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Are You Ready For Some Football…

Mercury Morris, West Texas State, 1968

By Phil Hecken

Hey folks!

After about six weekends off (interspersed with a month of subbing for Paul during the weekdays), I’m back — and wouldn’t you know it — it’s FOOTBALL season. And I’m pleased to announce I’m back with three of my devoted Uni Watching cohorts, Terry “TJ” Duroncelet, who’ll reassume his tremendous “Sunday Morning Uni Watch” articles, Catherine Ryan, with the ever-popular “5 & 1” best and worst uni matchups, and Tim E. O’Brien, who will again be tracking the University of Oregon’s uniform machinations with the “Duck Tracker.”

I may have been on vacation for the first weekend of the College Football season, but TJ (who posts as “Simply Moono”) was on top of it all, chomping at the bit. So today, in what is both a wrapup and a preview of what’s to come, I’m going to hand the pigskin to TJ while he brings us the Week One edition of…

. . .

Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet

Aw hell, who invited frickin’ Moon Moon Moono? That’s right, I’m back and ready to start my third season of Sunday Morning Uni Watch! And let me just say, I missed you guys. I’ve had a pretty eventful 2013 so far, such as… well, you catch my drift. However, I wasn’t the only one busy this offseason. Lots of college teams have made enough uniform changes to make a chameleon jealous. Some small, some… ahem. Before we dive right in, I just want to give you a heads-up on one thing: whenever I refer to a team moving to the Nike Pro Combat v4.0 (Hypercool) template, it’s the one that has these chain maille mesh triangular shapes near the armpits. Oregon debuted it in the 2012 Rose Bowl against Wisconsin, and more teams will be wearing it this year. With that said, let’s get into this like a Supernatural fan gets into Tumblr…

From Thursday:

• Isn’t it funny that South Carolina upgraded in the looks department this year while North Carolina downgraded? Before I talk about the good, I want to talk about the bad: Black? REALLY, Tar Heels? When you were doing this redesign, it didn’t occur to you to use navy, which is, oh I don’t know, an actual school color, and very close to black anyway? What’s sad is that the black everything and the wraparound pants stripes are really the main things that ruin a potentially good uniform. Sad. Now let the other USC show you to tweak your design for the better: no more strange arc stripes on the shoulders, they’ve established a theme with the twin stripe motif, and I’m really diggin’ the new base layers and socks. I would normally say something about the fact that they went mono-garnet, but the helmet, shoes, and new socks created this weird but nice-looking palindrome-ish effect, so I’ll let it slide… this time. Also, this happened.

• Remember that Tulane anthracite jersey that this guy was wearing a few months back, but was said to only be for “recruiting purposes”? Yeah, O.K. I may be two clouds short of a thunderstorm, but I’m no fool. I knew that they were gonna wear those at some point in the season. I just didn’t know that they were gonna wear them so soon. Like, first-game-soon. I like it, as I have a soft spot for the colors blue, green, and grey, but three things to consider for the next version of this uni: 1) make the numbers more visible (blue edged in green), 2) use the grey helmet that’s been seen everywhere by now, and three, NO MORE WRAPAROUND STRIPES (best image I could find of the pants).

• When people aren’t using the State of Texas as their punching bag for anti-progression, they’re using the State of Mississippi as their punching bag for anti-progression. That being said, it’s hard to argue that Ole Miss has become the most progressive team in recent years (specifically this year) when it comes to shoulder stripes. O.K., to be fair, LSU got it right firsttwice, actually. These are Ole Miss’s “blue” road tops (they still have their usual white with red graphics). The navy pants are nice, but is the ‘REBELS’ down the left leg really necessary? I’ll answer that for you. On the Vanderbilt side, this guy had something going on with his numbers, and this guy is apparently a Changeling. Remember those Green Dot decals that Paul mentioned in Thursday’s ticker? Here’s a shot of one on a headset.

From Friday:

• The State of Florida is known for being colorful, so it was a good sight to see a color-vs.-color game between Miami (FL.) and FAU, even though both uniforms leave something to be desired.

• Texas Tech wore all-white against Southern Methodist. As much as I like the white helmets, I would’ve liked to have seen the black helmets and (I guess) pants, because the only real contrast was in SMU’s red jerseys.

