Sunday Morning Uni Watch

By Phil Hecken & The SMUW Crew
Follow @PhilHecken

Gorgeous game yesterday afternoon as the Cal Bears took on the USC Trojans, with the Bears wearing “Joe Roth-era” throwbacks. Here’s a look at Joe Roth himself modeling the uniform after which yesterday’s throwbacks were based.

If you’re curious as to who Joe Roth was, and why the team wore throwbacks in his honor, you can check this article out. There’s even a documentary on the man.

Seeing how beautiful these looked, one wonders why more teams (and Cal in this instance) don’t just jettison their current uniforms and wear throwbacks full time. A perfect example of this would be Pitt (interesting how similar the two throwbacks are). Pitt even wore road throwbacks earlier this year. But they’re far from the only school to have worn really great retro unis that should be made permanent.

There’s some good news and some bad news. Cal won’t wear these again (at least I don’t think they will) this year, but Cal announced yesterday the Roth throwbacks to be an annual tradition when hosting USC or UCLA. Well done Cal. Now consider wearing them more often — like every home game!

OK, here’s TJ Duroncelet with today’s SMUW rundown:

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Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet, Jr.

• Several teams wore these decals over the weekend for Extra Yard Week, in honor of teachers everywhere.

• Cal wore these STELLAR throwbacks against USC. An ace look from top-to-bottom.

• Arkansas wore their Razorboys uniforms against Texas A&M. They looked swell, but it would’ve nice to see them go the extra mile and use the NFL-style captaincy patches. Also: everyone, and their mothers, and their mother’s mothers repeatedly likened the Razorbacks to Ohio State.

• Remember when it was reported a week ago that the Dolphins, Buccaneers, and Jaguars were going to be wearing “One Florida” decals on the back of their helmets in recognition and support of the victims of Hurricane Irma? The Miami ‘Canes were seen wearing it on Saturday as well. I should note that The U wore the NFL version, which includes three dots, each one denoting he locations of Miami, Tampa Bay, and Jacksonville, respectively (to the aforementioned NFL clubs). UCF wore a slightly-simplified version, which omitted the dots.

• Speaking of which, they wore all-white against an all-black Maryland squad.

• Oklahoma wore their cream alts against Baylor. I know they shouldn’t grow on me, but they continue to do so as the years pass.

• Indiana wore their Hep’s Rock uniforms against Georgia Southern.

• UNC played against eternal rival Duke, who wore the blue version of a helmet that they wore around this time three years ago. Also, you might have noticed Tar Heels mascots Rameses and RJ wearing these JR patches. They will be wearing those for the remainder of the 2017-2018 academic year, in honor of Jason Ray, a UNC student who served as the mascot in the mid-2000s and was killed in a traffic accident 10 years ago. The patch also helps to bring awareness to the Jason Ray Transplant Clinic (Ray was an organ donor, and his organs went on to help and save the lives of over 60 people in need of a transplant).

• John Roy’s/@John_Roy comment is so brilliant, that I need say nothing.

• We’ve seen various permutations of the ‘I can be your angel or your devil’ meme for a long time now on the field. Specifically, all-white vs all-black. But sometimes, all it takes is one team looking insanely-good vs. one that looks insanely-bad. That was the Saturday game between Florida and Kentucky. Good on ya Florida, and just stop, Kentucky. Just STOP.

• Jerry Kulig notes that an Iowa player’s nose bumper was knocked askew during the Iowa/Penn State game.

• Navy and Cincinnati looked PHENOMENAL, and it’s always a pleasure to see the Bearcats wear the red helmets.

• JESUS CHRIST, what do you even CALL this look? “Slightly-overcooked sweet potato pie with Cool Whip on top“?

• NC State wore new helmet decals in their game against Florida State.

• From Charles George/@805Pineapple: “The pride stickers on Hawaii’s helmets are Lei O Mano, Shark toothed club. Ancient Hawaiian war weapon.”

• STOP THE PRESSES. LOUISVILLE ACTUALLY LOOKS NORMAL(ish). THIS IS NOT A DRILL.

• SMU became the Dark Grey Mustangs for their game against Arkansas State.

• Texas Tech wore red helmets with these decals on the back of them in honor of Spike Dykes, the head coach of the Red Raiders from 1986-1999 (PC for the last pic goes to @SWCfootballNow). Here’s a closeup of the decal.

• And while we’re at it, Campus Sports (well, Sportscenter, technically) gives us a walkthrough of some of the uniforms mentioned here, including Cal, Indiana, Oklahoma, Ball State, and more.

That’ll do it for Week 4! I was handed the busiest hand by some strange universal force this week, so my apologies if I missed anything major from yesterday or the days beforehand. Until then, see you next week!

