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Premier League Kit Review 2017-18 (Part II)

By

[Editor’s Note: Paul is on his annual August break from site. Deputy editor Phil Hecken is in charge from now through Aug. 25, although Paul is still on the clock over at ESPN and may be popping up here occasionally.]

(If you want to jump to the Grand Rapids Griffins Fauxback Contest Voting, Scroll Down)

By Phil Hecken, with Kyle Evans & CJ Fleck

I’m back, once again, with Kyle Evans and CJ Fleck, who last week brought you a look at half the Premier League — and now they’re back with the remainder EPL for 2017-18. If you’re not familiar with their ratings, Kyle goes on a 0-5 star scale, while CJ is in the “good” or “stupid” camp. You can click any photos to enlarge. Take it away, lads…

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Manchester City

Kyle: Manchester City has an updated version of their classic sky blue over white primary, an all-maroon secondary, and a leaked Nike camo third. Beautiful primary, the secondary color is somewhat unique and mostly works, and no thanks again to this camo template. Rating: 5 stars primary, 4 stars secondary, 2 stars third

CJ: Can’t beat the simplicity of either the primary or secondary, though the color choice is odd for the secondary. Both rate a good from me. Camo, on the other hand, is always stupid.

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Manchester United

Kyle: United have a red primary that has already been worn over white or black shorts, an all-black secondary with a sublimated pattern taken from a 90’s jersey that is not visible on the field, and a multiple grays third featuring a light image on the jersey of the “United Trinity” – a statue outside their stadium of three famous players who played for the club in the 60’s. The primary look is great with either color of shorts, I’m not a fan of the design on the secondary so I suppose it’s a good thing that it effectively can’t be seen, and as in the case of Everton, I don’t like mismatched grays, but I at least appreciate the historical ties here. Rating: 5 stars primary, 3 stars secondary, 2 stars third

CJ: If it ain’t broke…good primary, push secondary for more 90s shenanigans, and a definite stupid on the third. I don’t like this gray (grey, since we’re talking Brits I guess) phenomenon at all. Especially the multiple shades kind.

. . .

Newcastle United

Kyle: Newcastle returns to the Premier League and comes with their classic black and white vertical stripes for their primary, a light blue over navy secondary, and a very dark gray and black vertical stripes third with some gold accents. As you may have noticed, I like any looks that are classic to the team, and I like the third more here because black is one of their colors. The secondary is necessary to contrast with opponents, but it’s on the boring side for me. Rating: 5 stars primary, 3 stars secondary, 4 stars third

CJ: I do love the Newcastle primaries, which rate a good from me, but the secondary looks too much like Man City for me. Stupid. As for the third, it incorporates team elements while being a useful change kit, so I’ll reluctantly call it good.

. . .

Southampton

Kyle: Southampton take a step away from their traditional red and white vertical stripes in favor of a red primary jersey with a large white front panel and use the vertical stripes on their navy and teal secondary jersey. It may not be their classic look but I really like the primary look and the color combination on the secondary isn’t my favorite, but the design works. Rating: 5 stars primary, 3 stars secondary

CJ: Southampton out here trying to be mirror mode Arsenal or something with that primary. And giving up stripes? A crime. Stupid. As to the secondary, stripes cannot save you from that color combination. My eyes. Stupid.

. . .

Stoke City

Kyle: It’s the classic red and white vertical stripes for Stoke’s primary jersey, and their other two jerseys follow the same template (including collars) and horizontal gradient stripe, but with colors swapped. Great primary and I like the consistency of the other two jerseys, but don’t care much for the gradient although I think it works better on the white jersey. Rating: 5 stars primary, 3 stars secondary, 4 stars third

CJ: The primary is a classic and well executed, including the little touch on the collar. Good. The secondary and third give off an 80s vibe to me, and that’s perfectly fine, even if the evil gradient makes a reappearance. You know I love collars. Good for both.

. . .

Swansea City

Kyle: Swansea have a traditional all-white with black accents primary, an all-red with green accents and a sublimated design secondary to match the colors of the Welsh flag (Swansea is the only Premier League team that plays in Wales), and an all-black with gold accents third. Primary could use something else, I would like the secondary more without the sublimated waves and triangles, and black and gold seems to be the third kit trend this year. Rating: 3 stars primary, 3 stars secondary, 3 stars third

CJ: Not a huge fan of the collar designs on the primary and third, but nothing here is too offensive. In this modern world of gradients and shades of gray, that’s a win. Good for all three.

. . .