And now to bring you all you can handle for the best Saturday of the tail-end of summer:

• Every team wants to start their season off with a bang. I started off my season with a laugh. A laugh hearty enough to make the burliest lumberjack sound like a giggling schoolgirl. Like, seriously, laughter is the only appropriate response to a uniform that was already so bad to begin with, and they somehow made it worse this season. It’s an unwritten rule of not just the Internet, but in life: just when you think you’ve seen or heard or experienced the dumbest thing of all-time, you’re proven wrong anywhere between the span of a week to a month. Buffalo enforces that rule. Excuse me: The State University of New York in Buffalo in the Northeast of the United States of North America of Planet Earth enforces that rule. Meanwhile, Ohio State shows UB how you should modify your uniforms. The Buckeyes have moved to the Nike Pro Combat v4.0 template for the jerseys and pants this year. An already good-looking team looks even better this year. Now if they can just switch to a darker grey

• Speaking of the new Nike Pro Combat Speed Machine HyperCool Mach 287.333336 Sex Machine uniform or whatever they’re calling it, Florida made the jump this year. Wow, that block font is poor. O.K., it’s not that bad, but it looks like the numbers stopped at Sonic for half-priced milkshakes too many times this summer. Also, it was a color-vs.-color game with Florida in blue-white and Toledo in all-grey. The Rockets made some small changes for the better this year: for one, the ‘TOLEDO’ on the front of the jersey is not as massive, and the numbers and letters have gone from screenprint to tackle twill, which is an excellent upgrade. The number colors have also been simplified from navy edged in yellow to just solid-navy.

• FINALLY, Louisiana Tech figures it out and is now using a real block font!

• Now I’m sure a lot of you know my feelings toward Adidas: if they were force-fed a truckload of Tabasco and had the most painful runs anyone sadistic enough could ask for, I would not be able to find the resources to care less if I tried. Having said that, the Trademark Treadmarks seemed to have accomplished one thing: players who wear it don’t look as warped as they did with the previous version of TechFit. Also, Cincinnati broke out the white helmet in that same game. Not a bad look at all, but I say leave the black and white thing to the Brooklyn Nets.

• As much as I hate the contrast pit panels on the otherwise solid-looking new West Virginia uniforms, I like the fact that they made the panels black on the navy tops, so they’re more incognito than the whites and golds.

• Temple wore white feathered? helmets in their game against Notre Dame. Note that the ND player doesn’t look to be wearing the Adidas TT jersey, although some players probably were.

• Here are Mississippi State’s alternate helmets for their game against Oklahoma State.

• Oregon wore all-whiteAT HOME! This is my first time seeing them in white at home. Also, Nicholls State is one of the many teams still plagued with the old Laffy Taffy bodysuits that Adidas casted on the realm of college football way back in 2010 (and earlier in the NFL via sister company Reebok in 2009). But that’s not the worst part: the helmets are silver while the pants are dark grey! What were they thinking?

• Louisiana Lafayette wore white helmets against Arkansas.

• Texas’s helmet numbers looked great against New Mexico State. They’re also one of the teams that went with Nike’s v4.0 uniform.

• Another color-vs.-color game between Alabama (crimson-over-white) and Virginia Tech (grey tops with maroon helmets and pants). Why didn’t the Hokies just use a grey version of their usual design, instead of using the old West Virginia template? Dumb. Alabama also joins the ranks of Nike’s “god-tier” teams to move to Nike Pro Combat v4.0 template, although this isn’t the first time they’ve worn the new uniform (they wore the white version in the Championship game against Notre Dame earlier this January).

• We knew that TCU would be wearing this, but I didn’t know about the stamp on the back of the helmet (just a case of me not paying attention). Thanks for ruining an otherwise awesome helmet, Bloody Lizards. Less is more. Meanwhile, LSU shows UCLA how you should wear shoulder stripes.

• Cal looked great (although that swoopy thingy on the legs will take some yellow spray paint and someone who can get me into the UC Berkeley equipment room getting used to) against Northwestern, who wore their new white helmets, which I really dig.

• Pitt did this thing on Monday. Yuck. New this season is the addition of a helmet stripe. I’m normally in favor of the Nike Pro Combat pants, but they don’t really suit Florida State. I miss the shiny pants. Last but not least, Pitt retired Larry Fitzgerald’s number that night. Is it wrong to think about how much character this jersey would have in these colors?

I think that should cover Week 1. Remember, I’m still knocking the cobwebs off, so if I miss anything or screw up on any of the text and information, feel free to let me know. By the time some of you guys read this, I’ll already be behind my laptop linking to enough ponies to warrant a C&D from Hasbro working on Week 2. Take care.

. . .

Great start to the season, TJ! OK, readers — that’s just a taste of what’s in store tomorrow, and every Sunday for the rest of the College Football season. I know most of this was probably covered already (but certainly not with this depth of detail), so let’s have a big “Welcome Back” for Terry and get ready for the slate of games (some big, most small, a few cupcakes) today.

