Let’s Go Bowling – Part 2 (2016 Edition)

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By Phil Hecken

Hey guys — back with the annual look back (with an excuse to pick the Bowl game winners) at the 2016 uniforms and combinations of all the teams involved in the second set (December 28 through January 2) of College Football Bowl Games. Usually I do these posts on consecutive weekends (giving you…and ME…a break), but since next weekend is Christmas Eve/Christmas Day, I will be off and Paul will be handling the very light weekend content (plus he’ll have the winners of the annual Uni Watch raffle on the 25th). So, it’s back-to-back days this weekend, and today I have Part 2.

If you missed Part I, you can click here.

The concept of this exercise is pretty simple: pick the winners of the bowl games (against the spread), based on who has the better uniform set worn throughout the 2016 season. As always, you can click on the graphics to see a full size. In all cases, every attempt was made to include all uniform combos worn by each team throughout the year. In some instances, a team with a better uniform in general, but who goes off the grid with too many “special” unis (or fails to use school colors) will not get the nod over a lesser-attired team. It’s not a question of how many unis and combos a school has ”” it’s who wears them better.

Since there are 41 total bowl games this season (plus the final Playoff Game for the National Championship), and a lot of the Bowls have either only corporate d-baggery sponsor names or have changed names/sponsors, I’ll refer to them as their names appear here. If you want a pdf that contains the location of each bowl, click here. OK? OK!

OK ”” here’s Part II:

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New Era Pinstripe
Pittsburgh vs. Northwestern
Wednesday, December 28; 2:00 pm; ESPN
Spread: Pitt is favored by 5.5 points

Pitt got new unis this year, finally returning the beautiful “Pitt” script to the helmets, and kept their navy/metallic gold for colors. I’m not a fan of the number fonts, but otherwise the unis are solid. They also re-introduced (and wore twice) a GORGEOUS royal/athletic gold throwback, which really needs to be their permanent uni. I’ve never really warmed to NU’s new set (going on a few years now), and their BFBS and GFGS score major points off. Pitt wins the uni battle here.
The Pick: I’ll take the Panthers and give NU five point five.

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Russell Athletic
West Virginia vs. Miami (FL)
Wednesday, December 28; 5:30 pm; ESPN
Spread: Miami is a 3 point favorite

For a team with two outstanding colors (navy and gold), WVU sure does an awful lot of annoying things to make me not love their unis: unnecessary BFBS accents on the blue jerseys, truncated jersey stripes on the white and blue tops, horrible “pick axe” fonts. They can mix and match colors well, but that’s about it. Miami, on the other hand, made a rare (unprecedented?) mid-season jersey change, going from the “feather” pattern on the sleeves and pants to a classic, throwback striping. It was a terrific change — one of the best things the U and adidas have done. Easy choice here.
The Pick: Rock me like a Hurricane and take your field goal.

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Foster Farms
Indiana vs. Utah
Wednesday, December 28; 8:30; FOX
Spread: Utah is a 7.5 point favorite

For a school that only uses crimson and white, Indiana sure has a lot of combos — and they have (if you count decal swaps) it seems about six different helmets. They did add some awesome candy-striped sleeve caps to the jersey this season (can candy-stripe pants be far behind?), which was a nice (for once) addition. Utah somehow managed to get through the entire season without repeating a combo (usually this nets points off), but I really like their uni set, including the “mountain” graphic on the sleeve caps. It’s a tough call here, but the Utes get the edge.
The Pick: I’ll take Utah and surrender the TD with the hook.

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AdvoCare V100 Texas
Texas A&M vs. Kansas State
Wednesday, December 28; 9:00 pm; ESPN
Spread: Texas A&M is a 2.5 point favorite

Since going to this uni set back during the Johnny Football days, A&M has had steady, solid outfits, working with the maroon and white well. When you think SEC West, this is kind the uni you picture, no? K-State, on the other hand, is one of those schools who usually goes through the entire season with two jerseys and one set of pants. They actually deviated from that this year for one game, wearing a white hat for a “military” tribute uni that really didn’t look all that different from their normal one. You might think their Dallas Cowboys-clone unis are dated. I think they’re classic. And they get the nod here.
The Pick: I’ll take the Wildcats and the deuce and a half.