Tottenham Hotspur

Kyle: Tottenham move to Nike and have a simple white over navy primary, a navy (over white or navy) secondary, and also have a leaked Nike camo third. I really like the consistency with the first two looks, and even without being officially released yet, enough with this camo template already. Rating: 5 stars primary, 5 stars secondary, 1 star third

CJ: Similar templates, similar responses. Classically designed primary and secondary rate a good while the camo corruption continues with a stupid.

. . .

Watford

Kyle: Watford have a yellow over black with red accents primary, and an all-red secondary using an Adidas template with a slight diagonal black and white stripe on the bottom of the front of the jersey. I’m not sure why, but it feels like something is missing on the yellow jersey, and the red look is so similar to Middlesbrough’s secondary kit last season making it seem more “template-y” to me. Rating: 3 stars primary, 1 star secondary

CJ: I’ve always liked Watford’s combination of colors, but the primary seems to be missing something as Kyle stated. A collar might spruce things up a bit. The secondary is adventurous without being offensive, which I’ll take. Both rate good.

. . .

West Bromwich Albion

Kyle: West Brom have their classic white and navy vertical stripes along with navy shoulders and white shoulder piping on their primary jersey, and a white over red with red shoulders/sleeves secondary look. I don’t really understand the cross shoulder piping and the navy accents are off-putting on the secondary. Rating: 4 stars primary, 2 stars secondary

CJ: The garish shoulder piping and contrasting adidas logo on the primary are not enough to make me hate it, but it’s pretty close. Good. Personally, I can’t find anything too wrong with the secondary. As has been said before, I’ll take simple over ridiculous any day. Good.

. . .

West Ham United

Kyle: West Ham’s primary jersey is their traditional claret and blue, but with a couple of added features – a darker maroon portion on the top of the jersey representing the crossed hammers in their logo, and the Umbro diamonds design on the sleeves. The Hammers also have an all-black with neon blue accents secondary, and a leaked third jersey which is a “very light blue”. I could do without the extra design elements on the primary, but the overall set of kits work well together. Rating: 4 stars primary, 4 stars secondary, 4 stars third

CJ: I agree with Kyle here on the primary; slightly overdesigned, but still okay. Good. The secondary is a bit boring, almost like a training top of some kind, but it isn’t bad either. Push. That third though, my goodness. A collar and buttons? Clean logo design? Sign me up. Good.

• • •

Thanks lads. Great stuff ”” thanks for both overviews!

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Today we vote on the third group of contestants for the Grand Rapids Griffins “Fauxback Design” contest. In case you missed it, the contest parameters and rules were laid out here.

I received a whopping 119 Entries in this contest, so the voting will be broken down as follows. Thursday: First 30 entrants (you may click here to view that post); Friday: Second 30 entrants (click here to see that post); Today: Third 30 entrants; and Tuesday: Final 29 entrants. As in previous contests, the submissions will be listed alphabetically. The TOP THREE contestants receiving votes in each group will move on to the final group (for a total of 12 finalists — three from each group), from which the Griffins will make a decision and declare the winner who I will announce on Friday, August 25.

We’re using a new polling system, which we hope will eliminate (or at least drastically reduce) any fraud or shenanigans. You will be permitted to vote for as many designs as you would like, but you may only vote ONCE. As you glance over the designs, be sure to write down the name and number of your favorite(s) and then cast your votes in the poll which follows the submissions. The poll(s) will close approximately twenty-four (24) hours after being posted — the TOP THREE vote recipients will move into the final group (the winner of which will be chosen by the Griffins).

REMINDER: The Griffins set out the following parameters for designing an alternate (fauxback) jersey. Please use them to guide you as you make your decision(s) below:

Design Guidelines:

• Create a brand new design for a Griffins alternate jersey (remember: you are ONLY designing a jersey, not a full uniform).
• DO NOT USE current or previous Grand Rapids Griffins logos or previous Griffins jersey design contest winning logo designs. Your work must be original.
• The jersey color must be red or black.
• This jersey will be part of an ’80s Fauxback Theme Night. If the Griffins existed in the 1980s, what would the jerseys have looked like?
• Use official team colors ”“ CMYK Colors: Red 12/100/92/3, Gray 31/25/26/0, Gold 43/49/76/21, Black 75/68/67/90, White 0/0/0/0.