Are you ready for some football? Yes, you are.

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all sport uni tweaks

Uni Tweaks Concepts

We have another new set of tweaks, er…concepts today. After discussion with a number of readers, it’s probably more apropos to call most of the reader submissions “concepts” rather than tweaks. So that’s that.

So if you’ve concept for any sport, or just a tweak or wholesale revision, send them my way.

Please do try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per image — if you have three uniform concepts in one image, then obviously, you can go a little over, but no novels, OK? OK!. You guys have usually been good with keeping the descriptions pretty short, and I thank you for that.

Like the colorizations, I’m going to run these as inline pics — click on each one to enlarge.

And so, lets begin:

~~~

We begin today with Kyle Allebach, who feels the Niners gold helmet shouldn’t be gold (or pants, for that matter):

SF_Whitehelmet_home - Kyle Allebach

SF_Whitehelmet_away - Kyle Allebach

SF_Whitehelmet_gold - Kyle Allebach

Phil,

I saw the white helmet on Uni Watch today, so I made a quick mock-up, with equally blasphemous white pants. And then I added a gold alternate, just so see how it would look with a white helmet. Also, striped socks.

Thank you,
–Kyle Allebach

. . .

Next up is Daniel Dahlen, with some new looks for the Milwaukee Bucks:

bucksjerseysimple - Daniel Dahlen

Hey Phil,

Just throwing a new Bucks logo/jersey combo your way. Have been a long time reader/follower and finally got the time to whip up a new Bucks logo concept. We’re in more dire need of talent, but a new, simple logo/image would more compliment our current direction of rebuilding (hopefully). Also, our current aesthetic ensemble is absolutely hideous…..

Cheers,


Daniel Dahlen

. . .

We close today with Christopher Hall with some new logos for the Trojans of USC:

USC Away Logo - Christopher Hall

USC Black Logo - Christopher Hall

Hey Phil!

I’m a longtime reader but this is my first contribution to anything Uni-Watch! I hope you like it.

These are three University of Southern California logo concepts, home, away, and blackout. I liked the idea of a face-on Trojan warrior mascot, as opposed to the iconic (but maybe overused) side-facing trojan head. I think the spikes on the helmet add a nice accent color and the entire logo adds some menace while still capturing the spirit that makes up the USC way of life. Thanks for letting me contribute!

Christopher Hall

. . .

And that’s it for today. Back with more next time.

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Catherine 5 & 1

Catherine’s 5 & 1 update…

As mentioned above, Catherine Ryan will be back with the famous “5 (good) & 1 (bad)” looking NCAA football games beginning tomorrow. Now, there are a LOT of games being played, and she can always use some tips as to what may be a really good, or a really bad, match up. So, she’s set up a special E-mail address where you guys can send her game suggestions. Here she is to describe it…

. . .

5 & 1 Tip Line
By Catherine Ryan

As I embark upon my sophomore year here at Uni Watch, I wanted to share the new 5 and 1 tip line! If you see a game I might miss or have any comments as the day goes on, please feel free to contact me at UW5and1@gmail.com. I’d love to make the 5 and 1 a little more fun this year and I think your input could help spice it up! Enjoy the games!

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Duck Tracker 2013 Small 200

Duck Tracker Update

Tim E. O’Brien is back in 2013 to track the Oregon Ducks. He’s got some updates (and a look at last weekend’s matchup) below. Here’s Tim:

. . .

Duck Tracking 2013
By Tim E. O’Brien

2013 Week 1

Guess who’s back? Back Again. Tracking’s back, tell a friend!

That’s right folks, The Duck Tracker (and it’s bookish and less athletic friends) is back in full fighting duck glory this season. Though week one is already in the books and week two is already under way, Uni Tracking has been been a huge success already.

In the news for my three trackers were two whiteouts, two new helmets, two blowouts and three victories. And who knows what today brings, let alone the rest of the season.

But onto the specifics of why you’re all here: The Quackers.

The Ducks of Autzen have simultaneously followed and created history last Saturday. While Oregon has worn the stormtrooper look in every season of Duck Tracking (2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012), this year was the first time they ever did it in Eugene.

