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Rams and Bucs Unveil the Final Color Rash Costumes of the Season, Wheee!

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Last night the Rams and Bucs revealed their costumes for this season’s final Color Rash game, which will take place next Thursday. As you can see above, they’re pretty cool, although they seem to be violating the NFL’s one-helmet rule.

Whoops — those aren’t the real costumes. Here are the real costumes:

Not bad, although I wonder what the Steelers will have to say about Heinz’s involvement.

Okay, okay — as some of you have probably figured out, those aren’t the real costumes either. Here, finally, are the real costumes:

I think it’s pretty clear that those are the worst of the three options.

I’m surprised by the striping on the Rams’ pants, which doesn’t feel very Color Rash-y — too old-school, not Nike-ish enough. Probably a cost-cutting move, so they can just wear their throwback pants instead of having to get new ones.

As an aside, it’s worth noting that the Rams have gone mono-yellow before, according to the mighty Gridiron Uniform Database — in 1948 and ’49.

One more week and then we won’t have to talk about this bullshit again until next September, halle-freakin’-lujah.

(My thanks to @tweetkranich for the splash animation.)

• • • • •

Friday Flashback: When the Packers opted not to participate in the Color Rash promotion this year, everyone said, “Well, that’s the Packers — they’re very traditional.” But tradition is an elastic concept, as exemplified by the fact Packers history includes plenty of solid-green uniforms (and also solid-yellow, while we’re at it). That’s the subject of my latest Friday Flashback column on ESPN — check it out here.

• • • • •

Raffle reminder: In case you missed it yesterday, on Tuesday morning I’ll be at a hotel in Madison, Wisconsin, participating in a panel discussion about uniforms that’s being organized by the local ESPN Radio affiliate.

The bad news is that it’s not open to the public (the attendees will be representatives from some of the radio station’s advertisers, some local businesspeople, folks like that). The good news is that I’m raffling off a spot on the guest list. The only catch is that it begins at 7:30am (I think it will be over by 9:15-ish), so you’d have to be either nuts or an insomniac to want to show up that early.

If that sounds like you, send an email to the raffle address by 7pm Eastern today. I’ll choose a random winner and let him or her know tomorrow.

• • • • •

Another day, another grommet (or two): Surely you all saw this one coming — or at least you should have (for all photos, click to enlarge):

There’s more where that came from. Stay tuned.

• • • • •

Some holiday cheer from Phil: The latest Sporting News article from Uni Watch deputy editor Phil Hecken takes a look at the ever-popular topic of the NFL’s worst uniforms — see below:

• • • • •

Mike’s Question of the Week
By Mike Chamernik

Iowa State defeated Iowa last night, and even though the Cyclones were heavy favorites and the fourth-ranked team in the nation, the students still stormed the court after the buzzer sounded.

I missed out on my cheering section days. I went to a high school (Waukegan High in Illinois) that had a non-existent student section at basketball and football games. Then I went to a college (DePaul) that had a student fanbase as apathetic as the basketball team itself.

Did you take part in any organized student cheering sections or clubs when you were in high school or college? How did you dress? Did you paint your face or bring props or signs? What were some of your chants, and what other things did you do to cheer on your team and psych out the opponent? And, did you ever storm the field or the court?

• • • • •

The Ticker
By Mike Chamernik

Baseball News: The new Lafayette, Indiana Prospect League team will be known as the Aviators. … In 1978, Padres rookie 1B Broderick Perkins was missing his NOB during a game (from Retro Rob McGill). … Rickey Henderson was also missing a NOB during a game in his first season in 1979 (from @BaseballsPast). … Todd Radom has written a good piece about how the Braves’ 1970s “feather” uniforms were designed with input from Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews.

NFL News: Looks like Cardinals WR Larry Fitzgerald wore pink socks last night against the Vikings. … “NFL’s Instagram page combined the Vikings’ old jersey template with their new number font,” says Alex Hider. … Cowboys OC Scott Linehan is still wearing a November camo Cowboys hat. … Bill Belichick wore a New Balance “Warrior”-branded hoodie at his postgame press conference last Sunday. New Balance is not an NFL partner (from Jim Considine). The other day we saw a graphic showing the Bears’ uniform evolution. Fanatics has a new one for the Rams, and also graphics for the Steelers and Washington.

