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Fixing the Seabirds – Part I

Fixing the Seabirds - Day I

By Phil Hecken

Back in August, I announced the latest UW contest, this time to redesign the Seattle Seawhaks for 2012, when Nike takes over the NFL contract. It being the middle of summer, I wasn’t sure how many entries to expect, but I was very pleasantly surprised to receive submissions from 35 readers! Some sent in multiple submissions, while others only sent one, and some sent in several submissions in a single graphic. Since I wasn’t specific on how they could be sent, I’ll show all of the entries along with the submitter.

I’ll break up the entries into two groups — 17 today and the second 18 submitters tomorrow. Next weekend we’ll be voting on the designs. Here’s where I need some reader help — should I open up the voting to every design, or should they be narrowed down to the top 5? And if you guys want to vote on every submitter, should I have you vote for your five favorite out of all, and of that, the top vote-getter overall is crowned the *winner*? Or, just a single vote for each of the 35 contestants? Let me know below in the comments.

As far as a prize — so far I have two in mind and I just may add some more — but for the winner, I will buy you a UW membership — if you already have one, then I’ll buy you a second one, and I’ll try to coax Scotty Turner (who is the graphic genius behind the membership cards) to incorporate your winning design into your new card (or any other design you may want). Also, remember those game-used NFL footballs that Joe Skiba gave to Paul to raffle off a year or so ago? I have one, and it’s been sitting on top of my bookcase, gathering dust, all this time — I’ll give that to the winner as well. There may be some more stuff as well. OK? OK!

Now then…no voting today or tomorrow — that’ll be for next weekend. Let’s see what our first 17 contestants came up with. We’ll be doing this alphabetically:

1. Bret Ayres:

Submission 1: HOME / AWAY – Change colors to the classic royal blue, green, and silver. Silver helmet/facemask, and pants (with green-white-blue stripe). Slight tweak to the angry bird, and addition of shoulder logos/striping/wings inspired by the totem poles of the Pacific Northwest. ALTERNATE – Basically the home uniform with the green.

Submission 2: I liked your designs, and mine aren’t all that different. I may not win, but I’m willing to bet I have the most Nike logos! HOME / AWAY – Change colors to the classic royal blue and silver and the lighter blue from the current logo to a sea-blue. Silver helmet/facemask, and pants (with blue-white-blue stripe). Slight tweak to the angry bird, and addition of shoulder logos/striping/wings inspired by the totem poles of the Pacific Northwest. ALTERNATE – Basically the home uniform with the sea-blue, and most importantly it isn’t electric green.

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2. Paul Barrett:

Submission 1; Submission 2: Ditched the blue on blue and only used the darker blue as an accent for the logo and sleeve/sock stripes. Changed the green from neon to more of a kelly. The road unis were slightly influenced by the Oakland throwbacks with Silver on Silver numbers. The green outline seemed to work the best for that.

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3. Tom Bierbaum:

Submission 1: Home. I actually don’t dislike the current uniform as much as a lot of people. In particular, I kind of like the monochrome all-blue look of the home uniform. But the “metallic blue” color is an odd shade and I hate the tossed-in touches of neon green.

Submission 2: I actually don’t dislike the current uniform as much as a lot of people. In particular, I kind of like the monochrome all-blue look of the home uniform. But the “metallic blue” color is an odd shade and I hate the tossed-in touches of neon green.

Submission 3; Submission 4; Submission 5: Alternate I: I have a version with an alternate neon green jersey to accommodate the fondness the Seattle fans seem to have for that color; Alternate-II: I added an alternate-alternate that I know would never get used in a million years but is the kind of combination I really like ”“ neon green jerseys and a lighter, glossy “metallic” version of neon green for the helmets and pants. Blue/Gold Alternate: And finally, all through the exercise, I was thinking the Seahawks have always been a blue team and it seems like they should remain one, but the only blue color scheme that particularly interested me (besides my actual first choice, the team’s original look) was to go with kind of a bright shade of royal blue for the jersey and then a light metallic blue for the helmets and pants, and I didn’t like green as the trim color for that combination, so I tried it with my all-time favorite trim color, yellow-orange, which I happen to think looks good with everything.

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4. Todd Breda:

Submission: Here’s my take. Thanks for your time.

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5. Steve Brookman:

Submission 1: HOME: I used the old Seahawks color scheme, with elements of the new (namely dark blue). I kept the current jersey numbers with the dark blue outline. I also added semi-UCLA stripes to the shoulders and incorporated the alt hawk logo on the sleeves. Finally, I added silver pants.

Submission 2: AWAY: The jersey on the away set uses the same basic design as the home. I used blue numbers with the dark blue outline. This set also uses the silver pants.

Submission 3: AWAY ALT: This set incorporates a blue set of pants into the mix. I’ve added striped socks to this set, as I’ve always believed darker pants call for striped socks.