And now, the third 30 contestants (click any design to enlarge):

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1. Jason Mildren

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2. Randy Miller

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3. Hunter Mills

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4. Derek Mohr

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5. Greg Montique

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6. Alex N2B

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7. Laura Nekola

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8. Grant Newton

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9. Katie Nietling

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10. Mark Nolte

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11. Charles Norenberg

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12. Sean Nowosatka

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13. Douglas O’Leary

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14. Niklas Otte

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15. Jonathan Owen

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16. Blake Pass

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17. Kevin Pazdernik

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18. Bryan Phillips

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19. Ryan Plachta

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20. Tyler Plachta

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21. Clark Rasmussen

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22. Melissa Redder

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23. Spencer Reynolds

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24. Wes Rickards

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25. Jason Rogers

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26. Taylor Roy

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27. Zach Rueger

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28. Jordan Santalucia

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29. Jacob Saylor

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30. Layton Scarbrough

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GRIFFINS FAUXBACK JERSEY CONTEST
VOTE BELOW

[totalpoll id=”87494″]

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Well, that wasn’t THAT bad…

Last evening, as part of a tie-in with the Little League World Series (LLWS), the Cardinals and Pirates played a game at historic Bowman Field in Williamsport, PA (home of the Williamsport Crosscutters
— the Class-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies). It was also the “test” run for the bright and shiny “Players Weekend” uniforms (which all teams will wear next Friday through Sunday). Thankfully, my last day doing UW (until after Labor Day) is Friday, so this may be the only time I watch a game in which these uniforms are worn. Thankfully, this one wasn’t too bad.

The Pirates and Cardinals each had special caps and jerseys for the occasion. The caps (as we’ve known for some time) were…bright:

The jerseys, also created especially for this promotion were pullovers with color contrasting sleeves — the Cardinals had navy for a base color with red sleeves, while the Pirates were black base with gold sleeves. Each player (well, almost all — some chose not to play along) had NickNOB, and the players were allowed to wear special shoes and socks.

I confess I didn’t see too much of this game, and when I had it on, I was actually doing other things, so I didn’t pay super-close attention, but I have to say it wasn’t a terrible looking game — at least not in the way I had envisioned it. The Cardinals wore their uniforms with gray pants, while the Bucs wore white pants.

While the Cardinals had special caps (if you scroll up, you can notice a tinge of blue outline around the StL, but otherwise they looked like normal red caps. The Pirates caps were definitely a brighter shade of gold, dare I call it yellow? Both teams wore their normal helmets (thankfully), so the Pirates didn’t actually look that different from their regular black tops. Except for the bright yellow sleeves, with with helmets the still looked like the Pirates. Of course, with the yellow caps it was another story.

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Some of the players wore funky socks

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But most of the Cardinals went with “Cardinals” socks:

Embed from Getty Images

The jerseys, aside from being pullovers, had special thick collars in red/white (on the Cards navy) and yellow/white (on the Bucs’ black):

You can also see the special “little-to-big-league” chromaflex patch on the back of the jersey above the NickNOB.

Of course, the bases had the Little League Classic plate on them:

The players also had a special patch on their right sleeves where they could write the name of someone who “inspired” them growing up.

Special bats were allowed in the game (I saw a couple Pirates players with bright yellow bats) but by far the coolest were Cardinals bats painted to “match” their hose:

Both teams watched LLWS games earlier in the day and then those LLWSers all came to the big league park to watch the MLBers play their game. After the game, the Cards & Bucs adopted a “Little League tradition” and did a whole “nicegamegoodgame” handshake/high five, which I have to admit, was pretty cool:

If you can handle the “homemade” highlights, there is some good video of the game here:

Lots more photos of the game here.

This would have been a very cool thing if it were one night only and just between these two teams. But with three FULL days of this coming up, with all teams involved, many of them wearing ‘barely’ team colors, I’m not looking forward to that.

And luckily for you all, I won’t be around to bitch write about it.

But as long as I have you, what did you think of this?

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The Franchise Returns Home

Besides the solar eclipse, today is the 40th anniversary of Tom Seaver’s first appearance at Shea Stadium in a Reds uniform after the June trade which sent him to Cincinnati.

I got a wonderful note from Bill Moss the other day in which he captured, on his own camera (with film!) the return of Tom Seaver to Shea. I’ll let Bill take it from here:

Here’s … a Super 8mm film I made that day. It includes general scenes of Shea Stadium before and during the game, and shots of NY Mets players Jerry Koosman (36) , Ed Kranepool (7), John Stearns (12), Steve Henderson – who was acquired in the Seaver trade (5), and Manager Joe Torre (9). Cincinnati Reds include manager Sparky Anderson (10), Johnny Bench (5), Dan Driessen (22), Ken Griffey (30), and Pete Rose (14). Lindsey Nelson can be seen doing the pre-game show in the WOR-TV booth. Karl Ehrhardt, the popular “Sign Man” who was a fixture at Mets games in the ’60s and ’70s is in his regular spot on the third base line. There was a big crowd that day, more than 46,000.

Seaver pitched a complete game, defeating Koosman and the Mets 5-1. The boxscore and game summary can be seen here.