College Football News: A game-worn Ernie Davis jersey will be auctioned in January (from Phil). … Also regarding Davis, Brendan Pettit’s father played for Maryland from 1961 to 1963, and after a game against Syracuse he took an orange No. 44 jersey from the locker room laundry. “Syracuse never wore orange in those days (at least I do not think or know for sure) but he thinks it was a practice jersey perhaps and could have belonged to Ernie Davis,” says Brendan. … Memphis and Auburn showed what helmets they’ll wear for the Birmingham Bowl. … Sam Houston State will wear all orange against Colgate on Saturday (from Chris Mycoskie). … Speaking of Colgate, the team is 3-0 this year when wearing maroon helmets, white jerseys, and grey pants (from Ryan Dowgin). … Based on what the Hokies are wearing in practice, it seems that Virginia Tech will wear their 1987 helmets in the Independence Bowl. The team also wore them in November (from Andrew Cosentino).

Hockey News: PK Subban has designed his own classic-looking skates for the Winter Classic. … For autograph signing sessions, the Devils have pucks with offset logos that allow for a larger blank space for the player’s signature (from Steven Woj).

NBA News: During last night’s game against the Clippers, Derrick Rose took off the clear mask he previously had worn all season. It wasn’t a sign that he’s feeling any better, though; Rose just forgot to put it back on. The Bulls PG suffered an orbital fracture before the season. … A sportswear company is selling a T-shirt of Michael Jordan’s No. 12 jersey. … Oy vey: The Nets’ Jewish Heritage Night shirts had a typo (from Jesse Zakshesky). … Time for your daily Bucks item: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar typically had both parts of his surname on his NOB with both the Bucks and Lakers. At one point, though, he just had “Jabbar.”

College Hoops News: Penn State wore black with pink last night, in honor of the school’s original color scheme (from Chris Flinn). … Iowa and Iowa State went black-vs.-red last night.

Soccer News: DC United will unveil a new home jersey in February (from John Muir). … Also, here’s a thorough look at DC United’s new logo (from Phil). … The new Miami FC club unveiled its inaugural uniforms (from Chris Maxwell). … Kanye West will design soccer boots for Adidas (from Tim Cross). ”¦ Manchester United’s new kit has apparently leaked.

Grab Bag: The unseasonably warm weather in the northeast and midwest has Under Armour worried about its cold weather apparel sales (from Phil). … NASCAR teams “paint” their cars with vinyl wraps. Chris Buescher’s Bit’O’Honey car wrap is for sale (from David Firestone).

 
  
 
Comments (99)

    I actually like it quite a bit too (Sheeps fan here, full disclosure). Get rid of the stupid half collar, color swap the pants to blue or white, add some stripes to the socks, and I wouldn’t mind seeing it on the regular.

    Admission here: I was getting ready to hate on the NFL this year. Too much concussions, Greg Hardy, personal seat licenses, Saints picked to be lousy, you name it. The Color Rash at least guaranteed some games were going to look new and unusual. I now find myself looking forward to the Thursday games, and anticipating what will be changed about the teams that haven’t appeared, yet. I give it a qualified thumbs up. Mind you, having the teams wear their traditional dark uniforms hasn’t been tried yet, but most teams don’t look different enough. You wouldn’t want to try it with the Patriots against the Cowboys.

    Watching the video posted earlier, all I could think was, “That is the slowest storming of the court I have ever seen.”

    Not sure how he didn’t see it coming.

    I can’t answer QOTW for high school. I was an athlete. Can only answer for my college’s football and basketball and we really didn’t do much to try to intimidate the other team in either. I think the one thing did happen, and it got banned by the NCAA, was the pep band at the college basketball games playing “Three Blind Mice” when the fans thought the refs had made a bad call. Never saw any face painting or anything like that.

    Paul, the grommet meat looks great. If you have a party, cook the meat and get some hooks to hang the finished meat on. Tell people to come get it! Probably a bit over the top but then it makes use of the grommet. How about a meat squatcho/squatachee?

