Sunday Morning Uni Watch

By Phil Hecken

Week 14 of the NCAA Football Season features the second smallest slate of games (for FBS teams) of the entire season — second only to next week, when we’re treated to the annual Army/Navy game — the traditional end of the “regular” season. So, with a small slate of games, there wasn’t as much uni watching to be had yesterday. Still, there were a few surprises.

Many of the conferences play in divisions, and those divisions end their seasons with a Conference Championship Game — in the “Power 5” (B1G, Pac-12, SEC, ACC and Big XII), four of those five had their big games yesterday. For the most part, those games looked great, featuring teams in their “classic” looks (Alabama/Florida in the SEC, Iowa/Michigan State in the B1G, and the wonderful color versus color matchup of Clemson/North Carolina in the ACC). But one school…one CLASSIC school (that this season had only worn ONE home and ONE road uniform all season), decided the Conference Championship Game was a good time to go BFBS. Why Stanford, WHY?

If the Uni Gods had any sense of justice, they would have let USC beat Stanford, but alas, twas not the case. USC, of course, looked resplendent in cardinal and gold. The tree? Not so much.

Anyway, with that disappointing game out of the way, here’s my right hand man, TJ Duroncelet, with your final regular season…

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Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet

Championship Week. Playoff hopes on the line, and for some who weren’t so lucky to be crowned, their ‘ship has sailed. I know, I’m not funny.

From Friday:

• During the Northern Illinois/Bowling Green game, JB Johnson spotted BGSU head coach Dino Barbers in a digital camouflage cap, even though we are now in the month of litterally injecting yourself with eggnog, and no longer in G.I. Joevember. But the most interesting thing sent my way was this pic of someone wearing a kilt and some sweet socks (credit to @aHof_Of_Bread on Twitter). I’m sure there’s some sort of tradition behind it.

From Saturday:

• James Madison apparently doesn’t live by the whole “play for the name on the front, not the back” mantra. Credit to @RealEricWitts for the pic.

• Not only did the Stanford Cardinal Black come out in BFBS togs, but they also threw in a new wrinkle with the new cardinal-bodied numbers edged in white (here’s the previous iteration).

• As I was watching the Bama/Florida game, I noticed on the Florida sideline that one of those giant play card things had a now-outdated Atlanta Hawks logo on it. To be fair, the Hawks just got their new marks and uniforms this year, but in today’s age of instant information, you’d think they’d update it by now. Also, you ever notice how a lot of the SEC and ACC games involve orange and some shade of red? I don’t know, maybe it’s just me.

• Look at how tiny Iowa’s name is in the endzone! It’s like… IOWA

• Gotta love a color-vs-color game that actually makes sense *coughnfldontknowshitcough*. Clemson’s all-orange uniform is a look full of praise, criticism, and plenty of Vitamin C. And I still love those UNC uniforms to pieces.

And that’ll do it for the regular season portion of the 2015 NCAA College Football USA Athletic Contest season. All that’s left is the Army/Navy game… and the bowl games, and the 6 major bowl games, and the championship, the offseason, the uniform unveilings, the graduation ceremonies, Summer workouts… but at any rate, I will see you all in a few weeks. Until then, here’s some chill music form one of my favorite channels (and what I listen to when writing the columns). See ya.

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Thanks, TJ! And thanks for another great regular season of SMUW. As he said, he’ll be back shortly, but with only the Army/Navy tilt next weekend, a well deserved week off for everyone ahead (except me of course — I’ll be back next Saturday). Big round of applause for TJ everyone! Great stuff this fall.

Joe Ringham’s 5 & 1

We’re on to week 14 in the NCAA, and many of the games yesterday were Conference Championships games, but overall not as many games as usual for 5 & 1 decider Joe Ringham.

You may not agree with him, (I rarely agreed with Jimmer Vilk and only occasionally with Catherine), but he’s got his reasons for his picks.

Here’s Joe:

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Good Sunday, everyone, and I hope everyone enjoyed Championship Weekend. Not a whole lot of games to choose from this weekend. So, let’s get to it…

5) SEC Championship — Florida vs Alabama – Bama looked classically sharp, as always, in their damn near iconic home look. And I thought the Gators looked great in orange/white/white. Now, had they gone orange pants, this would’ve been up higher. But, c’est la vie.

4) Mountain West Championship — Air Force at San Diego State – Loved how clean and sharp the Falcons blue/white/gray set looked. It paired up excellently with the Aztecs’ red/black/black home look. A clean, sharp, well dressed MWC Championship game at the Murph.