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Birmingham
USF vs. South Carolina
Thursday, December 29; 2:00 pm; ESPN
Spread: South Florida is a 10.5 point favorite

USF’s “normal” uniforms are a nice combo of dark green and metallic gold, but this year they wore not one but two retina-searing alternates — a ‘tequila-sunrise-esque’ alternate with neon numbers and undershirts, and a breast cancer-inspired bit with lots of neon pink. Feh. SCar on the other hand has evolved a pretty solid set with black, garnet and white. Their striping is now uniform (always a huge bonus) and despite their tendencies to have multiple combos, they all work well. Easy call here.
The Pick: Give me the Gamecocks and a whole lotta points.

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Belk
Arkansas vs. Virginia Tech
Thursday, December 29; 5:30 pm; ESPN
Spread: Virginia Tech is a 7 point favorite

Arkansas got new unis a couple years ago, and despite the “tusk” striping on the sleeve and pants, I really like them — I mean, they are the Razorbacks, right? And for the most part they stick to a basic home and road look. Sadly, they jumped on the anthracite-for-anthracite’s-sake bandwagon, knocking their overall “like” score down a peg. Va Tech somehow makes maroon and orange work, but they’ve always had a propensity for working in one truly awful uniform into their set — this year it was the “hokie stone” look they sported at Bristol against UT. Not bad otherwise, but not quite enough to get the nod over the Hogs.
The Pick: I’ll take Arkansas and the touchdown.

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Valero Alamo
Oklahoma State vs. Colorado
Thursday, December 29; 9:00 pm; ESPN
Spread: Colorado is a 3.5 point favorite

The Cowboys of Ok State got a new uniform set this year, and it looks like they tried to fit every possible combo into their games. They’ve got great school colors in black and orange, yet they somehow decided gray pants were necessary. I’m not a helmet guy, but I do like their flashy set for some reason. Colorado is another school who like to mix and match, using black, white, gold and silver. I get that historically silver is a school color, but it just looks more like GFGS these days. Stick to the black and gold, guys. It’s a tough call here, but I’ll give the nod to OSU.
The Pick: Okie State plus three-point-five.

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AutoZone Liberty
Georgia vs. TCU
Friday, December 30; Noon; ESPN
Spread: Georgia is a 1 point favorite

Other than their giant “toilet seat” contrasting collars, the Dawgs have gorgeous unis — and those silver britches are perfect. They even (successfully this time) wore a black alternate jersey, much to the delight of their alternate-crazed fans who’d been calling for its return for many years. TCU — where do we start? Awful unis, awful lids. The “frogskin” affect on the unis does not look good, and for a school with purple and black, they still feel the need for a GFGS alternate. Sadly, their best two looks are their all black and all white kits. Not good. Easy decision here.
The Pick: UGa me baby, I’ll give up the single.

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Hyundai Sun
Stanford vs. North Carolina
Friday, December 30; 2:00 pm; CBS
Spread: Stanford is a 4 point favorite

Maybe even Jimmer Vilk will join his friend Jakob Wolf to watch his favorite Bowl this year, as it will be a fantastic looking game…unless either side decides to go BFBS. Each school has glorious uniforms — the Tree in their cardinal and white, and NC in their Carolina blue and white. Yet, each copped to one game in BFBS unis. Why? (Don’t answer that). Still, I would expect both teams to be wearing their “Sunday” best for this game (and a color vs. color would work very well here too, even if it probably won’t be happening). When Carolina added their Alexander Julian-inspired argyle pattern to the unis, I fell in love. Still am.
The Pick: Tar Heels plus four.