    The Lafayette Avaitors sure seem, um, inspired by the old Red Baron Pizza logo. Which was itself, let’s say inspired again, by Tom Selleck’s character in “High Road to China.”

    The Miami fc is for the NASL (North American Soccer League) the MLS has not awarded Miami a club.

    One quibble, though – I don’t think those 1952 pants were really canvas-colored. I suspect they were gold but come off more drab in a few photographs.

    We’ve seen that with other Packer uniforms, where the link are mistranslated into link. link.

    athletic trainer here, I “stormed” the court a couple times after big wins. Once on a halfcourt board -n-cord three pointer buzzer beater to cap a big comeback win and after a road playoff win. Gotta enjoy the little things in life.

    My freshman year at Georgia Tech, I was involved in “The Swarm,” which is the student cheering section. For $49, we got tickets to all of the home games in a pretty good spot, and a yellow t-shirt that said “the Swarm” on it. We rushed the field after a game in which the #19 Yellow Jackets beat the #4 Virginia Tech Hokies. It is one of my favorite memories of all time. I’m pretty sure that Ga Tech fans have stormed the field at least once every year since (and they may have every year before, but I wasn’t there so I wouldn’t know). After a while I guess it gets old, except for the people who it is their first time storming the field.

    And yes, I know the question was about basketball, but I only went to one basketball game the entire time I was a student, so I don’t have any experience with that.

    Wow, back in my day (1997-2001), the Swarm was free! Still have my obnoxiously bright yellow “Swarm” shirts from my 3 years going to games. We never rushed the field while I was there though. I was with the crowd carrying the goalposts out after upsetting Auburn in 2003, but by that point I was an alum sitting with the “grown-ups”. (Didn’t stop me from running onto the field, though!)

    I stormed the field when my Eastern Kentucky University Colonels won 33-30 in the 1979 NCAA Division I-AA Semifinals at Roy Kidd Stadium in Richmond, KY on 12/08/1979.

    The Colonels won on a FG in the 2nd OT defeating Nevada sending them to the Finals, where they defeated Leigh 30-7 for their first NCAA I-AA Championship.

    That Steelers uniform evolution wasn’t properly researched. What they used for 1963 is a practice/preseason uni. And 1988 was from Super Bowl 10.

    I actually think the Bucs jersey looks better than their regular red jersey and should be switched full time. Get rid of the “pewter” shoulders. Pants wouldn’t look bad with a white jersey and “normal” socks. Or another great idea, go back to the uniforms they wore in the late 90’s-2012.

    On rushing the court, I went to Florida State which has never been much of a powerhouse program save for a few years in the early 70’s. In the mid-2000’s seemed like FSU would pull a big upset at home every year. Duke, North Carolina.

    One game the students actually stormed the court twice. Duke missed a free throw late and fouled FSU, time ran out, students rushed the court. Officials decided that there was 1.5 seconds left. Coach K took all of his players to the locker room outside the 5 walk-ons left to play the last second, clock hits zero. Students storm the court again.

    Mike:
    Did you forget about the Dawg Pound? Or was that a bunch of hype.

    Eitherway, Waukegan gets out from being a poor kid in a rich boy conference next year and joins the Norh Suburban – should be some good games with Warren abd Z-B.

    New Zealand chooses new flag:

    link

    Probably. More votes to be counted before Tuesday, and it’s a clsoe race. The winner at this stage will now go into a final referendum against the current flag in March.

    My High School alma mater is SPASH (Stevens Point Area Senior High in Stevens Point Wisconsin). We are the largest high school in the state, and were good at all athletics. When I went to school, we were perennially good at boy’s hockey. My senior we won the State Championship, and I was one of the leaders of the “rowdy crowd.” Aside from wearing school colors/clothing, we didn’t really dress up for games. The girls girls would wear face paint with black and red panther paws (our mascot) on them, and maybe some ribbons in their hair.

    At the first home game of the season, we would hand out sheets of paper to the crowd, so the young students could learn the cheers. Some of them included:

    Florida oranges, Texas cactus, we play your team just for practice

    Kick them in the left knee, kick them in the right knee, kick them in the weenie, we need a goal.

    (To the tune of Mickey Mouse when a penalty was on the other team) M-I-C…see you in two minutes…K-E-Y…Why? Cause you’re an A-Hole…oh you S-O-B.

