By Phil Hecken
Quite a bit of NCAA gridrion action yesterday (and some exciting games), and there were a bunch of new unis broken out (one offs like Notre Dame and Maryland) and some new combos. It was also notable because a LOT of teams chose to go stormtrooper all white. Now, I happen to like that look (if one absolutely MUST go with an alternate), but I know many of you don’t like it. There was also a cool tribute to Welles Crowther, who was known for his wearing a red bandana. This, I’m certain, and more, are all below, as Terry “TJ” Duroncelet brings us today’s…
Sunday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet
You ever pick up a shift at your job, thinking it’s going to be pretty stable, but you end up getting swamped with approaches left and right? That was basically me yesterday. Harold, if you’re reading this, I feel your pain.
From Thursday:
• With this past Thursday being the 13th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, teams did the usual thing of wearing flag-emblazoned gear of some sort. In Houston’s case, they wore helmet decals. For BYU, not only did they wear flag decals with this particular one on the back of the helmets, but they also used this as their midfield logo.
• Louisiana Tech got in on the act as well.
From Friday:
• Cincinnati was supposed to wear chrome decals in their game against Toledo, but apparently scrapped those plans last-minute.
• The Buffalo Bulls wore full-black with new black helmets against Baylor.
From Saturday:
• Georgia Tech wore throwbacks on Saturday. It looks like they’ve fixed the sleeve stripe inconsistencies from last year. They also have decals on the helmets this time around.
• Speaking of throwbacks, Texas Tech wore retro uniforms against Arkansas. Great look, but it would’ve been better if Texas Tech and Georgia Tech were playing each other on a Thursday.
• Ohio State’s current emotion: Feeling Facebook-y. For reasons that escape me, tOSU set up a thing that is actually a Facebook emoticon at the ‘shoe in their 66-0 trouncing of Kent State. [Those are actually cue cards, used during the 2nd Quarter of OSU games; something I only learned yesterday — PH]
• Vanderbilt once again wore their gold tops at home, but thankfully wore black helmets and pants to add some balance and contrast. Also, the “Anchor Down” slogan has been moved to the sidelines. Also from Trés Lawless: “I don’t have a picture, but this year, Vandy’s jerseys have captaincy patches on their jerseys.”
• ♫These colours don’t run, like colour from the hair♫ The story behind the hats worn by Virginia’s coach is that he wears a different military branch during each quarter. The 1st quarter had him wearing a Marines hat, and the 2nd quarter shows him in a Navy cap. I haven’t a clue what the 3rd and 4th called for.
• I read that the NFL (I believe) has banned fancy eyeblack, but it’s apparently a-O.K. in college. Thanks to Michael Ferguson for both of those pics.
• South Florida wore their green helmets for the first time against NC State. Not bad, even though the greens were kind of off.
• Lendel Martin sends this in from the Oregon game: “True freshman linebacker Jimmie Swain had “IV” on his jersey. Seems to be a growing trend over the past year or so”
• Nothing life-changing from the Georgia/South Carolina game, but there is this: You know that jerky commercial where the lady has an eagle emerge from out of her stomach? Methinks that’s what happened with Todd Gurley, which could explain the rip in his jersey. Many thanks to Preston Feiler for sending that pic in.
• Notre Dame wore their Shamrock Series uniforms against Purdue. The helmet and jersey are fine in my book, but the pants… bleh. Also in that same game, Purdue wore those black helmets with the track stripe from last year.
• You might be surprised to find that Oklahoma and Tennessee have never played each other in regular season play until yesterday, and have only played each other twice, one of which was a color vs. color game in the 1968 Orange Bowl. They also played each other in the 1939 Orange Bowl. Wish they would’ve dressed for the occasion on Saturday.
• FAU wore shiny red chrome helmets [First time ever — PH].
• I don’t think even snorting an entire line of wasabi will come as close to sobering as seeing the contrast between Rutgers and Penn State.
• Mississippi State added helmet decals in honor of Jack Cristil.
• What else can be said about Maryland except it really takes a rather… creative mind to turn the Star-Spangled Banner into a uniform. I like. More on this look here, along with close-ups here, here, and here. Also from that same game, West Virginia wore gold/blue/gold.