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6. D.J. Button:

Submission 1: This is my submission to your contest. Thanks!

Submission 2: Here is the proper entry.

~~~

7. Nelson Calimquim:

Submission 1; Submission 2; Submission 3; Submission 4: As you can see from my redesigns, the Seahawks Home and Road uniform redesigns are taken back to their original color schemes. With the added striping, it gives the uniforms a more classic look. These uniforms definitely should withstand the test of time and will be enjoyed for many Seahawk fan generations to come. Unless, of course, the Seahawks management decides to move the team to Oklahoma City”¦

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8. George Ciervo:

Submission: Starting out, there were three things I wanted to work into the design. One, the distinctive shoulder cut of the current unis. Two, I wanted to work off of the thick double stripe from the logo and sleeve design of the 80s/90s unis. And three, I wanted to bring back the old colors. I started with the away uniforms, and the design was working nicely. I used the double stripe (well, triple if you include the narrow white divider) motif on the sleeves and for the pants. Then I decided to try that approach on the numbers, like what U Miami used. Sure it’s a gimmick from that company and no, the NFL would probably never go for it, but darned if I didn’t love that look. Gray/silver pants and helmet, looking good. Then I got to the home uniforms, and things just were not working with the colors. The green half of the numbers didn’t contrast enough with the royal blue uniforms, and I couldn’t get the sleeves right. So I started shifting things around, introduced more colors, and the whole thing became a mess. IMO, one of the problems the Seahawks have currently is that they just use one too many colors. Virtually all of the teams have at most two “real” colors (black, white, gray don’t count). One is fine (Jets, Colts). ZERO is fine (Raiders). Three is not (witness the old Bills). So I had to step back and simplify. What I settled on was navy and the neon green, as that combo gave the most contrast. It wasn’t what I originally wanted, but it fit the design.

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9. Michael Craig:

Submission: Now that the Bills are beautiful again the Seahawks are now the NFL team most in need of an upgrade. Heres what ive come up with. I think ive struck a pretty good balance between the traditional jerseys and the current set. The new blue is somehwere in between the old jerseys and the current set. That hideous neon green is done away with in favour of a green closer to the old green, but with a bit more pop. Kept the dark blue from the current set on the home uniform because i think it offers an attractive frame for the green on the sleeves, pants and collar. hope you enjoy it.

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10. Joe Csikos:

Submission: My shot at a Seahawks Redesign. The overall colors are fairly similar. Used a darker navy blue and got rid of the rest of the blues. I emphasized the neon green (or snot green) in the home sets for the home fans. I decided to use the carbon fiber look as Nike did with Oregon for the helmets and the numbers. The alt set uses a bit more of the neon green without going crazy like before. Hope everyone enjoys.

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11. Andrew DeFrank:

Submission 1 (Team Information)

Submission 2 (Home)

Submission 3 (Road)

Submission 4 (Navy Pants)

Submission 5 (Green Alternate)

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12. Denver Gregg:

Submission 1; Submission 2: Attached are home & away Seahawks concepts. I don’t have the skill to use the anti-cooperation template, so I borrowed a different one. Kept the current neon and clinically depressed blue, restored light silver, resisted the urge to use undersleeves as they’re probably not likely to be used in an NFL jersey and added hooped socks and an element that’s probably unique in this contest.

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13. Matthew Donnelly:

Submission: I built my set around an alternate logo (on the helmet) and found myself liking their shade of green as I worked on it. I went to one shade of blue, a UCLA old-style number font, and an attempt at a carbon shade for the pants. I kept the glove outsides plain, and used gradients for the glove salute and the socks. For the model, I used a popular template floating around the SportsLogos boards. I suspect that, being a northwest team, this is the team that Nike convinces to go bat!@#$ insane next year.

~~~

14. Terry Duroncelet:

Submission: Hello, Uni Watch. Here is my idea for a new Seattle Seahawks uniform. Not much of a change except that I used the nuclear green in a more tasteful manner and added Northwestern-striped socks. Adding Seahawk Blue pants was tempting, but given that they actually go with this idea, they’ll just pair it with the blue jersey, and we can’t have that. Thank you for your time.

~~~

15. David Ebright:

Submission: I made this about 6 months ago and never did anything with it. After reading your article I figured it was the right time to unveil it to the world. I love it, but i’m sure everone else will hate it… cant wait to here the feedback.

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16. Andrew Farley:

Submission 1; Submission 2; Submission 3; Submission 4; Submission 5; Submission 6; Submission 7: As a lifetime Seahawks fan/graphic designer/uni watch enthusiast I figured it would be fun to do some Seahawks uniforms. And what is the point if you don’t take some risks to make them cooler, right?

~~~

17. Michael Hass:

Submission 1: HOME: A return to the Seahawks’ classic blue, sea green, and silver color scheme that is unique to Seattle and beloved by fans. This version gives the green more prominence than the original, and overall is a little more structured and contemporary. On the logo, I kept the dark blue (which I think looks pretty sharp) and substituted the pale blue with the sea green.

