Sunday Morning Uni Watch

By Phil Hecken, with the SMUW Crew
Follow @PhilHecken

After yesterday’s “get-you-up-to-speed” Saturday MUW, we’re back today for the true first Sunday MUW of the season.

Oh, Sparty. Just…no.

We knew it was coming, but somewhere, deep in the recesses of my brain-pan, I figured they’d never really actually take the field wearing these…things. It’s not even that the color was so bad (yes it was), but the team actually bragged about … wait for it … “Action Green”

Tonight’s business attire: Action Green! #GoGreen #ChaseTheMoment pic.twitter.com/4btHcWEOdY

— Michigan State Football (@MSU_Football) September 7, 2019

And “Business Attire”? Sure, they’re not the first team to call their uni’s “business attire,” but c’mon man.

And was the GIANT “STATE” big enough? I don’t know, you tell me. I think even the fans in the cheap seats could read that. If their retinas weren’t seared (that will be the last time I use that trite cliche, at least today). But it’s apropos.

If the neon “STATE” and the neon pants weren’t enough, Sparty also wore neon gloves, changed the B1G logo to neon, made the swoosh neon and also colored in the Sparty head logos on the sleeve caps neon. I’m surprised they kept the numbers white. And for good measure, the Sparty on the helmet was neon, as was the NOB. I’m actually kinda bummed they added a white pant stripe — I mean, might as well either make that forest green or just make the pants solid neon.

I’m sorry — maybe I’m being too harsh. But this isn’t Oregon or Maryland or some rinky-dink school trying for a few minutes of glory on SportsCenter. This. Is. Sparta. Don’t do … this.

Wanna see more? Click here. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

I’ll go back to screaming at the clouds now, all the while insisting you please remove yourselves from my front yard’s grass.

Here’s TJ with the rest of your…

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Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet, Jr.

From Friday:

• Marshall’s current home uniforms are in dire need of a redux, and they can start (and probably will follow through on next year) by modeling them after their new road uniforms. Also, I can’t believe how rare it is to see Boise State with a blue facemask on a blue shell! Here’s their usual affair for reference.

• Here’s a closeup of Virginia’s painted (yes, painted) helmet stripes, and what they look like in-action.

From Saturday:

• Northern Illinois debuted a new road uniform against Utah.

• The biggest news coming from Wisconsin/Central Michigan is that the Badgers also rebelled (not sure if you can call it a rebellion, but let’s roll with it) by not wearing the 150 patch. That, and the 61-0 beatdown (sorry, Chippewas). Wait… doesn’t this seem like Déjà vu?

• Orange in all-white.

• This is what the Georgia Tech video board showed for the GT/USF game. Funny thing is, both teams wore the opposite shell colors in the actual game (photo cred: Michael Zoid).

• Akron wore S&S helmet decals in their game against UAB.

• Mizzou wore white helmets at home for the first time in school history against West Virginia.

• South Carolina is one of the many Under Armour-outfitted school wearing throwback/retro-themed uniforms this season. They wore theirs against Charleston Southern.

• I can never get enough of Ole Miss’s light blue helmets.

• SMU came out with some snazzy new City of Dallas uniforms against North Texas.

• From Andrew Greenblatt: “Nevada Linebacker Gabriel Sewell looks to have lost his Mountain West Patch at some point in the second half. #CFB150 patch still there though!”

• Due to time constraints, I don’t have any game photos to show, but Minnesota can keep these helmets in somewhat-regular rotation, and I would not be mad in the slightest (Blaise D’Sylva is the man to thank that screenshot, plus all of his other helmet findings).

Coastal Carolina has captaincy… helmet decals? (h/t @willchitty4).

• Florida wore these nifty tie decals in honor and memory of George “Mr. Two-Bits” Edmonson (more here).

That’ll do it for Week 2. There was so much happening, plus I was incredibly busy all day Saturday, so there were some things that I undoubtedly missed. nevertheless, huge thanks to everyone who tagged me on Twitter for any tips they had. See you next week!

Memal’s 5 & 1

Following in the footsteps of the original “5 & 1,” Jim Vilk, Catherine Ryan after him, and finally Joe Ringham, for 2019 we have a new “5 & 1” (five good looking and one stinker) uni-vs-uni matchups — Michael “Memal” Malinowski. Like Joe, Catherine & Jim, Memal will pick HIS 5 best looking/1 awful matchup, and occasionally have some honorable mentions (both good and bad). 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 Memal

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It was a Saturday of great looking inter-conference matchups and it was tough to rank these. That just means we all won getting to watch all these beautiful football games!

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5. Bowling Green at Kansas State

The Wildcats have the best purple home jersey in college football, and against the orange/white/orange of the Falcons they looked very sharp. I think this was also a great helmet logo game too!

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4. Rutgers at Iowa

I love that the Scarlet Knights have decided to go away from trying to look like knights and instead look like a football team again. Their classic red helmets and R logo and uniforms with a simple and great looking stripes looks fantastic against Iowa’s classic black/black/gold unis.

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3. Nebraska at Colorado

This looked like a classic Big XII matchup! Both teams wore their standard unis, Colorado gold/black/gold and Nebraska in white/white/red.

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2. Texas A&M at Clemson

The defending champions showed up in their tradition home orange/orange/white combo and the Aggies looked great in maroon/white/maroon.

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1.Tulane at Auburn

Between all the stripes, chrome accents, and the way the orange and blue complimented the olive green and sky blue, this was the best looking game of the week!