• Colorado wore full-black uniforms with matte black helmets and charcoal decals.
• Boston College wore red bandana shoes, helmet stripes, and other adornments against USC. You can read up on the story here.
• I LOVE these helmets worn by Kentucky. Also, stay classy, Gainesville.
• LSU wore their purple tops against Louisiana-Monroe. For those unaware, LSU wears their white tops for their first home game of the season, no matter what. For their other home games that aren’t against conference opponents, they wear purple.
• And then there’s the plethora of teams that went full-white yesterday, including (but not limited to): Indiana, Illinois, and many more that I could go on about, but you get the picture.
Thanks, TJ — good stuff!
A Surprise Guest Five And One…
Usually in this space we have the lovely Catherine Ryan providing us with the Five and One, but (and I hope everything is OK) I didn’t hear from her yesterday.
Luckily, in a pinch, Robert Marshall was able to provide a Five and One in a pinch.
The bad thing is we miss Miss Ryan, but the good thing is we get a new perspective on things. And with Comrade Marshall, we just might get as many bad games as good.
Here’s Comrade Marshall:
#5: Duke v. Kansas – Just purdy. Both teams with pants stripes too, which is nuts for a new uniform like the Jayhawks sport
#4: Georgia Tech v. Georgia Southern – Georgia Tech in their best look, complete with mismatched golds against blue Alabama.
#3: UCLA v. Texas – classic
#2: Iowa v. Iowa State – Always a sunny day for this game, and when Iowa is at home, it’s a beauty.
#1: Stanford v. Army – Stanford as they should be, and Army is poifect in grey bloomers that hearken their overcoats with a right proper dome, and a simple but nuanced jersey.
“So close” Oklahoma v Tennessee … If only it was colour on colour or if UT wore orange pantaloons.
+1 (tie)
Arkansas v. Texas Tech – Arkansas looked like garbage. And I love throwbacks, but that TT number has always been a dog.
Purdue v. Notre Dame – ND looked like a MAC team, and Purdue’s helmet begged you to be snidely whiplash, run over nell fenwick and stiff arm dudley doright on the way to the endzone. Could you be more literal Purdue. Maybe next week they can all carry a huge base drum on their backs.
Illinois v. Washington – Illinois in the tired all white roads while Washington goes away from their gorgeous gold-purple-gold which even looks good with the modern silliness like black shoulders and sans pant stripes. To go white-purple-white leaving us with waaaay too much white.
Duck Tracker
Each week, as we have done on Uni Watch for the past five seasons, we’ll be tracking the uniform combinations of the Oregon Ducks. Back for his third season is Tim E. O’Brien, who’ll show you what the Ducks wore in their last game, and add a few words of wisdom.
The Ducks went black/green/gray in their rather routine win (but neither covering nor hitting the over, much to the chagrin of the CorC) over Wyoming yesterday; they continue to wear last generation unis, having only the white and black tops in the new Mach Speed template. Ho hum.
Here’s Tim E. with the DT (click to enlarge)…
Here’s Tim:
This post will be like yesterday’s Oregon uniforms: Lazy and drab.
Get it together Oregon
As usual, things are updated over at the Duck Tracker and on twitter (@DuckTracker). You can also follow my Northwestern (@NUniTracker) and Indiana (@Hoosier_Tracker) trackers as you so choose but only feel the need to force myself watch those two awful programs (Oh, NU. What happened to you”¦smdh).
EPL Tracker
Each Saturday, Alex Gerwitz will be tracking the kit combinations (shirt/shorts/socks) of the teams in the English Premier League from the previous weekend.
