Skip to content
 
Uni Watch

Raptors Unveil New Unis for 2015-16

By
Raptors splash 550

Click To Enlarge

By Phil Hecken

Late last evening the Toronto Raptors released their new uniforms for 2015-16. They’ll begin wearing them in the pre-season of this year. As was widely rumored, there will be four new uniforms: a home, a road and two alternates. They were unveiled by Rapper Drake, who actually wore the OVO uniform top last evening during his own OVO Fest at Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre. Drake collaborated with the Raptors on the redesign.

According to the press release, “The new look pays tribute to the City of Toronto as well as being the lone Canadian club in the National Basketball Association. The main colours will remain centred on Canada’s national colours of red and white. Black and silver will continue to be used for trim on the home white and red road uniform. The club will also sport two alternate black uniforms. A version with red, silver and white trim will return, joined by a special alternate featuring gold and white trim.”

Let’s take a look at those (click any image to enlarge):

home1-details

Home:


fonts1-home1 chevrons-home1

mapleleaf-home1 wethenorth-home1

Not much needs to be said description-wise, as all the details are pretty much listed in the four graphics below the uniform photo (same for all of the remaining uniforms).

away1-details

Road:

alternate1-details

Alternate 1:

alternate2-details

Alternate 2: (The “Drake” OVO Alternate)

Not bad! As you’ll note from the small descriptors of the home (basically repeated for each of the uniform sets), there are changes from the previous uniform set. You can see those and previous uniforms here.

From the press release:

Jersey:

• The chevrons on the side of the jersey will now point “north” to align with our slogan of “We The North.” The chevrons had pointed downward since being introduced as a uniform accent in 1999.
• The fonts are accented with silver lining, a throwback to our past.
• Player names on the back will now be arched rather than straight across.
• At the waist-level hem of the jersey is an upside-down tag with our “We The North” slogan.
• It will be visible to players when they tuck in their jersey, and will serve to remind them of what they represent.
• Engineered mesh finish with a subtle design to emphasize a more aerodynamic feel that follows the contours of the body.

Shorts:

• The front of the waistband dons a Maple Leaf, incorporating our new look and feel with the symbol of our nation.
• The shorts have a shout-out to Toronto, sometimes referred to as the “T Dot.” “T.O.” is stitched on the side with our new logo representing the “O.”

There weren’t a lot of details as to when these would be worn, but one could probably assume they’ll wear all four (or at least the two alternates plus the white uniform) at home, and the red and possibly (probably?) the two alternates on the road as well.

There isn’t a huge difference (other than already noted) between their previous set and this new one, save for the “Drake” alternate, which features gold piping and accents. The logo (previously revealed) is also new. The wordmarks and numbers are new, and you can see the differences here:

raps old vs new

One little detail too, captured nicely by this tweet — whether intentional or not, the waistband, stripe and logo form “TO” (h/t Paul Lee):

I’m not sure there is a need for two alternates, especially since both are black and not all that different — but there is, of course, a jersey market, so those who are ‘true’ fans will, of course, need to buy more jerseys. I didn’t mind their old set, and I think these are a slight improvement (if not entirely necessary). Fortunately the Raptors didn’t try to incorporate purple into this set, although they’re more than welcome to continue wearing the throwback they busted out several times this past season. Best to keep that one solely as a throwback and not try to force purple into the red/white/black (and gold) colorscheme.

