By Phil Hecken, with the usual cast of characters
Welcome to SMUW for Week 3. This is usually one of “those” weeks where we still haven’t really gotten into the intraconference games, there are a few Little Sisters of the Poor on the schedule, and we’re between 9/11 and the pinktober nonsense. So…it’s not usually a big week for unis. But we did have a few, like LSU’s above. Let’s get right into the Watch, shall we? We have Terry Duroncelet up first, with the SMUW, and then the Trackers & Duck Tracker and the 5 & 1. Here we go…
Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet, Jr.
So around this point of the season is where we start seeing upsets aplenty. Some team’s uniform choices over the weekend were anything BUT upsetting, as you’ll see soon enough.
From Thursday:
• Given Houston’s helmet choices from the first two weeks, I had almost forgotten that they were actually a red helmet team.
From Friday:
• I’m pretty sure this has been brought up countless times before, but in case anyone’s wondering what those patches are that Arizona State wears (right under the PAC 12 patch), they’re part of the ‘Scholar Baller’ program (closeup here) (credit to Tyler Carlson for the first pic).
• Connor Johnson of Rice wears an FNOB (H/T to Aaron Medina).
From Saturday:
• Louisville wore red-chrome helmets with a classy ‘ALI’ decal in the back in honor of Muhammad Ali against Florida State (they also had this logo on the field).
• From Douglas King: “Georgia Tech is doing a Gold-out today against Vanderbilt. It’s part of a fundraising event for combating childhood cancer, the problem is the Jackets elected to wear white (hasn’t worn gold jerseys since the 2012 season), and Vandy is wearing Gold. It actually makes perfect sense that the team wouldn’t take part in the promo when you consider how stubborn our fanbase is in committing to things like this (the whiteout was started because fans wouldn’t commit to the Gold-outs in previous seasons).”
• From P.K. Richardson: “Tom Brady was an honorary captain and was wearing an unmarked Michigan jacket. I assume he chose not to wear Jumpman gear so the he wouldn’t upset his Under Armor bosses.”
• Memphis wore throwback Memphis State decals against an all-white Kansas squad.
• Very-classy gesture by the Tennessee band.
• Always nice to see Florida in orange/blue/orange, because despite being 0-3 all-time in that combo (1-3 now), it’s still just a solid, fun look that says “FLORIDA” to me.
• So, this is a thing.
• Texas A&M tried out a new combo over the weekend: white/white/maroon. Not bad.
• Oklahoma State unveiled some new “Marshall White” helmets, which have a nifty badge logo.
• South Carolina wore all-black (also dig those striped wristbands).
• Mizzou wore mono-gold.
• Easily my favorite uni from Week 3 is LSU’s Gridiron Gold look against Mississippi State.
• Andrew Lind notes that tOSU kicker Tyler Durbin was sans-swoosh and sans-block ‘O’.
• Arizona wore their uniforms honoring the U.S.S. Arizona against Hawai’i.
That’ll do it for Week 3! Not a lot of content, but that happens sometimes. See you next week! (hopefully with more content)
Thanks, TJ! OK, now on to the rest of the SMUW show.
Welcome to the 2016 Oregon Ducks Uni Tracker. This little project was originally begun way back in 2008-08 by Michael Princip, who retired after several seasons, whereupon the project was continued by Tim E. O’Brien. He, too, retired from the tracking, but the project has been ably kept up by the man who also tracks the Pac12, Dennis Bolt.
Here’s this week’s Uniform Combo for the Ducks (you can click to enlarge):
You can read about this uniform, and MUCH MORE, by checking out the Duck Tracker here!
Joe Ringham’s 5 & 1
Following in the footsteps of the original “5 & 1,” Jim Vilk, and Catherine Ryan after him, Joe Ringham is back for 2016 to make his “5 & 1” (five good looking and one stinker) Bowl matchups. Sometimes he’ll have some “honorable mentions” and sometimes there will be more than one “bad” game. You may agree and you may disagree — these are, after all, just opinions and everyone has one. Feel free to let him know what you think in the comments section.
Here’s Joe:
Good Saturday, everyone. Another week has come and gone with a plethora of fine looking games having been played. Time to see who made my list this week.
5) Duke at Northwestern — A late entry onto the list that caught my eye as I was flipping past it on television. Really like when Duke goes blue/white/blue on the road, and it matches up great against the matte black/purple/black home look that Northwestern went with.
4) Temple at Penn State — A fine looking game in Happy Valley. Really liked how the Owls’ maroon/white/maroon clashed against the Nittany Lions traditional white/navy/white home look. A sharp looking match-up between these two in-state foes.