    (To the tune of three blind mice) Three blind refs, three blind refs. See how they skate, see how they skate. They call all the penalties, even though they can’t see, they ought to be hung in a tree, three blind refs.

    There are many more, but those are a few highlights. Those are, of course, pretty bad for high school. We were threatened by the school rent-a-cops a lot. But we were the best team in the state, and thousands of students showed up for a Wisconsin high school hockey game. So not much was done.

    Those who do not learn from history’s uni mistakes are bound to repeat them… The LA Kings early ’70’s banana yellows remind us that an all-yellow presentation can often go astray… and yes, then there’s Tampa Bay…

    link

    I’m weirdly liking those Rams CR unis.

    Also, isn’t storming the court supposed to be reserved for winning a championship or a big upset victory? Barely beating some team that you were supposed to beat surely doesn’t count.

    Generally I would agree with your criteria for storming the court. But I would make an exception for when it’s an emotional/come from behind win against your schools in-state rival.

    The Bucks jersey with only “Jabbar” on the back was from right after the former Lew Alcindor converted to Islam in 1971. The team, the media and the public often referred to him as “Kareem Jabbar” in those earliest years, apparently not realizing that “Abdul” was part of a hyphenated last name and not a middle name.

    QOTW…

    Back in MY day (’99-’01) at Maryland, the student section held up newspapers and shook them when the visiting team’s lineup was introduced (to show apathy and that we didn’t care about their team). Then we would ball them up and toss them at the visitors’ bench. Sadly, that fun tradition got nixed because idiots were tossing other stuff and creating a danger. (…morons)

    And one great thing about Maryland’s band at sporting events… is that they can play the Ninja Turtle theme.

    QOTW: In college (Albany State), I was prevailed on to join the pep band by my roommate. Headcount was low, and he assured me competence was an option. The instrument I was given was a broken Flexatone; it was missing a hammer. The Flexatone makes a quivering tingle noise and was ostensibly used to unnerve our opponents at the foul line. This being 1984, one of melodies in our repertory was “Tomahawk Chop”; my favorite. We never stormed the court; it didn’t occur to us. As far as I’m concerned, the grandstands are the fans’ territory, and the court belongs to the players; never the twain shall meet.

    In high school my friend and I had a joke that we stormed the court after every basketball game because most people literally walked across the court to get out of the gym.

    I’m at the point where I’m literally not watching the NFL as often because it looks like such a farce. Color Rash is the last straw.

    Paul,

    I noticed the Miami FC kits are manufactured by Macron. Aren’t all MLS kits manufactured by Adidas?

    I went to UVA and the athletics department held a contest with a $200 prize to name the student section. My entry “Hoo Crew” won, but someone else also submitted it so we split the $200. “Hoo Crew” is still the name more than 10 years later.

    You’re probably right, however, it’s good practice to avoid using marketing photos as reference to evaluate color as they are almost always altered in post production.

    The Tavon Austin pic looks natural, though, so I’m expecting the blue to be navy on these.

    I think you’re right…. and that’s kind of an odd choice. I guess they’re going for the same sort of historic mish-mash they did for the Jets. It’s a throwback number font, and it looks like the sleeves have the throwback style horns, so going with navy instead of royal is a bit odd. Still, overall it doesn’t look that bad to me… definitely better than the Bills in red.

    I’ll say it again NFL – I’d be happy to help you out with this whole color vs color thing. You can pay me with beer.

    Even though the team’s color was royal blue back then, “blue” helmets were always navy because of some coloring limitation. I think matching the helmet creates a much better looking uniform in this case. If it’s not going to be a true throwback, I think it’s smart to eliminate those restrictions and make it look as good as it can within the context of the concept.

    UVA now has somewhat of a reputation for rushing the field for beating anyone, but when I was there we rushed the field once (FSU in 2005) and the court twice (Arizona in 2004 at UHall and Duke in 2008 at JPJ). I partook in all of those.

    I also rushed the field during grad school when JMU came back from a 21-0 deficit to beat App State in 2008.