As I said, I like them — although they’re only a slight upgrade from the prior set. What do you guys think?

line 2


Cincy Bearcats Get New Unis — UA Calls Them “Ungrabbable”

Cincy Splash 550

Click To Enlarge

Big news out of Under Armour yesterday, as they released one set of new uniforms for the University of Cincinnati Bearcats (who switched from adidas to UA earlier this year), and immediately touted these uniforms (as well as those of Notre Dame, Utah, Auburn and Maryland) as having ‘ungrabbale’ properties. More on that later. Let’s take a look at Cincy’s new uni set (click on any photo to enlarge):

cincinnatiuniforms2015underarmour


11230569

11230547

Not bad, all things considered. The first thing you should notice is that (at least on the one set revealed) they are not that different from their previous set. Gone are the red collar and piping (and adidas treatmarks), replaced with a new “stripe” on the jersey, and (more importantly), the claw marks on the pants. Those have also been replaced with the Cincinnati Stripe, which is also replicated on the helmet. TV numbers have been moved from the sleeve to the top of the shoulders. Some more looks at the new unis:

CLgNJvsW8AAtS2D

CLgNJoDWEAQ7DjQ

CLgMOKiWoAAGL2w CLgNJvtWIAAUZlR

The most prominent feature, seen throughout the uniform, is the “stripe.” What exactly is the stripe? Well, thankfully, we have a handy-dandy guide:

the-cincinnati-stripe

I actually like the stripe as a design element — and that it is repeated throughout the uniform. It seems uniform makers these days are always searching for a “story” to tell as a feature of the uniform (in most cases failing from a graphic standpoint), but in this case, I think it works. If UA gives them a red and white set (and certainly a red and white helmet), these should work well. Much of the uniform is unchanged from that worn under adidas, from the number font to the wordmark. The Cincinnati logo remains on the helmet, as the second “C” in the jersey wordmark and on the pants. The centrally-located adidas logo has been replaced with the UA logo on the left side of the chest:

Bearcats_2015_Uniforms_7

Purely from a design standpoint, I think UA has done a good job with these.

But, like competitors Nike and adidas, Under Armour has (claimed to) create a uniform that will make it impossible for defenders to grab onto, by developing a faster, stronger, tougher, lighter space-age fabric amusingly named “ArmourGrid”. The corporate-speak is at full blast…to wit, it’s the “toughest” jersey UA has ever made:

CLgYzfHUAAAcUlX

They say the same for Auburn, Maryland, Notre Dame and Utah.

The UC unis were unveiled as part of a roll-out of (supposedly) new uniforms for four of its other schools, all of which were touted as having this fantastic new uniform:

Utah:

Notre Dame:

Maryland:

Auburn didn’t (as far as I could see) have as polished a twitter presentation, but they did still plug the new technology:

This would all be wonderful if this was indeed “new” technology — thing is, the only new school actually getting it is Cincy, since the other schools have used it before (albeit not on a full-time basis). Maryland has actually had it for several seasons.

Auburn student and uniform aficionado Clint Richardson reports that Auburn has had this technology for a while as well. He notes, in a series of tweets, “I don’t know if Under Armour is claiming this or if people are assuming – Maryland was not the only team to test the new template last year. Maryland, Texas Tech, Utah, and the Notre Dame alternates were all on the new template last season. Notre Dame and Auburn just transitioned fully to the new template this year. Cincy was a new design. The others were last year’s uniforms.”

So, like every other uniform that has come before it, the technology is bullshit just UA’s way (and Nike and adidas do this as well) of claiming it’s superior to all others. Frankly, it’s off-putting — can’t they just release the unis and leave it at that? I’m sure Nike, adidas and UA all make fine uniforms, and none of them is probably any demonstrably faster/stronger/lighter than any of the others. Between this and the cleats,

it’s just become more noise.

But hey, the recruits are attracted to bright, shiny things and these deliver. Even the “story” each company spins to make a certain school’s uniforms “unique” is becoming trite (although I do like the new UC stripe). But the pride unis, the sweatbacks, etc… The more unique each school becomes the more the same they stay.

I’m pleased UA showed *restraint* with these uniforms — there are going to be some good new unis this fall (along with some awful new ones like UCLA). I’d say UC is among the good ones (at least based on this black set).