3) FCS 2nd Round — Sam Houston State at McNeese State – Giving the FCS Playoffs some love, and I loved how this game looked. The Bearkats orange/white/orange looked just fantastic against the yellow/blue/yellow of the Cowboys. A fabulous looking match-up for a spot in the FCS Quarterfinals.

2) Big Ten Championship — Michigan State vs Iowa – As stated earlier in the season, I am a huge fan of Sparty’s green/white/white set. Match it up against the Hawkeyes’ black/black/yellow beauties and you have yourself one damn good looking College Football Playoff Quarterfinal/B1G Championship.

1) ACC Championship — North Carolina vs Clemson – I gotta hand it to UNC this season. They have really brought a strong uni game, and this game was no different. Loved the white/Carolina blue/white against Clemson’s mono-orange look. A bright, colorful color vs color match-up to crown a conference champion.

And, finally…

+1) FCS 2nd Round — Colgate at James Madison – Slim pickings for this side of the list this week. I actually liked Colgate’s look on the road. But, the Dukes going mono-purple just didn’t look real appealing this time around.

That will do it for the season… for now. I’ll see you again for TWO bowl editions of the 5&1, with list number 1 in a few weeks.

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I’ll give some thought to doing a “Best of 2015”, but I’m definitely going to do two bowl editions. I just have to figure out where to split the bowl season up in half.

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Thanks, Joe! And thanks for taking over the 5 & 1 this season!

NCAA Uni Tracking

Back again today with four of the Power 5 playing Championship Games. The Big XII, which doesn’t play a Conference Championship Game (they have “one true champion”), had two games this week. I was able to create the B1G matchup from past editions of the B1G tracker.

So, one last set of uni tracking before we hit the bowls.

We’ve got Rex Henry (tracking the ACC & SEC), Dennis Bolt (tracking the PAC-12), and Kyle Acker (tracking the Big XII). Here we go.

+ + + + + + + + + +

Rex is up first today:

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ACC

More Here.

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SEC

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And now, here’s Dennis with the PAC-12:

PAC-12

More here.

Here is your link to the 2015-16 Duck Tracker.

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And here is Kyle with the Big XII:

Big XII

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And here’s the B1G:

B1G

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And that’s all for today — thanks Rex, Dennis and Kyle!

Thanks for a great regular season. And they’ll all be back with tracking for those teams in those conferences (and maybe more) who made Bowl Games!

And now a quick word from Paul: Want to get a Uni Watch membership card for someone this holiday season but don’t know which design to get for the lucky recipient? Here’s an easy solution: Purchase a gift membership. We’ll send you a voucher that you can give to your special person, who can then redeem it with me.

You can order a gift membership here. And as always, you of course you can order a custome designed card here, you can see all the cards we’ve designed so far here, and you can see how we produce the cards here.

Too Good…

for the Ticker

I received an e-mail from Markus Kamp, who has a great little story and it’s a bit too long for the ticker. Some photos can be enlarged by clicking.

Here’s Markus:

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Hey, Paul / Uni Watch.

Unlike most kids who grew up in Oklahoma in the 1970s, I started playing hockey at age 4 (you’ve seen the pix!). The biggest reason this was allowed to happen was a man named Nelson “Freckles” Little.

Freckles was a semi-professional hockey goalie, finishing his career with the Tulsa Oilers. When he retired, he stayed in Tulsa and was instrumental in forming and maintaining the youth hockey program there. As a fellow straw-blonde goalie of Irish descent and a man of great charm and wit, he was an instant mentor to me. His family and mine became and have stayed close, and as I never knew either of my grandfathers, he filled that role as well.

This weekend marks the 100th year of hockey in Seattle, with both Seattle Metropolitans Night at (Saturday) night’s Thunderbirds game and Seattle’s Metropolitans Day on Monday, the centennial of the Metros’ first game. Freckles’s long career between the pipes included a stint with the Seattle Ironmen, and when I moved northwest, he regaled me with tales of how much he loved this city.

Unfortunately, Freckles is no longer with us, but his son, Robert, has spent the past few weeks digging through Freckle’s extensive archives for stuff from his years in Seattle and came across a few pix I thought you’d enjoy. And that Rule Book/Schedule cover…wow!

Side note: After Freckles retired from hockey, he entered Oklahoma state politics, where he garnered a reputation for sitting in the back of the legislature and shooting spitwads at speakers he disagreed with. I took inspiration from that as well!

Markus Kamp
Bonney Lake WA

Thanks, Markus! Great stuff.

