Where Did We Go Wrong?

It is a little lame for the hats, but they are technically “champions”.

Remember – the tournament has four No. 1 seeds and two of those “tournaments” concluded last night.

Teams have been cutting down the nets after winning the regional for years. I think the hats are just the next evolution.

[quote comment=”244205″]I have a Boston Red Sox AL East Division 2007 hat and wear it with pride. Mind you, the Red Sox have won more World Series than divisional titles lately.[/quote]
A Division in baseball is a real thing. A Region in the Tourney is something made up by a committee two weeks prior to the Regional Championship. My point is, I doubt UCLA starts the season saying “We want to win the West Region” because they may note even be in the West Region come tournament time.

I just saw a clip of Kevin Love at the post-game press conference and that dark spot on the bill of the cap is the Final Four logo.

no mention of the Stanley Cup? C’mon Bryan, i know you’re new, but don’t alienate the Canadian and wanna-be-Canadian (like myself) readership. we’ll…uh…be quietly upset and think about acting upon that by writing you a carefully-worded unfriendly e-mail!

…we’ll do it…don’t tempt us! lol

I bought a hat when Louisville made the Final Four in 2005 and I would have bought one again this year. When they’ve only been there twice in my lifetime you’d better believe I’m going to get what I can.

Yes, theyve done this for years, but last year when Florida made the Final Four again they werent selling any of the regional stuff here

Last night, Shaquille O’Neal shredded a net on a basket while being fouled on a shot attempt, causing a nine-minute delay in the second quarter as arena workers scrambled around searching for a new net.

I understand the anti-hat sentiment, but why is such a damper put on accepting a trophy, and being happy that you just accomplished something.I understand it’s in a human beings competitive nature to not get complacent and strive for more, but let’s be honest, UNC and UCLA accomplished something last night that only two other teams will this season. It’s pretty damn impressive to make the final four when you consider that Divison 1 basketball has over 300 teams, so to say that a coach shouldn’t accept a trophy, or players, who are in the age range of 18-22, shouldn’t celebrate their accomplishments is pretty ridiculous. People need to realize that sports is no different than anything else in life. If someone here got the job they really wanted, after beating out over 300 people, they would celebrate, right? So why should these student-athletes be any different?

The hats are stupid and the designs of these and most hats are stupid and to stay up here on my soapbox for a second. I grew up in the late 80’s early 90’s and undersetand the whole hip hop fashion revoloution or whatever it may be called but there really are only two ways to wear a hat (well may three) 1) the proper way brim to the front. 2) The athletic way brim to the back, and of course 3) the rally cap way. Remove all tags, stickers and wear that frickin thing like you support the team/cause or whatever.

I’ll step down and hide back in my snow covered pod I call my home.

Is there any chance that there will be a Uni-vestigation into the insta-gear phenomenom?

Who makes them? Where are they kept? At what point in the tournament/playoff/series are the orders placed?

Personally, I think it’s just a tv gimmick so that kids at home can go, “Wow! They just won and they’ve already got hats!”

And how tacky is it to see these athletes battle each other in their authentic, several hundred dollars worth of uniform only to stand on a podium in a crappy white t-shirt?

“I’M GOING TO DISNEY WORLD! AND I’M ALREADY DRESSING THE PART!”

“whatever it may be called but there really are only two ways to wear a hat (well may three) 1) the proper way brim to the front. 2) The athletic way brim to the back, and of course 3) the rally cap way”

If I read this correctly, the brim to the back is considered the “athletic way” ? That means like a pre-modern batting helmet backward wearing catcher?

I didn’t know that served any other purpose, other than being a catcher? Or do you mean like athletes that wear their hats backwards casually, like Ken Griffey’s son does sometimes in interviews and bp?

(I’m not trying to be sarcastic or a smart-ass, I just don’t know what that means.)

I also have a personal policy, of not wearing your hat backwards once you’ve
1. Reached 30 yrs old or
2. Got full time job or
3. Have a Mortgage.
or faced with an extremely high wind circumstance like a hurricane or something.

[quote comment=”244251″][quote comment=”244236″][quote comment=”244220″]
and as far as that first comment goes about regional semis and finals? you ARE kidding i hope. i think anyone who is even a tiny college hoop fan remembers this regional final, and its well beyond your 6 year window… like almost 3 times that. and its only 1 example…

link

Well, of course. It was a good game. But who thinks of it as a “Championship” game? I don’t. Most people don’t.

In fact, because the “regions” are actually random (its not like Team X is always in Region Y every year), its meaningless.