What do you guys think of these uniforms? Let’s have your thoughts in the comments section below. (H/T to Uniform Nation Blog for some of the images used in this writeup).

line 2

Collector’s Corner
By Brinke Guthrie

METS

Got a few game programs to look at today. Cool looking Mets game program from their Miracle season of 1969. And notice on the top left of the cover- this was the second game of a twin bill . July 13th, 1969: Mets 9, Expos 7. Cal Koonce in relief of some guy named Nolan Ryan picked up his third win of the year against a like number of losses. Shea attendance, 40,653. Game time, 3:06. Now onto the rest of the week’s stuff:

—

Staying with 1969: don’t think I’ve seen this before- a 48 page magazine created to celebrate the 50th Season of the NFL in 1969.

Check it out- the 1969 NFL/Honeywell Action Photography Guide! tips on film, lenses, filters and focus to help you capture all the action with still, movie, and flash photography. And look who created this: Dave Boss, Creative Services Director for National Football League Properties. I don’t think I knew The Man ever held that title- what a gig that must have been!

Like the Detroit/Washington helmet depictions on the cover of this 1965 Hall Of Fame Game program. Never seen the facemasks drawn like that.

This classic looking 1970s San Francisco 49ers helmet plaque will take you back to the days of Ken Willard.

Guaranteed to make you smell like a Yankee: a sealed bar of soap from the 1950s, from Mickey Mantle’s very own Holiday Inn in Joplin, Missouri.

This 1970s NHL Mini-Sport Kit for the Eastern Conference is “unused in the box.”

Here’s a 1970s Steelers carry bag that looks to be in good shape. The seller has several other teams available, too.

Just shoot par, baby: this 1970s Ray-duhz golf ball has a logo that’s just a bit off.

This 1970s Montreal Canadiens mug has held up well- slight bit of chipping around the name, though.

Saints fans will really geaux for this Superdome ceramic bank.

Follow Brinke on Twitter @brinkeguthrie.

line 2

Uni Watch Ticker
Compiled by Mike Chamernik

Baseball News: Brewers pinch hitter Elian Herrera wore striped stirrups last night (from Zach Weber). … In case we haven’t seen them, here are (probably) the MLB’s postseason and World Series logos for this year (from Alan Borock). … At one point, Purdue emulated the Atlanta Braves’ jerseys. Pretty creative! (from Mick Conwah). … Some players, including Kris Bryant and Steven Souza, have their names on their elbow guards. … Rangers C Bobby Wilson wore a red catchers’ helmet while his teammates wore blue caps (from Brett Murphy, Jr.). … The short-season Class A State College Spikes gave away team-branded cups last week (from Brian Cox). … The Spokane Indians added the Salish language to the 2015 Northwest/Pioneer Baseball League All-Star uniforms (from Phil). … The Tampa Yankees will have a Star Wars Night on Saturday (from Benjamin Mead). … A vintage Base Ball game was played in Gettysburg, Pa., last month. The participants played with 19th century uniforms and equipment (and facial hair). Cool stuff, though I guess not everyone got into the old-timey spirit. … Lots of good color shots of the 1959 Red Sox in this film (from Jerry, who didn’t give his last name). … A Mets fan (not Paul or Phil, I assume) received some snazzy customized Keds shoes with Mets designs on them. … Cort McMurray was definitely in St. Louis this weekend, as he spotted this barbecue joint’s logo. … Within this piece, a blog by social critic James Howard Kunstler, is this “Historically, it was never before the case that US soldiers went about in battle dress at home. This disgusting trend has even been adopted in major league baseball. The New York Mets and the Pittsburgh Pirates have gone on TV wearing camo baseball uniforms. What are they trying to prove? That we are all at war all the time?” (From Matthew Lawrence).

