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Uni Watch

Eric Steplitus’ NBA/MLB Uni Crossover Concepts (Pt. II)

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By Phil Hecken

Hey guys and gals — hope everyone had a good week! Looks like spring has finally sprung for a good chunk of the country, it seems like the COVID is getting somewhat under control, and we’re appearing to inch closer to actual uniforms being worn on actual fields in the next couple months! OK, so maybe we won’t have any fan(nie)s in the seats, but we. are. getting. closer.

Hopefully.

Anyhoo, last weekend I share with you the first half of Eric Steplitus’ NBA/MLB uni crossover concepts (if you missed that, click here). Today we’ll have part 2. So, without further ado, here’s …

• • •

NBA Baseball Uniform Concepts Part II
By Eric Steplitus

Hello, readers.

My name is Eric Steplitus, and I reside in the Metro Detroit area. Like a lot of others, I have found a lot of new time on my hands, and decided to take on a project. The premise is simple; what if teams in the NBA actually played baseball? What would their uniforms look like? All looks, fonts, color scheme from a franchise’s history was on the table.

I have no design programs, and besides designing uniforms for my college baseball team and travel ball organization, no design experience either. So working past that hurdle, the following is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy!

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Miami Heat:

More than anything, I wish the Miami Heat would adopt their alternate Miami Vice look full time. I chose to put them in v-necks because what is more Miami than pink, fluorescent blue and v-necks!?

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Milwaukee Bucks:

A big fan of their current look (and being a huge sucker for cream baseball jerseys), I thought this was a good place to introduce one. Their diagonal font alternate is based off a current alternate logo and the other green/red alternate is based off their mid 1970s road jersey.

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Minnesota Timberwolves:

I tried to use their current wordmarks, as it is a much cleaner look. Needing something to spice it up, I tried creating this magnifying glass stripe. Alternate based off franchise’s first road jersey.

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New Orleans Pelicans:

Thinking this would be a team looking to make a bold choice, I wanted the Pelicans to adopt their Mardi Gras colors of purple/green/yellow full time. I thought the Nola trumpet font worked outstanding for a baseball jersey.

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New York Knicks:

Searching for something to inject some energy into this set I looked to mimick the side stripes to what the team did in the 50’s. Being a New York team, pinstripes made sense for the alternate look.

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Orlando Magic:

I think the Penny and Shaq font of the 90’s is a much better look to their current word marks. The pinstripes were an obvious and easy decision as well.

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Philadelphia 76ers:

I decided to make their home jersey cream to give that old, declaration signing feel to it. Road font is based off recent alternate fonts they used. I chose to make the blue alternate the biggest to try to make the snake constricted liberty bell logo as large as possible. My favorite set I have made.

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Phoenix Suns:

I decided to make the bold decision of using the sun ray stripes from the 90s, and replacing the ball with a number circle. Alternate is based off the font of the 70’s.

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Portland Trailblazers:

There was no way to make the blazers without including their most distinguishable feature. Turning the pinwheel logo off and trimming the top creates a modified P look for Portland.

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Sacramento Kings:

Baseball have an infatuation for both baby blue and cursive, choosing this look from their early infancy made a lot of sense.

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San Antonio Spurs:

I knew I wanted to make one tequila sunrise jersey in this project. I also knew I wanted to incorporate the fiesta colors into San Antonio’s set. Peanut butter, meet jelly.

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Seattle Supersonics:

The Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t offer much options, so I decided to take it back to Seattle. I used the arches from their last uniform set before moving to OKC, and the alternate font is their word mark from the mid 70s.

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Toronto Raptors:

I find their current look to be quite boring, and too uptight for a team named the Raptors. So I tapped into their font and colors from the 90s to create an energetic look.

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Utah Jazz:

Utah did a wonderful job modernizing their historic look, and I think their current colors work well too. I used the font from the early to mid 2010s from a different feel in the alternates.