By the way, does anyone honestly think of Indiana as the 1992 Southwest Region Champion? Nah… they think of that team as making the final four and losing. A nice accomplishment, but not worthy of a banner or hat![/quote]

good game? its one of the greatest games ever played in team sports. i do think of them as a regional champion because thats the only way you can qualify for the national semis!

these games are regional finals, meaning championship games.

this whole notion of sweet 16, or elite 8 makes no sense to me because it makes no mention of the teams accomplishment.

the ncaa, since 1985, has set up a 64/5 team tournament of 4 regional brackets. each region has a champion.
champions go to the “final four” (corporate term) site and then play for the national title. they dont accept runners up or alternates there, only champions of 4 regional brackets. and it is a major accomplishment to win your regoion.

i cant believe that this needs to be explained.

also, i would appreciate it if you wouldnt speak on my behalf, or on the behalf of the rest of the UW readership when you say “most people dont”… think of it “as a championship game”. i believe ive earned my opinion on this matter and other matters, and so have the others. id rather not be grouped into the blanket statement opinions of others. thank you.[/quote]

Wow, no offense man. “Most people” is just a general statement no different than you saying “anyone who is even a tiny college hoop fan”. Not trying to speak for anyone, I’m just of the opinion that this is what the majority of people think. I could be wrong, I did not take a poll. I apologize if I came off offensively.

Here’s my issue with the whole “champion” thing. The brackets are (for lack of a better term) random. Duke could be in the Southwest this year and Midwest next year. Therefore the “Southwest Region” is meaningless as any sort of division of teams.

Does any team hang a “Southwest Regional Champion” banner in their halls if they did not move on to win the actual championship?

What *is* the Southwest Region anyway? Who plays in it? Who do you think has the best shot of winning it next year?

That’s all that bothers me.

the waistband on those shorts is beautiful

Another thing I really dislike about the whole “regional champion” and thing is it conjures up this modern notion that “everyone is a winner.”

Hey- you made it to 8th place, you get a trophy!

There is one Champion of College Basketball. That will be decided on April 7th.

[quote comment=”244264″]There is one Champion of College Basketball. That will be decided on April 7th.[/quote]
Coincidentally, my birthday.

I have a Phillies Division Champs hat (the locker room version), because I fear I might not ever see one for another 15 years.

Although I was 3 when they last won the division, so I don’t know if that counts as “seeing.”

I don’t follow NCAAs closely- but it seems like the term ‘sweet 16’ has been used a long time- but isn’t ‘elite 8’ a more recent term?

[quote comment=”244268″]I don’t follow NCAAs closely- but it seems like the term ‘sweet 16’ has been used a long time- but isn’t ‘elite 8’ a more recent term?[/quote]

The Elite Eight originated with the Illinois High School Association in 1956.

i made it out of the bathroom in less than 45 minutes this morning.

my wife presented me with a cap and a trophy and allowed me to cut down the shower curtain.

you can wear your cap BACKWARDS for all i care…you’d be WRONG, of course

There is no WRONG way to wear a hat.

[quote comment=”244267″]Glad to see some hockey fans sticking up for the only sport worth watching come spring.[/quote]

Mother Nature disagress with you and so do I.

The trophies make sense. The NCAA gives out gold, silver and bronze trophies to the top 3 teams in each sport (except football). Since there is no consolation game in basketball anymore both teams not reaching the finals would get a bronze trophy anyway for third place. The loser of the championship gets a silver plated trophy and the winner gets a good plated trophy. So in a sense they aren’t really giving out the trophies for winning the region since two of those teams would be getting that trophy at some point down the road.

[quote comment=”244283″]Its all sort of like baseball’s “Wild Card Champions”, eh?[/quote]

The difference is that UCLA actually finished first in something, that something being the West Region. It’s not an oxymoron like the phrase Wild Card Champion is.

Oh, and if you have the D-I tournament for acknowleging 4 Regional Champions, you’ll really hate D-II cause they have 8 Regional Champions in their tournament.

Hey all!

Personally, the standards in which we reward mediocrity in today’s society have gone up considerably. These “kids” in the NCAA tournament have to face reality at some point, and that reality is that mediocre simply isn’t good enough. Rewarding them for being 8th best is something the SCHOOL should do, not the NCAA. Do you really think all the schools are saying “We want to be the Midwest Regional Champion this year. That’s good enough for us. We don’t need an NCAA Championship banner or the benefits that come with it”?

The NCAA is promoting mediocrity. Nothing more, and nothing less.

By the way, in my only stance on this matter, hockey playoffs in the spring are 100% better than the first 160 MLB games. I prefer to see players sacrificing everything for the big prize. But I do hate that they give out corporate logo hats for the Eastern and Western Conference champions.