And it looked great.

I can’t wait to see what happens the rest of this season, I think it’s gunna be fun. Part of that fun can be had by all thanks to new Uni Tracking twitter accounts: @DuckTracker, @NUniTracker and @Hoosier_Tracker. And if you have any tips, comments or questions, you can contact me at one of the new official email accounts:

OfficialDuckTracker@gmail.com
OfficialNUniTracker@gmail.com
OfficialHoosierTracker@gmail.com

Looking forward to an exciting season. See you guys tomorrow.

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UWFFL Logo

U.W.F.F.L. News

If you’ve been following Uni Watch, then you know about the Fantasy Football League uniform design contest and the subsequent creation of teams and a league, all engineered and run by Rob Holecko. The UWFFL has finished its preseason and now the real games are about to begin.

Here’s Rob to bring you and update:

. . .

UWFFL Regular Season is Here
By Rob Holecko

Well the preseason has wound down and after a week off, the UWFFL is now ready to kick of the regular season. Follow all of the action and vote right here to help choose the winners. Good luck to all the teams and we hope you enjoy the UWFFL competition this year.

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Stirrup Friday

Stirrup Fridays…

Because we love the stirrup here at Uni Watch, this section is devoted to those of us who sport the beautiful hose on Fridays — a trend popularized many years ago by Robert P. Marshall, III. For many of us, it’s become a bit of an obsession, but a harmless one — a reflection of our times. Where we once had Friday ties, which has been replaced by Casual Friday — we now have Stirrup Fridays. It’s an endearingly simple concept — no matter where you work (or even if you don’t) — break out a fresh pair of rups to compliment (or clash with) your Friday attire.

Got a fresh set for this fine Saturday, and a goodly amount to get to — so let’s get to it:

. . . . .

Jason Bernard - Padres

Jason Bernard:

Phil/Robert,

Hey Padres- want to get out of the MLB Uni Rankings basement? Here’s a good place to start.

Bernard

. . .

James Poisso - Blue Rup

James Poisso (1):

Phil,

This Friday’s stirrups were for a “Wear Blue Day” at my daughter’s school as they did so in support of the long-time Vice-Principal who has cancer.

Also, we found this pin at Disney World on a recent trip. Nice stirrups and not solid socks!

James Poisso

. . .

James Poisso - Phillies

James Poisso (2):

Phil,

I’m wearing throwback Phillies stirrups today. Are the red sanis too much?

James Poisso

. . .

Susan Freeman - Red Raiders

Susan Freeman:

Phil,

TOUCHDOWN Red Raiders!

Yea, they aren’t really Texas Tech stirrups… but does it matter when Tech wears all white? #GunsUp

Susan

. . .

Michael Clary 2 - Blackhawks

Michael Clary 1 - Blackhawks

Michael Clary:

Phil:

A few pics of “Hipster Charlie Brown” and the “HomerHawk”. After eleven years, we finally had our long driveway paved – which has lead to two-a-day sessions of kickball with the son (notice the difference in the position of the sun and shadows).

– Clarybird

. . .

Alex Allen - Joined the Revolution

Alex Allen:

Comrade Marshall. Comrade Hecken.

The Revolution has started in Harrisburg, Oregon. I am the announcer for our high school football team, so the view is from the booth. Wore the Wildcats with gold sanis, to match our school colors. Walked by an older gentleman who just looked at me and said, “Nice stirrups.”

Alex Allen

. . .

Josh - Buccos

Josh (no last name given):

Comrades,

Buccos!

Josh

. . .

James Poisso - Astros rup

James Poisso (3):

Phil,

This Friday’s stirrups are Astros throwbacks.

James Poisso

. . .

Robert Marshall & Ronnie WooWoo

Comrade Robert Marshall:

Comrades,

So I am umpiring on the north side of Chicago, when no other then Ronnie Woo-Woo showed up to watch the game. I know he is kind of a nuisance, but her really was quite an affable fellow. I wonder how many times a day people take their picture with him?

RPM

. . .

And that ends today’s look at Stirrup Friday — all of you who participate, send me your pics and a brief (~50 words) description of their relevance, and when I do weekends I’ll run ’em here on Saturday (and sometimes Sunday too!). Be sure to visit Robert’s House of Hose for news on rups.

And now…here’s …