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Washington Wizards:

Another team that did a great job in their modernizing of their best look (when they were the bullets), I figured a straight forward clean look for the team representing the nation’s capital was the way to go.

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I hope you had fun looking at my project! Would love to hear any comments you all have. Thanks, everyone! Stay safe!

• • •

Thanks, Eric! Some very interesting concepts there — and I think I speak for everyone many when I laud your choice to use the Sonics in lieu of the Thunder.

OK, readers? What say you?

Guess The Game…

from the scoreboard

Today’s scoreboard comes from Tennessee Jed.

The premise of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I’ll post a scoreboard and you guys simply identify the game depicted. In the past, I don’t know if I’ve ever completely stumped you (some are easier than others).

Here’s the Scoreboard. In the comments below, try to identify the game (date & location, as well as final score). If anything noteworthy occurred during the game, please add that in (and if you were AT the game, well bonus points for you!):

Please continue sending these in! You’re welcome to send me any scoreboard photos (with answers please), and I’ll keep running them.

Quick AB Update

If you guys have been following the weekend UW for the past couple months, you’ll recall I had featured artist (and great chap) Andy Brown’s most recent artwork. He had completed a painting of the “Yankees Dream Team” and had been at work on his latest “Dream Team” painting, this time of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Feast your eyes…

He’s got all the players, now he just needs to add the final color.

Lookin’ great, Mate!


Uni Concepts & Tweaks

After being dormant for a while, the Uni Tweaks/Concepts have returned!

I hope you guys like this feature and will want to continue to submit your concepts and tweaks to me. If you do, Shoot me an E-mail (Phil (dot) Hecken (at) gmail (dot) com).

• • •

Occasionally I’ll have some concepts tweeted at me. Got a couple this week — first up is from Anthony Gee who has a concept for the Diamondbacks…

…and the Rockies:

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And finally we have Bryan Moss with some Falcons concepts

• • •

Thanks. OK readers, tweeters (and concepters). If you have some tweaks or concepts, shoot ’em my way with a brief description of your creation and I’ll run ’em here.

Too Good For the Ticker


Too Good…

for the Ticker

There were a couple things on the Twitter that caught my eye yesterday. They’re simply Too Good…

…for the ticker

• • •

First is this beautiful artwork from Bowen Hobbs, with a fantastic Mr. October homage:

Bowen writes,

I know it’s a little bit early, but it’s still baseball season. Reggie Jackson won 11 division pennants, six league pennants, and five World Series titles during his career.

• • •

Next is this great family COVID photo from @CuseAZ. Awwww…

I still say that negative space “H” in the Whalers’ logo is one of the top two or three logos ever designed in professional sports!

• • •

OK. Now, on to the ticker…

The Ticker
By Anthony Emerson

Baseball News: While watching the Bernie Mac vehicle Mr. 3000, Kurt Rozek noticed that in a flashback scene, Mac’s character Stan Ross was wearing an accurate c. 1995 Brewers uniform, while the bat boy was wearing a 2000-2019 Brewers uniform. … The KBO’s Kia Tigers have players’ uni numbers on their back belt loops. Seems a big superfluous, no? (from Jim Pericotti). … David S. Grove sends along some shots of a c. 1977 Cincinnati Reds/Indianapolis Indians exhibition game at Bush Stadium in Indianapolis.

NFL News: Sports Illustrated ranked the new NFL unis (thanks, Phil). … Also from Phil: USA Today‘s Chiefs blog took a look at the team’s uniforms over the years.
.