Next time, donate the money and/or clothing to needy children. It would be much better, especially when every single NHL player can afford a $20 ballcap.

[quote comment=”244276″][quote comment=”244275″]i made it out of the bathroom in less than 45 minutes this morning.

my wife presented me with a cap and a trophy and allowed me to cut down the shower curtain.[/quote]

I won a State Championship and all I got was a medal and a certificate.[/quote]

big deal. my parents went to breckenridge and all i got was this lousy t-shirt.

(i actually had a shirt that said that when i was little)

someone earlier posted that only four teams win regionals each year. that sounds nice but if you say it like, “that’s been done forty times in the last ten years,” that’s not so impressive.

[quote comment=”244267″]Glad to see some hockey fans sticking up for the only sport worth watching come spring. We’re all entitled to our opinions, but it’s beyond me that someone could find an Opening Day scrimmage more entertaining than a playoff race barn-burner like Canucks/Flames tonight, or Canes/Capitals on Tuesday.

Though, as an Oilers fan, I’d be fine with a Spanish Flu outbreak hitting GM Place sometime today.[/quote]
Don’t forget Pens-Rangers right now and tommorow night.

To the people complaining about regional championship gear, I’d better not catch any of you wearing a “2009 Gator Bowl Champions” shirt or hat next year. A regional championship is MUCH more of an accomplishment than a victory in a second-tier bowl game.

[quote comment=”244230″]The hats aren’t even the worst part…

If I was a coach, I would refuse to accept link.[/quote]

In this day and age of Political Correctness, everybody has to be rewarded for their effort, even the losers.

Remember, everybody is a winner and gets a trophy because we don’t want to hurt anybody’s self esteem.

[/sarcasm]

[quote comment=”244292″]“Not exactly uni-related, but is anyone else annoyed as hell by the horn at the Texas-Memphis game? I’m sitting here writing a paper with the game in the background and every 30 seconds I swear I hear a car alarm coming from right outside…”[/quote]

I’m actually annoyed by the use of the black curtains at each end of Reliant Stadium.

The NCAA has called the four regions in the men’s basketball tournaments by various names over the years, but “Southwest” has never been one.

Being a regional champ has been a big deal since the NCAA adopted its Final Four format. It meant more when the regions were actually arranged geographically, but it’s still an impressive accomplishment. I don’t think George Mason is going to toss back its Final Four appearance.

How about NCAA baseball? 16 Regional Champions? Then 8 “Super-Regionals”? Eventually someone wins the whole damn tourney. How many championship t-shirts and hats can you get by the end of the season?

[quote comment=”244292″]Not exactly uni-related, but is anyone else annoyed as hell by the horn at the Texas-Memphis game? I’m sitting here writing a paper with the game in the background and every 30 seconds I swear I hear a car alarm coming from right outside…[/quote]
Well, it’s distinctive. I grew up in an era where not every arena/stadium had the same E-pitch horn as everybody else and I kinda liked that; you knew where the games were being played. I watched Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalanche games at the old McNichols Sports Arena, which had the most godawful-sounding horn/buzzer/pitch around; it sounded something like a goose getting its feathers plucked.

And if you look at footage from Christian Laettner’s “Shot” in 1992 in Philadelphia, listen to the horn–or whatever that pitch is supposed to be.

[quote comment=”244321″][quote comment=”244318″]
Let me ask you…

You go into an arena or a museum and look at a school’s or team’s trophies. Do you really give a
sh!t about conference or conference tournament or region trophy is there? No, you do not. The only ones that draw your attention are the Championship trophies.[/quote]

Everytime I go to Hilton Coliseum, I look up in the rafters for the same banners each time: Iowa State Mens Gymnastics National Champions, Womens Basketball Elite Eight, and Mens Basketball Elite Eight. And whenever I go to my old high school I am taken back by just how many conference championships we have won over the years, as well as the banner for making the State Tournament in Volleyball and Girls Basketball.

So yes, I do give a poop about those things, because they still mean something to the communities.[/quote]

National Championships yes……

The rest, nope.

See entry #57.

Does Kentucky hang Elite Eight banners up among their 7 NCAA Titles banners?

No……….

how dare you speak ill of Lorenzo Mata-Real!

George
link

I think the regional championships can be looked at as a mixture of “bogus marketing” and historical artifice.

For many years, if a team lost its first game in the regional, there would be a consolation game. So the regional was looked at as a mini-tournament. Those games were dispensed of after 1975. The national consolation game was gotten rid of after 1981.