My mother and father are also in film. She was so upset by the trade that she refused to wear a Mets cap, and insisted that my father buy her a souvenir Reds batting helmet before the game. He passed away in 2008, and she almost exactly a year ago. It’s nice to see them both looking so young and healthy!

Sorry for the poor video quality. The film itself is clear, sharp and vibrant. It was shot in Super 8mm, so there is no sound.

Thanks so much, Bill — this was awesome — and a very sad trip down memory lane for a then-eleven year old who didn’t quite understand the machinations of baseball and how our favorite stars could be summarily dismissed. It bonded New Yorkers (or Mets fans, anyway) in ways heretofore unknown, and cemented in our hearts what we’d always suspected: that M. Donald Grant was a piece of shit the greatest villain in Mets history, a sentiment which most Mets fans of a certain age still share to this day.

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Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil

Baseball News: Sonny Gray is still using his Oakland glove with the Yankees. He wore #54 in Oakland, he’s #55 in NY (from David Feigenbaum). … On Saturday, umpires took the field wearing white wrist bands to protest escalating verbal attacks on MLB umpires. Here’s more on that. The Tigers’ Ian Kinsler wasn’t happy about that (from Stephen Santangelo). … On Saturday, the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers had small antlers added to the TR logo because it was Milwaukee Bucks Night (from Zach Loesl). … Also from , new LA Dodger Curtis Granderson tweeted, “Each game, I wear my socks high in honor of #JackieRobinson. Today I did it in a @dodgers uniform -and it felt really special.” … On Saturday, the Baltimore Orioles wore 1992 throwbacks for the 25th Anniversary of the opening of OPACY (Oriole Park at Camden Yards), from Andrew Cosentino and Will Shoken. Andrew gives us “Three unfortunate notes about the 1992 throwbacks that the Orioles.” (1) They did not wear throwback batting helmets; (2) The New Era logo is on the left side of the hats; and, (3) The 25th Anniversary patch is on the right side of the hats. … Back in the old days, Bat Boys worked really hard (nice find by TK). … The Astros ‘mixed it up’ yesterday wearing blue caps with the blue tops. Ignacio notes “Sunday’s usually the orange cap with blue bill.” … The Wilmington Blue Rocks wore TMNT jerseys yesterday (from Gregory Koch). … Prior to last night’s LLWS-tribute game, Andrew McCutchen was rocking a cap with a bazillion Stargell Stars (from Nicholas Schiavo).

NFL/CFL News: Check out this photo of the Argos and Alouettes, send in by Wade Heidt. He notes (1) The Toronto Argonauts wore white at home; (2), they introduced solid light (Cambridge) blue socks which they haven’t worn for about a decade; and, (3) the Montreal Alouettes wore an alternate uniform combination of their road blue pants with the red jerseys. … “Jeremy Zuttah used to wear #53 for the Ravens,” notes Andrew Cosentino. “However, he was traded to the 49ers earlier this offseason. He has since been cut by the 49ers. Subsequently, the Ravens signed him. Unfortunately, his #53 was taken by undrafted rookie linebacker Bam Bradley, so Zuttah will now wear #64; this was the number worn by the recently retired John Urschel. My gut tells me that Zuttah will eventually wind up back with #53 before the season starts.” … There is an NFL helmet/uni related moment in this “technical difficulties incident that plagued part of the opening moments of the Eight Is Enough episode ‘Ten Ships in the Night’ (Season 4, Episode 4) on WLS Channel 7,” from Ray Hund. … The Houston Texans have removed their blue end-zone fill (from Garret Heinrich). Here’s a good before/after (from Patrick). … Since they don’t have socks with actual stripes the Cleveland Browns have updated their uni graphic to show solid color socks (from Luke Corbett).

College Football News: Paul’s college preview is coming Wednesday, but my pal Clint Richardson has just published his yearly post documenting every uniform across all levels of college football. Be sure to check that out! … The Virginia Tech Hokies are getting a new 3D bumper on the back of their helmets (from Andrew Cosentino). … Harding University has a new alternate uniform (from DallasEmpire78). … I’d have to agree with this tweet (from William). … New helmets for Mercer (from Bo Childers).

Hockey News: The Erie Otters unveiled new uniforms. Wade Heidt notes they showed off their new white jersey and gloves, and it “Does appear that their yellow jersey with the same template is becoming their new primary dark jersey. The yellow jersey had been an alternate previously. Red has been removed as a trim colour.” … Looks like new Vegas Golden Knights goalie Marc Andre Fleury is wearing his old Penguins sweater inside out at practice (from The Goal Net). … New mask for Cal Petersen (from Denis Costello).