    As much as I hate Nike in general, and this Color Rash crap in particular, the Bucs jerseys are – incredibly enough – an actual improvement over what they normally wear. If they put those red jerseys with white pants (even with a pewter stripe) I think they’d actually have a decent look.

    That Fanatics page… first, a little bothersome that you can’t stop or slow the images. Some of those photos would be interesting to look at a little more in depth.

    There descriptions don’t seem to line up with the images on the Gridiron Uniform Database, however. The most egregious example is the 1979 entry, which makes it sound like the classic Rams road jersey, with the white body, sport gold sleeves, and blue trim, was introduced that year; in the GUD, that look dates back to 1973. In comparing the two, the Fanatics page makes no mention whatsoever about the 1949 Rams, who (according to the GUD) dropped the blue/gold scheme and went with red and gold togs for that season, returning to blue and gold for good the next year. That would be a mystery right up there with the Broncos’ brown/blue question.

    Paul, You mention in the Friday Flashback that “mono-color uniforms become mandatory for next season’s Thursday night games”.

    Are they mandating mono color next year? Or just color v. color?

    QOTW: My high school mascot was the Red Raiders, so our students did all manner of “Indian” war whoops and tomahawk chops. It was cringe-worthy even at the time, and one of the reasons my class tried to change the mascot.

    Only slightly less embarrassing was our “celebration” when we played the cross-town rival Trojans, where some wag would always inflate condoms and we would bat them around the stands like a beach ball.

    I think this is probably the best set of Colour Rash uniforms. Tampa’s are as a lot of people noted actually better than their regular uniforms, well at least less cluttered (also that’s not a very high bar to get over). That being said I really like the Rams’ yellow jerseys, again as people have noted with blue pants or at least blue socks they would look a lot better and be exactly what I want from an alternate uniform. Now that Colour Rash is over for the year I would say the Rams and Bills did the best and the Jaguars and Jets did the worst.

    The Rams would have been better off focusing on blue. The yellow looks like highlighter in the promo video.

    QOTW: In my college years and beyond at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) I was part of the Corner Crew at hockey games. The Crew occupies one of the corners at the end where the visiting team defends for the 1st and 3rd periods (for maximum heckling of the visiting goalie). The crew’s attire includes anything orange, typically a game-worn hockey sweater, although now that the hockey team competes in Division I (they were a DIII program when I was in school), replica sweaters are readily available.

    Some of the shenanigans include yelling “You Suck!” after each visiting player is introduced in the pre-game. “You Suck” is also used to punctuate cheers directed at specific players (usually the goalie).

    One of my favorite cheers, which you’ll only hear at a tech school (and by some accounts we ripped it off from MIT) goes like this: “E to the x, dx, dy. Secant cosine tangent sine. 3.14159, pi. i times 3. Let’s go, let’s go RIT!” Among the many off-color cheers is “Rip rip rip. Rap, rap rap. (Insert visiting school name)’s girls have the (entire section claps three times).” Needless to say, I need to abstain from this chant when my wife’s alma mater makes their annual visit to Rochester!

    A couple cheers directed at the officials are “Get off your knees ref. You’re blowing the game!” and (sung to the tune of “Oh my darling”) “Who’s your father, who’s your father, who’s your father, referee? You ain’t got one, you ain’t got one, you’re a bastard, SOB!”

    There are lots of other cheers and hijinks I could list, but I have to get some work done today!

    Mike’s QOTW: Back in ’89, my High School in Florida, South Plantation was playing Western in the quarterfinals of our district play-offs at a neutral site. The game was played mid-week (maybe a Tues/Wed) at about 4 in the afternoon (most games were played at night). We had a pretty good team but nobody came out for the game since we were a lock for the district championship game where we would face our crosstown rivals Plantation…just myself and four other friends and maybe a couple of parents on the opposing Western team. Western was not good but me and my friends were acting like the Cameron Crazies, just going nuts, but the dirtiest looks from the parents (and refs) came when a kid from Western chucked up an air ball and for the next few minutes we just unleashed on this kid with the “Air Ball” chants. I think our players even felt a little uncomfortable with our antics but I have to say it was hysterical if you were there (and a Paladin of course).