[quote comment=”244334″]Speaking of buying into bogus marketing schemes. How much is a lifetime Uniwatchblog membership?[/quote]
The membership is pretty much dead. It’s just that the card costs $15. To some people, it’s worth it to have a cool little card in your wallet to prove you “Get It(tm).” No more buying into the Uni Watch Profile Series, no more renting Our Faithful Narrator in your town, and no more bonus entries in raffles.

I think the Championship gear for “non championship” events is relative. For instance I would love to wear a Milwaukee Brewers Wild Card hat this year, and that’s because the Crew have not been to the playoffs since 1982. But, for Yankees fans, wearing a Wild Card hat is embarrassing, because they expect so much more. So even though the Brew Makers didn’t win their division or anything, I would still proudly wear a Wild Card hat.

As for the NCAA Basketball Tournament, there is no way a team should cut down nets and have “championship” shirts/hats/trophies for making it to the final four. Paul’s example of Wimbledon was perfect. If you look at their bracket every year, it is very long and doesn’t split four ways. The final four teams should not get anything because they have not won anything yet.

[quote comment=”244340″]I’m going to quote part of a post I made earlier today, because I accidentally put it onto the Saturday column. Haven’t seen any other comments on this subject, so I’ll post it again, hoping for your thoughts.

A mini-rant about standardized branding. For how many years has the NCAA been laying down generic court colors for the regionals? Last year, I believe that the eight sites (men + women) were all blue with white letters. This year, black with blue. And just to make it even more bland, they had to use a standard, stock fonts – on the Civil Rights Game comments, someone referred to it as the “lolcat” font.

For me, part of the fun each year has been the colorful diversity of the venues. (I know they’ve changed the courts for the Final Four for years, but I still enjoy seeing the flashback to the NC State-Houston game played in New Mexico – with “LOBOS” clearly marked on the endline. Why does every court now have to look identical? We get it; they’re NCAA sites. But the bottom line: Bland. Boring. Ugly.[/quote]

The NCAA’s deal with Connor Sport Court expanded to Regionals last year, so it’s just been the last 2 tournaments.

Vince Young has a tattoo that is like a nameplate

link.png

Just go here for the Vince Young tattoo

link

[quote comment=”244347″][quote]The final four teams should not get anything because they have not won anything yet.[/quote]

thank you johnny o!

at the risk of repeating this ad infinitum, i think we can safely say we’re divided into two fairly distinct groups…and…while i didn’t check each and every post…i’d be willing to bet it breaks down somewhat along these lines…

‘big city/market folks’ who, perhaps because we’re spoiled or perhaps because we place value ONLY upon winning the big prize, we are unimpressed or at least dismissive of those who value one playoff appearance or one elite eight appearance in their lifetimes (moi)

versus

‘small city/market’ types who, through no fault of their own, are not as blessed with championships, talent, etc. and for whom ANY ‘championship’…no matter how small…is a great source of pride and a community rallying point

i forgot who said it, but they said it well: do you think any YANKEE fan is walking around with a “2007 wild card champ” (if such thing even exists?) cap??? when they have 26 rings??? i think not…but by the same token, i bet johnny o or other brewer fans would take any playoff appearance as a great sign of accomplishment

does that make a fan in either locale any more or less of a fan or person? no? but it’s really all a matter of perspective

im quite sure tiger woods is pretty pissed off by finishing second in two majors last year while most any other golfer would view that as QUITE an achievement…do you think the pats view their 18-1 season as a success or a disappointment??? think a lions fan would trade places in a heartbeat?

on another note…i still think we reward mediocrity far too much in this day and age…but that’s a topic for another day

and the final four teams should not get anything because they have not won anything yet[/quote]

You and I are on the exact same page, LI Phil…

And although not uni-related, I was bored at work today. (Golf pro working at a course that isn’t opened yet) and I recovered some stat tracking I did on Tiger Woods a few months ago. He has 177 top ten finishes out of 220 starts, and that my friends, means he has placed in the top ten 80.4% of the time. And has won 62 times out of 220, making his winning percentage (which we never be talking about in golf in the first place) is 28.1%.

Now I realize these stats are a bit off since this info was done a few months ago, but even more impressively since I did the stats, Tiger has of course had all top tens and even a few wins, so those stats are on the low end.

Here are other golf greats for comparison:

Ben Hogan 20.7% (61 of 294)
Byron Nelson 17.8% (50 of 281)
Sam Snead 14.9% (81 of 549
Jack Nicklaus 12.2% (73 of 594)
Billy Casper 9.2% (51 of 556)
Arnold Palmer 8.4% (62 of 734)

Granted, Tiger is only 32, and guys like Nicklaus and Palmer are still playing. But nevertheless, what Tiger is doing is unbelievable, and people concentrate too much on winning, and say, “Tiger lost this week.” He didn’t “lose”, he “placed”. Even more impressive is what he is doing with top ten finishes.