Submission 2: ROAD: The blue yoke and sleeves make this road uni a bit more ownable than the old road uni from the 90’s. I always felt these fell a little flat, and were a little too similar to the Raiders’ road colors.

Submission 3: ALT: As a celebration of Seattle culture, I made a Special Edition logo and introduced “Expresso brown” to the palette (I’ll let you speculate what the inspiration was). This started as a gimmick but I was happily surprised with the results. I don’t think I’ve seen this color combo before (at least not in the sports world), and I think it works pretty well.

~~~

Well, there you have the first day of submissions — we’ll finish it up tomorrow. Now, a quick few words and observations from Tim E. O’Brien, who helped me to set up the contest:

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Wow.

Let me start off by saying that while I expected some ‘out-there‘ designs, there were quite a few ‘holy s# ¡” ‘ designs – not that that’s a bad thing…

A few observations from day one:

• As I noted in the original post for this contest, Seabird fans l.o.v.e. themselves some neon green. My theory is that due to the general lack of sunlight in the great Northwest, the neon is the most vibrant color any of these poor people have ever experienced (for instance, this was the nicest day in Seattle history).

• Anyone who got rid of the neon seemed to replace it with a forest/kelly green.

• Someone went above and beyond the call of duty and redesigned other NFL teams in the process.

• Many people love the current set of blue.

• Those who didn’t almost all went back to the royal blue of the early ’90s.

• The logo of choice remained the current modern-Haida seahawk.

• Does anyone know who made this submission or what contest it’s for?

• Another submission made me want a Venti Chai Latte (actually the more I see that color combo, the more I like it).

All in all I’m thrilled with the submissions and am happy to see all of them. A few people came up with the idea to spell out the numbers, which I think is a brilliant idea but fails in practicality. Maybe there’s a place for that type of innovation, but I don’t think it’s on the jersey (…maybe the pants?).

But before we even get to the comments and criticisms, let me just say none of these concepts are bad. Anyone who took the time and effort to come up with these did a great job in executing their ideas, I just don’t agree with all of them. Thanks again to all the people who submitted to this and, who knows, maybe the 2012 ‘Hawks will be wearing something based on an idea or two from these concepts.

~~~

Thanks Tim. OK, readers, now it’s up to you. Let’s hear who your early favorites are in the comments and also how you think the poll should be structured. We’ll be back tomorrow with the second half of the contestants and more deep thoughts from Tim E.

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Benchies Header

Benchies

by Rick Pearson

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“Whoa, talk about pressure…”

9-17-11 d-Klutz

And of course, the full-size.

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colorize this

Colorize This!

Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.

After receiving submissions from two former contributors last weekend, this week we’re back with the usual suspects, also known as the G&G boys. But that’s OK because, as always, their contributions are tremendous. I’m going to run the Colorize This! a day earlier than usual, because I expect tomorrow will be chock full of college football goodness, and perhaps some other surprises. OK? OK!

Let’s see what we have this week:

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First up is George Chilvers, who has three separate entries this week. His first (Clyde Kluttz of the Boston Braves) is as follows:

Hi Phil

I found this at the excellent Boston Public Library Flickr account.

George

His second submission was this:

Hi Phil again

Another one from the excellent Boston Public Library collection here

It’s Bill Osmanski, later of the Bears, but here in his time at Holy Cross.

His jersey looks a bit “worn” in the black and white print, so although I’ve coloured it in Holy Cross colours (there’s no reason why it would be as it looks like a training top, but I’ll go with the purple) I’ve made the colours a bit faded and well-washed :)

George

PS If any of your readers are from south of the Mason-Dixon line they may like a quick look at my most recent Shorpy piece of work (non-sport) at Shorpy.

And the third time for George is always a charm, as he completed his *work* for the week with this gem, from the Harvard/Army Game in 1933:

Hi Phil

You can use this next week if you like and can’t fit it in this week. Once again, I have one of my tales to go with this.

When I was a lad growing up in 1950s/1960s England I was interested in all sports and American Football seemed like an exotic faraway event! My sole knowledge of it was based on old encyclopaedias which had grainy black and white pictures from the 1930s of an area of play about 30yards by 30 yards with a confusing melee in the middle of teams named Yale, Harvard, and confusingly for me, Army and Navy. It all enthralled me :)

Anyway – looking through the Boston Public Library site I came across a number of these action photos and thought I’d see what one looked like in colour. I didn’t expect much, as I thought it would be mainly green. Occasionally even I get surprised what adding colour does, and this is one such occasion. I think the colour has really brought to life a moment in time 78 years ago. It’s 1933, and Harvard are playing Army. I had to really study the picture to sort out who was from which team, but the effort paid off. I’m well pleased with this, as they say. I’ve left it quite big I’m afraid, but of course it can be chopped down or lower resolution applied.