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Franklin American Mortgage Music City
Nebraska vs. Tennessee
Friday, December 30; 3:30 pm; ESPN
Spread: Tennessee is a 3 point favorite

Is it just me, or does it seem that as we get to the “better” bowls, we get teams with better unis? Maybe there is some truth to the sentiment that the less-“traditional” schools need many flashy unis to attract 17-year olds attracted to shiny objects? Nah. Anyway, this is another matchup featuring great unis — for the most part. Nebraska always plays one game in an alternate costume, and this year they actually wore a mostly white uni and did it on the road (a rarity). Tennessee, of course, added the “smokey grey” unis a couple years back (and they will wear it in this game too — as a “tribute” to the recent wildfire victims in the east Tennessee area). I’d normally pick UT and their orange and white, but not this time.
The Pick: Give me an “N” for knowledge and a field goal.

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NOVA Home Loans Arizona
South Alabama vs. Air Force
Friday, December 30; 5:30; ASN/CI
Spread: Air Force is a 13 point favorite

USA! USA! USA! (Get it?) The University of South Alabama managed to go all 12 games with a different uniform combo, effectively mixing up the red, white and blue for 11 of those. They also had a gray/black alt for some reason. Sigh. Air Force kept it relatively simple for the most part, but their one alternate was an absolutely fantastic “Shark Tooth” helmet/gray number that paid homage to WWII fighter planes. Awesome. And guess what, they’re wearing it in this game that almost none of us will see (what the hell is the ASN/CI channel, anyway?). But picking the winner by uni for this game is no contest.
The Pick: Falcons for the “W”, giving up the 13.

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Capital One Orange
Michigan vs. Florida State
Friday, December 30; 8:00 pm; ESPN
Spread: Michigan is a 7 point favorite

Say what you will about Jim Harbaugh as a coach or human being, but his uniform taste cannot be questioned. Since taking over, he cut out the multiple uni nonsense and put UM (first in adidas and now in Jordan) in classic looks, one of the best in the game. The maize pants (which some would like for the roadies, but I like the all white look) are even better now. And that helmet is probably the most iconic and best in the game. FSU also has great unis, and the garnet and gold are a terrific combo. But their “upgrade” a couple years ago was actually a downgrade, and while still a good set, it just doesn’t come close to UM.
The Pick: I’ll take the Wolverines and give you a touchdown.

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Buffalo Wild Wings Citrus
LSU vs. Louisville
Saturday, December 31; 11:00 am ABC
Spread: LSU is a 3.5 point favorite

This one shouldn’t be as close as it seems. LSU, solid in their white-at-home-and-road (except for the traditional purple game — or if someone wears white to make them wear purple; plus a mustard-colored throwback) vs. the ‘ville in their toothed-mascot (hey, Cardinals, cardinals don’t have teeth) with tire-tread tops. No brainer, right? Well, LSU did get an upgrade with full loops, but I’m not a fan of how Nike (and they do this for several teams) continues the stripe on the sleeve hem. Looks off. And in order to fit the loops, they had to make the font narrower (they also did this with Ole Miss, who have the identical template). I’m still not sold on Louisville unis, but I happen to love their red chrome hat (one of the few I do like), so it’s a closer call than you’d think. But in the end, the Tigers will eat the Cards.
The Pick: Geaux for it and I’ll give you three and a half.

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TaxSlayer
Georgia Tech vs. Kentucky
Saturday, December 31; 11:00 am; ESPN
Spread: Georgia Tech is a 3 point favorite

Ah, the last of the Brunch Bowls before our main course. For a team that only wore white jerseys, Tech somehow managed five different uni combos. I’m not a big fan of their white helmet with the “honeycomb” texture that’s not really visible unless you’re close up, but that gold-white-gold combo is divine. UK got new unis this year, and fixed the checkerboard pattern on the sleeve caps, a positive development. Sadly, their gorgeous blue-and-white colorscheme is marred by the obligatory black combo. That actually tipped the balance to the Jackets, if you thought it was close.
The Pick: Give me the Ramblin’ Wreck minus the field goal.