Sorry for the rant, but I just think it is really sweet what Mr. Woods is doing right now in the sport of golf.

I was going to point out the Frozen Four hats, but I see that’s been covered. (Ha!)

I do have a somewhat related question, that I’m hoping somebody may shed some light on. I was watching the ND/UNH game on Friday, and noticed that Jerry Pollastrone has an interesting anomaly in his name plate, where the R in his name is filled in (screen grab link). This doesn’t seem to be a UNH thing, as Bobby Butler has an open R in his name plate (screen grab link), for example, and I at least didn’t see any others filled in.

Is anybody familiar with why that is? Is that a defect, or does Pollastrone color in the R, or something else?

Braves wearing an all-blue alternate. As solid alternates go, the jersey is just fine, save the also blue numbers with white outlines.

They’re also wearing an all-blue hat (no red bill). It looks kind of cool. Still, I wish teams would stick to their normal threads for opening day.

Sorry if this has been talked about already, but I was at the LA Coliseum last night (with 115,299 of my closest friends), and it didn’t look to me like the Dodgers’ uniforms were any different than usual. Weren’t they supposed to wear some kind of not-really-1958-throwbacks?

It was really a cool experience, very surreal, especially as I have been to several USC football games there. Cheap-seat Dodger fans, however, are still a-holes, no matter what the venue. Still, glad I was there.

The Braves Blue looks like a batting practice jersey the logo looks HUGE should have had the red piping don’t think they are going to get the sale numbers that were hoping for but we will see

BRAVES UNIS ARE SICK!!!!

A natilly-clad GWB with his name stitched on the jacket. Just think how much uni-loot he has accumalated in two terms.

Perez forgot to take the tag off of his uni

whats that huge tag looking thing on odalis perez’s neck? it doesnt look like it is from his jersey?

The tag sticking out from Perez’s undershirt is driving me nuts.

Miller and Morgan are talking about the tag issues right now.

The tag is from the Nike undershirts that were also a problem last year.

The Horse from Ren and Stimpy just called about the Braves’ new road navy-on-navy alts:

[quote]“No sir, I don’t like it.”[/quote]

Talk about the BBSS syndrome…

what does the patch on the ATL sleeve mean?

PEACH?

[quote comment=”244368″]Braves wearing an all-blue alternate. As solid alternates go, the jersey is just fine, save the also blue numbers with white outlines.

They’re also wearing an all-blue hat (no red bill). It looks kind of cool. Still, I wish teams would stick to their normal threads for opening day.[/quote]

First they get rid of the vertically arched NOBs, now this. Still better than the red jerseys, but all in all, meh.

…and as far as memorial patches go, the tribute to Jim Beauchamp (BEACH) on the left sleeve of the new Braves’ unis looks pretty classy.

[quote comment=”244384″]To many people in the Braves organization are too traditional (Bobby Cox) It took forever for them to allow our catchers wear the hockey style face mask despite the safety improvements we were one of the last teams to even have alternates and this one just proves nothing has change with the new owners we have had these same uniforms for 21 years I know there are some teams that haven’t changed in about 100 years(Yankees) but those teams have tradition a look at the Atlanta Braves uniform history before 1987 there was no tradition hopefully there is something in the works that hasn’t finished the MLB approval process and they are dropping the whole tomahawk thing and if it was for Deion Sanders we would not even have been doing it[/quote]

No chance in hell the Bravos drop the tomahawk. Not sure how long you’ve been in ATL but i’ve lived in GA my entire life and the grand majority of us love the tomahawk and the unis. And Bobby Cox has full rights to be traditional and not change the unis. They brought us 14 straight Division Championships didn’t they?

[quote comment=”244392″]Braves jerseys are nothing special. Could have used more of a representative of the red though. I like the numbers. The hat is garbage.[/quote]
Maybe they are “Ditching the RED”

[quote comment=”244304″]Watching the A’s @ Giants today, the final pre-season. The Giants may be bad- but we DO still have the nicest ballpark IMO.

They’ve taken down all the Bonds stuff as we know…

But will they retire….his number?[/quote]
Let’s see if Bonds makes the HOF first. That is the standard for the Giants.

[quote comment=”244366″]I was going to point out the Frozen Four hats, but I see that’s been covered. (Ha!)

I do have a somewhat related question, that I’m hoping somebody may shed some light on. I was watching the ND/UNH game on Friday, and noticed that Jerry Pollastrone has an interesting anomaly in his name plate, where the R in his name is filled in (screen grab link). This doesn’t seem to be a UNH thing, as Bobby Butler has an open R in his name plate (screen grab link), for example, and I at least didn’t see any others filled in.