3) Old Dominion at North Carolina State — I am a huge fan of the home look the Wolfpack went with this weekend, going red/red/white. Match it up against the Monarchs’ navy/white/navy and you have yourself quite the looker over in Raleigh.
2) North Dakota State at Iowa — When I saw this game pop up earlier in the week, looking for potential games for the list, I had a feeling this would look good. Always have loved the classic Iowa home uni, and it looks especially good against the yellow/white/green of the 5x-defending FCS Champ Bison.
1) Ohio at Tennessee — Another game I had a good feeling about earlier in the week, and, damn, did it ever deliver. The Vols white/orange/white home uni looked quite sharp against the matte green/white/green of the Bobcats. An easy call for me to make, putting it at the top.
And, finally…
+1) Georgia at Missouri — This isn’t as much for the Dawgs road uni (which is perfectly fine to me) as it is for what Mizzou went with. The mono-yellow with the black lids just look atrocious.
That will do it for me for this week. Enjoy the week, and I’ll see you next Sunday!
NCAA Uni Tracking
Uni Watch will again track the uniform combinations worn by the “Power 5” conferences. Most of the 2015 trackers are back, with one new tracker added:
We’ve got Rex Henry (tracking the ACC), Dennis Bolt (tracking the PAC-12), Kyle Acker (tracking the Big XII), Davis Vinckier (tracking the B1G), and Ethan Dimitroff, (tracking the SEC). Rex, Dennis, Kyle and Davis are all returning from 2015, and Ethan is new to the NCAA Uni Tracking this season
Here are the Uni Trackers for WEEK THREE of the NCAA Season.
Rex is up first today:
ACC
More Here.
Follow Rex on Twitter here.
And now, here’s Dennis with the PAC-12:
PAC-12
More here.
And here is Ethan, with the SEC:
SEC
And here is Kyle with the Big XII:
Big XII
And here’s Davis the B1G:
B1G
Paul’s Latest on ESPN
With the Ryder Cup set to begin in two weeks, Paul had an ESPN piece on Friday about Team USA’s new uniforms. Paul notes, “I don’t often write about golf, so this was an interesting change of pace for me, and the finished piece includes quotes from Team USA captain Davis Love III; his wife, Robin Love (the captain’s wife traditionally has a role in creating the team’s look); and the PGA’s merchandising director.”
It’s a great read, so check it out here.
Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil
Baseball News: “It appears that Ron Cash has a dash or hyphen between the ‘R’ and the ‘Cash’ of his NOB in this 1974 photo,” says Tristan Ridgeway. “Since he was teammates with Norm Cash in 1973 and 1974, I get that he needed the ‘R,’ but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a dash used in this manner.” … Our esteemed leader Paul is quoted in this New York Times piece entitled, “Baseball’s Stirrups: Always In Season, If Not In Fashion”. … A Beetle May Soon Strike Out Baseball’s Famous Ash Bats (from Cassian Wykes). .. There was some MLB logo creep on Kyle Crockett’s socks yesterday (from Robert Hayes). … This is great, someone has painted a Mets’ uniformed cyclist on a NYC bike lane logo (from Paul). … Yesterday, the Mets were wearing shirts from the campaign encouraging Hispanic players to use accent marks on name on their uniforms (from Birthday Girl Megan Brown). … David Price had the initials “TW” on his cap yesterday (from Martin). Apparently his best friend had passed away that morning.
NFL/CFL News: On Friday evening, the Montreal Alouettes wore a new road uniform combo. Wade Heidt explains: “Montreal Alouettes these days are similar to the late 1970s Pittsburgh Pirates. I am never certain what uniform combination they will be wearing…the Als wore white helmets and blue pants with their white jerseys. This is a new combination for them with this uniform design, since they started to wear white helmets often on the road instead of their silver buckets.” … More CFL stuff from Will Scheibler: “Duron Carter of the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes at the Hamilton/Montreal game Friday autographs a fans sign that proclaims he is the worst teammate ever.” Here’s a bit more on that. … The Spring St. subway station in New York City has huge Nike posters for each color rush uni (from NASCAR Paint Schemes). … A local target is ready for the Rams first regular season game back in LA (from Eric Gamborg). … The New Orleans Saints will wear white shirts and black britches today against the G-men.
College/High School Football News: “I found it a little interesting that my hometown high school football team (Northfield Raiders, Northfield, Minnesota) have gone to having two separate logos on their helmets this year,” says Brent Kivell. “The stylized ‘N’ has been used since the mid-1980s and replaced the marauding, machete-wielding ‘raider’ that has returned to the left side of the helmets this year. It got me wondering just how common something like this is. I certainly don’t recall anything, but with the way college teams have gone helmet crazy over the last few years maybe it’s not as unique as I think. … Rumor has it (and that’s all it is), these are the jerseys that Miami will introduce Monday (from Steven Hamilton). It’s expected they’ll throw/fauxback, so that would fit the rumor mill. Here’s a look at the orange version (from J.S.).
