Sunday Morning Uni Watch

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By Phil Hecken and the Sunday Morning Uni Watch Gang

Week 12 *may* have just brought out the best unis (and matchups) of the season, starting with the annual best looking matchup of the season, UCLA vs. USC. If you’re like me, you probably were expecting this game to be played after Thanksgiving, but it is what it is. It’s still a great looking game — and now that UCLA (in its last year with adidas) has fixed (or as close to fixed as they can do) their shoulder loops, the game REALLY looks great. All they need to do is fix the numeral fonts and we’ll be set. Maybe Under Armour can take care of that for us, next year.

Lots to get to today, so let’s kick things of with TJ bringing you your…

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Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet, Jr.

Nothing like a couple of snow games around this time of year. But despite the fun, there wasn’t a lot of uni action for Week 12, but here’s what I was able to gather…

From Wednesday:

• There’s a foggy glass joke here somewhere, although it’s hard to make out. Also of note: Toledo and Ball State went color-vs-color.

From Thursday:

• You already know what’s coming. Also, Houston wore these again. Well, at least it’s a shade of grey that we can easily distinguish from white. [Hmmm. I wonder where TJ got the idea for that. ;) — PH]

From Friday:

• Cincinnati wore their Bara Cat mono-reds against Memphis. in addition, they honored all 17 of their seniors by putting their name and number in the helmet stripe. Also, this happened…

From Saturday:

• Oh GDI, TCU. This is the pits.

• Illinois wore all-navy against Iowa. An alright look by itself, but disappointing in yesterday’s context, because it kills what could’ve been a colorful matchup. Also, Matt Kirby spotted Illini OB Wes Lunt with the old Illinois logo on his hand warmer.

• Florida wore all-orange in a redesignated game against LSU that was postponed weeks ago due to Hurricane Matthew. Benji King spotted Gators RB Jordan Scarlett’s helmet stripe either wasn’t fully-cut to size, or it wasn’t tucked under the neck bumper. Also, Ran Isaacs notes: “The photographer bibs state vs. South Alabama November 19, 2016, the original opponent for today’s game. We probably already printed and didn’t want to waste money redoing them.”

• Gene Sanney writes: “Husker player minus a helmet logo on the left side… kinda chilly, but I wouldn’t think cold enough to make the decal brittle enough to crack off…. maybe a Steelers tribute :)”

• NC State wore their red helmets against Miami.

• Appalachian State wore S&S decals against Louisiana-Monroe, and they also wore ‘GA’ decals in honor of Gerald Adams, who passed away recently.

• Pitt wore their stellar retro uniforms for a second time this season against Duke.

• Syracuse wore white/orange/white for the first time against Florida State.

• Georgia wore black jersey tops with the standard red lids and silver britches for the first time since 2008 (I feel like they wore them later than that, but I’m honestly unsure) against Louisiana-Lafayette.

• Timabullis writes: “Not sure how clear this shot is, but I noticed several Indiana players with parts of the helmet sticker simply sitting over the helmet holes. Peculiar to their design; rather than a stripe and a decision to cut it or not, they just left the parts hovering over the openings.”

• Look at Ole Miss DB C.J. Hampton (#4) being an individual (with credit to Trés Lawless).

• Dan Medina spotted a Washington player with a makeshift cross on the back of his helmet.

• In one of the snow games of the day, Oklahoma wore their Rough Rider road alts against West Virginia (they wore the home version in a win against the Mountaineers last year).

• And to warm things up a little, we head over to California, for a matchup that needn’t a single word… except for this: please get rid of the awful black gear.

And that should do it for Week 12! Tune in next week for the post-Thanksgiving games, including… The Game. No, not The actual Game: that was yesterday. I’m talking about this one (which really should be color-vs-color at this point). See you all next week.

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Thanks, TJ — stellar job as always! OK, now on the the rest of your SMUW…

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), and Ethan Dimitroff (now tracking the B1G AND the SEC). Rex, Dennis, and Kyle and are all returning from 2015, and Ethan is new to the NCAA Uni Tracking this season. Ethan has stepped into the dual role (thanks, man!) of both the B1G and the SEC after one of my previous trackers could no longer provide the B1G.

Here are the Uni Trackers for WEEK TWELVE of the NCAA Season.

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Rex is up first today (ACC):

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ACC

More Here.
Follow Rex on Twitter here.

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

PAC-12

More here.

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And here is Ethan, with the SEC:

SEC

And be sure to check out Ethan’s WVU Mountaineer Tracker.