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Chick-fil-A Peach
Washington vs. Alabama
Saturday, December 31; 3:00 pm; ESPN
Spread: Alabama is a 16 point favorite

Now we’re cookin’ with gas. Our first “playoff” bowl. If you know me, you know ‘bama wears my favorite uni set in college, so no matter who their opponent is, you know who I’m taking. And a couple years ago, this would have been a bigger mismatch than the 16 point spread. But Washington has totally cut down on the multiple combos, wearing (almost exclusively) gold/purple/gold at home, and gold/white/purple on the road, with the one BFBS (this year “military” tribute) game thrown in. Their unis still aren’t great (sleeve caps are a distraction, especially the black caps on the purple tops), pants stripe on the purple sucks, and the ridiculous “wedge” (supposed to mimic the angle of the stadium seating) bumpersticker on the jerseys. But they’ve stuck with their classic color combos this year, so good for them. Still, no contest here.
The Pick: Roll Tide.

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PlayStation Fiesta
Ohio State vs. Clemson
Saturday, December 31; 7:00; ESPN
Spread: Ohio State is a 3.5 point favorite

Our second playoff game features another set of classic unis. And I’m conflicted here. The Buckeyes wore two great home/road unis, and capitulated to their one “throwback/alt” Nike puts them in every year with a still-attractive 1916 fauxback. But then, inexplicably, in THE Game, they ditched their classic silver, er…gray, hat for a mashup of the fauxback helmet and throwback jersey, all with black accents. Don’t do that, THE. Clemson, who has a uniform I absolutely love, still insists on going one game in all purple, which I hate. They should wear orange/orange/white for every home game, and orange/white/orange for every road game. For their “special” game, go all orange. I’m just not a fan of the orange/purple/purple look (I’m trying to picture the purple tops with orange pants here…). Meh. This one is real close, but I’m gonna give the ever-so-slight edge to the Buckeyes and hope I don’t regret it.
The Pick: THE minus the field goal and the hook.

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Outback
Florida vs. Iowa
Monday, January 2; 1:00 pm; ABC
Spread: Florida is a 2.5 point favorite

All our traditional New Year’s Day bowls have been moved to the day after (a couple never play on a Sunday anyway, and they don’t want to compete with the NFL), so your first “hangover bowl” bowl features UF and Iowa. I love Florida’s stealthy striping pattern (pointed out by Comrade Robert Marshall several years ago) — they ALWAYS go orange/blue/white/blue/orange (if you count the solid orange helmet and pants as a stripe)…except on the orange jersey, which absolutely kills my OCD. Why, Florida, why do you do this to me? Iowa is just solid in their Steelers-esque (only better than the Stillers because they have full sleeve stripes and block numbers) unis. It’s close, but not that close.
The Pick: Give me the Hawkeyes and the points.

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Goodyear Cotton
Western Michigan vs. Wisconsin
Monday, January 2; 1:00 pm; ESPN
Spread: Wisconsin is a 7 point favorite

Let’s get this over with early. Despite being the Cinderella story of 2016, there is NOTHING to like about Western Michigan’s unis. Every single one of them is awful. Sorry, there’s just no other way to put it. Even if they weren’t playing Wisconsin (who look fantastic), it’s likely I’d pick against them. But they are playing Sconnie, whose unis are outstanding.
The Pick: Badgers? We need those stinkin’ Badgers, even if we give away a TD.

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Rose Bowl Game
USC vs. Penn State
Monday, January 2; 5:00 pm; ESPN
Spread USC is a 6.5 point favorite

In almost *any* other contest, the Trojans in their cardinal and gold would be a slam dunk pick. My high school team may have looked like the Crimson Tide, but their name was the Trojans, so I’ve always had an affinity for USC. Unfortunately, the men of Troy bump up against Penn State, who just so happen to own my second favorite uni in the game. Say what you will about the school or its former coach, but their unis have stood the test of time. Regardless, this one is an all-time classic good looker. But the Nits have my heart.
The Pick: I’ll take PSU and the points.