The original is here.

Hope you like it.

George

Thanks, George. Great work as always!

~~~

And the second half of the G&G tandem, Gary Chanko checks in with two beauties of his own.

Check out this amazing job with Johnny U & Merlin Olsen (and Deacon Jones!):

Hi Phil

Decided to give baseball a rest this week and went searching for football images. Specifically I was looking for a childhood favorite Johnny Unitas. There’s not many quality B&W photos of Johnny U, but I did find one this one.

The photo was captured during a 1967 Colts-Rams game that ended in a 24-24 tie. In addition to Unitas, the image contains two other Rams Hall of Famers, Merlin Olsen and Deacon Jones. The Colts uniforms have hardly changed over the past half century. The Rams, however, have regressed beyond recovery.

Gary

And Gary wasn’t finished, sending one more my way, and it came from yesterday’s There’s No Service Like Wire Service:

So this photo shows up in today’s Wire Service Vol 34. It truly deserves colorizing, particularly since I’m an Eagles fan.

And could this be the next “What color was the Broncos horse” mystery?

Great stuff from Gary, as well.

OK, that’s all for the Colorize This! for this week.

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Duck Tracker Header

2011 Duck Tracker

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, Jake Hurley has stepped up to the plate and taken over the “Duck Tracker” for 2011. What is the Duck Tracker? Quite simply, it tracks each and every uniform combination the Ducks have worn for the 2011 season. He steps in for former tracker Mike Princip, whose non-Uni Watch activities will preclude him from tracking for 2011

Mike’s 2009 and 2010 Duck Tracking are still alive and well, and Jake will always include links back to those two incredible projects throughout the 2011 season.

I had just about given up on the Duck Tracker for 2011 when earlier this week I received an E-mail from Jake. Here’s how he introduced himself:

My name is Jake Hurley, I’m a long time reader of Uni Watch, Paul’s page 2 articles, and also a long time member of Chris Creamers Forum. I wasn’t initially interested in taking over the Duck Tracker but recently a new opportunity has arisen. I am taking an introductory web design class (mostly html and css) at my college and one of the main projects that just recently got introduced is to create and maintain a website. I was trying to think of some sort of uni related project when yesterday I remembered that you were looking for someone to take over the duck tracker. I talked with my professor and showed him the current site and he said that it would be fine as a substitute for the assigned project.

Jake added that “I am an experienced Photoshop user. … I can assure you that I can easily produce equal or better quality work than what was on the site previously. I’m a uni nerd just like everyone who reads Uni Watch, so you can rest assured that my renderings would be accurate.”

So, after trading a few E-mails back and forth, and after getting Mike’s blessing to have someone else continue his work, I’m pleased to formally introduce you to our Duck Tracker for 2011. As of this writing, Jake has already produced the Duck costume for the first game, and he’ll have the second one done shortly. We’re both hoping he’ll be able to have his own site up and running in time for the combination for today’s Ducks game against the Missouri State Bears, to be posted tomorrow morning, just like we did with the 2009 and 2010 trackers. Jake has promised to make the new tracker full of goodies, or as he says, “For starters I would just do the basics (uni, score, opponent) but down the road I will most definitely be adding plenty of gravy, I have an eye for that kind of thing and would be very interested in making it aesthetically pleasing.”

And there you have it, Uni Watchers. The Duck Tracker is back. And it sounds like it will be every bit as exciting and informative as the past two years have been. Make sure you check back tomorrow, as we hope to have the new tracker up and running!

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all sport uni tweaks

Uni Tweaks

We have another new set of tweaks today.

If you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way.

Remember, if possible, try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per tweak. You guys have been great at keeping to that, and it’s much appreciated!

And so, lets begin:

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We start with Joe Troyer, who has a new look for the Titans:

Hi,

Really enjoyed this week’s breakdown of the Bills’ new duds. But a good-looking Bills team begs the question: can we now agree that the Tennessee Titans have the worst unis going? Or at least the bottom 5? I can’t stand looking at them. Check out my alternative if you’re inclined

Keep up the good work,
Joe

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Next up is Walter Helfer, with an update of the Dallas Stars:

Dear Phil,

I tried a clean-slate approach for the Stars of Dallas, since they’re still getting by on second-rate identities dreamed up when they called Minnesota home. I went with a more Texas-slanted image, marrying the iconic tin sheriff’s badge to a snowflake. For simplicity, I dropped the gold color; I think there should be at least one green-black-and-white team.

Home

Road

-Walter

~~~

And the last tweak for today comes from Justin Myslinsky, who has a few new helmets concepts for La Tech:

Louisiana Tech needs new helmets/uniforms/ logo etc.

Here are some of my helmet designs, maybe you could have a contest!

That’s all for today. Keep the submissions coming.