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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 again for 2017 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 first official weekend of Autumn is upon us, even if the thermometer doesn’t say so in some parts, and we had a plethora of good-looking match-ups this week. So, let’s get to this week’s list…

5) UCLA at Stanford — A little Pac-12 After Dark making the list. Simple, classic, and flat-out gorgeous.

4) UAB at North Texas — For a team whose nickname is the Mean Green, North Texas doesn’t look too bad going black/green/black at home. A pretty sharp look, if you ask me. Paired up with the gold/white/gold road look of the Blazers, and you have one very sharp looking game.

3) Cincinnati at Navy — I’m a huge fan of the Middies home gold/navy/gold set. It’s simple, classic, and just looks damn good. Paired up against Cincy’s red/white/red road look and you have one great looking game in Annapolis.

2) Kent State at Louisville — To me, this is the Cardinals’ best look, when they go with their traditional white/red/white at home. This matched up exceptionally well against the Golden Flashes’ gold/white/gold road set. Such a great looking game in the sunshine on a Saturday.

1) Southern Cal at California — The Trojans always look good, and have one of the most iconic uniforms in all of major college football. But, I have to admit, I was on the fence when I first saw these Cal throwbacks a few weeks ago. However… MY GOD did they look fantastic. Ridiculously good, creating a game worthy of the top spot.

And, finally…

+1) Syracuse at LSU — It’s not often that I have LSU on the bad side of the list, simply because I love the gold/white/gold look they always go with. However, against the white/mono orange of Syracuse… just didn’t look pretty in Death Valley.

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Thanks Joe! You can follow Joe on the Twitter and let him know what you think of his choices or make a 5 & 1 suggestion of your own!

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NCAA Uni Tracking

Uni Watch will again track the uniform combinations worn by the “Power 5” conferences. All of the 2016 trackers are back!

We’ve got Rex Henry (tracking the ACC), Dennis Bolt (tracking the PAC-12), Kyle Acker (tracking the Big XII), and Ethan Dimitroff (tracking the B1G AND the SEC). Rex, Dennis, and Kyle and are all returning from 2015, and Ethan is back after joining the NCAA Uni Tracking last season. Ethan has stepped into the dual role of both the B1G and the SEC.

Here are the Uni Trackers for the Power 5 Conferences:

+ + + + + + + + + +

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.
Follow Dennis on Twitter here.

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And here is Ethan, with the SEC:

SEC

And be sure to check out Ethan’s WVU Mountaineer Tracker.
Follow Ethan on Twitter here.

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And here is Kyle with the Big XII:

Big XII

Follow Kyle on Twitter here.

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And here’s Ethan with the B1G:

B1G

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Welcome to the 2017 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!

Thanks Dennis!

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Remember the contest…

…to design an Ambulance?

This was a quick and dirty contest held a couple years ago, in which reader Daniel Secord purchased an old ambulance and then invited readers to create a design for it.

A few readers participated in the contest, which was eventually won by Laura DeLuca (scroll down for her design).

Daniel took that design and eventually finished the ambulance

Well…

as you know, during the off-season, the Lions redesigned their uniforms, which meant Dan had to redesign/tweak the ambulance. He did. A quick note accompanied the following two photographs:

Hey Phil,

Here’s a picture of what I did to the ambulance because the Lions changed things up. New wordscript on the back and new helmet stripes up front.

Dan Secord

Check out the update (click to enlarge):

Cool stuff, Dan. Thanks for the update!

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Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil

Baseball News: The website MentalFloss has a history of the Starter brand. Submitter Patrick Mulcare writes, “The article features a photo of [a] Mets jacket with notably good arm stripes! It also mentions that the owner wanted to make fans be able to buy what athletes wear on the field.” … Yesterday, the Braves Dansby Swanson was giving his NCAAFB picks on Braves social media wearing a Braves/Vandy mashup t-shirt (good spot by Chris Brueckner). Tweeter Garrison Smith notes the Braves have also done a lot of regional university nights with shirts too. … Whoa — check out these custom Allen Edmonds “Barrellman” Milwaukee Brewer shoes (from Bruce Menard). … Hockey/Baseball crossover: John Sabol writes, “Odd jersey/hat combo @ #NHLChinaGames. Fan wearing an #Indians hat & #Canucks sweater. Gotta be a first” (also posted in the NHL section). … Football/Baseball crossover(?): Crazy mash up of NFL Shield and LAD logo, says Roberto Castañeda (also posted in the NFL section). … The Reds Greens wore their Shamrock jerseys and caps yesterday (a-bit-past-halfway-to-St. Paddy’s Day?). From Robert O’Byrne. … There’s some cool neon action on the Dodger Cafe sign — including a ball being thrown at the batter. That’s from Ray Hund who adds “This ‘bum’ hangout was located on Dekalb Ave. in Brooklyn, of course.” … Also from Ray: “If you look closely at this 1961 L.A. Angels team pic you might agree with me when I believe that there’s a logo in there I’ve never seen this team use before. It’s on the the left breast of the white short-sleeved shirt the guy is wearing on the far right. I’ve crudely drawn what I think I’m seeing, but maybe it’s barbecue sauce.” … The White Sox’ Al Alburquerque had an upside down front number 8 last night (good spot by Steve Dodell). … “Never knew the A’s have a Shibe Park Tavern at the Oakland Coliseum,” says Jimmer Vilk. … The Athletics’ Bruce Maxwell has become the first MLB player to kneel during the national anthem (thanks Paul).