Is anybody familiar with why that is? Is that a defect, or does Pollastrone color in the R, or something else?[/quote]

Looks like a botched lettering job to me.

Here’s to you, Nick Johnson. This Uniwatch poster recognizes your choice to look like a decent upstanding ballplayer.

(and for your reward, you get the first RBI in Nats Park)

[quote comment=”244400″]
No chance in hell the Bravos drop the tomahawk. Not sure how long you’ve been in ATL but i’ve lived in GA my entire life and the grand majority of us love the tomahawk and the unis. And Bobby Cox has full rights to be traditional and not change the unis. They brought us 14 straight Division Championships didn’t they?[/quote]
31 years Born and raised so I grew up with these same old uniforms and the ones before didn’t have the tomahawk on them that does mean you can’t still do the tomahawk chop but I have my reason for not supporting and this is not the place to discuss that I loved the Braves I cried in ’91 and I celebrated in ’95 and you are right Bobby Cox has the right to be a traditionalist but when your catcher is getting his head beat in when there is something available to keep him safer you let him wear it but old Bobby is coming around I just want some new uniforms so I can give my Braves my money instead of wearing my old jersey from ’95 that looks like one from 2008 thats all

The Nationals have red player number stickers on the back of their red helmets…Just noticed that on Austin Kearns’ helmet after he drove in NIck Johnson

[quote comment=”244411″][quote comment=”244400″]
No chance in hell the Bravos drop the tomahawk. Not sure how long you’ve been in ATL but i’ve lived in GA my entire life and the grand majority of us love the tomahawk and the unis. And Bobby Cox has full rights to be traditional and not change the unis. They brought us 14 straight Division Championships didn’t they?[/quote]
31 years Born and raised so I grew up with these same old uniforms and the ones before didn’t have the tomahawk on them that does mean you can’t still do the tomahawk chop but I have my reason for not supporting and this is not the place to discuss that I loved the Braves I cried in ’91 and I celebrated in ’95 and you are right Bobby Cox has the right to be a traditionalist but when your catcher is getting his head beat in when there is something available to keep him safer you let him wear it but old Bobby is coming around I just want some new uniforms so I can give my Braves my money instead of wearing my old jersey from ’95 that looks like one from 2008 thats all[/quote]
That’s, like, the longest sentence ever.

With those jerseys, Atlanta is the new ugly.

BEACH patch:

link

[quote comment=”244415″][quote comment=”244411″][quote comment=”244400″]
No chance in hell the Bravos drop the tomahawk. Not sure how long you’ve been in ATL but i’ve lived in GA my entire life and the grand majority of us love the tomahawk and the unis. And Bobby Cox has full rights to be traditional and not change the unis. They brought us 14 straight Division Championships didn’t they?[/quote]
31 years Born and raised so I grew up with these same old uniforms and the ones before didn’t have the tomahawk on them that does mean you can’t still do the tomahawk chop but I have my reason for not supporting and this is not the place to discuss that I loved the Braves I cried in ’91 and I celebrated in ’95 and you are right Bobby Cox has the right to be a traditionalist but when your catcher is getting his head beat in when there is something available to keep him safer you let him wear it but old Bobby is coming around I just want some new uniforms so I can give my Braves my money instead of wearing my old jersey from ’95 that looks like one from 2008 thats all[/quote]
That’s, like, the longest sentence ever.[/quote]

it’s like a defective typewriter

The Braves blue jersey looks boring on the front.

They should add the collar stripe their road jersey has, only put it in red. (they should put the number in red instead of blue, too).

Also, the “Atlanta” logo on the front is WAY too big.

[quote comment=”244423″][quote comment=”244325″]If a school wants to celebrate their accomplishment by cutting down nets or hanging a banner in their gym commemorating NCAA appearances, by all means they should. My problem with the trophy is that the NCAA is cheapening the championship trophy by giving out these “regional championship” trophies which are nearly identical to the trophies they award for national championships. For the NCAA to issue memorabilia and propagate the idea of an arbitrary “championship” (as others above me have pointed out) is ridiculous.[/quote]

The NCAA has ALWAYS given trophies to the final four teams. They just started as 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place trophies.

When they eliminated the third place game, it just made more sense to give happy Final Four teams a trophy, and not give them to dejected kids to three teams who lost; one of which skipped town.

Why is it wrong? The MLB have league championship trophies. The NHL has conference championship trophies. the NFL has conference championship trophies. The NBA has conference championship trophies.[/quote]
Because those are CONFERENCES and LEAGUES. I’ve got no problem with UCLA getting a Pac 10 Conference Championship trophy.

