvis, it baffles me that high schools don’t at least involve their art classes in the process in some way.

    I agree. Every school, no matter what size, has future artists in the making. Why not try to encourage talent by having students design the logo for their own school?

    And man, that would be such a great experience, for kids to go through the whole process from design exploration to presenting/defending to revisions. An opportunity lost here.

    First off, I’m surprised a school that is supposed to teach citizenship and right from wrong thinks this would be OK. “We can’t take someone else’s logo? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

    What’s worse is when a school takes another team’s letter. Just one single letter. Is Wisconsin’s W really that great? Just go to fontspace, choose any letter that looks unique, add one element from your school’s nickname (silhouette, head, paw, feather, star, trident) and you’re set.

    Here’s something I drew on my phone. Your E, your M and your deer/elk. Clean it up and its yours.
    link

    And the school’s principal was kind of a dick about it too. I guess goodwill is worth more than being on the correct side of the law.

    The logo for the Superpesis, the top league for pesapallo, looks a lot like the NBC peacock:

    link

    Anybody else notice the UCLA jersey isn’t tucked in?

    Is that just for the photoshoot, or is Adidas trying to go this route with a new jersey template?

    If I had to guess, I’d say it’s intentional. Soccer jerseys have gone from universally tucked to almost universally untucked in the last 10 years, and they’re sit at the waist. The result is a leaner, streamlined look – if you compare soccer photos from early 00s and today, the difference is unmistakable.

    I’m guessing they’re going for the same thing. Football uniforms/equipment have gotten considerably less bulky in the last generation and the trends have always been for smaller, sleeker silhouettes, and going untucked is another way to achieve it.

    (thanks for making my day, Ben Fortney)

    My pleasure, skipper. Glad you and the Twitter folk enjoyed it.

    For the record that came from the linkInstagram account. Some great photos, but nothing quite like some mid-century Central Park softball.

    The pop-up ads that hijack the site when you view it on a mobile device are especially annoying today.

    If that 1960 photo shows a Broadway softball league, then dollars to donuts the fielding team is The Music Man, which was wrapping up its run in the 1959-60 season. The Sound of Music debuted alongside A Raisin in the Sun that season too – hopefully there are photos somewhere of a Von Trappy softball nine, maybe playing a team from Gypsy.

    Another candidate: West Side Story, judging by the shape of the words on the third-baseman’s chest. That show returned to Broadway for the 1960-61 season, so it might have been able to field a softball team.

    I’m guessing it should be “softball” and not “sotball players in Central park”.

    Though “sotball” likely describes many of softball players I know who don’t wait until after the game to down a couple.

    the green text of the link in Baseball News is still showing “sotball” for me.

    Sniglets!!

    Schlitzstop (shlitz’ stop): The guy in a softball game who thinks he can handle both his position and a beer at the same time.

    We’re obviously at a point where Adidas is fighting so hard for relevance in the US market, they have to look like they’re doing something instead of just letting a good design work. That desperation is obvious from their efforts in college sports and sleeved NBA jerseys.

    But in any walk of life, desperation is not a good look, and you can kinda see that in the reaction to Michigan going back to Nike and Notre Dame going to UA.

    I hope UCLA goes the way of Michigan and Notre Dame soon. Pretty soon, the Bruins are going to have to realize that Adidas is dragging them down and hurting their brand by using them as guinea pigs in their failed experiments.

    The sad part is that UCLA’s brand used to be one of the most iconic in all of college athletics, particularly in basketball and football. But thanks to what Adidas has done to the Bruins in recent years, they look like nothing more than cheap counterfeit knockoffs of themselves.

    Maybe NCAA should ease up and let Adidas use the three stripes so they don’t feel like they need to stamp their mark with ugly designs?

    My wife and I were at the taping of “Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me Last Night” in Philadelphia and the Whitesboro, NY Seal came up in one of the questions (Not a spoiler alert to anyone who listens). Everybody, and I mean everbody, immediately pulled out their phones to see what it looked like. It was a pretty funny scene.