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Allstate Sugar
Auburn vs. Oklahoma
Monday, January 2; 8:30 pm; ESPN
Spread: Oklahoma is a 5 point favorite

Our penultimate game, and final Bowl game of the year features another set of teams with great unis. Auburn improved an already classic uni a couple years ago by fixing their pants stripes, and the navy/orange is a solid colorscheme. Oklahoma also features great home and road unis, with crimson and white — but they also have two alternate “Bring The Wood” (whatever that means) uniforms in crimson and cream (their actual school colors), which don’t look bad save for the trademark toilet seat collars. That’s enough to tip the scales to the Tigers.
The Pick: I choose Auburn and the bonus fiver.

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And there you have it. A look at the uniforms for the second set of bowls, with the winner chosen by better uni. As in the past, I’ll probably only get about half right…but you never know. I hope you enjoyed this lookback (like I said yesterday, this set of posts is by far the most time-intensive and research-oriented of the year, but I do enjoy it).

Let me know what you think? Did I pick the better uni in each game? I’m sure our opinions differ, so let me know.

UW’s Friday Flashback

In case you missed it on Friday, Paul has written an ESPN piece that takes a broader view of how Thursday Night’s color rush uniforms fit into the Seahawks’ and Rams’ respective pasts ”” and possibly their futures. Paul notes the “Rams-Seahawks game wasn’t the best-looking Color Rush game of the season (that honor goes to October’s Broncos-Chargers matchup), but in many ways it was the most intriguing uniform pairing of the Thursday night schedule.” He then takes an in-depth look at the possibilities of the Seahawks keeping the “action” green and Rams going the white/blue routes down the road. Great stuff!

Check out the Friday Flashback here.

Enjoy!

And Now A Quick Word from Jimmy Corcoran…

Got a note from Jimmy earlier (and like the Too Good for the Ticker below, it’s a bit too long for the ticker):

Hey Phil, I saw this Philadelphia Bell poster on ebay today:

My father had a framed one like this in his weight room in our house but I never put this in my room, it wasn’t accurate enough and I didn’t like the beer logo on it. Too bad I didn’t have a computer in the 1970’s. I removed the beer logo and words at the bottom and changed the 97 to a 9 and took away the nose guard on the helmet, now it looks like a plain Philadelphia Bell poster with my father as the QB.

I made this mini poster for my nephew for Christmas, blew it up and framed it for him. I tried to make it look like those Nike posters from the early 80’s, understated with just the logo.

Take care,

Jimmy Corcoran

. . . . .

Thanks, Jimmy — cool stuff. You’re a great uncle! In case anyone is wondering how accurate Jimmy’s “fixed” poster is — well, here’s a picture of his dad, King Corcoran. Looks pretty good!

Too Good…

for the Ticker

Got an e-mail from Paul Pass who noticed a very interesting phenomenon (one which may make Paul shudder) regarding the Division III “Stagg Bowl” (their Championship game), and his research was just a bit too long, and a bit too good, for the ticker. Here’s Paul…

. . .

An interesting phenomenon…or alarming given your disdain for the color purple: With the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Crusaders’ victory in the Stagg Bowl this Friday night, 21 of the last 24 champions in Division III college football have had purple as either a primary or secondary color. Here are the tallies:

PURPLE
Mount Union (purple and white/black) – 12 (1993, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2012, 2015)
Wisconsin-Whitewater (purple and white/black) – 6 (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014)
Albion (purple and white) – 1 (1994)
Linfield (purple and gold) – 1 (2004)
Mary Hardin-Baylor (purple and gold) – 1 (2016)

Non-purple
Pacific Lutheran (black and gold) – 1999
St Johns (MN) (red and white) – 2003
Wisconsin-La Crosse (red and grey) – 2005

Additionally, purple was the primary color for both Stagg Bowl participants for every year from 2005 to 2015…that is an amazing 11 games in a row (schools were Linfield, Mary Hardin-Baylor, Mount Union, and Wisconsin-Whitewater).