Hockey News: Red Wings “Pete” patches @ training camp for Traverse City supervisor (from Chris Powers). … Check out the alternate captaincy patch on the USA Hockey sweater (good spot by Jass). Here’s another look (from Cody Wolfe. … ESPN is using virtual ads on boards for World Cup. You can see the real A from the Honda ad thru snow spray (great spot by Eric Lovejoy). … Also in the Hockey World Cup, each player on Team Europe has his country’s flag on sleeve. Gaborik is SVK (from Teddy Ice).
Grab Bag: Here’s one for Jimmer Vilk (and I suppose anyone across the pond) — the top 5 changes in cricket gear since the 1980s. … At long last, our international nightmare is over: the curling broom controversy has ended (thanks, Paul). … Season ticket holders for the Utah Jazz get this awesome mini-court replica! (from Alex Shedden).
And that’s all for today. Big thanks to the entire SMUW Crew for their fantastic efforts, as always. Enjoy the Pros today. I’ll be back next Saturday but until then…
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
“Love the line about the Habs vs. Pens game being ‘colour vs. color.’ Don’t forget though, it was also ‘couleur vs. color’.”
— DJ Doc
I saw the Louisville decal, but didn’t register it as Muhammad Ali. I thought they were supporting some sorority girl. I like it, nonetheless.
Luv the LSU Old Gold jerseys – if only they had worn matching helmets, which they actually wore 3-4 years ago with their White jersey/White pants faux back set up ….
Once again, my beloved Saints turn a Top Ten uniform to a shit show with their asinine Black leotard pants. Sad, really. Sean Payton and Drew channeling the worst of Thuggerama Uni Immaturity ….
Imagine how much better Vandy’s “Gold” jerseys and entire uniform would look if the “Gold” were closer to LSU’s Old Gold, or at least somewhat darker than the current “Vegas Gold” that is 97% in the direction of White/Too Light ….
Can we FINALLY get rid of the “Chrome” helmet thing. (Are you listening, Louisville?) The routine got tired and rote after the 95th team wore them. When they develop Red Chrome jerseys to match them, get back to me ….
Is it just me, are do the Cleveland Browns’ new uniforms get worse looking EWVERY SINGLE WEEK? The Over/Under on going back to pre-2015 uniforms – 2.5 years ….
Exactly WHAT is the point in the entire Color Rush “thing”? Must the socks and cleats be one huge BLAH of the same color, no matter how utterly stupid that it looks?. How about simply making the uniform the best that It can be, even if it’s an alternate?
I hear you, Nick. Though uniforms and trend can change for the better, there is always something in the uni-world that bothers me. Just is not right. I take a deep breath and accept it.
Re: Cleveland Browns. This is an old school team. They don’t even really have a logo. This team should be wearing traditional style football uniform striping as they did pre-2015. They way their uniform should be treated is no different than teams like the Packers and Bears for example. Little tweaks are OK, no major changes (I do like the brown mask).
4 things about it that they let Nike do bug me:
-stripes on the arms cover more than the sleeves. They stretch toward the chest of the jersey. Looks odd.
-Cleveland on the chest is a little large.
-Word and partial stripes on the pants.
-Different colour stitching on the seams. Close up on the brown jersey, it looks horrible. Like a student made this in a sewing class.
Cleveland is an old-school team? Nah, they’re an expansion team, no matter how much the NFL pretends otherwise.
OBTW – How about Green/Gold teams wearing Green/Gold a bit more often than they wear Black. Re: Oregon and Baylor
Regarding the 1974 photo of Ron Cash, I noticed three bats that had white tape on the barrel. Anyone know what possible use that would serve?
Probably extending the lifespan of practise bats, or cracked gamers relegated to BP now.
RSB
Spot on from 5 & 1 on the Ohio/Tennessee game. Nice to see this feature revert back to sanity. Good job Joe.
The two OSU teams that are least full of themselves have great uniforms these days: Cowboys and Beavers of course.
LSU looked swell.
Lots of UCLA stripes in the 5 & 1 today.
Hideous link in Fort Collins.
Ohhh, the NFL better not catch wind of that Target display, considering that Pepsi is an official sponsor of the NFL, and half of the display uses Coke products.
Two things…
Texas was on the road at Cal, so wore their white jerseys.
Based on the way the Tigers arch their names on the back of the jerseys, I assume it is a period on Ron Cash’s jersey, not a dash.