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That’s about all for this fine Saturday — remember, in the *amateur* football league, it’s “Road Test” Saturday…big game tonight between FSU and OU. Might also contend for the 5 & 1. Couple of quick uni notes — My man Terry Duroncelet will cover this more fully, along with other new uni college uni news tomorrow, but last night Boise State went with a new look, combining their old blue helmet with their pro combat jersey and new orange pants, a repeat of the look they sported in the greatest game ever played. Also, there were pre-game rumors that the Cyclones of Iowa State might be breaking out their own storm trooper uni against UConn last night, but at the last minute, they went with the the ketchup helmet after all. Nice pants though.

Everyone have a great Saturday.

~~~

“The day after Harry Chapin died, our pitcher, who was a fan, convinced us to wear black armbands in mourning. We had no black armbands, so we used black dress socks.” — Cort McMurray

 
  
 
Comments (130)

    Walt, your concept of a snowflake and the sheriff’s badge is the kind of creativity that keep me coming back to the site day after day.

    As for the contest, I say vote for a final 5 and then choose the winner from that 5.

    Had the same thought – a terrific creative spark for the Stars to consider.

    I also like the Seahawk submitter who used chocolate brown. I always enjoy the job Phil does on the weekend – but its one’s like today – that I particularly like.

    I was hoping to see some wild and wooly concepts but mostly it looks like tweaksville. Until I ran across FARLEY! link That’s awesome on my screen. Who cares if it doesn’t translate to the astroturf.

    Hass, you fixed one of my pet peeves with this link. The way the bird lines meet in the back of the helmet. It’s always been wrong, so wrong that I wonder how it was acceptable back in ’76.

    Finally checked out that Boston Library flicker account. GREAT stuff.

    Dressed to the Nines has a few errors (still an incredible resource), we all know this. But this photo link sure doesn’t match up with this link . I believe the patch on both guys dates it 1942. What color are those socks? The letters are lighter with a dark outline unlike anything in DTTN. What I’m getting at, if those are orange socks, I want some, RMP.

    Not so quick on the lighter text thing…

    link – Boston Patriots, Red jersey with blue striping. Notice which color appears lighter.

    Very common misconception.

    It’s all to do with sensitivities of film etc – blue from that era very often appears pale while red appears dark.

    Look at this picture of a family sitting under a Union Jack:
    link

    While this picture also shows the effect:
    link

    Another anomaly is that occasionally yellow appears almost black in b&w prints – bizarre, but one I’ve got used to when colourising.

    Great submissions! I note however all but 3 contemplate return to silver (or gray) helmets – the Seahawks fans got to vote, on the team website several yrs back, whether to keep silver or go to the dark blue helmets / vote was close but blue won… will be interesting to see direction team goes…

    That vote was sorta fishy though, because, if you remember the Seahawks didn’t have silver pants as option. The Seahawks had a uniform that was designed to use the 2 blues, white and green. The silver helmet just didn’t match anything.

    One more comment and its off to an all day soccer tournament.

    George, I love this link photo! How about those pants. On both teams. And the Army jersey strips, very cool. The referees look amazing too. Absolutely wonderful job on a spectacular photo!

    Trax, you are so right. That photo is the bomb. I’m constantly amazed at how George’s work — always excellent — just keeps getting more and more beautiful.

    The 1937 Harvard team re-animated by George was a powerhouse. On defense, they gave up 19 points — total — for the season. Offense was led by the magnificently-named Vernon Struck, who carried the ball 33 times for 233 yards against despicable Princeton, leading the way to a 34-6 blowout that assuaged the ignominy of losing to the “Tigers” in each of the three years previous.

    I played Right Tackle for that Crimson team, and have the gimpy knees to prove it.

    There are some really great Seahawks submissions in the mix today. As for voting for the best one, I would say maybe you ask readers to rank each one on a scale 1 to 5. Once all 35 have been ranked, maybe take the top 5 or 10 and let the readers pick their favorite from the those.

    LOVE 16. Andrew Farley’s designs. LOVE THEM. The spelled out numbers are nice looking. Love the light blue. FREAKING LOVE THE SASH ON THE GREEN UNI! The designs are out there, for sure, but man they look good.

    I couldn’t agree more with this comment. That sash really works well. I also love the embracing of the neon green.

    I love the sash as well! One problem I have with the sash is the “practicality” of white on white numbering. As a football announcer/play-by-play person, white on white is a NIGHTMARE. I called a game where the visiting team had wOw with blue trim around the numbers and it was a tough evening.

    And yes, I know these are concepts and I’m not keeping these thoughts in my inner dialogue.

    Still doesn’t keep me from lovin the look! The whole set by Andrew Farley has this anti-establishment feel to it!