College/High School Football News: Yesterday, we ticker-linked a helmet on Tim Hasselbeck’s ESPN set, that was a Boston College base, with Colorado and Miami decals as well as OSU merit stickers. I surmised that the BC helmet is representative of Hasselbeck’s alma mater, the Colorado decal for his father’s alma mater, but didn’t know where the Miami or Ohio State connections came from. Reader Michael Lindsey has a theory: “Could this be his Senior Bowl helmet where players tend to swap stickers, etc? Makes sense that for tOSU they would swap Buckeye stickers. It’s an odd collection of stickers from a geographical standpoint, but I believe there is no set way to divide the players via East/West or North/South anymore.” … Incoming Michigan CB Anderson Seldon Jr. will will become the first Wolcerine to wear No. 0 (from @bosproshops). … The Tacoma News Tribune has ranked the top 5 high school helmets of the Tacoma area (from Kenny Ocker). … Here’s an article about the University of Buffalo’s decision to put a “New York” wordmark on their unis (from Kary Klismet). … Also from Kary: East Helena High School in Montana has a new football stadium.

Hockey News: The Junior B Pacific Junior Hockey League have awarded an expansion franchise for 2020-2021 to Chilliwack, B.C., called the Jets (from Wade Heidt).
.

NBA News: Fast Company has a piece on the mysterious origins of the Bulls’ logo (from James Gilbert and Dan Gitlitz). … CBS ranked the most “iconic” jerseys of the 1990s (thanks, Phil).

College/High School Hoops News: 1981-82 Houston players Rob Williams and Bryan Williams went first name on back, though Bryan’s looks off-center. … This Twitter thread has a few good shots of 1979-80 Detroit Mercy unis, which were worn untucked to show the below-number wordmark. … Lawrence University in Wisconsin has a new basketball court (from Kary Klismet).

Soccer News: AFC Wimbledon of England’s third tier has slightly streamlined their badge (from Kary Klismet). … Celtic FC will wear a badge on their shirts to honor the victims of the Great Irish Famine (thanks, Paul). … Watford have officially become the first Premier League club to have kits provided by Kelme (from Josh Hinton). … Also from Josh: Yesterday German side FC Augsburg revealed their “comeback kits” which will be worn for their first post-shutdown match today. “There will be 1907 shirts produced and 19.07% of proceeds will go to COVID-19 relief efforts,” writes Josh. … There will be two different clubs called CSKA in the Bulgarian Prava Liga next season. Some background on the clubs can be found here. “CSKA” or “ЦСКА” is an abbreviation for “Central Sports Club of the Army”. Many Eastern European communist regimes created sports clubs for army conscripts and volunteers. … Late entry from Josh Hinton: Apparently the 2020/21 Real Madrid home kit has leaked.

Grab Bag: Yesterday’s New York Times crossword had a uni-related clue: “An official color of the University of Texas” (from Max Wagner). … The Score has finished its ranking of the top 100 uniforms of all time with its top 10 (from Kary Klismet). … Also from Kary: Sun-Maid has tweaked its logo. … One more from Kary: Toledo has altered its city seal, covering it with a facemask, to encourage mask-wearing and social distancing. … The flag of the United States Space Force has been revealed (from Scott Rogers and Timmy Donahue). … An Aussie rules football blog is calling for the end of “polo collars” on guernseys (from @maclovenotwar).

And finally… that’s all for today. Big thanks to Eric for sharing his NBA/MLB crossover concepts!

Hope everyone is doing well (COVID-19 and else-wise). Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous (low 80s) on Long Island, and today should be just as nice, and almost as warm, so I’ll be rollerblading in my local park and running around my neighborhood. I confess I go maskless when I do this, but I approach almost no one on the rollerblade trail (it’s a 4.5 mile long, six-foot wide path), and whenever I run, if I ever get near anyone, I either run in the street (if possible) or am a good six-to-ten feet wide of any other runner/walker/human. I know I should wear the mask, but it’s just too uncomfortable, and I’m extremely careful to social distance. I always mask up when walking or entering any buildings (even if no people are around); I just can’t do it when I work out. But what about you guys (who are out and about)? Does anyone else exercise sans-mask? Are you careful about it or do you just do whatever. Just curious here.

Be sure to check back tomorrow (especially those of you who love The Color Purple — no, not the movie…). I’ll have a lede I think you’ll all like, and it’s the beginning of a 48 hour purplegasm.