The NCAA uni tracking is consistently wrong
Hi Neeko-I’m one of the uni trackers (Pac-12, not Big 12) and we all are volunteers who do this on our spare time and under some deadline pressure (especially Pac-12 after dark games) Luckily the teams often give previews earlier in the week, but all of us trackers are sometimes going to make mistakes like mistakenly think that a team will wear the normal colored pants, but then spring a saturday surprise and wear something odd, and then we forget to change it in our Saturday night drawing. Bear with us:-)
I’ll never understand how Nike manages to get Iowa’s sleeve stripes right while they keep being truncated on the Steelers’.
Not that it should matter or prevent Nike from getting BOTH teams’ striping correct, but I am almost certain that Iowa’s striping is screened on to the jersey, while the Steelers’ striping is actually imbedded into the material.
Ok that’s interesting, I actually thought they were both screened on to the jersey, thanks.
Steelers have pretty much always have used imbedded striping in their jerseys. They are pretty much the last NFL team that still used durene shoulders and sleeves with imbedded striping. I think the durene was phased out with Nike taking over, but striping still imbedded. The NY Giants White jersey also uses imbedded Red striping. In the NFL, that’s pretty much it.
The Giants’ sleeve stripes are screened on, and Durene coated fabric has not been used for decades. Reebok was definitely not using it. The Steelers’ stripes have simply been knit into whatever material was used at any given time.
5 & 1: Great choices this year. However – no love for the LSU / Mississippi State game this week?
World Cup of Hockey: in the couple of games I’ve watched, there are some great-looking shirts
Correction Joe on the Temple games –
CHERRY/white/CHERRY
We Temple grads take this very seriously!!!
NFL Game Worn Nike Jerseys – For Sale in Saints’ Team Shop
After three years of wearing them, the Saints are finally selling surplus and previously used Game Worn Nike “Flywire”-era jerseys to the public in their Team Shop at the Superdome. These are my observations”
The Flywire jerseys are cut very small, much smaller than the Saints more recent Reebok manufacterered jerseys. There are NO SLEEVES of any kind on these Nike “Flywire” gamers, not even for the QB’s or WR’s, and the evidence on the racks reveal that these jerseys all seem to fall apart after several wearings or washings.
On all of the White game jerseys, the Flywire collars have severe, nasty looking Yellowish discoloration. The jerseys are rife with small tears and holes – much moreso than other gamers sold in the past. The lineman gamers include for some players up to TEN duplicate game worn jerseys – particularly those for offensive lineman – with all TEN jerseys for the same players being yellowed, torn and with holes. If you are in need of TEN White OG Ben Grubbs gamers from 2013-2015 – the Saints Team Shop has them out on the rack. All are heavily damaged and game used, no mistake about it.
The Black gamers lack the yellowish mess of the White ones, but do have a rancid area of the Flywire collar where the glue is severely discolored.
None of the Saints’ marquis players’ jerseys are for sale, only regular players or preseason cuts, and all gamers are priced from $125-$250. The still active players, usually OL or DL, are priced higher.
These jerseys are, even with the largest sizes, essentially unwearable for anyone weighing more than 170 pounds or approaching an adult size, and given the lack of sleeves and the smaller sizing and the elastic band around the bottom hem of EVERY single gamer (this was rare with pre-Flywire gamers, for the Saints at least, the current Nike Flywire gamers are essentially USELESS for full grown adult fans to wear.
The Saints’ more recent Reebok gamers were better cut for wearing, many had wearable sleeves (DB;s, QB’s, WR’s, TE’s Long snappers, even many LB’s), al were cut much longer, and all were in much better shape than the current Nikes.
If you are interested in such things as Game Worn NFL jerseys for wearing, or even display, then Heaven simply ‘aint what it used to be ….
Thanks for the ad!
Not meant to be an “ad”. More of a statement of disappointment and disgust. I expected a whole lot better.
In fairness I think the primary purpose of the real gameday Nike jerseys is to be as tight and as light as possible for gameday, not hold their resale value for fans. It would make sense that a jersey designed to be as tight and as light as possible would breakdown after a few uses versus a jersey made with heavy and cumbersome fabric like the Reebok jerseys. As far as buying retail, the Nike jerseys absolutely obliterate the Reebok ones. Much higher quality and the colors pop way better.
Sunderland wore pink and purple hoops for yesterday’s soccer game against Tottenham Hotspur.
link
The 2 on Davis’s Michigan uniform is incorrect. It was changed this year to the same as the Bulls.
HOW did Ohio State/Oklahoma get left off of the 5&1?
There were some very nice combos on the list, but seeing two iconic (and relatively unchanged) unis on the same field is rare, and both looked great.