By Phil Hecken & the SMUW Crew
Follow @PhilHecken
Remember how stoked I was for Rutgers to wear sleeves? Well, it helps when everyone plays along. What you see above is QB Johnny Langan, who had his long sleeves altered to short sleeves. *Sigh*
Now, the rest of the team seemed to play along, although several of the players pulled up the sleeves somewhat. I’ll give them an “A” for effort, but for the most part, the sleeves didn’t look all that different from regular matching color compression sleeves do. That is because the long sleeves are tailored tight. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but it didn’t really look like old school sleeves would have, either.
The unis looked fine on the field, FWIW:
Look at Aaron Young, folks!@aaronyoung04 | @RFootball pic.twitter.com/tQZoschpIc
— Rutgers On BTN (@RutgersOnBTN) October 19, 2019
I liked the cream pants and numbers, but it looked a bit disjointed when paired with the pretty-much white hat. I did love the “1869” nose bumper tho! Definitely a fun “retro” concept, but I’d venture to say sleeves — even basically compression sleeves — are pretty much going to be a one-and-done thing.
OK, with that, we’re on to the rest of today’s SMUW, starting with TJ.
Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet, Jr.
From Thursday:
• As long as Stanford continues to wear this tomfoolery, I will continue to call them the Stanford Black.
From Friday:
• Northwestern wore their Gothic uniforms against Ohio State on Friday, which still remain as one of my absolute favorite seasonal uniforms in college football. Too bad they got smoked. I don’t want to hear anyone say “IT’S THE UNIFORM’S FAULT!!!1! (looking at you, Saints fans [I say, as a Saints fan])
• Easily a contender for a Top 5, we have Pitt vs Syracuse. I could say it, and I should, but you all know the drill by n– ah, what the hell: Contrast. Matters. Which leads me into a game that instantly sticks in my craw…
From Saturday:
• Wisconsin ain’t the only ones seeing ghosts. Yeesh. This game was about as pale-looking as the world’s most visually-unappealing pork chop. It should be noted that this is the third consecutive time that Illinois has worn the Grey Ghost uniforms against Wisconsin. I guess third time’s the charm?
• Miami (OH) wore cancer awareness ribbon decals in multiple colors against Northern Illinois (they did something similar last year).
• Oklahoma wore their alternate uniforms against West Virginia. I’ve said this int he past, but the newer iteration of the Sooners’ alts are actually pretty nice, and as long as they’re kept AS AN ALTERNATE, they deserve to exist. West Virginia’s look on the other hand… Also, I await the “MILLENNIAL” jokes. Also-also, big OOF.
• Good ol’ Charter/Spectrum. From Colton (Blake) Noud: “Saw that Spectrum had the wrong logo on the channel description for the South Carolina v. Florida matchup with FAU’s logo instead of Florida’s.”. Apart from that and South Carolina going retro again, there wasn’t anything too out of the ordinary here.
• Air Force can typically do next-to-no wrong when it comes to uniforms that ACTUALLY honor the military in some capacity, and that trend continued with their C-17 uniforms that they wore against Hawai’i (specifically, a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III). I put these points out of order, depending on the context (see: Georgia Southern right below), and as such, this was a late game, and I couldn’t find any better game photos (stills of the details), which stinks, because there are some cool details that I just simply don’t have time to cover, but here’s a video of the uniforms at the start of the game.
• Meanwhile, Georgia Southern wore S&S decals as part of their military appreciation look against Coastal Carolina.
• I haven’t shown Arkansas anywhere near the amount of love that I should for their home uniforms that they’ve been wearing all season. Yeah, they may be just a north-of-Louisiana flavor of Oklahoma, but they’re still nice.
• Speaking of which, Oklahoma STATE wore some OUTSTANDING throwback helmets against Baylor.
• Boston College wore throwbacks against NC State, who wore red helmets.
• In more ways than one, Michigan’s uniforms are appealing. From Joe Werner: “in the Penn State-Michigan football game, Michigan WR Donovan Peoples-Jones was losing the nameplate from his jersey.”
• Remember those awesome diamond stripe helmets that Mizzou wore a couple of weeks ago (and should totally keep forever?)? This time, they wore them on their white helmets against Vanderbilt.
• Texas Tech also wore throwbacks against Iowa State.
• UAB wore their Children’s Harbor uniforms against Old Dominion (also, as you can see in both photos, they don’t have the 150 patch).
• Speaking of 150, I… um… yeah, no. Texas did it better. Speaking of which…
• The Longhorns came out in some cool throwback/fauxback (technically) uniforms against Kansas. The lone difference being that instead of the 1969 100th mark, 2019 calls for 150. I call ’em SOLID.