NBA News: What would happen if every team were the Toronto Raptors? Not following? OK, check out this Reddit (from Mike Chamernik). … There is already a movement underway in Akron to keep the Chosen One in Cleveland (h/t Jimmer Vilk).

College Hoops News: Here’s a terrific time-lapse of Virginia Tech resurfacing the basketball court floor (from Andrew Cosentino). … “I thought you might enjoy this photo I came across from 1977,” says Nic Waldron. “It turns out Marquette wasn’t even the only college basketball team in their own city rocking an off the wall look. Across town, the Milwaukee Panthers not only had their own untucked tops. They also featued a FNOB across the bottom!”

Soccer News: “We have a NNOLT (Nickname on Lineup Tweet),” says Greg Franklin “‘Ox’ = Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Note that his actual NOB is ‘Chamberlain’.”

Grab Bag: Terrence Crawford went into the ring wearing a red Nebraska Cornhusker jersey with the number 140 on it, before the title bout with Julius Indongo, writes Richard Giron. He adds, “around the same time the 49ers debuted their Nebraska jersey (sarcasm) against the Broncos.” … Here is “a link to the reveal of new athletic logos for my wife’s alma mater, Freed-Hardeman University,” says Wade Harder. “It’s a nice little one minute video that shows close-ups of sketches, the embroidery of the new logo, and finally, the reveal.” … Winston-Salem State University unfeiled a “fierce” new logo & mascot (from James Gilbert).

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Comments (77)

    Typo? “then those LLWSers all came to the BIG LEAGUE park to watch the MLBers play their game.” Bowman Field?

    What are the chances of MLB making this a yearly event?

    Though some Tigers fans would probably rather have Kinsler as manager over the actual manager, Brad Ausmus. :P

    Also, the link is actually about Ausmus, not Kinsler, not liking it. So it was actually the manager, just the wrong person is being identified.

    Oops.

    3/4 of those logos are better than the actual Raptors logo. The Celtics Raptors is pure genius.

    Agreed. A lot more seem to fit in with the idea that they might be actual 1980s hockey designs.

    It looks lite Niklas Otte (#14) was inspired by the WHA’s Cincinnati Stingers. I probably would’ve tweaked the wings a bit more, though.

    Couple notes on the Premier League preview, that could have easily been ascertained with a quick bit of research:

    1 – Burgundy has often been used as a third colour by Man City
    2 – Southampton’s home kit is a throwback to their look from 1980-85

    Correct. One can form an aesthetic opinion on these kits without knowledge of history; having that knowledge will enable one to appreciate why certain elements or designs are used by teams, and loved by their fans

    Southamptons away kit colours have been chosen as they are the negative colours of red and white if viewed on an old film negative or with inverted colours on a screen they appear red and white. Whilst it’s a bit of a gimmick I like it as it gives some reason behind the second kit colour.

    That’s clever. And as long as there’s no Portsmouth blue, Southampton’s fans should be all right with that as a change kit.

    Maybe it’s just me or my TV, but watching them in action v. Brighton a weekend ago, I thought City’s “burgundy” looked more fuscia & purple, with Nike’s two-tone template that debuted a few years ago.

    Sorry, but if #24, the one with the Family Guy is a finalist it will only prove these contests are a sham. REALLY!?!?! Do you think Seth MacFarlane will allow the Griffins to use his intellectual property? Do you think the Griffins would choose that one? I scoff because (at this time of posting) it’s LEADING in voting. Something like this should not be allowed. Should be in the friggin rules. It really “grinds my gears”. Ha Ha, funny for a friday uni-tweak entry, but this is a contest to get a uniform made and used on the ice in a GAME. Some of us take it seriously because it would be a nice addition to a portfolio.

    Family Guy wasn’t even around in the 1980’s! What respectable, avid uni-watch reader is voting for this?

    “The Astros ‘mixed it up’ yesterday wearing blue caps with the blue tops. Ignacio notes “Sunday’s usually the orange cap with blue bill.”

    And they lost. So, hopefully for this Astros fan, that’s the end of that experiment and they’ll go back to orange with blue bill caps with the blue jerseys. Sucks they already phased out the solid orange cap two years ago. I don’t want to see another orange cap gone. I love both orange caps, and the kid in me wants to see some semblance of an orange cap around to remind me of my childhood every now and then.

    Wish they would tweak the home jerseys and go with orange caps, sleeves and socks at home, and stay navy on the road.

    I’m pulling for orange pants to go with the orange jersey. But I don’t get the flipping off of the orange accessories across the majors.