NFL and College Football News: Dolphins QB Ryan Tannehill ditched the Speed Flex’s ratcheted chinstrap and went back to snap buttons. … Texas A&M is hinting at unveiling new Adidas uniforms (from Phil). … North Carolina put an argyle stripe on its helmets. Nice! (From James Gilbert). … Got a note from Kenny Abbey that said that an Arizona State player showed up to a recent football practice at a high school in his hometown, and the player mentioned ASU will wear camo against Oregon. … New white helmets, with a large cartoon Pistol Pete logo on them, for Oklahoma State. … Florida will not wear black uniforms this year. … New unis for the Colorado School of Mines (from Phil). … New helmets and jerseys for some MEAC schools (from Phil). … Folks are guessing at what changes are in store for Kansas (from Phil). … USC has the No. 1 spot in this ranking of Pac-12 uniforms (from Phil).

Soccer News: Here’s a look at all the Premier League’s shirts for 2015-16 (from Phil). … Before the club could officially unveil its new uniforms, Fulham’s new kit was shown in a television commercial. … New away kit for Lazio. I really like the design and the black-and-light-blue color combo (from Ben Whitehead). … Yesterday was the anniversary of David Beckham wearing a misspelled jersey (from Brendan Jones). … The Chicago Fire wore BFBS jerseys on Sunday (from Steve Johnston). … New kits for Australia’s Central Coast Mariners (from Alan Evans).

NBA News: Adidas is trying to lure James Harden away from Nike with a $200 million (over 13 years) endorsement deal. … The Dream and Mercury went color-vs.-color in the WNBA on Sunday. “None of the photos there depict that the Dream’s pink jerseys did not have numbers on the back, which created some issues for the officials,” says Sean Kerwin.

Grab Bag: Two Canadian students invented an audible puck to aid visually-impaired hockey players (from Cassian Wykes). … Something new is being unveiled at San Diego State today. Unclear which sport that even is (from Phil). … An Ohio mayor’s re-election logo looks a little like the Gmail logo (from Mark Dziak). … David Firestone wrote a piece on NASCAR napkin rings. He also found a Montreal Canadiens jersey that was customized in honor of Patrick Carpentier, who is from Quebec.

line 2

And that will do it for today. Good thing there wasn’t any uni news yesterday/last night, huh? Thanks to Brinke for the Collector’s Corner and Mike for compiling the Ticker. Catch you guys and gals tomorrow.

Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.

Peace.

.. … ..

“Let’s just let the Millenials wear what they want. This is what 6th place trophies will get you.”
–Brent

line 2

 
  
 
Comments (73)

    Hey Raptors, you guys do realize that the NBA already has multiple red & black teams, right? Why not take the black & gold and run with that as the primary colors instead?

    Also, T-Dot? Really? Who refers to their city by the name on the side of the buses? Seriously, TDOT has to mean Toronto Department of Transportation, right? Right? That isn’t *really* a city nickname, is it? C’mon, man.

    “Why not take the black & gold and run with that as the primary colors instead?”

    Maybe they thought it was too soon after the Wizards debacle.

    link

    Feh. I’m still pissed there’s no black+yellow NBA team. Are they waiting for a Pittsburgh entry?

    Nope. Transportation is Toronto Transit Commission, or TTC.

    T-dot was a variant of long-established nickname “T.O.” (meaning Toronto, Ontario) popularized by rapper Kardinall Offishal in his song Bakardi Slang. We went along with it for a while, because it was the closest thing we had to a nickname wuth street cred. Now that Drake has re-dubbed it “the 6” (short for 416 area code), I sense T-dot is dying a quick but painless death anyway. Not that the 6 is much better.

    I’m torn on the new unis. Was fond of old number typeface. Glad they kept chevrons, and tweak make sense there. New logo growing on me now that I see it in use. Would’ve preferred if they just dropped the silver & went red, white, black & gold. Could’ve still kept their whole “Canada’s team” schtick and their OVO thing, and had a more streamlined 3-Uni set & a totally unique set league-wide.

    But at least they didn’t ruin them or go nostalgia-purple full-time.

    “Now that Drake has re-dubbed it “the 6″ (short for 416 area code), I sense T-dot is dying a quick but painless death anyway. Not that the 6 is much better.”