Paul Pass

. . .

Thanks, Paul! Fascinating trend there. I guess we can rest assured that Paul (Lukas) won’t be watching much D-III action in the future.

OK. Now, on to the ticker…

Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil

Baseball News: Here’s another fantastic post from Gaslamp Ball (a Padres fan site) that takes a look at ways to get the Padres back into brown uniforms (or uniforms with brown and gold in them) in two years, and it includes some great concepts for how to incorporate brown into the modern uniform scheme without being to garishly-retro ’70s. A great read. … The Nashville Sounds announced their 2017 schedule along with the logo for the 40th season in Sounds history (from Lee Wilds). … MBDChicago asks, “Reds 1965 vest unis had NOB under number but still arched. @PhilHecken, was arched needed to fit NOBs?” … The Brooklyn Dodgers won their first (and as it turned out, only) World Series in 1955, and that year the team sent out this Christmas/Holiday card (from Bruce Menard). … The Canberra Cavalry, an Australian baseball team, sported special Christmas jerseys yesterday. Notice the ads. Also, that cap looks similar to the Boise State Broncos logo. Thanks to Mets Police honcho Shannon Shark for that. … Unless something is added/removed, these are the jerseys and hats for the Washington Nationals next season (from Ed Kendrick).

NFL News: Check out this amazing program cover from 1944 for the NFL Championship Game (played on yesterday’s date in ’44) between the Giants and Packers (from Bruce Menard). … Also from Bruce, here’s a look at the 1933 NFL World’s Championship, played on yesterday’s date between the Bears and the Giants. … Looks like Odell Beckham, Jr. will be wearing some Sager Strong-themed cleats today (from Megan Brown). … Tweeter Kevin found a mini football adorned with this alternate NE Patriots logo, and wondered if I’d seen it before. I had, but it’s rarely used. Samuel Lam noted it has been seen on Tom Brady; it’s also available from ’47 brand (from Deplorable Ted).

College/High School Football News: The subject on the e-mail from David Newton was, “Chain Link on Helmets?” The body said this: “This high school team is known as the Bulldogs. It just got me thinking about other helmet stripes that aren’t stripes. Maybe something you guys have explored before.” Thanks, David — there are a few helmets off the top of my head (like Vandy, who also use a chain) I can think of that aren’t stripes. How about you guys? This might be something to explore — post the helmets you know that use elements OTHER THAN STRIPES (like feathers or chains, or something of that ilk) in the comments below. … App State got special helmet decals for yesterday’s Camellia Bowl versus Toledo (from Jonathan Hall). … Yesterday’s Las Vegas Bowl between Houston and San Diego State was color vs. color (from RNs Funhouse). Also looked like Houston had some new helmet stickers. … Northwest Football, who played for the National Championship yesterday, introduced some new uniforms for the game (from BearcatEQ). Also from Bearcat, here’s a look at the helmets and uniforms lined up in the locker room pre-game. … In yesterday’s “Air Force Reserve Celebration Bowl,” an NC Central player was sporting a “G” logo tattoo (likely for the Georgia Bulldogs). It’s semi-ironic though, since NC Central was playing Grambling, whose logo is, you guessed it. The “G” stands for greatness. … Twitter-er Unfair Weather Fan asks, “What is the tiny upside down Y on the Youngstown State helmets?”. Anyone?