    I was a leader of our unofficial cheering section in high school. Honestly too many stories to tell.
    Got called to the Superintendents office one morning after a handful of us refused to sit down at a football game. Ended up with parents at the school board meeting.
    Had the local newspaper interview me and and friend about our group of guys when our volleyball team went to the Regional Finals. Also included the story of our silent protest at one of the volleyball games that immediately followed the aforementioned football game incident.
    We were ruthless. Looking back, we were rude but we were kids in a small community with other small communities around us. We knew the opponents. Sometimes a little too well. And we knew how to get under their skin. Our basketball team didn’t lose a game at home that year on their way to the conference championship. Calling someone “Fat Pat” doesn’t sound all that bad, unless you knew why we called him that. He knew. And it showed.
    Again, I could go on for a while here. We had a lot of fun and our teams were successful. And it never turned to violence.

    Something weird…
    At basketball games we did this “rowing” thing. Almost like the wave except the crowd was rowing. Looked cool with everyone rowing in unison, but it didn’t make any sense. We were the Cardinals. They had to brace up the pull-out bleachers because they would push back with the momentum. I don’t know where the row ever came from but it was ours so we loved it.

    The Rams’ color unis are hideous, but I would like it if teams like the Rams would have yellow jerseys (but with white or blue pants) full-time. They could be worn either at home or on the road, like some NBA teams do. That wouldn’t be a bad look at all.

    Hi Paul,

    The hoodie that Belichick wore was Warrior, but I’m not sure if Warrior is affiliated with New balance.

    link

    No, Warrior is New Balance. Last year Warrior started supplying soccer kits to Liverpool, FC Porto, and others. This year, they changed to NB branding, but same company

    I wonder what the teams would look like if this Monday’s Giants Dolphins game was a color rash game. Dolphins would be easier since they have a mono precedent ( all aqua )..though they might go all orange. Giants might be trickier. To my knowledge they have never gone mono…at least not in my lifetime. I suppose mono blue…since they once wore those ugly blue pants in the 70s. Maybe mono red…with the also hideous red jerseys dorm a few years ago. I would however think it would be boring/interesting if the went mono GRAY the way Ole Miss does sometimes.

    Given that they seem to be focused on using trim colors instead of primaries… the Dolphins probably end up in mono navy, with the Giants in red.

    I actually have been on both sides of the fan rushing the field as both a player and fan.. I’ve rushed the court once (in high school when we upset our arch rival) and when I went to Pitt, the football team upset Miami at the old Pitt stadium.. The funny part about that was I bumped into a football player who was a friend of mine and he looked at me and said ‘the hell are you doing in the field?’ And he turned around and saw the entire student section on the field… He was too busy celebrating with his teammates and didn’t notice us ..

    When I was in high school I happened to score a goal in overtime to win a huge playoff game (against same said rival) as I ran towards my bench to celebrate I saw the student section pouring onto the field.. I’m convinced it was more just to do it than to celebrate , but was an amazing experience to be able to celebrate with my team and fellow classmates

    Hard to imagine Big Blue in red pants…but I guess that’s the novelty the point of color rash games.

    Never been part of an organized cheering section. I’ll gladly shout “Let’s Go Bucs!” when prompted at a Pirates game. I also cheer loudly when the Pirates and the umpires are introduced (someone’s gotta show Blue some love). Otherwise you have to earn my applause.

    Indoors I’m more reserved. Never liked the whole MAKE SOME NOISE! nonsense…as if setting new records for decibel levels is a good thing. Nothing wrong with cheering on your team, but there are limits. I don’t want to come out of a game with ringing ears and a sore throat.

    QOTW:

    – I was never part of an organized spirit club, but at UCLA basketball games all the students do the “Is this a basketball?” cheer before every game. I have no idea where this originated.
    link

    – Storming the Court 1: The 1994-95 basketball season was a special one for the Bruins. The team headed into the final regular season game (no post-season tourney for the Pac-10 back then) having only lost once – on the road to Oregon. The Bruins hosted the Ducks on Senior Day and the fans were able to say goodbye to Ed O’Bannon and George Zidek by storming the court at the end of the lopsided Bruin victory. It was the first (and only) time I’ve ever rushed a court or field. I started to climb one of the hoops to celebrate and ended up quickly scurrying away when the security guard came to scold me.