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And here is Kyle with the Big XII:

Big XII

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And here’s Ethan with the B1G:

B1G

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Welcome to the 2016 Oregon Ducks Uni Tracker. This little project was originally begun way back in 2008-09 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) uni-vs-uni 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:

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Good Sunday, everyone! The last few weeks of the regular season means we get to see some of the traditionally awesome-looking rivalry games. So, let’s get to this weeks list…

5) UTEP at Rice — Senior Day in Houston was quite the looker. The Owls looked sharp in blue/blue/white to close out the home schedule. Coupled with the Miners going orange/white/orange, and looking quite dapper with this look on the road, and you have one incredibly sharp looking game in C-USA.

4) Ball State at Toledo — A little Wednesday night MACtion, and a color vs color game to boot. Really liked the Cardinals in their red/black/red on the road. Toledo looked just as great in white/yellow/white for their home finale, and it made them quite visible in the fog that enveloped the Glass Bowl.

3) Arizona State at Washington — Caught this game on TV while looking for other games and was immediately enthralled by it. I really love it when U-Dub goes gold/purple/gold at home, even with the the black on the sleeves and the sort-of weird numeral styling. Matched up against the Sun Devils’ yellow/white/maroon road look (one of the best of the many uniform looks they possess), and you have a terrific looking game in Seattle.

2) Indiana at Michigan — Out of all the uni combos the Hoosiers have gone with this season, this may be the best. Absolutely loved the crimson/white/crimson road set for this week. And, of course, Michigan always looks good in their usual home uni, among the iconic uniform looks in all of the land. Bonus points to the periodic snow showers rolling through the Big House, making the game pop a little bit more.

1) USC at UCLA — The best looking color vs color game in college football, and perhaps the best looking game of the season as well. No other explanation needed.

And, finally…

+1) Florida at LSU — Normally, I love LSU’s yellow/white/yellow at home. Normally, I don’t entirely mind the Gators going mono-orange. Put them both together, though, and you have one very ugly looking game in Death Valley.

That will do it for me. Have a wonderful Turkey Day, enjoy all the football, including the rivalry games being played on Thursday and Friday, and I’ll see you all next Sunday!

UW’s Friday Flashback

In case you missed it on Friday, this has been a big year for custom-designed NFL cleats. You might think the sneakers companies are the ones coming with the custom designs, but a lot of them have actually been produced by two guys in Buffalo (including the pair they created for Bills running back LeSean McCoy, shown here).

Check out the Friday Flashback here.

Enjoy!

Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil

Baseball News: As we learned last weekend (and Paul expounded upon earlier this week), the Arizona D-Backs are “fixing” their uniforms, but are there more changes in store? “Do the D-Backs have a new hat?” asks Dave Oechsle. “It’s listed on mlb.com as authentic.” … Check out this great vintage San Diego Padres art (h/t Brady Phelps). … Check out this neat vintage cap that Babe Ruth wore during the 1934 U.S. Baseball Tour of Japan Team (from Bruce Menard). … Also from Bruce — Future Baseball HOF’er Tony Lazzeri of the 1925 Salt Lake City Bees, who says, “All-time great player, all-time great jersey!”

NFL/CFL News: This is awesome: following on the heels of Leo Strawn’s fantastic CFL post yesterday, Tim Hodge tweeted at me that he has done a uniform tracker for the CFL this past season! Love this stuff! … Whoa — check out this “Aztec” inspired helmet for the Houston Texans (nice spot by Adam Brodsky). Actually, it looks like all the teams are represented (from Mike Chamernik). As you guys probably know, the NFL will be playing Monday night in Mexico. … “I ´m a faithful Mexican NFL fan and a football uniforms obsessed, I love your site and I Just wanted to congratulate you for the outstanding job,” writes Eduardo Derbez. “Since there is a match taking place in Mexico city next Monday night I felt it was timely appropriated to share this information [on NFL uniform matchups that have never happened] from a down boarder friend from Guadalajara. I ´ve been researching on this since 2009, please feel free to share it if you find it interesting as I do.” … Should the Saints make their TNF Color Rash costumes their regular road unis? Sign me up! … Speaking of great looking combos, the Tennessee Titans will be wearing their best one today (h/t Lee Wilds). … More CFL: Check out these Vancouver Archives photos — a couple Grey Cups @ Empire Stadium in Vancouver (from Will Scheibler): 1) 1958 Grey Cup scoreboard; 2) 1958 Grey Cup game — Hamilton Tiger-Cats & Winnipeg Blue Bombers; 3) 1955 Grey Cup — Edmonton Eskimos entering field; and 4) their warmup in end zone.