Here’s Week 4, Part I; These are through Saturday’s games. Today’s games will be combined with next Saturday’s tracker (click to enlarge):
Uni Watch News Ticker:
Baseball News: Here’s a 1981 WS Game 5 observation from David Taub: at 12:19 of this video, Steve Garvey is not wearing the LA anniversary patch on his left sleeve that the rest of his team is wearing. … “In reading an article about the passing of Frank Torre, I noticed this picture which shows Joe Torre wearing #24,” writes David Feigenbaum. “There is no record of him wearing that number in any of the references I checked yet this looks like a photo taken in a major league park, not a spring training photo. Any way you can find out if he ever wore this number while on the Braves’ major league roster?” … The Seattle Mariners became the Marineros (no “Los”) last night, as a salute to Latin America Beisbol. … Also doing the Latin tribute were los Gigantes, for “Fiesta Gigantes” night. … Doug Fister was missing his squatchee last night (via Noah Petro). … “The orange of the Orioles jersey on Saturday looks red in all the Fox shots except for the camera they use to shoot the on deck circle,” says Allen Yelent. … Groundbreaking has begun on the new Braves stadium, and here are the construction helmets (h/t Kyle Betes).
NFL News: Reader Jeffrey Sak noticed Lions captain patches were missing on Monday night so “I did some research and found this.” … Roberto Zanzi notes “Conspicous by his absence, Ray Rice is not in Niketown New York’s New NFL display. The salesperson told him they got the set up on Wednesday and a Baltimore mannequin was not included. “Also, they said that they sent all their Ray Rice jerseys back. AP mannequin is there and his jerseys are still for sale.” … In last Thursday’s game against the Packers, Marshawn Lynch was wearing socks with “Beast Mode” on them (thanks to Joanna Zwiep). … “Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo used this wire service photo to illustrate a blog entry about professional football,” writes Greg Mays. “I assume that Chargers vs Bills in the 60-62 era, but Charles Avery at the Helmet Project says that helmet had blue numbers on the side. Maybe pre-season?” … Here’s a look at the Browns new endzone (fan vote determined the design). … Remember the modified Ray Rice jersey that became “Be Nice To Girls”? Well, Joshua Kramer has modified his AD jersey to have the number for the National Child Abuse Hotline on it. “It’s a small gesture, but one that I hope helps someone out there.”
College Football News: Most of the College Football news is above, with the SMUW, but here’s a nice article on the Princeton equipment manager and the new football uniform design he’s going with for this season (big thanks to David Barndollar).
Hockey News: We talk a lot in the NHL about “white at home” (as God intended), but we don’t ever talk about the possibility of going color vs. color. Well, the Winnipeg Jets and the Calgary Flames went color v color in a rookie tournament on the 12th. THE Jeff just became a hockey fan (pic from Harrison Hamm).
Soccer News: Following up on yesterday’s ticker item about the nationalist uniforms used by FC Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, D.T. Erane notes “Both kits are based on the respective regional flags, the catalonian Senyera (FC Barcelona) and the Basque ikurriña (Athletic Bilbao), both regions are seeking an independence referendum like the one to occur next week in Scotland, and, additionally, this match was played just one day after the catalonian national day “A dÃada”, that commemorates the battle of Barcelona held on 11-Sep-1714 during the spanish seccesion war. In short, they used the most possible symbols to show that these are breakaway regions within Spain. It is notewirthy that in the Madrid-based sports newspapers, the uniforms got more comments than the match itself.” … Tampa Bay Rowdies (NASL) player Rudy Van Deer Veen had an unusual NOB back in the late 1970’s, due to the length of his surname (thanks to Graham Clayton
Grab Bag: This really cool 1943 NFL offer letter from the New York Football Giants reveals the one piece of equipment the team wouldn’t pay for (thanks, Brinke … I think we can probably all agree the Colombia Women’s cycling kit is a disaster. And if you think that’s photoshopped, here’s another shot. You can read more here. … Attention Paul, the humble Brannock device finds another use (great find by David Kendrick).
And there you have it. Thanks to TJ, BIG THANKS to Comrade for pitching in on the 5 & 1 (very late last night, I might add), Tim & Alex. Everyone have a great Sunday, and I’ll be back next weekend.
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
“Soccer’s ‘change kit concept is a far better idea than forcing teams to wear white. They still screw it up sometimes by having a ‘red & white’ team wear blue or something, but the idea is solid.”
— THE Jeff Provo
This game was quite the eyesore as well
link
Comrade Marshall must have gone to bed early. link was easy contender for &1 status.
my eyes!!!!!! yes, i missed that clearly.
I think someone put the Army game in the wrong 1 position. Those gray pants they were wearing just look goofy and horribly out of place. Did the team get dressed in the dark or what?