    Vote for the top five for the first group, then vote top 5 for the second group, then vote for best overall of the 10.

    Fantastic job by the people who took the time to submit their redesigns. Some truly creative minds follow UniWatch! My favorites are Paul Barrett as far as total redesign (a very modern look that I think will be incorporated into the NFL over the next several years), and Michael Craig for taking the existing design and making the most of it…great job!

    Leaving all design issues aside, I think that Denver Gregg’s “Clinically Depressed Blue” should be the official name for that shade.

    I, for one, would probably end up soiling myself laughing seeing that on a car window sticker.

    Phil, that’s Boise’s normal helmet in last night’s game.

    Their Pro Combat helmet looks like this season’s with the wraparound logo, but in blue instead on white.

    I think you should have everybody vote for today’s 17 submitters and rank them 1-17 with 17-16-15-14 points etc. and same tomorrow 1-18.

    Then take top 3 point-getters from today’s and tomorrow’s and next weekend vote all of their submissions…

    I’ll start it off. (And of course, kudos to everybody that entered, and I don’t mean to say anything bad about any of the entries, I just tried to give my honest critique, which I hope is appreciated, and of course it’s just my opinion and not any more valid than anyone elses.) With that being said:

    1. Steve Brookman. (17 points using my scale) Nice, I really liked the look of the blue number on the white jersey.

    2. Michael Hass. (16) Not sure how I feel about the stripings & designs on the undersleeves, but I do know I like the mocha and forest alternate combo. Congrats for thinking outside the current color scheme box. In fact, I like your #1 and #2 design, but I’d vote for a new home/road pair based on that color scheme even higher.

    3. Andrew DeFrank. (15) Could be really close to what a 2012 Seahawks Nike set might look like. Love the primary logo & the white over navy pants set. (That should be their standard road look)

    4. D.J. Button. (14) Nice, liked the silver look and the diagonal style. A little too pro-combaty, but that’s the way the winds blowing these days, I guess.

    5. Tom Breda. (13) Nice, simple classy.

    6. Michael Craig. (12) Another nice and simple look.

    7. Tom Bierbaum. (11) Really liked the shade of green in submission #1.

    8. George Ciervo. (10) I personally don’t usually care for the Boise State style numbers, but they seem to work here.

    9. Joe Csikos. (9) Kind of a wild redesign. Interesting.

    10. Terry Duoncelet. (8) Nice simple, white pants, like the NW socks.

    11. Paul Barrett. (7) Didn’t care for the white number (not enough contrast)

    12. Andrew Farley. (6) I like the thinking outside the box, but I don’t think the spelled out numbers would fly. The smaller chest number is kinda cool, like some of the 1994 throwbacks.

    13. Matthew Donnelly. (5) Not thrilled with the curvy numbers, but do like the helmet with the alt logo

    14. Denver Gregg. (4) Not thrilled with how the neon green really jumps out at you.

    15. Nelson Calimquim. (3) Didn’t care for the fonts or the helmet logo.

    16. David Ebright. (2) I wouldn’t say I hate it, but the neon number does stand out quite a bit.

    17. Brett Ayers. (1) I just didn’t care for the shade of colors used.

    Too many of them took the easy way out and used that same readily-available “3D” template which does not really show what the jerseys would look like on the field because of the dark shadowy scene/background.

    So go grab a nice large shot of Penn State’s road uniform and make a sunlit on-the-field template. ;)

    Hey guys

    Came across this “article” on Collegehumor, thought you guys may get a kick out of it..

    Title: Adidas Counters Nike Pro Combat Uniforms with Uniform Designs that Don’t Look Like Crap

    link

    If only Adidas was actually doing that… *le sigh*

    While they may not be putting out special Adidas TeamSpirit(TM) uniforms, they are doing a wonderful job of killing shoulder loops.

    Agreed, alot of the people I watched the game with assumed Notre Dame was going for a similar striping look as Michigan… Only a few realized it was suppoed to be UCLA stripes

    Then again UCLA’s stripes are also supposed to be UCLA stripes

    I really like the direction where Andrew DeFrank is going with his Seahawk concepts. Bring back the gray/silver! Just really dig that template as well.

    Today has been a blast looking at all of these concepts. Well done, everyone!

    Gary and George. Thanks again for the colorized work.

    Being partial to college football history, I really liked the Holy Cross pic and the Harvard vs Army pic.

    Yessir. Bill Osmanski in that faded purple: wow. Coincidentally, Holy Cross and Harvard face other this afternoon. It’s the season opener for the Crimson, third game for the Crusaders, who looked very strong last Saturday.

    Now that Ryan Fitzpatrick has proved himself a decent NFL QB, it should not insult the intelligence of UW readers to point out that current Crimson signal-caller Collier Winters was the first place winner at a national quarterback throwing-accuracy contest held this year at the Manning Bros college QB camp. He can light it up, for sure, but my money’s on the Crusaders at home.

    Collier Winters and Chase Utley have perfect old-time banker names.

    Thank you Jake Hurley for the continuing adventure of the Duck Tracker! Love the template you’re using, and looking forward to seeing your work this season.