~~~~~~~~~~

Stirrup Header

Comrade Marshall’s Rupdate:

Comrades!

I hope everyone is enjoying the end of their summer, and taking advantage their last stirrup opportunities on the diamond. There is a NC-State baseball player looking for a 1930 Cardinal or Blackhawk, but I am sold out. if anybody wants to part with one, get in touch with me.

from each according their strype,
to each according their stirrvp.

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ticker 2

Uni Watch News Ticker:

Baseball News: Here’s the transcript of a radio interview that Dodgers broadcaster Rick Monday did with Dodgers equipment manager Mitch Poole (big thanks to John Salz for the transcription). … Avisail Garcia really needs some thicker socks. Like, are those sheer stockings or what? Jeez (from Jason Greening). … Peter Fahey “watched the ESPN E:60 special on Mariano Rivera and couldn’t help but notice a couple of issues with his 1995 home jersey. First off, it was a Wilson jersey, and Wilson stopped supplying jerseys to the Yankees after the 1991 season. Russell took over in 1992 and manufactured their jerseys through 2004. It is easily identifiable as a Wilson jersey by the evenly spaced buttons. Second, the numerals on the back were mismatched. The four is some oddball font, while the two is the standard block used by the Yankees. He seemed to wear this jersey from his debut in May of that year all the way through the postseason.” … Some new photos of Cal Ripken as a Red Wing in 1981 were posted to ebay that Paul Bielewicz had never seen before. See listings here and here. “To me the BP photo is particularly interesting because Cal is wearing some sort of early Red Wings BP jersey that I’ve never seen before,” says Paul. “Hard to tell for sure, but it looks to be mesh. There is a ‘Champion’ logo on the left sleeve.” … Here’s another minor league team that wore shorts: the 1970s Sacramento Solons (nice find by Rex Doane). … The Seattle Mariners will become Marineros today as the celebrate Latin American beisbol.

NFL News: Brady Phelps says it “fascinates me how they were able to convey the Bears NFL team w/o any licensed apparel or logos. The back of that jacket probably says Bears, but of course you can only see the S.” … Joe Morris, former Giants running back and Super Bowl Champion, now serves in a new role as uniform cop (with a good video clip). … This comes from Brinke: “Retired Baltimore Ravens Center Matt Birk Watches The Game Wearing His Helmet

College Football News: Mike Vamosi was reading the release from my college THE University of Nebraska at Kearney and noticed they wore hideous uniforms in their opening night defeat. … Check out the different decals on the football helmets as the Luther College Norse celebrate 100 Seasons of Football. … Are new Syracuse football unis coming soon? … … The new KU football and basketball jerseys are starting to come out, says Joe Smysor. “We saw the helmets earlier in the summer, but the jerseys are new. Also new is a grey uniform.” In addition there are blue and white combos coming out as well (thanks to Kenneth Short). Also, according to Brennan Keller, “KU will no longer be wearing the powder blue helmet, powder blue jerseys, black matte helmets, or black jerseys. According to a team manager, the powder blue jerseys were just a prototype.” Interesting. … “Georgia Southern is adding interesting decals to all unis,” notes a commenter who wishes to remain anonymous. “Not sure if any other teams do it, but it feels like an attempt at what service academies when players represent their squadrons.” … The University of Nebraska @ Kearney went blue camo in their game Thursday night (thanks, I think, to Jason Johnson). … “Not sure if this has been mentioned,” writes Scott Holcomb, “but when my Auburn v Arkansas tickets came I noticed the stadium logo. May just be a ticket thing I don’t know.”

Hockey News: The Anaheim Ducks will bring the “Mighty” back as part of their 20th anniversary (thanks to Bill Stewart. … Reader Nick Ellies stumbled across this webpage showing some work from the Colorado Avalanche logo designer, Michael Beindorff. Says Nick, “If you scroll through, there is some concept art for the Rocky Mountain Extreme logo. I have always wondered if any concept work existed, so I was very excited to find this. I am probably one of the very few who thought ‘Rocky Mountain Extreme’ would’ve been an awesome NHL team name.” … Despite the leak on Thursday night of what is very likely going to be the Canadian Olympic sweater, Hockey Canada issued a statement Friday confirming the uniforms will be unveiled Oct. 8.

Soccer News: A youth league in Canada has taken the current “everybody wins” trend in youth sports a little too far, notes the Hungry, Hungry Hipster. “They have removed the ball from soccer games. At first I thought this was an article from The Onion but it is all too real. There is a radio interview embedded in the article but I couldn’t get the audio player to work on my Mac. Hopefully you’ll have better luck because I’m really curious how you could possibly play a soccer game without a ball!”

College Hoops News: Reprinted from Friday’s comments: New court design for Cal State Fullerton. … New KU basketball uniforms for 2013-14 (h/t Fried @ForFriedom).

Grab Bag: Vodaphone has updated its logo (Thanks, Brinke). Reader “Sunny” noticed in the Madden 25 commercial, the Seahawks and 49ers were shown but if you look closely, when Russell Wilson is diving into the endzone, he is actually wearing the old pants that the Seahawks wear while wearing the new away jersey. … Reader Nik found an NFL official black Seattle Seahawks Jersey at Marshalls. He says he’d never seen it before. … Raafi Rivero saw a LeBron sneaker history on the web yesterday and thought we might dig it. Great research: 166 slides! Technically not part of the uniform, but still. It helps to view with a Deslider like this so you can see everything on the same page. … “New Riddell helmet???” asks Matt Sinclair. “I watched Katy High School (Katy, TX) play on ESPNU earlier this week. I noticed the RB and two LBs had a Riddell revolution 360, but had a cut out on the crown. Have you (or any other people in Uni Watch land) seen this?