• Colorado wore a extremely-rare (and great-looking) white/white/gold combo against a surprisingly normal-looking (and also great-looking) Washington State squad.
Thanks, TJ! OK, now on to the rest of your SMUW.
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
Yesterday Phil described Saturday’s slate of games as a costume ball; if that’s so then it was a ball where everybody dressed in bed sheets and went as ghosts, because predominantly white uniform combos were the popular choice of the day. Some more colorful match ups distinguished themselves as well, so let’s get to the list!
Honorable Mention
I usually despise gray uniforms, especially when it’s not a normal team color, and I feel like I should hate what the Blazers are wearing…but for some reason I don’t…and I feel like that’s worth mentioning…
5. Baylor @ Oklahoma State
I had no rooting interest in this matchup, but I kept flicking back to it because I admired how both teams sported very simple helmet logos and very plain uniform sets. Nothing fancy in this game, a nice change of pace when so often lately teams come up with contrived reasons to play in costumes.
4. Oregon @ Washington
On a rainy day in Seattle, the Ducks sported chrome domes and white jerseys and pants. In their traditional gold/purple/gold home set the Huskies provided a delightful “traditional vs. new look” contrasting uni style matchup.
3. Michigan @ Penn State
Two top 25 teams, two classic uni sets, one great setting. This is what college football is all about. I would have put it at the top if Michigan had worn their maize pants, but they went with white pants on a night when their opponents, whose uniforms are mostly white to begin with, held a white out at their home field. Just a little too much white for me.
2. Toledo @ Ball State
A MAC-chup with great color contrast played out in Muncie Saturday afternoon between the Rockets and their unique stripe patterns and the Cardinals sporting numbers on the left of their helmets and their logo on the right. I’ve had my eye on Toledo for a while and am happy for the chance to feature them!
1.Pitt @ Syracuse
It looked like a Big East match up Friday night in the Carrier Dome! There weren’t any special uniforms to mark the occasion, just the Orangemen and the Panthers in their standard sets renewing their long standing rivalry, the epitome of everything I love about college football.
And because someone has to be the sacrificial lamb…
&1 Middle Tennessee State @ North Texas
I like their standard uniform sets, and I’ve had an eye on North Texas too, but the black jerseys and pants and exceptionally dull gray helmets the Mean Green wore clashed something mighty with the silver/white/blue set the Raiders wore. A thrilling game, but not easy to watch.
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):
ACC
More Here.
Follow Rex on Twitter here.
And (new for 2019!) — check out Rex’ Weekly Update.
And now, here’s Dennis with the PAC-12:
PAC-12
More here.
Follow Dennis on Twitter here.
And here is Ethan, with the SEC:
SEC
And be sure to check out Ethan’s WVU Mountaineer Tracker.
Follow Ethan on Twitter here.
And here is Kyle with the Big XII:
Big XII
Follow Kyle on Twitter here.
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!
MLB Playoff Uni Tracking
A few years back, reader Alex Rocklein tracked the MLB Playoffs by uniform — you guys may recall this. Here’s what his 2010 Uni Tracking looked like. Alex also tracked the playoffs for Uni Watch last season as well. Here’s how the 2016 World Series looked, here’s how the 2017 Playoffs shook out, and here’s the 2018 Playoffs.
Alex is back once again for the 2019 MLB Playoffs. Last night’s Astros/Yankees game was a thriller, but once again it ended too late for the final score to be added in. But it was Astros 6 – Yankees 4. The World Series starts on Tuesday in Houston, and you can bet dollars to donuts we’ll see the Astros in their home whites vs. Washington in their blue “Nationals” alternates.
Wild Card & LDS Games
LCS Games
Full Tracking
Thanks, Alex.
And now a few words from Paul: Hi there. In case you missed it on Friday, we’re once again offering the Uni Watch Cycling Jersey for a new batch of orders from now through Nov. 1. Just like before, you can choose your number and NOB for a custom look. The finished product should be ready to ship in early December — just in time for the holidays. If you want in, you can place your order here.
Also:
• I’ll have my annual Uni Watch NBA Season Preview on Monday. It will appear on the men’s lifestyle site InsideHook — my first piece for them (although they wrote a profile of me back in May).
• I’m about to start working on my annual Uni Watch Holiday Gift Guide. If you know of a good uni- or logo-themed product or company — or if you produce such a product or run such a company yourself, for that matter — please let me know. Thanks.
• If you purchased a Uni Watch Press Pin, please feel free to enter your numbered pin on this pin registry. The idea is that it’s fun to see who got which number, and some people may want to trade for specific numbers.