Hockey News: With a freezing rain yesterday morning in “BeltlandWay,” William Yurasko thought this license plate (with a custom Washington Capitals theme) was entirely appropriate. … Mangler in the comments, and John Taylor in an e-mail pointed out that the best hockey Christmas sweater in yesterday’s ticker was being worn by the Des Moines Buccaneers of the USHL (tier 1 major junior hockey). John adds, “They play in buccaneer arena in Des Moines lovingly called the barn.” … “The Vancouver Canucks placed former defenceman Mattias Ohlund in their Ring of Honour on Friday night,” notes Wade Heidt. “Here are a couple of shots of the team wearing navy blue Ohlund throwback sweaters in warmups.” … Here’s a great look at a Washington Capitals pocket schedule from their inaugural season (from Ed Kendrick). … The Lehigh Valley Phantoms wore Christmas sweaters the past two nights (from Thom Pucks).

NBA News: In honor of his passing, someone created Craig Sager uniforms for ‘NBA 2K17’. … Speaking of which, several NBA teams have been recognizing Sager by wearing Sager Strong shooting shirts (nice gallery there).

College Hoops News: Yesterday featured a great color v. color matchup for the OSU/UCLA game in the CBS Sports Classic (from Luke Schaffner). … Tweeter Mark Taylor asks, “know how many college teams do the sleeve jerseys? First game for #AStateMB with these black uniforms (Friday) night.” … Here’s a look at the Northwestern ‘gothic’ jerseys which they wore last evening (from Northwestern Equip). And here is a closer look. … Grand Canyon University got into the holiday spirit with this tweet yesterday (from Matt Garcia). … The #31 was added to Carrier Dome court in honor of Pearl Washington yesterday (via Seth Goldberg). … And here’s an article with photos of the Pearl throwback unis.

Soccer News: Here’s a look at the Atalanta captain Papu Gomez’s armband for yesterday’s visit to Milan — a tribute to PES on Playstation (I haven’t played video games since Mattel’s Intellivision, but that console looks pretty old). From Barsotta. … The good, the bad and the ugly: designs for Real Madrid’s 3rd kit — Adidas has selected 100 designs after running a competition — one from the shortlist will provide the inspiration for Real Madrid’s 2017/18 third strip (from Aaron Blau). … You may have heard a bit about the World Cup coming to Qatar in 2022. Reader JP received this scarf from his sister (here’s a closeup), who lives in Qatar.

Grab Bag: Normally something like this wouldn’t make the ticker, but since it’s a “trading card” in the form of a baseball card, here goes: “My wife found this at a mall in NC. Definitely not Santorum,” says Stephen Wilkinson. … Tweeter Angelo Giaquinto noticed some striking similarties between these two logos for two different disciplines. … Couple lax bits from Wade Heidt: The National Lacrosse League Saskatchewan Rush hosted the Christmas Showdown pre-season game against the Calgary Roughnecks on Friday night. The Rush wore Christmas jerseys. Also the National Lacrosse League unveiled their new logo. … “Here’s an awesome 14 minute full colour film about lacrosse (from 1965) from the National Film Board of Canada,” writes Michael Sullivan. “Some cool jerseys but LOVE the coaches sweater at about the 4:00 mark.”

And that’s it for today. It’s also it for me for two weeks, since next weekend is Christmas Eve and Day, and I’ll be taking both days off. We’ll still have content, however, and be sure to check back on Christmas Day when Paul announces the results of the Annual Uni Watch Reader Appreciation Raffle. This year I was blessed enough to be able to offer a couple items myself, so I hope whoever wins them enjoys!

Since I’m off next weekend, I’ll take this opportunity now to wish everyone a Happy Festivus, Joyous Chanukkah, Merry Christmas, Good Boxing Day, Festive Kwanzaa, and any other celebratory dates I may be missing. I’ll be back New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day with some big posts, including A Very Merry Vilkmas, so be sure to check back in then.

Everyone stay warm and safe, and enjoy the final two weeks of 2016. Catch ya soon, but until then…

Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.

Peace.

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“Not a fan of the lower case ‘ny’ either. It hardly seems representative of a team that calls itself the ‘Giants’.”

— Skycat