While historically speaking, gold pants would be proper (and it would be my personal aesthetic), white jerseys and gray pants do suggest the West Point standard spring/summer/fall dress uniform:
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the only reason i even checked the comments today was to see if you would give me the roofus-goofus, and you didn’t disappoint jeff. i thought army looked great, i also like that all three uniform elements clashed between teams. not your cup’a? that’s fine, it’s just a silly list.
had i not put it together in 5 minutes at 1:30 this morning, it might have been a bit different. while army-stanford would have been at the top, i would have spent some time looking for at least one high contrast game which i think is always underrated in a match-up as a whole. sometimes it doesn’t mater what the individual uniforms look like in the big picture. i also would have liked to have looked for a good DII game, and maybe thought about what non-classic uniform really stood out in a match-up that day. i would have done a bit more homework is what i am saying, but i think the list is sound, if maybe too classic leaning for the constraints it had last night.
nice hearing from you jeff
“had i not put it together in 5 minutes at 1:30 this morning…”
~~~
Yes, and you STILL did a great job, Comrade. Thanks a ton for giving me that pretty stellar list.
I don’t necessarily agree with you, but I get where you’re coming from.
than you for the help on the pixtures, wouldn’t have happened without that.
and for the below comment:
love the rock, HATE the ginormous numbers on stroudsburg. the game still has to look good jakob:)
The ginormous numbers made made that game awesome looking! Nothing like an old-school fill-up-most-of-the-jersey-with-numbers look.
Looking for a good DII game? Putting Slippery Rock on the list would make Phil happy.
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And East Stroudsburg looked purdy, too.
It was a later game but I thought the Tennessee Oklahoma game was a nice looking matchup. Two classic uniforms.
it was a “classic” game, but not that much different then bama-UT, MSU-UT, or Ark-UT. and in general i have never been a big fan of the sooners or any of the crimson shaded uni’s other then southern cal’s homes. but they got a mention as just missing, it isn’t like they were left out.
I was more agreeing with you than disagreeing. As a huge Hawkeye fan I couldn’t agree more with your take on the UI-ISU game. I watched from the late switch over (after Tech and ECU ended) until the final tackle. It was a beautiful game, other than the result.
Joshua Kramer has modified his AP jersey not his AD jersey
“Joshua Kramer has modified his AD jersey to have the number for the National Child Abuse Hotline on it”
Someone already pointed this or but they didn’t have it set to be a reply to you so I’ll pay or again as one.
Adrian Peterson’s nickname is All Day often shortened to AD. The article is correct.
Thanks, Douglas.
We’ve been through this “Peterson’s nickname is All Day/AD” before on UW, but maybe not everyone knows it. But it is correct as I wrote it.
No official evidence that Torre wore 24 in regulation game. Three 15s and two 9s.
link
AD = AP.
His nickname was “All Day”, thus AD works. Not that it really matters, as it is an incidental point at best.
I’d love it if theee NHL and NFL wore color vs. color for the playoffs. obviously, sufficient contrast would be required to make it work, but it’d be sweet.
Not sure I’d like it for those leagues in the playoffs– to me, you earn the right to wear your “home” jersey. But I’d love to see it in college football bowl games or any other neutral site game as much as possible.
Bravo to the Giants (who have done this before) and to the Mariners for doing the Spanish-language jerseys in the appropriate manner.They join the Brewers, A’s, and Pirates in the small group of teams who get this right.
The people who spuriously claim that “a proper name is not translated” ignore the fact that English speakers use English-language versions of several Latin American baseball team names:
Cangrejeros de Santurce –> Santurce Crabbers
Ãguilas Cibaeñas –> Cibao Eagles
Tigres del México –> Mexico City Tigers
Diablos Rojos del México –> Mexico City Reds or Mexico City Red Devils
Other teams whose nicknames are ordinary words need to get this message, particularly los Rojos in baseball and el Calor and los Toros of the NBA.