• I’m grateful to the many readers who chipped in on Friday to help send me to San Diego, where I’ll cover the Padres’ uni unveiling. I’ll have more to say about that on Monday.
That’s it! We now return you to your regularly scheduled Phil-fest.
Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil
Baseball News: Other than the San Diego Padres, who we know are unveiling a new (brown dominant) uniform on November 9th (which Paul will be covering live), things have been relatively quiet on the MLB uni front. In fact, I am not sure (and neither is Paul) if the new Padres uniforms will have Nike wordmarks — and possibly be Nike-designed — when they are unveiled. But yesterday, we have (unconfirmed) word that the Brewers will be getting a new uniform (or at least a “primary jersey”) for next season (from DC Nats Nut). If there’s one team that can use a full makeover (or just go back to the BiG full time), it’s the Crew. … What’s better than an orange Pontiac Firebird? How about an orange Pontiac Firebird that’s decked out in Astros logos? (from Ignacio Salazar). … During last night’s Astros/Yankees game, Michael Brantley had grass stains on his jersey, which did not agree with the green screen. Also spotted by Matt Shevin as well as by Josh Claywell.
NFL/CFL News: “The BC Lions promoted Friday’s home game as a White Out game,” says Wade Heidt. The Lions wore their white road jerseys for this game. “We are really late in the CFL season and this is the only time a CFL team has worn white at home during this regular season,” he adds. Also notable, some BC Lions players wore white masks when they ran onto the field during team introductions. … The Saints, who looked really good in white over white last weekend, will again wear that combo against da Bears.
College/High School Football News: “Can’t recall ever seeing this before,” says Chris Mycoskie. Team slogan on front of the jersey. “BRING THE WOOD” for Hebron Football’s new home thread. Hmmm, does Oklahoma know about this? … Hmmm (pt. 2) — were these 1995 Clemson ‘Turn Back The Clock’ uniforms the first “throwbacks” worn for a college game? (from willchitty4). … For those of you into such things (and this is Uni Watch, so I’d imagine it’s a LOT), check out this thread devoted to Clemson’s orange britches (from from Austin Pendergist). … A certain scribe made an appearance on College Gameday yesterday morning, discussing the Penn State unis (screen shot courtesy of Oleg Kvasha). … The great Blaise D’Sylva continues his extraordinary NCAAFB helmet collection reveals, yesterday showing off Middle Tennessee State University.
Hockey News: The Prince George Spruce Kings wore special uniforms for Cancer Awareness Night Friday night. “Changing up their colour scheme for this game,” says Wade Heidt. Uniforms were black with pink trim. Shot of the jersey at the 0:07 mark. … Looks like Minnesota Gophers G Jack LaFontaine with an homage to Gerry Cheevers on his mask (via Paul). … Finally…a not-so-horrible frankenjersey: “Brothers Jack and Quinn Hughes are playing each other for the first time in the NHL and their family has custom Canucks and Devils shirts” says Jakob Fox. “Vladimir Tarasenko of the Blues wears 91 specifically in homage to Sergei Fedorov,” says Mike Engle. “Heard the anecdote watching the hockey game going on right now, then googled to back up the story in print.” … 39 years ago, the Chicago Blackhawks retired their first number (from David Firestone). … The next item comes from Joe Werner: RIT and Merrimack went color vs color in men’s hockey. … Penn State hockey unveiled a set of new “White Rush” jerseys that the team will wear for its game against Notre Dame on February 1, 2020
NBA News: ICYMI, for their 35th anniversary, the Sacramento Kings turned to the classics Friday by unveiling a “new” court design. The royal blue and red color scheme of the newly revealed court harks back to the 1993 to 1994 design. The court also features the team’s original logo. … We’ve been led to believe that the black and red colorway of the Air Jordan 1 was banned 31 years ago. But was it really?
Soccer News: In an effort to make a statement about gender equality, several girls from the Burlington Soccer Team removed their shirts and received yellow cards for so doing (from Tris Wykes). … Perth Glory FC had their kits lost by Quantas, so they had to wear something else (from Jeremy Brahm and jonnyforeigner). … Yowsa. There was quite the color on color combo at Selherst Park yesterday (from John Alexa). Here’s a slightly different perspective on that Man City kit (from Trent Lowe). … Southampton paired their third kit with home socks yesterday at Wolves to avoid a kit clash (from Josh Hinton).