OK. Now, onto the ticker…

Uni Watch News Ticker

Baseball News: WHOA! Check out this Cincinnati Reds night game satin cap from the 1947-48 season (sent in via Robert Hayes). They also wore satin uniforms for night games. … Speaking of the Reds, check out this 1965 yearbook (from Bruce Menard). … If you thought the Diamondbacks having seven caps this upcoming season was excessive, well — the Gresham GreyWolves will have eight (from Brandon Sparks).

NFL/CFL News: Check out this coupon reader Joseph Bailey got at Macy*s Friday night: “It excludes Dallas Cowboys merch. Must be the deal that Jerry Jones negotiated awhile back has a far reach.” … Oops: Edmonton Eskimos player Chris Greaves accidentally left the jersey he wore at the Grey Cup in a Co-op taxi cab on Thursday December 3 in Edmonton. Now he’s taken to social media to ask for help finding it. … Here’s a collection of photos of NFL players in the “wrong” jerseys (thanks to Mike Chamernik). … While looking for holiday gifts, Leo Strawn, Jr. saw this vintage Broncos pennant. “Weird,” he adds. It’s from this listing on etsy. The seller has several pretty cool, vintage pennants. … The Vikings are installing a ETFE pneumatic roof, which basically means it is lightweight, translucent, and won’t collapse (unlike the Metrodome roof a few years back). From Mike C. again. … Can you spot the problem with these spatulas? (good spot by Chris Sodergren).

College Football News: Here’s an article from Heavy that ranks the top 10 college football uniforms. It’s not quite as bad as yesterday’s NFL helmet ranking article. … Written prior to last evening’s ACC Championship Game, North Carolina’s football team has won 11 straight games while wearing uniforms that include the argyle pattern made famous by the men’s basketball team (thanks Paul).

Hockey News: One of the goaltenders for the Red Wings, Jimmy Howard, has an ugly Christmas mask (from Tony). In fact, it is ugly Christmas mask season for all of the Red Wings goalies. … On December 11th, the Flint Firebirds will wear ‘ugly sweater’ warm up jerseys (from Craig Gasperosky). … Last evening, the Minnesota Gophers wore new gold sweaters, which are slightly different from their previous version (good spot by @EBrooksUncut). … “Received a #movember hockey jersey this week,” says Jim Borwick. “Reminds me of two #buffaslugs battling it out.” … “Prince George’s new thirds are…awful” says Patrick Thomas, who adds, “and to think you could actually take this template and make it worse with the blue one.”

NBA News: The Milwaukee Bucks last night were using the “Empire’s logo” for their light effects on the court. Why? Star Wars Night. (Thanks to Getting Schwifty). … Kind of a dark color vs. color game last night with the LA Clippers in black and the Orlando Magic in blue (from Bliz – Matt L).

College Hoops News: Reader Ryan Robey caught CSN Chicago using the old SLU Logo during a Loyola U Ramblers basketball game. He adds, “Still like the old logo more.” If you don’t recall, here’s what the new logo looks like.

Soccer News: There is a new National Premier Soccer League logo. Here is the old logo for comparison. Submitter Patrick Thomas calls it an upgrade. … Upon seeing that, Jimmer Vilk sent in an even older logo for the old indoor NPSL, which started as the AISA & ended as MISL 2.0. … Oooohhh, check out the Northwestern stripes on this old Arsenal jersey (from Tim Cross).

Grab Bag: The future of fashion is being written by emerging technologies, new materials and the science of textile design, according to this article from the Wall Street Journal (thanks to Tommy The CPA). … According to Kevin Mueller, we have High School wrestling, “now with corporate douchebaggery.” … The Buffalo Bandits, a lacrosse team, have unveiled a 25th Season anniversary jersey. Submitter Fletcher Keel asks, “Ever seen an anniversary JERSEY before?”

And that will do it for this fine first Sunday in December. Big thanks — HUGE THANKS — for a great regular season of SMUW go to Terry, Joe, Rex, Dennis and Kyle. They’ll all be back during Bowl Season, of course, but please join me in thanking them all for their great efforts these past 14 Sundays! Take a bow, you guys, you deserve it.

To all those who are celebrating tonight, a Happy Hanukkah to you.

And Happy Birthday, Spanks!

I’ll be back next weekend, so everyone enjoy the pro Football today (or whatever unis you may be watching) and I’ll catch ya then.

Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.

Peace.

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“A joke: Why did Clemson choose orange as its primary color?

A: So their alums could root for the Tigers on Saturday, go hunting on Sunday, and resume picking up roadside trash on Monday without ever having to change clothes.”

— Dan Tarrant