    ~~~

    Funny you should mention that…Champs Sports is all over that.

    And *I* thought the 6 deals with the municipalities that comprise Toronto. (Come to think of it, it’s kind of like the five boroughs of NYC. All one mayor, but not every address reads “New York, NY.”)

    The “Cincinnati Stripe” is another forced gimmick, and it will be gone within 5 years.

    I’ve always liked how the Cincinnati logo is in the middle of the wordmark instead of at the front. It’s a unique element only shared by a few other schools. USF and Clemson come to mind. Any others?

    South Florida:
    link

    Clemson:
    link

    The new Cincinnati uniforms are garbage. The “Cincinnati Stripe” uses elements from a building that was completed in 2006; not exactly a long-standing tradition on the campus or within the university. The stripe looks like a lace doily on the uniforms.

    I was about to say the same thing. Did you notice how the letters that couldn’t be gleaned from a “Braves” script look like they were cribbed from “Orioles”?

    As a UC fan and student, I like the new stripe. Most of this “story” crap is usually just that, crap. But this one actually works. The whole triangle thing was something the university had started to use anyway. I hope it stays.

    Maybe I tend to fall in line with most of the people who post on this site, but the young’uns are certainly entitled to their tastes and their favorites. Remember, they’re going to hate on the uniforms that kids admire.

    Hey, Raptors, would it have killed you to have one of the jerseys say “Toronto” instead of “Raptors”?

    And I’m not sure what’s up with the radial arching. Seems exaggerated.

    I, too, admit that I’d prefer a “Toronto” jersey and vertical arching. But I have an inclination to fall back on formula with my “improvements”. These’ll do, fine.

    Like the new Raptors set. But I liked the previous set and didn’t really see a reason to change. Would rather see more red/white/silver, because in the NBA, red/black is the Bulls. And yeah, I miss the purple. Paul’s not here anyway…

    “He also found a Montreal Canadiens jersey that was customized in honor of Patrick Carpentier, who is from Quebec.”

    The connection there is that Carpentier signed with what was then Gillett Evernham Motorsports (co-owned by then Candiens owner George Gillett) he had a similar custom Habs jersey at the press conference.
    link

    Interestingly, around the same time Kyle Busch did something similar when signing with Joe Gibbs Racing (owned by the former Redskins head coach).
    link

    One thing more off-putting to me than the ‘number-Es’ Evernham Racing used is seeing a #10 Montreal NHL jersey with a name other than Lafleur on the back.

    Raptors set is very nice. Clean and simple. Solid color combinations. The T.O. is clever without being asinine.

    I’ve gotta ask… what’s the deal with “We The North?” If you’re gonna have a slogan and apply it physically to your uniform, at least make it grammatically correct. Seems really out of place for a team from Canada.

    Agreed. Kill one (or both) of the alternates, and the Raptors would have one of the best uniforms in the NBA. A lot of surprisingly good uniform design and execution on the boards the last couple of seasons. I don’t even mind the overdone red/black thing, since the Raptors have executed it so well. Though yeah, a road jersey with TORONTO on the front would have been nice. What’s the point of three road unis if none of them will have your city name?

    As to the motto, it’s a motto. It’s OK if it’s a fragment rather than a sentence. Canada’s national motto, for example, is “From Sea to Sea,” which is grammatically about as bad as “We the North” if graded as a sentence. It’s similar in construction, and therefore in its sin against punctuation, to the once-ubiquitous “United We Stand.”

    Agreed re: TORONTO on road jersey. No better way to unsettle the fan base than to disregard on the uniform the city in which you play.

    Re: the motto… is it “We The North” as in “We, The North” or “We Are The North?” I wouldn’t have a problem if it’s just a missing comma, but to lose a word entirely really grates on my nerves. I know it’s just the old fart in me that it annoys, but it drives me bat-sh!t insane when kids use “I’m-a” as shorthand for “I am going to.” It’s lazy and sounds stupid. That said, they’re kids and kids say that stuff. It’s when a franchise worth hundreds of millions of dollars does it that it truly grinds my gears. End of rant.

