Going Green

Top o’the mornin’ to ya lads and lassies. Tis St. Patrick’s day.

Which can mean only one thing: an excuse for teams to break out green unis — now, I am normally 99.6% against such a practice, since I tend to hate gimmicks, but for some reason, on this one day when everyone is Irish, I can dig the wearin’ o’ the green — at least when it’s done in fun and not in games that count. Which is why I really enjoy seeing baseball clubs have some fun with it during spring training — after all, most clubs break out the BP tops all spring, so if you’re going to do that, you might as well break out the green on St. Patty’s day (or is it St. Paddy’s day?).

What you see in today’s splash is the uniform that was worn by the Dallas Stars during warmups last night against the Chicago Blackhawks. According to the Stars, the jerseys were worn for charity (to raise money for the “Dallas Stars Foundation”) and were auctioned off after the game. I couldn’t find any warm-up pics (and the Stars reverted to their standard unis for the game, but here is another shot of one of the warmup sweaters:

Pretty cool, right? And while I’m not usually one for ethnicizing a last name, I don’t think anyone would take too much umbrage at the monicker “McCRUSH’EM” right?

Today, I’m not sure just how many teams will be bustin’ out the green (more on prior wearing of such in a bit), but I do know the Mets will. Here’s the look they have planned:

I don’t know if all players will actually have “St. Patrick” on the back (or some other Irishization of their name) but that’s kinda cool, no? I just wish it didn’t have those stupid side panels. Otherwise, it’s a pretty good looking jersey. No word on whether the game worn tops will be auctioned off for charity, but I do know replicas (or authentics) will be sold to the public. Still it’ll be fun for one day — the day when everyone is Irish for 24 hours.

The practice of wearing a special St.Patty’s day jersey is nothing new, and in fact, perhaps the most “Irish” of all cities has more fun with it (I think) than any other — indeed, the Bruins, Red Sox and Celtics (who already wear green, dontcha know) all participate in the fun in some form or other. The Bruins, like many NHL teams, don’t wear them in actual game play — teams like the Blue Jackets and Flames have worn them as well during warmups. And the Toronto St. Pat’s (obviously that’s a throwback) wore them for real.

Basketball too, is not immune to the wearin’ o’ the green: The Bulls, Knicks, and Raptors have all done it.

The national pasttime has a rich history of green: Just a few of the participants include the Dodgers, Phillies, (both of whom have had much nicer jerseys in years’ past). Of course, the jersey isn’t always green. Sometimes it’s just a special top & green cap (those are the Sawks), but the Tigers (beautiful) and Mets (not so much) have gone the green cap route in the past.

Of course, the best St. Patrick’s uniform may actually be worn during the regular season, as the Chicago White Sox participate in their annual “Half-way To St. Patrick’s Day” promotion on September 17 (or around that date if it’s not a home game). Good times, good times.

These are just a few examples of the breaking out of St. Patrick’s uniforms. I’m sure there are dozens, if not hundreds more (several of which I am aware of but am omitting for space limitations). But I bet there are a bunch we (as a collective) are not even aware of. I’d like to try to compile a list — and possibly make it a part of the UW research projects page. So, dear readers, can you help us out? In the comments below, please list (with photographic evidence, if possible) of any St. Patrick’s day uniforms worn, and if they were worn in game play or in just warmups.

It’s good to get into the festivities…

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.

And so, lets begin:

Hello,

My name is Wes, and I’m a big fan of your blog and fellow Brooklynite and BFBS-hater. I’d love for you to check out and consider sharing a side project I’ve been working on over this past NFL season, which I think you’d appreciate and surely have some opinions on.

This all started as an effort to stay ‘productive’ during the football season this year, but as I finish up the few remaining teams before the Super Bowl, I would like to try and take it to a bigger audience to help some folks remember what professional football used to look like. Let’s call it a ‘de’-design project instead of a re-design project.

From Gridiron League’s About page:

Gridiron League is a collection of idealized NFL insignias by Wes Kull that pays tribute to each teams’ history and geography in a period-specific aesthetic that glorifies the Vince Lomardi-era over the Cold-Activated ®-era. This is not an exercise in nostalgia but an interpretation of the league’s founding principles through the symbols that we, as football fans, identify with most.

*On my About page, I link to your blog in the paragraph below:

Many NFL franchises””Patriots, Broncos, Rams, Lions””have updated their uniforms and logos to a swooshed-out, dropped-shadowed, and more commercial-ready image, ignoring a good deal of their team’s heritage and the original rough-and-tumble character that the league stood for. The mud, blood, and grass stains that smeared across the varsity-style lettering and colors of jerseys past have been bleached out for iPads and HD screens, and new colors””lime greens, teals, and “Black For Black’s Sake”””introduced arbitrarily for the sake of selling more jerseys and attracting newer audiences.

There are a handful of teams””Bears, Packers, Raiders, Saints, Steelers””that still play by the old school rules and don’t necessarily need this treatment, but in an effort to make this a cohesive and original project, no team was spared.

Nike is taking over the jerseys next season after Reebok’s contract, and we can only hope that they will preserve the few remaining original logos and uniforms and revive the many histories that have long been relegated to ESPN Classic. As for the Ravens, Panthers, Jaguars, and Titans, we can only pretend.

Thanks for your time and hope you enjoy! Keep up the great work.
—

Wes

Let’s offer some suggestions for new team names for the Washington football team (currently named the “Redskins”) and the Cleveland baseball team (known for now as the “Indians”). Today — let’s come up with a few new names for each. Post your suggestions below in the comments. Tomorrow, I’ll select some of the best suggestions for each and we’ll put those to a vote. Once we have a new nickname, we’ll build a uniform and logo contest around those new names.

So, for example, if suggestions for Washington football team’s new nickname are, say the “Warriors,” “Diplomats,” or “Pigskins,” we’ll have a contest built around the most popular new name (as selected by you, the reader). Likewise, whatever the new Cleveland name (“Naps”? “Spiders”? “Rockers”?), we’ll have a separate uniform/logo contest for that team. So, lets have some nominations (and second the ones you like) for new names and tomorrow we’ll vote on the best ones. OK? OK!

On that note, everyone have a fantastic St. Patrick’s Day. However you celebrate, be safe, OK?

By the way, is anyone’s bracket not busted now? Ouch. Enjoy the hoops, the puck and the spring training wearin’ o’ the green. See ya on the morrow.