    “According to the village’s website, the seal depicts [settler Hugh] White grappling with a Native American during a “friendly wrestling match.””

    Look more like *a* white (uncapitalized) doing more than rasslin’!

    I’m willing to accept the village’s justification for the content of the seal. But my goodness, that’s an ugly, badly drawn graphic. Even if they want to keep the legendary wrestling match, the village badly needs a new seal.

    That, or just replace the current childish crayon drawing with this:

    link

    Maybe they think that the seal “honors” the native Americans. Isn’t that Snyder’s stock comment?

    I hate that the Eagles uniform set can’t be evaluated without mentioning kelly green. I don’t think I have ever seen an article without that “complaint”

    Now that you mention it, I can see how one might equate the new UCLA jerseys with link from the ’90s. I think that’s a better comparison than Umbro, which I think is link of the link.

    I always thought the “tire tread” pattern looked like Adidas just stole some link from their grandmothers and pretended they were football jerseys. UCLA’s new uniform, if anything, just reinforces that opinion for me.

    dangit, i was saying the same thing and it looks like you beat me… well played

    I’m curious if you have a good example of a patterned Errea jersey, like you mentioned down-thread. I was trying to find one myself and didn’t have much luck.

    I was thinking more of the Errea symbol: link

    If you’re looking for a “textured” UCLA style stripe from them you can check it out here: “http://www.teamsportdirect.co.uk/products/Errea-Bremen-Shirt-Bundle-Long-Sleeve-Blue%7B47%7DCyan.html”

    Aha! Now I get where you were going with that. And I totally see the connection! Well done, Adidas, for coming up with a jersey pattern that looks vaguely like several of your competitors’ logos but not at all like your own!

    I’m normally not that angry about uni changes but this is TERRIBLE!!!!!

    UCLA’s number font was unique and really made the whole “look”

    My guess is that the athletic dept thought their previous look was old fashion.

    Atleast LSU hasn’t changed….yet.

    To use a perspective that Paul reintroduced and refined for us …

    The new UCLA uniform lacks dignity. (If I could underline “dignity,” I would.)

    It’s indicative of slide the PAC 10 has taken.

    looking at pictures of the USWNT parade and they have the stars arranged in a triangle like the makeshift jerseys were showing. Is that an indication that they will stay that way rather than have them with the top line of the emblem?

    It’s been five days. They’re probably wearing first-run mass-market shirts with the third star added on top. I wouldn’t read any long-term meaning either way into what the players are wearing today.

    All good points, but the banner is clearly designed to tie into the new merch, and the new merch is obviously designed to be easily produced starting with existing stock, so even if the shirt design is temporary, the banner would of course use that pattern. Synergy!

    Look, if I had to bet money, I’d bet that we keep the triangle design. It’s excellent, and it’s absolutely keeping with current international practice. (That practice being, Each country that achieves the third star does its own unique thing.) And maybe Nike has dusted off a 16-year-old gameplan. But I just don’t see how the immediate merchandising blitz can be seen as evidence of the US federation’s long-term course with the three-star treatment. Even if the US federation and Nike have a detailed marketing plan to roll out a straight-in-line three-star logo, they’d probably still be using the triangle design on this week’s shirts and banners.

    Here’s and idea: take the 3 stars already in the crest, and make them Gold.

    I definitely prefer the 3 straight across, maybe have the middle one a little offset (corresponding with the point of the crest). I hope they consider going back to the drawing board with the arrangement.

    Are they really makeshift? Surely Nike has known that winning a third world cup was a possibility for, what, 16 years? I remember Germany getting gear with the fourth star out pretty quickly, and even LA Galaxy had the five-star badge design ready to go as soon as they won the MLS Cup.

    But more importantly, where do they get confetti for ticker-tape parades now that businesses don’t use ticker tapes any more?

    link.

    “Are they really makeshift? Surely Nike has known that winning a third world cup was a possibility for, what, 16 years?”

    I’m beginning to think it may not be makeshift. The link contains a chief with three stars, arranged horizontally. It may be that the championship stars have been intentionally arranged link to avoid visual redundancy.