    Thanks Mike. I am looking forward to doing the duck tracker as well. Thank you for letting me have this opportunity, I hope to make you proud.

    As with most old football pictures. One must be careful trusting the caption.

    Wes Fesler played for Ohio State. Not Harvard as this caption says.

    This stop action sequence was seen in other publications.

    link

    Please don’t take this the wrong way, but i hate when people call that ou/boise state game the greatest ever played. It was actually a very poorly played game. If you want great games, take a look at the games of the century between ou and nebraska.

    Not uniform related, but….

    I know this weekend’s NFL games were scheduled to be the first weekend in the NFL since 1970 with absolutely no divisional games (in case because of the lockout if they had to cancel a week, they could have thrown this week out and not mess up the competitive balance too much.)

    So that may have something to do with this, but there are eight matchups that are championship or Super Bowl rematches. That seems to me to be statistically unlikely.

    Pittsburgh vs Seattle – rematch of Super Bowl XL
    Dallas vs San Francisco – rematch of ’70, ’71, ’81, ’92, ’93, ’94 NFC Championship Game
    Cleveland vs Indianapolis – rematch of ’64 & ’68 NFL Championship
    San Diego vs New England – rematch of ’07 AFC Championship
    Philadelphia vs. Atlanta – rematch of ’04 NFC Championship
    Chicago vs. New Orleans – rematch of ’06 NFC Championship
    Oakland vs. Buffalo – rematch of ’90 AFC Championship
    Green Bay vs. Carolina – rematch of ’96 NFC Championship

    …but wait that’s not all. Out of the other matchups, all but two also could have been championship game rematches as well, had a game or two turned out differently.

    Tampa Bay vs. Minnesota – either Bucs or Vikings reached 3 straight NFC Championships from ’98 to 2000

    Cincinnati vs. Denver – either Bengals or Broncos reached 4 straight AFC Championships from ’86 to ’89

    St. Louis vs NY Giants – either Rams or Giants reached 3 straight NFC Championships from ’99 to ’01

    Jacksonville vs NY Jets – either Jets or Jaguars reached 3 of 4 AFC Championships from ’96 to ’99

    Baltimore vs Tennessee – either Titans or Ravens reached 3 of 4 AFC Championships from ’99 to ’02

    The only two I could find not a link for were Kansas City vs. Detroit (and they are in different conferences) or Houston vs. Miami and the Texans have never made the playoffs (although the Dolphins and the Houston Oilers did meet in the AFC playoffs in 1978.

    Is this statistically significant or not really a big deal?

    oops, I left out Arizona vs. Washington — in 6 out of 9 years from 1940 through ’48, either the Cardinals or Redskins reached the NFL Championship Game, but never faced each other. (not as impressive as the others, I’ll grant you, but still)

    Not quite.

    Boise needs a bit more blue below the waist and a bit more orange above it for that look to work.

    Other than my own, here’s my take by tier.

    Best in show: Bierbaum (especially #1 & #2)

    Honorable mention: Farley, Ayers, Button, Hass

    missed it by that much: Barrett, Breda, Brookman, Calimquim, Ciervo, Craig, Csikos, DeFrank, Donnelly, Duroncelet, Elbright

    I thought D.J. Button’s concept was the most original. Loved the jersey, but think the pants need a reworking. Had a kind of contorted codpiece look to it.

    I predicted that last week.Even though I thought it was going to be at PSU.

    Next week Eastern Michigan at Penn State. UGH.

    Thanks for the vote of confidence for the old-schoolers out there! You can read the details of my uni redesign here:

    link

    two things…first I think we should vote for our top five with a similar formula to the college football polls (5 points for a 1st place vote – 1 point for a 5th)…there are a lot of great submissions here and I think if we only vote for one, we may end up missing out on getting the correct winner. Second, I am sure someone else is going to mention this or they may have mentioned it already, but spelling out the number on the jersey (I’m not 100% sure on this) MAY be a violation of NFL rules for numbering

    Seriously LOVE Andrew Farley’s white sash over the chest submission. It’s different, but not in a “Maryland footbal” way.

    I think ASU is breaking out white helmets (and possibly storm trooper to match last weeks darth vader) against illinois

    link

    In general all of the Seahawks uni tweaks are really good. Some are better than others obviously and for sure I think there are some better than my submission that hasn’t ran yet. Good job guys! I would say a vote to narrow it to a top 5 and then a top 5 vote. However, a vote of 35 different looks would be incredibly difficult so maybe a narrow down to a top 5 by the Uni Watch brain trust would be better.

    Letting the brain trust decide may indeed be the way to go. It seems almost too difficult to narrow it down as there are so many that I like!

    A couple of things that seems to be in common with just about everyones concept designs, no more blue monochome,and silver helmets. Alot of people like returning to the original colors……

    Not high on anyone’s list, probably, but Saskatchewan in their gorgeous throwbacks against Toronto on NFL Network right now.

    No, just avoiding the gold, old gold, athletic gold, etc., etc., etc., conversation.