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And because someone has to be the sacrificial lamb this week…

&1 LSU at Texas

I like both of these team’s uniforms, but against each other under the lights…ewww. This was a visual example of dissonance, a tension or clash resulting from the combination of two disharmonious or unsuitable elements, I would point at LSU’s gold against the burnt orange being the cause. These pictures give it more justice than it’s due, on television it looked rough.

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

NCAA Uni Tracking

Uni Watch will again track the uniform combinations worn by the “Power 5” conferences. All of the 2018 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 a couple seasons ago. Ethan continues his dual role of tracking 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.
And (new for 2019!) — check out Rex’ &1/favorite ACC matchup and Rex Weekly Update.

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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

Welcome to the 2019 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!

Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil

Baseball News: If you were watching any baseball yesterday (especially with the sound off or you weren’t paying attention to the announcers), you probably noticed your favorite team was wearing gold ribbons on their jerseys, with some players wearing gold wristbands and the like — and wondered what it was all about — it was for childhood cancer awareness day. … Here’s a pretty cool photo of the old-school Mariners wearing rally caps (from Phantom Dreamer).

NFL/CFL News: “When the Toronto Argonauts wore their vintage Football with Sails logo in Hamilton last week, was assuming that to be a one-time event for the Labour Day Classic game,” writes Wade Heidt. “Unexpectedly and to my delight, the Argonauts wore the Football with Sails logo on the road again this week in Ottawa. Wearing white over white this week.” … Also from Wade “The Eskimos are wearing their alternate uniforms for the first time this year on Saturday. Now that the CFL has the one-shell rule, the Eskimos do not have an alternate forest green helmet with this uniform anymore. They are wearing their yellow helmets with alternate decals for the logo and stripes.”… Dale Allison found this newspaper clipping from 1961 of the Burlington (Iowa) Grayhounds (w/ an a). He adds, “I’ve never seen waist trim like that before on football uniforms.” … Apparently there is an “official” Stand Up For America Football Jersey, but unfortunately no pics (from James Gilbert). No, wait — here we go (from Capt. Shady). … FFS: The Rolling Stones are selling official NFL Stones “fashion jerseys”, otherwise known as t-shirts for a 100 bucks (from Andy Bentley). … If you’ve ever wondered “Why Does Patriots’ Michael Bennett Wear Tiny Shoulder Pads, Cut Up Jersey?” you’re not alone. Here’s your answer (thanks, Brinke).

Read more at: https://nesn.com/2019/09/why-does-patriots-michael-bennett-wear-tiny-shoulder-pads-cut-up-jersey/

College Football News: LOL. Here’s a look at the Official/unofficial Carolina football fan uniform (from James Gilbert). … A Pepsi display in Eugene features the Oregon “O” but no swoosh (from Damon Hirschensohn). … Interesting jersey in Tuscaloosa yesterday (from Griffin T. Smith). … If you haven’t been checking out the amazing mini helmet collections of Blaise D’Sylva, you’re missing out. Yesterday he posted the set for Duke. He posts one new set each day (and will do so throughout the entirety of the NCAAFB season). Duke was #15 of 130 teams. … Many of you already know this, but here’s an interesting factoid about the origin of Michigan’s winged helmets (from Blaise D’Sylva). … Check out this game from Yankee Stadium, Nov 11, 1944 – Top-ranked Army routed #4 Notre Dame 59-0 stunning 74,430 on hand. Army’s Glenn Davis scored three TDs including one for 64 yards. Original Yankee Stadium in its 51-year history hosted 185 college football games (from Ronnie Bolton).

Hockey News: “Knowing that the Sabres would be wearing their 50th Anniversary patch on their jerseys this year, I was hoping it would be on upper chest so that we would not have to deal with seeing the small chest number on their jerseys anymore,” says Wade Heidt. “No such luck. The Sabres played a recent prospects game. The 50th Anniversary logo is on the left shoulder. Appears the number on the upper chest will remain for at least one more year.” … Check out these Osseo Hockey sweaters. Says submitter Adam Palmer “So much here! Modified Orioles script, Oilers mashup, diagonal lettering.” … Whoa! Check out the awesome uniforms for the 1965 Ft. Wayne Komets (from Tom O’Grady).

NBA News: The Dallas Mavericks will honor Dirk Nowitzki with a new graphic on the teams home court. The renderings show a shadow image of Nowitzki near the basket doing his classic fade-away shot (from Chris Huff).

College Hoops News: We often think NCAA hoops games were always white vs. color unis, but waaaay back, 37 years ago, we had a glorious blue vs. orange tilt, when Chaminade upset Virginia (from Justin Hicks).

Soccer News: Manchester United’s women’s team wore black change shorts to avoid a kit clash at Manchester City yesterday (from Josh Hinton). … Os Belenenses’ veterans team played the Real Madrid legends in a friendly yesterday wearing a special centenary shirt (from Ed Żelaski). … It’s EVERYWHERE now: “I just noticed that our local sporting goods store uses inverted 2s for their 5s,” says Optimus Rhyme. … 50 years ago, Swansea upgraded its status from a town to a city. The memorable moment is celebrated with the release of a special Swansea City 2019-20 limited-edition third kit (from Josh Hinton). The Philadelphia Union celebrated their Hispanic Heritage night last evening. Check out the jersey numbers! (from Goose-Tavo Bou). … Pittsburgh Riverhounds wore white at home, prompting Louisville City FC to wear their purple home kit (from Josh Hinton).