    It’s an inspired design that works on multiple levels. First, it’s unique compared to other nations. Second, the triangle atop the straight line of stars on the USA Soccer crest creates a pyramidal effect that exudes both power and stability. And third, it invokes the tactical significance of triangles within the game itself:
    link
    It’s a keeper, AFAIC.

    Scott, your ability to express yourself in press-release marketing speak “stories” is impressive. And frightening. Very frightening, actually.

    Seeing those UCLA things I have never been happier to get Michigan away from adidas.

    “(and, by proxy, the portion of their fan base that uses “sick” as a compliment)” <– this! Why do the teams in all sports pander to the under 21 crowd? I understand selling to a young fan base and potential students, but why do none of these kids appreciate tradition? I'm not old by any standards (30's), but some of these classic looks have been around for generations. Enough with these already, pretty please.

    A lot of it has to do with the psychology of young people, whose tastes and sense of aesthetics are still in the process of developing. In those formative years, “new” often equals “cool,” regardless of what the design is. It’s cool precisely because it’s different than what came before. When you back the novelty up with brands that have credibility with youth (which might come from the manufacturer, the team, or both), you’re almost guaranteed to get a positive reaction from a certain younger-skewing demographic.

    I can describe the UCLA unis in one word – fugly. As an alumnus I am embarrassed.

    Paul,
    Do you ever get the feeling that your days of uni-watching are numbered, on account of growing more and more frustrated with the direction of uni-related shenanigans (e.g., UCLA Football’s new home uni, Atlanta Hawks “volt” color) that seem to specifically target a younger male demographic? Seeing this stuff makes me want to just throw up my hands. In other words, is it personally worth “watching” any more?

    An inherent problem with being a critic is that there’s almost always more bad stuff than good. This is true whether you’re a music critic, film critic, literary critic, food critic, or uniform critic. So the bad (or, as I often prefer to call it, the stupid) can sometimes seem overwhelming.

    I don’t think this makes the critic’s days numbered. But it does sometimes make the gig a bit depressing.

    I’m glad you asked this question, because I was thinking the exact same thing. The opening paragraph to today’s post almost (almost!) reads like it was written by a guy who would rather have an 8-to-5 office job. I know Paul does what he loves and loves what he does, but I think seeing things like this has to wear on a guy a little bit.

    I like Adidas football jerseys and the tread pattern (ducks!).

    I think we need a Mythbusters episode to find out if Adidas tread fabric can be pulled less than Nike cordura. So far all we have is a few players’ opinions to go by.

    It looks to me like the line breaks in the screen printing are to prevent cracking. I’ve seen Louisville team issued jerseys on eBay that were brand new and cracked on the numbers. Knowing that, it is amazing what Adidas charges for the authentic.

    Nike has the same issue on their lowest replica tier jersey (also some team issued jerseys like Cowboys & Bears, mentioned on the ticker in the past). Fold the number in the store; you’ll see.

    Should’ve went with Clarendon numbers.

    I think we need a Mythbusters episode to find out if Adidas tread fabric can be pulled less than Nike cordura. So far all we have is a few players’ opinions to go by.

    They’d never do that… there’s no explosions involved.

    The Whitesboro seal reminds me of a running gag on “Parks and Recreation” with the town murals depicting the settling of the Town of Pawnee. An example is entitled [url=”https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/52/f9/01/52f9016319e1b1d66166505fa16e7d17.jpg”]”The Trial of Chief Wamapo”[\url].

    But unlike the Village of Whitesboro seal, that Pawnee mural is at least competently drawn.

    It’s also one of the funniest visual gags I’ve seen in a while. Apparently I need to check out that show, if it’s streaming anywhere.

    The WHB podcast was good on so many levels.

    It addressed the outsized influence shoe/apparel companies have on collegiate athletics.

    It sized up the difficulties schools face with TV contracts and how they eff up longtime rivalries.

    And it included a short back-and-forth ribbing involving Michigan and Appalachian State universities …

    The saddest thing about the whole Michigan/Appalachian State thing is that stores in Columbus actually started selling App State shirts less than a week after that game happened.