Not uni-related, but I like the stadium. From above, the upper deck reminds me of the old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, with the horseshoe shape. And straightaway center field reminds you of Griffith stadium a little.

i like the braves’ look. it’s surprisingly simple, which is refreshing to me. i’m always up for something new and crisp. i mean, we all think the UCLA unis are classic, right? less is more here.

re: the regional hats – it’s almost like there’s so much media coverage that they have to give these kids something to do or wear, so they make the hats and t-shirts. and people buy them, of course. impulse buying at its best. going backwards, why not have pod hats? “we’re omaha pod co-champs! yippee!”

I don’t like the Braves new alt. The numbers should be red, and the piping should be red outlined in white. The red alt is much better IMO. The solid blue hat looks good though. Is the ‘A’ outlined in red?

[quote comment=”244431″]Not uni-related, but I like the stadium. From above, the upper deck reminds me of the old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, with the horseshoe shape. And straightaway center field reminds you of Griffith stadium a little.[/quote]
The behind-the-plate camera appears to have been mounted somewhere near the moon.

I. Am. Sorry. Didn’t. Know. This. Was. An. English. Class? I. Thought. It. Was. Just. A. Comment. Section. My. Post. Was. A. Response. To. Some. One. Flame. On. Now. Peace.

I’m on board with the new Braves Unis. I don’t really think you can put too much red in that though, it would really complicate a nice simple design.

I think the biggest problem is the red piping on the pants, which don’t go with… anything else. If it were blue I think the whole thing would look amazing. A very plain hat but overall not a bad uni.

Doing dark alternates is lazy, and looks like a batting practice jersey. Why not do something original like what the Phillies and Indians are doing this year, and at least look like a professional?

[quote comment=”244446″]I think the biggest problem is the red piping on the pants, which don’t go with… anything else. If it were blue I think the whole thing would look amazing. A very plain hat but overall not a bad uni.[/quote]

link

[quote comment=”244407″][quote comment=”244366″]I was going to point out the Frozen Four hats, but I see that’s been covered. (Ha!)

I do have a somewhat related question, that I’m hoping somebody may shed some light on. I was watching the ND/UNH game on Friday, and noticed that Jerry Pollastrone has an interesting anomaly in his name plate, where the R in his name is filled in (screen grab link). This doesn’t seem to be a UNH thing, as Bobby Butler has an open R in his name plate (screen grab link), for example, and I at least didn’t see any others filled in.

Is anybody familiar with why that is? Is that a defect, or does Pollastrone color in the R, or something else?[/quote]

Looks like a botched lettering job to me.[/quote]

Unless the uniforms were made by student volunteers, I’d think (or at least hope) that something like that wouldn’t get past QC from the manufacturer. How do you forget to cut out an R, especially if these things are done by machine?

[quote comment=”244426″][quote comment=”244423″][quote comment=”244325″]If a school wants to celebrate their accomplishment by cutting down nets or hanging a banner in their gym commemorating NCAA appearances, by all means they should. My problem with the trophy is that the NCAA is cheapening the championship trophy by giving out these “regional championship” trophies which are nearly identical to the trophies they award for national championships. For the NCAA to issue memorabilia and propagate the idea of an arbitrary “championship” (as others above me have pointed out) is ridiculous.[/quote]

The NCAA has ALWAYS given trophies to the final four teams. They just started as 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place trophies.

When they eliminated the third place game, it just made more sense to give happy Final Four teams a trophy, and not give them to dejected kids to three teams who lost; one of which skipped town.

Why is it wrong? The MLB have league championship trophies. The NHL has conference championship trophies. the NFL has conference championship trophies. The NBA has conference championship trophies.[/quote]
Because those are CONFERENCES and LEAGUES. I’ve got no problem with UCLA getting a Pac 10 Conference Championship trophy.[/quote]

Thank you! Also, I would argue that it is okay to give out 2nd/3rd/4th place trophies after the fact; just don’t give out these preemptive regional trophies, then subsequently award the national title. What if everybody in the Olympic basketball tournament got a bronze medal before the semifnals, then before the championship two teams got silvers? It diminishes the value of the gold.

[quote comment=”244340″]I’m going to quote part of a post I made earlier today, because I accidentally put it onto the Saturday column. Haven’t seen any other comments on this subject, so I’ll post it again, hoping for your thoughts.

A mini-rant about standardized branding. For how many years has the NCAA been laying down generic court colors for the regionals? Last year, I believe that the eight sites (men + women) were all blue with white letters. This year, black with blue. And just to make it even more bland, they had to use a standard, stock fonts – on the Civil Rights Game comments, someone referred to it as the “lolcat” font.