    Okay, c’mon, guys… I know you’re all amused by the Peter Griffin jersey, but there’s no way in hell that jersey would ever actually get approved, considering it’s using a copyrighted character. Seth MacFarlane might be amused, but I seriously doubt Fox would ever sign off on it.

    Besides, it looks like a freaking practice jersey!

    Family Guy wasn’t even around in the 1980’s! What respectable, avid uni-watch reader is voting for this? I’ve lost all faith in these “contests” — now here come the “well if you don’t like it start your own contest blah blah blah” rebuttals. It’s absurd it’s allowed to even collect votes. Insulting to those who put time and effort into an original design that adheres to the spirit of the contest.

    While I agree with the sentiment, and the Griffins will never choose it, it is funny. I did not vote for it.

    I can’t imagine telling someone to “Stay Home” will be effective in any way.

    18 and 27 are really good. And if you can’t get a laugh from 24, then it’s on you to grow a sense of humor.

    But that’s ALL it’s good for. A laugh. I mean, I get the joke, but those of us who are upset about it wouldn’t be as upset if this particular contest didn’t have a specific theme, namely being THE 1980S!

    Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh heh
    Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh
    Heh heh heh heh heh heh
    And another heh heh heh heh heh

    link

    “The jersey color must be red or black.”
    “This jersey will be part of an ’80s Fauxback Theme Night. If the Griffins existed in the 1980s, what would the jerseys have looked like?

    Like this?
    link

    I want to thank each and every one of you that keep complaining about the Family Guy jersey. I get a kick out of seeing adults get upset and ticked off about things like a jersey contest on a website and post ad nauseum about it. If I am having what I consider a bad day I can read things like this and it reminds me that my day isn’t so bad after all.

    Wow, I knew they were ugly, but actually seeing those special Stance socks being worn, they just look hideous! It’s just a horrible combination of colors, and apparently the only reason they have all those colors is they’re the colors of all the sleeves and hats! ALL OF THEM. Even though none of the teams have all of those colors, and one of those colors is only being worn by one team!

    Look, Stance makes some nice-looking socks. And even some of their wilder designs have some appeal. But link this almost makes me wish I were color-blind!

    Phil, please address this… Are you going to look avid uni-watchers in the face and say the vote leading Family Guy entry is “okay” – You know it will never see the ice and I’m sure the Griffins will appreciate you sending it their way… I realize its early in voting, but the way it’s trending is ridiculous. No way it should have ever been allowed.

    Now everyone attack me for speaking out.

    I’m with you. And in addition to it being unrealistic, it’s also super low effort and, y’know, copyright infringement.

    I’ve brought the entry to the attention of the Griffins and due to copyright (and other reasons), it can’t be considered. The fourth place finisher in today’s voting will be moved up to third place and his/her entry will be considered among the 12 finalists.

    This NFL piece did miss the ticker. Los Angeles Rams wearing new navy pants with just a white stripe in their game against Oakland on the weekend:

    link

    I’m going to play the devil’s advocate here, and I never thought I’d do that because I’m currently sitting in fourth place and would move up if the Peter Griffin jersey were booted.

    Yes, that jersey is ridiculous and doesn’t match the parameters of the contest, but there are a bunch of others that aren’t quite as ridiculous but still aren’t an 80s fauxback jersey. So if you punt Peter Griffin, why not some of the others?

    You could argue that last year’s winner committed copyright infringement or plagiarism or something by simply recoloring Team Russia’s template and no one cared then. If Peter Griffin is a finalist, no, the Griffins won’t select it, but it’ll reflect the wishes of the Uni-Watch community, which is what these polls are about, no?

    The base template argument is weakened by the fact that many teams below the NHL level reuse such templates all the time. The Seattle Thunderbirds of the WHL, for example, have worn the template of the 1992-97 Hartford Whalers since 1998, even though they have no connection to the Whalers/Hurricanes franchise at all. And their past alternates have included a recolor of the 1996 Sabres white jersey, and a recolor of the 2003 Mighty Ducks black alternate. And that’s just one team.

    As for the other designs not necessarily fitting the idea of a 1980s fauxback, they’re at least going for a 1980s theme, so I can give them credit for that much.

    Agreed. But it’s up to the teams to figure that out. If the Griffins are okay with a Team Russia clone, if the T-Birds can roll with a Whalers template, maybe the Griffins are okay with Peter Griffin on a jersey.

    It’s not up to us/UniWatch/whatever to filter that out, is basically what I was trying to say, as you can probably find a reason to filter out all of them.

    Further intel on WHL Thunderbirds uniform. They were wearing the Whalers navy template before 1998 and during the same time as the Whalers.