Grab Bag: Here’s a look at the Japanese mens volleyball club team Panasonic Panthers with their 2019-2020 look from Asics and Descente (from Jeremy Brahm). … Also from Jeremy Brahm, Italian men’s vball club team Blue Volley Verona with their new look for 2019-2020. Also from Jeremy: Polish men’s vball club team Trefl Gdańsk with their look for 2019-2020.
“If there’s one team that can use a full makeover (or just go back to the BiG full time), it’s the Crew.”
You hear that “just go back to the BiG full time” line about the Brewers a lot. But BiG is a cap logo, and a cap is not a uniform. Even accepting that BiG is a good cap logo, the Brewers have never worn it with a particularly good below-the-neck uniform. The Crew mostly wore straight-from-the-catalog generic lettering and script with the BiG. If the Brewers are going to re-adopt the BiG on their lids, then they need a full makeover. “Just the BiG” will make them look worse, not better.
More importantly, the Brewers need to choose two primary colors and stick with them across their full uniform set. Even if they adopt throwback uniforms as regular alts, they need to render those throwback alts in their regular primary colors.
I was with you until that very last sentence. There is too much navy in MLB. The Brew Crew were born royal blue/athletic gold (yellow), and it is a connection to their origin in Seattle. Bring back the royal blue!
Also (unrelated): SELHURST Park, not Selherst.
I sort of don’t care what shade of blue the Crew picks, but they need to stick with it. And with one shade of yellow. The Brewers currently wear three different primary color combinations, which is two too many. The Brewers currently wear navy and gold, navy and yellow, and royal and yellow. That’s three teams worth of color combinations, and they regularly wear all three over the course of a week throughout the season.
I would argue for navy. There may be “too much navy” in MLB, but the Brewers would be the only team in the NL Central to wear navy as a main color. Whereas royal puts them in direct competition with their closest rival. I’ve had people mistake my royal Brewers cap for a Cubs cap more than once. The Brewers may look great in royal and yellow, and they do, but they’ll never own the color royal as long as they share a division with the Cubs. Still, if the Brewers go with royal blue, great! But stick with royal and eliminate navy entirely from their locker room. Pick two colors and stick with them for every uniform element. If the Brewers do that, I’ll be happy regardless of which shades of blue and yellow they choose.
How would someone mistake a Brewers hat for Cubs? All you gotta do it look at the logo. Or if approaching from the rear, the MLB logo with yellow ought to give it away. That’s their problem, not yours.
If the Brewers were to insist on using the BiG logo, I would like to see it as a sleeve patch only. I am in favor of a letter on the cap. Now, I’ve heard the argument that the BiG is two letters, but it’s still a logo, not a letter. I agree with others that it’s time to pick one set of colors.
“The Brewers may look great in royal and yellow, and they do, but they’ll never own the color royal as long as they share a division with the Cubs.”
So go back to the AL where you belong!
Aw Yeah! Time for some College Football Uni Tracking Canadian Rules Style!
Since Canada West had last weekend off, we missed their presence. We will do the full schedule of Canada West games this weekend.
-In Edmonton, the Regina Rams wore their gold over gold alternates as the light road uniform. I’m not really a fan of the full khakis from my alma mater. The Alberta Golden Bears went with their yellow/green/yellow combo. The “A” logo on the helmet:
link
-In Winnipeg, the Calgary Dinos went with their white/white/red combo. They put the chrome red mask on the helmets. Manitoba Bisons went with their black over black uniforms at home. This seems to have become their primary home uniform again this year in favour of the brown uniform which I prefer them in. Black really only makes an appearance when at home in these uniform. Otherwise they are brown and gold always on the road:
link
-In Vancouver, the UBC Thunderbirds brought out the full black uniforms from last year featuring small amounts of royal blue trim. The visiting Saskatchewan Huskies went white over white, a good look for the team:
link
Bonus! Just a couple of other games across the country to fill it out.
-Sticking with another team call the Huskies, Saint Mary’s went with the white/white/maroon look while visiting Wolfville, NS. Hosting Acadia Axemen went red over red. Not Acadia’s best look (better with white pants) but better than them wearing grey:
link
-Waterloo Warrior wore a yellow jersey as the light road jersey in Hamilton. Going with their yellow over black combo. The McMaster Marauders went maroon over maroon at home:
link
The attention to detail on those AFA unis is impressive. Individual tail insignias on the back of the jerseys and the in-air refueling markings on the top of the helmet are great touches. Awesome.
While Northwestern’s gothic units aren’t ugly, i hate it when they wear them. That game would’ve looked so much better with classic colors. They wear their normal uniforms so infrequently, you couldn’t tell by observation what their “primary” uniform is!