I’m with you, Ferdinand, regarding the superiority of translation to use of English with “Los” in front. But… during the course of time from the 1960s on, I have noticed a steady trend among Spanish-speaking fans away from Medias Rojas to Los Red Sox. However doleful, this may be more fan-driven than you suspect…
Muy atentamente,
Connie
I agree. I can see where you might want to refer to the team as “Los Bulls” or whatever in general marketing materials, but when you’re wearing special uniforms to honor Hispanic heritage, use Spanish! Now, I don’t know how you translate “Los Mets”, but definitely with the teams you cite, Ferdinand.
Plus, those Seattle “Marineros” unis look sharp. And neither Richie Valens nor any of Los Lobos played in the game, so the prophecy of the song holds true. B^}
The dude taking a leak on the Gators’ bus is a UK fan. Probably not from Gainesville.
Of course, but the reference was to where the incident occurred.
Syracuse won at Central Michigan, and wore an all-white uniform for the first time ever, joining many other teams wearing a lot of white on Sat. The white helmet marked the first time Syracuse wore a white helmet since 1976 (1974-76).
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Phil,
UT and Oklahoma have played 3 times. Last night, ’68 Orange Bowl and ’39 Orange bowl. Sooners up 2-1 at this point.
Yeah, I know that. TJ may have misinterpreted my tweet — but you’re correct, they played in the TWO Orange Bowls prior to last night’s first ever regular season game. I’ll adjust the text on SMUW item.
Re: “The orange of the Orioles jersey on Saturday looks red in all the Fox shots except for the camera they use to shoot the on deck circle”.
I’ve always wondered if it’s just my TV, but has anyone else noticed that the Seattle Mariners’ alt teal jerseys come out looking way green on TV, when in real life they are more of a blue-teal shade? Same with the bills on the Mariners’ alt hats. Anyone else notice this, or is it time for a new TV?
QPR doing 3rd kit for 3rd kit’s sake against Manchester United. And Swansea didn’t really have to go change kit against Chelsea since only the socks clashed.
Do they still have the technical rule that each team has to wear their change kit eight times during the 38-match season? If so, Swansea may have decided to burn off one of those games yesterday.
“I don’t think even snorting an entire line of wasabi will come as close to sobering as seeing the contrast between Rutgers and Penn State.”
I snorted an entire line of wasabi in college, and trust me, it will sober ANYBODY up!
I just flipped on the Patriots / Vikings game. At the 11:57 mark of the first quarter, they’re showing the ball spotted on the field. Under the NFL crest and below the seam, the word “Sid” looks to be hand-written in the same gold tone as the crest. Any info on what that is?
Apologies if this is something that’s been addressed before.
There is an official who passed away recently named Sid Semon. Don’t know why a team would be honoring him unless the NFL decided to put his name on the ball.
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Also Sid Gillman was a famous coach from Minnesota who is considered one of the forefather’s of the modern day passing game. Though he died over 11 years ago and didn’t coach for either team (he was Jewish so maybe he was some sort of individuation to Kraft, though I feel in grasping for straws here).
Ripped something up but our hasn’t shown up yet don’t know if it was lost or still waiting approval. It gives 2 possible but explanations: a recently deceased former NFL ref, Sid Semon, or a former coach considered a fore-father of the modern passing game and native Minnesotan Sid Gillmab
However it could be a honoring of the Minnesota Sports beat writer Sid Hartman (though he doesn’t seem to be retiring, so I don’t get why he’d be honored in this way)
If memory serves, an official approves all the balls each team can use and marks them. So it could be a Sid Semon tribute instead of initials.
Superlative Top Five, Herr Marshall! The numbers may need a little juggling, but every matchup is top notch.
<ND looked like a MAC team
Pffft. The MAC wishes they looked that mediocre. And TT looked a bit like the Houston Gamblers, so I’d give both those games a pass and make Illinois/Washington the lone &1. Or maybe Syracuse/CMU.
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And it’s not CMU’s fault that I’m suggesting that game. That’s how bad ‘Cuse looks these days.
*Sigh*
I wish Jim Vilk was still making these lists sometimes…and involved in CorCy chatter…
Jim Vilk was so MAC. This Marshall guy is B1G material.
…which means he makes great regular season lists, but he’ll probably lay an egg during bowl season.