    In addition, they wore the Whalers previous template of primary green with blue trim at the same time starting in the 1980s.

    link

    I “submitted” a Griffins jersey last year (no 80s requirement) as a gag in the comments section and I guess someone must’ve remembered:

    Paul Lee | September 1, 2016 at 9:34 pm | 

    Darn it, I missed the submission deadline! Well, if anyone’s interested, here is my Griffins jersey!

    link

    Clark Rrr,

    Uni Compadre, remember this whole thing is just a “fun” contest among the Uni Watchin’ community to get their creative / comic juices flowing and shared… okay Rembrandt?

    No need to lose your mind or get your artistic hair set aflame GOT style by feigning irritation at the voting whims of the Uni Masses whose results to your way of thinking match our most recent national election unpleasantness.

    Having been in the art game for decades I can tell you that if you don’t have a seriously thick skin you are gonna be a very angry/unpaid artist indeed. Let’s be honest, crying foul about not winning isn’t the reason you invested all the time and trouble to bang out a damn good design. You did it because you want to make a better design. The only person you have to convince that your artwork/design merits praise is yourself.

    After that – the design must do all the heavy lifting. It’s that simple.

    You can still put your design in your portfolio and be better for it, in fact keep em coming man, because the only way you get better and stronger in your design work is to practice. Learn the mechanics of letterform, graphic design and most importantly , praise you give yourself means nothing, praise from the masses will let you know if your design compass points true.

    If this is not the path for you, well there’s eclipse watching to be had today… enjoy.

    LT of Deesee (I can make funny variants on names too),

    Odd, I didn’t think I said anything all that inflammatory.

    My design is in my portfolio, as are all my losing designs that came before it. There are way better designers out there than me and I never expect to win one of these, it’s just an fun challenge for my favorite AHL team. I’m a software engineer by trade so I find how to run a contest like this an interesting problem to solve, too. But speaking of taking themselves too seriously…

    “After that — the design must do all the heavy lifting. It’s that simple.”

    Come on. The leading design is Peter Griffins’ face on a black jersey. Yeah, it’s being disqualified, but maybe this vaunted community of uniform enthusiasts needs to take a step back and realize that you guys aren’t exactly gatekeepers of athletic aesthetics or anything. Drop this poll on any other site and you probably get similar results.

    If you’re going to have voting, you’re going to have issues like this. Maybe it’s not an issue, it’s a feature. And anything you build in to handle it by manually filtering out designs that don’t meet a set of requirements can be twisted to apply to every design. That’s all I was trying to say.

    Clark R (R is for requirements!)

    That is an excellent point and I do not disagree with it at all. I thought it was obvious that copyright piracy was a non-starter to begin with outside of the laugh potential. But you bring up a real issue – the rules.

    I believe Phil and Paul have reached out more than a few times for feedback about how to put together and present these “features”. You being tech savvy ( disclaimer: I have spent two decades in the IT bidness and sadly am no stranger to design and development requirements – and I tip my hat to your developer sense of structure and reason – we desperately need more like you that think like that today) could obviously be a great help in codifying these contests.

    Using your requirements super powers to help standardize these popular polls would be much appreciated IMHO. I am sure to those who enjoy seeing the communities work on a regular basis which is what I like to see would agree.

    20 years ago if you entered a contest and bent the rules, they had the stones to disqualify you.

    I feel like I’m really not familiar enough with 1980s hockey sweater design to say which entries accurately reflect that style. It would be nice to be able to look at some images of hockey uniforms that made their debut in the 80s, so I know what to look for. But I don’t really have the time to do all that research.

    Small correction in the Ticker … it’s Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, not Milwaukee (the T-Rats play in Appleton, Wis.) Probably did a Bucks game because the new DOrG-League game will start playing in nearby Oshkosh this winter.

    The fact that I see 5-7 designs that (IMO) are better than anything in groups 1 & 2 plus, a Peter Griffin throw-away design for a gag is winning AND WILL NEVER BE CHOSEN by the Griffins, it’s frustrating and only solidifies all the gripes brought up since the last contest.

    Really, I’d rather there be NO CONTESTS then experiencing what is unfolding here. People put time and effort in their designs and it is unfair to them. If you lose to a GOOD design within the rules, fine, one can live with that. But this is (sorry Phil) B.S.

    Here is an “IDEA” – Next time (if there is a next time) send ALL entries to the Griffins, let them select 10-12 finalists they would be comfortable in producing and then have uni-watchers vote on those.

    Not interested in MLB crossing over to the Little League realm. What’s next for the pros, a game of stick ball on the streets of NYC? Pro players visiting the kids in Williamsport is great. But when they actually play a game in Little League-style uniforms, it gets a little weird for me. It reminds me of my Uncle Ralph crashing our pick-up games when I was a kid. He just wanted to pitch for both teams he told us. Be supportive, you know. But we all knew he wanted to bat — to show off his butcher-arm power. We just wanted him to go back to playing Jarts with the other slightly inebriated adults.