Catch ya then.

Peace,

PH

 
  
 
Comments (23)

    May 22, 1960 for the scoreboard. Dodgers 9, Phillies 6. Don Drysdale pitched the final 2 1/3 innings to get the save.

    Yeah, Hakeem Olajuwon! He was a late-inning defensive replacement for the Phillies in that game, right? (I kid, I kid).

    CSKA” or “ЦСКА” is an abbreviation for “Central Sports Club of the Army”

    And it’s an acronym in the Slavic languages. So if you need to speak the name, don’t be a rube like Rob Stone or some other soccer commentators and spell it out. Pronounce it “sess-ka.”

    Phil, not necessary to wear a mask during exercise. Can’t be exposed to the virus particles for long enough, if at all. No need to worry about going maskless! link

    That AFL article was calling for the end of coaches in team polo shirts, not about the players’ guernseys (but full marks for correct terminology on the playing kit). That being said, I’ll take a coach in a polo shirt with countless sponsors rather than the Bill Belichick ensemble…

    Phil, I’m the same way with masks. When I walk/bike/run, I’m alone and I give others a wide berth. I find it too difficult to breathe when I’m wearing a mask while working out (kind of sadly ironic, I guess). But when I go into a building, I wear a mask.

    I find it amazing what little discomfort people are able to cope with. I work in healthcare (I don’t buy into the whole hero bs) and have to wear a mask at least 8 hours a day do you think that at any point I am comfortable. Besides isn’t the whole point of exercise to push yourself and make things more difficult so that your body adapts and therefore becomes better.

    Sadly, the greatest name in the big 4 was replaced with the second worst name. Minnesota Wild being the first worst.

    But it gave us one of the best sports headlines, ever: “Jacques Lemaire to coach Wild in 2001.” Presumably, kissing players when they scored and shooting them when they underperformed.

    Great photos of Bush Stadium in Indianapolis, which was later used for filming of Eight Men Out, I believe. A classic minor league ballpark…

    That concept Falcons set is gorgeous, and reminds me what could have been. They had a great thing going with the faux-back Black and at the least the jersey of the Color Rush. Those could’ve formed the basis of an incredibly solid redesign.

    Phil, I’m a big proponent on wearing masks, but only when indoors like shopping, or around others outdoors. But when I hike or walk my dog I don’t wear a mask. However I live in the suburbs, so I would wear a mask if I was walking around people on a city street. Like you, if I come upon people I give them a very wide birth, much more than the recommended 6’. If you look at almost all the infections, they happen indoors with groups of people. I recently did a stress test on a treadmill with a mask on, and it felt like I couldn’t breathe and I was breathing in Co2.

    I’ll add that much of the feeling that I couldn’t breathe while doing the stress test was mostly mental. By the way, there was recently a runner in good shape that had a collapsed lung attributed to running while wearing a mask. Very unlikely, but it did happen.

    Bowen Hobbs~ that really is fantastic work. I wish you would’ve given PH a link to more of your work.

    Love that Reggie poster.
    The belt loop numbers I suppose replace using a sharpie to write your number on the inside somewhere to tell your pants from someone elses.
    I exercise at home. Don’t wear a mask anywhere, but I don’t go shopping either. And I live in a more sparsely populated area, less than 30 cases in my entire county. Got to eat out at a restaurant this week!

    Watched KBO for a minute….never getting that minute back. If MLB were to go that route with ads..I’m out.

    Eric Steplitus’ concepts are quite on point, including the Tequila Sunrise Spurs jersey.

    I found it interesting that, in that era (early 1990s), the team listed those three pastel colors as being amongst their “official” colors in the early 1990s, even as the team only wore silver, black, and white during gameplay. The only place you’d find the pastels were on the warmups.

    About four, five years ago, I made a pastel mockup for the Spurs jersey. I’ll feature it on my blog Wednesday.

Comments are closed.