College/High School Football News: Yesterday I proclaimed UNC would be wearing “all black” citing an unnamed source. Turns out that source was wrong. I won’t out him, but here’s the email Uniwatching received, “I know a bunch of guys on the UNC football team and they’ve been telling me for weeks that they’re wearing all black against the citadel-first time they’ve done that since the redesign. The twitter account tweeted that they’re wearing Carolina blue tops but they’re going to be wearing black. Also the end zones have American flags painted in them. Please keep this anonymous but I know my information is accurate (emphasis mine).” Lesson learned: unless the team officially announces a uni change, don’t report it. … Even though most of you (might) disagree, and I’m sure your lists would all be different, this article attempts to pick the seven ugliest uniforms in College Football history. On that list there are a couple that might make my top 10…but it just proves “ugly” is in the eye of the beholder. … More from the “which team is which” department: “This is from the South Jersey Group 4 semifinals,” says Michael Driscoll. “Shawnee is in white/white/white, Timber Creek is in dark silver/very light gray/navy. I know Timber Creek isn’t wearing white jerseys because you can see a faint white outline around the numbers.” … Reader Ted Arnold sends in this example of a product that probably looked good on paper, but not so much in the execution. … Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? Or is it just a ripoff: “plattsmouth High school in Nebraska is rocking these lids starting next year” says Hardy Wallbanger. … Here’s a nice look at the Life Magazine cover that was cancelled this week in 1963 after news of President Kennedy’s assassination (from Paul Friedmann).

Hockey News: Whoa — check out this vintage 1987 Salt Lake Golden Eagles jersey which the ECHL Utah Grizzlies (Affiliate of the Anaheim Ducks) wore last evening (thanks to Brian Prutch for the tip). … Here’s a “Military” jersey tribute we missed: The Wichita Thunder wore these ‘Top Gun’ sweaters on Veterans’ Day. … “It looks like the numbers on Price’s uniform are lower than his teammates’ numbers” says Ed Bauza, who adds, parenthetically, “(Or maybe the stripe on his is higher)”

NBA/College Hoops News: Nice color vs. color game in Philly last night between the Suns and the Sixers. The Sixers were wearing their ’66-’67 throwbacks (from Thom Pucks). … From that same game, here are a couple more photos (from Mike Chamernik). … Also from Mike, the Mavericks were wearing white in Orlando last evening. … Leave it to Jimmer Vilk to have an issue with contrast on a jersey. Shocking, right?

Soccer News: Just a few days after the reveal of the inaugural home jersey, the new Atlanta United 2017 away jersey was leaked. Ahead of the team’s first-ever MLS season, the Atlanta United 2017 away kit will be released in early 2017 (thanks to Josh Hinton). … Dortmund and Bayern had a very pleasing red vs gold matchup yesterday (from Paracelsus).

Grab Bag: Our pal R. Scott Rogers thought we’d enjoy the story below of the unofficial Taiwanese team within the Madison Curling Club and their “Fighting Yams” patch: “It is our honor to be included in this big happy curling family! Right from the start of our joining MCC in 2000, everyone have gone out of their way to welcome and make all of us feel at home. The support, encouragement, and friendship that we have received are priceless and cannot be repaid. On behalf of the Fighting Yams of Taiwan, we want to thank you all for enriching our lives forever!” You can read more about the founding by clicking here. Awesome, Scotty!

And that will do it for this weekend. Thanks fo the SMUW crew for another outstanding effort!

Now that the colder weather is here for most of the States, and Turkey Day is just around the corner, that means the football season (college) is beginning to wind down, the NFL is heating up (lots of games all week long), and puck & hoops are in full swing. I personally HATE this time of year (I like hot, humid days and nights so warm you can wear shorts), but I know a lot of you love it. To each his/her own!

Wish Paul and me luck tonight as we curl at the BLCC and hope to push our record to 3-0. And yes, I’ll have crazy pants again (hopefully there will be a photo on Monday). Everyone have a great Sunday, a super week, and a Happy Thanksgiving. I’ll catch you fine readers next Saturday. But until then…

Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.

Peace.

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“Love how Princeton, an Ivy League school, has the hashtag “look good play good.” You’d think they care about grammar even a little! :P (And yes, I know that “look good play well” does not have the same ring to it.)”

— Lindsay Resnick