    Not conceding anything, just don’t like to risk starting it up again.

    Shocked nobody went with the classic plain silver helmet for the Seahawks uniforms. Hopefully there will be one in tomorrow’s entries.

    I know that’s a snark but I wouldn’t mind seeing it.

    Has it occurred to anyone that blue and green…don’t look good together?

    You really thinking spelling out the numbers on a few of the Seahawks fixes is a “brilliant idea”???

    Hoooo-kayyyyyyyy

    -Jet

    WOW! Some of these are amazing. Glad to see mine got put up, but I may have to vote otherwise. Tom Beirbaum’s are absolutely fabulous. Well done.

    I do believe WVU’s Geno Smith was wearing a bracelet that says “boobies!” today. Surely it’s for Breast Cancer Awareness right? hehe

    3rd pic in the slideshow here… link

    correction, another pic in the slideshow shows it clearly says “I ‘heart’ Boobies!”… Very nice.

    For all those Calgarians , live for the day, you finally get to root for a decently clad team.

    As opposed to the unnecessarily cluttered Flames, the little bit disturbing Hitmen, and the downright horrendous Stampeders, well those Stampeders have dawned some retro beauts, that would quickly place them on top of the CFL uniform heap (not exactly a tough thing to do), in terms of satorical spendor, as opposed to rock bottom.

    Many thanks to Phil for all the work on the Seahawks uniform project. I fear my submissions may have been quite a project to work with — the attachments really slowed down my e-mail when I sent them in. My (Tom Bierbaum’s) designs were done in colored pencil and the put through the scanner and apparently that creates some pretty huge documents. Unfortunately, I’m clueless when it comes to working with the existing templates. Again, many thanks to Phil for patiently working with those submissions.

    no worries tom (tenz) — since i got my mac back in january, it can handle pretty much anything you guys throw at me, so it’s all good…you’d be surprised at how large some of the files sent my way are

    i don’t want to comment on anyone’s submissions until after this contest is over, but i will say this — as soon as i saw yours, i KNEW it had to be today’s splash photo

    I don’t know what you’re talking about, my PCs always work great from every time I re-install my OS until the next time the system crashes.

    In the Alabama vs. North Texas game: We have our first look (or at least my first look) at the N. Texas white jersey. Looks frickin’ awesome, but those pants are awful, not just in design, but in fabric, too.

    Why would you go through the trouble to get a Pro Combat/Sweatbox template jersey, but go with old, shimmersheen pants? North Texas wasn’t even a Nike school last year, so “rotating last year’s pants” is a poor, nonexistent excuse. Dumb.

    ESPN Goal Line had a few minutes of Marshall vs Ohio U game. At first I only saw Marshall and thought this is a white and green vs green and white game. Then Ohio U came in view and was wearing black jerseys and black pants????

    They did, until this year. With Utah in the Pac-12 and BYU now independent the game has been moved to September. Doesn’t seem quite right …

    I saw that.

    I forget the rule now or if it even is still a rule. Does a team get penalized by both choosing dark colors? Like USC vs UCLA a few years ago.

    Very cool you guys. This is the first time I have seen others entries! I could have done a few things to better. But it was a fun contest!

    Why is the Nike football uniform template guy built like a proper defensive back from the knees up, but with the calves and ankles of a five year old girl? It’s like the football version of a Barbie doll. I can not treat that template seriously.

    love farley’s designs, especially the first and second submissions

    if the seahawks wore these, i’d consider changing allegiances

    I really liked D.J. Button’s entry. I love throwback jerseys as much as anyone, but as an art form, uniform design must continue to move forward and not just continuously remixing what has come before – so for the most part, I did not enjoy any of the uniforms that were really just modified throwbacks.

    Bret Ayers shoulder logos are terrific – very reminiscent of Oregon football wings. Andrew Farley’s #7 design I really like – a unique look in the league without being gimicky.

    Bravo, Andrew Farley!

    While we all know these submissions would (as they stand) never make it past the front desk at the NFL Office of Uniform Approval, they are simply beautiful designs – clean, communicative, simple, and tough. To boot, I fear they probably all cater to an aesthetic sensibility hovering in a small minority of football fans, so who would take a chance on them?

    But these are clearly more than “fixes” – they are rethinkings of the football uniform; they redefine the paradigm. I would love to see something like this. Soon.

    Just wanted to thank everyone for their submissions and the comments. This whole thing is pretty fun.

    Oh and with the type as numbers on the front… I had always imagined that the numbers would be big and bold on the back. Because if you think about it announcers rarely ever use the front of the uniform to tell who someone is. The backs are much more prevalent from the press box. Soccer uniforms don’t even have numbers on the front anymore, they reserve that for sponsors.

    Again, thanks!

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