    Either way, it’s a fragment with a dropped or implied verb. Either is is missing, as in “We are the north,” or there’s a grammatically correct implied is and a missing comma indicating its absence, as in “We, the north.” But “We, the north” cannot stand on its own as a grammatical construction either. We, the north, what? There’s an unknown verb hanging out there somewhere to the right of the motto no matter how you look at it. Just as there’s an unknown verb standing just out of sight to the left of Canada’s national motto. That’s the thing with a motto: Normal sentence grammar doesn’t necessarily apply, and in fact that’s an exception to the rules that’s an accepted part of grammar. So ultimately, even to the most persnickety prescriptivist, “We the North” is grammatically correct.

    “Us the North,” though, and the Raptors would be entering a world of pain.

    Major problem with the Raptors shorts. Sure the red panels look like a capital “T” in isolation but pair them with the jersey and you’ve got a huge Cross of St George on the side. Which would be great if they were the English national team but less effective when you are trying to ostensibly represent a country where a significant portion of the public is francophone.

    But you have the contrasting-colored chevrons on the jersey, which sort of ruins the effect you claim

    I think its enough to strongly evoke the St. George Cross, even if one of the arms has the embedded chevrons. Moreover they’ve really emphasized the capital “T” in “T.O.” which makes me wonder if whoever designed the shorts forgot they were putting side panels on the jersey. If you want the upper case T on the shorts, you make sure to eliminate the side stripe on the jersey and just have the chevrons floating.

    How about when the striping is black on the red background, or red on black, or gold on black? I think you’re stretching.

    I don’t think it makes a cross with the shorts… we don’t have a true side view… but it looks like the top of the so-called “T” on the shorts is the same width as the jersey side stripe. So, with the full uniform, it’s just going to look like they screwed up the shorts and made the stripe too thin.

    Well if you look at the mockup from NBA Live, it really does look like its supposed to line up and be a consistent width.

    link

    Maybe it could be a lower-case “t”?

    Not always a fan of James Howard Kunstler, though I’ve dug his most recent novels. And his history is wrong with regard to soldiers wearing “battle dress at home”: Prior to Korea, the services mostly didn’t have different uniforms for soldiers in and out of combat; your uniform was your uniform, so soldiers did in fact frequently wear battle dress at home for most of the history of our republic. Still, this hits hard:

    What are they trying to prove? That we are all at war all the time?

    Yes, that is exactly the point. It is in fact overtly and expressly the purpose of the military branches’ decisions to require servicemembers to wear their battle fatigues in nearly all settings, on and far off the battlefield, since 9/11.

    anyone notice Crystal palace and Bournemouth have the same kit sponsor for this years Premier League

    Don’t think thats ever happened before.

    Didnt celtic and rangers have the same beer sponsor logo, as to not alienate one fanbase or the other?

    Celtic and Rangers have often had the same sponsors for that reason. no one wants to loose half a city of customers

    You can’t really say the same with Bournmouth / Crystal Palace who are 120 miles apart.

    As a UC Alumni of the College of Design Architecture Art and Planning, I am onboard with UA drawing elements from the Architecture around campus to create the Cincinnati Stripe. The forward thinking architecture on campus is something that is unique to UC and something to celebrate. Overall I would say the UA uniforms are an Upgrade from the Adidas uni’s they have been wearing. The ill fitting uniforms along with the piping, treadmarks, italicized numbers, claw prints on the pants and the cartoony bearcat eyes on the back of the Jersey, are all things I am happy to see removed from the set. My biggest complaint are the angled knee stripe on the pants. To me there is no reason to have them there and they look like and afterthought.