    Possible typo: “The jerseys, aside from being pullovers, had special thick colors in red/white…”

    Collars? Colors works here too, honestly.

    Jeebus. Yes. Must have had tennis on my mind or something. Now fixed (can you tell I’m both physically AND mentally exhausted?)

    So are the Cardinals Little League jerseys supposed to remind me of something you’d order from a Sears catalog circa 1979?

    This contest is whack… too many strong designs in this group. There are 5-7 that would have breezed through the first grouping that are going to be left out… why? Because of last name.

    I see 5-7 designs in this group that would have coasted through the first group… they’ll be left out not for the content of their work, rather their last name… and Peter Griffin, really???

    But if they’re not good enough to finish in the top 3 of this group, the odds of defeating one of the other designs that placed above it in this very group at a later point in time are pretty slim.

    Thanks for the film of Seaver’s return to Shea.

    What was the deal with those women dancing on top of the dugout in olde time dresses?

    Dan – please calm down.

    Also omg I absolutely love all of those Raptors logos. They could all actually work for the Raptors, IMO!

    Why? If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck… Then it’s a DUCK! For example. #’s 25, 23, 27, 16 & 14 are ALL better than anything that came out of round 1, yet unless there is a voting surge, they’ll be put on the scrap heap… and I’m probably missing a few designs to boot.

    What is it about fauxback jersey contests that brings such controversy?

    Being that my design was in the voting rounds for both this Peter Griffin snafu and the previous Schrodinger’s Bot debate, I must say it is a bit of a bummer these controversies keep occurring. They’ve both proven to be so distracting and one can only wonder how their design would’ve fared had there not been such a polarizing issue. The last issue was easily forgivable because it was new and unexpected. I feel with this Peter Griffin design, it could’ve been much easier to avoid.

    I sincerely appreciate all the work Phil does on putting together these contests. There’s no taking that away. However, he did know the rules and probably could’ve used his best judgment to disqualify the design and never posted it. People might complain that there’s a lack of humor on the site, but there are prizes on the line for this contest. This isn’t a “just for fun” contest. Someone will get an opportunity to see their work come to life. To have it sullied by what the internet would call a “shitpost” is something that should be avoided.

    Another thing to keep in mind, the voters aren’t purely Uni Watchers. The Griffins themselves are sharing this over social media. This makes it very prone to people voting for the “meme”. Not saying it should be purely Uni Watchers voting, but designs like the Peter Griffin one aren’t fun, they’re disruptive to the specific goal of the contest.

    Love the contests and would love to keep participating. Let’s not let issues like this make a mockery of the site.

    I think as Phil said previously, it’s not an exact science. If 30 random designs would have been drawn for one particular group there could have been a dozen-plus worthy candidates so it’s all relative.

    As to what Dan had said about simply giving all designs to the Griffins and letting them choose the ones to vote on.. that simply wouldn’t happen either. No professional team is going to leave the final say of a jersey they will wear (even for one night only) solely up to the fans. It’s a Boaty McBoatface situation, even with 12 uni-watcher approved designs.

    Which also ties in to Peter Griffin having a chance….is it funny? Yeah…should people have voted for it? WOULD people have voted for it if you were only allowed to pick one choice and not as many as you would like? I’m sure some voters out there clicked every single entry.

    Anyways the matter was settled and 3 very good options will be chosen so it’s no harm no foul IMO

    The Cardinals and Pirates looked every bit as ridiculous last night as the teams did that participated in the Turn Ahead the Clock promotion in 1999. There’s a reason I don’t watch Little League games…

    Premier League teams wore black armbands, apparently to honor legendary British entertainer Bruce Forsyth.

    La Liga teams wore them for the terror attack in Barcelona.

    Wow, I don’t think I like this site much anymore. For starters, reading the posts is exhausting. I fall on the side of if its a legit complaint, then you have a right to bitch. Today’s issue fell into that category, yet I saw people angry about the bitching, which is bitching in itself. Its also obvious that while many dont care about the contests, others do and take it seriously. I fall into the latter as I spent valuable free time I normally dont have making a design that obeyed the rules of the contest, so I’d like to compete against like-minded others who also obeyed the rules. Unfortuately this was another time where the rules ended up being more like suggestions. They cease to be rules if one does not enforce them. In closing I think its clear these contests have gotten out of hand and they’re not really enhancing the site all that much. I’ve been an avid reader for over 10 years and either ive changed or the site has. Regardless its not much fun anymore.

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