    As a Syracuse football fan, I still think those UCLA jerseys and pants are better than anything Nike has done for us with our craptastic uniforms. Nike’s explanations for each line, stipe, sleeve and font and what they mean in terms of our history and NY is also just marketing BS and means nothing to the fan base. Ughhh….. should go back to our 2010-2013 uni’s.

    If we’re gonna be nitpicky, I would probably say Lotto would be sponsoring UCLA more than Umbro. Errea… maybe, as well.

    Could that player in Raisin in the Sun uniform be Sidney Poitier? He was in the original Broadway cast. And what about the other team being the legendary Eddie Feigner’s King and His Court? Uniforms are sort of similar.

    Paul, I’m sure you’re aware, but in the mobile version there isn’t a Reply link next to each comment. That would be a nice enhancement in a future update. Also, all comments are white (with no yellow boxes).

    I couldn’t agree more regarding what has been done with UCLA’s uniforms. No one is exempt. Even Notre Dame, Nebraska and Michigan have succombed to this.

    This very much reminds me of when Tim Burton’s Batman movie came out; in the sense that while Michael Keaton donned one batsuit in the film, the toy line had “Orange Fire Flight Batman” and “Baby Blue Anti-Freeze Batman”. I was old enough at the time that I wasn’t playing with toys any longer but still perusing the action figure aisles. Even at 13 years old is stunk of cashing in on kids wanting every Batman offered even though there was only one real Batman. There is still only one real UCLA-we just won’t be seeing it anymore.

    The UCLA jersey style doesn’t remind me of tire tread. More like the razor wire you see atop prison fences.

    As for the Redskins, if anyone can now use the Redskins logo might it not have the unintended result of spreading the logo and name?

    Have you guys ever considered the fact that MAYBE some of the players and the coaching staff may be involved in the design of these uniforms? That is what they want to wear and that is how they want their uniforms look like….. It would be nice if people would find out what is going on behind the closed doors and meetings before they make uneducated and foolish comments about the new uniforms. BTW, I know how the final design was approved as I was involved in it that process

    On the premise that you’re referring to the UCLA jerseys:

    I don’t expect 18-year old men to know the history and traditions of UCLA football. But someone in the group should know. Anyone with a basic knowledge (I’ll be presumptuous to claim it, even though I’m not a UCLA fan or alum) should know the importance of Powder Keg Blue, the UCLA stripes, and the Clarendon number font.

    I’m mindful of the athletic department switching to a department-wide use of True Blue. I rather like it, actually. I can appreciate the football team going with a block font, even a modern one like this. It is decent, actually.

    But the stripes are screwed up. Again. And it seems that, as they are screened on (the metallic gold color matches that of the uniforms), extra care could have and should have been taken to produce better stripes. Move the stripe a bit closer to the shoulder seam. That allows you to extend the stripe down the front and the back of the shirt, and make it look closer to the classic look. Someone on your committee should have told the Adidas rep “if Nike can do a good stripe for LSU and Ole Miss, why can’t you produce one for us?”

    Dude, just because there was a design process doesn’t mean it was a GOOD process, or that it produced a good result.

    What exactly did I say that was “uneducated” — that it looks like shit? It DOES look like shit. And if you were part of the process that produced it, then congrats: You helped produce something that looks like shit.

    Thanks for the insider’s perspective.

    There’s an old Simpsons episode where a toy company uses Bart and other kids to design a toy that kids will like. Well the kids spout out everything that comes to mind, the toy company implements all the ideas… And the kids end up hating the toy 5 minutes later.

    I feel the same thing happening when players (or recruits) are used in the design process. In their mind, different=good. And it doesn’t really matter what “different” looks like. And after one year (or a few games) in the fancy new uniforms they’re ready for something different again.

    Anyone remember a few years ago when Maryland came out with a new look, and they (well UA) had a big press conference? That new look lasted ZERO games because they had a surprise alt for game #1! It’s hard to take it seriously.

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