    – At the waist-level hem of the jersey is an upside-down tag with our “We The North” slogan.
    – It will be visible to players when they tuck in their jersey, and will serve to remind them of what they represent.

    I’m sure that will be a patriotic comfort to the occasional Canadian-born Raptors player.

    Still not sure about the Cincy Stripe.

    However, anything that gets those italicized numbers off the uni is good in my book.

    I found it just too much when combined with italics for wordmark and/or NOB.

    (PS Speaking of black, red and white football with italics, hopefully the Calgary Stampeders can follow suit.)

    I admit I’m out of touch, but what’s the deal with the Raptors/Drake association? Is he a part owner or something? And if so, so what? Seems odd that he has such a big influence on the design. And why does black/gold = “Drake”?

    Put me down as another who is thrown off by the missing gonna in We,the North. Maybe they typed it out on a phone? I had an old LG phone that you had to push 2 buttons to get to punctuation and auto correct didn’t use punctuation either. It was annoying. That’s the only explanation I can come up with. Anything else just sounds so very uneducated.

    The Dream’s pink unis are in the same extreme racer back style that was introduced at the All Star game and are expected to be league wide next year.

    See the All Star unis here, with no number on back for Maya Moore in this case:

    link

    Tom Benson wanted the Pelicans to be black and gold like the Saints (with red as an accent color though) but was told no by the league since there were too many teams wearing black and that Toronto was toying with black and gold already. So we got the Pels color scheme of Navy instead of black, gold and red.

    Because another freakin blue team was better than black & gold. One of these leagues really needs to hire me as a uniform consultant. Seriously.

    Not sure if it was edited in, but I believe the official press release already mentions the “T.O” thing on the side of the shorts, unless they’re talking about something else that I missed.

    [i]The shorts have a shout-out to Toronto, sometimes referred to as the “T Dot.” “T.O.” is stitched on the side with our new logo representing the “O.[/i]

    Yeah, it was probably in there and I missed it — didn’t start writing today’s column till after midnight (so it was a bit of a rush job). Apologies.

    Toronto went reverse Cleveland and instead of doing the city name they just did the mascot name

    Personally, I’m OK with that. I’m an Oakland Raiders fan living in Ohio, and I don’t really give a flying (bleep) what city they play in, I’m cheering for The Raiders. Los Angeles, Oakland, San Jose, San Antonio, whatever. It doesn’t matter. I’m a fan of the team, not the city. I can’t be the only person who feels that way about a non-local team.

    Interesting, as I’m the exact opposite.

    I’m a fan of my teams precisely because of where they’re from, and I can’t really separate them from the locations. I root for the teams I do because of the experiences I’ve had with those teams in those locations, and I’ve always found it odd, for example, to meet Red Sox fans who’ve never been to Boston.

    But to each their own…

    I’m with you on the road unis. It’s tradition in basically every North American sport to have the team name at home and your team’s location on the away jersey. How hard is it to understand that? The Texas Rangers and the Anaheim Angels don’t get it, but the Angels’ reasoning I think is because they’re too afraid to admit that they’re technically not in Los Angeles and they screwed up the name.

    Re: the Cardinals/BBQ joint logo–if you’re ever in St. Louis & like smoked meats, definitely check out Pappy’s.

    Also, I like the Raptors’ new set. Nothing too crazy, design-wise, for a franchise that’s had plenty of eyesores in its brief history. And the extreme radial arching to the team’s name on front makes it feel a little more old-school, which is important for a team whose name exists almost exclusively because of a certain movie franchise some 20 years ago.

    Has anyone thanked Mr Hecken yet for filling in?

    Allow me to be the first, then!

    THANKS FOR KEEPING THE SHIP AFLOAT, PHIL!!!!

    So a huge post on Cincinnati’s new unis but only a small link to ASU’s new unis? Come on now really? Yes I am bias. And believe they should be given more coverage if only because it seems its the only uniform adidas hasn’t screw up haha

Comments are closed.