For me, part of the fun each year has been the colorful diversity of the venues. (I know they’ve changed the courts for the Final Four for years, but I still enjoy seeing the flashback to the NC State-Houston game played in New Mexico – with “LOBOS” clearly marked on the endline. Why does every court now have to look identical? We get it; they’re NCAA sites. But the bottom line: Bland. Boring. Ugly.[/quote]

I also noticed that they don’t have any years on them either. Perhaps every regional site will get the same boring copy now, and when it returns to that venue, they won’t have to make a new one. I sure hope not, especially because the city/venue is difficult to read with that blue on black.

I like how we can identify game locations from the color schemes in old highlights.

Also, I like the Braves uniforms, especially the blue numbers.

And for the comments about the braves jerseys………the black numbers on the back make them look very cheap. Someone else already said it, but the first thing my wife and I thought was that they were batting practice jerseys.

Anyone else notice that Ryan Zimmerman for the Nats was wearing a Cool Base uni?

Kind of a weird choice with the weather so cold in DC.

Brayan Pena and Willie Harris were both rockin double flapped battuing helmets tonight. First time other than in a little league game?

I know a few other people made similar requests under other posts –> Is there anyone with ESPN Insider access who wouldn’t mind posting the transcript from Paul’s chat here?

Thank you!

‘w’ should have had the stones to declare tomorrow a ‘national holiday’…which it should be

also…he didn’t do such a bad job in the booth…better than morgan…but then again, that’s like saying root canal is better than a colonsocopy

Dear Atlanta Braves,

You look ridiculous in your new blue road uniforms with blue numbers.

Please correct this immediately. (They’d really look quite sharp if the lettering on the front and the numbers were red, not blue. Seriously.)

Signed,
Everyone

[quote comment=”244411″][quote comment=”244400″]
No chance in hell the Bravos drop the tomahawk. Not sure how long you’ve been in ATL but i’ve lived in GA my entire life and the grand majority of us love the tomahawk and the unis. And Bobby Cox has full rights to be traditional and not change the unis. They brought us 14 straight Division Championships didn’t they?[/quote]
31 years Born and raised so I grew up with these same old uniforms and the ones before didn’t have the tomahawk on them that does mean you can’t still do the tomahawk chop but I have my reason for not supporting and this is not the place to discuss that I loved the Braves I cried in ’91 and I celebrated in ’95 and you are right Bobby Cox has the right to be a traditionalist but when your catcher is getting his head beat in when there is something available to keep him safer you let him wear it but old Bobby is coming around I just want some new uniforms so I can give my Braves my money instead of wearing my old jersey from ’95 that looks like one from 2008 thats all[/quote]

Paul is gonna hate me for this, but…Punctuation is your friend, man.

I’ve lived here my whole life, too. Guess what? Your previous post of “no tradition before 82” or whatever that was… is patently false. I suggest you google “Milwaukee Braves” and check out the images. You might notice something a little bit familiar.

And as for giving the braves your money, here’s an idea, as outrageous as it might sound: go to a game?

As for the uniforms; if it replaces that disgusting red thing, i’m all for it. However, we’ll see how they love that design in July.

I go to a small school in Western Colorado called Mesa State College, and our softball team advertised a breast cancer awareness game where they would be wearing pink jerseys. Needless to say the “jerseys” were a tad link. Sad considering that for a softball team, they generally don’t look link

I’d read Paul’s item the other day that the Braves were bringing out link, taking me back to my childhood. Needless to say, these were HIGHLY disappointing.

After years of wearing “C. Jones” on the back of his Braves jersey — because Andruw Jones, now with the Dodgers, was a teammate — Chipper Jones was identified Sunday simply as “Jones.”

I stand link.

[quote comment=”244472″]Brayan Pena and Willie Harris were both rockin double flapped battuing helmets tonight. First time other than in a little league game?[/quote]

Not all that uncommon. Terry Pendleton & Otis Nixon as Braves teammates right off the top of my head.

[quote comment=”244529″][quote comment=”244472″]Brayan Pena and Willie Harris were both rockin double flapped battuing helmets tonight. First time other than in a little league game?[/quote]

Not all that uncommon. Terry Pendleton & Otis Nixon as Braves teammates right off the top of my head.[/quote]

Along with Willie McGee back in ’82 as well, I believe.

No Nike in the Final 4!! UCLA (Adidas), Kansas (Adidas), Memphis (Adidas) and North Carolina ( Jordan). When is the last time the swoosh wasn’t present in this great event?