Black and orange uniforms for the OSU have been consistently great in recent years, whether it be the OSU in Corvallis or the OSU in Stillwater.
I thought the USC/Arizona game looked great. USC uniforms always looks great, “College Gameday” yesterday rated it #1, and Arizona looked great in their white/white/blue. Might be their best road combo.
Funny thing about that Spectrum snafu with the Florida game displaying the FAU Owl logo…the FAU game later that night displayed the Gators’ logo. They just got the two schools mixed up, apparently.
No mention of Purdue vs. Iowa? I thought I looked pretty good…
I have mixed thoughts about Nike and MLB unis. With the unconfirmed report of the Brewers having a new “primary” uniform, will Nike implement something similar to what they have done with the NBA, with seemingly new “Statement” uniforms every year??
I get the vibe that with Nike, the idea is “This is what the unis will look like this year, stay tuned next year for the new version”, versus having an identity that goes untouched/untweaked for 10 years or so. I am split – I like having a consistent and identifiable look that lasts for a long period of time (e.g. “I remember when the Orioles wore the link on their hats from 98 to 2008″). But I also like the idea of specially designed uniforms (like the link unis or link of the Maryland Pride unis
Thoughts??
Hey Phil – The Northwestern Unis May be among your favorites, but they lack a significant trait: BLACK is not one of their school colors. The Wildcats are supposed to be Purple and White.
Would probably be OK if school colors were Black and a Gold, but the fans in attendance couldn’t even identify those illegible numbers.
Immensely better if they were to do Gothic numerals and style with Purple, White and maybe Gold numerals, logos – sans the Black. Think Notre Dame 3-4 years ago. Looked pretty cool.
The uniforms are supposed to evoke campus signage, which is black and gold.
Yes, and the typefaces match he signs as well. But something that’s legible on a sign isn’t necessarily legible on a uniform from TV or the stands/pressbox
also, making uniforms that match a sign is dumb…
Northwestern Alum here. I’m typically not a fan of most of NU’s alternate looks—drives me nuts that they don’t wear the same uniform twice in a season. That said, the Gothic look is the one regular non-standard uniform I like that I’m happy to see every year since it actually has ties to campus or the program’s history unlike the gray unis or the stormtrooper look.
Of course, I don’t think it’s actually a good uniform from a Functional perspective for several of the reasons mentioned above. I much prefer NU’s Gothic basketball uniforms to the football ones.
RUTGERS THROWBACKS – So, you go for the real way back vibe with Long Sleeves, but you wreck it with TV Numbers (?) and Names on Back? If ever any Throwback uniform called for NNOB and sans TV Numbers, it would be the very first Long Sleeved Football Jerseys manufactured in the past 45-50 years? It is one thing to be horrible in team performance, it is quite another not even to get the Throwback concept nearly correct.
ILLINOIS GREY GHOST THROWBACKS
Can we mercifully put an end to this Light Gray Jerseys as “Dark Home Jersey” madness? Either darken the Grays enough to contrast with White (same problem with the almost-White, cat piss “Vegas Gold” as Dark jersey rolling disasters),or, simply let the visiting team wear Dark jerseys. This entire mess could have been solved by The Illini wearing Dark Navy jerseys with Orange “Friction Strip” Chest stripes, as done by many teams the past 20 years. Just wear the facsimile of the Red Grange era uniform, honor him, and Be Done With It!
And while we’re at it, can we get rid of Chrome helmets. Please. Enough already.
Remember the beautiful Rutgers uniforms of the late ’90s? They were NNOB (at home) and had no sleeve numbers.
In ’96 they had these beautiful curved digits in a font that I think is called “NCAA” and has a throwback feel; the Cubs used it on their 1997 all-navy-blue ~1909 throwbacks and I think Cornell has used it in football. It looked great. Then in ’97 they went to a font that was almost, but not exactly, like the 49ers’ throwbacks from a few years earlier.
I *love* both of these uniforms and that curvy number font in particular would have looked great on these 1869 jerseys. Soon after that they went to a very generic — but safe and classic — varsity block font and put names on the backs.
Phil,
It is SO great to know you don’t believe in the 1st amendment, it REALLY warms my heart.
BRAVO!!!
I’m not quite sure to what you’re referring. Care to be a bit more specific?
I frikking LOVE that grey Illini kit
The jersey for Texas on the Big XII Uni-Tracker is incorrect. It didn’t have the Texas word mark on the chest.
Somebody asked about the Clemson 1995 throwback being the first. I can tell you that Ohio State wore a throwback in 1993, it was the 25th anniversary of the 1968 national championship, so they broke out throwback jerseys with black TV numbers that year.