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And that, dear readers, will end today’s first post-vacation article. You’ll notice the weekend ticker — this is part experiment, part favor to Paul (who’s attending a wedding today and won’t be back to UW HQ until later Sunday afternoon/evening). If you guys ENJOY having a weekend ticker, I’ll continue to run it (it’s a bit more work on my end, and it’s a tad tricky coordinating the “handoff” with Paul), and I’ll definitely have a Sunday ticker (can’t speak for the content, that depends on YOU). But if you do enjoy having it on the weekends (at least for a few weeks or months, and possibly longer), then I will continue to coordinate the logistics with Paul so we have seven days of tickerful information. OK? OK!

Big thanks to TJ for his Week One College Football wrap up, and he’ll be back tomorrow with a look at this week’s games. Don’t forget to send your 5 & 1 tips to Catherine at the special address listed above, and you can always tweet your suggestions to me and I’ll pass them along to Catherine as well. Tomorrow of course, you’ll get your first 5 & 1 for the season as well as the Duck Tracker (the Ducks play Virginia today) from Tim E.

Everyone have a great Saturday and I will catch you guys tomorrow!

Follow me on Twitter at @PhilHecken.

Peace

.. … ..

“We Irish-Americans went from stepping off the boat to running the place faster than any immigrant group in American history.”
–R. Scott Rogers

 
  
 
Comments (62)

    Funny thing about that 49ers concept, those blasphemous white pants are actually an option in Madden. They’re listed as “80’s white pants” despite having never actually existed. No white helmet, unfortunately.

    watching football so I don’t feel like checking it but are you sure that those aren’t meant for one of their throwbacks (the ones they wore in 1994)?

    Its odd how many extra things make it into the game while others go excluded. For instance the font on the Baltimore Ravens old jerseys is identical to their current one, and their original helmets aren’t included.

    I don’t think they ever included the Falcons actual throwbacks, you had to stitch them together with other items.

    They had white pants in the 50’s throwbacks they wore most of 1994, and then had white pants in their 1996 redesign.

    Wow… from that soccer article:

    According to Association spokesperson, Helen Dabney-Coyle, “By removing the ball, it’s absolutely impossible to say ‘this team won’ and ‘this team lost’ or ‘this child is better at soccer than that child.'”

    “We want our children to grow up learning that sport is not about competition, rather it’s about using your imagination. If you imagine you’re good at soccer, then, you are.”

    Someone shoot this person. In the face.

    The article may be a hoax, but it’s not far from reality. I briefly coached in a youth soccer league where parents who attempted to keep score were asked to leave the field. We had to remind the kids at the end of every game, “There are no losers here! You’re all winners!”

    Christy Mathewson said, “You can learn little from winning. You can learn everything from defeat.”

    Kids need encouragement. They need love. They need to feel a regular sense of accomplishment. And they need regular opportunities to experience a gut-wrenching sense of failure and defeat. Kids who have never kneeled on a postgame field, dazed and bleeding like Y.A. Tittle, or sat crying in a dugout like Freddie Patek after a playoff loss, are not ready for Life.

    Depends on the age. As ridiculous as not keeping score in a game of 11-year-olds is, it’s even more ridiculous to keep score in a soccer game for 4- or even 6-year-olds. Not on account of anyone’s self-esteem, but simply because kids that age are utterly incapable of actually playing soccer. Kindergarten-age soccer is nothing more than outdoor rumpus time; it bears no relationship to organized sport, and so shouldn’t be scored as one.

    Fun fact for today’s parents: Studies consistently show that there is an inverse relationship between children’s self-esteem and their academic and athletic achievement. If you want your kids to grow up to be productive and good at anything, then you don’t want them to get trophies for showing up.

    I approve of the KU looks (except for grey, seems unnecessary). Glad the quarrelsome jayhawk made the cut

    A correction to today’s main post … UNC does NOT recognize navy blue as an official school color.

    PMS 278 (Carolina Blue)
    White

    End of story. With the “tar” in tar heels, it stands to reason they could add black in the secondary palette … in very limited use, IMHO.

    Nike born, Nike bred, this is a Nike color concoction … just like Purdue is no longer old gold but “vegas” gold, because Nike can’t adequately supply the color. Sad state of affairs, frankly.