;)
d’oh and ha ha.
hey man, nothing against the MAC, but they don’t set the trends either.
it got lost in translation with phil. the other two were supposed to be more of a…i didn’t like this, but bad enough? is there is worse? yes, but is there still worse yet? yes! illinois-washington was the absolute worst. phil kind of cut the text that sort of implied that progression, and just put it in as tie,which was for the best, my language/writing style isn’t always so clear.
and by the way…good call, they did look like the gamblers, which does not help.
I think this was reported on the site before, but I saw on the broadcast yesterday Central Michigan has a lineman named Phillips who wears #66. Didn’t get a screengrab, but here is an article on him: link
The UVA coach wore an Army hat in the 3rd quarter and Air Force in the 4th for Armed Forces Day at UVA.
link
Just wearing UVA hats would be preferred, but at least this wasn’t as bad as when he wore full fatigues a few years ago for Armed Forces Day. Special teams coach (and a few others I think) looked worse this year with a camo UVA hat (couldn’t find a picture).
I think Ole Miss-ULL was a good looking game yesterday too.
link
Look at the pic of WVU kicking a field goal. The holder has I Corinthians written on his right cleat.
Unmentioned or unnoticed to this point, the Air Force Academy has switched to a blue chrome facemask and decals.
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Paul,
Please ban Robert Marshall from ever doing 5 & 1 again. Arkansas, Purdue & Illinois all had beautiful uniforms, and Texas Tech was nice too. While not great, There were several worse than Notre Dame & Washington. Miami or Ohio & Rutgers were an embarrassment to football on Saturday. I’m a Wolverines fan, but it was tough watching that game with those Miami clown costumes!
slappy mcgee~
i think you might take this too serious if this is the reason you want me banned. you make me want to ask the boys for a permanent slot doing the 5 and 1.. but lets hit some bullets my clearly young friend…
1) there is nothing saying that what i say is a fact, it’s more of what people call an opinion.
2) yes miami looks like garbage, but the “game” isn’t who individually looks like clowns, it’s a two team game for the 5&1.
3) arkansas and illinois going full on white like every team ripping off psu and ut? snooze . everyone loves the trooper, it’s tired.
4)purdue? you like literal? i guess you like maryland’s flag uni’s too. you like literal rather then clever, and that’s fine, but i don’t.
5) the texas tech uniform is a snooze, was when they wore it. sure it’s fun to see a throwback, but it isn’t all that inspiring either, especially against the bore razorback. i’m sorry but i personally didn’t care for it even though i know plenty of people whose opinion i actually respect liked it. am i wrong, you wrong, or neither?
6) rutgers. other then the knightly slashes, it isn’t that bad of a uni set. i don’t love love love it, but again, THEY HAVE AN OPPONENT.
7) worse then washington? other then the game denver greg pointed out, i am not so sure about that. and thanks to illinois going trooptastic, each team had 3 uni elements, 5 of 6 were white. you think that makes for a sharp and handsome game? i am not the one in need of spectacles or a ban.
8) it’s a simple list of impressions from the weekend, don’t get so bent out of shape man. there are always things that could have or should have made it that will be missed, there are more games then anyone can digest even if they are a college football nut job like myself. so just kick back and relax man, this is for entertainment purposes only, sorry if i dissed your team or don’t agree with your *cough* impeccable taste.
i’ll stop there, sweet dreams slap
Just saw a commercial during the Sunday night game, some “salute to service” thing with the NFL apparently. I happened to notice that in a couple of the clips which obviously predate the current Nike contract, you can see the blurred out Reebok logo on the shots, yet any Nike logos are clearly untouched. If it were a Nike-related commercial, I could almost understand, but this is not the case. Is this common?
Probably a stipulation of the Nike contract.
Have no idea who ‘Rudy Van Deer Veen’ is, but Jan van der Veen was a Rowdies’ fan favorite who had two spells with the club. First time around he wore number five, the second, he donned number seventeen (Sorry, couldn’t locate a photo of how they squeezed his NOB that season).
Curiously, his NOB was arched with some clubs as it was with the Rowdies, sometimes straight. It was also rendered VAN DER VEEN and also VANDERVEEN.
Those Dutch and their troublesome names.