NFL News: From Darren Rovell, back on yesterday’s date in 1984, it was “full name jersey” for Jack Youngblood. If course, we’d refer to that as “FNOB” (full name on back) or “DDNOB” (double decker name on back). … Reader Glenn Metzger says, “I was rewatching the Lions victory over the Giants from MNF, and noticed that the Nike logo on the right sleeve of the Giants jersey is backward. Is that a mistake, or have is that the new standard for Nike’s jerseys?” Shortly thereafter he added, “Had I watched for another minute, I would have seen it on the Lions jersey too. It looks bad. Why put it backwards?” … Great spot by @kevyon212 who notice this ad in the Verizon store seems to have photoshopped Eli Manning with number 11. Here’s the original, untouched image (from Dan Medina). … After the slight hullabaloo over the ticker item yesterday about the Eagles wearing green jerseys for the first time, I hope this item about “Eagle’s endzones are green! Never done that before. Usually, just grass or black for blackout,” from Blake Fox is better received. Here’s another look. … Football/Baseball crossover(?): Crazy mash up of NFL Shield and LAD logo, says Roberto Castañeda (also posted in the baseball section). … Not a big surprise, but here are the uniforms the Jaguars will wear for the London game today (from Clint Richardson).

College Football News: This is interesting. In a tweet yesterday, the Miami Hurricanes featured a player wearing a “U” chain (from Wayne Muller). Turns out the chain isn’t some 90s bling affectation, but their “turnover chain”. If a defensive player forces a TO, he gets to wear it on the sideline during the game (from @1201Main). … Tweeter Travis Holland wonders why so many college mascots were depicted wearing “sailor” caps. “(W)hat’s the history behind this?” he asks. The answer may be found here (from Kevin McGuire). … Looks like former Detroit Tigers & Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Kirk Gibson is featured on Michigan State Football’s cover today (from Mike Thompson). Gibson may have played pro baseball, but he was also a Spartan football player.

Hockey News: “What happens when neither team tells each other what they are wearing?” asks Mike Miller. Well, here’s what you get (sorry, I’m not sure of the teams being shown). … Here’s a look at the helmet/mask the Ducks’ Ryan Miller will be wearing this season (thanks, Paul). … Hockey/Baseball crossover: John Sabol writes, “Odd jersey/hat combo @ #NHLChinaGames. Fan wearing an #Indians hat & #Canucks sweater. Gotta be a first” (also posted in the baseball section). … A local liquor store in South Saint Paul MN called Hat Trick has been painting a mural showing famous hockey players plus in the “audience” famous MN sport celebs (from Sara Schieve). Check out some pics here, here, here and here.

NBA News: In case you missed it on Thursday evening, the Celtics unveiled their new uniforms “in the creepiest way possible” (from Phil Lawson). Years ago, I visited some friends in France, and there are literally dozens of these types of performers everywhere (though they never seem to move or blink an eye), and yeah, it’s pretty freaky.

Soccer News: Yesterday, VfB Stuttgart wore special jerseys, because it was the 25th birthday of their mascot Fritzle (from Martin). Reader Michael Poplawski explains: “Fritzle is purported to live in the Neckar river, upon which Stuttgart was built. Pictures are from German TV ARD’s Sportschau, where Matthias Opdenhövel introduces a segment about the origins of the mascot, and also the 1992/93 team photo where Fritzle was still yet to hatch. The jersey features a sketch of Fritzle on the front and includes the names of Fritzle’s fan club (something kids can join) both on the front and the back. The game jerseys featured green numerals, rather than the black numerals VfB Stuttgart normally wears.” … Our pal Conrad Burry has learned info about the 2018 World Cup Nike template and the USA kits design details. For more, click here.

Grab Bag: Over (down?) in the Australian Football League, they take their rules for wearing clash jumpers very seriously (from Will Pike). … On Friday night and Saturday Morning, President Trump weighed in on players who take a knee during the National Anthem and sports figures and topics. … Check out these custom caps: “Can’t recall if this has been covered already, but wanted to bring the work of Ruben Ortiz Torres to your attention,” says Bruce Jaynes. “That is all.”

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