    ScottyEmmm,

    Not so fast there Mr. Google…

    You are correct in that UNC recognizes PMS 278 and white as it’s school colors…

    However if you went a little further, you would see the TRADEMARKS and LICENSING section of the UNC Logos… you know.. the ones the make money off of (and cause the uni-watchers to lose their minds over by the sheer tackiness of the crapola the spew out) by putting them on everything from helmets to underwear. In this section you will find this tidbit
    link

    Clearly they state that pantone 282 is authorized for use. For the pantonally impaired, let’s call it Deep Blue.

    Nowhere on this form does it state that black is authorized for use. So when it is all said and done you are indeed correct (as if you needed to know this) in your statement that UNC athletics can alter the color scheme to shill to their fans at will in limited use (okay by you, okay by UNC – whats the big deal?).

    Full disclosure – My bride is a UNC alumnus – I made the mistake of having the Uni-Watch web page open (damn you slow loading pornsites!), she saw your comment and nearly went postal on me about correcting this egregious statement on color use.

    Good point. As a UNC prof … I can honestly say I’ve never, ever seen the metallic silver (or even silver) in use. The deep blue was concocted for those uniforms of the past 2-3 years. Again, I’d consider those a “secondary” palette, not official school colors. A Nike development, clearly.

    Hence, the reason I figured black may not be that big of a deal, in very small doses … because it’s actually part of the logo :)

    I really like the gold in the 49ers uniform, personally, so I think that using the white pants and helmet instead are a downgrade.

    More importantly though, why didn’t you change the stripe pattern, Kyle Allebach? There’s plenty of room for 3 full stripes.

    The more I looked at the Bucks concept, the more it grew on me. The green set could use a bit of red. I like the simplicity. Anything without the current wishbone collar would be a welcomed upgrade.

    Agreed. Mr. Dahlen has come up with a design that is striking and original. There’s a sense of playfulness and enjoyment there that is completely absent from today’s look. It harkens back to one of the greatest sports icons…

    link

    Mariano Rivera jersey goof astounds me…don’t remember that at all. Without those pictures, if that jersey came up for sale, even experts would believe it was fake due to that wrong font.

    I am interested in finding out more about this jersey also.

    I’m confused though, the one on the left is tagged as a Wilson, but the one in question is tagged as a Russell.

    I understand about the fonts being different, but what is the question? Isn’t the jersey in question a Russell to begin with?

    I know that Wilson make jerseys for the Tampa Yankees.

    The Wilson is on the left, and the Russell Athletic (with the armband for Mickey and Don Mattingly’s autograph) is on the right. They are saying that the Wilsons have the evenly-spaced buttons, but the Russells have the pro gap.
    What I think the confusion is all about, is that Sandman’s jersey, as pictured, and without seeing the tag (because that is a game shot and the shirt is tucked in), looks to be a very old Wilson (instead of a time-appropriate official Russell) deep from the equipment manager’s archive.
    Did I get that right?
    //We should get Bill Henderson on this case.

    That soccer spoof was funny. I have seen youth soccer from the nicey-nice exercise parodied in the posting to the breathtaking harshness and win-at-all-costs regime of “pre-Academy” soccer of 12-year-old boys. Playing middle school or high school soccer strictly forbidden, and the kids obsess about making the U15 national team. Very heavy.

    Soccer in my neighborhood tends to be more sandlot-style: there are leagues, but they mostly appeal to really little kids and people from the more upscale communities.

    Football, on the other hand — it’s insane. Full pad, full contact leagues for kids as young as 7. Dozens of people showing up for practices, all screaming at the kids. Very intense. Very, very nuts.

    I spent six years overseeing activities at a church meetinghouse, which included youth and senior basketball leagues. I started every season by telling the participants, “Look, if you were any good at basketball, you wouldn’t be playing here. So have fun, do your best, but don’t get crazy.” We still had the occasional fistfight.

    Little tykes play soccer at the park just down the street. They wear very detailed replicas of sundry famous teams from all over. Last week there was team of six year olds decked out in Club America – complete with the Corona beer ad!

    As some comments have already pointed out, the Canadian soccer article is based on a report done by the outstanding “This is That”, a satire show that runs in CBC radio. It’s amazing how many people have fallen for it, as it has been reported as true by a number of large websites.

    The first ever New York Rangers logo 1926 was The first team crest was a horse sketched in blue carrying a cowboy waving a hockey stick aloft, before being changed to the familiar R-A-N-G-E-R-S in diagonal.[4 link

    A weekend ticker? That’s like giving Mr. Creosote a thin mint after his meal.