    – Storming the Court 2: In 2001, as a law school student at Georgetown, I attended all the games but the one that stood out the most was the GU-Syracuse game. While both teams were in the Top 25, neither was having a remarkable season yet the Hoya fans rushed onto the court after the victory. Perhaps it was because Georgetown was only my “second” team or because I wasn’t an undergrad, or because it wasn’t against a #1 opponent, but I chose not to partake. Jim Boeheim responded with a great quote about the kids rushing onto the floor, “It used to mean something. It don’t mean shit anymore.”

    Anyone else notice in the Steelers uniform evolution graphic they used a picture of Johnny Unitas for the 1955 uniform? Interesting they were able to find a picture of Unitas on the team since he spent very little time with the Steelers. Also interesting they chose to use his picture.

    QOTW: One of the few good changes Paul Hewitt made to the Georgia Tech basketball program, was to add a small SRO area for students behind the baskets. Once upon a time, when the ACC used to actually win the ACC-Big10 Challenge (2001, in this case), I attended the GT-Wisconsin game. (This was the last sporting event I attended as a student, as it turned out.) GT trailed by 20 with 16 minutes left, and still trailed by 11 with just over 4 minutes remaining. GT took the lead 62-61 with 14 seconds left, and I was standing just underneath the Wisconsin basket as their last second shot attempt failed. I was among the first of very, very many to storm the court as soon as the buzzer sounded. I distinctly remember patting Clarence Moore on the back in the sea of bodies as the team celebrated at center court.

    link

    Earlier that year, Wisconsin had just hired a new coach named Bo Ryan (perhaps you’ve heard of him). Before the game, as the players were just getting into their warm-ups, my roomate and I were standing just a few feet from the Wisconsin bench (having arrived early to ensure we’d get access to the area behind the basket). Coach Ryan walked over to us, reached into his pocket, pulled out his money clip, and asked, “So, who are you boys rooting for tonight.” We all chuckled, but seeing only a $5-bill, I wasn’t inclined to change my allegiance :)

    I went to a high school in western PA in the late 90’s that was nationally ranked in basketball. We had a pretty large, but not particularly rowdy student section. Just the standard stuff. Holding up newspapers while the opponent was being introduced. If it was a particularly hated rival, we’d skip the newspapers and just turn our backs. Again, standard stuff.

    Seeing hunks of metal stuck in food flips some weird switch in my brain. It’s kinda like that feeling you get from hearing fingernails on a chalkboard. I just can’t handle the idea of chewing on brass. I can’t really explain it, but it makes me nervous.

    Perhaps I should explore this with a mental health professional.

    I’ve heard Broderick Perkins had biggest hat size in baseball history. Not sure how to verify such a thing

    I got my November t-shirt today. Thanks Paul for all your effort on correcting Teespring’s mistakes.

    QotW:
    In high school, I was in marching band during football season (games, of course, were mandatory), and would occasionally participate in the optional pep band during basketball season (didn’t ever go to any of those games otherwise). My senior year I was in charge of leading the band’s cheers during games, so that was a blast. Luckily, our team was somehow good enough to make it to the state title game that year, so we didn’t have as much of the dull “why are we cheering if we’re down by 20 points in the 4th quarter?” apathy during my first three years. Just putting up with the unruly trombone & trumpet sections at the back that wanted to do their own PG-13 versions of the standard cheers we used…

    In college (not in the band), I regularly attended basketball games with roommates and would sit in the free student seats, but wasn’t part of any organized cheering. We were DI-AA for football, and not very good at that, so I wasn’t all that keen on wasting my Saturday afternoon or evening on some mediocre games. Funny thing was, though, the student section would usually clear out of those games after the band played at halftime.

    Boooo hissssss! Bucs needed to be clad in their accent color – orange. The color rush uniforms already seem repetitive after only a few games.

    “One more week and then we won’t have to talk about this bullshit again until next September”

    Wrong. It actually turns out that YOU don’t HAVE to talk about these uniforms. Ever. So do it or don’t. But enough with the incessant whining.

    Here’s a thought:
    Eagles/Cowboys Thanksgiving. Eagles go all black, Cowboys go all white. Take that, Color Rash!

    The league would never allow it…

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