    If signs fall under the Uni Watch bailiwick:

    @bubbaprog Wow. A Lizzy Seeberg sign: link

    On college gameday this morning

    Re: The black seahawks jersey in the ticker… I think Nike put those jerseys out last year…for every team, they call them “impact” jerseys and they are clearly just for retail…
    Most teams I looked at on NFLshop.com had one…

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    Temple has gone from having one of the best looks in all of NCAAFB to just being another mix-n-match team. I’m pretty sure it has been reported they will join the many teams who will never wear the same uni combo more than once during the season.

    You can’t out-Oregon Oregon, and it’s really ruining it for everyone including Oregon.

    Does anyone know who the Pistons are playing in shot #8, looks like a pretty contemporary stadium for early 70’s (?), late 60’s. Also a few other relatively wear uniforms shown. Detroit Red Wings funky font numbers, and a good picture of Ted K.

    Re: Bucks design – the Bucks logo on the shorts – would work – not crazy about the shirts.

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    I think it’s the St. Louis Hawks, looks like the letters “A W” on the jersey of the player trailing DeBusschere (you can just see a bit of him), and the stripes match the mid-60’s trim in some of these pics.

    link

    Thanks

    If it’s St. Louis vs. Detroit, my guess is it’s an exhibition or neutral site game, as I don’t think that’s either the St. Louis Arena or any of the Detroit stadiums

    Someone look at Rutgers football unis.

    They are wearing all white.

    The American Athethic Conference patch is all white on the side of the sleeve. You have to squint to see it.

    Talk about conference pride.

    I love Daniel’s Bucks redesign; minimalism at its finest. It bothers me that handsome, timeless uniforms like this aren’t around – I can’t imagine they wouldn’t sell.

    I’ve seen this commercial a few times and posted a pic of it on my instagram. It’s a Riddell 360 with a whacky ridged shell that the NYPD uses in their football league. Anyone seen it before?

    link

    Watching the Old Dominion vs. Maryland game (not sure why, being from Chicago) but noticed O.D. is wearing C-USA patches on their right side of their chests, but aren’t joining C-USA until 2014 in football. Anyone have any idea why, or if it’s allowed since I’m pretty sure they’re still in the CAA?

    Newest UWFFL expansion team: The New Orleans Lions will be joining the Central League of the UWFFL. Their uniforms are based on Aston Villa F.C. of the EPL. Only two hours after contacting me by email this morning, they had uniforms and a team concept all ready to go. Check it out.

    Home: link

    Away: link

    Alt: link

    Toledo at Missouri is light gray (Toledo is blue matte lid -light gray-light gray) and Missouri is anthracite /dark gray (black lid- anthracite-dark gold). At game level, I would have to imagine this has to be a problem.

    From 1982: an exhibition game between a South Korean team against a team made up of Atlanta Braves minor leaguers, wearing early 80’s style powder blue road unis with “Braves” instead of “Atlanta” on the jersey. Braves pitcher Tony Brizzolara’s jersey has an odd treatment of the letter z. Also, playing for the Braves are Cubs hall of famers Billy Williams & Ernie Banks, wearing the Cubs 80’s road Jerseys. link

    link

    Tennessee Tech wore a purple chrome helmet today against Wisconsin. I don’t know if it’s a one-time thing or if they are worn for every game. I can handle Wisconsin wearing a red lid if it’s worn once/ year.

    Phil,

    I’m pro ticker. In fact, it’s a big part of why I visit here, and I often miss it on weekends. I get that it’s a hassle, and I wouldn’t blame you in the least if you didn’t do it. But put me in the “yes” column.

    It isn’t that big a deal as long as I don’t have something major going on over the weekend. But I’m up for it if you guys (and Paul) are.

    Just for quirkiness’s sake, if we’re going to have a weekend ticker, I say it should be the old-fashioned un-categorized ticker. That, or it should be organized completely differently from the weekday ticker – by playing surface, say, of grass, ice, and other, or by pro versus amateur rather than by sport or league.

    NOW you request that?

    OK, maybe next weekend. Tomorrow’s ticker is going to be in the “new” organized format…

    Michigan QB is going to be wearing #98 for the rest of his time at Michigan, part of their Legends thing.

    So much for “LSU wears purple jerseys in non-conference home games”. They’re playing Alabama-Birmingham, which is not in the SEC, and they’re wearing white.

    KU is playing with white helmet with blue jerseys tonight. Nice look, and I was going to note earlier that I hoped the white and blue helmets would be used with blue and white jerseys, respectively

    Since you asked for reader input, I prefer that the weekend ticker not become an every-week thing. The weekend posts are already typically longer than the weekday posts.

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